Table of Contents

Configuring Document Reports

This section explains how to configure Document Reporting in Business Central to generate and manage various document types.

Document Report Templates

Document Report Templates define reusable sets of document reports and definitions that can be applied to different tables in Business Central. Based on the template, a specific set of reports will become available for each business document type. For example, when applied to a Sales Invoice, the template might include the Sales Invoice and Invoice Specification reports. Similarly, for a Forwarding Oceanfreight shipment, reports such as Booking Confirmation, Arrival Notice, and Seawaybill would be available. Templates can also configure incoming documents such as Packing Lists, Commercial Invoices, or Mail correspondence that need to be uploaded and associated with business records.

Within the template, you can:

  • Precisely define which document reports or incoming documents will be available to users for specific business scenarios
  • Extensively configure each report with custom settings:
    • Modify the caption of the report
    • Select the appropriate report definition (which directly influences the dataset available to the report)
    • Specify which layout should be used for rendering the final document

This level of customization ensures that reports not only contain the right data but also present it in the most effective format for your business needs.

To create a Document Report Template:

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Document Report Templates, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Document Report Template List page, choose the New action.
  3. In the Code field, enter a unique identifier for this template.
  4. In the Description field, enter a descriptive name for the template.

Document Report Categories

Document Report Categories help you organize related document reports into logical groups.

To create Document Report Categories:

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Document Report Categories, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Document Report Category List page, choose the New action.
  3. In the Code field, enter a unique identifier for this category.
  4. In the Description field, enter a descriptive name for the category.

Document Report Table Setup

To associate specific tables with document report templates, you need to configure the Document Report Table Setup.

Note

Only supported tables can be configured, currently limited to the (Posted) Sales invoice and the Voyages in the forwarding app. Document report setup is only applicable when the templates cannot be configured in other ways, such as on the Order type field in FMS.

To configure Document Report Table Setup:

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Document Report Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Document Report Setup List page, choose the New action.
  3. In the Table No. field, select the table for which you want to configure document reports.
    • The Table Caption field is automatically filled with the caption of the selected table.
  4. In the Template Code field, select the template code to use for this table.
  5. If needed, in the Table Filter field, specify a filter to limit which records of the table should use this template.

Creating Document Report Definitions

After setting up templates and associating them with tables, you can define the actual document reports that will be used to generate documents.

To create Document Report definitions:

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Document Reports, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Document Report List page, choose the New action.
  3. Fill in the fields as follows:
    • Related Table No.: Select the table for which this document report applies.
    • Template Code: Select the template code to use for this document report.
    • Category Code: Select the category this document report belongs to.
    • Type: Select whether this is an Output (document to be generated) or Input (document to be uploaded).
    • Description: Enter a descriptive name for the document.
    • Report Id: For Output types, select the Business Central report to be used.
    • Report Layout: Select the specific layout to use for the report.
    • Report Format: Select the format in which the report should be generated (PDF, Excel, Word, Html).
    • Background Letterhead Code: If applicable, select a letterhead to be used as background.
    • Append Letterhead Code: If applicable, select a letterhead to be appended.
    • Language Code: Select the language to use for the report.
    • File Name: Enter a default file name pattern for the generated document.

Configuring Document Reporting Setup

On the Document Reporting Setup page acts as the landing page for many settings/ configuration for the Document Reporting module.

Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Document Reporting Setup, and then choose the related link.

Edit this page