Zero Columns Not Aligning In Management Reporter

We had an odd little issue pop up in Management Reporter.  One of those little oddities that doesn't seem like much, but is annoying nonetheless.  Here is an example of the issue, in a calculated column that is rounded to 1 decimal place:

1.0
4.4
2.0
3.4
 0.0
2.2

Notice the problem?  Look closer.  Do you see it?  The 0.0 value does not align to the rest of the numbers.  Why?  Well, the issue is that the 0.0 is actually being rounded from -0.02 (for example).  So when it rounds to 0.0 it is not aligned correctly in the column.  If it was -.06 it would be fine, as that would round to -1.0. 

A small issue, sure, but one that can be quite annoying in presentation-quality financials.

Fortunately, it is fairly simple fix.  Set the Print Control for the column to NP, and then add a new calculated column with this formula:

IF B>-.05 AND B<0 THEN 0 ELSE B

Replace B with the original column that was set to NP.  This eliminates the issue with the negative value rounding to the out of alignment 0.0.  This is logged as a quality report with Microsoft.

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.