Introduction

PeopleSoft uses BI Publisher Report Categories to control if a user has access to run any specific BI Publisher report. This access controls whether a user and run a report and if they can even see the report definition.

PeopleSoft considers Report Categories as Row Level Security for BI Publisher Report access.

Often, all Bi Publisher reports in a PeopleSoft system will be assigned to the same report category and all users have access to that category through a basic role granted to everyone.

Admins can use Report Categories for fine control on who can see or run a report.

The Error that brought you here

Often, the first time an administrator is confronted with BI Pub Report Categories is when a user receives an error while trying to run a report:

“User XXXX does not have permission to access report definition POXMLP_PRINT. (235,2022)”

The Admins and even other users can run the report, but at least one user can’t without receiving the error or, depending on how the report is coded, no error, but no report either.

The problem: the user does not have access to the BI Publisher Report Category assigned to that report.

Defining and Administering Report Categories

Menu > Reporting Tools > BI Publisher > Setup > BIP Report Categories

Use the BIP Report Categories Component to Add and Maintain Report Categories.

Access to a report Category is granted through the Report Definition Editors and Viewers grid. Adding a row to the grid to grant access to all reports in the Category to Roles and Users.

The Read Only checkbox defines whether the user has access to edit BI Pub Report Definitions in this category. If the Role is marked Read Only, then the user can run the report, but not edit the BI Pub Report Definition.

If a user is receiving the “Does Not Have Permission” error above, it’s because they do not have any of the roles defined on this page.

Assigning a Report Category to a BI Publisher Report Definition

Menu > Reporting Tools > BI Publisher > Create BIP Report Definitions

Click the dropdown on the Report Category ID field to assign the Category to this report.

Why use Report Category to segregate reports?

A feature of BI Publisher is that a data set can be used by multiple reports. These different reports can reveal different levels of detail from the data set depending on the report template.

Use Report Categories to segregate different levels of reports to different user groups.

A floor manager receives an invoice report with a parts list
Higher Management receives a report which includes costs and markup of those parts.
An employee runs a report showing their completed classes.
A manager runs a report showing classes completed by all employees reporting to them.

Report Categories give us the opportunity to control who can generate a report through user security.

So how do I fix that error?

A user attempted to run a BI Publisher report and received an error similar to this:

User XXXX does not have permission to access report definition POXMLP_PRINT. (235,2022)

Determine which BI Publisher report the user attempted to run
Navigate to that BIP Report definition.
See what Report Category ID is set for this report.

Navigate to BIP Report Categories and select that report’s category.
Review the roles with access to reports in this category.
Does the user have any of the roles in list?
- Assign a role to the user from this list.
- Or add a role to the list that which will allow the user to run the report.