>I have seen threads that discuss creating the data file necessary to drive a report in the Init of the report Data Environment.
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>My question is that if this technique is followed, how do you create variables that are necessary for the report heading / title band. I.E. if you need to report total records or records for a particular status at the beginning of the report

You could use PUBLIC variables (not a very good solution...) or CREATE a CURSOR with a field for each variable, and print the values from that cursor.