Is there something in word where we can mark a specific paragraph/page of a word report?

[former_member597954]

We work on 4 reports in parallel (word document) and across these 4 reports we have some common and most critical notes which we want to be exactly the same and currently if any there is any change, we need to update it 4 times and thoroughly review to make sure it is exactly same.

I know there is a functionality called linked chapters in SAP DM through which we can link a chapter in another report, however we cannot use this as it is as the numbering of the notes is different in each report.

Is there something in word similar to BIP Code in excel where we can mark a specific paragraph/page of a word report and use it in another report?

Thanks!

[olga_vasilieva]

Hello Akash,

I see two possible solutions here:

1) Create all reused text and table parts of your chapter as BIP ranges in a single Excel file that all copies of the chapter will use, except for the different bits.
This solution requires some BIP-location planning and attention from editors working on chapters, but it enables simultaneous change for all of the copies while safeguarding the differences.

2) If you only need to keep small reference texts, like Marc suggested (like notes numbering), you can use native Word bookmarks and fields to cross-reference them. The reference field in the copied chapter will point to the same bookmark name (for example, ReferredChapterN), but during the report creation it will absorb bookmark content defined for each document individually.
Thus the bookmark content will have to be defined in reports' chapters other than the copied one, and the reference will only work when the whole report is created - in the copied chapter the reference will show an error as that chapter won't have the actual bookmark.

Word bookmarks creation: select text for the bookmark, Word menu Insert > Bookmark, name the bookmark.
Word reference fields creation: position the cursor, Word menu Insert > Quick Parts > Field, choose Ref type for the field and add the name of the bookmark and other formatting logic if you needed it. The code will look like: { REF ReferredChapterN }
This solution also requires some planning and attention, but it's probably easier to work with, except for the visible error message in the copied chapter.

Hope it helps.

[former_member597954]

Thanks Olga. We already discussed the first solution with the business users long back, which is not at all user friendly.

For the second option that you proposed, these are different reports and not different chapters.

[olga_vasilieva]

akashbajaj.ca, sorry, if I didn't understand you correctly, but just a reminder: DM standard functionality for the Word report supports disaggregation of report into several chapters (for different people to work on in parallel) and further aggregation of those chapters into a single Word document report. So you can divide all of your reports into several parts, one of which for every report will be a linked chapter with universal cross-reference Word bookmark.
Other than than workaround, I don't think Word can be a data source in DM and native Word references wouldn't work between DM documents due to the changing file names and special file format.

[Marc_Kuipers]

Hi Akash

This may be tricky because of the numbers.

I assume the notes will say something like "please refer to X" and in the other report "...please refer to Y" (and X are Y are references to other texts in the report, which may differ)?

Marc

[former_member597954]

Yes Marc, the one you mentioned and also the number along -with heading of the notes.