In the past, FRx allowed direct report generation to Excel. This feature was removed in Management Reporter due to security concerns about placing financial data in an unsecured file. However, there’s still a demand for generating reports directly into Excel.

Management Reporter 2012 offers a solution: publishing a secure report link that lets users open the report in Report Viewer, Excel, or XPS format. The link is secure because it leverages Management Reporter’s security features to control report access.

Let’s examine the steps involved. First, some prerequisites:

1. The link can be published to a shared network location (UNC or mapped drive) or a SharePoint site.
2. The service account used for the Management Reporter process service needs read/write permissions for shared network locations or Design permissions for SharePoint libraries.

For SharePoint publishing details, refer to this helpful blog post from the Dynamics Corporate Performance Management team: link to a great blog post

To set the location, go to the report definition in Management Reporter and open the Output and Distribution tab:

Enable the “Generate to multiple report library locations” option. In the left column, specify the report library location, which determines report security access. Then, use the Browse button on the right to find the shared directory for publishing the report link. Add more combinations of report library locations and corresponding report link locations as needed to publish the report to various locations with different security settings.

After specifying the paths, generate the report. The report link will be created automatically in the shared directory:

Double-click to open:

If Report Viewer is installed, you can choose to open the report with it. Otherwise, select Microsoft Excel or XPS Viewer. Select Microsoft Excel:

The system uses the security settings of the linked report library location to determine access. You’ll be prompted to either open or save the report in Excel:

Choose Open to view the report:

This example provides a basic overview. This method offers a simple, effective way to set up direct report generation into Excel.

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a supervising consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.