Cognos 8 SCI Real-time Report Development Cognos Report Development Guidelines

Saravanan Vajjiravel
Saravanan Vajjiravel
28-May-2011

REVISION HISTORY ................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. SUMMARY: ................................................................................................................................................. 3 AUDIENCE: ................................................................................................................................................. 4 INPUTS: ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 DELIVERABLES: ....................................................................................................................................... 4 TOOLS: ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 OVERALL CONSIDERATIONS: .............................................................................................................. 4 RECOMMENDED PRACTICES: .............................................................................................................. 5 DETERMINE THE TYPE OF REPORT ....................................................................................................... 5 LEVERAGE CALCULATIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE REPORTS ..................................................................... 6 ENFORCE SOURCE CONTROL ............................................................................................................... 6 EMPLOY A STANDARD NAMING CONVENTION .................................................................................... 7 FORMATTING A REPORT ...................................................................................................................... 7 WORKING WITH DATA......................................................................................................................... 8 WORKING WITH QUERIES .................................................................................................................... 8 WORKING WITH REPORTS ................................................................................................................... 8 WORKING WITH JAVA SCRIPTS ............................................................................................................ 8 BUILD TASKS: ............................................................................................................................................ 9 CHECKLIST: ..............................................................................................................................................10 ADDITIONAL REFERENCE DOCUMENTS: .......................................................................................10

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Revision History Release 1.0 Date 05/30/2011 By Saravanan Vajjiravel Description Final Version

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Summary: This document is intended to provide guidelines and processes that should be used when implementing Cognos 8 Standar Reports using Cognos Report Studio. Cognos Report Studio is a Web product for creating reports that analyze corporate data according to specific information needs. Audience: Cognos Report Developer (Report Author), Cognos Center of Excellence (Cognos Application Architect) Inputs: Approved Project Detailed Report Specifications Document (to include Service Level/Business Requirement expectations) Framework Manager Model/Package (relational/dimensional) Deliverables: Operational Reports Dashboard Reports if any. Report Design Document (Technical Design Document for future maintenance) External Report Outputs (PDF, CSV, Excel, etc.) Tools: Cognos 8 installation on development server Access to the development gateway server (your network admin must make provisions to have you set up within the Corporate LDAP and the Cognos enterprise environment.) Cognos Connection Report Author (for creating standard/advance reports) Overall Considerations: Cognos Report Studio is a Web-based tool that professional report authors use to build sophisticated, multiple-page, multiple-query reports against multiple databases. With Cognos Report Studio, you can create any report that your company requires, such as List, Cross-tab, and Chart (used effectively for dashboard implementation). Before you use Cognos Report Studio to design and create a report, some information is required. For each report, answer the following questions: Who is the target audience? What business question do you want to answer? Which type of report will best answer the business question? What are the data sources, and where are they? Which query items and calculations are needed? What are the security needs? How will the report be distributed?

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Recommended Practices: The Design and Build Tasks outline the specific steps to develop the standard report using Cognos Report Author; however, execution of these steps should be completed using the principals below: Determine the type of report Identify the type of report that best suits to represent data for making better decision platform for the business end-user. In Cognos Report Studio, you can create the following types of reports: List Use list reports to show detailed information from your database, such as product lists and customer lists. It actually shows data is rows and columns.

Crosstab Use crosstab reports to show information in a more compact form than in a grouped list. For example, create a crosstab report to show total sales by product line generated by each sales representative. Like list reports, crosstab reports are reports that show data in rows and columns. However, the values at the intersection points of rows and columns show summarized information rather than detailed information.

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Chart Charts are a graphical way of presenting information. Use charts to reveal trends and relationships that are not evident in tabular reports. For example, you can create a chart to visualize how actual sales compare to projected sales, or to discover whether sales are falling or rising over quarterly periods. Tip: To view the available chart types, from the File menu, click New, and then double-click the chart icon. Example: Combination Chart

Repeater Repeaters are tables in which you can insert items that are repeated when you run the report. For example, use repeaters to create mailing labels. Tip: To build a repeater, drop the items you want in the repeater object. Then modify the properties of the repeater to obtain the results you want. For example, you can specify how many repeater frames appear per page by typing values in the across and down properties.

Leverage Calculations across multiple reports Before you create reports, identify report specific calculations that are used across multiple report deliverables should be modeled within Framework Manager if not, please push these calculation to implement under FM Model for efficient process. Enforce Source Control Post implementations of report make sure appropriate precautions have been taken to protect the work. All reports should be exported to (.xml format) that should be source controlled and checked in before attempt to modify the report.
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Employ a Standard Naming Convention Adhere to standard naming convention while creating any query calculation, data item and parameter, etc. for better maintenance. For instance, Report & Prompt Page Naming Convention o o Name the Report Page as that of the Report Name e.g. for Weekly Commission Report , name the report page as "Weekly Commission Payment Report Page" In the similar fashion, rename the Prompt page if any e.g. "Weekly Commission Payment Prompt Page". All the Query Names should start with Qry_Report_Page and Qry_Prompt_Page If you have summary & detail report to be required to display in the same report then query naming convention should be Qry_Report_Summary and Qry_Report_Detail. For multiple queries use appropriate naming convention like Qry1_<BusinessName>. Any Query calculation or a data item must start with small 'c' e.g. c_Week All the parameters should be created with the name starting with param_ e.g. param_week

Query & Parameter Naming Convention o o

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Formatting a Report Format your report to make it more readable and to reflect company standards. When you format a report in Cognos Report Studio, the formatting is stored in a layout. Below are the lists of formatting options that you can do apply specific to your firms norms. 1. add a header or footer 2. add borders 3. add text 4. add color 5. insert an image 6. add a bookmark 7. insert other objects 8. align an object 9. use tables to control where objects appear 10. apply padding 11. set margins 12. reuse an object 13. add a page 14. reorder columns 15. rename a column 16. swap columns and rows 17. set object properties 18. Change the default class of an object
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Working with Data Ensure your report has been implemented with necessary filter conditions to narrow down the results to the finer focus for better decision making. Also, its good to observe the columns sorting and grouping as required by the business. Working with Queries Ensure your report should not be overloaded with more runtime queries which might drastically reduce your report performance by forming Cognos Stitched Query which is not normally suggestible. Tip: Avoid using runtime queries as much as possible. Its good to accommodate all runtime query requirements inside FM Model. Working with Reports After you have created a report, you may need to make changes for various reasons, such as o Enable Drill Through to another report o Create Section, bookmark o Burst a Report (i.e. by email) o Conditional Formatting Working with Java Scripts Use customized Java Scripts only if required. Dont embed java scripts unnecessarily which might lead to collapse the report format. For instance, if your report demands to remove the dotted lines followed by prompt name in drop-down box or wants to set default prompt value, etc., and then you could go with Java Scripts.

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Build Tasks: 1. Specifying the package Specify the package that will provide items for the report. The packages that you use to generate reports are based on models that are created in the modeling tool, Framework Manager. A model is a set of related query subjects and other objects, such as filters and calculations. When you open a package in ReportNet/Report Studio, these model objects are visible in the left frame. The package must be previously created and published to the Cognos Connection portal. 2. Choosing a report template Choose a report template to get you quickly started. You can select a predefined template that is formatted as a particular report type (i.e. List/Crosstab/Chart/Repeater) or you can open an existing report as a template. 3. Adding query items Select the query items that you want to appear in the report. 4. Formatting the report Format your report to make it more readable and to reflect company standards. a. Adjust Columns Based on Report Specification Document b. Create/Modify Report Calculations if any. c. Re-construct filter conditions d. Apply sorting & grouping e. Create prompt page for narrowing down report results in an interactive method f. Create drill-through reports if any. g. Create bookmark & master-detail reports if any. h. Apply conditional formatting 5. Saving the report Save your report to preserve the modifications you made. You can also save your report on your local computer instead of on the ReportNet server. 6. Running the report Run your report to see the data that is retrieved. Save time by validating it first to check for errors.

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Checklist:
Create pre-defined standard report Create prompt page if any. Apply query filter conditions if any. Define Data Format and Layout format as per Business Standards. Perform a Checkpoint Review against the detailed Report Specification Document Run and Test the report as expected Save the report Document Technical Design Document

Additional Reference Documents:

1. Report Studio User Guide (i.e. shipped along-with Cognos8 BI Server Installation)

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