The problem with supply chain spend reporting
We’ve all gotten the request before…. What was our spend on item 11111 last year?
Where do you go to provide them the data behind the request? PO54, MM280, or maybe you get a little crazy and start pulling records directly from POLINE?
What if I told you that if you are looking for accurate spend, your best bet is invoice data, not purchase order and receipt data. At the very least, a review of both sets of data will provide you a better determination of spend as well as identifying potential issues. Or perhaps 
this is a “close enough” for the review you are pulling data for. The amounts showing on the PO line, PO receipt and Invoice could all be different, in the end, the invoice reflects what you actually paid.
I don’t believe Lawson provides an invoice detail report that has a parameter for a specific line item. That causes a problem with supply chain spend reporting. We’ve worked with many organizations to customize AP175 to include an item parameter. However, you could utilize other reports now and filter out the results you are not interested in. Pulling data directly via MS-Addin’s from MAINVDTL could be a better capture of information until you can explore the custom report route.
MA278 is a helpful report to run and can provide you a cost variance analysis by item by date range. It is calculating the same totals as the MAINVDTL when queried directly.
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