Tutorial for Cognos Analytics

András Éles, István Heckl

University of Pannonia
2021
 Tutorial for Cognos Analytics

András Éles, István Heckl

University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary

Feb 2023 (v1.3)

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 Table of Contents

1. Introduction 6. Active Reports

2. Basics 7. Data Modules

3. Reports 8. Dashboards

4. Tabular data 9. Explorations

5. Parameterized Reports

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 Introduction

1. Introduction
1.1 About this Tutorial
1.2 Important sources
1.3 Motivation

Back to Top

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 1.1. About this Tutorial Introduction

1. Introduction
1.1. About this Tutorial

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 1.1. About this Tutorial Introduction

Goal of this Tutorial:

Give an insight into business intelligence systems
Learn through Cognos Analytics (IBM)
What You will learn:
Basics usage of Cognos Analytics web interface
Important document types, including:
Report (Parameterized and Active)
Dashboard
Exploration
Methods for visualizing and interpreting data
Topics are demonstrated by exercise problems.

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 1.2. Important sources Introduction

1. Introduction
1.2. Important sources

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 1.2. Important sources Introduction

Official site for Cognos Analytics:

https://www.ibm.com/products/cognos-analytics

IBM’s YouTube channel with learning materials

including a playlist dedicated to Cognos Analytics:
https://www.youtube.com/c/IBMSupportTV

Documentation for Cognos Analytics 11.1:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_11.1.0

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 1.2. Important sources Introduction

Sample Data Sets for example problems, mainly in XLSX format:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/businessanalytics/
blogs/steven-macko/2017/06/19/
guide-to-ibm-cognos-analytics-sample-data-sets

Note that Cognos Analytics is constantly being developed.

New demonstration materials may be presented,
appearance and functionality of the software may change with time.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

1. Introduction
1.3. Motivation

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

The goal of business intelligence systems is to support decision making.

Such a software helps in data analysis in the following ways:

Handling data from different sources
Providing straightforward methods for evaluation
Visualizing data in a meaningful way
Automatically performing analysis
Managing all kinds of user roles in the enterprise
and more...

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Example Scenario
You perform data analysis for a large company that produces and several
kinds of dairy products in different regions.

The decision makers plan to upgrade production at some place. But they
need information on which location, and which product type to focus on.

Your task: gather and evaluate historical sales data.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

You may start with collection of required data sources.

The problem is that these can be quite diverse:

The company’s own central databases (might be disconnected)
Individual reports (exceptions for some regions, transactions, etc.)
External sources (marketing research, retail prices, etc.)
You may want to:
Collect and export current data you need
Implement some governing solution for storing data (possibly too
difficult)

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

You may construct some tables or a database of relevant data.

New database or extension of existing ones with tables, views
Spreadsheet application (in simpler cases)

Problems arise:
Underlying data may change
New sources may be involved later
The evaluation may need to be modified, or repeated later
How much rework is needed in each case?

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Data must be properly summarized and visualized to draw meaningful

conclusions.

Problems arise:
Visualization may require additional software
Underlying data may still change
This may be needed many times, so the procedure should be as
streamlined as possible
We may have to tamper with underlying queries and the visualizing
documents at the same time

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Example (1): You come up with a diagram telling total revenues per
product, per region.

Related questions may arise for example:

Inspect specific regions or set of regions only
Group data by product classes instead of single products
Include time: tell in which years/months the revenues were realized

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Example (2): You come up with a solution that can be filtered by time,
regions, products in various ways.

Related additional tasks may arise for example:

Summarize for specific time ranges, product classes, etc.
Compare data for two entries (for example two years, two regions, two
products, etc.)
Order data, automatically find and outline extremes

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Example (3): You construct a variety of tabular reports, diagrams trying to

cover all relevant questions.

Note that this alone can be tedious.

Still, decision makers may have additional requests:

Make the document dynamic: filter, grouping and summary
conditions can be changed by the user - without the need of being an
expert in either databases or document editing
Test assumptions: redo everything with additional or modified data
Repeat the process: recent data may be needed on a regular basis:
daily, weekly, etc.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Therefore it is crucial how much expertise and time is needed:

To collect data
To make the evaluation in the first place
To redo the evaluation in a different way
To repeat the process on a regular basis
This procedure shall be as automatic as possible.
However, there may only be independent software tools for different parts.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Further possible goal: manage user roles, for example:

Provision of data sources: upload and maintain data
Data analysis: performing evaluations and making reports
Decision making: automatically inform users of evaluations, alert in
specific cases
Each role needs different privileges.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

These goals can be achieved by a connection of individual software tools,

own implementations.

However, business intelligence systems help by integrating and

automatizing most steps at once.

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 1.3. Motivation Introduction

Features of a business intelligence system may include:

Connecting multiple external data sources
Implement own, governing data modules
Support a variety of techniques, document formats to collect,
evaluate, visualize and report data
Data mining with help of AI
Managing users in an enterprise based on their roles
Possible integration with different types of devices and software
Clean GUI for each functionality

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 Basics

2. Basics
2.1 About Cognos Analytics
2.2 User Interface
2.3 Uploading a file

Back to Top

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

2. Basics
2.1. About Cognos Analytics

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Cognos Analytics: business intelligence suite

Former version: Cognos Business
Intelligence
Owned and maintained by IBM
Available for businesses, limited free
license (e.g. academic use)
Constantly being developed, features
extend rapidly
A range of tutorials is available

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Integration of data sources with Cognos:

Data Module: interface representing data sources
Can be as simple as an uploaded file
May connect different database engines
Works like a relational database which can be queried

Data Modules may depend on other Data Modules.

Complex relational schemes can be constructed.

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Evaluation and representation of data with Cognos:

Visualizations (common diagram types), tables, lists
Highly automatic, clean GUI
Based on a query from a Data Module
Knowledge about queries form relational databases is not needed
... although it greatly helps understanding of what is happening

Data representations can be organized and saved as documents

depending on purpose.

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Document types in Cognos:

Report documents, good for exporting
Dashboards which are highly interactive
Explorations for data discovery, guided by AI
... and a few more

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Cognos works in a server-client architecture.

Access by a simple web browser which accesses the internet
Other methods, for example Cognos Mobile
IBM may provide cloud access to Cognos for trial or paid license

Users are identified by credentials to access (e.g. username, password).

Cognos also manages user privileges based on roles, for example:
Maintaining data sources
Creating and editing specific documents
Performing analysis or just viewing data
Administration needs, etc.

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 2.1. About Cognos Analytics Basics

Prerequisites for this Tutorial:

Internet access
A supported web browser
Valid credentials and user privileges in a Cognos server, either:
installed for enterprise or institute
cloud-based (for example IBM trial license)

Basic knowledge of relational databases, SQL, and office applications helps

in understanding.

This tutorial is based on the Cognos Analytics 11.1 R1 version.

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

2. Basics
2.2. User Interface

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 2.2. User Interface Basics
Username and password shall be provided.

Note
User privileges determine what functionalities are available. If some are not
(e.g. missing menu item), seek help.

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 2.2. User Interface Basics
The screen is separated into areas:
Welcome screen (Work area or Canvas if editing a document)
Application Toolbar (top)
Navigation panel (left)

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Contents of the Application Toolbar depends on whether a document is

currently edited.
Switcher Menu to switch between documents
multiple documents can be simultaneously opened (even unsaved)
but only one can be currently viewed
Other menus denoted by icons (right to left):
Help, Personal Menu, Notifications, More (ellipsis)
document types may have more, also depending on whether currently
in Editing or Preview modes.

Figure: Welcome screen selected in the Switcher Menu (middle), and more menu
buttons on the right

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Personal Menu (top right in the Application Toolbar):

Access personal settings (language, time zone, user interface, etc.)
Logging out (session timeout also exists)

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Navigation Panel (left), bottom part:

New icon: create and open a new,
blank document
Manage icon: mainly administrative
functions, not covered in this tutorial

Figure: Options available in the

Manage menu

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Notes on document types:

File upload: for sample data in XLSX format
Data Module: other documents are based on
these
Report: any of simple, parameterized or active

Figure: Options
available in the New
menu

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Navigation Panel (left), top part:

access file system in Cognos.
Directory structure
Holds uploaded files, created
documents
My Content for own files
Team Content for files shared
among users

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

My Content
Owned and only available to current user
Recommended to work here

Team Content
Available to most users, everyone can access, modify
Some samples (for tutorial purposes) are also installed here
Recommended not to modify, copy everything from here to
My Content if needed

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 2.2. User Interface Basics

Figure: Sample directory, provided with Cognos installation, available in

Team Content

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 2.3. Uploading a file Basics

2. Basics
2.3. Uploading a file

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 2.3. Uploading a file Basics

Cognos is able to automatically parse files of simple formats (CSV, XLS,

XLSX).
Works well if the file contains a single table, with field names in the
first row
Field types are automatically identified - can be changed later
Uploaded files can be the basis of Data Modules
Documents are based on a Data Module (like Reports), or can be
based on an uploaded file directly (like Dashboards)
Documents can be broken if data they are based on is deleted or
moved

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 2.3. Uploading a file Basics

Upload file by either:

Drag & Drop from file browser to welcome screen
”New” icon > ”Upload files”

Parsing may take a while (see progress bar on top)

New file is put into root of ”My Content” - relocate if necessary

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 2.3. Uploading a file Basics

In the future, when data is needed for an exercise:

Some samples may be available in ”Team Content” by default
locate the file or Data Module
copy to ”My Content” for safety and use this copy afterwards
If not sure:
download sample from IBM’s website (see URL below)
upload file to ”My Content” and use this file afterwards

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/businessanalytics/
blogs/steven-macko/2017/06/19/
guide-to-ibm-cognos-analytics-sample-data-sets

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 Reports

3. Reports
3.1 The Report document type
3.2 Preparations for a Report
3.3 Creating our first Report
3.4 Reporting Interface
3.5 Sorting, Aggregations, Filters

Back to Top

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 3.1. The Report document type Reports

3. Reports
3.1. The Report document type

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 3.1. The Report document type Reports

Report is the most conventional document type in Cognos:

Human-readable, possibly multiple-page, printable document
May contain text, figures, list and tabular data, and diagrams called
Visualizations, etc.
Reports can be Run as HTML, viewed as a web page
Some other formats like PDF are available (although not supporting
all Report features)

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 3.1. The Report document type Reports

Reports are static documents at first, but can be enhanced in two,

mutually exclusive ways:
Parameterized Reports (see Section 5)
Parameters which depend on the current user and/or his choices
Parameter-based filters
Prompts, choosing values at running the Report, limited interactivity
thereafter
How to use: add parameters, parameter-based filters, or prompts to an
ordinary Report
Active Reports (see Section 6)

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 3.1. The Report document type Reports

Reports are static documents at first, but can be enhanced in two,

mutually exclusive ways:
Parameterized Reports (see Section 5)
Active Reports (see Section 6)
Variables which can be manipulated by form elements
View adjusts to variables instantaneously, giving more interactivity
How to use: choose an Active Report template in the beginning

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

3. Reports
3.2. Preparations for a Report

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Steps:
1 Upload an XLSX file as data source
2 Create a Data Module based on the XLSX file
3 Create a new Report with specific template, based on the Data
Module
4 Create a Visualization

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Data source for this example is the Banking Loss Events data set:
List of financial losses for a fictitious large multi-national bank
A single table with fields in the first row
Each record is an event

Download the sample from the site of Cognos samples:

https://community.ibm.com/community/user/businessanalytics/
blogs/steven-macko/2017/06/19/
guide-to-ibm-cognos-analytics-sample-data-sets

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Category fields in Banking Loss Events:

Region of occurrence: EMEA, North-America, and Asia-Pacific
Business type affected (many options)
Risk Category and Risk Sub-Category (many options)
Year of occurrence: 2007 -2014
Current Status: Not Started, Under Review , In Progress, Approved
or Rejected
... and a few more fields

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Measure fields recorded for each event in Banking Loss Events:

Net Loss: the amount initially lost
Recovery Amount: the amount of lost recovered
Estimated Gross Loss: an indicative estimation
Recovery Amount (Percent): the ratio of the Recovery Amount
and the Net Loss, as percentage

Measures are data fields that:

Unlike categories, do not represent entities or concepts appearing
elsewhere
Are numeric, and can be aggregated in many different ways (like
summation)
Usually have arbitrary values

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Example: first fact from Banking Loss Events:

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

After upload finished, create new directory

1 Navigate to My Content > click the Plus icon > click Folder

2 Enter directory name: First Report

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Move the uploaded file into the newly created

directory:
1 Hover over the Banking loss events.xlsx file
with cursor
2 Click the Ellipsis icon right of file name

3 In the context menu, choose Copy or move

4 Navigate to target directory, then click
Move To

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Figure: Dialog for browsing target directory for selected files. At this point, we
can choose whether to copy or move

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Next step: create Data Module based on the XLSX

file.
First method (faster and automatically assigns
file): navigate to the XLSX file > hover over it
with cursor > click the Ellipsis icon > choose
Create data module
Second method (demonstrated now, see figure
on the right): on Navigation Panel, click New
> choose Data module
There are other possibilities (for example,
welcome screen)

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Second method:
1 Navigation Panel, New icon > choose Data module
2 Data source(s) must be selected in a dialog
3 Find Banking loss events.xlsx, then click OK

4 Then a new Data Module based on Banking Loss Events is

created and opened for editing

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

We can observe the interface changed according to the opened

document:
Left of Application Toolbar: Save, Undo and Redo icons (any
document type)
Center of Application Toolbar: currently edited document, the
unsaved New data module
Right of Application Toolbar: Try It option specific to Data
Modules: allows to create simple tables to observe data
content
Top of Navigation Panel: My Content and other file browsing
icons change to options specific to Data Modules (see figure
to the left)

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Fields are in the left panel (can be selected)

Preview of data in the main screen

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

We go into details of Data Modules in Section 7.

Now we only need to save the Data Module:

1 Application Toolbar, top left, Save (floppy disk) icon
2 Browse the same directory as for the uploaded XLSX file
3 Keep the original name now, click Save

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Now close the data module:

1 Application Toolbar, top middle, click New data module which is the
name of the current document (without the asterisk, because we have
already saved it)
2 The drop-down list shows all currently opened documents
3 Locate New data module and click the ,,X ” icon appearing next to it

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Renaming existing files and folders is a bit tricky in Cognos, we

demonstrate it with the currently saved Data Module:
1 Navigate to the New data module file
2 Hover cursor over name
3 Click the Ellipsis icon, choose Properties
4 In the new Properties Pane, click at the New data module file name
at the top
5 Edit it like a regular text field: type Banking Loss Events
6 Click somewhere else (for example the Ellipsis again) to save

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Figure: Hovering over the file reveals the Ellipsis icon, clicking on it shows the
context menu for the file

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 3.2. Preparations for a Report Reports

Figure: The file name at the top of the Properties pane is an editable text field

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

3. Reports
3.3. Creating our first Report

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

The prerequisites of the new Report are complete,

now create a new Report. Again there are multiple
possibilities:
First method (automatically assigns data
source): navigate to the Data Module in file
system > Ellipsis icon > choose Create report
Second method (demonstrated now):
Navigation Panel, New icon > choose Report

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports
We can select a Template and a Theme for the Report. Templates have
two purposes:
Providing an initial layout
Deciding if we want an Active Report: each ordinary Template has an
Active Report equivalent

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports
Themes determine appearance:
Default colors, fonts, etc.
Note that
Note
Some Themes and particular Report may not be contrasting enough. Try
new Themes with caution.

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Do not select an Active Report Template unless you want an Active

Report (more on them in Section 6)
Layouts provided by Templates can be reproduced later but needs
some time, but Active Report selection is final
For now, choose the Blank (non-active) template, and the Blue
Theme
Click OK
Then we see the opened, blank Report document and the interface is
changed accordingly

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Now select the data source for our Report:

1 Click the Select Sources button on the
screen
2 Navigate to the previously created
Banking Loss Events Data Module
3 Select it and click Open
4 Observe the contents of the Data
Module on the left panel: this module
has a single table called
Banking Loss Events, with multiple
fields

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Data fields can be accessed by the

Sources icon under Insertable objects
This area on the left is also called the
Content Pane
Now click the Toolbox icon (hammer)
near the Sources icon to access Report
elements

PINNED is a collection of commonly

used elements

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

The Canvas contains a single Plus icon in the center

This icon is a placeholder for Report elements

Text items, images, data tables, Visualizations, etc. can fit there
You can insert a Table and resize its dimensions to design layouts for
more Report elements on the same page
The single Plus icon is the result of the Blank Template initially
chosen

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Create a new Visualization by either method:
First method: Click the Plus icon in the middle of the Canvas, which
is a placeholder for a new element > Pinned elements appear >
Select Visualization

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Create a new Visualization by either method (cont’d):

Second method (this is used for now): Drag & Drop Visualization
from the Toolbox (either found under PINNED or
DATA CONTAINER) onto the Plus icon in the middle of the Canvas
Note: this method actually inserts a Table with a single Cell, with the
Visualization inside, but the overall visual result is almost identical

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Figure: We can choose from dozens of Visualizations in the Visualization

Gallery, depending on how and what kind of data we want to represent

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports
Choose the Stacked Column Visualization and click OK
Design window appears on the Canvas, as the newly created
Visualization is selected
If the Properties Pane is visible on the right, it shows details on the
selected Report element

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports
Clicking on the area near the Visualization deselects it, and selects
the single Table Cell in the background (or the Page Body, if the first
presented method of Visualization creation was used)
The Visualization still takes a significant portion of the Canvas
The Properties of the Table Cell are now shown on the right

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

The most important part of designing a

Visualization is the assignment of data fields to
the appropriate roles required (and optionally
provided) by the particular Visualization type. For
example, a Stacked Column has the following:
Bars: Values are enlisted on the X-axis, each
value will produce a stacked bar
Length: Determines the length of the bars,
mandatory (marked by red asterisk)
Color: Each stacked bar is divided between
different values determined by this field
Extra Data: Further fields can be provided if
they are required for the Visualization

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Note that not any fields may go to any slot:

Bars and Color require Category fields - these
need to be Identifier or Attribute field type
from the data module – a finite, not too large
value set representing entities
We will see that the higher number of distinct
values a category has, the more obfuscated the
generated Visualization becomes
Length must be a measure field - numeric,
which can be aggregated (summed by default)
to obtain the bar lengths

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Assign fields as follows:

1 Select the Visualization on the Canvas so the required fields are shown
2 In the Content Pane, click the Sources icon instead of the Toolbox
3 Fill the required fields by either of the following ways:
Drag & Drop the field from the Content Pane to the appropriate slot in
the Visualization
double-click on the field in the Content Pane: Cognos tries to
automatically guess the slot

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

In the current Stacked Column:

Bars are determined by Year
Length is determined by Net Loss
Color is determined by Region
Extra Data is left empty

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Now our Report is ready, investigate the results:

1 Click the Run options icon in the Application
Toolbar > Choose Run HTML
2 A new browser tab opens with the rendered
Report: observe those results
3 In the original browser tab, click the Save icon
in the Application Toolbar, and save our
Report named as First Report near the Data
Module in order to be accessible later

Note
Formats other than HTML do not support particular
Report features.

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

Figure: Report view page with tooltip for the largest green bar

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 3.3. Creating our first Report Reports

What can be seen from the resulting image:

There are 8 years of data, from 2007 to 2014 , and three regions,
EMEA, North America and Asia Pac, although the correct ordering of
these data is not yet enforced in the Visualization
Total Net Loss of events for a single year and region are measured in
tens of millions of the currency (not mentioned, assumed to be USD)
Years 2009 and 2014 were the best, and 2013 was the worst
The largest bar is the North America in 2013 green bar, hovering the
cursor over the bar shows a tooltip with exact data: 80.57 millions
total Net Loss

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

3. Reports
3.4. Reporting Interface

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports
Head back to the Report and observe that a different On-demand
Toolbar appears depending on which element is selected:
Visualization:

Table Cell:

Data Item for measure field (Length):

Data Item for category field (Bars or Color):

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Selecting particular elements on the Canvas might

be not straightforward, the Select Ancestor icon
can be helpful:
The dashed rectangle icon in the On-demand
Toolbar
Also, always visible in the top left corner of the
Properties pane (see Figure)
Contents of the Report are hierarchically
structured, the selector shows all ancestors

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports
We can also select each Data Item itself:
Click the field name in the Visualization
Will be used later to change aggregation method

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports
As soon as fields were assigned to the Visualization, a third icon appeared
in the Content Pane: Data Items:
Lists queries associated with Report elements, and their used fields
Queries are behind all Visualizations and other elements displaying
data from the data source (currently the Banking Loss Events
Data Module)

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Reports may have multiple pages:

Top left of the work area to navigation between pages
Some Report elements (longer Crosstabs, Lists) may span into
multiple pages when viewed, but they still count as a single page
Click on Pages to select/add a page

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Figure: When Pages is selected, the interface for editing pages is shown

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Functionality of icons in the top right corner (from left to right):

Lock/Unlock (for specific objects to manipulate, not needed for this
tutorial)
Page view mode: design (default, used so far), preview or structure
Options
Show /Hide the Properties Pane

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

View mode Page preview :

Renders Visualizations and other data content, while the Report can
still be edited
Very useful for debugging and fast-checking results
Preferable, but can be slow and difficult to select some content

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

View mode Page structure:

Shows the hierarchy of all Report elements
Useful to lookup and select elements, but there is no Canvas

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Options icon (gear):

Various advanced features, usually not
needed
We show the
Show generated SQL/MDX feature as
it is of special importance in
understanding and debugging
Visualizations

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports
Show generated SQL/MDX :
Lists all queries used in the Report
Selecting a query shows its SQL (in some instances MDX) code
Native SQL and IBM Cognos SQL can be selected, the latter is a bit
more compact
Note: exact content may depend on Report history (previous
deletions or modifications, even reverted)

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

Observe how the SQL code is the business logic behind the Stacked
Column Visualization:

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

The business logic is the following:

All rows are considered (no filters) from the Banking Loss Events
data table
Fields Year, Region and Net Loss are selected in the query
Grouping is made over each Year and Region value pair
The SUM of the Net Loss values are selected in each group
The result of the query provides the basis for the Stacked Column,
each bar being:
In the column corresponding to Year
In the color corresponding to Region
In a size relative to the sum of Net Loss values in the group

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 3.4. Reporting Interface Reports

The Application Toolbar is also special for reports, tools of interest are at
the top left:
Save icon (floppy disk)
Edit/Preview icon (pencil): toggles between Edit and Preview
mode:
different from page view modes design, preview and structure
Preview mode displays final result, click again to Edit
usually much faster than running the Report
Undo/Redo for editing
Run options: HTML is recommended

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

3. Reports
3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Sorting:
Order of items in Visualizations is not always what we want
We can sort at each instance (like data item in a Visualization):
ascending
descending
using default ordering
Sorting is usually a viewing option, not reflected in the query of the
Visualization
Sorting at Data Module level: we can define custom order for each
category data field (see Section 7)

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Aggregations:
Calculating one numeric value based on many
Total (SUM) is the simplest and default in most cases
There are others: AVG, MAX, MIN, COUNT, variance, median, etc.
Aggregation can be selected each time a measure field is displayed
Aggregations are reflected in the query of the Visualization

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Filters:
In the First Report, the Visualization was based on all data records
Filter: only select specific records for the basis of the Visualization
Filters can also be defined at Data Module level
Filters are reflected in the query of the Visualization, in a specific way
for each filter type

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Filter types:
Detail Filters: work on individual records
Before auto aggregation: analogous to WHERE in SQL, the single
data records can be directly filtered
After auto aggregation: analogous to HAVING in SQL, the grouped
and aggregated fields can be referred
Summary Filter: more complex logic, filtering based on one or more
summary (aggregation) values

Note
If we do not specify, on Filters we mean Detail Filters evaluated before
aggregation. These are simple logical statements determined for each
data record before any aggregations.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Example filter problems: Assume that total Net Loss is to be

calculated for each Year and Region in a Stacked Bar column as in the
First Report:
Detail Filters, before aggregation:
,,Filter out single events where Net Loss is more than 10,000 USD”
Detail Filters, after aggregation:
,,Filter out Year and Region pairs where the total Net Loss is more
than 1,000,000 USD”
Summary Filter:
,,After calculating total Net Loss for all Year and Region pairs,
determine the average of region totals for each year, then filter out
regions below the average in that particular year”

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A
Create a new Report with 2 columns Template and Teal Theme
Use the data source Banking Loss Events
Save the Report as Report 1A
Give the following title to the report:
BANKING LOSS EVENTS: VISUALIZATIONS

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: This template provides text boxes for the titles of both columns and the
whole page itself

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Insert a Stacked Bar Visualization to the left column where Year is
over the Y-axis, the sum of Net Loss is over the X-axis, and colors
are for Region
Type the title NET LOSS PER YEAR AND REGION above the
Visualization
Sort values of Year into ascending, and Region into descending order

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports
Create the visualization as follows:
Assign the fields to the three roles as shown (see preview)
Note that this is a transposed version of the example problem
Simply edit the Text item provided by the Template to provide the
title

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Visualization (or any Report element) might take an unacceptably
large portion of the screen

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

How to resize a Visualization:

1 Select the Visualization itself
2 On the Properties Pane, find
Size and assign appropriate
values

Note
Inserting another element (like in the
second column) may alter the
appearance again. It is advised to
apply cosmetics at the end of Report
editing.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Sorting by a category field in the Visualization:

1 Select the field in the Visualization design view

2 From the On-demand Toolbar, select the Sort icon and apply the
required sorting

Note
Currently we cannot sort by measure fields in a Report this way.
For example, we cannot order the displayed bars by length.
In contrast, Dashboards (see Section 8) allow this option.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The small blue triangles near field names indicate the sorting option
applied to that field

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
In the Stacked Bar Visualization:
Change the viewing format of X-axis labels for Net Loss to million
USD
Temporarily change the aggregation method of Net Loss from Total
to Max, and observe the results

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Changing displayed number format:

1 Select the Net Loss Data item in the Visualization design view

2 In the Properties Pane select the Value data format option

3 Click the Ellipsis icon appearing on the right

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1 From the drop-down menu, select

Currency > Note the abundance of
formatting options
2 Set million USD (with trailing space)
to Currency symbol
3 Choose End for the
Currency symbol position
4 Set -6 for Scale
5 Press OK and observe the results

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Changing the aggregation method

for a field:
1 Select the Net Loss Data item
in the Visualization design view
2 In the Properties Pane, under
DATA ITEM, find
Detail aggregation
3 Set the value from Total to
Maximum, and observe how the
Visualization changes (reset to
Total afterwards)

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Figure: The length of the bars is determined by the sum, or the maximum of
event Net Loss values for the particular Year and Region - note how the scale
of the X-axis changes

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Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Filter the data set the Stacked Bar Visualization is based on:
Filter by Year: only even years shall be considered (2008 , 2010 ,
2012 , 2014 )
Filter by Region: only EMEA and North America shall be considered
Filter by Status: only Approved status shall be considered

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Filter by Year and Region:

1 Select the Data item Year or Region in
the Visualization design view
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, select
the Filter icon (funnel shape)
3 Choose Create Custom Filter...
4 Manually choose the required set of
values, then press OK .
Note
Business logic like selecting any even numbers from a numeric field is also
possible, but requires an Advanced Filter instead of a Custom Filter -
available under Edit Filters....

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The content of a Custom Filter editor dialog depends on the field data
type (textual, numeric, etc.), but a more complex logic requires Advanced Filters

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: Filters for Year and Region exclude some bars, but do not change the
remaining ones at all

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The filters are reflected in the query for the Visualization under the WHERE
statement

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Filtering for Status is a bit different, because it does not appear among
fields already used for the Visualization - therefore cannot be selected as
before.

Two general methods are shown:

Adding Status as Extra Data, then using a Custom Filter

Creating and Advanced Filter directly

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Extra Data fields:

Not participating in Visualization display
Can be selected as other fields - useful if we want to create a filter for
them
Any number of both measure and category fields are accepted

Note
In most cases, representing a field as Extra Data prior to filtering based on
it is not required, although it is a good practice.

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Figure: The total of Net Loss values, but only for events with Approved value
for Status - Note that the presence of the filter for Status is not apparent from
the Visualization, such filters must be kept in mind when interpreting results

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The filter for Status appears in the query in the exact same manner as for
the other fields

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Filter types based on the available interface in the GUI:

Custom Filter: simple interface for conditions involving a single field
Combined Filter: multiple custom filters can be connected by AND,
OR and NOT operators
Advanced Filter: arbitrary expression involving any number of fields

How to access:
From the On-demand Toolbar, select the Filter icon
Choose Edit Filters... to access the Filters dialog
You can add, remove or modify all filters for the Visualization

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: Dialog for managing all filters

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

The Filters dialog:

Query1 is the query for the selected Visualization
May select between Detail and Summary filters
May enable or disable particular filters or turn them into optional
May set each filter to apply Before aggregation or After aggregation
You can see the expressions defining each filter

Use the icons to Add, Delete or Edit filters

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Tabs in the dialog for Advanced Filters (filter expression):

Source: fields directly
Data items: fields included in the current query
Query : other queries
Functions: language elements available for expressions
Parameters: used for Parameterized Reports (see Section 5)
Macros

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To create a filter restricting Status to the value of Approved:

1 Drag the Status field from the Source tab onto the expression text
box, or double-click this field
2 This inserts the (rather obfuscated) definition of the field (see Figure)
3 Finish the expression with in (’Approved’) or = ’Approved’

Note
Expression includes (’Approved’) does not work in this case, this is a
display syntax for Custom Filters.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: Dragging the Status field from the Source tab works, although it results
in an obfuscated definition

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If Status is included as Extra Data:

It is shown in the Data items tab with the other fields appearing in
the current query
Can be accessed from here instead
This is recommended, the resulting expression is also much shorter

Whenever fields already used are required for an Advanced Filter, like
Year, Region or Net Loss, it is better to access them from the
Data items tab.

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Figure: Once Status is included as Extra Data, it can be inserted from the
Data items tab, resulting in the much shorter [Status] expression.

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Figure: The Validate button (white tick on green background) checks whether the
expression is syntactically correct, and displays errors below

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: Final form of the Stacked Bar Visualization

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Insert a Packed Bubble Visualization to the right column where:
The bubbles are determined by the Business field
Bubble sizes are determined by Estimated Gross Loss
Bubble colors are determined by the field Risk Category

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Packed Bubble Visualization displays a bubble for each Business
and Risk Category pair, scaled by total Estimated Gross Loss - note the
minimum and maximum values displayed at the top right

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Add a filter to the Packed Bubble Visualization:
Consider the following four Risk Category values:
Clients, Products and Business Practices
Execution, Delivery and Process Management, External Fraud,
Internal Fraud
Only include data for these four risk categories in the Visualization
and ignore everything else

Sort values of Risk Category into ascending order.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

To set up the filter and sorting for Risk Category:

1 Select the field
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, select the Filter icon, and choose
Create Custom Filter...
3 Add the four required Risk Category values to the right side, then
click OK
4 From the On-demand Toolbar, select the Sort icon, and choose
Ascending

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: Categories have a convenient filter editing interface provided that the
number of values is not too high, therefore Custom Filters are usually
recommended when possible

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Packed Bubble Visualization after the filter and sorting are done for
Risk Category

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Add another filter to the Packed Bubble Visualization:
Filter values based on Year
Only data from 2013 or later shall be considered

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Although a Custom Filter is possible, we demonstrate the usage of an

Advanced Filter now:
1 Add the Year field as Extra Data, then select it
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, select the Filter icon, and choose
Edit Filters...
3 Add a new filter with the Add button (green plus sign), then choose
Advanced

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

4 Because Year is already in Extra Data, we can select it directly from

the Data items, otherwise use Source
5 Double-click the field inserts the expression defining it
6 Append >=2013, then click OK

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Packed Bubble Visualization after the filter is done for Year

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Exercise 1A (cont’d)
Add a third filter to the Packed Bubble Visualization:
Filter values based on the measure Estimated Gross Loss
Only events having a loss not greater than 300,000 shall be
considered for the Visualization

Give a meaningful title for the Visualization

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Add the filter as for the previous two fields:

Select Estimated Gross Loss, and create a Custom Filter
Choose ≤ and type 300000, then click OK

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Packed Bubble Visualization after the Custom Filter for
Estimated Gross Lost is activated

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Note that there is something wrong with the result:

There are only bubbles with a total not more than 300,000
What we want is to consider events with a single loss not more than
300,000
It seems unlikely that there is not a single bubble having a sum more
than 300,000 even though any single event considered must not be
above 300,000

Let us check the generated SQL/MDX code of the query of this

Visualization.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: We can verify from the generated SQL code that the filter is indeed
applied to the aggregated values instead of each event individually

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports
The problem is that the Estimated Gross Loss is a measure which is
aggregated, and filters for it are by default applied After auto
aggregation. This can be verified under Edit Filters...

To correct the problem, set Before auto aggregation manually.

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: We can see from the generated SQL code that the filter now applies
correctly

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The Packed Bubble Visualization after the last filter, set correctly to apply
before aggregation

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

A meaningful title should include all relevant information about the

Packed Bubble Visualization:
The filter for Risk Category is apparent, as well as sorting
The filters for Year and Estimated Gross Loss are not easy to
notice
A possible title is LOSSES UP TO 300000 SINCE 2013

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 3.5. Sorting, Aggregations, Filters Reports

Figure: The complete Report from Exercise 1A

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 Summary Reports

In this Section, the following about Reports were discussed:

Basics of the UI for editing Reports
Different Visualizations of fields of a tabular data source
Sorting by field values
Different aggregation methods for the same measure field
Filtering data in different scopes
Underlying business logic of Visualizations in SQL

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 Tabular data

4. Tabular data
4.1 Lists
4.2 Crosstabs

Back to Top

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 Tabular data

So far, advanced Visualization techniques for category and measure fields

and underlying business logic was discussed.

In Cognos Reports, we can also visualize data in simple, tabular form: in

Lists or Crosstabs.

These work like ordinary Visualizations in many aspects, but have special
characteristics.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

4. Tabular data
4.1. Lists

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

List Report element:

Presents textual data in a table
Lists can use any number of fields and measure aggregations as
columns - unlike Visualizations which use a small, fixed set of
particular roles
But Lists are less spectacular, and can more easily be too long
Categories can be hierarchically structured
Can display various summaries and custom calculations

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B
Create a new Report:
Use the 2 columns Template with Red Theme
Assign the data source Banking Loss Events
Save the Report as Report 1B
Give the following title to the report:
BANKING LOSS EVENTS: LISTS

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Appearance of the Report with 2 columns Template and Red Theme,
after performing the mentioned initial steps

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Add a new List to the left column in the report, with the following fields
displayed (from left to right):
Risk Category
Risk Sub-Category
Net Loss
Recovery Amount

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data
To add a List to the Report, we may:
Click the placeholder Plus icon, which pops up the List option, as it
is Pinned in the Toolbox by default

Or, Drag & Drop List from the Toolbox directly to the Canvas
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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

To assign fields to a List, either:

Double-click on the fields in the Sources tab of the Toolbox while the
List is selected
Drag & Drop the field onto the List, which allows the choice of the
exact position of the new column between the existing ones

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Design and Preview mode view of the List after all four fields are assigned
in the correct order - for example, the first row display that a total of 22.8 million
Net Loss and a total of 6 million Recovery Amount were present in the
Risk Category named Clients, Products and Business Products, under
subcategory Product Flows

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Behavior of different field types:

For category fields, all combinations are displayed as rows in the List
For measure fields, an aggregation is displayed, which is a Total by
default, but can be changed for each such field
Aggregations are made for the particular category value combination
in each row of the List
Therefore, adding a new measure field normally does not alter existing
content from the List, while adding a new category fields does

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Lists can be long:

Each category field value combination results in an additional row
Lists may span into multiple pages when viewed
This does not mean a new page in the document structure, just the
same page which is separated into multiple parts

Note
There are various options for a List under its Properties Pane which alter
visual appearance, including Rows per page.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: In case the List does not fit in a single page when viewed, we can navigate
with buttons - the right image is the only row which spanned onto the second
page

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Apply the following options to the newly created List:
Temporarily sort by Risk Category and Risk Sub-Category
ascending and observe the results
Group by the field Risk Category and then sort by
Risk Sub-Category ascending
Display the total of Net Loss, but the average of Recovery Amount

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

To sort by a column:
1 Select it in the List
2 In the On-demand Toolbar, click the
Sort icon and choose Ascending
3 Note that the small blue arrow right of
the List column field name in Design
view mode indicates a sorting setting

Note
Repeating the procedure for Risk Sub Category would end up sorting
only by that field, not both.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: This method only allow sorting by a single column

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Under the Sort icon we could choose Edit Layout Sorting... to set a
hierarchical sorting rule (additional sorting criteria to resolve ties)

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Grouping in Lists: merges identical category values: ideal for hierarchical

data representation.

To group by Risk Category:

1 Select this field in the List
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, click the Group/Ungroup icon

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

After Grouping is done for Risk Category:

It is indicated in Design view mode
We can now sort by both Risk Category and Risk Sub Category
simultaneously in the way presented before, which implements
hierarchical sorting

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Now each Risk Category value appears in one merged cell across all
corresponding columns

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

The exercise wants Net Loss to be

summed, and Recovery Amount to
be averaged. The former is
automatic, but the latter needs to be
set:
1 Select the column in the List
2 In the Properties Pane, find the
DATA ITEM part
3 Set Detail Aggregation to
Average

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Now, in the column of Recovery Amount, the average for all events
corresponding to the Risk Category and Risk Sub Category values is
displayed instead of the sum for these events

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Further enhance the appearance of the List by the following:
Display 200 rows per page, so that the whole List fits
Set all numbers formatted into 1000s and zero digits after the
decimal point
Give a meaningful title to the List

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

To select the List, either:

Select the three orange dots on its top
left

Select any element in the List, then in

the top of the Properties Pane, choose
the List option from the parent objects
Then, in the Properties Pane we can set 200
rows per page.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data
To change number displaying format:
1 Select the appropriate column(s) of the List
2 In the Properties Pane, under DATA, choose Data format
3 Set Number of decimal places to 0 and Scale to -3

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: The title Total Net Loss and Average Recovery Amount was given
to the List

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: The SQL code generated for the List in the left column of the Report

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Create a new List in the right column of the Report displaying the
following data (from left to right):
Business
Status
Estimated Gross Loss
Recovery Amount

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: The List in the right column, in Design view mode

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Apply the following to the newly created List:
Group by Business
Sort by both Business and Status
Display the totals of Estimated Gross Loss and Recovery Amount
at the bottom of the List
Align text to the left in the category fields, to the right in the
measure fields

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data
These tasks can all be done after selecting the appropriate columns in the
List, then using the icons on the On-demand Toolbar as follows:
Use the Group/Ungroup icon to group by Business
Use the Sort icon to sort by Business and Status
To display a summary at the bottom of a list, select columns
Estimates Gross Loss and Recovery Amount > choose the
Summarize icon > click Total
To align texts, select the appropriate cells, then choose the
Horizontal alignment > click either Left or Right

Note
For selection purposes, the header, the body and the summary areas are all
distinct and can be formatted independently for each column.

Use Ctrl+Left Click to select multiple columns at once.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Options for the Horizontal alignment and Summarize icons in the
On-demand Toolbar

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Preview of the List after grouping, sorting, summarizing and alignment
tasks

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: Summary values at the bottom of the List

Figure: Design view mode after grouping, sorting, summarizing and alignment
tasks

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Exercise 1B (cont’d)
Display the following two new Calculations at the end of the List:
Difference of Estimated Gross Loss and Recovery Amount
Ratio of Recovery Amount and Estimated Gross Loss
Finally, give a meaningful title to the second List.

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Calculations:
Expression involving other fields resulting in numeric or textual data
Can be introduced in Data Module directly and used as ordinary fields
in a Report
For Lists, we can easily add simpler expressions as Calculations based
on one or two other columns in the List
From the On-demand Toolbar, use the Insert Calculation icon

Displayed options depend on the column(s) selected

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

To insert the difference:

Select Estimated Gross Loss and Recovery Amount in this order
From the On-demand Toolbar, click the Insert Calculation icon, and
choose the appropriate expression

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

To insert the ratio:

1 Select Estimated Gross Loss and Recovery Amount in reversed
order
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, click the Insert Calculation icon, and
choose the appropriate expression

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Final steps:
Column order can be changed using Drag & Drop
A name for the List could be:
Estimated Gross Losses and Recovery Amounts

Note that in the Properties Pane,

under DATA ITEM, we can:
Rename Calculation columns,
which changes the text
displayed in the List header
Edit the expression of a
Calculation to implement a
custom functionality

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: The Report from Exercise 1B - some rows and the summaries at the
bottom are not visible, and the other page of the right List is only accessible by
the Page down or Bottom navigation buttons

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 4.1. Lists Tabular data

Figure: The SQL code generated for the List in the right column of the Report

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

4. Tabular data
4.2. Crosstabs

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Crosstab Report element:

Similar to lists, but ,,in 2D instead of 1D”
Fields can go into both rows and columns
Unlike for lists, grouping for category fields is automatic
A single measure is displayed the intersection area

Note
Crosstabs accept measures in columns or in rows rather than in the
intersection area.
In that case, the intersection area may take no fields.

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C
Create a new Report:
Use the 2 columns Template with Teal Theme
Assign the data source Banking Loss Events
Save the Report as Report 1C
Give the following title to the report:
BANKING LOSS EVENTS: CROSSTABS

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Appearance of the Report with 2 columns Template and Teal Theme,
after performing the mentioned initial steps

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Add a Crosstab to the left column:
Rows are determined by Business, sort by ascending
Columns are determined by Year, sort by ascending
Values are determined by total Net Loss

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data
Management of Crosstabs is very similar to the management of Lists:
Create either from the toolbox or by the Plus icon in the center, as
Crosstab is Pinned by default
Add fields by Drag & Drop, or double-click to make Cognos guess
their position
Sorting works the same way

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: The Crosstab in Design view mode after the fields are correctly assigned -
note that more category fields could be inserted to be rows or columns

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: The Crosstab viewed after sorting for both Business and Year is set

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Apply the following formatting options to the Crosstab:
Display numbers in millions, with two digits after the decimal point,
and with a M$ suffix
Only display values for years 2007 , 2008 , 2009
Use a Conditional Style for the numerical cells:
under 1 million, cells shall be Excellent (green)
over 10 million, cells shall be Poor (red)
between the two, cells shall be Average (yellow)
Give the title Net Losses for Businesses for the Crosstab

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Number formatting is done as for Lists:

1 Select the Net Loss measure or the cross-section of the Crosstab
2 In the Properties Pane, under DATA ITEM, select Data format
3 Select Currency type and set up the following:
Currency symbol shall be M$ (with trailing space)
Currency symbol position shall be End
Number of decimal places shall be 2
Scale shall be -6

Restriction to years 2007 , 2008 and 2009 is done exactly the same way as
for Visualizations, by either a Custom or Advanced Filter for the field Year.

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Dialog for setting up the number format in the Crosstab

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Preview of the Crosstab after the number format and the filter for Year is
set

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data
Conditional Style:
Formats individual cells in a List or Crosstab based on value
When the area or field is selected, available in the Properties Pane,
under CONDITIONAL, by selecting Conditional styles
Add a new Conditional Style with the green plus icon, choosing
New Conditional Style...
Select the field Net Loss and click OK

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Dialogs navigating through the creation of a new Conditional Style

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

This results in the simple interface for

designing Conditional Styles:
Available for a single data item to
depend on
For numerical values we can define
ranges by threshold points
A set of predefined formats like
Excellent, Average and Poor can be
selected for each range and missing
values
Formats can be individually modified
(see figure)

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Initial and final design of the Conditional Style required for the Crosstab

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Final appearance of the left Crosstab, after the conditional style for the
Net Loss cells

Note
Unlike Visualizations and Lists, Cognos generates MDX code for Crosstabs
instead of SQL under the Show generated SQL/MDX option, which is a
bit more obfuscated.
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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Add a new Crosstab into the right column of the Report:
Rows are determined by Risk Category, and then
Risk Sub-Category
Columns are determined by Year
Values to be presented are the average of the Net Loss field

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Multiple fields as rows:

Put Risk Category to the left and Risk Sub-Caregory to the right
Grouping by Risk Category is automatic
Year must be dropped into the columns
Net Loss must be dropped into the cross-section area

To display average instead of total for Net Loss:

1 Select the cross-section area
2 In the Properties Pane, under DATA ITEM, set Detail Aggregation to
Average

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Final appearance of the right Crosstab in Design view mode - note that
grouping is automatic if multiple fields are assigned to the same role (either row
or column)

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Either the Crosstab corner or the Crosstab intersection (the cross-section
area) can be selected to access the DATA ITEM part in the Properties Pane,
which works the same way for Visualizations and Lists as well

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Preview of the right Crosstab, with the Risk Category field selected to
highlight group boundaries

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Apply filters for the newly created Crosstab:
Only consider data from 2011 and earlier
Only consider data where Risk Category is either
Clients, Products and Business Practices or
Execution, Delivery and Process Management

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

For both filters:

1 Select the Crosstab (note: filters can target smaller parts)
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, click the Filter icon, and choose
Edit Filters...
3 Click Add (green plus icon)
Filter for Year:
4 Choose Advanced (could also be solved by a Custom Filter)
5 Drag in Year and finish the expression with <=2011
6 You can always Validate an expression to avoid syntax errors
Filter for Risk Category:
4 Choose Custom (could also be solved by an Advanced Filter)
5 Select the required Risk Category values > click OK

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Editing the filters for the Crosstab - note that Advanced Filter expressions
can be Validated before confirmed, which detects syntax and semantic errors
resulting from manual manipulation

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: As both filters affected the row and column fields only, these effectively
result in the exclusion of rows and columns from the Crosstab, all data still
displayed is kept unaltered

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Display three default summaries for the right Crosstab as follows:
1 For each Year, as a single bottom row for the Crosstab
2 For each Year and Risk Category, as a row per Risk Category
value
3 For each Risk Sub Category row in the Crosstab, as a single right
column for the Crosstab

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

For all three summaries:

1 Select the appropriate field in the
Crosstab
2 From the On-demand Toolbar, click the
Summarize icon > choose
Default summary
3 This will be an average, because the
Detail Aggregation for Net Loss was
previously set to Average

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

The appropriate field required for selection:

1 Field Risk Category for the first summary (for each Year)
2 Field Risk Sub Category for the second summary (for each Year
and Risk Category
3 Field Year for the third summary (for each Risk Sub Category,
note that there is already a grouping for Risk Category)

This might be very counter-intuitive. We have to select which values to

summarize over. The final preview will help explaining.

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Design view mode changes after adding the outer summary (right two
figures, first task), and the inner summary (bottom two figures, second task)

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Design view mode after all three summaries are done

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: The default summaries display an overall average over all records from the
data source with corresponding Risk Category, Risk Sub Category and Year
values

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Note
Default summary from the On-demand Toolbar is not the same as what
Average would do from there.

This is because default summary is an average for all records in the data
source (i.e. each row in the original Banking Loss Events table), but
the Average summary option displays an average for all displayed values
in the Crosstab.

This is different functionality for average. It was not if the method was
summation instead. (The total of totals is unambiguous, but the average
of averages depend on the exact partitions.)

Conclusion: Always check what the calculations do.

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Exercise 1C (cont’d)
Format the newly created Crosstab as follows:
Display numbers in millions, with two digits after the decimal point,
and with a M$ suffix
In the main intersection cells, numbers not greater than half million
shall be in green and bold font
In the summaries for each Risk Sub Category, numbers greater
than 600,000 shall be in white with purple background
Give the title Net Losses for Risk Categories

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Formatting numbers is done the same way for the second Crosstab, but
keep in mind that all relevant areas containing numbers must be selected
(including summaries), but not textual areas

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

The Conditional Style for the cross-section

area is now edited using the advanced
interface.
1 Select the Net Loss measure, or the
cross-section area
2 In the Properties Pane, under
CONDITIONAL, select
Conditional styles
3 Instead of adding a new style with the
New Conditional Style... option, choose
the Advanced Conditional Style...

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Features of the advanced interface:

Any number of logical
expressions can be inserted
The first match determines the
required format
As for the simple interface, the
format can be customized or
chosen from a list of built-in
options

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

To implement the green bold font, add a new condition:

1 Use Net Loss from second query, as this corresponds to this
Crosstab
2 Finish the expression with <=500000

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: The font style can be arbitrarily selected - now set Foreground color to
green and Font to Bold

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Final appearance of the Conditional Style resulting in green bold font for
Net Loss values not greater than 500,000

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data
To implement the second Conditional Style:
1 Select the appropriate area of the Crosstab: it is not the cross-section,
not a summary row, but the single row summaries in the last column
2 Apply the same procedure as for the first Conditional Style (the
simple interface would also be sufficient)
3 Use the same Net Loss field in the expression - no need for the
summaries
4 Alter the Foreground color and Background color formatting options

Figure: Area to be selected for the second Conditional Style in the right Crosstab,
in Design view mode

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Final appearance of the right Crosstab

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 4.2. Crosstabs Tabular data

Figure: Completed Report for Exercise 1C, with Crosstab titles - note that all
implemented filters are apparent from the view

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 Summary Tabular data

Lists can display data rows of multiple fields, while Crosstabs can have
fields in rows, columns, and intersection area.
In this Section, the following about these tabular tools was discussed:
Basic formatting
Grouping by fields
Sorting, aggregations and filters, which work similarly to ordinary
Visualizations
Calculations and summaries
Formatting with ordinary tools and Conditional Styles

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 Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.1 Basics of Parameters
5.2 Prompt Wizard
5.3 Advanced Filter formulas
5.4 Custom Filter auto-prompt
5.5 More complex example

Back to Top

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 Parameterized Reports

Although a simple Report has many features, its contents are static.

If we want to use the same Report structure in different circumstances, we

have to do either of the following:
Switch or change the data source → impractical
Duplicate the report, run with different settings → inconvenient
Alter the displayed version of the Report, for example if Run HTML is
used → strongly limited, because only certain features like
aggregates, sorting, filtering; and only already existing Visualizations
can be modified, other running methods are even more restrictive

One possible solution: parameters.

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.1. Basics of Parameters

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

Two ways for more dynamic Report documents, which exclude each other:
Parameterized Reports
Parameters which depend on the current user and/or his choices
Parameter-based filters
Prompts, choosing values at running the Report, limited interactivity
thereafter
How to use: add parameters, parameter-based filters, or prompts to an
ordinary Report
Active Reports (see Section 6)

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

How parameters work for a (non-active) Report:

Several parameters can be introduced to the same document
If the Report is launched, a Prompt Page may be displayed, on
which the user can set values for the Report
Visualization content and display may depend on parameters,
including the underlying queries
Typical use: filter based on a parameter
Parameters can later be added to a (non-active) Report
Parameter values are not saved with the document, must be selected
at each view
Cognos supports global parameters, per-user customized parameter
values are also possible (not discussed here)

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

In this tutorial, parameters and corresponding prompts are field-based.

That means, parameters can only obtain their values from a single
category field from the data source.
Single-Select: can obtain one value for the field
Multi-Select: can obtain a set of values for the field

Moreover, all parameters serve as filters for Visualization data.

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

Three different approaches of introducing parameters into a Report are

demonstrated here:
1 PROMPT elements from the Toolbox, and Prompt Wizard
2 Writing parameter-based formulas directly into an Advanced Filter
3 Auto-prompt option for Custom Filters

For each option, a common sample report is given. This shall be copied
before the trial of each method.

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

Exercise 2A
Import the XLSX Boston 311 Calls
Create a Data Module with the same name
Create a Report based on this source
Use the 2 columns non-active Template with Blue Theme
Create a Heat Map and a Pie Visualization in the two columns, with
the following properties (cont’d)
Add suitable titles

The Boston 311 Calls contains yearly data of non-emergency issues,

including dates, subject, location, and also weather data for each case.

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

Exercise 2A (cont’d)
Set up the Heat Map Visualization as follows:
Rows are by the Ward field, sort ascending
Columns are by the Month field, do not sort
Heat is determined by the Count field, aggregation is default (Total)
Set up the Pie Visualization as follows:
Segments are determined by the Source of Request field
Sizes are determined by the Count field, aggregation is default (Total)

This state of the Report is used as a starting point for all three methods.

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

Figure: Initial settings for parameterized Report demonstrations

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 5.1. Basics of Parameters Parameterized Reports

The problem to be solved is the following:

Exercise 2A (cont’d)
Set up a parameter for the Source of Request field.
Multiple values shall be allowed
Filter the Visualizations to represent data matching the prompted
values of this parameter

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.2. Prompt Wizard

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

The Prompt Wizard is a convenient way to insert prompt elements to the

Report and associate filters.
Prompt elements, like a Value Prompt can be customized
Filters are automatically generated
Parameter value can be altered during view of Report, no need to run
it again
However, changing some properties of a prompt may require
knowledge of the other methods

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

To launch the Wizard in our Report:

1 Find Value Prompt in the Toolbox
2 Drag somewhere on the Canvas
3 In this example, the Value Prompt is
inserted right to the slide title, which
forms an 1x2 table together with the
title

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

First page of the Wizard selects the Parameter involved.

Create a new parameter named pSourceOfRequest
Naming convention is: ”p” plus field name
Plural parameter names may be used to denote whether a parameter
is Multi-Select

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Figure: Prompt Wizard, creating the parameter (or selecting an existing one)

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Second page of the Wizard asks for the generated filter(s).

For Package item, select the Source of Request field
For the Operator , select in, note that this choice determines whether
the Parameter and the generated filters are Single-Select or
Multi-Select:
Operators like =, >, < imply Single-Select
Operators like in, not in imply Multi-Select
Check Make the filter optional, this has two significant effects:
Running the Report does not require to provide values for such
parameters in the beginning, therefore no Prompt Page will be
generated (for this particular parameter, at least)
Not setting any value for the parameter is allowed (for Single-Select
cases), effectively disabling the corresponding filters

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Figure: Prompt Wizard, setting up the generated filters

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Third page of the Wizard asks which Queries shall be filtered. Identify and
check the Queries for the Visualizations to filter (in this case, both).

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Fourth page of the Wizard asks which values to choose from.

Prompt elements work by having their own queries
Keep in mind that not all queries belong to Visualizations
For Values to use, select the Source of Request field
With Values to display , we could define different content to display
for values selected
For now, leave Values to display empty, or set the same
Source of Request field

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Figure: Prompt Wizard, setting up the values to choose for the parameter

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Drag and insert a Prompt Button somewhere in the Report, which will
allow submitting changes to the Value Prompt while the Report is being
displayed.

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports

Figure: Multi-Select Value Prompt being displayed as a List Box – the Prompt
Button allows submitting the selected Source of Request values, causing both
Visualizations to filter data accordingly

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 5.2. Prompt Wizard Parameterized Reports
In the Properties Pane, the Value Prompt has some useful options:
Required: whether a prompt and a
parameter value in the beginning is
required or not
Multi-select
Select UI : different methods are
allowed, e.g. drop-down list, check
boxes, for Single-Select and
Multi-Select
Auto-submit: changes are submitted
without a Prompt Button
Note
The Required and Multi-select options only take effect if the filters
themselves are also modified.
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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.3. Advanced Filter formulas

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Cognos creates the parameter, and the Prompt Page automatically,

whenever an appropriate Advanced Filter is created.
Fast method, little GUI involvement
Formulas are more custom, may involve multiple parameters and
unusual expressions
Single-Select or Multi-Select nature is automatically recognized from
the formula
Filters must be created for each Visualization separately
A Prompt Page is generated for all required parameters, however,
prompt elements must be manually inserted into the Report if
interaction is needed

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Obtain the Advanced Filter dialog

with the following steps:
1 Select any data item of the
Heat Map Visualization
2 Click the filter icon on the
On-demand Toolbar
3 Click Edit Filters...
4 Click the green plus sign to add
a new filter
5 Choose Advanced

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Set the formulas as follows:

1 In the Source tab, find the Source of Request field
2 Double-click or drag into the text area to obtain the code for that
particular field
3 Type ”in ?pSourceOfRequest?” after the field
This automatically creates the parameter named pSourceOfRequest,
whose value is obtained when the Report is run, or simply in preview mode.
Note
The Validate option for syntax check also opens a Prompt Page and
requires to provide data for the parameter first.

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Figure: Advanced Filter which creates the parameter pSourceOfRequest when

confirmed

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Note: the field can also be found in

the Data items tab if
The field is already in the query
(used in the Visualization), or
The field is assigned to the
Visualization as an Extra data
field

This results in shorter code, but only if one of the above two conditions
hold, otherwise the same code would generate an error when trying to
view the Report.

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Figure: More convenient formula if the field is represented in the query

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Figure: If there are one or more (required) parameters, a prompt page is

generated when running the Report, and even if only edited in preview mode

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 5.3. Advanced Filter formulas Parameterized Reports

Figure: Final view when the pSourceOfRequest parameter includes the values
Maximo Integration and Twitter

Note that the Pie Visualization is not affected, as filters must be set for
each Visualization independently.
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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports

Custom Filters based on a single field have an option to prompt values

automatically.
Fastest method, but with the least customization
Technically the same as if an Advanced Filter formula was provided
But only Multi-Select parameters can be set (exact prompt depends
on data and filter type)

This approach is demonstrated on the Pie Visualization.

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports

Obtain the Custom Filter dialog by the following:

1 The field must be present in the Visualization
beforehand (it is with the Pie Visualization, for
cases it is not, simply add the field as Extra
data)
2 Select the Source of Request field
3 In the On-demand Toolbar click the filter icon,
then choose Create Custom Filter...
Alternatively: in Edit Filters..., new filter, type:
Custom, based on Source of Request.

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports
Check Prompt for values when report is run in viewer .
Provide a parameter name below.

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports

Figure: The new Custom Filter can also be viewed in the Edit Filters... dialog, but
the code does not reflect the fact that the filtered values are prompted

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports
The Prompt Page is automatically generated when the Report is run.
Exact appearance depends on field and filter type.

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 5.4. Custom Filter auto-prompt Parameterized Reports

Figure: Final appearance of the Pie Visualization after the Custom Filter is
applied with the three shown field values given in the prompt

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

5. Parameterized Reports
5.5. More complex example

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Exercise 2B
Create a Report as follows:
The Report is based on Boston 311 Calls
Use the Blank (non-active) Template
Create a Hierarchical Packed Bubble Visualization:
Bubbles are determined by Request Reason, sort ascending
Color is determined by Month, do not sort
Size is determined by Count

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Exercise 2B (cont’d)
Filter the Report by parameters corresponding to the following fields:
Case Status: allow a single value or no values (does not filter)
Temperature (F) (measure, numeric): value must fit into a given
interval, therefore two temperature values are needed
Rain ( Y N ): any combination of values
Weather Condition: allow either a single value to filter for, or not
filtering at all, and also insert prompting tools to change the
parameter while the Report is running

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Hierarchical Packed Bubble Visualization without the filters

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Filter for Case Status:

Single-Select, so the Custom Filter method
does not work
Add Case Status as Extra data field
Create an Advanced Filter using this field:
[Case Status] = ?pCaseStatus?
Note that the operator = implies Single-Select
In the Edit Filters... dialog, set the Usage of Figure: Prompt for
the filter from Required to Optional, this Case Status: not
allows the parameter not to have a value, selecting any value
effectively disabling the filter disables the filter

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: This is how the new Advanced Filter should look like for the desired result
- note that Optional filters have a distinct icon

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Visualization for data where Case Status is Open, the smaller
counts indicate that most cases are rather Closed

The largest bubble size (see right) should be 589 for Open
only, 21702 for Closed only, and 21720 if not filtering.

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

The filter for Temperature (F) would work with two distinct parameters,
and Advanced Filters with the <= and >= operators, but a different
approach is presented here, with a Custom Filter:
1 Add Temperature (F) as Extra data, then create a Custom Filter
2 In the dialog, click the Range tab
3 Provide any two values (prompt will overwrite them anyway)
4 Check Prompt for values when report is run in viewer , and provide a
name for the parameter
5 Important: In the Edit Filters... dialog, set Application to
Before auto aggregation to tell Cognos that the individual
temperature values are filtered, not the sums of temperature values in
each group

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Custom Filter dialog allows ranges to be set for numeric values, and
even to prompt them - note that NULL values could be uniformly included or not

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The parameter pTemperature is prompted like an interval

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Visualization when Temperature (F) is between 30 and 50

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Filter for Rain ( Y N ):

Multi-Select, therefore a Custom
Filter is adequate
Note that Y , N and empty
values are possible in the data
set, the latter representing cases
where this data was missing
Not apparent, but the prompt
for pRain includes the empty
value (see right)

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Visualization when Temperature (F) is between 30 and 50, and
Rain ( Y N ) can be anything but N

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Filter for Weather Condition:

Drag the Value Prompt next to
the Visualization, and follow the
Prompt Wizard
The Single-Select operator is =
Check Make the filter optional
Allows missing parameter
value (disabling the filter)
Does not prompt when the
Report is viewed
Also add a Prompt Button to
the Report

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Visualization when Case Status is Closed, Temperature (F) is

between 50 and 80, and Rain ( Y N ) is Y , note that Weather Condition is
currently not used in a filter

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: Final overview of filters in the Edit Filters... dialog, note that the fourth
filter was added by the Prompt Wizard

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: Filters may leave no records to show, for example, when Rain ( Y N ) is
set to Y , but Weather Condition is also set to Overcast

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 5.5. More complex example Parameterized Reports

Figure: The Visualization with the same settings, but now Weather Condition
is set to Light Drizzle with the prompt elements, note that the Report is not
launched again

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 Summary Parameterized Reports

In this Section, Parameterized Reports were discussed:

How parameters work
Single-Select and Multi-Select scenarios
Adding parameters with the Prompt Wizard, and managing prompt
elements in Reports
Defining parameters implicitly by Advanced Filter formulas
Creating parameters automatically by Custom Filters

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 Active Reports

6. Active Reports
6.1 Basics
6.2 Active Report Fundamentals
6.3 Multi-Select variables
6.4 More complex example

Back to Top

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 Active Reports

We have seen that static Report documents are inconvenient to use for
discovering the data, more interactivity is desirable.

Two ways for more dynamic Report documents, which exclude each other:
Parameterized Reports (see Section 5)
Active Reports
Variables which can be manipulated by form elements
View adjusts to variables instantaneously, giving more interactivity
How to use: choose an Active Report template in the beginning

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

6. Active Reports
6.1. Basics

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Differences between ordinary, possibly Parameterized Reports and Active

Reports:
Each Report Template has an Active Report equivalent
Active Reports use Variables instead, although very similar
No Prompt Page, changes are made on the Report while running,
automatically
Concept of Connections between form elements and Visualizations
Instead of PROMPT elements, there is a broad range of
ACTIVE REPORT elements in the Toolbox
Slight differences all over the UI
Active Reports can only be simply ”run”, no different running formats
like HTML, PDF, XML, etc.

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Again, a basic problem is presented to serve as a starting point for our first
Active Report, and remark some UI features.
Exercise 3A
Create an Active Report as follows:
Import the XLSX American Time Use
Create a Data Module with the same name
Create a Report based on this source
Use the 2 by 2 active report Template with Blue Theme
Title: Time Use by Education Level

The American Time Use data set contains statistics about how much
time people with different attributes spend on a range of activities.

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Exercise 3A (cont’d)
Create a Pie Visualization into the top left corner as follows:
Categories are by Gender, sort ascending
Values are by Weekly Hours Worked
Select the sixth Color Palette
Resize the Visualization to 300x300
Title: Weekly Hours Worked

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Active Reports have own Templates, conversion between

ordinary (and possibly Parameterized) and Active Reports is
not possible.

The Content Pane has changed:

The Toolbox lacks PROMPT elements, but
has ACTIVE REPORT elements instead
Two more icons at the top:
Active Report controls
Active Report variables

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Figure: Although Active Report Visualizations are displayed differently in design

view mode, the functionality is the same as for ordinary Reports

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Formatting options can be set on the

Properties Pane as usual, with slight
differences:
Size and colors are found under
COMMON
Width and Height can be set
independently
Selecting the sixth Color Palette from
the list ensures that the first category
(Female) is red, the second category
(Male) is blue in the Pie Visualization
by Gender

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Same preview mode at top right to see results.

The view includes a few more options

The Preview (Edit) button can be used
to switch between design view of form
elements to displaying actual content
and have interactive behavior (no such
elements yet)

Finally, running the Active Report has no format options.

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 6.1. Basics Active Reports

Figure: Final appearance of the Active Report, with its single Pie Visualization,
serving as a starting point for Active Report fundamentals

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

6. Active Reports
6.2. Active Report Fundamentals

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Exercise 3A (cont’d)
Add interactive behavior to the Active Report as follows:
Add a Data drop-down list to the Report
The list shall select value for variable vEducationLevel from the
field Education Level
Connect the list to the Pie Visualization to filter values based on the
given education level
Give the High School default value for vEducationLevel
Copy the Pie to the other three corners, representing the same
statistic for the Volunteering, Shopping and Television fields
Ensure that the Data drop-down list filters the newly created
Visualizations as well

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Create the Data drop-down list:

1 In the Toolbox, under ACTIVE REPORT , find Data drop-down list

Note
The Data drop-down list is intended to contain a single field. Do not
confuse it with Drop-down list, which is just next to it in the Toolbox.

2 Drag to the area next to the Report title

3 From Sources, drag the Education Level field to the new list

Note
Drag onto the Data drop-down list itself, not to the Icon or Extra Items
area which shows up when selecting the list.

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: Appearance of the Data drop-down list if selected

Click the three orange dots to select the list itself

Two special icons show up in the On-demand Toolbar
indicating Active Report features:
Interactive Behavior
Create a new connection

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Connect the Data drop-down list with the Pie Visualization as follows:
1 Select the Data drop-down list
2 Click the Create a new connection icon
3 Important: set Behavior from Select to Filter
4 Set the Active Report Variable name to vEducationLevel
5 We could set default values as well, but we will do it later

Note
Naming convention for variables is analogous to parameters.

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: The Create a new connection dialog, with current tasks already set up

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

The Pie Visualization should show up as potential (and currently only)

target. Observe the target Data item:
If we previously set Education Level as Extra Categories (same as
Extra data for ordinary Reports), Cognos recognizes it as target
Otherwise, Copy Data Item from Source is displayed, and the
Connection will add the field to the Pie Visualization automatically

Note
If the Pie does not show up as potential target (happened in earlier
versions), then cancel the dialog and add Education Level to
Extra Categories in the Pie Visualization first.

The Interactive behavior icon reflects existing Connections.

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: The Interactive behavior dialog offers further settings (not detailed here)

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: The Content Pane can be used to manage Active Report controls (left)
and Active Report variables (right)

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports
Clicking the Preview button above the Canvas while in Page preview mode
for the Report displays the lists with possible contents.

Clicking again, on the Edit button reverts to design mode for the list.

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

If there is no default value, the Data drop-down list is empty at the

beginning of each view, not filtering.
From the Content Pane, under Active Report variables, for the
vEducationLevel variable, click Set default values...
Alternatively: set default values when creating the Connection

For the three other Visualizations:

1 Select the original Pie Visualization, then click the
Copy icon in the On-Demand Toolbar
2 Select the placeholder area for the other Visualizations,
then click the Paste icon
3 Change the Value for each Pie to Volunteering,
Shopping and Television, also change the titles
4 We are ready: Connections are copied accordingly

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: For a Single-Select variable, one field should be selected as default

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 6.2. Active Report Fundamentals Active Reports

Figure: Final form of the four Pie Visualizations – note that High School is the
initial value when the Report is run, but can be changed and Visualizations
update immediately, displaying some animation

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

6. Active Reports
6.3. Multi-Select variables

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports
Multi-Select variables work like Single-Select ones, just different Active
Report elements are used. This is demonstrated in an example problem.
Exercise 3B
Create a new Active Report as follows:
Source: American Time Use, Template: 2 over 1 active report,
Theme: Green
Title: Sleeping by Age Range and Employment Status
Top left: Clustered Column Visualization, displaying average of
Sleeping minutes, X axis: Age Range (sort ascending), Color :
Employment Status
Top right: same as top left, just median instead of average
At the bottom, create a Data toggle button bar selecting
Employment Status, and filter both Visualizations, default values:
Employed and Unemployed

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

To set aggregation in the Visualization:

1 Select the Sleeping field
2 In the Properties Pane, change Detail aggregation to Average (note
that Median is also in the list)

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Figure: Appearance of the Clustered Column Visualization displaying average

Sleeping minutes per day, without any filters

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Figure: Because the Employment Status field is already in the query of the
Clustered Column Visualization, Cognos recognizes it as target automatically

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Figure: The Data toggle button bar allows selection of multiple values, therefore
providing multiple default values is interpreted as a default starting selection

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports
Similarly to Data drop-down list, the Data toggle button bar is found in
the Toolbox, not to be confused with the Toggle button bar.

In preview we can see that Employment Status has three possible values:
Employed, Unemployed and Not in labor force, and any subset of these
can be selected for filtering.

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Note
If we simply copy-pasted the Clustered Column and changed the
Detail aggregation to Median in the second, that would affect the original
one as well, because the query is not copied.

Resolving the issue in the straightforward way:

1 Create the second Clustered Column
independently
2 Create a new Connection between the Data
toggle button bar and the new Visualization
3 Make sure that the correct Target Control is
chosen

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Figure: If we select the Visualization, then the area showing the fields, we select
the Data Container of the Visualization, the Properties Pane for which clearly
indicates which query the Visualization is based on

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Resolving the issue a more elegant way: add the

Sleeping field to the Visualization a second time.
1 Select any of the two Visualizations
2 From Sources, drag the field Sleeping again
onto Value
3 This replaces the old <#Sleeping#> text with
<#Sleeping1#>, indicating that another
instance of the same field is present in the
query
4 If one of the Visualizations displays
<#Sleeping#>, and the other
<#Sleeping1#>, then they can have their own,
distinct Detail aggregations

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 6.3. Multi-Select variables Active Reports

Figure: Final form of the Report: the default selection is Employed and
Unemployed, filtering is apparent, and the two Visualizations differ slightly
because of their different aggregation methods

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

6. Active Reports
6.4. More complex example

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Example problem with two more Active Report elements, and Sorting.
Exercise 3C
Create a new Active Report as follows:
Source: American Time Use, Template: 2 over 1 active report,
Theme: Cool blue
Title: Volunteering by Gender and Employment Status
Top left: Heat Map Visualization, Color : Volunteering, X :
Age Range, Y : Education Level, sort both ascending
Top right: Stacked Bar Visualization, Value: Volunteering, X :
Education Level, Color : Age Range, sort both ascending

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Exercise 3C (cont’d)
In the bottom area, create a 1x4 table with the following contents:
1 Label: Gender:
2 Data check box group for the field Gender (Multi-Select), default
setting: Male and Female
3 Label: Employment Status:
4 Data radio button group for the field Employment Status
(Single-Select), default setting: Employed

Sort the contents of both Active Report elements and connect them with
both Visualizations for filtering.

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Figure: The two Visualizations without any filters

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

To set the basic elements:

Use Text Item for labels, found in the
Toolbox under TEXTUAL
Use Table (not Crosstab) for the table
container, found in the Toolbox under
LAYOUT
Both are usually under PINNED,
therefore available directly from the
Canvas (see right)
The Active Report elements are under
ACTIVE REPORT as usual, and work
the same as before

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports
Sorting for the Active Report elements:
1 Select the element (the three orange
dots may help)
2 In the Properties Pane, under DATA,
click Sorting
3 Simply sort by the field ascending, note
that the dialog also makes multi-level
sorting possible

Figure: Design view mode for the table with the two Active Report elements, note
that the blue arrows indicate sorting

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Figure: Dialog for setting up sorting rules for Active Report elements

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Figure: After the four Connections are set, we can review them in the Content
Pane, under Active Report controls, note that default values are also visible

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 6.4. More complex example Active Reports

Figure: Final form of the Report, note the sorted Active Report elements

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 Summary Active Reports

In this Section, the following about Active Reports were discussed:

How variables work
Creating Connections between Active Report elements and
Visualizations to be filtered
Default values and sorting in Active Report elements
Single-Select and Multi-Select scenarios

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 Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.1 Overview
7.2 Data Module Interface
7.3 Data Groups and Calculations
7.4 Custom Sorting
7.5 Navigation Paths
7.6 Exercise Problem
7.7 Multiple Tables

Back to Top

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 Data Modules

So far, the capabilities of Reports were discussed:

Visualizations, Lists, Crosstabs
Sorting, aggregations, filtering
Formatting options
Interactivity through either parameters or variables

In this Section, the data sources providing a basis for these are
investigated. In Data Modules we can customize the fields used by Reports
and other documents.

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 7.1. Overview Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.1. Overview

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 7.1. Overview Data Modules

Data Module in Cognos:

Individual file representing a data source for documents
Can be based on one or multiple file, another Data Module, or other
sources, and is able to define their relationships
New fields can be defined, and existing ones manipulated
May define navigation paths, useful for displaying data (see Section 8)

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 7.1. Overview Data Modules

A Data Module is a simple file in the Cognos file system.

In this tutorial, we only use Data Modules based on a single uploaded
file for exercises, although the relationships between tables are also
shown here in brief
In this demonstration, we use the American Time Use XLSX file as
data source, and a single Data Module based on it for all purposes

Note
Be careful when altering a Data Module some document or other Data
Module is based on, as it may break those documents and sources.

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 7.1. Overview Data Modules

Field creation methods in this Tutorial:

Data Groups: a less granular version of an original field
Calculations: custom functions that themselves behave as fields

Field manipulations in this Tutorial:

Cleaning field data
Changing field Usage: Identifier, Attribute or Measure
Defining custom sorting order for a field

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.2. Data Module Interface

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Figure: User interface for the newly created American Time Use Data Module

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Possible view tabs on the top:

1 Validation view: to check integrity (for example, if Calculations and
dependent fields are edited)
2 Grid view: shows a selected table in the Data Module, with all fields
and entries (can be very large)
3 Diagram view: if there are multiple tables, relationships are displayed
and can be managed
4 Column dependencies view (only if set): dependency of fields of the
same table on each other can be managed here

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Figure: Contents of the Data Module on the left, with a context menu accessed
for the (currently only) table

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Note
In the left, the Data Module, and its table are represented on two different
levels. Make sure you click on the table, and not the Data Module when
doing modifications.

Under the table, its fields are listed, with icons referring to data type and
usage, for example:
: numeric identifier

: text identifier or attribute

: measure field

: field representing time

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Fields can be Hidden:

Cannot be accessed in derived documents, like Reports
Example: the Row Id field generated by Cognos
Hidden fields are greyed out

Figure: To access the context menu for the Data Module, a table, or a field,
select it and click on the Ellipsis icon

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Context menu entries for a Data Module:

Create new table... based on existing ones
(copy, view, intersection, etc.)
Create filter... to filter rows
Create calculation...: in this Tutorial, create at
table level instead
Properties: navigation paths can be managed
here

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Context menu entries for a table:

Specify column dependencies: to avoid duplicate
counting, dependencies between fields of the same
table can be specified (not detailed here)
Manage filters and Create filter... to filter rows
Create calculation... to introduce fields defined by
functions based on other fields

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules
Context menu entries for a field depends on data
type and usage. Example for a text type identifier
field (see right):
Split...: create new fields by delimiters in a
single text type field
Clean...: basic modifications on input data
Create data group...: new field based on
collections of values of another field
Create navigation path...: provides interaction
features in documents
Properties: usage, formula (for Calculations),
aggregation method, sorting options
Data format: settings of how data is
interpreted, for example percent, decimal
separator, time and date formats, etc.
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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Cleaning performs common tasks for fields (depending on type):

Trimming spaces
Slicing the original field (useful for fixed-width data)
Uppercase/lowercase conversion
Replace specific values with NULL
Replace NULL with a specific value

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Figure: Cleaning options for a text type identifier field

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Figure: If a field contains special data (time or geographic location), Cognos may
automatically recognize it, otherwise it can be set as the Represents option in the
Properties menu

Above the contents, there are two useful buttons:

1 Add a new data source, or a new table
2 Make all defined navigation paths visible

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Cognos detects type and intended usage for a field, but can be wrong:
Job Searching is an activity measured in minutes, like the others
Recognized as numeric identifier (possibly too few distinct values)
That prevents Job Searching, for example, to be used as measures
in Visualizations

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

To correct the usage of Job Searching:

1 Select the field, click the Ellipsis icon
2 Click Properties
3 Set Usage to Measure

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules

Available usage modes for a field:

Identifier: refers to some entity uniquely; commonly used by
Visualizations as categories
Measure: represents a fact, mostly numeric; most Visualizations rely
on a measure, which is aggregated over the different categories
Attribute: a property of entities

Note
The key question about usage is whether the field should be a Measure or
not. Attributes and Identifiers are interchangeable in most situations, if
unsure, use Identifier.

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 7.2. Data Module Interface Data Modules
The Try it on the Application Toolbar provides a simplified
Report interface to check field behavior and values.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.3. Data Groups and Calculations

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Data Group:
Defines a new field in a table, dependent on an original field
Introduces several named groups for values of the original field,
therefore decreasing granularity
Text type original field: each group is a set of possible values,
resulting in a partition of the original values
Numeric original field: intervals can be defined to describe the groups

Calculation: new field, which is defined as an expression, based on

(possibly more than one) other field values.

Note
Technically, a Data Group can be implemented using a Calculation as well.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Exercise 4A
Create two Data Groups as follows:
Name: Qualified, is based on Education Level, and value is 1 if
the level is at least High School, and 0 otherwise
Name: Earnings Level, is based on Weekly Earnings, and value
is Low below 100, High for 500 and above, and Medium in between
Create two Calculations as follows:
Name: Daily Hours Worked, and is the Weekly Hours Worked
divided by 5
Name: Total Spent, and is the sum of all daily activities

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

To create a Data Group based on a specific original field:

1 Select the original field
2 In the context menu, click Create data group...
3 The interface depends on whether the original field is numeric or text
type
There is an Edit data group... option in the context menu for Data Group
fields created this way. Similar for Calculations.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

To create a Calculation, click Create calculation... form the context menu:

For a single (or two) selected field, to open a simplified interface

Note
Multiple fields can be selected by Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click (selection
order is important), then the context menu for any field can be used.

For the table, to open a general, expression editing interface – use

this method if there are multiple fields, custom expressions, or text
type fields involved

Note
The Create calculation... option is missing if the selected field is text type,
however, general expressions defining Calculations can be based on text
type fields as well.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Creating Data Group for a text type field:

Values from the original field are shown in the left column
Groups can be created and named in the middle column
Select values from the left, select a group, then click the arrow icon
to assign those values to the group
Assigned values appear in the right column
To remove a group or an assigned value, click the minus sign above
the middle or the right column

Note
A default group can be defined for all values not assigned to any group. If
there is no default group, the value of the Data Group field for any
unassigned value will be the value itself.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Creating Data Group for a numeric field:

Groups are defined by N intervals in the left column, using N − 1
separation points in the right column, where N is chosen by the user
The first group is for values higher than or equal to the highest
separation point
The last group is for values less than the lowest separation point
The groups in the middle are for values between two consecutive
separation points
The value equal to a separation point belongs to the group above

Note
The numeric Data Group interface can initially set up the groups having
equal length intervals between the minimum and maximum (but not equal
row count).

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Creating the Daily Hours Worked Calculation based on a single field and
basic operations – a similar interface is available if two Calculations are selected

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

To create a more complex calculation:

1 Select the table (not its fields)
2 In the context menu, click Create Calculation...

The general Calculation editor is similar to the one used for Advanced
Filters in Reports:
Fields from the Data Module can be dragged from the left to the
expression area
Functions can be found in another tab on the left
The expression can be validated, and even previewed

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Creating the Total Spent Calculation based on 14 different fields, with a
preview generated at the bottom

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

The newly created fields of the Data

Module are positioned on the top.
Note
Fields can be reordered by dragging.

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

The Data Group for the numeric Weekly Earnings field generates
another field named Earnings Level bin nr:
Same as Earning Levels, but the values are integers
Hidden by default

The Properties option in the context menu can be used to:

Check and modify the data type and usage of the newly created fields
Access the Expression defining the Calculation, and even the Data
Group
For the latter, modification is not recommended, but useful for
understanding

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Properties of the two Data Groups, plus the automatically created one

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Expressions for the originally created Earnings Level and the
automatically created Earnings Level bin nr Data Groups

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Expression for the Qualified Data Group is more obfuscated, because it
is based on another text type field

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

Figure: Properties for the two Calculations, note that the usage of both are set to
Measure by default

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

The Try it is useful to check the newly created Data Groups.

Figure: Minimal (left) and maximal

(right) value of Weekly Earnings for
each group in Earnings Level

Figure: All possible pairs of Qualified

and Education Level

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 7.3. Data Groups and Calculations Data Modules

To check Calculations:
Use validation and preview in
the editor
Use the Grid view (see right)

Note
To reorder fields in the Grid view,
reorder them in their list on the left
by drag and drop.

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.4. Custom Sorting

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Automatic sorting for fields can be inadequate.

Text fields are sorted lexicographically by default
Curiously, not sorting at all in a Report may result in correct behavior:
for example, months may appear in correct order in the source,
sorting it breaks this order

Exercise 4A (cont’d)
Set custom sorting for Education Level so that ascending ordering of the
field results a lower to higher level, i.e. from 9th grade to Prof. Degree.

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Figure: Unsorted, ascending, and descending order for the Education Level
field before any custom sorting is set, as seen in the Try it Report

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

The general solution procedure for customizing sorting of a field:

1 Create a Calculation based on the field
2 Type an expression which results in numeric values, the increasing
order of which represents the correct sorting
3 Set the usage of the Calculation to Identifier
4 Set the sorting method for the field to the Calculation

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

For the Calculation, named Education Level Order in our example:

Select the table to access the Create Calculation... option
Use the case when construct to assign a numeric value to each
possible Education Level value (see next slide)
Use ’ in the code, not " as the delimiter for string literals
The else branch is optional, all cases are covered here

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Figure: Formula for the Education Level Order Calculation, note that the
observed expression for Data Groups used a similar logic

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

The newly created Education Level Order is a measure, but measure

fields cannot be set as sorting rules.
1 Select Education Level Order
2 In the context menu, click Properties
3 Set Usage to Identifier

Finally, in the Properties for Education Level:

1 Scroll down to Sorting
2 Set Sort options to Enabled
3 Set Sort by to Education Level Order

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Figure: Checking the new Calculation with the Try it option, before setting
Education Level to sort by it

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Figure: Setting our Calculation named Education Level Order to serve as the
sorting order for the original Education Level field

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 7.4. Custom Sorting Data Modules

Education Level is now sorted correctly:

Even in the absence of
Education Level Order
If sorting is not even set in the Try it Report
And also if it is set to sort ascending

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.5. Navigation Paths

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

Navigation Path: a sequence of distinct non-measure fields.

Navigation Paths provide data exploring options in Dashboards.

Suppose there is a Navigation Path where field Y follows X directly
Suppose a Visualization in a Dashboard has a field X as a category,
represented by bars for example
Then the drill down option for a selected bar replaces X with Y as the
category in the Visualization, while filtering for the selected X value

Note
It is shown how to create, modify, and delete Navigation Paths, but their
usage is not demonstrated here. See Section 8 for applications.

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

In other words, a Navigation Path from X to Y allows a selected bar

corresponding to some value of X to be divided into multiple bars
according to values of Y, viewing data in more granularity
This is especially useful if X and Y are in hierarchical order (for
example, if X is year and Y is month), but any non-measure fields in
any order can form Navigation Paths

Exercise 4A (cont’d)
Create a Navigation Path involving the fields Qualified,
Education Level and Employment Status in this order.

Note that Qualified is a Data Group based on Education Level,

therefore their order also represents hierarchy. On the other hand,
Employment Status is independent.

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

To create a new Navigation Path:

1 Select any field involved
2 In the context menu, click Create navigation path...
3 Drag fields involved from the left to the area on the right
4 Arrange fields into correct order by drag and drop
You can remove a field by clicking the minus sign.
Note
A field cannot be present multiple times in the same Navigation Path, but
it can be present in multiple different Navigation Paths.

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

Figure: Dialog for creating the Navigation Path from the exercise

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

Manage Navigation Paths in the Properties menu,

in the Navigation Paths tab.
Access the context menu of a field for
Navigation Paths involving that field
Access the context menu of the Data Module
for all Navigation Paths, where you can also
create and delete them
Clicking the compass icon at the top underlines
fields involved in at least one Navigation Path.
Note
The underlining only appears for fully visible field
names (see right).

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

Figure: Navigation Paths involving a particular field can be viewed and modified
from the Properties menu of that field, but not created or deleted

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 7.5. Navigation Paths Data Modules

Figure: The Properties from the context menu of the Data Module itself allows
creation, deletion and modification of all Navigation Paths

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.6. Exercise Problem

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Exercise 4B
Create a Data Module based on the Banking Loss Events XLSX.

Create the following fields:

Is Banking, value can be Yes or No, depending on whether
Business contains the word ”Banking” or not
Category of Net Loss, value can be Low , Moderate, High and
Very High respectively if below 100000 , 500000 , 2000000 , or above.
Calculated Recovery Percent, which tells how many percent
Recovery Amount is compared to Net Loss
Estimation Value, which tells by how many percent is
Estimated Gross Loss higher than Net Loss (may be negative)

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Exercise 4B (cont’d)
Do the following additional modifications on the Data Module:
Set up a custom sorting rule for Status, to sort the values in this
order: Not Started, In Progress, Under Review , Rejected, and
Approved
Create a Navigation Path named Risk Category - Year, with the
following fields in order: Risk Category, Risk Sub Category,
Year

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Is Banking is best implemented as a Data Group based on Business,

note that this example uses a default No group for all the elements not selected

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Similarly, Category of Net Loss can be a Data Group based on the
Net Loss measure, which is numeric

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Correct behavior of the Data Groups checked in the Try it Report

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

The Calculated Recovery Percent and Estimation Value are

Calculations. We could use the general expression editor, but the special
interface is rather demonstrated here. For both Calculations:
Select the two fields involved in the Calculation (Ctrl+Click)
In the context menu of either, click Create calculation...
Use the ”%” operator for Calculated Recovery Percent, and the
”% change” operator for Estimation Value between the two fields

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Definition of Calculated Recovery Percent

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Definition of Estimation Value

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Checking Calculated Recovery Percent in Grid view after

rearrangement of the fields, note that the already existing
Recovery Amount (Percent) field apparently has the same meaning

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Checking Estimation Value in Grid view the same way

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Although the formulas for both Calculations are ratios, the Data format...
dialog from the context menu shows that these fields are formatted as Percent

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Sorting of Status is achieved by a Calculation:

In this example, the name is Status Order
Set its Usage to Identifier or Attribute
Enable sorting for Status, by Status Order

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: Checking the custom sorting in the Try it Report

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

Figure: The important part of the dialog creating the Navigation Path, note that
the default name is the same as expected in the exercise

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 7.6. Exercise Problem Data Modules

The overall view of new fields:

Two Data Groups
One auto-generated Data Group
Two Calculations
Plus one additional for sorting
The Navigation Path involves three
other fields

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

7. Data Modules
7.7. Multiple Tables

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

A small example is presented for two tables in the same Data Module and
defining a Relationship between them.

Two XLSX files are required from the GO, Great Outdoors Data Module:
Order methods: very small table matching codes of order methods
to their textual representation
Sales: long list of items sold by the company, with various fields
including the code for the order method

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

First, assign both sources to the same Data Module:

1 Create a Data Module based on Order methods
2 Click the plus icon at the top
3 In the context menu, click Add new sources
4 Browse and select the Sales file

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

Now the Data Module contains the two,

currently independent tables. Note that
both tables have Order Method Code.

Create a Relationship as follows:

1 In the context menu for
Order methods, click
Create relationship...
2 Select Sales as the other table
3 Select their two columns named
Order Method Code
4 Click Match selected columns
5 After checking the preview of the joined
table, click OK

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

Figure: The dialog for creating the Relationship between the tables

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

Figure: The Diagram view shows a visual representation of tables and their
Relationships, you can also edit or delete a Relationship by right-clicking its
connector line

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 7.7. Multiple Tables Data Modules

Figure: The Try it Report can be used to verify that fields from the two distinct
tables, for example Order Method Type and Revenue, can be in the same query

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 Summary Data Modules

Data Modules are used in Cognos to model data, extend data sources with
new features, and serve as a source for documents.

The following about Data Modules was discussed:

User interface
Data Groups fields, which decrease granularity of another field
Calculations, which are arbitrary functions based on other fields
Custom sorting rules
Navigation Paths
Small example for multiple tables

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 Dashboards

8. Dashboards
8.1 Basic Features
8.2 Selections and Drill down
8.3 Further examples

Back to Top

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 Dashboards

So far, the Report document type and Data Modules were examined
thoroughly.

There is another document type to visualize data: Dashboard.

Completely new UI for more streamlined design
Similar to Reports in many aspects
Embedded Data Module functionality
Own set of available Visualizations
Higher level of interactivity and data discovery options without the
management of parameters or Active Report elements

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

8. Dashboards
8.1. Basic Features

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Dashboards vs Reports:
Underlying logic of data sources and Visualizations is similar
Reports can be run, and exported in different formats, while
Dashboards focus heavily on interactivity and data discovery
User interface is completely new, although similar in features, and
common tasks for Dashboards are usually more convenient
Dashboards have their own embedded Data Module with limited
functionality: creation of Calculations and Navigation Paths, and
alteration of basic properties of fields are possible

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Exercise 5A
Create a new Dashboard as follows:
Tabbed layout, blank template
Source is the Banking Loss Events XLSX file
Create a Crosstab and an automatic Visualization representing the
sum of Net Loss per Business
Sort the Business values in the automatic Visualization by the
depicted Net Loss sums, ascending
Filter both Visualizations for only the following Status values:
In Progress and Rejected

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Create the Dashboard:

1 In the Navigation Panel, click New , then Dashboard
2 Two layouts are available: Tabbed, and Infographic

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Figure: User interface of a blank Dashboard

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards
Set the source as follows:
In the Source Pane on the left, click Select a source
Select the XLSX file for Banking Loss Events
Alternative: click Create dashboard in the context menu for the file.

Figure: Dashboards have an own icon in the Cognos file system

Note
Unlike Reports, Dashboards can be based on the uploaded XLSX file
directly due to their embedded Data Module functionality.
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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Important features known from Data

Modules are available here:
Creating Calculations
Changing field Properties including
Usage, aggregation method and sorting
Creating Navigation Paths

Note
Some further problems depend on fields
created in the Banking Loss Events Data
Module (see Section 7). Use that Data
Module as a source to skip those steps.
Note that all exercises can be solved within
the Dashboard interface.

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Figure: There is a Data tray available below the Canvas: views the data source,
works similarly to the Grid view for Data Modules

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Tools on the Navigation Panel:

1 Sources: files or Data Modules
2 Pinned: elements to be quickly created
3 Assistant: may take textual commands, useful for quickly
creating Visualizations, and data discovery
4 Visualizations available for Dashboards
5 Widgets: other insertable objects

Note
Dashboards have a different set of Visualizations available than
Reports, although most are common. In particular, Lists and
Crosstabs are also Visualizations for Dashboards.

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

The Application Toolbar contains some new icons (from the left):
1 Full screen mode
2 View widget connections
3 Properties: shows the Properties Pane also available in Reports,
although for Dashboards, settings are mostly about layout and
formatting

Note
Dashboards cannot be ”run”, they are either opened in
Edit or in Preview mode, which can be switched with the
pencil icon on the left of the Application Toolbar.

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Figure: Available Visualizations and Widgets for Dashboards

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

To create a Crosstab:
1 Drag a Crosstab from the Visualizations Pane
2 Drag the fields Business and Net Loss fields from the Sources Pane
to the Rows and Values slots of the Crosstab, respectively

To automatically create a Visualization:

1 Select both fields at once (Ctrl+Click)
2 Drag them on the Canvas
3 A Visualization is automatically selected based on the number, type
and usage of fields selected, for example a Column Visualization for
Business and Net Loss

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Figure: All Visualizations, including Crosstabs have a specific user interface, which
also includes a preview

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards
To sort the columns in the Visualization, click the Ellipsis icon next to the
Net Loss field in the Visualization editor, then click Sort.
Note
Unlike in Reports, columns can be sorted by their depicted values.

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Tasks for a field in a Visualization in general can be accessed by the Ellipsis

icon, for example (depending on field usage and role in Visualization):
Sort: works for both categories and measures
Filter : for the current Visualization only
Format options
Top or bottom, filter for the top or bottom part of ordered data
Summarize: refers to aggregation method
Calculation creation

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Figure: The two Visualizations without filtering

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

Clicking the Visualization reveals the On-demand Toolbar next to

it (depends on Visualization type):
1 Explore: useful for data discovery (not detailed in this Section)
2 Pin: save for replication into the Pinned Pane
3 Send to front and Send to back for overlapping issues
4 Duplicate
5 Drill through (not detailed here): not equivalent to drill down
for fields in Navigation Paths
6 Change visualization
7 Select tool: to select specific categories in the Visualization
8 Show data: opens the Data tray
9 Edit the title

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards
To filter both the Crosstab and the Columns Visualization, drag Status to
the This tab area above the Canvas, then select the appropriate values.

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 8.1. Basic Features Dashboards

For each Visualization, the filter icon at the top

right shows all active filters (see right).

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

8. Dashboards
8.2. Selections and Drill down

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Dashboards are very versatile in viewing data, two important features are
demonstrated here:
Selecting a category value serves as a filter for all Visualizations in
that tab: this effectively does what Parameterized Reports and Active
Reports were used for in our examples, much faster and easier,
although with less options
The drill down option can be used to change the scope of the
Visualization: if a value of a category field X is present in a
Visualization, then we can replace X with another category field Y
while filtering for the value of X

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Exercise 5B
As prerequisites, add the following to the source data of the Dashboard:
Calculation, named Is Banking, and is Yes or No based on whether
Business contains the word ”Banking” or not
Two Navigation Paths with two fields each: from Risk Category to
Risk Sub Category, and from Year to Region

Note
Modifications done to the data source of the Dashboard are local to that
particular Dashboard and do not affect the source file or Data Module.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

In a Data Module, Is Banking could be a Data Group, but here it is

implemented as a Calculation as follows:
1 Click the table in the Source Pane
2 In the context menu, click Create calculation...
3 Type the code below (the case when construct could be used as well,
enumerating all possible values for either the Yes or No case)
4 Click Validate to check the result before approving

Now we can use Is Banking as a category in Visualizations.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
The Navigation Paths can be created as in a Data Module, by clicking on
the plus icon next to the Navigation Paths directory in the source.

Figure: The data source after creating the Calculation and the Navigation Path

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Exercise 5B
Add a new tab to the Dashboard with the following:
List Visualization showing Risk Category
Stacked Column Visualization, Bars are by Year, Length is by
Net Loss, and Color is by Business, and filtered by Is Banking to
be Yes
Another Stacked Column Visualization with the same attributes, but
Is Banking is No instead

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
Only the filter for Is Banking is special:
Unrelated to the fields in the Visualizations
Therefore: drag them into the Local filters area, and select the
appropriate value
This is analogous to Extra data in Reports

Note
One of the Stacked Column Visualizations can be finished including the
filter, then the other one created by the Duplicate icon from the
On-demand Toolbar. There are no ”common query” issues as experienced
in Reports.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Complete solution of the exercise so far

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Now let us try some selection scenarios:

We would select some fields, field values and/or data points on one or
more of the Visualizations
This introduces various filters for all objects – a very useful feature
Observe how all the Visualizations change content, and check the
filters generated

Note
The initial point is without selection, so clear all selections before trying
another scenario. If unsure, the filter icon at the top right corner of
Visualizations displays active filters, which can also be removed from there.

Note
To select multiple items, use Ctrl+Click.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
First scenario:
Select these three values in the List:
Business Disruption and System Failures, Damage to Physical Assets
and Employment Practice and Workplace Satety
This introduces a filter: Risk Category must be one of these values,
also for the Stacked Column Visualizations (see below)
Some Business categories disappear, indicating they had no events
within these Risk Category values

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: First scenario: selecting values from the Risk Category List

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
Second scenario:
In the color legend of the Stacked Column Visualization, having
Is Banking set to No, select Agency Services and
Asset Management
This filters all Visualizations for these two Business values
As a consequence, the List shrinks, indicating completely missing
combinations
The other Stacked Column Visualization is greyed out, because the
two Stacked Column Visualizations are mutually exclusive anyway

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Second scenario: selecting Business category values from one of the
Stacked Column Visualizations

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
Third scenario:
In the Stacked Column Visualization where Is Banking is Yes, select
the bar piece corresponding to Year 2013 (bar) and Business
Commerce Banking (color)
Filters indicate that a data point is selected (see below)
Actually two filters are generated, one for each category

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Third scenario: selecting a data point, filtering for both Business and
Year

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards
Fourth scenario:
Select an item from each Visualization simultaneously:
Business Disruption and System Failures in the List, Retail Banking
and Trading and Sales in the respective Stacked Column
Visualizations
This introduces only two filters instead of three: the selection from
the Stacked Column Visualizations involve the same Business field,
so the filter for Business allows any of the two selected values

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Fourth scenario: selecting a Risk Category and two Business values
from different Visualizations

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

The drill down functionality is demonstrated on the first and third

scenarios.
1 Select values from the List according to the first scenario
2 Right-click any of the items
3 In the appearing context menu, click Drill down
4 This introduces a filter for all objects, according to the first scenario,
moreover, Risk Category values are now replaced by
Risk Sub Category values in the List
5 In the same context menu, click Back to undo this

Note
This drill down operation requires the Navigation Path from
Risk Category directly to Risk Sub Category.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Options in the context menu available for selections (left to right):

1 Keep: filter for these, but only for this Visualization
2 Exclude: filter for all others, but only for this Visualization
3 Format text
4 Back: undo drill down
5 Drill down: exchanges the category field of the selection to one
following it in some Navigation Path, keeping selected values as filters
6 Navigate: can also be used to switch categories
7 Filter
8 Show data
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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Result of the drill down operation

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Further selections can be made for the newly appearing field
Risk Sub Category, this keeps the original filter for Risk Category

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Filters introduced by the drill down operation and the newly selected
Risk Sub Category values

Note
A Risk Sub Category may appear under more than one Risk Category.

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Another demonstration is based on the third scenario:

1 Right-click on the bar piece, select drill down
2 As a result, the eight Year values on the X-axis are replaced by the
three Region values
3 Meanwhile, the filter for the selected Year persists, and also the
selection is the same, therefore only Commerce Banking is highlighted

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Result of the second drill down, from the Year of 2013 to Region

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 8.2. Selections and Drill down Dashboards

Figure: Filters generated by the second drill down

Note
If there are multiple Navigation Paths for the same field, we can choose
the direction of the drill down operation.
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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

8. Dashboards
8.3. Further examples

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Exercise 5C
Add a new tab to the Dashboard with the following:
Pin the List from the previous example
Insert the list, then convert to Data Player Visualization, and change
the field from Risk Category to Year, filter it for odd years only
Two Heat Map Visualizations, Rows are by Risk Category,
Columns are by Risk Sub Category, and Heat is by
Recovery Amount (Percent)
Aggregation for the two Heat Maps shall be average and maximum
Create a Calculation named Category of Net Loss, values can be
Low , Moderate, High and Very High respectively if below 100 000,
500 000, 2 000 000, or above, then filter both Heat Maps to only Low
and Moderate values of Category of Net Loss

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Creating the Data Player Visualization:

1 Click Pin from the context menu of the List
2 From the Pinned Pane, drag the List to the new tab
3 From the context menu of the newly created list, choose
Change visualization
4 From All visualizations, find Data Player
5 Click the Risk Category field in the design of the Data Player, then
press delete to remove, drag there Year from the source instead
6 Click the Ellipsis icon next to Year, choose Filter , and select every
value to be kept

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: The Pinned Pane allows saving Visualizations for quick access

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: Menu for converting the selected List Visualization to another type

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: Result of the conversion: the Data Player Visualization displays the same
Risk Category field as the original List

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Category Risk Category is changed to

Year, and even years are filtered out.

Note
A more sophisticated solution for the odd
years would be relying on a new Calculation
detecting odd numbers mathematically.

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Aggregation is set similarly for the Recovery Amount (Percent) field.

The calculation Category of Net Loss could be implemented as a Data

Group in a Data Module, but here the following formula is adequate.

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards
Clicking the play button on the Data Player performs an animation:
selected values are iterated and Visualizations are constantly filtered
according to the current selection.

Figure: Final view of the Data Player being played and the two Heat Maps

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Exercise 5D
Add a new tab to the Dashboard with the following:
Create a Calculation named Estimation Value, showing by how
many percent Estimated Gross Loss is higher than Net Loss
Line and Column Visualization, X-axis: Status, Length: sum of
Estimated Gross Loss, Line position: average of
Estimation Value
Set up a sorting rule for Status: Not Started, In Progress,
Under Review , Rejected, and Approved in ascending order
Try sorting for all three fields in the Visualization
Create a Word Cloud Visualization: Words: Business, Size: sum of
Net Loss, Color : Status, then apply a drill down operation on the
largest word, from Business to Region

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards
The Calculation for Estimation Value can use the following formula.

In the context menu for the newly created Calculation, click Data format...
and set Percent for formatting purposes.

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Sorting of Status is done as described in Section 7:

1 Create a new Calculation representing
the correct order
2 Set it as Identifier or Attribute
3 Set Status to be sorted by the
Calculation

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: The Line and Column Visualization without specific sorting settings,
which is now automatically sorted by the specified order of Status values

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: Sorting by the Estimated Gross Loss, then by Estimation Value

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: The Line and Column and Word Cloud Visualizations before drill down

The largest word corresponds to Corporate Finance Business, and the

Approved Status, with a total Net Loss of 64.58 millions.

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards
The drill down operation as requested requires a new Navigation Path
from Business to Region.

Figure: Result of the drill down operation: filter for Corporate Finance Business,
the selection further filters for Approved Status, and the Business category is
replaced by Region in the Word Cloud

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Exercise 5E
Add a new tab to the Dashboard with the following:
Crosstab Visualization, Rows: Category of Net Loss, Columns:
Is Banking, Values: Net Loss
Three Summary Visualizations for total Net Loss, total
Recovery Amount, and average Recovery Amount (Percent),
denote that the latter is average by some text
Pie Visualization representing total Net Loss by Risk Category,
and filter out the two largest parts belonging to External Fraud and
Execution, Delivery and Process Management
Data Player Visualization for Region

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

The Summary Visualization:

Very simple: takes one measure and calculates an aggregation
Default if the measure field is dragged onto the Canvas
To provide text: use Edit the title from the context menu

Excluding Risk Category values from the Pie Visualization

1 Select the two data points by Ctrl+Click, right-click on them
2 In the On-demand Toolbar, choose Exclude
3 This introduces a fitler, but only for the Pie Visualization

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: Providing the title for the Summary Visualization already displaying the
average of the Recovery Amount (Percent) field

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: The Exclude option can be used to filter out specific category values from
a Visualization, without affecting the other Visualizations

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 8.3. Further examples Dashboards

Figure: Final view of the Dashboard tab, with the Data Player being played,
currently selecting North America and filtering the five other Visualizations as well

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 Summary Dashboards

The Dashboard is a more interactive document type than Report.

The following capabilities of Dashboards were discussed:

Managing Visualizations as in Reports
Advantages and new features
Interactive filtering techniques
Drill down operation

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 Explorations

9. Explorations
9.1 Getting Started
9.2 Drivers
9.3 Comparison

Back to Top

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 Explorations

Goal of Reports and Dashboards: provide a document that visualizes data

in some particular aspects, which are coded into the document, with more
or less options on interactivity.

Goal of Explorations: provide the document type to support data

discovery, with the fastest possible way of making and visualizing queries,
and revealing connections.

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

9. Explorations
9.1. Getting Started

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Explorations in Cognos
Document type designed for fast discovery of trends in data
Each Visualization is represented by a single Card
An Exploration is technically a collection of Cards
Starting Points Card to provide some initial investigation of how
fields are related
Assistant to quick-access functionality by textual commands
Minimal formatting and layout options – content is in focus

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

In this demonstration, the Telco customer churn data set is used.

This is a single table database containing customer data for the fictional
Telco telecommunications company, and whether the customer left the
service (churn) or not. The goal is to find which group of customers are
less and more likely to churn.

If Cognos base samples are installed, the Data Module for Telco
customer churn is found in Team Content > Samples > Data.
Note
It is highly recommended to make a copy of the sample module in
My Content and base your work on the copy, to avoid accidental changes
in the shared samples.

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations
To create a new Exploration, do either:
In the context menu of the Data Module, click Create exploration, or
Click the New button, choose Exploration, then later assign the Data
Module as source, as for Reports and Dashboards

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: Initial view of the new Exploration for Telco customer churn

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Different Panes for contents on the left, from top to bottom:

1 Explorations: actually the list of Cards the Exploration consists of
2 Sources: the data source, note that Explorations have embedded
modules with limited capabilities, similarly to Dashboards
3 Pins: pinned content, also from other documents like Dashboards
(not necessarily relevant for the current document)
4 Assistant: accepts textual command to quickly get information and
construct Visualizations, note that the Assistant is also available for
Dashboards

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: The Explorations Pane which lists all Cards, note that the Starting Points
Card is always listed

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: The Pins Pane contains pinned content across Cognos, including the List
Visualization in the Dashboards from Exercise 5C

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

The Assistant:
accepts informal, textual
commands
also available in the top right
corner (see above)
example: ask for the Tenure
field, by simply typing Tenure
(see left)

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Allowed ”templates” for new Cards:

Single: contains a single Visualization
Comparison: contains two related
Visualizations
Go To Starting Points (only visible if
currently editing another card)

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: The Starting Points Card

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations
The Starting Points Card:
Displays how pairs of fields correlate
May select a single field as Field of interest
May set the number of unique fields to be shown in the graph
The thicker lines represent stronger predictive strength, tooltip shows
exact value

Figure: Payment Method has a predictive strength of 30% for Churn Value,
which represents as a measure whether the customer churned or not

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: Another example: displaying only 6 fields, predicting Tenure by

Contract, the tooltip for the edge displays a strength of 50%

Note
Some fields, like Churn Label and Churn Value have 100% correlation
because of redundancy in the data set.
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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Do the following steps to create a new Card:

1 Create a new Card

2 Type ”tenure by contract
and churn label” to the Assistant
3 Using the dots below the displayed
Visualization, find the Heat Map
Visualization type
4 Drag the Heat Map onto the
placeholder area for new Visualizations

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: The UI for the new, empty Card

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: Our first Card, displaying a Heat Map Visualization for Tenure, by
Contract and Churn Label

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 9.1. Getting Started Explorations

Figure: The Details tab displays some key facts Cognos found potentially valuable
regarding the present Visualization, while the Data slots tab provides the basic
functionality for editing fields in the Visualization

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

9. Explorations
9.2. Drivers

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Create a Driver Analysis Visualization for Tenure as follows:

1 Click the green ”5” icon next to the title of the Heat Map.
2 Click the first option,
Correlated with Total Charges, Internet Service and Contract (91%)
3 This creates and switches to a new Driver Analysis based on the
measure field Tenure, on a new Card

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

The Driver Analysis Visualization:

For a given measure, identifies possible drivers: other fields based on
which its value can be predicted
Displays predictive strength of groups of one (blue discs), two (orange
discs), or more (green discs) drivers
Size of a disc denotes number of alternatives with the same strength
Click a disc to propose Visualizations below related to a particular
group of drivers and the measure at the bottom

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: Contract and CLTV drivers selected (orange disc), and displayed
Visualization below

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Create a Bubble Visualization as follows:

Select the driver group with the largest orange bubble
Find the Bubble Visualization corresponding to the Total Charges
and Tech Support group, and click to create it on a new Card

Create a Decision Tree Visualization as follows:

1 Select the driver group with the highest predictive strength, which is
the green disk at 90%)
2 Click the proposed Decision Tree Visualization below, which creates it
in a new Card

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: Bubble Visualization displaying Tenure based on the Total Charges

measure and Tech Support, obtained from the Driver Analysis Visualization

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

The Decision Tree Visualization: in contrast to a Driver Analysis, displays

how a value of a target measure can be predicted.

Three different types of views:

Tree Sunburst view: decisions are ordered inside out
Tree Diagram view: decisions are ordered left to right
Rules view: exact rules are shown

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: The Tree sunburst view of the Decision Tree Visualization for Tenure

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: The Tree diagram view of the Decision Tree Visualization for Tenure

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: The Rules view of the Decision Tree Visualization for Tenure

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 9.2. Drivers Explorations

Figure: Overall view of Cards after generating the Heat Map, Driver Analysis,
Bubble and Decision Tree Visualizations

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

9. Explorations
9.3. Comparison

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

The Comparison Card type allows comparing two closely related

Visualizations in a single view.

Create a Comparison as follows:

Type ”tenure by contract and internet” to the Assistant
Find the Stacked Column Visualization from the proposed list, then
drag it to a new Card
Introduce a filter requiring Dependents to be Yes
Duplicate the Card
In the duplication, set the filter to require Dependents to be No
instead
Select both Stacked Column Visualizations, click the Ellipsis at the
top of the Sources Pane, then click Compare

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

The Assistant can be used:

1 Create a new, blank Card
2 Type the required command
3 Find the Stacked Column and
drag to the placeholder area

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Add the filter similarly to how it works for Dashboards:

1 Open the Data slots tab
2 From the Sources Pane, drag Dependents to the Local filters slot
3 Select the Yes value, then confirm the filter dialog

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Figure: The Duplicate option can be found by clicking the Ellipsis icon shown
when hovering over the Card with the cursor in the Explorations Pane

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Figure: The Compare option can be found by selecting both Cards (Ctrl+Click),
then clicking the Ellipsis icon at the top of the Explorations Pane

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Figure: Initial view of the newly created Comparison type Card, note the
synchronized axes, compare lines and summaries

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

The Comparison Card type:

Shows the two Visualizations next to each other
Displays particular summaries of data at the top
The two Visualizations can be edited independently

Possible synchronization of the Visualizations:

Selection (not synchronized by default)
Compare line, on both Visualizations while hovering over any of them
Axis scale
Actions made

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Figure: Selection of different set of data points is possible, the summaries update
accordingly

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 9.3. Comparison Explorations

Figure: When the aggregation type is changed to summation in both

Visualizations, different summaries are displayed above

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 Summary Explorations

Explorations are the documents in Cognos focusing on making it fast and

convenient to discover key facts among data.

The following were demonstrated in this Section:

The Starting Points Card
Using the Assistant to quickly create Visualizations
Special Visualization types like Driver Analysis, Decision Tree
Comparing Visualizations

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Thank you for your attention!