A reporting tree definition is report component, also called a building block, which helps define the structure and hierarchy of your organisation. It is a cross-dimensional hierarchical structure based on the dimensional relationships within your financial data. It provides information at the reporting unit level and at a summary level for all units in the tree.

In Management Reporter, a reporting unit is used for each box in an organisational chart. A reporting unit can be an individual department from the financial data, or it can be a higher-level summary unit that combines information from other reporting units. For a report definition that includes a reporting tree, one report is generated for each reporting unit and for the summary level. All of these reports use the row and column definitions that are specified in the report definition, unless the report definition specifies to use the reporting tree from the row definition.

Row and column definitions are important components in the design and functionality of financial reports. Reporting trees increase the power of the components and support flexible reporting as the business structure changes.

Financial reports that are not based on a reporting tree use only some of the capabilities of Management Reporter. You can use multiple reporting tree definitions with the same row and column definitions to view your organisation in various ways.