IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio: Practical Examples

by Filip Draskovic, Roger Johnson

Overview

IBM Cognos 10 is the next generation of the leading performance management, analysis, and reporting standard for mid- to large-sized companies. One of the most exciting and useful aspects of IBM Cognos software is its powerful custom report creation capabilities. After learning the basics, report authors in the enterprise need to apply the technology to reports in their actual, complex work environment. This book provides that advanced know how. Using practical examples based on years of teaching experiences as IBM Cognos instructors, the authors provide you with examples of typical advanced reporting designs and complex queries in reports. The reporting solutions in this book can be directly used in a variety of real-world scenarios to provide answers to your business problems today. The complexity of the queries and the application of design principles go well beyond basic course content or introductory books. IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio: Practical Examples will help you find the answers to specific questions based on your data and your business model. It will use a combination tutorial and cookbook approach to show real-world IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio solutions. If you are still using IBM Cognos 8 BI Report Studio, many of the examples have been tested against this platform as well. The final chapter has been dedicated to showing those features that are unique to the latest version of this powerful reporting solution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780132656948
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	10/18/2011
Series:	IBM Press
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Filip Draskovic has spent his professional career, which covers the past 11 years, living and breathing IBM Cognos. For the first 8 years of his career, he had been an IBM Cognos consultant and developed his skills applying IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and Planning solutions in multiple industries. Wanting to do something different, he spent the next 3 years as a Cognos trainer teaching public and private IBM Cognos courses in IBM’s offices around North America. Following his desire to constantly gain new experiences and knowledge, he is currently filling the role of an IBM Cognos client technical professional. You can find him today in Toronto’s financial district. At home, with his wife, he is enjoying raising their son and daughter.

 

Roger Johnson is a learning consultant on IBM Cognos technologies delivering a wide variety of courses focusing on the needs of his learners. His education experience has been honed over years of work in training software professionals, college students, and many types of technology users. After he started his career as a computer programmer, a coworker said, “Hey, you do community theater productions. You would make a good trainer.” With those words, his career took a different direction. Over the next 20 years, he never moved too far from either technology or education. As a learner, he has masters degrees in Systems Management and Education. Currently, he is researching the end-user adoption of technology as his doctoral dissertation at Capella University. He calls Orlando home, but is regularly seen around North America delivering any number of IBM Cognos courses. When he is home, he enjoys the time he gets to spend with family, and his dogs keep him busy jogging around the lake.

 

Table of Contents

About the Authors     xvi

Foreword by Erin Pyka     xvii

Preface     xviii

 

Chapter 1  Creating Consumer-Friendly Reports     1

Highlight Selected Text     1

   Design     2

   Step-by-Step     2

Avoiding Query Macros     10

   Design     12

   Step-by-Step     13

Complex Crosstab Calculations     20

   Design     20

   Step-by-Step     21

Summary     24

 

Chapter 2  Matching the Report to the Analysis     27

The Dashboard     28

   Design     28

   Step-by-Step     29

Prompting from an Entire Hierarchy     45

   Design     45

   Step-by-Step     45

Additional Dimensional Functions     58

   Design     58

   Step-by-Step     59

Master-Detail Report from Two Separate Lists     70

   Design     70

   Step-by-Step     70

Configuring the Interactive Dashboard     82

   Scenario     82

   Design     82

   Step-by-Step     82

Summary     89

 

Chapter 3  Understanding the Report Hierarchy     91

Layout Library     91

   Design     92

   Step-by-Step     92

Using the Layout Library     100

   Design     100

   Step-by-Step     101

Inheriting Formatting     109

   Design 109

   Step-by-Step     110

Inheriting Structure     120

   Design     120

   Step-by-Step     120

Creating the Briefing Book     127

   Design     127

   Step-by-Step     127

Summary     140

 

Chapter 4  Overriding the Data Model     141

Creating a Union     142

   Design     142

   Step-by-Step     143

Joining SQL and Model Queries     156

   Design     156

   Step-by-Step     157

Summary     172

 

Chapter 5  Additional Examples     175

Using HTML to Enhance Functionality     176

Final Product     176

   Design     176

   Step-by-Step     177

Integrating Multiple Queries into a Complex Report     187

   Final Product     188

   Design     188

   Step-by-Step     189

Summary     199

 

Chapter 6  New Techniques in Version 10     201

Using Active Reports to Replace HTML Code     202

   Design     203

   Step-by-Step     203

Adding Local Data Sources to Reports     207

   Design     207

   Step-by-Step     208

New Charting Options and Active Reports    220

   Design     220

   Step-by-Step     221

Statistical Analysis     247

   Design    247

   Step-by-Step     249

Summary     268

 

Index    271