>Hi,
>
>I need to create a variable in a report that will count the number of distinct values. For example, if the report has a column EMPLOYEE_ID the variable should count how many employees are in the report. How? I tried to enter in the value to store "DISTINCT( EMPLOYEE_ID )" but it gives me error. TIA for any help.

This is not simple using report variables. I suggest to add this field as pre-calculated in the Report.