Cell Formatting in CrosssTab

Hello Expert,

We would like to use analysis for office results as source for other application. Our analysis for office source data is based on Bex Query.

Now each time we run analysis for office on Nex query , it usually display data in cell starting from ' (Apostrophe).

For example : for date like 01.01.2016 is displayed as '01.01.2016. Likewise other numeric field such as contract number , period end date etc.

Is there an way to have cross tab recognize these as Date and Number.

Few pointers I searched upon.

1. Convert Cross Tab to Formula but it will loose drill down.

2. Bex Replacement Path at Bex query to convert Char to Date or Number format. ( it worked but it will not suitable when drilldown is needed).

3. New 2.0 feature on Cell Formatting using Table Design , I did not tried this option.

Any thoughts or pointers to cover up this requirement ?.

Thanks,

Prashant Shah.