MINUTES OF THE ABC REPORT FORMATTING MEETING

December 13, 2001

Participants
Cathy Ruth
Bill Green
Linda Threatt
Bill Knecht

The meeting began with everyone agreeing that the objective is to agree on the visual format of the
reports that are due on December 28.

We confirmed that the reports that we will be working on today are:

- ES1 Product Unit Cost
- AC2 Account Unit Cost
- AR2.1 Account Cost by Parent Account
- AR2.4 Labor Detail
- AR5.1 Maintenance Detail

We confirmed that the deadline for finalizing the formats for December 28 reports is December 14.

Logging on to Business Objects

The first screen that users will see is the Business Objects logon screen. Cathy prefers that users
not have to log on to Business Objects at all. If logon is necessary, maybe there could just be one
logon ID that all users could use. If that isnt possible, Cathy would accept users having the same
logon ID as their LAN ID. She does not want users to have to file a 1357 if possible.

After checking with Anna Karneh, we verified that Business Objects requires a logon ID. It is
technically possible for all users to have the same logon ID. So the only question is one of Postal
policy is it a requirement for users to file a 1357 and to have individual IDs, or can everyone
use the same ID? Later that day, John South called to say that he had discussed this with Jim
Grahn and that users will be required to file 1357s and have individual logon IDs. However, it
should be possible for users to be assigned a logon ID that is the same as their LAN ID.

List of Reports
After logging on, Business Objects will display a list of reports. For December 28, this list should
contain only the reports due on December 28. It should not list any future reports. Cathy would

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 like the list to contain, for each report, its ID, name, and a brief description. Cathy will provide a
written list of this information, with reports sorted in the desired order.

Selection Criteria
After selecting a report, Business Objects will display a dialog box containing the selection
criteria available for the selected report. The selection criteria are hierarchical:

National

Area

Performance
Cluster
Product Activity
Reports Reports

Processing Finance
Area Number

When a user chooses a criterion, the subsequent criteria should be filtered by the choice. For
example, if a user chooses the Southeast Area, only the Performance Clusters for that area should
be available for selection. Selection criteria should be displayed in the form of dropdown lists.

Product reports allow users to choose a Processing Area but not a Finance Number. Activity
reports allow users to choose a Finance Number but not a Processing Area.

If, for a particular report, some selection criteria do not apply, the preference is that they not
appear at all. If that is not possible in Business Objects, then they should be grayed out.

Selecting a Fiscal Year and AP

Selection criteria for Fiscal Year and AP will be needed. Ideally, there would be two dropdown
lists, one for FY and one for AP. Ideally, these lists will only display FYs and APs for which data
is available. If this cant be done, then display all APs. If the user selects an FY and AP for which
there is no data, display a No data available message. The Fiscal Year dropdown list must
display 4 digit years. Ideally, the FY dropdown list will automatically add a new FY every year.
Cathy will determine the maximum number of fiscal years that can be displayed.

Selecting a Product
The products on the dropdown list are as follows, displayed in this order: LETTERS, FLATS,
PARCELS, PRIORITY MAIL. The Express Mail product will not appear on the list.

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 Selecting an Activity
Only direct activities must be displayed on the dropdown list. Their Activity Code begins with the
letters DA. This list should display the name of each activity followed by the Activity Code in
parentheses. Activities are to be listed in alphabetical order by activity name.

General Requirements
Report numbers, such as ES1 and AR2.1 are no longer needed. Do not display or use them.

Currently Finance Numbers are stored in the ABC database as a 10 digit number, but the
Postal Service does not use the last 4 digits yet. Ideally, in the beginning, only the first 6
digits of Finance Numbers should be displayed, in nn-nnnn format (Note: Bill Greens notes
say the format should be nnnnnn, with no hyphen). Then, when Postal begins using all 10
digits, switch over to a format of nnnnnn-nnnn. But only do this if the switch is going to be
easy. If it will not be easy to make the switch, only one format will be used. Cathy will let
JMCS know which format to use by Monday December 17.

Years must always be displayed in a 4-digit format.

The first line in the title of every report should say UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.

Place the Postal logo at the top left corner of every report.

The name of the report must be centered on the page below the line that reads ACTIVITY-
BASED COSTING. Skip one blank line between ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING and the
name of the report.

In all bar graphs, use patterns as well as colors for the bars. Make certain that the bars are
distinguishable from one another when printed in black and white.

In all bar graphs, the legend boxes must be large enough to see the patterns used for each bar.

In all bar graphs, the labels along the horizontal axis must be in the same order as the line
items in the table above the graph.

ES1 Product Unit Cost Report

This report is now called PRODUCT UNIT COST. The ES1 label is no longer used. Remove the
word REPORT from the name of the report.

Processing Area Column

List the Processing Areas in alphabetical order.

Skip a line between the Performance Cluster row and the Area row.

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 Skip a line between the Area row and the National row.

Column Titles
The column titles in the tables for each AP should look like this:
Product Product Product
Cost Volume Cost Per
($000) (000) Piece

Decimal Places

Data in the Product Cost and Product Volume columns should have no decimal places.

Data in the Product Cost Per Piece column should have 4 decimal places.

Bar Graph
The title should be upper case, as follows: PRODUCT UNIT COST

The Y axis legend should be upper case, as follows: PRODUCT UNIT COST.

Report Footer

The left footer is U.S.P.S. Confidential.

The middle footer is the report name, Product Unit Cost. Fully spell out each word.

The right footer is the date that the report was produced.

AC2 Activity Unit Cost Report

This report is now called ACTIVITY UNIT COST. The AC2 label is no longer used. Remove the
word REPORT from the name of the report.

Selection Criteria Display

Delete the Finance #. You cant select by Finance Number for this report.

For the Activity, display the Activity name, followed by a space, followed by the Activity
Code in parentheses.

Tables

Follow the same formatting rules as for the Product Unit Cost report.

In the Facility Name column, the column header should be:

FACILITY NAME
(BY FINANCE NUMBER)

The Account Cost and Account Volume columns should have no decimal places.

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 Hyperlinks for the drilldown should only be in the table for the current AP.

Drill_Down Links Comment

Center this comment on the page.

AR2.1 Activity Cost by Parent Account

This report is now called ACTIVITY UNIT COST BY PARENT . (Note: Bill Greens notes show
the report name as ACTIVITY UNIT COST BY PARENT ACCOUNT.) The AR2.1 label is no
longer used.

Selection Criteria Display

Move Facility Name above Finance #.

Tables
The PARENT ACCOUNT COSTS column title should be centered above columns 2-5.

The column titles for direct labor, maintenance, other, and total should look like this:
PARENT ACCOUNT COST ($000)
DIRECT LABOR MAINT OTHER TOTAL
The rightmost column title should look like this:
PERCENT OF DL
--------------------------------
TOTAL DIRECT LABOR
Note: Bill Green suggests this column title to make the column narrower:
PERCENT
DIRECT LABOR
The hyperlinks to the drilldown report are in the three column headings under PARENT
ACCOUNT COSTS:
- Direct Labor links to the Activity Unit Cost Labor report.
- Maintenance links to the Activity Unit Cost Maintenance report.
- Other links to the Activity Unit Cost Other report.
Sort the rows by the Parent Account Costs Total, in descending order.

Data values in all four columns under the PARENT ACCOUNT COSTS column title have 2
decimal places.
Bar Graphs
Spell out the Y axis legends: TOTAL ACTIVITY COST in the pareto graph, and PERCENT
OF TOTAL in the other graph.

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 The pareto bar graph must always have 10 divisions in the Y axis.

AR4.2 Labor Cost Detail Report

This report is now called ACTIVITY UNIT COST - LABOR. The AR4.2 label is no longer used.

The page layout should be landscape. Display the bar graph to the right of the table. (Note: When
Bill Green revised the report mockup in Excel, he changed the page layout to landscape but left
the bar graph below the table because it displayed better that way.)

Selection Criteria Display

Move Facility Name above Finance #.

Tables
The DIRECT LABOR COST BY EMPLOYEE TYPE AND HOURS TYPE column title
should be centered above the columns under it. Spell out all the words in this title.

The STRAIGHT TIME column title should be centered above these four columns under it:
CLK, MH, OTHER, and TOTAL. Remove the ST from the title of the TOTAL column.
The OVERTIME column title should be centered above these four columns under it: CLK,
MH, OTHER, and TOTAL. Remove the ST from the title of the TOTAL column.

The rightmost column title should look like this:

PERCENT OVERTIME
------------------------------
TOTAL OVERTIME
Note: Bill Green suggests this title to make the column narrower:
PERCENT
OVERTIME

The data in all columns must have 2 decimal places.

Bar Graphs
The title of the graph should be PERCENT OVERTIME.

Spell out the Y axis title: OVERTIME LABOR $ / TOTAL LABOR $. (Note: Bill Greens
notes say the title should be OVERTIME COST / TOTAL LABOR COST.)

The bars should all be the same color.

AR5.1 Maintenance Detail Report

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 This report is now called ACTIVITY UNIT COST - MAINTENANCE. The AR5.1 label is no
longer used.

The page layout should be landscape. Display the bar graph to the right of the table.

Selection Criteria Display

Move Facility Name above Finance #.

Tables
The MAINTENANCE COST ($000) column title should be centered above the four columns
under it.

The title of the rightmost column should be PERCENT OF MAINTENANCE COST

PARETO.

Bar Graph

The bars should all be the same color.

The title of the bar graph should be TOTAL MAINTENANCE COST PARETO.

The bar graph must always have 10 divisions in the Y axis.

The Y axis title should be TOTAL MAINTENANCE COST ($000).

Add an X axis title: ACTIVITY.

Remove the $ sign from the Y axis labels.

AR9.9 Other Cost Detail Report

This report is now called ACTIVITY UNIT COST - OTHER. The AR9.9 label is no longer used.

Selection Criteria Display

Move Facility Name above Finance #.

Table

Sort the activities in alphabetical order by name, not by Finance Number.

Center the OTHER ACCOUNT TYPE COST ($000) title above all the columns, including
the TOTAL column.
The title of the rightmost column should be TOTAL.

Change the SPRV column title to SUPV.

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