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11/14/2016 1 Unlock the Power of Costpoint Enterprise Reporting By Rich Hardin Deltek Principle Consultant Report Studio Basics
11/14/2016
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Unlock the Power of Costpoint Enterprise Reporting
By Rich Hardin
Deltek Principle Consultant
Report Studio Basics
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Report Studio vs. Query Studio
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Both Report Studio and Query Studio can be accessed from within the CognosConnection web portal.
– Report Studio is used to create sophisticated reports and charts with complex prompts and filters
– Query Studio is used to create ad hoc queries and simple reports and charts
Basic Features of Report Studio
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– Basic Overview of Queries
– Filters
– Basic Formatting
– Summarizing
– Prompt Pages
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Queries
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Building block(s) of your report
Created in query explorer
One report can contain multiple queries
Queries can be joined or unioned together in one report
Drag and drop
Best Practices
– Use descriptive names to keep track of your queries
– Try to limit your queries to use only the items you need
– Keep query items limited within the same namespace
Demo
Filters
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Add a filter expression to focus a report and minimize processing time by excluding unwanted data
Detail filters are those that apply to individual rows in the report
Summary filters are those that apply to summarized values in a group footer (e.g., project totals)
The filter expression can contain functions, summaries, and operators
– Function – Substring(account_id, 1, 2) = ‘50’
– Summary – Total(amt) > 0
– Operators – Amt >= 50,000
Filters can also use parameters passed from the prompt page
– Fiscal_Year = ?Fiscal_Year? And Period = ?Period?
Demo
– Done for you methods
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Basic Formatting
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Format your report to make it more readable and to reflect company standards
– Organization
• Headers and footers – Based on items that at grouped
• Tables – position particular items in and out of normal area
• Grouping and Sorting – remove duplicated values and associate like objects
– Presentation
• Text
• Font
• Data format
• Colors
• Images
• Conditional formatting
Summaries
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Add a summary to provide an overview of data in a report
– An example of a summary is the total amount billed on an invoice
Summary Description
Total Adds all existing values
Minimum Selects the smallest existing value
Maximum Selects the largest existing value
Average Adds all existing values and then divides by the count of existing values
Count Counts all existing values
Calculated Specifies that the summary is defined within the expressionthat is used to populate the column
Custom Summarizes data based on the expression you define
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Prompt Pages
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Way to run the report for specific data (project, employee id, etc.)
Limits the amount of data shown on a report
Open ended reports can lead to performance issues
Data is passed from the prompt page to the report through “parameters”
Best Practices
– Create separate queries for your prompts
– Use tables to format your prompt pages
– Create useful parameter names for prompts
Prompt Pages (cont.)
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Most Commonly Used Prompts
Prompt Control Retrieves data based on….
Text Box Prompt a value that you type
Value Prompt values that you select from a list
Search and Select Prompt search criteria that users specify—data is then retrieved based on values users select from the search results
Date Prompt a date that you select
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Report Studio Walkthrough
Cognos Workspace Advanced
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The CWA User Interface
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ContentPane
Properties Pane
Work Area
Tool Bar
Page Navigation
CWA Tool Bar
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When in doubt mouse over an icon to see a
screen tip for it
■ Can you find buttons that will allow you to do the following:
Group /Ungroup
Sections
Pivot tables
Filter
Aggregates
■ Why are some icons grayed out?
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Cognos Workspace Advanced
Ability to turn on or off the automatic summarize and grouping
Properties Pane
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Ancestor Button & Property Sheet– The ancestor button allows you
to select a particular object and review its properties. The report objects are hierarchical in nature
ANCESTOR BUTTON
PROPERTY SHEET
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Insertable Objects
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The Content Pane contains two tabs:– Source Tab - Shows the contents
of the package selected for the report
– Toolbox Tab - Shows the tools that are available for use (i.e. objects for use on a page)
You add objects to a report by dragging them from the insertable objects pane to the work area.
Basic Steps to Create a Report
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Creating a report involves the following basic steps:– Specify the data package– Lay out the report
• From scratch, or• Choose a basic report layout template, or• Start with a similar report
– Add Data– Validate the report– Save the report– Run the report
• Interactively• On a Schedule
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Cognos Workspace Advanced
Ability to automatically create crosstab headers for sets
Note: Works only with dimensional model
Cognos Workspace Advanced (cont.)
Table style will be passed off when drilling up or down from an initial crosstab
Creating a custom filter to bring values from Excel or other sources
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Cognos Workspace Advanced (cont.)
All data inside Cognos Workspace Advanced can be copied into Excel – no longer copiesthe xml Report Spec
Workspace Advance Walkthrough
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Cognos Workspace
Cognos Workspace: Multi Tab andGlobal Area Allows content to be organized on multiple tabs in a single workspace
A tabbed workspace contains a global area common to all tabs.
Global area will contain filter, action buttons, report prompts.
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Action Buttons
Action buttons identical to those found in IBM Cognos Insight are now part of the Cognos Workspace application
Use Action buttons to navigate between tabs on a workspace
© 2012 IB
Cognos Workspace Tabs: How to?Very intuitive interface!
– To add delete or rename a tab, go to the action menu, or right click on the workspace area.
– To add a Filter:• Drag filter object from Toolbox to global area• Filtering on a column will impact all reporting widgets that include that column
– Action buttons: Drag from the toolbox to the workspace, then select the Actions from the menu
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Cognos Workspace: Freeze/Unfreeze;Expand/collapse
Ability in lists and crosstabs to freeze row and column headers to keep them in view while scrolling
In a crosstab, column and row headings can be expanded to show details. i.e Expand region heading to show related countries
Cognos Workspace: Visual Recommender
“Change display type‟ will now list most recommended display type based on the graph'sdata. Selecting the More… option explains the choice reasoning
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Cognos Workspace: Chart Interaction
User can interact with charts or chart parts:– Filter chart content– Sort chart content– Drill up/down
Graduated Capabilities
Access to functions and features in Cognos Workspace can now be controlled by the IBMCognos administrator.
This functionality is controlled by the following capabilities:– Consume– Interact– Assemble
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Graduated Capabilities: How to assign these capabilities?
Cognos Administration Security Capabilities Executive dashboard– Author: User groups assigned to 'User groups in Advanced dashboard Features'– Interact: User Groups assigned to 'Use Interactive dashboard Features'– Consume: Every body else.
Workspace Walkthrough
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Cognos Active Reports
What are Active Reports?
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Key Features
There are many features that are unique to IBM CognosActive Report that allow the solution to deliver new value to IBM customers. Some of the solution's key features include:
– Disconnected
– Highly Interactive
– Portable
– Access to Details on Demand
– Broad Distribution
– Common Platform Security
– Single Authoring Environment
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What are Active Reports?
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Common Use Scenarios
The features of IBM Cognos Active Report make it a flexible and portable solution whose benefits can be leveraged across an entire organization and beyond. In order to ensure a successful deployment, it is important to apply the technology to the proper use cases. Some of the ideal use cases for IBM Cognos Active Report include:
– Enabling the Mobile Workforce
– Managed Dashboards
– Extending BI to External Customers or Partners
What are Active Reports?
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Deployment Strategies
The portability of IBM Cognos Active Report creates many possible deployment options. IBM Cognos administrators should consider the intended audience and use case when choosing which method is most suitable. Some of the most common scenarios include:
– Email Distribution
– Mobile Distribution
– Network Accessible Location
– IBM Cognos Connection
– Restricting Consumption
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Active ReportsWalkthrough
Administrative BonusCognos Mobile
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iOS Push Notifications
What is it? Ability to receive a notification when a new report or a new version of a report is push to iPad
Push can be enabled per server, allowing users to opt out if preferred
Leverages normal iOS banner mechanisms such as positions and behaviors
The scheduler notifies Apple to push a notification to the user
Tapping the notifications opens the App to the selected report
Alerts Banner
© 2012 IBM Corporation
iOS Push Notifications: How to? First, in Cognos Configuration Dispatcher and Services, ensure that "ApplePushNotification.Level"
setting for the Dispatcher's MobileService is set to "Name‟ (default) or "Generic‟
– Name: displays the name of the report in the notification message– Generic: will notify that there a new report has been received but without including the name of the
report.
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© 2012 IBM Corporation
iOS Push Notifications: How to?
Next, on the iPad, SettingsNotifications IBM Cognos App:
Go to device‟s settings
Tap Notifications
Tap IBM Cognos
Select your type of notification:
– None– Banner– Alerts
Bursted Multi-key Report
What is it? A user can receive multiple bursted copies of the same report:For example: Overall manager could receive the reports of each of his regions' managers
The reports are differentiated by burst key. This IS new.
Previous versions did not include burst key in the report name, which means that all the bursted versions had the same name and would therefore overwrite each other.
Burst Key
Report Name
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Cognos Admin Mobile Capability What is it?
– Ability to restrict which users have access to the Mobile Server
New “Mobile Users” group + capability
Cognos Admin Mobile Capability: Howto?
In Security‟s capabilities, a new group called Mobile Users is assigned to Mobile Capabilities
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© 2012 IBM Corporation
Cognos Admin Mobile Capability: Howto? (Cont.)
In the section Users, Group and Roles, open properties for group Cognos > Mobile
In the Member tab, replace the default group Everyone with the UserID‟s of those allowed access from a mobile device
External Samples Server: How to?
Go to the iPad settings
Scroll to list of installed Apps and select IBM Cognos
Ensure the setting "Display Sample Server‟ is ON
Launch IBM Cognos app
Select "Get More Samples‟
Select a report
That report will be downloaded and cached on the mobile device.
The cached version will be re-used unless a newer version appears on the server.
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And Finally: Timestamp on ActiveReports MHT Files
Report Service will add a timestamp to the MHT files. This will allow the import to iPad to determine which file is newer and prompt the user if they are importing an older Active Report:
– When importing through iTunes or an email, the new rule will be:• conflict resolution will be done using the file name, not the ID of the MHT
– When importing a newer AR: silently overwrite without warning
– if importing older AR: warn user and give the option to keep of overwrite existing.
