SAP Note 22102 - Optimizing the runtimes of reports

Symptom:

A report has a very long runtime. The report terminates online with TIME_OUT.

Cause and prerequisites

Please check the options below for optimizing the performance of a report.

Solution

1. The "Form printout" flag is set in the layout parameters of the report. In this case, Report Writer internally generates records with zero values for all relevant characteristic combinations, and then processes these records. As a result, accounts that were not posted to are also identified in the report, for example.

The number of such records can become quite large, increasing the runtime of the report accordingly. This is particularly the case when active variation of selection is involved. Starting in Release 2.2, the additional time required for form printout will be listed separately in the selection log.

2. When constructing a report, Report Writer processes every data record that is read for every line and column set. Define the report in such a way that as few line and column blocks as possible are used. Whenever possible, use the set hierarchy to form totals.

3. When possible, use value intervals in large line sets, instead of listing individual values. Report Writer attempts to locate the characteristic values in the corresponding sets for every data record it reads. This search is much faster when intervals are used. If your report uses large line sets, please also see Note 20941 (valid for Release 2.0*, 2.1A through 2.1J, and 2.2A through 2.2D).

Please note that value intervals for report lines are not expanded during form printout.

4. Use the "General selection" section of the report ("Data selection" in releases up to and including Release 2.2) to define all the global, constant selection conditions. Every data record that is read will then only have to be checked for this condition once.

5. Whenever possible, suppress undesired summation levels by specifying detail levels in the report definition, not by using summation levels. When detail levels are used, Report Writer only creates the lines that are actually to be output. In contrast, summation levelsare not taken into account until the report is output, and Report Writer has to create all the report lines internally. When a large percentage of lines is suppressed using summation levels, this can lead to long run times, especially when active variation of selection is involved.
Therefore, only use the summation levels when you want to change them interactively during report output.

Avoid the use of suppression indicators in sets when you can achieve the same effect by setting the detail level in the report.

6. If you regularly execute several reports that read and process the same data, more or less, it is often effective to group these reports together in a report group. In this case, the data is only read once, and is then processed for all the reports.

Additional key words

Performance, TIME_OUT, runtime
----- SUPPORTGUIDE 20010411140028 -----
REPORTWRITER, SGRW_FORMPRINT, SGRW_PERFORMANCE, SGRW_PERF_SEL SGRW_PERFORMANCE, SGRW_PERF_EDITION SGRW_PERFORMANCE, SGRW_MESSAGE, SGRW_DOCU_CONS_NOTE
SGRW_OM SGRW_PS SGRW_PC SGRW_SL SGRW_PCA SGRW_EC SGRW_LIS