GL Wand User Guide PDF

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Version
4.30
GL Wand Installation & User Guide
www.excel4apps.com
Excel4Apps (Pty) Ltd
support@excel4apps.com
All rights reserved.
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QUICK START GUIDE ............................................................................................... 5
ABOUT “DEMO.XLS” TUTORIAL ................................................................................ 6
INSTALL ADD-IN ON PC ........................................................................................... 6
Installation files ....................................................................................................... 6
PC Installation ......................................................................................................... 6
Uninstalling GL Wand ................................................................................................ 8
Installation Problems ................................................................................................ 9
Installing PDF Creator ............................................................................................... 9
CONNECT TO VISION ............................................................................................. 13
Connection details ...................................................................................................13
About the test instance ............................................................................................14
Test instance performance .......................................................................................14
USING GL WAND .................................................................................................... 15
Toolbar ..................................................................................................................15
The Menu ...............................................................................................................15
Shortcut keys .........................................................................................................15
Logging on .............................................................................................................15
Set of Books and Segment Selector ...........................................................................21
Discovering ............................................................................................................21
Expand ..................................................................................................................26
Undo Expand ..........................................................................................................27
Refresh Expand .......................................................................................................28
Explode Report .......................................................................................................28
Open List of Values ..................................................................................................29
Create List of Values ................................................................................................33
Functions ...............................................................................................................34
Discovering versus Functions ....................................................................................44
Special Get Balance Criteria ......................................................................................45
Calculating .............................................................................................................48
Snapshot................................................................................................................50
Hide zeros ..............................................................................................................50
Undo Hide Zeros (Tools Menu) ..................................................................................51
Drill downs .............................................................................................................51
Drill to My Layout ....................................................................................................55
Drill Downs – Calculated Excel Columns .....................................................................56
Sort Drill Report ......................................................................................................58
Configuration Sheet (Tools Menu) .............................................................................58
Options (Tools Menu) ...............................................................................................59
Create Drill Criteria Sheet (Tools Menu) .....................................................................65
Report Wizard (Tools Menu) .....................................................................................67
Audit Get Balance (Tools Menu) ................................................................................68
Convert FSG (Tools Menu) ........................................................................................68
Report Manager (Tools Menu) ...................................................................................69
Edit Default Drill Layout (Tools Menu) ........................................................................73
PDF Export (Tools Menu and Right click in a cell) .........................................................74
About GL Wand .......................................................................................................75
Help ......................................................................................................................75
BUDGET WAND ...................................................................................................... 76
Budget Wand overview ............................................................................................76
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Technical requirements ............................................................................................76
Installation .............................................................................................................76
Oracle required setup ..............................................................................................77
Budget Wand components ........................................................................................77
Loading a Budget ....................................................................................................82
Statuses and Error messages ....................................................................................85
REPORTS WAND .................................................................................................... 88
About Reports Wand ................................................................................................88
Using Reports Wand basic features ............................................................................89
Customizing the output template...............................................................................98
Using Reports Wand advanced features.................................................................... 103
Security ............................................................................................................... 106
Creating Report Definitions ..................................................................................... 106
REPORTS WAND ADMINISTRATOR ...................................................................... 116
Reports Wand Administrator – Toolbar ..................................................................... 117
Enabling Reports Wand Administrator Users ............................................................. 118
The Reports Wand Administrator Template ............................................................... 118
Using the Reports Wand Definition Wizard ................................................................ 118
Processing Reports Wand Definitions ....................................................................... 122
Importing Existing Reports Wand Definitions ............................................................ 125
Maintaining Report Assignments.............................................................................. 126
Reports Wand Sample Reports ................................................................................ 127
SERVER COMPONENT ........................................................................................... 127
ORACLE PROFILE OPTIONS ................................................................................. 127
GL Wand: Account Number ..................................................................................... 128
GL Wand: All sets of books access ........................................................................... 128
GL Wand: Contract Number .................................................................................... 128
GL Wand: Custom Delimiters .................................................................................. 128
GL Wand: Enable Extended Languages .................................................................... 129
GL Wand: Get Balance Hint .................................................................................... 129
GL Wand: HTTP Timeout ........................................................................................ 129
GL Wand: License Key ........................................................................................... 130
GL Wand: Query Limit ........................................................................................... 130
GL Wand: Responsibility......................................................................................... 130
GL Wand: Track User Activity ................................................................................. 130
GL Wand: Upgrade Location ................................................................................... 131
GL Wand: User ..................................................................................................... 131
GL Wand: Budget Wand User .................................................................................. 132
GL Wand: Reports Wand Administrator .................................................................... 132
SUPPORT ............................................................................................................. 132
Support Requests .................................................................................................. 132
Enhancement Requests .......................................................................................... 132
ERROR MESSAGES ............................................................................................... 132
NEW FEATURES ................................................................................................... 134
Release 4.30 ........................................................................................................ 134
Release 4.20 ........................................................................................................ 134
Release 4.15 ........................................................................................................ 134
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Release 4.10 ........................................................................................................ 136
Release 4.05 ........................................................................................................ 138
Release 3.89 ........................................................................................................ 140
Release 3.85 ........................................................................................................ 143
Release 3.80 ........................................................................................................ 145
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Quick start guide
User Guide
Phase Step Action
Sections
Unzip the downloaded file and double click GL
1. Install GL Wand PC
Wand.msi. This will install the GL Wand add-
add-in on PC. Installation
in on your PC and launch Demo.xls.
Log on to our hosted Vision server. The install
Evaluate GL 2. Log into our online should have created this default connection
Wand on Oracle Vision instance and you should have received an e-mail with
our online via the internet. your unique user name and password or find
vision this on the sticker inside of the demo box.
instance 2.1 Refresh sample
sheets, Drill to detail; Using Demo.xls and the instructions on the
Using GL
learn GL Wand sheets spend some time experimenting and
Wand
functionality with learning.
provided example.
From the options form click “Mail” to send
3. Install GL Wand
instructions and the installation script to your
server component on
DBA for a release 11i system. Complete Server
your Oracle
instructions including the installation for Installation
development
release 12 can be found in the installation
database server.
guide.
Evaluate GL
4. Create a new
Wand trial Enter the correct connection URL and a name
connection in the GL Creating
on your for your connection. Test the connection by
Wand pointing at Connections
own Oracle clicking the button on the options form.
your server.
instance
Experience a faster connection to your
server, and see your own Set of books data.
5. Login to your own
Using your own user name and password
set of books data and Toolbar
logon and start building your own reports.
start building reports.
Use the report wizard button to build a basic
report you can modify.
While logged into your own instance, click the
6. Request a full use
about box and click the “Trial Key” button, About GL
Full use trial trial key for your
this will request a full use trial key from Wand
instance.
excel4apps.com.
If you are thinking of

buying a license,
obtain a quote Visit www.excel4apps.com or request a quote
through an accredited in the buy section of the website.
Purchase distributor or directly
and fully from us.
deploy GL Enter full use license Enter license keys to cater for production and
Wand keys into production development instances. Stop seeing the pop- License Key
software. system. up window.
Set profile options to
Configure profile options in “Systems
control GL Wand user Profile
Administration” responsibility to control user
access and online Options
access and various other options.
upgrades.
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About “Demo.xls” tutorial
The GL Wand installation process would have installed the “Demo.xls” Excel worksheet
containing some example reports and tips. Demo.xls has been developed using the Vision
Operations and Vision Services sets of books information and can be refreshed against our
online Vision instance or your own Vision instance.
Install add-in on PC
Installation files
Please locate and unzip the GL Wand zip file. This file will either be at the location you
downloaded it to or on the CD containing the trial software. The file contains the following:
GL Wand.msi - Client installation (file name will include the version)

GL Wand.txt - Upgrade version file
GL Wand Server - Server side install (file name will include the version)
Readme.txt - Instructions
PC Installation
1. Unzip the GL Wand zip file and double click on the GL Wand.msi (Microsoft installer) to
begin the installation.
2. You will be prompted for an install location which you can modify or simply accept the
defaults.
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3. You might receive a message warning you that Excel should be closed during the
installation. If Excel is open on your PC switch to it and quit the application. Then return
to the installer and click “OK”.
If the installer is unable to locate a Microsoft Excel installation on your PC you will receive a
warning at the end of the installation. You will then need to follow a manual process to
activate the GL Wand add-in. The instructions for this manual process can be found in the
Installation Problems section of this user guide.
4. The last screen of the install process will prompt you to "Launch GL Wand”
5. Leave this option ticked

6. Click the "Finish" button.
7. This will launch an Excel workbook "Demo.xls" which contains information and
instructions on how to get you started with using the GL Wand.
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If you do remove the tick, you can launch this workbook manually from the GL Wand menu
item on your Windows “Start” menu.
Once the "Demo.xls" workbook is launched it should open Excel. The GL Wand toolbar should
appear. If the toolbar does not appear follow the instructions in the in the Installation
Problems section of this user guide.
You should now be able to log on to our online Vision instance. Follow the instructions in the
"Demo.xls" workbook to log on.
Uninstalling GL Wand
To uninstall GL Wand.
1. Start by launching Excel.

2. Close the GL Wand add-in by clicking the Add-ins button on the Excel Tools menu and
removing the tick next to the GL Wand item.
3. Quit Excel.
4. Open the Windows “Add or remove programs” option from the control panel.
5. Locate the GL Wand in the installed programs list.
6. Click remove.
7. The windows installer should run and the GL Wand will be removed.
If you forget to first close the add-in inside Excel you will be prompted with an error
message the next time you launch Excel. Simply acknowledge the error and then select the
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add-ins option from the tools menu in Excel. Click on the GL Wand item and Excel will show
a message indicating that the GL Wand cannot be found and ask you if you would like to
remove this item from the list. Simply click yes. The next time you launch Excel you should
no longer see the error message.
Installation Problems
Unusual installations of Microsoft Excel may result in the installer being unable to activate
the GL Wand add-in. This is also known issue with Excel 2010 64bit.
Follow these steps to manually enable the GL Wand add-in
1. Navigate to the location that was specified as the install target during the installation e.g.
C:\Program Files\GL Wand
2. Locate the file GL Wand.xla
3. Copy this file
4. Navigate to the Excel installation path e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office (for
office 2003 it will be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11)
5. Inside this folder navigate to the Library folder (so the path will now be C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library)
6. Paste the GL Wand.xla into this folder
7. Launch Excel
8. From the “Tools” menu select “Add-Ins”
9. The GL Wand should be listed in the list of add-ins. Tick the box next to the GL Wand
item and click OK
10. The toolbar should now appear
Installing PDF Creator
PDF Creator is required for exporting Excel data to PDF and producing Report Manager
output in PDF. It can be downloaded at http://www.excel4apps.com/pdf. Double click the
downloaded file to start the installation.
If you receive this message click “Run” to start the install and select your language.
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Click next to continue and accept the license agreement.
Pick the standard installation.
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You must leave the printer name as “PDFCreator”.
You can accept the default path or change it if required.
You can optionally install the toolbar. The next screen allows you to exclude this option.
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Uncheck the Internet Explorer toolbar option if you prefer not to install it.
You can uncheck all these options or set them to your preference.
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The installation should now run successfully.
PDF Creator on Vista
A few manual steps are required to get PDF Creator to work on Microsoft Vista.
Turn off user account control

Right click on the PDFCreator.msi -> properties -> Compatibility -> Select Windows
XP
Run PDFCeator.msi
Go to Control Panel -> Printers -> add new printer
Select the existing PDFCreator port
Use driver from C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\gs8.54\gs8.54\lib\ghostpdf.inf
Right Click on the new printer -> properties
Go to ports -> configure port -> check Run as user
Connect to Vision
Connection details
Once you have completed the client side installation, your corporate security settings
permitting, you should be able to connect to our online Oracle Applications Vision instance.
This will allow you to evaluate the GL Wand functionality before you perform the server side
installation on your own Oracle instance.
If your organization uses a proxy server that requires authentication to access the Internet
(in addition to the domain logon), GL Wand will prompt you for your proxy user name and
password if required.
If you have any problems accessing our online system, we recommend using a less secure
internet connection, or moving the evaluation to an in house Oracle instance.
The GL Wand installation should have the following pre-configured connection.
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Please refer to Demo.xls for further instructions on connecting to the online test instance.
See also the Toolbar section for information on how to use GL Wand.
About the test instance
The purpose of the test instance is to
facilitate a rapid connection to an Oracle instance; and

show basic GL Wand functionality to prospective buyers.
Once you have mastered basic functionality we recommend
moving the evaluation to your own Oracle Applications environment

work on your own set of books data
gauge GL Wand performance on your own network / hardware.
Test instance performance
A number of factors will influence performance of the test instance. These include
your internet connection speed

the bandwidth available to our server to connect to you via the internet
The speed across the internet will not be a true reflection of GL Wand performance. It should
be a lot faster on your own local instance. Averages refresh times are 10-50 cell refreshes
per second over a LAN and 5-30 cells per second over WAN/Internet. Each cell can represent
many GL Balances.
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Using GL Wand
Toolbar
The GL Wand toolbar gives you access to all the functionality of GL Wand.
The Menu
Functions can also be accessed from the GL Wand drop down menu.
Shortcut keys
Frequently used functions like calculate Range, calculate Sheet and calculate All can also be
executed with ALT+CTL+R, ALT+CTL+S and ALT+CTL+A.
Logging on
- Not logged on, click to log on
- Logged on, click to log on again
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The first step in using GL Wand is to log on to the Oracle instance that you intend using.
You can log on to the online Vision instance or you can log on to your own Oracle
Applications instance.
See also the Creating Connections section.
There are two possible logon methods that GL Wand can use. The method is determined by
a setting on the GL Wand Options form. The method can be “Oracle” or “Excel”. It is also
possible to access your segment values descriptive flexfields by enabling the option during
the logon.
Oracle Logon Method
The “Oracle” option is the new logon method which utilizes the Oracle web based screen to
capture your user name and password. This method is also compliant with Oracle Single Sign
On. When you click the sign on button you are presented with the screen below where you
select which Oracle connection you wish to use.
When you click the logon button the Oracle log on screen will appear. Enter your applications
user name and password.
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When you click Login on this web browser the window will close and you will be presented
with a list of responsibilities that are linked to your user name (see this section if you would
like to restrict this list). You will see one of the two windows displayed below. If your site is
licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature, you will see the image on the
right. Else the screen will appear like the image on the left. Trial users using an in-house trial
key will by default have access to the Multiple Set of Books (MSOB) feature.
Select the responsibility that you wish to use and click ok. If you are licensed to use the GL
Wand MSOB feature you can select multiple responsibilities. Click an item to select it and
click it again to unselect it.
If you are licensed to use the MSOB feature you also have the option of logging on to all the
available sets of books. This option must be enabled by setting the applicable profile option
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at user level. With the profile option set to yes for a particular user, that user will have an
extra item in the list of available responsibilities. This “All Sets of Books” option allows a user
to log on to all the sets of books configured in the Oracle instance without needing to select
multiple responsibilities.
Please note that when logging on with the “All Sets of Books” option, no security rules are
enforced. For this reason you must enable this option for those GL Wand users that are
authorized to report across all the configured sets of books. By default this options is
disabled for all users.
If you log on to an Oracle Release 12 instance and the data access set linked to the chosen
responsibility contains more than one ledger or ledger set you will be logged on to all the
applicable ledgers.
Excel Logon Method
The “Excel” logon method is the same mechanism that was used in previous GL Wand
versions. This method should not be used unless the “Oracle” method does not function
correctly. Again there are two possible windows that you will be presented with depending in
whether you are licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature.
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Descriptive Flexfields
If you wish to report on segment value descriptive flexfields, tick this option on the logon
form. This will load the descriptive flexfield information. This option is by default un-ticked as
loading this information unnecessarily would slow down the logon process.
Proxy Authentication
If you are connecting to an Oracle instance on the Internet and your organization uses a
proxy server that requires authentication to access the Internet (in addition to the domain
logon), GL Wand will prompt you for your proxy user name and password if required.
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Enter the required user name and password and click OK. Then click the logon button again.
License Key
If you have not yet obtained a trial license key for the instance that you are logging on to,
you will prompted with the option to request a key. Click “Yes” to open a web page where
you can request a trial key or “No” to continue without requesting a key.
Customers that have licensed GL Wand will use this exact same process to request the final
non-expiring keys.
Limiting GL Wand Responsibilities
By default all the responsibilities assigned to a user will appear in the list available for
selection when the user logs on to GL Wand. If you would prefer to limit this list to only a
subset of responsibilities you can configure this as follows:
Log on to Oracle using a responsibility that can create profile options e.g. Application
Developer.
Navigate to the Profiles screen.
Create a new profile option with the following details:
Field Value
Name GL_WAND_RESP
Application Application Object Library
User Profile Name GL Wand: Responsibility
Description Optionally used to identify the responsibilities to display in GL Wand.
SQL Validation SQL="SELECT MEANING, LOOKUP_CODE into :visible_option_value,
:profile_option_value from fnd_lookups where lookup_type =
'YES_NO'" COLUMN="Meaning(10)"
Access See screenshot below
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Now navigate to the Profile > System menu in the System Administrator
responsibility.
Set this new profile option to “Yes” at responsibility level for all the responsibilities
that should appear in GL Wand.
Set of Books and Segment Selector
- Set of Books and Segment selector
Once you have logged on, the set of books and segment list dropdowns will be populated.
Set of Books
The set of books drop down list can be used to select the set of books that you wish to work
with. If you log on to a single set of books this dropdown list will contain a single value only.
However, if you are licensed to use the GL Wand Multiple Sets of Books feature or are in
trial, then this list will contain multiple values in the following situations:
If you selected multiple responsibilities during the logon process all the sets of books
linked to those responsibilities will be listed.
If you selected the special “All Sets of Books” option all the sets of books configured
in the Oracle instance will be listed.
If you log on to an Oracle Release 12 instance and the data access set linked to the
chosen responsibility contains more than one ledger or ledger set, then each of these
ledgers will be listed.
The number in brackets () indicates the Set of Books identifier. This number can be used in
various GL Wand formulas and other functionality in order to obtain information from a
specific Set of Books.
Segments
This dropdown list will be populated with a list of the segments that are available in the
currently selected Set of Books. The number in brackets indicates the segment number. The
segment list also includes the special value “Period” which is used for discovering the period
names in your set of books.
In the example shown the selected segment is “Company” and it is identified as segment 1.
Certain dynamic functions require the segment number as an input parameter.
Discovering
The discover tools allow you to extract segment information from the Oracle Applications
database and populate Excel cells with this information. You can use the discover tools to
extract segment values, segment properties, periods or child ranges or the full segment
hierarchy. For segment values you can use the discover level to choose whether to retrieve
child values, parent values or both.
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Discover Segment Values
- Discover Down
- Discover Down All
- Discover Up
1. Select a cell and enter a valid starting segment value e.g. “1000” into the cell.
2. Choose the relevant segment from the segment list e.g. “Account”.
3. Now click the “Discover Down” button.
GL Wand finds the next valid account segment value after account “1000” and enters this
value in the cell below the one that you started in.
In the same way you can click the up arrow and the previous segment value will be entered
in the cell above the one that you started in.
- Discover Left
- Discover Right
- Discover Right All
The left and right arrows work in a similar manner, retrieving the next and previous segment
values but they populate the cells to the left and right of the cell that you start in. When
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discovering segment values you will notice that some of the values are entered with a bold
font. This is because these have been identified as parent values.
You do not need to discover segment values one at a time.

You can enter a starting segment value, choose the segment from the segment list
and then highlight a range of cells.
When you click one of the discover buttons now, GL Wand fills the selected range
with the next or previous segment values depending on which arrow you click on.
The Discover Down All and Discover Right All buttons can be used to retrieve all the
segment values in one operation.
Discover Period Names
You can discover period names in much the same way that you can discover segment
values.
1. Select a cell and enter a valid starting period name e.g. Jan-03 into the cell.
NB – make sure that you enter this starting period name as text by first formatting the Excel
cell as text or entering the period name prefixed by an apostrophe ‘ e.g. ‘Jan-03. If Excel
interprets the value entered as an actual date e.g. 01/01/2003 then discover period names
will not work.
2. Choose the special “Period” value from the segment list.
3. Now click the “Discover Down” button.
GL Wand finds the next period name after Jan-07 in the Set of Books calendar and enters
this value in the cell below the one that you started in.
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You can also use the “Discover Down All”, “Discover Previous”, “Discover Right”, “Discover
Right All” and “Discover Left” buttons to discover period names.
Discover Properties
- Discover segment properties
The “Discover Properties” button will extract a variety of information about the selected
segment value.
To use this function,
1. Select a cell(s) with a valid segment value in it.
2. Make sure the correct segment is selected in the segment selector.
3. Click the Discover Properties button.
The cells to the right of the selected cell are populated with segment information.
The first cell indicates the segment description, the second cell indicates if the value is a
parent or not (Y means the segment value is a parent), the third cell indicates if the segment
value is enabled or not (Y means that the segment value is enabled) and the fourth cell
indicates what account type the segment value is e.g. Asset or Liability etc. Obviously the
forth cell is only valid for the natural account segment.
Discover Child Ranges
- Discover child ranges
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The “Discover Child Ranges” button can be used to show the child values that are assigned
to a particular parent value.
1. Select a cell that has a parent segment value.
2. Identify its segment number to the GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the
segment list dropdown.
3. Now click on the “Discover Child Ranges” button.
An Excel note is added to the cell showing the ranges that have been assigned to the
selected parent. This is useful for understanding and exploring your Chart of Accounts.
Discover Hierarchy
To discover the hierarchy for a segment proceed as follows:
Enter the starting segment value into an Excel cell. This value must be a parent for
the segment you are using.
Identify the segment number to GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the
Select “Discover Hierarchy” from the Discover menu.
GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy for the selected parent and display it in the
Excel worksheet, indenting the various levels in the hierarchy.
Toggle Discover Level
- Toggle discover level
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The “Discover level” button is used to restrict the segment values that are returned by the
discover tools to parent values only, child values only or both parent and child values.
When you click on this button it toggles from discovering parents and children to discovering
parents only to discovering child values only.
For example,
1. Select a cell and enter a starting segment value.

2. Choose the segment from the segment list.
3. Click the discover level until the option is set to “Discovering Parents”.
4. Now highlight a range of cells and click the “Discover Down” button.
GL Wand fills the selected range with the next segment values but skips all child values and
returns only parent values. Similarly, child values can be discovered by toggling the
discover level to “Discovering children”.
If you want to discover both parent and children toggle the discover level back to
“Discovering parents and children”.
All segment values must be entered using the Excel text format. Either format the cell using
the text number format or enter the cell value using the apostrophe ‘ character which marks
the contents of the cell as text e.g. if you want to enter the segment value 001 enter it as
follows ‘001.
Expand
- Expand
You can perform an expand down to the lowest level children (explained below) or you can
expand using the hierarchy going down one level or expanding the full hierarchy.
The Expand feature allows you to extract a list of all the lowest level child values that roll up
to a particular segment selection. This might be a parent value, range, wild card or a
combination of these options.
1. Select a cell that has a segment selection e.g. a parent value.

2. Identify its segment number to the GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the
3. Click the expand button
4. The child values are retrieved from Oracle and are inserted below the selected cell.
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You can also highlight a number of columns and GL Wand will insert the child values and
copy the contents of the highlighted cells against each child value that is inserted.
1. Select a cell that has a segment selection and highlight the number of columns that you
would like to have copied into the new rows.
2. Identify its segment number to GL Wand by selecting the relevant segment from the
3. Click the expand button
4. The child values are retrieved from Oracle and are inserted below the selected cell.
5. The contents of the additional columns that were selected are copied against each new
row inserted. In the example below this contains a generic Get Balance formula which is
then resolved for each child value.
You also have the option of selecting multiple rows when performing an Expand. GL Wand
will perform an expand on each selected row.
The expand feature can also be used with account combinations. Please see the Special Get
Balance Criteria section for details on how this works.
Expand Hierarchy (1 Level)
This option works in exactly the same manner as the Expand feature except that it will
expand using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a
single parent value. GL Wand will extract the values one level down the hierarchy and list
them below the starting cell.
Expand Hierarchy (Full)
This option works in exactly the same manner as the Expand feature except that it will
expand using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a
single parent value. GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy and list all the values below the
starting cell, indenting the various levels in the hierarchy.
Undo Expand
- Undo Expand
The expand operation inserts rows into the worksheet to allow the child data to be
populated. If you would like to quickly remove the expand data click the undo expand
button. GL Wand will remove the inserted data from the most recent expand operation.
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Please note that the expand operation formats the inserted rows in a particular way e.g. the
segment values are indented. The undo expand operation relies on this formatting in order
to process correctly. If you modify the formatting of the expanded rows the undo expand
may not function correctly.
Refresh Expand
- Refresh Expand
The expand operation fetches the child data that meets the criteria that you enter and
inserts it into new rows in the workbook. This data may change over time e.g. you may
expand a parent value and over time the definition of that parent is modified. Use the
refresh expand button to retrieve the most recent data from Oracle as follows:
Highlight the entire range of expanded data.

This must include the criteria row that drives the expand operation e.g. the row
containing the parent value.
Click the refresh expand button.
GL Wand will remove the old expand data and will refresh the expand with the latest
information.
Please note that the expand operation formats the inserted rows in a particular way e.g. the
segment values are indented. The refresh expand operation relies on this formatting in order
to process correctly. If you modify the formatting of the expanded rows the refresh expand
may not function correctly.
Explode Report
- Explode report
You can perform an explode down to the lowest level children (explained below) or you can
explode using the hierarchy going down one level or expanding the full hierarchy.
Explode report works in a similar way to the expand feature. The difference is that where
expand inserts a new row in the worksheet for each child value found, explode creates a new
worksheet in the current workbook for each child value found. For example:
Start with a complete GL Wand report.

Select the cell in the report that drive the Get Balance formulas e.g. a department
parent value in the report header.
Click the explode report button.
GL Wand will duplicate the worksheet for each child value found for the selected
parent.
Explode Hierarchy (1 Level)
This option works in exactly the same manner as the Explode feature except that it will
Explode using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a
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single parent value. GL Wand will extract the values one level down the hierarchy and create
a new worksheet for each value.
Explode Hierarchy (Full)
This option works in exactly the same manner as the Explode feature except that it will
Explode using the defined hierarchy. For this option to work your starting cell must contain a
single parent value. GL Wand will extract the full hierarchy and create a new worksheet for
each value.
Open List of Values
- Open list of values
The segment list of values form can be used to search through the segment values and
descriptions for a specific segment. First pick the segment from the segment list
dropdown and then click the segment list of values button. The list of values for the chosen
segment is displayed.
You can enter a value to search for in the find box. The list of values will be filtered to show
only items that match the text entered in the find box. The text entered in the find box is
compared to the segment value and segment description. An item will be included in the
results if either field contains the text entered in the find box.
29
In the list section you can start entering a segment value (e.g. Account number) and the list
will scroll to the item matching the values that you have entered.
Click the “Add” button, double click an item in the list or press enter to add the current item
to the selection list on the right. You can also click and drag an item to add it to the selection
list.
If you want to add a range like “1000-2000” do the following.
30
Start by adding the “1000” value using one of the options explained above.
Then find the “2000” value in the master list.
Ensure that the “2000” value is highlighted in the master list and the “1000” value is
highlighted in the selection list and click the “Add Range” button.
You can also drag a value from the master list onto an existing value in the selection
list to create a range.
To remove an item from the selection list, ensure that it is highlighted and then click the
“Remove” button or press the “Delete” key.
Every segment will have the additional value called “All”. Selecting this value will add a “%”
to the parameter list which means “All values”. If “All” is selected then all other selections
will be removed and replaced with a %.
If you want to include certain values and exclude others you can use the “Add Exclude”
option. This will add the highlighted value to the selection list prefixed by the reserved
exclude character “~”.
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You can add any combination of the options mentioned above to produce your own
calculation
Once you have added all the required segment values to the selection list click “OK” to copy
the list to the clipboard. You can then paste these values into a Get Balance function or
anywhere else on the Excel sheet.
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Create List of Values
- Create list of values
This feature can be used to quickly format a cell to be a special list of values cell. There are
two types. The first type inserts a drop down list of values in the cell and is used for balance
types, translated flags and actual flags.
The second type creates a link to the standard list of values form. It is used for segment
values, periods and balance and encumbrance names.
The cell is identified by a note containing the word “LOV”. In order to open the list of values,
simply double click the cell or select the cell and click the List of Values button on the
toolbar. This will open the list of values form for the specific data type that the list of values
cell was created for. In the example this was the department segment.
The checkbox allows you to link the list of values to a specific set of books. This option is
only applicable if you have the Multiple Sets of Books feature enabled.
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Functions
The GL Wand functions work in a similar way to any other Excel worksheet function. You
provide the required parameters and the results of the function are returned to the Excel
cell. The difference being that GL Wand functions retrieve information from your Oracle
Applications system
GL Wand currently has the following functions.
- Get Balance
- Segment Description
- Next Segment Value
- Previous Segment Value
- Parent Flag
- Enabled Flag
- Account Type
- Period Name
- Set of Books Name
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- Segment Descriptive Flexfield
- Period Offset
Split Text
Combine Text
Functional Currency
Get Daily Rate
You can enter a function into an Excel cell in a number of ways.
Click the applicable button on the GL Wand toolbar (or on the GL Wand menu)
Type the function name into the cell manually prefixed by an = sign
You can select the function from the list that Excel provides when you choose the
Insert Function menu item. The GL Wand functions are listed under the special GL
Wand category (Prior to Excel 2007 they are listed in the User Defined category).
If you click the applicable function button on the toolbar and the cell you are in contains that
function, the Excel formula wizard window will open. If you click a function button in a cell
that contains other data, GL Wand will warn you that it is going to replace the contents of
the cell with the chosen formula and will give you the option of cancelling the action.
All parameters must be entered as text values i.e. enclosed in double quotes e.g. enter
“USD” when entering the currency code or enter “001” when entering a segment value.
See “Discovering versus Functions” for a comparison extracting information using the
discover tools or the functions.
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Get Balance
The Get Balance function is probably the most important function in GL Wand. It returns a
General Ledger balance individually or summed based on the parameters that you enter.
Example =Get_Balance("Jan-02","YTD","USD","E","A","BIS CORPORATE","01","T","4000-

4160","0000","000")
Clicking the Get Balance function on the GL Wand toolbar will open the Get Balance Wizard.
This form has lists of values for items like period name, balance type, actual flag etc. Select
the applicable values and enter a valid currency code and budget or encumbrance name if
required.
Double clicking a segment value or clicking the list of values button next to the segment will
open the segment list of values form for that segment. See the Segment List of Values
section for details on how to use this form. When you click the “OK” button on the Segment
List of Values form the selected segment parameters are entered against that segment in
the Get Balance Wizard form.
If your Oracle configuration includes dependant segments as part of the accounting

flexfield, this form will support selecting values based on the independent and dependant
segment values. Simply select a value from the available list of values for the independent
segment. Then open the list of values for the dependant segment. The list of available values
will be limited to only those values that are related to the selected independent segment
value.
When you have entered all the parameters click the “OK” button to insert the Get Balance
function into the selected cell with the entered parameters. Clicking the “Edit” button will
open the Get Balance function in the Excel formula wizard form which will allow you to link
parameters to cells in the Excel sheet.
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You can also open the Get Balance formula in the Excel formula wizard form using the fx
button on the formula bar or by selecting the “Insert Function” menu item on the Excel
menu bar.
Parameter Description
Period The period name as configured in Oracle. This parameter must be
entered in exactly the same format as the period names in Oracle.
For example if your period names are configured as follows “Jan-07”
in Oracle and you enter “Jan-2007” or “January-07” or “jan-07” for
this parameter, GL Wand will not return any data.
When used in conjunction with the special Balance Type “CTD”

(Custom to Date) you can specify a custom period selection. For
example “Feb-07-Aug-07” will add all the movement for the entered
period range. You may enter multiple lists or ranges of periods and
can use wild cards as well e.g. “Jan-0%” or “%-07”.
When used in conjunction with the special Balance Types “JED”,

“JEDU” or “JEDP” (Journal Effective Date) the period parameter
becomes a date parameter e.g. “01/01/2007-
05/01/2007,10/01/2007”.
The format that your date is in is important. The “-“ character is

used in GL Wand to denote a range of values and therefore it cannot
be used as a date delimiter e.g. 01-01-2007 would not be valid. So
take care if your Windows regional setting use the “-“ as a date
delimiter. For JED type calculations we recommend that you use the
“/” as a date delimiter and that you always format the date as text
in Excel otherwise Excel will convert the date based on your regional
setting.
Balance Type YTD, QTD, PTD, PJTD, CTD, JED, JEDP or JEDU all in upper case.
YTD – Summarizes the full years balance

QTD – Summarizes the balance for the quarter
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PTD – Includes just the current period’s movement
PJTD – Project to date
CTD – Summarizes the custom period criteria entered
JED – Summarizes the journal movements for the entered
dates for both posted and unposted journals.
JEDP - Summarizes the journal movements for the entered
dates for posted journals only
JEDU - Summarizes the journal movements for the entered
dates for unposted journals only
Currency Code The currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case e.g.
“USD”.
Translated Flag Enter E, T or C. Use E to retrieve the entered amount and T for the
translated amount. Use C to report on the converted amount i.e.
the functional currency equivalent of a foreign currency amount.
Only E is valid if requesting a balance for the functional currency of

the current Set of Books.
You must ensure that you have run the currency translation process
in Oracle for the selected currency and period before reporting on
translated balances. If you enter T to request the translated balance
and there is no current translated balance available in the system a
zero is returned.
Oracle Release 12 provides a new feature to allow reporting on the

values entered in the functional currency only i.e. excludes any
foreign currency transactions converted to the functional currency.
Therefore, in Release 12, if you use the E (entered) flag in
conjunction with the functional currency, any converted amounts will
be excluded. To report on the total balance (including values entered
in functional currency and values converted to the functional
currency) use the new “Total” option. This option is only available if
you log on to a release 12 Oracle instance.
Actual Flag A – Actual, B – Budget, E – Encumbrance.
Bud / Encumb Name If you enter B or E above enter the exact budget name or
encumbrance type here. Otherwise simply enter “” for actual
balances.
Segment1 through Enter the segment value here. You must enter it as a text value
Segment20 including any leading zeros e.g. enter segment value “10” as “0010”
if this segment is configured as four characters with leading zeros in
Oracle.
You may enter your segment values in a variety of flexible ways

including parents, child values, ranges, wildcards, excludes etc. See
the explanation below on valid values for this parameter.
To include all values simply enter “%”. Please note as from GL Wand
3.85.0 you can no longer leave the segment blank, a value is
required.
Book Optionally enter a set of books id to bind the formula to a specific
set of books. If this parameter is omitted, the set of books currently
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selected in the Set of Books dropdown list will be used.
Options This parameter is used to modify the results returned by the Get
Balance function from the standard behavior. Currently two options
are supported.
Source – Limit the results to a specific journal source.
Category – Limit the results to a specific journal category.
The criteria needs to be entered as follows - “Source=Manual” or

“Category=Adjustment”. To specify both a source and category use
the “|” as a delimiter e.g. “Source=Manual|Category=Adjustment”.
You can specify multiple values by separating them with “,” e.g.
“Source=Payables,Receivables”.
When creating Get Balance formulas always use “%” to denote all values as this allows more
efficient SQL to be generated. Do not use a range like “000-ZZZ” as they will require
unnecessary processing.
The segment value parameters can be entered as
a single value representing a child or parent account e.g. “1500” might represent a
parent account.
a range of values e.g. entering “1500-1600” in one of the segment parameters will
sum all the segment values between 1500 and 1600 for that segment.
a list of segment values e.g. entering “1500,1510,1590” in one of the segment
parameters will sum the specific segment values entered. If any of the segment
values are parents GL Wand will sum the hierarchy for that parent.
wild card entries e.g. 1%00 will sum 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 etc. or entering the
value 1% will sum all values that start with 1.
values to be included and then specific exclusions e.g. “1000-2000,~1500” will sum
the values between 1000 and 2000 but will skip 1500.
a combination of any of the above e.g. "1000-2000,2371,2375,2560-
2580,3000,~3200,4000,~4161-4169". In this way you can build up your own
calculation definition in the segment parameter.
Please note – there are two additional methods for specifying segment criteria in the Get
Balance function. The one allows you to specify account combinations and the other
allows the use of segment descriptive flexfields. Please see the Special Get Balance
Criteria section in order to use these options.
Segment Description
Returns the segment description for the chosen segment value.
Segment Value The segment value
Segment The segment number
IndepValue For dependent segments, enter the independent value that the
segment value relates to.
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Example =Get_Segment_Description(“1000”,3)
Next Segment Value and Previous Segment Value
Returns the next or previous segment value.
Last Value The starting segment value
Level Enter a P to return the next or previous parent value, enter a C to
return the next or previous child value or leave the parameter blank
to return the next or previous segment value irrespective of whether
it is a parent or child.
Example = Next_Segment_Value(“1000”,3,P)
Parent Flag
Returns the parent flag for the chosen segment value. Y means that the segment value is a
parent.
Example =Parent_Flag(“1000”,3)
Enabled Flag
Returns the enabled flag for the chosen segment value. Y means that the segment value is
enabled.
IndepValue For dependant segments, enter the independent value that the
Example = Enabled_Flag(“1000”,3)
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Account Type
Returns the account type for the chosen segment value. This function is only applicable for
the natural account segment and will return the value Asset, Liability etc.
Account Value The account segment value
Example =Account_Type(“1000”,3)
Period Name
Returns the period name for the chosen year and period number. Optionally the returned
value can be a certain number of periods into the future or past.
PeriodYear The year that you want the period name for
PeriodNumber The period number that you want the period name for
Offset Optionally enter an offset to return the period name which is n
periods before or after the entered criteria e.g. enter 3 to return 3
periods into the future or -1 to return the previous period.
Example =Period_Name(2006,3)
Set of Books Name
Returns the set of books name for the chosen set of books.
Example =Set_of_Books_Name()
Segment Descriptive Flexfield
Returns the segment values descriptive flexfield for the selected criteria
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AttributeNo Identify which attribute you want to report on. The segment values
descriptive flexfield has 50 possible attribute values. The applicable
attributes will depend on your configuration and whether this
Descriptive Flexfield is used by your organization.
Example =Segment_DFF(“100”,2,5) retrieves the 5th attribute on the segment values

descriptive flexfield for segment value 100 on segment 2.
Period Offset
Returns the period name for the chosen year and period number.
Period The period name as configured in Oracle. This parameter must be
entered in exactly the same format as the period names in Oracle.
For example if your period names are configured as follows “Jan-07”
in Oracle and you enter “Jan-2007” or “January-07” or “jan-07” for
this parameter, GL Wand will not return any data.
Offset Enter an offset to return the period name which is n periods before
or after the entered criteria e.g. enter 3 to return 3 periods into the
future or -1 to return the previous period.
RetRange Enter TRUE (or 1) to return the result as a range e.g. entering
period Mar-07 with an offset of -2 and the RetRange set to true will
return “Jan-07-Mar-07”. This can be used in conjunction with the
CTD (Custom to Date) balance type in the Get Balance function to
create rolling period reporting.
Example =Period_Offset("Jan-07",-2,TRUE)
Split Text
Splits delimited text and returns a specific portion based on an offset. Especially useful to
split account combinations but can be used to split any text.
Value Some text which has been concatenated using a delimiter e.g. an
account combination like “01.100.7000”.
Offset Identify which portion of the text to return.
Delimiter Defaults to “.” if you leave this parameter blank but you can override
it to any delimiter.
Example =Split_Text("01.100.7000",2) will return the “100” portion of the text.
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Combine Text
Combines selected text separated by a delimiter. Especially useful to combine segment

values to create a delimited account combinations but can be used to combine any text.
Segment1 through Enter segment values that you wish to combine into an account
Segment20 combination.
Delimiter Defaults to “.” if you leave this parameter blank but you can override
it to any delimiter.
Example =Combine_Text("01","100","7000") will return “01.100.7000”.
Functional Currency
Returns the functional currency for the set of books.
Example =Functional_Currency()
Get Daily Rate
Returns the daily exchange rate for the entered criteria.
FromCurrency The “From” currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case
e.g. “USD”.
ToCurrency The “To” currency code as configured in Oracle all in upper case e.g.
“USD”.
ConversionType The conversion type as configured in Oracle. Spelling and case must
be identical to the Oracle configuration.
ConversionDate The conversion date. This must be in Excel date format. Either refer
to a cell which contains a date or use one of the Excel date functions
to return a date in the parameter.
Example =Get_Daily_Rate("USD","GBP","Reporting",DATE(2009,1,1))
Function return values
The GL Wand functions will return a variety of results depending on a number of factors. If
all the information is entered correctly and there are no restrictions on access to the data or
the GL Wand itself, the result should be the General Ledger balance, segment value,
segment description etc. However the following are also possible return values.
glwDemo – this means that you are using GL Wand without a valid trial key entered
into the GL Wand: License Key profile option. When trying GL Wand without a valid
43
trial key you are only allowed to use the first 20 rows and 20 columns of the first
sheet in the workbook. Any formula entered outside this range will not calculate a
value but will only return the word “glwDemo”. This is called evaluation mode. A
trial key needs to be requested from within GL Wand and entered into the profile
option to allow full access to all functionality.
glwNoAccess – When you log on you will be prompted for your applications user name
and password and will then need to select a responsibility to log on to. Any security
rules that have been linked to the selected responsibility will be enforced on the GL
Wand data. If you attempt to access a balance on a general ledger account that you
do not have access to, the function will return the word “glwNoAccess”. Please see
the “Audit Get Balance” section for information on how to identify the security rule
that is being contravened.
Please note that Oracle's Hierarchical Security is not supported.
glwError – If you enter invalid information in a parameter for a GL Wand function the
GL Wand error value will be returned. This may happen when you, for example,
enter an invalid budget name or period name in the Get Balance function or when you
enter an invalid segment number in the next segment value function. This error value
will also be returned when you are not logged on. The details of the return value will
indicate where the problem exists e.g. glwError (Logon), glwError (Balance Type),
glwError (Translated Flag), glwError (Actual Flag), glwError (Missing segment),
glwError (Data error), glwError (Range), glwError (Period).
glwPending – This value will be returned during the calculation process. Whenever a
cell requires calculation and the process has not been completed yet, the cell will
contain the value “glwPending”.
glwEditing – Displays in the Excel function arguments window when editing a Get
Balance formula.
glwNotLoaded – This may display as the result of the Get_Segment_DFF formula or in
the Balance drill down report. To correct the problem ensure that you tick the option
to load descriptive flexfield information during the logon.
Discovering versus Functions
You may have noticed that you can achieve similar results by using the discover tools and
using the functions. For example you could use the “Discover Down” button to retrieve the
next segment value or you could use the “Next Segment Value” function to return the same
result. The difference between these two approaches is as follows:
Discovering Functions
Discovering and Functions
Results returned as text string to Excel Value is calculated based on

Comparison between
cell parameters
Value is static Value is dynamic
Never changes Recalculated when sheet refreshed
Lower performance overhead Higher performance overhead
Discover Down Next Segment Value
Discover Up Previous Segment Value
Discover Left Next Segment Value
Discover Right Previous Segment Value
Segment Description
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Discover Properties Parent flag
Enabled Flag
Account Type
Discover Child Ranges No equivalent
Parameters of next segment value,
Toggle Discover Level determine whether parents, children or
both are returned.
Use the discover buttons with “Period”
Period Name
selected in the segment drop down
Balance Extract is similar to Get
Balance, though the static values it Get Balance
produces are refreshable.
Special Get Balance Criteria
GL Wand supports two special types of criteria in the Get Balance function namely “Account
Combinations” and “Segment Descriptive Flexfield” criteria. These two forms of the Get
Balance criteria have very specific syntax which must be carefully adhered to in order to
achieve the correct results. You also have the ability to expand account combinations for a
selection that uses the “Account Combination” criteria.
Account Combinations
In the past the Get Balance function only supported individual segment values e.g. segment
2 = 100 or 200 and segment 3 = 1000 or 2000. This would result in GL Wand returning all
the possible combinations of those segment 2 and 3 values.
Now you have the ability to specify account combinations using the new Get Balance syntax.
This means that you can create new complex criteria for your Get Balance formula e.g.
(segment 2 = 100 and segment 3 = 1000) or (segment 2 = 200 and segment 3 = 2000).
With these criteria GL Wand will no longer return all the possible combinations but rather
only the combinations you specify.
In order to specify account combinations in a Get Balance function, you must tell GL Wand
which segments you are combining. You do this by entering a special value into the segment
e.g. if you want to combine criteria for segment 2 and segment 3 you would enter the
following in the parameter for segment 2 “Use_Seg3”. This tells GL Wand that that it must
find the criteria for segment 2 inside the segment 3 parameter. In the segment 3 parameter
you now enter the criteria for both segment 2 and segment 3, separated by the special
delimiter character e.g. “100.1000”. This tells GL Wand that you are looking for accounts
where segment 2 is 100 and segment 3 is 1000. An example could look like this:
=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","",
"01","Use_Seg3","100.1000,200.2000","0000","000")
It is possible to combine multiple segments as follows:
"01","Use_Seg5","Use_Seg5","Use_Seg5","100.1000.0000.000")
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You simply point each applicable segment to the parameter where the account combination
using the special “Use_SegX” syntax. Then inside the target parameter you combine the fully
qualified account combination for the applicable segments delimited with a “.” character.
When you specify your account combination you have full flexibility to use ranges, lists, wild
cards, parents and exclude criteria. For example this criteria will fetch all the values where
segment 2 is between 100 and 200 and segment 3 is between 1000 and 2000. And in
addition to that it will include the values where segment 2 is 250 (a parent) and segment 3
starts with 33 but will exclude the specific value where segment 2 is 250 and segment 3 is
3320.
=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","Use_Seg3","100.1000-
200.2000,250.33%,~250.3320","0000","000")
You also have the flexibility to group different parts of the account combination together. For
example this criteria combines the values for segment 1 and 3 together and combines
segment 2 and 4 together.
"Use_Seg3","Use_Seg4","01.1000,02.1150","100.0000,200.1050","000")
These new Get Balance syntax options provide you with tremendous flexibility when building
your GL Wand reports.
Expand Account Combinations
The expand feature allows you to extract all the detailed child segment values that roll up to
the criteria that the user specifies. The expand feature has been extended to support
account combinations.
In order to expand an account combination you would do the following:
 Ensure that the correct set of books is selected in the drop down list on the GL Wand
toolbar
 Select the cell containing the account combination criteria e.g. “100.7000”
 Click the expand button
GL Wand will now identify that the selected cell contains an account combination rather than
a single segment value. You will now be presented with a window to identify which segments
from your chart of accounts are represented in the account combination.
46
Select the correct segments and click “OK”. GL Wand will now extract all the child
combinations that roll up to the criteria that you entered and insert them into the Excel
sheet.
The other options are as follows:
 Fix – if you tick this option for a segment, GL Wand will “peg” that segment using the
selected value (this option only makes sense for a parent segment value). You might
for example want to expand all the account combinations used in a particular parent
cost centre. Simply “Fix” the cost centre segment and GL Wand will return all the
account combinations used within that parent cost centre.
 Exclude disabled account combination – tick this option to only return account
combinations that are currently enabled and have not been end dated.
The expand account combinations feature can be used as a normal GL Wand “Expand” in
order to extract the detail behind a total, but it is also very useful to extract existing account
combinations from your Oracle system.
This feature can be used very effectively with the Split Text and Combine Text functions.
Segment Descriptive Flexfields
In order to extract balances using the descriptive flexfields stored on the segment values
you need to use special syntax in the Get Balance function. The syntax works as follows:
{1:ABC}
 You wrap the descriptive flexfield using curly brackets

 The first character after the open bracket identifies which descriptive flexfield
attribute is being referred to.
 You then separate the descriptive flexfield attribute from the actual value using a “:”.
 You then specify the criteria for this attribute.
An example Get Balance function would look as follows:
=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:ABC}","1000","0000","000")
This example will return all the values where attribute 1 of the segment descriptive flexfield
on segment 2 is equal to the value “ABC”.
It is possible to specify criteria for multiple descriptive flexfields as follows:
=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:ABC}{2:XX}","1000","0000","000")
Simply wrap each descriptive flexfield value in its own {} and identify the attribute number.
At this stage the descriptive flexfield criteria is restricted to a single value or a single range
of values. Lists of values and multiple ranges are not supported. A range can be specified
using the special range delimiter “|” (pipe character). This character is different to the range
character that is used for normal Get Balance segment parameters. The reason is that the
normal range delimiter “-“ may easily be used in a segment descriptive flexfields and
therefore is not suitable. In future you will be able to configure your own range delimiter
47
character which will provide the best flexibility. The range criteria can be specified as
follows:
=Get_Balance("Jan-02","PTD","USD","E","A","","01","{1:100|200}","1000","0000","000")
This example will return all the values where attribute 1 of the segment descriptive flexfield
on segment 2 is between 100 and 200. Date values are also supported in this criteria and GL
Wand will correctly derive the “between” criteria for a date.
Calculating
The three calculation buttons allow you to control exactly what cells are refreshed from
Oracle. They are used in conjunction with the GL Wand calculation option (on/off). You can
stop a calculation at any time by clicking cancel.
- Calculate Range (Alt+Ctl+R)
- Calculate Sheet (Alt+Ctl+S)
- Calculate All (Alt+Ctl+A)
- GL Wand calculation on
- GL Wand calculation off
Calculate Range, Sheet or All
The three calculation buttons allow you to control exactly what is recalculated.
To calculate a range of cells simply
1. Highlight the range

2. Click the “Calculate Range” button or use the Alt+Ctl+R shortcut key
3. Select multiple ranges using the ctrl button (as normal in Excel).
4. Select a range and then select multiple Excel worksheets to calculate the same range on
each sheet.
Please note, do not use the calculate range option to recalculate the entire sheet i.e. by
selecting all the cells on the sheet. This will take unnecessarily longer. Rather use the
calculate sheet option.
To calculate a sheet simply
1. Select the applicable sheet

2. Click the “Calculate Sheet” button or use the Alt+Ctl+S shortcut key.
3. Selecting multiple sheets will calculate each of the selected sheets.
To calculate all open workbooks simply
1. Click the “Calculate All” button or use the Alt+Ctl+A shortcut key.
48
GL Wand calculation on or off
You can use the GL Wand calculation toggle button to control when requests for calculations
are sent to the Oracle server.
If you toggle GL Wand calculation “Off”, calculation requests are not sent to the Oracle
server which means you
you can manipulate a worksheet

change cell values
enter new formulae; and
perform any other task that would normally cause Excel to recalculate
and the applicable functions will only return the “glwPending” status and will not
actually calculate a result.
This is useful during report development.
To calculate the results simply click one of the three calculation buttons “Calculate Range,
Sheet or All”.
If you leave the GL Wand calculation option “On”, the applicable functions will be
recalculated whenever Excel initiates a calculation process e.g.
when changing the contents of the cell

changing one of the functions input values
deleting a column or row in the worksheet etc.
Please note that the GL Wand calculation option has nothing to do with Excel’s automatic
and manual calculation. The GL Wand calculation option controls only the calculation of the
applicable GL Wand functions. All other calculations are controlled as normal by the Excel
automatic and manual calculation option.
Calculation progress and stopping a calculation
When you perform a recalculation a window will appear to show the progress of the
calculation.
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If you would like to cancel the calculation process simply click the “Cancel” button.
Please note that GL Wand will need to wait for the next reply from Oracle before the
connection can be closed. Therefore it may take some time before the calculation stops and
the window closes.
Snapshot
- Snapshot
The snapshot tool can be used to take a snapshot of your GL Wand report. This tool will
remove all the GL Wand functions from the workbook and will replace them with the values
that the function returned.
The results are similar to using the Excel “paste values” functionality. However, this process
will only replace GL Wand formulas. All other Excel formulas will be left as they were.
Please note that you cannot take a snapshot of a protected worksheet, rather output the
sheet to PDF format for archive and distribution purposes.
When producing a snapshot, GL Wand will request a name for the new workbook. You can
select an existing workbook and GL Wand will give you the option to append the snapshot
results to the existing workbook or overwrite the existing workbook. You therefore have the
option of producing various snapshot reports and combining them into one new workbook in
a single operation rather than producing a separate workbook for each snapshot.
Hide zeros
- Hide zeros in selected range
Select a report range that contains rows where all the numbers are zero. Click the hide zeros
button and GL Wand will hide all the rows in the selected range where all the cells containing
numbers are zero. This is very useful for formatting a report which includes many rows
where, for example, a number of accounts are not used in a particular cost centre or have no
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balances in a certain period. At the click of a button you can hide all the rows that contain
only zeros.
Select the entire report range when using the hide zeros function. GL Wand checks the
selected range for zeros when determining which rows to hide.
Excel automatically forces a recalculation of Get Balance formulas when you hide rows on a
report. This is normal Excel functionality.
This feature can be used on any Excel worksheet and is not limited to GL Wand reports.
Undo Hide Zeros (Tools Menu)
- Undo the last hide zeros operation
Click this button to automatically undo the last hide zeros operation.
Drill downs
- Drill to default Balance layout
- Drill to default Journal layout
- Drill to default Sub Ledger layout
The drill down options allow you to extract additional detail about a specific “Get Balance”
function.
1. Select a cell that contains a valid Get Balance function.

2. Click on the drill to balance button.
3. A new GL Wand drill down workbook is created.
4. The criteria sheet will be populated with the criteria from the Get Balance function.
5. The drill down to balance detail will be executed showing all the detailed accounts that
make up the total in the Get Balance function.
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See the Create Drill Criteria Sheet section for more details and options on the drill down
criteria sheet.
Budget variance analysis: If you select two cells on the GL Wand report e.g. one cell with
actual values and one with budget numbers, GL Wand will perform a drill down on the Get
Balance function and display the actual and budget values next to each other and a
calculated variance.
You now have a variety of options which can be performed from the drill down workbook.
1. Modify the parameters on the criteria sheet and perform a new drill to balance. Drop
down lists are provided for most of the parameters, see the Create Drill Criteria Sheet for
more details.
2. Create a summary drill down report.
3. If you have performed a balance drill down you can select the “Balance” sheet and then
click drill down to journal details after selecting one or more rows with accounts.
4. Select the “Journal” sheet and then click the button to drill down to the full journal
after selecting one or more rows with journal lines. The full journal with all the contra
entries for the selected journal lines will be displayed.
5. Select the “Journal” or “Journal-Full” sheet and then click sub-ledger drill down after
selecting one or more rows with journal lines.
6. Drill down to Global Consolidation System transactions.
When drilling down you have the following options:
Double click any cell on the row that you wish to drill down on.
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Select any cell in the row that you want to drill down on and click the applicable drill
down button on the GL Wand toolbar.
Highlight a range of rows and click the applicable drill down button on the GL Wand
toolbar to drill down on multiple lines at once.
Highlight non contiguous rows using the “Ctrl” button and click the applicable drill
down button on the GL Wand toolbar to drill down on multiple lines which are not
adjacent to each other.
It is possible to drill from a Get Balance formula directly to the journal or sub ledger
information. Similarly you can drill from a detailed balance (on the Balance worksheet)
directly to the sub ledger information. If you select these options, GL Wand will execute the
interim drill steps automatically. Be careful when performing a drill down directly to the
journal or sub ledger detail level as these drill down operations may return many records.
GL Wand will automatically group the drill down to journals and sub ledger information using
Excel’s group and outline functionality. This will allow you expand and collapse the data to
show just a portion of the report. Headings are also inserted on the journal and sub-ledger
drill down to make the report easier to read.
On the sub-ledger drill down the heading includes a number in brackets e.g. “(23) Journal
Name 123”. The number indicates which Excel row these sub-ledger lines originated from on
the “Journals” sheet.
You can use the remove drill down report headings button to strip out the headings on
the journal and sub-ledger drill down sheets.
A couple of important things to note about drill downs:
GL Wand will first count the number of rows that will be retrieved by the drill down
operation
If the row count is more than 1000 you will receive a warning message asking you if
you want to continue
If the row count is more than the defined limit (see Query Limit) you will receive a
warning and the drill down will be cancelled
If the row count is more than the number of rows available in your version of Excel
you will receive an error and the drill down will be cancelled
When you drill down to journal details, the “Balance Type” parameter controls how
much detail is returned. If this parameter is “PTD” only the current period’s journals
are returned. If this parameter is “YTD” then all the journals for the year are returned
and likewise “QTD” will show the journal for the quarter.
Ensure that the worksheet is calculated before performing any drill down functions. Also
ensure that the cell contains a “Get Balance” function with valid parameter information.
A new drill down workbook will be created each time you perform a drill down operation from
a Get Balance function. Once you are finished with a drill down workbook, simply close it
without saving.
You cannot drill down to journal detail on translated balances.
Oracle Global Consolidation System
Drill down to Oracle Global Consolidation System (GCS) transactions is also supported.
These items will appear on the journal drill down report with a source and category of
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“Consolidation”. If you execute a normal drill down to Sub Ledger on these transactions a
new GL Wand drill workbook will be created and the drill down to the subsidiary set of books
will be executed.
In order to drill down on a GCS transaction you must be logged on the parent as well as the
subsidiary set of books. This can be done using the Multiple Sets of Books logon option.
Summary Balance Drill Down
On the drill down Criteria sheet, toggle the summarization option to “Y” for any segment that
you which to summaries by. GL Wand creates a summary trial balance report and
summarizes by the selected segments. The report can still be expanded to show the detailed
lines and you can still drill down to journals from these lines.
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Drill Down Batching
With the drill down batching option enabled, GL Wand will execute the drill downs more
efficiently. This option will help with the performance of large drill down reports. You also
have the option to cancel the process.
Drill to My Layout
- Drill to My Balance layout
- Drill to My Journal layout
- Drill to My Sub Ledger layout
GL Wand allows you to customize the layout of the drill down reports. There are a number of
possible drill layout options:
When GL Wand is initially installed, each drill down report has a default layout.
The default drill layout is used each time a standard drill down is performed.
The default drill layout can be edited – see the Edit Default Drill Layout option.
When a drill down is performed a new GL Wand Drill Workbook is created, these
workbooks can be saved for future use or sent to others so that they can use these
layouts to perform their own drill downs.
To create custom drill layouts follow this process:
1. Use the Edit Default Drill Layout option to create the layout that you require e.g.
create a layout to be used for Accounts Receivable drill downs.
2. Perform a standard drill down which will create a new drill workbook using the new
layout that you just created.
3. Save this workbook and call is something like “My Accounts Receivable Layout”.
4. Repeat this process to create other drill down layouts.
Now you can make use of these custom drill layouts. When performing a drill down from a
Get Balance function, instead of using the standard drill down buttons, use one of the “Drill
to My Layout” options. You will be presented with one of the following options:
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If there are no GL Wand drill workbooks open, you will be prompted to open one that
you would like to use for the drill down.
If there is only one GL Wand drill workbook open the drill down will be executed into
that drill workbook.
If you have multiple GL Wand drill workbooks open you will be presented with a list of
Drill workbooks to choose from. The drill down will be executed into the selected
workbook.
With these options you can create as many custom drill layouts as you like and save them as
Excel spreadsheets with appropriate names. You can then use these drill layouts whenever
you need them or share them with other users.
The GL Wand drill down workbooks have certain hidden columns and rows that must not be
modified. Other changes to the reports are permitted e.g. changing column widths, column
orders, column headings and column formatting.
Drill Downs – Calculated Excel Columns
You can add your own calculated columns in the GL Wand drill down reports as follows:
Execute a normal drill down to journal detail for example.
Now insert a column using normal Excel functionality. Ensure that you give the new
column a heading.
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Then unhide the special hidden row 2. Ensure that you only modify the contents of
row 2 in the new column that you have inserted. Modifying any of the other cells in
this hidden row may cause problems with the drill down template.
Enter your formula in this cell using normal Excel functionality. You can include any
formula or function from Excel or GL Wand.
Add any formatting you like to this cell.
Hide the special row 2 again.

Execute the drill down again.
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GL Wand copies your new formula into each report row as it populates the drill down
results.
Save this drill down template and reuse it for future drill downs.
You can add calculated Excel columns to any of the GL Wand drill down reports.
This functionality can be used very effectively in conjunction with the new Reports Wand
module. You can insert a Run Report formula into a calculated Excel column which can be
linked to fields returned by the GL Wand drill down. When you double click on this Run
Report formula, Reports Wand will execute the custom SQL statement that you have created
and can provide additional detail which is not provided by the standard GL Wand drill down
report.
Sort Drill Report
- Sort the drill report
With a drill down report as the active sheet, click the sort button under the drill menu. GL
Wand will highlight the correct report range (ensuring that all rows and columns, including
the special hidden id columns are selected) and open the Excel sort window.
Configuration Sheet (Tools Menu)
- Configuration Sheet
When you click the “Configuration Sheet” button, GL Wand inserts a new worksheet into the
current workbook that contains a variety of information about the configuration of your Set
of Books.
The Configuration Sheet includes the
chart of accounts layout showing each segment’s details,

example period names,
valid balance types,
available currency codes,
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valid actual flags,
budget names and encumbrance types,
definition of the segment values descriptive flexfield as configured in your system.
The information on the Configuration Sheet can be useful when constructing GL Wand
functions.
The period names will show you how the accounting period has been configured for your Set
of Books e.g. the period names may be in the format
Apr-03
or they might be April-03.
This is very important, because when you populate the Period name parameter of the “Get
Balance” function you must enter it in
the correct format

the correct case
otherwise GL Wand will not find the data you have requested.
The new Period Name function will return the period name in the correct format and can be
used as an input into the Get Balance function.
The budget and encumbrance names are also very useful, as these must also be entered in
the correct case and with the correct spelling in order to successfully extract a budget or
encumbrance balance.
Options (Tools Menu)
- Options
The options form allows you to
create database connections

initiate an upgrade
set other GL Wand options
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Connections
GL Wand connects to the Oracle Applications database using internet architecture. This
means that the only setting required on the client is the connection URL.
This required URL will depend on the GL Wand server component that you are using. There
are three possibilities. If you are not sure which method you are using to connect to your
Oracle system please check with the applications DBA.
Connection option 1 - If you are connecting to GL Wand on an Oracle release 11i system
using the Mod PL/SQL connection method then the required URL is the Applications Web
Agent URL. This URL is stored in an Oracle Applications profile option called “Applications
Web Agent”. You can query this profile option through the main Oracle Applications forms.
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Connection option 2 - If you are connecting to GL Wand on an Oracle release 11i system
using the java servlet method then the required URL will be as follows:
http://server1.domain.com:port/servlets
For example - http://visionjhb1.excel4apps.com:8000/servlets
The first part will be the same as the URL that you use to log on to Oracle and you
simply add /servlets to it.
Connection option 3 - If you are connecting to GL Wand on an Oracle release 12 system

then the required URL will be as follows:
http://server1.domain.com:port/OA_HTML
For example - http://visionjhb1.excel4apps.com:8000/OA_HTML
The first part will be the same as the URL that you use to log on to Oracle and you
simply add /OA_HTML to it.
To create a new connection click the option button next to the connection that you which to
add or edit. A maximum of 5 connections can be created.
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Select a new line in the connections section and enter a connection name like “Prod” or
“Dev” to identify the connection. Type the connection URL in the space provided. Note that
you can copy a URL (e.g. from an e-mail) and paste it into the space provided using ctrl-v or
clicking the right mouse button. If this connection should use your internet explorer settings
to find the correct path to the server (e.g. it must go through a proxy server or via the
Internet) then tick the check box on that line.
You can then test the connection using the test button. Click the “Test” button to open a web
browser which will navigate to the GL Wand test page.
You should see the page shown above. This means that the GL Wand server side install has
been successfully completed. If you get a “Page cannot be found” error it means that either
the GL Wand server side install has not been completed successfully or the Oracle
Application server is down. This page also shows the database indexes on the key tables
utilized by GL Wand.
Click “OK” on the main options screen to save your changes. This connection will now be
available in the log on screen.
From the options screen you can select an existing connection to delete. Click the “Delete”
button and the connection will be removed. Click “OK” to save your changes.
Click the “Users” button to see an HTML report showing all the Oracle user accounts that
have been flagged as GL Wand users.
Upgrade
If you want to check if there is a new version of GL Wand available simply click the upgrade
button on the options screen.
GL Wand periodically checks for new versions of the product and provides the users with the
ability to perform an upgrade. It either checks a shared folder on your corporate LAN or else
it checks on the internet at Excel4apps.com. This is controlled by populating the profile
option “GL Wand: Upgrade Location” with the appropriate information. Refer to the profile
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options section in this user guide for more information. If a new version is detected it will be
downloaded and the installation will be initiated.
Disable Summary Account Checking
The Oracle General Ledger provides the functionality to hold summary balances for a parent
GL account. When calculating balances, GL Wand first checks if the account you are
requesting is a summary account. If it is it simply fetches the balance on this account. If not,
it calculates the balance based on the defined parent hierarchy.
This summary account check takes time. Therefore, if you know that your organization does
not use summary accounts, leave this option ticked (default).
HTTP Packet Size
This value can be changed in order to control the number of calculations that are sent to
Oracle in each calculation batch. The default is dynamic. With this setting selected, GL Wand
will dynamically recalculate the optimal packet size to use for each calculation batch based
on how quickly your Oracle instance resolves the Get Balance SQL queries. If your system is
resolving the queries quickly, the HTTP packet size will be increased to allow more
calculations to be performed in one batch. If the queries are running slower than average,
the HTTP packet size will be reduced. This dynamic mode will attempt to ensure that you do
not receive a timeout due to the Get Balance SQL queries taking too long to complete.
If you prefer, you can override the dynamic option and pick a specific HTTP packet size. We
recommend that you only do this in one of two situations. Firstly, if you know your system
processes the Get Balance SQL queries quickly e.g. upwards of 10 cells per second, you can
choose the maximum HTTP packet size of 32000. This will ensure that GL Wand sends the
most calculations in each batch that it possibly can. The second situation where you might
override this setting is if the dynamic calculations are not providing the optimal HTTP packet
size on your system for some reason. In this case select the appropriate HTTP packet size
from the list.
You should only modify the HTTP packet size if you are experiencing errors during the
calculation process typically when a batch of calculations runs for more than 5 minutes.
Otherwise leave it at the default.
Trace Mode
Trace mode is used for troubleshooting problems with Excel4apps support.
Logon Method
GL Wand supports a new logon method via the Oracle logon screen (default). You can use
this option to switch the logon method back to the Excel based logon screen. The Excel
method should not be used unless the “Oracle” method does not function correctly.
Show secured segment values
Select or de-select the “Show secured segment values” option to determine whether secured
segment values are shown in the list of values window and included in the discover process.
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Note: Even though a user can control the visibility of items secured by segment value
security rules, Get Balance functions will not display secured values but rather the message
“glwNoAccess" to indicate a security rule breach.
Show disabled segment values
Select or de-select the “Show disabled segment values” option to determine whether
disabled segment values are shown in the list of values window and included in the discover
process.
Budget Upload
This option works in conjunction with the budget upload functionality. See the section on
deleting duplicates during a budget upload for more detail.
Parent Cache Option
With this option enabled the GL Wand logon screen will have a new check box which allows
you to select an alternative method for processing Get Balance formulas. This option must
be enabled on the options form before this new tick box will appear on the logon form. This
is to avoid confusing any users that have no need for this option.
Once this option is enabled you can tick this checkbox at each logon and vary it to suit which
ever method provides you with the best performance for particular GL Wand reports.
In certain situations this alternate Get Balance processing method can result in a significant
performance improvement. Typically it will only improve performance on those Oracle
systems which are currently giving poor performance. This would normally be less than 5
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cells per second calculation rate. If you are already achieving calculation rates of more than
this then chances are this option will not improve performance on your environment.
When selecting this option, the initial GL Wand logon may be slower. We recommend testing
your slower GL Wand reports using the old and the new method to determine which method
is better for your environment.
Enable Drill Down Batching and Batch Size
This option determines if GL Wand uses batching to process drill down requests. With this
option enabled the drill down process can handle large drill downs more efficiently and also
provides a Cancel option to stop the process.
The Batch Size tells GL Wand how many records to fetch with each batch. The default is
1000 which should be suitable for most situations.
Report Manager
These options are as follows:
Process Disabled Segment Values – Uncheck this option if you would prefer report
manger to skip disabled segment values when producing reports.
Email Client – If you wish to create emails from the report manager choose your
email client. “Outlook – Draft” is the default. For Outlook and GroupWise the only
available option is to create a draft email with the reports attached which must then
me sent by clicking the send button manually. For Lotus Notes you can choose to
create a draft mail message or to actually send the mail.
Create Drill Criteria Sheet (Tools Menu)
A drill down can be performed by selecting a cell containing a Get Balance formula and
clicking the drill down button on the toolbar. However, you may wish to bypass the
requirement for a Get Balance formula and simply extract data based on parameters that
you set. The Drill Down Criteria Sheet functionality allows you to very quickly extract the
detailed general ledger balances and journals that meet certain criteria. This is useful when
large numbers of individual GL balances are required as the values are returned faster than
by using many individual “Get Balance” formulae.
- Create drill down criteria sheet
1. Click on the "Create drill down criteria sheet" button.

2. A new GL Wand drill down workbook is created
3. Enter the parameters for the data that you wish to extract on the criteria sheet of this
new workbook. The criteria are exactly the same as the parameters of the Get Balance
function and operate in the same manner.
4. Use the balance drill down button on the GL Wand toolbar to execute the drill down.
5. This workbook operates in exactly the same manner as a normal drill down. See the Drill
downs section for more details.
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Enter a period or double click the cell to select it from the drop down list
Choose the balance type. Please note that selecting “YTD” will extract all the journal
lines for the year when executing a journal drill down and similarly “QTD” will extract
the journals for the quarter.
Enter the required currency code
Pick “E” entered or “T” translated balances (Or Total if using Oracle R12)
Pick “A” actual, “B” budgets or “E” encumbrance for the primary balance type. If you
select “B” or “E” then you must populate the Bud/Enc Name parameter with the
budget version name or encumbrance type. Please note this must be spelt correctly.
Optionally populate the secondary balance parameters. They work in the same
manner as the primary balance parameters. If you do populate the secondary balance
parameters and perform a balance drill down the “Balance” sheet will contain a list of
the primary balance values with the secondary balance values alongside them and a
variance between the two.
Populate the segment values. You can enter values directly into the Excel cells or you
can pick them from a list of values. To use the list of values simply double click the
cell where you want the parameters entered or select the applicable cell and click the
list of values button on the GL Wand toolbar. The list of values form will open (see
the Segment List of Value sections for more details). When you click “OK” on the
segment list of values form the parameters that you have selected will be entered
into the current cell.
Toggle the summarization option “Y” for any segment that you wish to summaries by.
Enter a journal source or category to limit the results to only the journals meeting
those criteria.
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Note that GL Wand will remember your selections for secondary balance criteria as well as
which segments you have selected for summarization. Future drill down operations will apply
these parameters automatically.
Report Wizard (Tools Menu)
- Report wizard
The report wizard is useful for building your very first example report from which to learn GL
Wand principles.
The report wizard will create a template report using your set of books configuration. The
report has a standard layout and allows you to specify one segment as the “Page” item and
one segment as the “Row” item. A report is created with a list of values at the top of the
report for the chosen “Page” segment. The report lists the first ten child segment values
down the rows of the report for the chosen “Row” segment. The report wizard creates
generic Get Balance formulas to build the detailed values of the report.
Start by entering the parameters for the report.
The special items “Rows” and “Page” can be selected from the segment list of values and
may be entered against one segment only. The “Page” and “Rows” values must be included
against one segment. Clicking “OK” will generate the report.
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Once you have generated the report you can extend it to incorporate other values by
inserting more rows and copying and pasting the generic Get Balance formulas. You now
have the freedom and power of Excel to extend it and modify it as needed.
Audit Get Balance (Tools Menu)
This button can be used to obtain information about how GL Wand is processing the segment
values of a Get Balance function. It can be specifically helpful to indentify which security
rules are being contravened when the Get Balance returns “glwNoAccess”.
Select a single cell containing a Get Balance function.

Click this button
GL Wand calculates the cell and creates a new Excel workbook containing a log of
how the Get Balance function processed its segment parameters.
The log output is fairly self explanatory but if you require assistance interpreting the results
please contact Excel4apps support.
Convert FSG (Tools Menu)
The FSG conversion utility can be used to import an FSG report definition from Oracle. You
can then format the data and link it to Get Balance and other GL Wand formulas to complete
the report. A demonstration of how to use this feature can be found on the Excel4apps web
site.
Import Definition
Select the FSG report that you wish to import. GL Wand will create a new workbook which
contains the RowSet and ColumnSet information from the FSG report.
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Please note that the information extracted is the basic RowSet and ColumnSet data to cater
for an FSG report of average complexity. The more advanced reports may not be catered for
100%. For calculations, only simple addition and subtraction calculations are replicated into
an Excel formula.
Once the information has been populated into the Excel spreadsheet you can use the
following as a guideline to complete your GL Wand report.
Review Row definitions and consolidate segment low high ranges into input
parameters for the Get Balance function.
Review Column definitions and consolidate segment low high ranges into input
parameters for the Get Balance function.
Modify the sample Get Balance function to reference valid parameters. These may be
from the report header, the RowSet account assignments, the ColumnSet account
assignments, the ColumnSet override values or hardcoded values. Then copy & paste
the formula across report.
Insert additional GL Wand & Excel formula's as needed (e.g. Segment description and
Budget Variance and other calculations).
Remove or hide unused Rows/Columns, format report and Expand Rows where
required.
Merge Low High Segment Ranges
The account assignment information is presented as Low High ranges of segment values as
per the definition in the FSG report. In order to use this information in a segment parameter
of the Get Balance function one often needs to merge the values into a single cell of ranges
and lists of segment values. You can use the Merge Low High Segment Ranges button to
automate this process.
Select a range of Low High segment ranges that need to be merged

Click the Merge Low High Segment Ranges button
The selection is merged into a single cell of ranges and lists of segment values.
Report Manager (Tools Menu)
- Create Report Manager workbook
- Execute the selected range
- Execute the selected sheets
- Execute all the sheets in the current workbook
Report Manager allows you to batch produce (replicate) GL Wand reports from a source
report, snapshot them and then automatically convert them to various formats. In addition
you can optionally choose to print the reports and or email them to specified recipients. For
example, you might have a standard GL Wand report that you wish to replicate for a range
of cost centers in your organization. With report manager you can configure a report set
definition and then execute that definition and the production of the reports will be
automated for you.
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The first step is to create the source GL Wand report using Get Balance formulas as normal.
Ensure that you link the applicable parameters of the Get Balance function to appropriate
cells in the workbook. For example, if you want to replicate this report for a range of cost
centers, ensure that you have a cell somewhere in the workbook where the cost centre can
be captured. Then link the applicable parameter of all the Get Balance formulas in the report
to this cell. When you change the value in this cell, all the Get Balance formulas should
recalculate for the new cost centre.
Report Set Definition
Next you create a report manager workbook. Click the create button on the toolbar. This
button is in the tools section, under Report Manager. You will be presented with a form to
capture the details of the report set definition.
1. In this form click the “Select” button and choose the GL Wand source report. If the
report is not currently open, GL Wand will open it.
2. Optionally select the output folder and file name to group reports in to.
3. Tick the options that you want e.g. Excel, PDF, HTML, Print and email.
4. Tick the applicable items that you want GL Wand to loop though when the report is
created.
5. For each ticked item, populate the Cell Link field. You can type in this field but it is
easier to simply click the applicable target cell on the worksheet and the field will be
correctly populated with the cell reference.
6. Optionally select the From and To values that you want GL Wand to loop through.
These fields can also be populated on the next screen.
7. Optionally select a range on the report where you would like to execute a “Hide
Zeros”. Report Manager will hide the zeros in this range for each report produced.
When you are finished populating the form click “OK”. A new workbook will be created and
the report set definition will be populated.
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This is a normal Excel workbook. However the structure must not be changed. The only
changes that you may make to this workbook are to insert more lines and to populate the
white fields. Any other changes will most likely corrupt the definition and Report Manager
will give an error when you try to execute the definition.
Modifying the Criteria
You can now modify and populate this report as follows:
Modify the report name in cell E4. This can be done by editing the cell, but we
recommend that you rather double click the cell and select the report from the
normal file open dialogue box. If you edit the cell directly you must ensure that you
capture the path and file name correctly.
Optionally modify the output folder and grouping file name. You can double click
output folder cell to select the folder from a dialogue box.
Optionally edit the hide zeros range.
You can edit the cell links in row 7. Please ensure that you enter valid cell references.
Edit the parameters by capturing from and to values and toggling the Y / N flags for
the various options.
Enter applicable email information like the email address that the email should be
sent to or who should be cc’d etc.
Optionally set an output folder and grouping file name for the row.
Populate additional lines by either capturing the detail from scratch or simply use
normal Excel copy and paste to create a new line and then change only those fields
that you want different.
Insert additional rows if the default number is not enough.
Executing the Report Set
Once you have completed populating the report set definition it can be saved as a normal
Excel spreadsheet. When you are ready to execute the report set definition, close all other
Excel workbooks and then do one of the following:
To execute only a few rows of the report set definition, first highlight the applicable
rows (or a cell in each row) and then click the execute range button
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To execute one or more report set definition sheets, first select the applicable sheets
and then click the execute sheet button
To execute all the definition sheets in the current workbook click the execute all
button
Report manager will validate the definition and if all checks are passed the reports will be
generated.
Report Manager Validation
Report manager first validates all the definition rows that will be executed. If any errors are
found the process will be stopped and the errors will be marked in red. An Excel note will be
added to provide more information about the error.
If all rows to be executed pass validation you will receive a message indicating how many
reports will be created and which printer will be used for any rows where the print option is
marked with Y. At this stage you can cancel the process or you can click “Yes” to continue.
Report Generation
If you click Yes, Report manager will open the GL Wand report and loop through all the
selected report set definition rows and create a report for the criteria on that row. The
applicable output formats will be created and if requested the report will be printed.
The output report name and folder location will depend on the options that you have
specified on the report set definition. The output folder location will be determined as
follows:
If an output folder is specified on the row, the report will be saved in that folder
Else if you specify an output folder on the header level that folder will be used
Else the report will be saved in the folder where the source GL Wand report is located
The file name will be determined as follows:
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If a grouping file name is specified on the row then all output from that row will be
grouped into the specified file name
Else if you specify a grouping file name on the header level then all output will be
grouped into that specified file name.
Else the file name will be generated using the source GL Wand report name suffixed
with a concatenation of the segment or period values used in the generation of that
report e.g. “Profit and Loss – Jan-07 – 100” might be the profit and loss output report
for January 2007 and department 100.
It is obviously possible for many of the generated reports to use the same folder and file
name. In this case GL Wand will append all the report output into a single Excel workbook.
During the validation process GL Wand will check if any of the output files to be used already
exist. If they do exist you will receive a warning. If you choose to continue the report
manager output will be appended to the existing files.
If you requested the report to be emailed an email message will be created and populated
with the To, CC, Bcc, Subject and Text and the applicable file will be attached.
Please note that in order to create PDF output the required component “PDF Creator” must
be installed. It is available for download at http://www.excel4apps.com/pdf
Sending email requires Microsoft Outlook, GroupWise or Lotus Notes as your mail client.
Excel must have the focus while the Report Manage process executes. If you attempt to
perform other tasks on the PC while the process is running you will notice that Excel
continually takes the focus.
Once the process is completed each executed row will be marked in green if it was
successfully processed or in red if it was not. Any unsuccessful rows will include a note in
column B to provide any available information about what caused the problem.
It is possible to include multiple report set definitions in a single workbook. To do this simply
open an existing Report Manager workbook and click the Create button under the Report
Manager menu. A new sheet will now be added to the existing workbook instead of a new
workbook being created. You can also use normal Excel functionality to copy a sheet from
one Report Manager workbook to another.
Edit Default Drill Layout (Tools Menu)
- Balance
- Journal
- Sub Ledger
- Sub Ledger (R12) (Only visible on an Oracle release 12 system for sub ledger
accounting (SLA))
- OPM (Oracle Process Manufacturing
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When GL Wand is installed each of the drill down reports is configured with a default layout.
You can edit the default layout using these options. When you select one of the options a
form opens which allows you to modify the fields included in this layout.
You can modify the layout using the following options:
Select one or more (using shift) items in the list of available fields and click add to
include them in the layout
Select one or more (using shift) items in the current layout and click remove to
exclude them from the layout
Use the Up, Down, Top and Bottom buttons to re-order the fields in the layout
Click and drag items from the available fields to the selected fields to include them in
the layout
Click and drag items in the selected fields to change their order
Click “Default” to return the layout to the GL Wand standard
Tip: To immediately see the impact of your changes to a drill down layout, first delete the
currently open drill sheet e.g. Journal and then re-execute the drill down to see the edited
layout. Alternatively, close any open drill workbooks and then start a new drill down.
PDF Export (Tools Menu and Right click in a cell)
- Export selected range to PDF
- Export selected sheets to PDF
- Export all the sheets in the current workbook to PDF
Export to PDF allows you to export a highlighted range, the selected sheets or the entire
workbook to a PDF file. This feature can be used on any Excel spreadsheet. It does not
require a GL Wand report to function. Start by setting your page setup options to ensure
that the report will be produced in the correct way e.g. landscape versus portrait as well as
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print size. Then click the applicable PDF button under the Tools menu on the GL Wand
toolbar or simply right click in a cell. A temporary PDF file will be created with the selected
output from Excel and will be opened in the default PDF viewer. If you wish to keep this file
click the Save As button in the PDF Viewer and save the file in the correct folder with an
appropriate name.
Please note that in order to create PDF output the required component “PDF Creator” must
be installed. It is available for download at http://www.excel4apps.com/pdf
About GL Wand
- About GL Wand
This button brings up the about box for the GL Wand application.
You can use this window to
see which version of the product you are running

see your site information like GL Wand key, expiry date, licensed users etc.
see what version of the e-Business Suite and Oracle database you are running
request a license key for the current instance
log a support request
Help
- Help
Use the help button to access the latest online version of the help file.
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Budget Wand
Budget Wand overview
Budget Wand is a tool that allows Excel to be used as the front end to the Oracle General
Ledger Budgeting process.
Budget models are Excel workbooks that typically contain a mixture of Actual and Budgets
values, formulae and formatting as well as cells for entering new budget values.
Actual and Budget values are reported using GL Wand's Get Balance functions and entry
cells are linked by the Load Budget function. Budget Wand together with Excel enables
flexible user defined layouts containing any combination of Actual, Budget, Periods and
Books as required.
Budget collection templates are built around the Load Budget Function, which allows one to
link budget entry cells to a particular budget and account. Once values have been entered
they can be submitted for Validation and Upload.
Note: Budget Wand is a cost plus option for GL Wand users. Please see the Budget Wand
datasheet for a functional overview.
Technical requirements
Installation Versions required
Budget Wand is shipped as part of GL Wand from version 3.80.
The server side needs to be version 3.80 or higher.

The client side needs to be 3.80.0 or higher.
License key requirements
Budget Wand and GL Wand will share the same GL Wand key which is entered in the same
GL Wand: License key profile option.
A Budget Wand “enabled” GL Wand license key will need to be installed on the target
Oracle system before the Budget Wand will work
Existing GL Wand users should still be able to log in as per normal with new Budget
Wand enabled GL Wand license keys.
Please request Budget Wand “enabled” trial keys for instances on record by emailing
support@excel4apps.com.
For new instances, please use GL Wand to generate a license key request
Installation
Client
Budget Wand is installed as part of the GL Wand client.
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Server
Budget Wand is installed as part of the GL Wand server as from version 3.80. Once loaded
you can check the version on the GL Wand test page.
Profile options
There is one new profile option, GL Wand: Budget Wand User. The new server package will
create the profile option when you first navigate to the GL Wand test page.
Tip: Flag the new Budget Wand profile option to “Yes” to grant the user upload access.
Oracle required setup
In order to load budget values the following setup is required:
Budget name (version) must be created. This component specifies the date range
that the budget is active for e.g. Jan-08 to Dec-08. It also has an option to “Require
Budget journals”, if this option is ticked, Budget Wand will load the values as
journals. When values are loaded as journals, they will increment the amount already
in the budget. Normal budget load will overwrite the amount already in the budget.
Budget Organization must be created and the applicable account ranges must be
assigned.
Budget Wand components

About box
Confirm that you have GL Wand incorporating Budget Wand installed by reviewing the “GL
Wand About Box”. License key information is also displayed on this form. Budget Wand users
should display Trial or the number of licensed users as applicable.
Note: You will however need to install a new “Budget Wand enabled” key before you begin
testing.
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Toolbar changes
The GL Wand tool bar contains a new row of Budget Wand buttons. These buttons are not
always visible. If you are an existing licensed GL Wand customer, then the user must be
flagged as “Yes - Budget Wand user” in the new profile option to ensure Budget Wand
visibility.
Note: If GL Wand is also in trial mode then the Budget Wand tool bar will be visible
regardless of the profile setting.
Tip: If you can’t see the new row of buttons, make sure you have set the Budget User profile
option to “Yes” and have a “Budget Wand enabled” key installed.
Convert Get Balance
This utility will convert a Get Balance function to a Load Budget function. Specify the cell
reference of the Get Balance Formula you wish to convert, the cell where the new budget
input value will be entered as well as the cell referencing the Budget Org.
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Load Budget Wizard
Used to create a load budget function.
Tip: Enter “0” or a cell reference as the input value and then edit the parameter later or click
edit on this form at anytime to launch Excel’s function editor.
Setting the Load mode
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Set the Budget Wand mode to either Validate or Validate and Upload. With the Validate and
Upload option selected, if all the cells pass validation they will automatically be loaded. With
the mode set to Validate, the user will still be given the option to Load (or cancel) after
validate.
Tip: Rather use the Validate option while learning Budget Wand or while testing budget
Wand models.
Validate and load budgets from selected cells – “R” – “S” – “A”
Select one or more cells containing load budget functions and click the “R” - Validate and
Load budgets from the selected Range. Similarly clicking “S” will validate the current sheet
and “A” will process all sheets in the workbook.
Tip: The cells containing the Load Budget functions need to be selected for the “R” range
load option to work. The other method to load a range is to load budgets by selecting a
range of input cells, and then using the load budget from input cells button as described
below.
Validate and load budgets from input cells
Select one or more cells referenced as Input Values by the load budget function. Click the
“R” - Validate and Load budgets from the selected Range of input values.
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Optional conditional formatting. The above input cells have been conditionally formatted to
improve the end user interaction. They are formatted yellow if they differ from the get
balance functions (means change in budget value and needs to be loaded) or Red if the Load
Budget function begins with "bwErr" to indicate an error.
Example of conditional formatting using a formula.

=LEFT(L13,5)="bwErr"
Replace L13 with a reference to the load budget function and then specify a format e.g. Red
for errors.
Debits and credits
Values in the InputValue parameter in the load budget function should be entered in the
same sign as values returned by Get Balances. For example credit values for revenue
accounts are returned as negatives and would therefore need to be entered as negatives and
similarly debit values for expenses would need to be entered as positives.
Note: This is different to how Budget ADI works. Budget ADI requires all values to be
entered as positives in the spreadsheet which is inconsistent to how GL Wand returns values
and would therefore be confusing to users.
Monitor Budget Wand Concurrent requests
The status of concurrent requests can be monitored from within Budget Wand.
Change the display options to filter the results and click refresh to see the latest statuses.
Click the View Output button or View Log button to view the output generated by the
concurrent manager.
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Tip: The interface records counter returns the number of records in the interface table
(budget interface table only, not applicable for budget journals). If this does not return to
zero after completion of the concurrent request it most likely means that there are records
stuck in the interface table. Your Oracle Administrator will need to clear them if that occurs.
Budget Wand is designed to pre-validate data before submitting it to the interface table for
loading in order to minimize this occurrence.
Create List of Values
Three additional budgeting related lists of values can be inserted into a spreadsheet and
used as inputs into functions. These are the Budget or Encumbrance name, Budget
Organization and Budget Journal Category.
Loading a Budget
Validate and Load Budgets
Please note that the trial version limits budget loads to the first 3 periods of a Fiscal year
else you will receive a bwDemo error message. Please make sure that you test Budget Wand
in these 3 periods of any year.
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Once validated, the ready for upload cells (bwReady) can be submitted to the interface table
by clicking the upload button.
Confirm your intention to proceed with the upload.
Then optionally click “monitor’ to monitor your concurrent request.
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Budget Wand may start multiple concurrent requests in order to meet budget import
grouping requirements. Budget loads will be grouped into concurrent requests by book,
budget organization and budget name.
Handling Duplicate records
Budget Wand can either delete a duplicate record found in the interface table and continue
the load process or report on that duplicate and prevent a load. The default and typical
setting is to delete any duplicate records found in the interface table.
Deleting duplicates
When Budget Wand loads records into the interface table and finds that a matching record
already exists, it will delete that duplicate record found and insert the new record. This is the
default setting. The deletion will be reported as follows.
Reporting duplicates
The option that controls deleting versus reporting duplicates can be found in the GL
Wand/Tools/Options/Advanced form.
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If this option is unchecked and duplicates are found, then they will be reported in the
spreadsheet as server side errors and the user will be prevented from loading them.
Statuses and Error messages
- Use this button to see a list of possible status and error messages.
Load Budget Status
These statuses and error messages will be returned by the Load Budget function.
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Status Explanation Formatting
The Load Budget function has passed the

client side validation and is ready to be
bwReady() validated by the server and uploaded into None
Oracle. The brackets will contain the actual
load input value.
The Load Budget function has passed both

bwValid None
the client side and server side validations.
The Load Budget function has been loaded

bwLoaded into Oracle and the relevant concurrent None
request has been submitted.
You are running a trial version of Budget
Wand. Budget Wand is restricted to loading
bwDemo Orange
the first three fiscal periods during the trial,
all other periods will return (bwDemo)
Your security settings in Oracle do not allow
bwErr (NoAccess) you to see or load a budget on the specified Orange
account.
You are trying to load more than one cell
bwErr (Dups) containing the same account combination, Orange
period, set of books etc. into Oracle.
The Load Budget function has not passed
the server side validation. A comment will
bwErr (ServMesg) be attached to each cell with this status. Red plus cell comment
Check the cells comment for details of the
error.
bwErr (Logon) You are not logged into GL Wand. None
The specified Set Of Books could not be

bwErr (SOB) None
found.
The specified Input Value either does not

bwErr (Value) exist or you have specified a non numeric None
value.
The specific cell contains more than one

bwErr (Formulas) None
Load Budget function.
The specified Budget Organization does not

bwErr (OrgName) None
exist or is incorrect.
The specified Budget Organization is

bwErr (OrgInactive) inactive. I.e. The current date falls outside None
of the specified start and end dates.
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Status Explanation Formatting
The specified Budget Name is incorrect or

bwErr (BudName) None
does not exist.
bwErr (Frozen) The specified Budget has been frozen. None
The specified Period is incorrect or does not

bwErr (Period) None
exist.
The Budget is not active for the specified

bwErr (BudInactive) None
period.
The specified Journal Category is incorrect

bwErr (JnlCat) None
or does not exist.
bwErr The specified Budget Year is not currently

None
(BudYearNotOpen) open or does not exist.
One or more of the segment values for the

bwErr
current Load Budget function is null or None
(EmptySegment)
contains a %.
One or more of the segment values for the
bwErr
current Load Budget function is null or None
(EmptySegment)
contains a %.
Server Side Error Messages
** Server side error messages will be displayed in the comments area of a cell that contains
the status bwErr (ServMesg) and the cells fill color will be formatted in red.
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Note: The above formatting and comments will only be cleared once a new Validate process
is initiated. This preserves the messages longer than the function result which is more
volatile.
Error Message Explanation
The Allow Budgeting checkbox for this account

Account does not allow budgeting.
combination has been unchecked.
The Enabled checkbox for this account combination

Account is disabled.
has been unchecked.
The current date is not within the Effective From

Account is inactive. and To dates for the specified account
combination.
The account combination has not been created

Account combination does not exist.
yet.
The account has not been added to the specified

Account is not 'entered' on the
Budget Organization range with Account Type set
Budget Org range.
to ‘Entered’.
The currency specified in the Load Budget function
Account has incorrect currency on does correspond to the currency specified for that
Budget Org range. account combination on the Budget Organization
Range of accounts.
The account combination specified has not been
Account is not assigned to this
assigned to the Budget Organization range of
Budget Org.
accounts.
Currency Code is invalid. The currency code specified does not exist.
Reports Wand
About Reports Wand
Reports Wand offers incredible flexibility in terms of filtering, sorting, formatting and
refreshing real-time data into Excel from any area in Oracle, be it Projects, Supply Chain or
HR directly.
Reports Wand definitions are used to create row style reports, pivot tables and charts or as
parameter driven user defined Excel functions. End users can combine these techniques, to
create multi-tiered, drill to detail, drill to anywhere type summary and detail reports. With
Reports Wand you can develop highly customized reports to complex reporting
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requirements. Reports Wand reports are secured by Oracle Responsibility and support row
level security defined in the Oracle security rules at the responsibility level.
Reports Wand Licensing
Reports Wand access is controlled by the license key provided by Excel4apps. The Reports
Wand access can be restricted as follows:
Disabled – you will not be able to use any Reports Wand functionality.
Limited Trial – you will be able to use all the Reports Wand functionality but when
you execute a report the output will be limited to the first 25 rows.
Full Trial - There are no restrictions but the key will expire after the trial period.
Full – There are no restrictions. You may use Reports Wand for as many named users
as you have purchased.
The license key contains new information which is specific to Reports Wand access.
Therefore, only GL Wand version 4 and above can correctly interpret this new license key. It
is therefore recommended that you upgrade all your users to GL Wand 4.x when you deploy
version 4.0 of the server side. One of the known side effects of not upgrading users to 4.x is
the denial of MSOB access experienced in conjunction with a new Reports Wand enabled key.
Using Reports Wand basic features
The GL Wand add-in (from version 4.0) gives you access to all the functionality of Reports
Wand. This can be accessed from the Menu or the toolbar. Reports can be executed by
clicking the report title on a criteria form or by double clicking Run Report functions.
GL Wand > Tools > Reports Wand
Criteria Form
This option will create an Excel based criteria form where you can enter parameters, filters
and other options and then execute the report.
From the toolbar select Tools > Reports Wand > Insert Criteria Form. The reports assigned
to the currently selected responsibility will be displayed.
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Due to the fact that the reports are assigned to a specific responsibility, Reports Wand
cannot currently be used with the special “All sets of books access” functionality. If you
cannot see any reports, it could be that none have been created or that they have been
incorrectly classified by your developer.
You can search for reports by category or by completing a portion of the report name in the
search box. Select the report you want to execute. The criteria form is created in Excel.
Multiple criteria forms can be inserted into a single sheet.
The structure of this criteria form should be left intact to ensure it operates as designed. It is
recommended that you only enter values into the white cells. The example function area
below the black line is optional and can be deleted without concern.
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Report Short name
As defined by the report developer and used in the Run Reports Function
Report Name
As specified by the report developer
Report Title
This text will be inserted at the top of the report when it is executed.
You can overtype this with any report title that you would like.
You can use any Excel functionality or formula to derive a title dynamically e.g. you
could incorporate the entered parameter values into the report title using the Excel
“Concatenate” formula.
The date and time will be added automatically.
Report Type – Required value
At this stage the only valid value is “Sheet”

This will be used in future to provide other report output formats.
Report To
This field determines where the report output will be populated.

If left blank, the output will be populated to a new worksheet which will be created in
the active workbook.
A default output location can be specified as part of the report definition. See the
Default Report To section.
To set the “Report To” location, use the normal method for linking Excel cells. Enter
an “=” into the cell and then click on the target cell where you would like the report
output to populate. Excel will enter a formula into the cell e.g. =Sheet2!A1.
Initially the value in the cell may appear as “0”. This will be set correctly once you
execute the report the first time.
It is useful to use an Excel named range as the “Report To” location. Create an Excel
named range and link the “Report To” cell to that location or select it by pressing F3.
Once the report has been executed once, the value displayed in the “Report To” cell
will be the report short name. This is the unique code that identifies the report in
Reports Wand.
If you double click the “Report To” cell Reports Wand will take you to the report
output location.
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Output Mode – Required value
Use “Replace” to overwrite previous rows or “Append” to insert records below without
deleting previous data.
You can type the value in or select it from a list of values. Double click the cell to
open the list of values.
Parameters
Parameters are optionally specified by the developer. If they have been specified then
a value will need to be entered by the user.
If the report developer linked the parameter to a list of values double click the cell to
show the available values.
Otherwise type the value into the cell or derive the value using other Excel
functionality.
If the report developer provided a default value for this parameter it will be pre-
populated.
If the report developer provided a description or instructions for this parameter they
will appear as an Excel cell note.
Filters
Filters can be used to restrict the data returned by the report query.
Double click a filter in the “Field” column to select which field you would like to filter
by.
Double click a filter in the “Operator” column to select the filter operator e.g. “Equals”
or “Less than”.
The available operators will depend on the data type of the selected filter field e.g.
more operators are available for a text type field than a numeric field.
If the report developer linked the filter field to a list of values, double click the filter in
the “Value” column to show the available values.
Otherwise type the value into the cell or derive the value using other Excel
functionality.
If the report developer provided a default value for this filter field it will be pre-
populated.
If the report developer provided a description or instructions for this filter field they
will appear as an Excel cell note.
Advanced
By default Reports Wand will include all the filters that you enter and only values that
meet all the conditions will be returned.
If you would like to control which parameters are evaluated using an “AND” condition
and which will use an “OR” condition you can specify this in the Advanced cell.
For example, if you would like to return all values in the query that meet filter
condition 1 and 2 or any value that meets filter condition 3, enter the following in the
Advanced cell “(1 AND 2) OR 3”.
You can use any combination of the following ( ) AND OR to build advanced filter
conditions.
Limit Row Count
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Enter a number to limit the returned records to the first x rows.
Order
Add a sort condition to the resulting query.

Double click the cell to select the fields to sort by from a list of values.
If the reports developer has activated the advanced “Batching” option for this report
you will not be allowed to add your own sort condition. In this case Reports Wand will
warn you that your custom sort condition has been ignored but will continue to
execute the report.
Example Function
An example “Run Report” function is added at the end of the criteria form.
The “Run Report” function is another way of specifying all the required information for
a Reports Wand report. It differs from the criteria form in that all the information is
contained in the formula in a single cell.
The parameters of the “Run Report” function must be specified in a particular way.
This example function can therefore assist you to format the function parameters
correctly and to learn how the function works by providing correctly formatted
parameters.
In the example function, almost all of the function parameters are linked to the equivalent
field in the criteria form. The only exception is the “Report To” location. Due to the fact that
this parameter takes the form of an Excel cell link to indentify the target output location, it
cannot be linked to the criteria form. Therefore updating the “Report To” location in the
criteria form will not update the “Report To” location in the example “Run Report” function.
You need to update this parameter in the function directly.
The “Run Report” function has the additional feature of being able to return a value.
Double click the “Field” and “Operator” cells to select values from a list of values. The
function can then be calculated. See the Calculating Run Report Function section for
detail on calculating a result using the “Run Report” function.
This Example Function section can be deleted without invalidating the criteria form.
See the Run Report Function section for more information on how to use this
function.
Executing the report
Once you have correctly populated all the required options, parameters and filters you can
execute the report in a number of ways:
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Double click the “Execute” cell.
Select the “Execute Criteria” menu option on the GL Wand menu. This button is
available on the main GL Wand toolbar or select GL Wand > Tools > Reports Wand >
Execute Criteria. The active cell must be inside the Reports Wand criteria form.
Select the “Execute Criteria” menu option on the Excel right click menu. Right click on
a cell inside the Reports Wand criteria form and select “Execute Criteria – Reports
Wand”.
You can double click the Report Name cell. The report name will be in the second row
of the criteria form.
Double click the Run Report function in the “Example Function” section of the criteria
form.
The query results will be populated into the template at the “Report To” location. If there is
no template at the “Report To” location a new template will be created. An example Reports
Wand output is shown below.
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Reports Wand gives you the full power of Excel to format the report output. Subsequent
report executions are populated into the same template and will maintain all the formatting,
custom calculations, hidden columns, custom field names etc. that you have applied. See
Customizing the output template for the options available for formatting the Reports Wand
output.
Run Report Function
The Run Report function has many parameters which must be formatted correctly for the
function to operate. We therefore recommend that you create a Reports Wand Criteria Form
initially which includes an example Run Report function. By studying the example function
you will become familiar with the required parameter formatting.
ReportID This is the short name for the report definition. Reports Wand will
display this name when you select a new report from the “Insert
Criteria” menu and on the criteria form itself. The name is chosen by
the report developer.
Title Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
ReportType Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
ReportTo Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
OutputMode Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
Parameters The parameters are entered as text. Multiple parameters are
separated use the “|” as a delimiter. Parameters must be entered in
the same sequence as they are specified in the report definition.
For example where you have parameters for journal source and
period name, they can be entered as follows:
“Receivables|Jan-09”
In order to make the parameter easier to read you may include the
parameter name as well. For example this is also valid (you must
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specify an “=” between the parameter name and it’s value):
“Journal Source=Receivables|Period=Jan-09”
Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.

Filter1 to Filter10 The filters are entered as text. The filter must start with a valid field
name which is returned by the query. Then you must include a
space followed by one of the valid filter operators. Then you must
include another space followed by the filter value. Example:
“EXPENDITURE_TYPE Equals Auto”
Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.

Advanced Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
Limit Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
Order Refer to the detailed explanation in the Criteria Form section.
ResultField A valid field name which is returned by the query. The field must be
of numeric type.
For using the Value and Value_Hyperlink options this parameter

would contain an Excel cell reference. See Using functions that
hyperlink to static values for details on how to use these options.
ResultOperator Sum, Count, Min, Max or Average. The function will apply the
selected operator to the query field indentified in the ResultField
parameter.
For using the Value and Value_Hyperlink options see Using functions
that hyperlink to static values.
Below is an example “Run_Report” function which, when double clicked, executes the report
E4AEXPTYPETASK and publishes it to range named E4AEXPTYPETASK, replacing the existing
records. The records returned are determined by Reports Wand passing the Parameter value
“1008” to the report definition query and then applying the user defined filter
“EXPENDITURE_TYPE Equals AUTO” to the found set.
The function displays “Auto” in the cell as controlled by the ResultOperator (“Value”) and
ResultField (“Auto”).
If the user had instead wanted to return a summary database field, they could for example
have entered “EXPENDITURE_TYPE” in the ResultField and “COUNT” in the ResultOperator
field.
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Double click the Run Report function to execute a Reports Wand report or right click the cell
to calculate the function result.
Calculating the Run Report Function
In this initial release of Reports Wand the Run Report function is calculated independently of
other functions in GL Wand. Hence the calculation of a Run Report function is not triggered
in the same way as other functions. To calculate a Run Report function proceed as follows:
Select one or more cells which contain Run Report functions.

Select the “Calculate Function” menu option on the GL Wand menu. Select GL Wand
> Tools > Reports Wand > Calculate Function
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Or select the “Calculate Function” menu option on the Excel right click menu. Right
click and select “Calculate Function – Reports Wand”.
The functions will be calculated in sequence and the results will be displayed in the
cell once that particular calculation is complete.
Refreshing Definitions
Report Definitions are automatically refreshed each time you log on. If you know that the
report definition has been modified on the server since your last log on you can simply select
the “Refresh Definitions” menu item to get the latest definition without logging on again.
Customizing the output template
Reports Wand has been designed to allow you to customize the report output to suite your
needs. When a default Reports Wand output template is created, it will look something like
this in its raw state.
A report layout contains various important areas described below.
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Report Header
You will notice that the report is populated from row 5 on this worksheet. The report output
does not need to start in row 1 of the worksheet. You can control exactly where the output is
populated using the “Report To” parameter. See the Criteria Form section for a description of
the “Report To” parameter.
Any space on the worksheet above the grey line at the top of the report is available for you
to customize with your own content e.g. area for charts, summaries etc.
Report Titles
The report title is set based on the Criteria Form or the Run Report function that was used to
execute the report. You can customize the report title to suit your needs.
The report title is repopulated into the template each time the report is executed. The date
and time are automatically added to the title.
Column Headings
The column headings are initially set to the field names as they are returned from the SQL
query. You can change these values to your own column headings.
We recommend that the SQL for Reports Wand definitions are built using field name aliases
so that the field name presented to the user are easier to work with. See the SQL Statement
section for an example.
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Formatting
Reports Wand defaults certain colors, fonts and cell formatting. You can customize these to
suit your preferences.
Deleting Columns
To delete a column from the report simply use normal Excel functionality to delete the entire
column.
Deleting the first column in the report requires extra care. The first column contains is used
for special formatting and in order to determine the validity of the Report Layout when called
for publishing. Deletion of the hidden information in the two cells will invalidate the layout.
(See the cells marked “Don’t delete” in red above). You can however modify the rows
between them, e.g. enter a new database field name for inclusion in column 1 by copying it
from another column.)
Adding Calculated Columns
To add calculated column proceed as follows:
Use normal Excel functionality to insert a new column.

Capture a column heading for this new column.
On the first row of the report, insert the formula or other information that you want in
this column. Apply any required formatting to this cell.
When the report is executed again the new calculated item is applied to all the rows
along with its formatting.
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Inserting user defined totals and aggregations – Report Footer
The space on the worksheet below the grey line at the bottom of the report is available for
you to customize with your own content. Here you can insert any calculations that you would
like to apply to the columns.
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Ensure that when you create a formula that references the rows in the column that you
select from the first row to the last. This will ensure that when the report is executed again
Reports Wand will be able to leverage standard Excel functionality to ensure that the new
rows populated into the report will still be correctly referenced by the formulas.
Format rows – First two rows of the report
The first two rows are treated in a special way by Reports Wand.
The first row is the format row. Any changes that you make on this row to the cell formatting
will be applied to all the rows in the report when it is executed. You also enter the formulas
for calculated columns in this row.
The second row is used by Reports Wand to maintain the references for any calculations that
you have inserted into the footer section of the report. In order to correctly maintain the cell
references in an Excel formula that reference must span at least two rows.
Never delete the first two rows of data as this will cause the template to become invalid.
Restrictions
Reports Wand provides significant flexibility for the user to customize the report output.
However certain restrictions must be adhered to in order for the template to remain valid. If
you inadvertently delete a restricted row or column and cannot manually fix it, simply re-
execute the criteria sheet to start over.
The grey line at the top of the report may not be deleted.
The title and parameter rows may not be deleted.
The hidden row between the parameter row and the column headings may not be
deleted or changed in any way.
The first two report detail rows may not be deleted.
The grey line at the bottom of the report may not be deleted.
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The hidden contents of the two grey lines in the first column of the report may not be
changed.
Using Reports Wand advanced features
Apart from the user guide below, please visit the Excel4apps channel on You Tube as we
sometimes include additional “How to” videos. www.youtube.com/excel4apps.
Working with pivot tables
The current suggested approach for creating and refreshing a Pivot table report based on a
Report layout is as follows.
1. With the report layout data selected

2. Either name the range or select insert Pivot table.
Place the pivot table below the criteria sheet or on a separate location and format it
has desired.
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Optionally set the sheet properties of the Report Layout to “Hidden”.
To refresh the pivot table, first execute the Criteria Sheet.

If the Report Output sheet is “Hidden”, Reports Wand will automatically return the
cursor to the Criteria sheet
Right click the Pivot table and select Refresh to see the latest Oracle data.
Link one report to another report
It is possible to create an implicit links between reports or between records found in a report
and other reports. This functionality facilitates the drill to detail, drill to anywhere concept.
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The implicit links are created using the Run Report Function in conjunction with a summary
and detail (or other related query).
To create a “link” based on a found record
1. Insert a new user defined column

2. Select Tools>Reports Wand>Insert Function
3. Populate the function parameters (see Example Run Report Function)
4. Ensure the function uses the correct excel addressing to obtain the relative
parameters. In this case it uses the value in Column B as the driving Parameter and
the value in hidden Column C to build the filter and the display value.
Using functions that hyperlink to static values
The Run Reports function allows you to control what is displayed by the function and also
whether it becomes a hyperlinked value after execution. When Value_Hyperlink is used as
the value for result operator, then Reports Wand will use the value in ResultField to
determine what to display in the cell. If the result field contains a valid excel reference
(NOTE no ‘=’ sign is needed, simply use A1 or sheet1!A1 as the reference), the function will
display the value in that referenced cell.
At this point the behavior is identical to using ‘Value’ as the result operator.
However, if the user double clicks on the ‘Value_Hyperlink’ function or executes it from the
menu it will automatically be formatted as a hyperlink, with a link to the cell it refers to. This
is useful for creating a link to the underlying data, especially when working with historical
static data you don’t want to refresh.
ResultField syntax for Value and Value_Hyperlink.
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Security
Reports Wand leverages the security built in to the Oracle e-Business suite as follows:
The user is required to sign on with their applications user name and password.
The user must select one or more responsibilities assigned to their user name.
Reports Wand definitions are linked to a Request Group which is in turn assigned to a
responsibility. A user can therefore only access and execute those report definitions
which have been assigned to them.
In Oracle 11i, certain views are secured using the ORG_ID field. This security
mechanism restricts access to data based on the ORG_ID via a field set in the
database session. This field is set when the fnd_global.apps_initialize stored
procedure is called. Reports Wand calls this procedure using the current user name
and responsibility id which means that you can use the applicable views in the e-
Business Suite database to enforce security.
In Oracle R12 the new row level security mechanism is used and is initialised using
the mo_global.INIT stored procedure. Reports Wand calls this procedure which means
that you can use this row level security mechanism in the e-Business Suite database
to enforce security.
GL security is enforced using security rules defined on the accounting flexfield. Oracle
provides an API in the gl_security_pkg which allows you to validate a requested
account combination against the security rules. In order to use this API the initialise
routine must be called. Reports Wand interrogates the SQL statement for the report
query and will call the initialize routine if it determines that the GL security API is
being called by this query. The call to the API to validate whether the user has access
to an account combination is as follows:
WHERE gl_security_pkg.validate_access(set_of_books_id,c.code_combination_id) = 'TRUE'
Please note this “Where clause” will add a performance overhead to the query.
Creating Report Definitions
Reports Wand definitions are usually created by an Oracle developer or Applications DBA.
The Reports Wand definitions are stored as Oracle e-Business Suite concurrent programs.
This approach ensures that no additional database objects need to be created in your e-
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Business Suite database. Creating the definition is achieved using the standard Oracle forms
which maintain concurrent programs or using the Reports Wand Administrator function which
enables an Excel interface for creating, editing and administering Reports Wand definitions.
Prerequisites
Before you can create any Reports Wand definitions there are two configuration steps that
must be completed.
Create the Reports Wand custom application.
1. Navigate to the Applications > Register menu item.

2. Create the new application using values EXACTLY as follows and save the record.
Application Short Name Basepath

Excel4apps Reports Wand XXE4ARW XXE4ARW_TOP
Create a dummy concurrent program executable to be assigned to Reports Wand concurrent

programs.
1. Navigate to the Concurrent > Program > Executables menu.

2. Create the new executable using values EXACTLY as follows and save the record.
Executable XXE4ARW
Short Name XXE4ARW
Application Excel4apps Reports Wand
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Execution Method PL/SQL Stored Procedure
Execution File Name XXE4ARW
This is just a dummy executable and will never actually be executed. The execution file
name is therefore not actually a real PL/SQL Stored Procedure.
Report Header
To create a new report definition, create a new concurrent program and complete the details
as follows:
Enter a program name which becomes the report name.

Enter a program short name. Please note that Reports Wand uses this name to
identify the report and is therefore serves as the report ID. This cannot be changed.
Allocate the concurrent program to the Reports Wand custom application created
earlier.
Optionally capture a report description.
Assign the report to the custom executable created earlier.
Optionally assign the report to a category. Reports Wand uses the concurrent
program Request Type to allow for categorization of the reports. Navigate to
Concurrent > Program > Types to capture a list of categories.
The remaining fields are not used by Reports Wand.
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SQL Statement
Using your preferred SQL development environment, develop the SQL query for this report.
We recommend that you use field name aliases in the SQL to make them easier to read and
work with. For example where you have the following SQL:
SELECT project_id, project_type FROM pa_projects_all
Rather use:
SELECT project_id ProjectId, project_type ProjectType FROM pa_projects_all
Or the following syntax to allow for spaces and special characters in the field name:
SELECT project_id “Project ID”, project_type “Project Type” FROM pa_projects_all
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Ensure that there are no commented out sections in the SQL and do NOT include a “;” at the
end.
Once you have a working query, substitute any of the WHERE clause parameters with
placeholders that you would like to user to select when the report is executed.
The placeholders will eventually appear as parameters to the user on the criteria sheet.
For example the query contains the following - WHERE je_source = ‘Payables’
Change this to be - WHERE je_source = ‘[source]’
The [] identifies that this is a placeholder.
The name “source” is any name that you choose.
Ensure that you keep any other formatting required for the SQL statement e.g. in this
example the je_source is a text field and therefore requires single quotes around the
value.
Repeat this step for all other placeholders.
Once you have the final SQL statement add it to the report definition as follows:
1. Open the concurrent program parameters window for your new Reports Wand
definition.
2. Enter the sequence number as 900. Sequence numbers 900 – 999 are reserved for
the Reports Wand SQL statement.
3. Name the parameter as SQL.
4. Select “1 char” as the Value Set.
5. Select “SQL Statement” as the Default Type.
6. In Default Value copy and paste your final SQL statement.
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The Default Value field has a length restriction. If your SQL statement exceeds this
restriction, split it up and create multiple parameters in the sequence 900 to 999.
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Placeholders are optional. You can have a SQL statement which has hard coded values for all
parts of the WHERE clause.
Parameters
If placeholders were created during the previous SQL statement creation step, then they will
need to be defined as follows:
1. Enter a sequence number between 1 and 99.

2. Capture the parameter name so that it exactly matches the place holder which was
included in the SQL statement. For example if the placeholder was “[source]” then
the parameter name must be “source”.
3. In the description field enter any help or instructions that you would like the user to
see when they complete this parameter.
4. In the value set you can link the parameter to a list of values. Only independent and
table validated values sets are supported. If you want the user to capture a value
manually use the “150 Characters Optional” value set.
5. Optionally enter a default value. Set the Default Type to Constant and capture a
default value.
6. Capture a user friendly label for this parameter in the Prompt field.
Capture additional records for all placeholders that were included in the SQL
statement.
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When a new criteria form is created it will appear as follows:
Filters
Generally it is not necessary to specify any information on the Reports Wand definition for
filters. However, if you wish to provide a list of values for a filter or a default value they can
be specified as follows:
1. Enter a sequence number between 100 and 199.

2. Capture the filter name so that it exactly matches the field name as it is returned by
the SQL statement.
3. In the description field enter any help or instructions that you would like the user to
see when they use this field in a filter.
4. In the value set you can link the parameter to a list of values. Only independent and
table validated values sets are supported. If you want the user to capture a value
manually use the “150 Characters Optional” value set.
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5. Optionally enter a default value. Set the Default Type to Constant and capture a
default value.
Repeat the process for any additional filter fields that you would like to link to a list of
values or a default value.
Default Report To
Reports Wand provides significant flexibility with regard to the output of the query results.
You are able to use the full power of Excel to format the report output and then reuse the
template when you subsequently execute the report. The destination where the report is
published to is controlled by the “Report To” parameter and takes the form of an Excel cell
link.
A default “Report To” value for a report is specified as follows:
1. Enter the sequence number as 800 which is reserved for the default template
parameter.
2. Enter the parameter name as “Default Report To”.
3. Select the “150 Characters Optional” value set.
4. Set the Default Type to Constant.
5. In the Default Value capture the cell link using the exact syntax as it would be
derived in Excel. For example to populate the report output to cell A1 of a sheet
called “Sheet2” in the current workbook you would enter “=Sheet2!A1”.
The location of the report output does not have to be in the current workbook. This allows
for the creation of a default report template saved on a shared network drive. For example
the following link would target a workbook on a shared drive mapped as “O drive” and
indentifies the workbook path and name as well as the worksheet and cell “='O:\Reports
Wand Templates\[Project Dashboard.xlsx]Project Expenditure'!$A$1”
It is recommended that Excel be used to derive the correct syntax for the cell link. Simply
enter “=” into a cell and then click on the cell where the report output should be published.
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Excel will complete the cell link using the correct syntax. Make sure that the target workbook
is first named and saved in the correct location. Finally, copy and paste this value into the
Default Report To parameter.
Batching
The batching option can assist with performance for queries which are likely to return a large
number of records.
NB – in order to use batching you MUST ensure that the SQL statement includes an ORDER
BY clause which sorts the query results by a unique field. If this condition is not met the
query may return incorrect results.
To enable batching for a report proceed as follows:
1. Enter the sequence number as 801 which is reserved for the default template
parameter.
2. Enter the parameter name as “Batch”.
3. Select the “1 char” value set.
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Assign the report
Use the normal Oracle functionality to assign the concurrent program to a Request Group.
At this stage you can only assign the report using the “Program” option for request type.
Reports Wand Administrator

The Reports Wand Administrator functionality brings a highly productive Excel front end to
the process of creating, maintaining and administering Reports Wand definitions stored as
concurrent program definitions in Oracle. Users authorized as Reports Wand Administrators
can easily upload the Excel4apps provided seeded report definitions or create new definitions
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using a wizard or maintain existing definitions, all from within Excel. Also included is the
ability to assign the reports to users with specific Oracle Responsibilities via request groups
defined in Oracle (described as “Maintaining Assignments”).
There are three main processes supported by Reports Wand Administrator in addition to
Maintaining Assignments. These are
1. Creating and/or Editing of Reports Wands Definitions

2. Processing changed Reports Wand Definitions to Oracle
3. Importing Existing Report Definitions from Oracle to Excel
Process 1 and 2 are used to upload the sample seeded report definitions that are supplied in
a .xls format into Oracle. Please see section Obtaining and uploading seeded reports.
Reports Wand Administrator – Toolbar
Reports Wand Administrator functions can be accessed from the GL Wand Toolbar > Tools >
Options > Reports Wand Admin
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Enabling Reports Wand Administrator Users
As GL Wand is a prerequisite for Reports Wand, each GL Wand user can be flagged as a
Reports Wand Administrator. Enable the users by setting the GL Wand: Reports Wand
Administrator profile option to Yes.
The Reports Wand Administrator Template
The Reports Wand Administrator Template is an Excel sheet with special properties and
formatting that is used to process all the Reports Wand definitions. It provides structure and
validation to the Reports Wand definitions. Only definitions within the template can be
processed.
Creating a blank template
Blank templates can be created via the Reports Wand Admin toolbar menu. This can be
found under the Tools menu on the GL Wand toolbar. Blank templates are useful for creating
definitions from scratch or for pasting definitions from another source.
Select the Create Blank Template option. This will insert either a new sheet or a new
workbook containing the blank template.
GL Wand Toolbar > Tools > Reports Wand Admin > Create Blank Template.
Template sheets are also automatically created when using the Reports Wand Definition
Wizard or when importing existing Reports Wand definitions from Oracle, into an empty
sheet. These options will be discussed in further detail.
Using the Reports Wand Definition Wizard
The Reports Wand Definition Wizard allows for user friendly step-by-step creation of a
Reports Wand Definition. It can also be used to update existing Reports Wand Definitions
that exist in a template.
NB – The Reports Wand Definition Wizard will not commit changes to Oracle Applications.
Reports Wand Definitions need to be processed for this update to occur.
Creating a new Reports Wand Definition
The Reports Wand Definition Wizard can be accessed from the Reports Wand Admin toolbar
menu. This can be found under Tools menu on the GL Wand toolbar. Select the Reports
Wand Definition Wizard.
NB – Watch the instructional video here.
Complete the step-by-step process below to create a Reports Wand Definition.
Step1 – Program Information
Provide the Report Definition with basic program information.
A short name which is unique and is used to identify the report.
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A report name that the users can identify and recognise the report. Use something
that is self explanatory if possible.
A description. Provide additional information to the users about this specific report.
Assign the report to a predefined category to allow users to easily locate the report.
Step2 – Create/Edit the SQL
Create the relevant SQL statement in a tool like TOAD, SQL Developer or SQL*Plus. Once
you’re happy that your SQL statement is producing the correct results copy it into the SQL
window on this form.
NB – Don’t forget to wrap the parameters in square brackets ([ ]), so that Reports Wand will
recognize them as parameters. Character values need an additional single quote i.e.
‘[CharParam1]’. Numeric parameters only require the square brackets i.e. [NumParam1]
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Step3 – Add additional information for SQL Parameters
Parameters are automatically created based on the SQL statement pasted into the previous
window. Some additional information needs to be specified so that the parameters are
presented to the user in a user friendly manner on the Reports Wand Criteria Form.
Additional information:
Sequence – Determines the sequence the parameters will be displayed on the

Reports Wand Criteria form.
Prompt – User friendly name presented to the user.
Description – Additional information about the parameter. This will be displayed as a
cell comment in the Reports Wand Criteria Form.
Value Set – Open the Value Sets Form and search for a specific value set. The value
set acts as a List of Values for the parameter.
Default – Specify a default value which will be pre-populated when a Reports Wand
Criteria Form is created.
In order to remove one of the parameters from the list please revert back to Step2, and
remove the unwanted parameters from the SQL statement.
Step4 – Assign Value Sets (List of Values) to Filters
Value Sets (or List of Values) can only be assigned to fields that are being returned by the
SQL Statement. The name of the filter must match the name of the Field in the SQL
statement exactly. If a synonym is used on the field in the SQL statement (i.e. PO_NUMBER
“Purchase Order Number”) then the filter name must match the synonym, in this case,
Purchase Order Number.
Additional information:
Description – Additional information about the filter.

Value Set – Open the Value Sets Form and search for a specific value set. The value
set acts as a List of Values for the filter.
Default – Specify a default value which will be pre-populated when a Reports Wand
Criteria Form is created.
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Step5 – Assign the Report to the Request Group
Assigning the report to a request group allows only certain users to access the report.
Request Groups are assigned to Responsibilities in Oracle Applications. If a user has a
specific responsibility then they will have access to the report.
You can assign the report to as many Request Groups as you would like.
Select an Application Module from the first dropdown list.

Search in the text field to find the appropriate Request Group.
Select the Request Group and click the Add button.
The Request group will appear in the right hand list called Assignments.
When all five steps are complete click on the OK button to create the Reports Wand
Definition Template containing the report definition. It will look like the screen shot below.
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Update an existing Reports Wand Definition
To update an existing Reports Wand Definition you need to have a Reports Wand Definition
Template open in front of you. This can be achieved by importing existing Reports Wand
Definitions.
Locate the cell that contains the Short Name of the Reports Wand Definition you would like
to update. It will be in Column E in your Template spreadsheet. Double click on it.
The Reports Wand Definition Wizard will open with all the relevant fields populated. Modify
the Reports Wand Definition and once finished, click OK to close the wizard and populate the
template with the updated definition.
NB – Being Excel, you can edit the Reports Wand Definition directly from the template.
Processing Reports Wand Definitions
In order for changes to Reports Wand Definitions to become permanent and available to all
authorised users they will need to be processed to Oracle. The first step is to specify an
applicable action type such as Create, Update, Delete, Enable or Disable that the processor
should apply to each Report Definition row. The second step is to either process an individual
row using the “Process Single Report” option or process all applicable rows using the
“Process all Actioned Reports” option.
The action types are set in the Processing Type cell (Column B). This can be done by double-
clicking the cell. A drop list will be displayed with the valid Action Types.
NB - As mentioned in the Reports Wand section of the user guide, these report definitions
are permanently stored as Concurrent Programs in Oracle Applications.
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Processing all actioned reports
This option will process all Reports Wand Definitions in a template that have an Action Type
specified. It the cell is left blank or is populated with “No Action” then the report definition
will not be processed.
The option to process all reports can be found on the Reports Wand Admin menu - GL Wand
toolbar > Tools > Reports Wand Admin > Process All Actions.
Processing a single report
To process a single report, you will need to select the Action Type cell of the report definition
you would like to process. If the cell is left blank or is populated with “No Action” then the
report definition will not be processed.
The option to process a single report can be found on the Reports Wand Admin menu. GL
Wand toolbar > Tools > Reports Wand Admin > Process Single Actions.
Create
Action type of Create will cause the processor to attempt to create a new Reports Wand
Definition Template in Oracle Applications. If one or more Request Groups have been
specified then the report will be assigned to the respective Request Groups during this
process.
Double click the Processing Type cell next to the report you would like to process.
A drop list will be displayed.
Select “Create” from the list.
You can now process the report definition by using the Process All Actions or Process
Single Action buttons.
Update
Action type of Update will cause the processor to attempt to replace the Reports Wand
Definition Template in Oracle Applications with the newly modified definition. If nothing on
the definition has been changed, it will still replace the old version with the Reports Wand
Definition in the template. Any changes to Request Groups will also be updated.
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Select “Update” from the list.
Single Actions buttons.
Delete
Action type of Delete will cause the processor to attempt to remove the entire report
definition along with all its parameters from Oracle Applications. After the “Delete” has
occurred, the report definition will remain locally in the Reports Wand Definition Template.
You can optionally delete the definition locally by deleting the row(s) from the spreadsheet
or keep these definitions as a backup if you require.
Select “Delete” from the list.
Disable
Action type of Disable will cause the processor to attempt to disable the Reports Wand
Definition by disabling the concurrent program in Oracle Applications. It can be enabled
again by using the “Enable” Action Type.
Select “Disable” from the list.
Enable
Action type of Enable will cause the processor to attempt to enable a Reports Wand
Definition previously disabled. This is achieved by re-enabling the concurrent program stored
in Oracle. Reports Wand Definitions are by default enabled on creation.
Select “Enable” from the list.
Validation and Errors
Validation of the Reports Wand Definitions occurs when the user initiates the processing.
If an error occurs then the Error cell (Column C) will turn red. This will indicate that
something has gone wrong. The error that has occurred will be shown as a cell comment on
the Error cell.
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The screenshot below indicates that the category specified (MyCategory) is an invalid
category and has not been defined in Oracle Applications. The category can be modified in
the Excel spreadsheet, manually or by use of the Reports Wand Definition Wizard, and then
processed again.
Importing Existing Reports Wand Definitions
Existing Reports Wand Definitions can be imported into a new Excel Workbook or Sheet for
editing and maintenance. A Reports Wand Definition Template will be automatically created
and then populated by the Reports Wand Definitions.
There are two options for importing Reports Wand Definitions:
Import All Definitions

Import Single Definition
Import All Definitions
This option will import all existing Reports Wand Definitions from Oracle Applications. This
option can be accessed from the GL Wand toolbar > Tools > Reports Wand Admin > Import
All Definitions. Reports Wand Definitions will be downloaded immediately after specifying this
option.
Import Single Definition
This option will only import a single Reports Wand Definition from Oracle Applications. This
option can be accessed from the GL Wand toolbar > Tools > Reports Wand Admin > Import
Single Definition.
When selecting this option you will be presented with a search form. You will be able limit
the reports being displayed by specifying the category that the report may have been
assigned to or by searching in the search field provided.
Once the report has been located, select it and click the Ok button.
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A Reports Wand Definition Template will be created and populated with the selected reports
definition.
NB - This option is best for once of updates or maintenance of a single report. If you would
like to backup your Reports Wand Definitions or move them from one Oracle instance to
another, it would be best to use the Import All Definitions functionality.
Maintaining Report Assignments
Reports Wand Reports can be assigned to different Request Groups in Oracle Applications.
This allows the administrator to control access to the report definitions based on the
responsibility that the user has logged on to GL Wand with.
Open the Request Group Assignment form from the GL Wand toolbar > Tools > Reports
Wand Admin > Maintain Report Assignments.
Only once the reports have been successfully assigned will the changes be permanent in
Oracle. At this stage all the values in the Asterisk (*) column of the Assigned Reports list will
be cleared and any reports being removed will be returned to the Available Reports list.
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Reports Wand Sample Reports
Please see the Reports Wand Getting Started.pdf document which can be downloaded from
our website. www.excel4apps.com
Navigate to the Reports Wand Collateral page.
Downloads > For Oracle > Reports Wand Collateral > Reports Wand Getting Started.
Server Component
Please refer to the GL Wand Server Installation Guide.
Oracle Profile Options

GL Wand uses a variety of Oracle Profile options to manage the GL Wand installation. This
ensures that these settings can be managed centrally rather than requiring that they be set
manually on each client PC.
GL Wand: Account Number

GL Wand: All sets of books access
GL Wand: Contract Number
GL Wand: Custom Delimiters
GL Wand: Enable Extended Languages
GL Wand: Get Balance Hint
GL Wand: HTTP Timeout
GL Wand: License Key
GL Wand: Query Limit
GL Wand: Responsibility
GL Wand: Track User Activity
GL Wand: Upgrade Location
GL Wand: User
GL Wand: Budget Wand User
GL Wand: Reports Wand Administrator
127
GL Wand: Account Number
Capture your Excel4apps account number. The account number will be sent when logging
requests for license keys or logging a support case. This will help us to assign the case to the
correct account in our system.
GL Wand: All sets of books access
This profile option can only be used if your site is licensed for the GL Wand Multiple Sets of
Books (MSOB) feature or have a valid trial key. If you use MSOB and you would like some of
your users to be able to access all the sets of books in you Oracle instance without needing
to select a responsibility for each set of books, simply set this profile option to “Yes” for that
user. The user will have a new item in the list of responsibilities on the GL Wand logon form
and they will be able to select this one item and GL Wand will log into all the available sets of
books.
Please note that no security rules are enforced when a user logs in with this option.
GL Wand: Contract Number
Capture your Excel4apps contract number. The contract number will be sent when logging
requests for license keys or logging a support case. This will help us to assign the case to the
correct support contract in our system.
GL Wand: Custom Delimiters

Warning: Take care when modifying this option as it can lead to unexpected results if it is
not set correctly. Before making any changes to the delimiters consider the impact on any
existing GL Wand workbooks where the default delimiters may already be used. If you
change a delimiter these workbooks would need to be updated.
Capture your custom delimiters if the standard delimiters clash with characters that you use
in your segment values or configuration data. Standard delimiters are as follows:
128
Delimiter Default Character
Range -
List ,
Wildcard %
Exclude ~
Range for DFF |
Segment .
Parameters |
Key Value =
AND +
To create a custom delimiter proceed as follows:
Copy the following standard delimiters and paste them into the profile option. Make
sure there are no leading or trailing spaces or other characters:
-,%~|.|=+
The profile option should now contain the nine default delimiters as one text string.
Now overtype just the delimiter that you wish to customize with the new character.
Save the profile option.
Log on again in GL Wand to refresh the settings from Oracle.
Open the GL Wand Options window.
Expand the advanced section.
Confirm that your new delimiter character appears in the list and that all the others
still match the defaults.
GL Wand: Enable Extended Languages
If your Oracle e-Business Suite system uses extended languages e.g. Chinese then toggle
this option to Yes.
GL Wand: Get Balance Hint
This profile option is provided to allow you to capture a custom SQL hint for the Get Balance
function SQL. This provides the ability to use custom indexes that already exist in the Oracle
database rather than needing to create the GL Wand specific index. It provides more
flexibility with regard to tuning the SQL and obtaining the optimal execution plan for Get
Balance SQL on differing configurations.
Warning: Do not modify this option unless you are certain that you know exactly what the
results will be on your GL Wand users. Please contact support@excel4apps.com for
assistance.
GL Wand: HTTP Timeout
The default timeout on an HTTP request is 30 seconds (from Internet Explorer 7). If a single
batch of GL Wand calculations runs for longer than this the request will time out. You can set
this value to a number between 30 and 600 seconds to increase this timeout value.
Warning: Do not set the value higher than 600.
129
GL Wand: License Key
Use the GL Wand about box to request a trial license key. Use the license key profile option
to capture your GL Wand trial or full use license key.
About License keys
1. The license key is captured on the server and is only valid for a specific instance of
Oracle Applications.
2. When the license key profile option is blank you will only have limited functionality in the
GL Wand application.
In order to reduce license administration during cloning a production environment

over a development system you can capture multiple keys in this profile options.
A GL Wand key is 30 characters.
To capture multiple keys simply concatenate the keys together (with no spaces).
GL Wand will check each key when it attempts to validate the license for the specific
Oracle instance.
By concatenating the keys you will be able to clone the system to a development
instance and will not be required to update the key on the development instance as
the concatenated key will work for both production and development.
GL Wand: Query Limit
This profile option allows you to control how many records may be retrieved during a drill
down operation. Leave this profile option blank if you do not wish to limit queries.
GL Wand: Responsibility
Limit the responsibilities that the user can select when logging on in GL Wand. This profile
option must be created manually. Follow the instructions here - Limiting GL Wand
Responsibilities.
GL Wand: Track User Activity

This feature is supported on 11.5.10 and upwards only. Do not turn this option on for
11.5.7 to 11.5.9 as your users will receive and error during the logon.
When using the new “Oracle” logon method which logs you in using an Oracle screen, GL
Wand tracks the Oracle session information. This allows GL Wand to flag which Oracle
Application sessions were originated in GL Wand. You can then report off this information in
order to track your user’s GL Wand usage.
If you would like to enable this tracking set this option to “Yes”. When your users log on
their sessions will be flagged with GL Wand. You can use the following SQL statement to
report on this information.
SELECT isa.*, s.first_connect, s.last_connect, s.disabled_flag, u.user_name,

icx_sec.check_session (s.session_id) status FROM icx_sessions s, icx_session_attributes isa,
fnd_user u WHERE s.session_id = isa.session_id AND isa.NAME = 'EXCEL4APPS' AND
isa.VALUE = 'GL WAND' AND s.user_id = u.user_id ORDER BY s.last_connect DESC
130
GL Wand: Upgrade Location
GL Wand offers you the option of upgrading the product from a location inside your
corporate LAN or directly from the internet at www.excel4apps.com.
Internet option
1. Configure the profile option called “GL Wand: Upgrade Location”

2. Enter the single word “Internet” to perform upgrades from www.excel4apps.com
Corporate LAN option
1. Configure the profile option called “GL Wand: Upgrade Location” Enter something like
“G:\Software\GL Wand” or \\server1\Software\GL Wand.
2. When a new version of the GL Wand is released the GL Wand administrator should unzip
the GL Wand.zip file into this folder on the corporate LAN.
3. GL Wand clients connecting to this Oracle instance will automatically check the specified
location for new versions.
4. The user will be prompted to upgrade if a newer version is found.
Obviously the GL Wand users must have access to the path specified. If an automatic
windows logon script maps a specific shared drive on each user’s PC e.g. “G:” then you can
use the first example. Otherwise you will need to specify the server name in the upgrade
path as shown in the second example.
The upgrade location profile option is copied to the users local PC each time they log on to
an Oracle instance. The upgrade location for a specific user will therefore always reflect the
GL Wand: Upgrade Location profile option of the Oracle instance that they logged on to most
recently. If this profile option is modified on a specific Oracle instance the change will only be
reflected on the user’s PC after the next successful logon to that instance.
GL Wand: User
Use this profile option to enable and disable GL Wand users. You may not have more enabled
GL Wand users than you have purchased licenses for. A facility to report on the number of
flagged GL Wand users will be sent to GL Wand administrators.
Enabling users
1. The profile option must be set at user level

2. It must be set to “Yes” for the licensed GL Wand users.
Disabling users
1. Clear this profile option or set it to “No” for any users that are no longer licensed to use
the GL Wand.
131
You do not need to populate the GL Wand: User profile option when evaluating the product
using a trial key.
GL Wand: Budget Wand User
Use this profile option to enable and disable Budget Wand users. You may not have more
enabled Budget Wand users than you have purchased licenses for. A facility to report on the
number of flagged Budget Wand users will be sent to GL Wand administrators.
GL Wand: Reports Wand Administrator
Enable or Disable a user as a Reports Wand Administrator. This option allows users to
Create/Update/Delete/Enable/Disable Reports Wand Reports from Excel.
Support
Support Requests
Support requests can be logged on our web site. Click the “Support” button on the GL Wand
About Box or you can access the link directly from the web site.
Enhancement Requests
Click the “Enhancement Request” option on the “Support” menu at www.excel4apps.com and
log your request for new features.
Error Messages
Below is a list of GL Wand error messages with a description of what they mean.
Error Code Description

GLWandError-001: Invalid An error occurred communicating with the server. Please
number of columns contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
132
sql statement (check) contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
sql statement (command) contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
An internal windows error has occurred. Please re-install the GL
GLWandError-101: Could
Wand application and restart your PC. If the problem persists
not create timer
please contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
An error occurred while trying to communicate with the Oracle
Application server. Please ensure that the server is running and
not open internet
the Application Web Agent URL specified in the connection is
connection
correct.
not connect to URL and
port
correct.
not send request to
gateway and package
correct.
GLWandError-105: Send Application server. Please ensure that the server is running and
request failed the Application Web Agent URL specified in the connection is
correct.
GLWandError-106: Read Application server. Please ensure that the server is running and
file failed the Application Web Agent URL specified in the connection is
correct.
GLWandError-107: Oracle
An error occurred communicating with the server. Please
batch processor request
contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
out of sync
GLWandError-108: 407 Your connection to the internet requires authentication. Please
Proxy Authentication enter the correct proxy user name and password when
Required prompted during the logon procedure.
The request sent to the Oracle server returned no data. Please
GLWandError-201: SQL
take note of what action you where attempting when the error
returned no data
occurred and contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
GLWandError-202: Oracle
An error occurred communicating with the server. Please
batch processor request
contact support@excel4apps.com for assistance.
out of synch
Please re-execute the server installation as the required
not find gateway or
components where not found on the server.
database package
GLWandError-204:
Please re-execute the server installation as the required
Database package is not in
components where not found on the server.
fnd_enabled_plsql
Please click yes to see the full error message and copy it using
GLWandError-205:
Ctrl-C. Please log a case on the Excel4apps web site and
Unexpected error.
include the full error message.
133
New features
Release 4.30
Feature Description Benefit
Functionality
This is a consolidated bug fix

release including all the fixes from
Bug Fix Release Bug Fix.
patches released in the last few
months.
Makes finding this information easier
A profile option is available to store
Account and and it is also transmitted when
your Excel4apps account and
contract number requesting a license key or logging a
contract number.
case to make it easier to identify you.
You can follow the process as
Limit GL Wand documented here to configure Control which responsibilities are
Responsibilities which responsibilities are available available in GL Wand.
in GL Wand.
Customize the characters that are Work around a situation where the
Custom used as delimiters in GL Wand e.g. default delimiters clash with
delimiters the range delimiter which defaults characters used in your segment
to “-“. values.
A link to the GL Wand HTML users
Easier access to run this report
Users report report is now accessible from the
without needing to know the URL.
GL Wand options dialog.
Release 4.20
Functionality
Added a new interface to create,

Much simpler process and user
Reports Wand edit and delete Reports Wand
interface for creating report
Administrator report definitions all directly in
definitions.
Excel.
Release 4.15
Functionality
134
Payroll drill down is not supported

Payroll drill
by Oracle, however this source was
down not Bug Fix.
not excluded in the GL Wand drill
supported
down. This was corrected.
The drill down hyperlink between
the journal sheet and the sub
Drill down
ledger sheet was not being created Bug Fix.
hyperlink
correctly in Oracle R12. This was
corrected.
A problem could occur with Budget
Budget Wand Wand validation if the Excel cell
Bug Fix.
validation contained an error. This was
corrected.
OPM drill down Corrected the OPM drill down on

Bug Fix.
on R12 Oracle release 12.
Corrected a problem with the FSG

FSG Converter
Converter if there is no active Bug Fix.
fix
workbook.
Improved the way Reports Wand Clearer indication of the underlying
Reports Wand
handles errors when there are problem when trying to submit a
error reporting
missing parameters. report.
An error could occur if you perform
a drill down to a custom layout
Drill layout fix which is not valid for the selected Bug Fix.
set of books. This has been
corrected.
The configuration sheet is now
Configuration
created in a new workbook rather
sheet creates a Customers requested this behavior.
than on a new sheet in the active
new workbook
workbook.
The current expand functionality
assumes that the account number
(segment value) is to the left of
any data that you wish to expand
Expand on. This logic has been modified so More flexibility in the report layouts
enhancement that you can now process an which will still support expanding.
expand even if the accounts are to
the right of the values. Please note
this enhancement is on the Expand
only and on the Expand Hierarchy.
An error could occur in certain
situations where the Oracle security
rules assigned to the selected
Security rules fix Bug Fix.
responsibility were for applications
other than the General Ledger. This
has been corrected.
135
With certain settings on the drill

down batching options in GL Wand,
Drill batching
the population of the results in Bug Fix.
efficiency
Excel would be inefficient. This was
corrected.
Support the latest Excel releases. A
patch was available (GL Wand 4.11)
Excel 2010 64bit Support was added for the 64bit
for some time but now the 64bit
support version of Excel 2010.
support is included in the main
version.
Previously the “&” was a reserved
character in GL Wand and using it
Segment values in the segment values caused a Support for segment values that
allows & problem. This has been changes to contain this character.
allow the “&” character in segment
values.
GL Wand supports a new operator
on segment values. The character
is a “+” and it means “AND” or
intersection. You can specify a set
of segment value criteria and then
enter this character and then
specify another set of criteria. GL Provides more flexibility in the Get
Get Balance Wand will only return the Balance segment value parameters,
intersect criteria intersection of the two sets of especially for the conversion of
criteria. For example “1010- complex FSG reports.
1020+1015-1025” would effectively
only return “1015-1020”. This is
especially useful when converting
FSG reports to GL Wand where the
FSG has segment values criteria in
the row and column set.
Release 4.10
Functionality
Budget Wand
Corrected a problem with the
calendar Bug Fix.
Budget Wand calendar validation.
validation
Get Balance
The new “Options” parameter,
“Options” Easier to create Get Balance formulas
which includes the journal source
parameter that include “Options” as the syntax
and category, has been added to
included on the can be difficult to master initially.
the Get Balance wizard.
wizard.
136
In certain conditions the hide zeros

functionality would give an error.
Problem
This would occur if the selected
corrected with Bug Fix.
range included Excel cells which are
Hide Zeros
returning an error value. This has
been corrected.
If the Reports Wand output was
configured to have an Excel
Reports Wand
AutoFilter and an active filter was
output
present, the data from a Bug Fix.
containing Excel
subsequent execution would
filtering
populate inconsistently. This has
been corrected.
Where the FSG converter
encountered a calculation which
FSG blank
had a blank definition row it would Bug Fix.
calculation lines
raise an error. This has been
corrected to ignore the blank line.
FSG Converter A find box was added to the FSG Easier to locate a specific FSG report
find box Converter screen. to convert.
An error would occur when opening

a list of values on a criteria sheet
Drill Criteria list
created in an older version of GL Bug Fix.
of values
Wand using version 4.05. This has
been corrected.
A problem has been found when
drilling down to the sub ledger level
Drill down issue
when logged on with the All Sets Of
with All Sets Of Bug Fix.
Books option. In certain cases the
Books option
user would receive error ORA-
01403. This has been corrected.
Corrected a problem with the
Budget Wand Budget Wand report wizard where
Bug Fix.
report wizard the formula would be created
incorrectly under certain conditions.
XML problem on 11.5.9 with Budget
XML problem on
Wand was corrected. This fix is in
11.5.9 with Bug Fix.
the server side install version
Budget Wand
4.00.2.
A problem was corrected where the
Snapshot default
default snapshot file name would Bug Fix.
file name
sometimes be blank.
Budget Wand
A problem was found with Budget
with unusual
Wand when used with an unusual
accounting Bug Fix.
accounting flexfield configuration.
flexfield
This problem was corrected.
configuration
137
The Get Balance formula was

changed to not allow a blank value
in any of the parameters but this
Drill Criteria
change was not extended to the
sheet still
drill criteria sheet. This created a Bug Fix.
accepts a blank
security risk where all the required
parameter
checks might not be performed on
a drill down. This has been
corrected.
High Performance Architecture
A problem was corrected with the

Java servlet java servlet where the sessions
Bug Fix.
sessions would sometimes not release back
to the pool correctly.
Release 4.05
Functionality
Excel would interpret certain results

Correction to of the merge low high segment
merge low high ranges function as a number rather Bug Fix.
segment ranges than as text. This has been
corrected.
Budget Wand
Budget Wand XML no longer tries
XML change for Budget Wand xml will work on 11.5.9
to validate against a DTD.
11.5.9
Create your own SQL queries and
publish them into formatted Excel
templates. This new module
provides incredible flexibility in Flexible reporting from any area in
New Reports
terms of filtering, sorting, Oracle e-Business Suite. Reports
Wand module
formatting and refreshing real-time Wand is available as a cost plus
added
data from any area in Oracle in an option.
Excel reporting environment. Read
the data sheet on our web site for
the detail.
A problem was corrected with the
Parent Cache
parent cache option which would
problem Bug Fix.
occur with certain hierarchy
corrected.
configurations.
138
Reserved
A problem was found where certain
character used
reserved characters were used in
in Oracle Bug Fix.
Oracle configuration data. This
configuration
problem was corrected.
data
Exchange rates can now be refreshed
Ability to fetch daily exchange rates
Get Exchange directly from Oracle using a function
from Oracle using a GL Wand
Rate Function and can easily be incorporated into
function.
Excel reports, models or analysis.
A new parameter has been added
to the Get Balance function which
Enables you to get balances on an
allows you to specify a journal
account at a more detailed level than
Journal source source and category. The returned
the overall account balance. The
and category balance will then only include
functionality can also be used to
analysis journal lines having that source and
extract journals based on a particular
category. The drill down to detail
source and category.
will then also only return journals
having that source and category.
R12 Cost The R12 Cost Management drill
Management down was not working correctly Bug Fix.
drill down and has been fixed.
The support for drill down sources
R12 support for
in R12 has been extended to More drill downs available in GL Wand
additional drill
include more of the sources on an R12 system.
down sources.
supported by Oracle.
Corrected a problem where the "-"
JED and the is used as the date delimiter. GL
Bug Fix.
date delimiter Wand needs "/" as the "-" character
is used for ranges.
More flexibility added to the drill down
Insert a You can now insert calculated report layouts. Also facilitates
calculated formulas as user defined columns including a Run Report formula in an
formula into GL into the GL Wand drill down sheets. existing GL Wand drill down report
Wand drill down See the user guide for more which will allow you to drill to
sheets. details. additional detail which is not provided
by the standard drill down layouts.
Changed the SQL queries to use
Journal effective
the effective date on the journal Bug Fix.
date fix.
line.
Correct a problem that could occur
GL Wand key where GL Wand incorrectly reports Bug Fix.
an invalid GL Wand key.
A problem was found where Budget
Wand would incorrectly report an
Budget Wand
account as disabled under certain Bug Fix.
date issue
conditions. This has been
corrected.
139
The FSG converter was not

Problem with
correctly dealing with certain
FSG converter Bug Fix.
accounting flexfield configurations.
corrected.
This has been corrected.
FSG Conversion Corrected a problem with the FSG
with = character converter where the = character is Bug Fix.
in the line item used in the line item.
The drill down logic has been

enhanced to improve performance.
Where possible GL Wand will batch
the drill down calls and fetch the
Faster drill downs, quicker population
Drill down results from Oracle in batches. The
of the results into Excel and the ability
batching user also has the option to cancel
to stop the process.
the process. This option will be
enabled by default but can be
disabled under the advanced GL
Wand options.
Release 3.89
Functionality
Budget Wand -
In certain cases an error could
Submitting
occur when multiple concurrent
multiple Bug Fix.
requests were submitted in the
concurrent
Budget Wand load.
requests
Get started with a GL Wand report
GL Wand now contains a feature
based on an FSG definition at the click
FSG Extract Tool which will extract an FSG report
of a button. No need to manually
definition into an Excel worksheet.
recreate the FSG criteria in Excel.
Under certain conditions the report
Report wizard
wizard would use the incorrect
defaulting to
currency type and not the correct Bug Fix.
incorrect
one as selected by the user. This
currency type.
has been corrected.
Create List of Organizations reporting across sets of
Extends the 'Create List of Values'
Values for Sets books can easily create a Set of Books
functionality to Sets of Books.
of Books List of Values that will be dynamic.
140
Functional currency can be fetched

Ability to fetch the functional
Get Functional directly from Oracle using a function,
currency for a particular Set of
Currency therefore users don't have to manually
Books out of Oracle using a GL
Function check what these are in Oracle when
Wand function.
defining reports.
Novell Novell GroupWise email is now

New email option support.
Groupwise email supported in the report manager.
GL Wand now supports drill down

Drill down to
to Oracle process manufacturing in New drill down functionality.
OPM
Oracle 11.
List of Values for Select Currency from a List of
Currencies on Values when defining your Get Users can easily select valid currency
Get Balance Balance using the Get Balance codes from a List of Values.
Wizard Wizard.
Organizations reporting across
Create List of multiple currencies can easily create a
Extend the 'Create List of Values'
Values for dynamic Currencies List of Values that
functionality to Currencies.
Currencies users can access by double clicking
the cell containing the List of Values.
Error on logon Under certain conditions an error
when PC would occur during the logon if the
regional setting PC’s regional setting was on a Bug Fix.
on a foreign foreign language. This was
language. corrected.
Corrected a problem where report
Report manager
manager could not correctly
problem Bug Fix.
validate target cells in the GL Wand
corrected
report in certain situations.
An error would occur when clicking
Report manager the output folder button in the
output folder on report manager if Excel 2000 is Bug Fix.
Excel 2000 being used. This has been
corrected.
Remove The remove headings function was
headings on R12 not working on the Release 12 sub
Bug Fix.
sub ledger ledger drill sheet. This has been
report corrected.
In certain conditions an error would
Error during
occur if you were using a foreign
logon when
language version of Excel. Bug Fix.
using foreign
Specifically the error was observed
language Excel
on Portuguese Excel
In certain situations GL Wand
GL Wand reports
would incorrectly report an Oracle
ORA-XXX error Bug Fix.
error where one had not actually
incorrectly
occurred. This has been fixed.
141
Journal drill A solution has been created for the

down problem case where the error ORA-00942:
Bug Fix.
on Oracle 12.0.6 table or view does not exist occurs
corrected. on the journal drill down.
Report manager
Fixed the problem where report
ranges, lists and
manager would not allow ranges, Bug Fix.
wild card
lists or wild card items in criteria.
criteria.
Error - ORA-
When calculating a report while
01795:
using the parent cache option in GL
maximum
Wand 3.86 or higher, the error
number of Bug Fix.
“ORA-01795: maximum number of
expressions in a
expressions in a list is 1000” This
list is 1000
has been corrected.
fixed.
In Excel 2007, GL Wand takes the Files generated by GL Wand will be
Default Excel
default save file format from the saved using the user’s preferred
save file format.
Excel options. format.
Reporting on
Corrected a problem which
last period
occurred when reporting on last Bug Fix.
defined in Oracle
period defined in Oracle calendar.
calendar
When using the secure drill down
option (XLA: Secure Drill down by
Purchasing Sub
operating unit) a problem could
ledger drill down Bug Fix.
occur for certain types of
error
purchasing drill down transactions.
Corrected a problem where report
Report manager
manager would not recognize an
problem Bug Fix.
Excel file which had the “XLS” in
corrected
upper case as a valid Excel file.
This new button will assist to identify
the reason why a Get Balance formula
Added a new button on the tools
returns an error. It can specifically
“Audit Get menu to audit a Get Balance
assist with identifying why a Get
Balance” button function. A log is produced showing
Balance formula returns glwNoAccess
added various information about how the
by identifying the segment and
Get Balance function is processed.
segment value which contains security
rules.
Selecting the drill to journal button
Drill to journal with the Journal-Full sheet selected
Bug Fix.
error. caused an error. This was
corrected.
Drill down using The drill down menu options have
Simply right click on a cell to drill
right mouse been added to the Excel right
down on a Get Balance.
click mouse click menu.
142
Additional checks were needed for

Budget Wand
certain invalid characters in the
formula Bug Fix.
Load Budget formula, these have
validation
been added.
Control
Oracle release 11 has a feature

which allows the drill down from GL
balances to the sub ledger to
Secure drill enforce a security check and only
Additional security option supported
down by permit drill down to the operating
by GL Wand.
operating unit unit that the user logged on with.
This feature is applicable to
Payables and Purchasing only. GL
Wand now supports this option.
Java servlet
A problem was found with the java
problem on
servlet GL Wand server component. Bug Fix.
windows server
This was corrected.
corrected
Release 3.85
Functionality
You now have the option of

extracting the hierarchy for a Previously GL Wand only extracted the
segment into an Excel sheet. segment values in alphabetical order,
Discover the
Starting with a parent value GL you now have the option to extract
parent hierarchy
Wand will extract the full hierarchy this information in the hierarchy
for that parent value and display it sequence and view the full hierarchy.
in an Excel sheet.
You can now perform an expand
using the defined parent hierarchy. More flexibility when expanding values
Previously GL Wand would perform into their detail. You are now able to
Expand using
an expand down to the lowest level see the detail one level down the
the parent
children only. You can expand hierarchy (or for the full hierarchy)
hierarchy
down one level of the hierarchy or rather than only seeing the lowest
down the full hierarchy for all level children.
levels.
143
You can now perform an explode

using the defined parent hierarchy. More flexibility when exploding values
Previously GL Wand would perform into their detail. You are now able to
Explode using
an explode down to the lowest level see the detail one level down the
the parent
children only. You can explode hierarchy (or for the full hierarchy)
hierarchy
down one level of the hierarchy or rather than only seeing the lowest
down the full hierarchy for all level children.
levels.
A problem was discovered where
Budget Wand would report "ORA-
06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value
error: character string buffer too
Budget Wand
small" in certain situations. This Bug Fix.
error on upload
was corrected. This fix requires an
updated GL Wand server
component labeled 3.80.2 on the
GL Wand test page.
The Get Balance formula now
contains a new option for the
Get Balance translated flag, namely “C” for
support converted amounts. When using This amount type was previously not
converted this option GL Wand will return the available in GL Wand.
amount converted amount in functional
currency for a particular entered
currency.
Net value on sub
The R12 SLA sub ledger drill down
ledger report for Two new fields have been added to
report can be used for further
entered and the sub ledger drill down report for
manipulation in Excel without needing
accounted for R12 SLA. They are Accounted Net
to first add a net column manually
R12 sub ledger and Entered Net.
each time.
accounting.
144
Previously when leaving a

particular Get Balance segment
parameter empty, GL Wand would
assume that you want all values for You must now specifically enter a
that segment. You had the option “%”to denote all values. This gives GL
to either specify a “%” to denote all Wand the ability to know whether you
values or simply leave the segment are specifically requesting all values or
Leaving Get parameter blank. This functionality that you have simply not completed
Balance has however caused problems in entering the formula yet. This change
segments as certain situations. For example a also prevents GL Wand from
empty no longer user copies and pastes a Get duplicating the calculations which can
resolved to Balance formula onto a new row. result in certain cases when Excel
mean “all The Get Balance formula is linked does not initially get the calculation
values” in the segment 3 parameter to dependencies correct. This can happen
column A, however on this new row for example when you derive the
the value in column A is blank. If segment values using an Excel
your GL Wand calculation is it set formula like “Mid” or the GL Wand
to “On” this calculation will start “Split_Text” formula.
and may take a long time to
complete as GL Wand is assuming
you want all values for segment 3.
In certain situations this alternate Get

The GL Wand logon screen now has
Balance processing method can result
a new check box which allows you
in a significant performance
to select an alternative method for
improvement. When selecting this
New calculation processing Get Balance formulas.
option, the initial GL Wand logon may
option for Get You can select this option at each
be slower. We recommend testing
Balance logon and vary it to suit which ever
your slower GL Wand reports using
method provides you with the best
the old and the new method to
performance for particular GL Wand
determine which method is better for
reports.
your environment.
Release 3.80
Functionality
GL Wand now contains the Budget

Wand product which allows budget
uploads using any custom layout
Easy upload of Budgets created using
Budget Wand that you create.
Excel models and worksheets.
See the user guide for budget wand
later in this document.
145
In certain circumstances, when

Error in Release logging on with a non GL
12 sub ledger responsibility, the drill down to sub
Bug Fix
drill down ledger would result in no data
returns no data found. This problem has been
corrected.
GL Wand now supports drill down
to the sub ledger for the following
New drill down new journal sources - Marketing,
sources PYA Transactions (Fed), Budgetary New sub ledger drill down capability.
supported Transaction (Fed) and Payables for
the Treasury Confirmation
category.
In the past the Get Balance
function only supported individual
segment values e.g. segment 2 =
100 or 200 and segment 3 = 1000
or 2000. This would result in GL
Wand returning all the possible Significantly enhanced reporting
combinations of those segment 2 capability for customers requiring the
and 3 values. ability to specify account combinations
Support for for their segment criteria rather than
specifying Now you have the ability to specify individual segment values only.
segment criteria account combinations using the Previously this required using multiple
using account new Get Balance syntax. This Get Balance formulas to achieve the
combinations. means that you can create new same result. Now you have the
complex criteria for your Get capability of specifying these complex
Balance formula e.g. (segment 2 = criteria in a single Get Balance
100 and segment 3 = 1000) or function.
(segment 2 = 200 and segment 3
= 2000). With this criteria GL Wand
will no longer return all the possible
combinations but rather only the
combinations you specify.
Net value on sub Two new fields have been added to The sub ledger drill down report can
ledger report for the sub ledger drill down report. be used for further manipulation in
entered and They are Accounted Net and Excel without needing to first add a
accounted. Entered Net. net column manually each time.
GL Wand now has the ability to
Get Balance and
extract balances and perform a drill
drill down to Report based on your descriptive
down using information stored in
balances based flexfields information.
the segment values descriptive
on DFF criteria.
flexfields.
146
When performing a drill down with

the default view for new sheets set
to “Page Layout”, a drill down error
Drill down with
could occur under certain Bug Fix
page layout view
conditions. GL Wand now forces the
view to "Normal" for the sheets in
the drill down workbook.
Certain characters are invalid for
Get Balance parameters e.g. "&". If
Invalid
these characters were included in a
characters in
Get Balance parameter the formula Bug Fix
Get Balance
would not handle the error
parameters
correctly under certain conditions.
A drill down error could occur under
certain conditions when including
DFF values in the drill down. This
Potential drill
problem related to selecting a DFF
down error
for a segment number which is Bug Fix
when selecting
greater than the number of
DFF
segments in the set of books in use
at the time. The problem has been
corrected.
After a GL Wand logon the alt-tab
Problem with function to switch between
Alt-Tab after GL workbooks may stop working under Bug Fix
Wand logon certain conditions. This has been
corrected.
Previously the expand feature
would allow you to extract all the
Expand feature
child values that are included in Expand complex segment combination
extended to
your criteria but this was limited to criteria. Use this feature to extract
work across
a single segment. You can now account combinations that are in use.
segments.
expand values using criteria from
multiple segments.
Added additional journal sources to
Additional R12
the list of supported ones for GL
drill down Additional drill down support.
Wand drill down to sub ledger
sources
accounting in R12.
When using the grouping option,
Report manager will rename the
Report manager
sheets in the output workbook. The
error when Bug Fix
sheet name has a limit of 31
naming sheets
characters which was not being
enforced.
147
The recently introduced

enhancement which allows the Get
Balance to include DFF criteria has
DFF Get Balance Allows more flexible options to be
been extended to allow a range
allows range specified when using DFF criteria.
value to be specified as the DFF
criteria. This can support date
ranges as well.
On certain large drill down

operations the error "Too many
Drill down error
open cursors" occurred in certain
"Too many open Bug Fix
circumstances. This has been
cursors"
corrected. Requires the new GL
Wand server 3.80.
The servlet (optional for the server
Servlet component of GL Wand) has been
Bug Fix
enhancements enhanced to fix a few issues and
improve performance.
148

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I

Excel4Apps (Pty) Ltd

All rights reserved.

If you are thinking of

GL Wand.msi - Client installation (file name will include the version)

5. Leave this option ticked

1. Start by launching Excel.

Follow these steps to manually enable the GL Wand add-in

Installing PDF Creator

Pick the standard installation.

You can accept the default path or change it if required.

PDF Creator on Vista

Turn off user account control

The GL Wand installation should have the following pre-configured connection.

About the test instance

The purpose of the test instance is to

facilitate a rapid connection to an Oracle instance; and

Once you have mastered basic functionality we recommend

moving the evaluation to your own Oracle Applications environment

Test instance performance

your internet connection speed

- Not logged on, click to log on

- Logged on, click to log on again

See also the Creating Connections section.

Oracle Logon Method

Excel Logon Method

Limiting GL Wand Responsibilities

Set of Books and Segment Selector

- Set of Books and Segment selector

- Discover Down All

3. Now click the “Discover Down” button.

- Discover Right All

You do not need to discover segment values one at a time.

Discover Period Names

2. Choose the special “Period” value from the segment list.

3. Now click the “Discover Down” button.

- Discover segment properties

To use this function,

1. Select a cell(s) with a valid segment value in it.

2. Make sure the correct segment is selected in the segment selector.

3. Click the Discover Properties button.

Discover Child Ranges

- Discover child ranges

1. Select a cell that has a parent segment value.

3. Now click on the “Discover Child Ranges” button.

To discover the hierarchy for a segment proceed as follows:

Toggle Discover Level

- Toggle discover level

1. Select a cell and enter a starting segment value.

1. Select a cell that has a segment selection e.g. a parent value.

Expand Hierarchy (Full)

Highlight the entire range of expanded data.

Start with a complete GL Wand report.

Explode Hierarchy (1 Level)

Explode Hierarchy (Full)

Open List of Values

- Open list of values

If you want to add a range like “1000-2000” do the following.

- Create list of values

GL Wand currently has the following functions.

- Next Segment Value

- Previous Segment Value

- Set of Books Name