[GNC] Upcoming report deprecation

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 5/20/2019 4:22 PM, Geert Janssens wrote:
> You can choose to install the report as a custom report as explained in our
> wiki:
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Custom_Reports
>
> The whole assumption here is these reports are rarely used and unmaintained.
> We don't want to completely remove them as they can serve as examples of what
> can be done with the report system, but at the same time we want to remove
> clutter from the menus. So they stick around as development examples, not as
> ready to use reports.
>
> Regards,
>
> Geert

I would think that though rare, a couple of those would be more than 
"examples", would have specific uses. Then they would be VERY useful.

An examples were asked for?

  Average Balance ---- there are loan agreements that use this rather 
than daily balance. Also other agreements (like whether interest paid, 
etc.). You might want to verify/check (aka "reconcile") what the bank 
says the average balance was.

Expenses vs. Day of Week
Income vs. Day of Week --- these two, especially together, would be 
important for a business deciding what days of the week to be open and 
which to take as the day(s) closed. A restaurant business usually makes 
this decision by estimate, using "cash receipts" but that could be 
deceptive if the profit percentage is not a constant << maybe expenses  
were disproportionately higher on the high receipts nights >>

But like I said, RARE. It is perfectly OK, maybe a good idea, that 
things needed by very few of us are not cluttering up the app for all of 
us. Things that if we want/need we can get, with a little trouble. I 
will  note that these tend to cluster. Taking myself as an example, 
keeping books for non-profits, would use the special reports that 
non-profits would want (or of new to it, example CoA for a non-profit) 
--- so would all the others keeping books for non-profits -- but other 
users of gnucash wouldn't use them.

Note that this is how many of the "for profit" accounting apps work. 
They sell you a version specific to your type of entity or line of 
business. That is why many of you complain this or that missing.

This is essentially the monolithic vs modular argument. I'll make no 
bones about being firmly on the side of the latter. MUCH easier to maintain.

Michael D Novack