Great guide for new and intermediate Business Intelligence Report Writing and BI Analysis using Cognos 10

1. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Hands on Exercise - Cognos
Business Intelligence

2. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................................3
Product Position......................................................................................................................................................................3
Lab Scenario..............................................................................................................................................................................3
Launch IBM Cognos...............................................................................................................................................................4
Start Cognos Workspace Advanced............................................................................................................................5
Select a Package .............................................................................................................................5
Financial Statements displayed in “Recently used packages”..........................................................5
Financial Statements NOT displayedin “Recently used packages”..................................................6
Building the Report...............................................................................................................................................................7
Add Data Items to the Report..........................................................................................................8
Drag and Drop Data Items............................................................................................................8
Formatting...................................................................................................................................13
Grouping..................................................................................................................................13
Calculated Field.........................................................................................................................14
Filters.......................................................................................................................................17
Adding a Title............................................................................................................................21
Adding Charts ...........................................................................................................................22
Run the Report..........................................................................................................................32
Next Steps..............................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

3. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Introduction
ThisTest Drive documentisintendedtodemonstrate basiccapabilitiesavailable withinIBMCognos
Workspace Advanced. CognosWorkspace Advancedisacloudbase tool usedto authorreports,analyze
data, andis the recommendedbasicadhocreport authoringstudio.
Product Position
CognosWorkspace Advanced isdesignedtoallow youto:
 AuthorReportsfromrelational ordimensional datasources
 Showdata inlists, crosstabsand charts
 Use yourown external datasource
Lab Scenario
The Accountingdepartmentsmanager hasrequestedafinancial report. Theywouldlike the following
data presentedonareportin tabularand chart format:
 Year
 General LedgerCode
 General LedgerDescription
 Period
 Debit
 Credit
 NetAmount
Theywouldalsolike the abilitytosee asingle year,ormultipleyears’worthof data. Theyalsowantthe
data to showonlyRevenuesandExpensesforthe ‘GL’Ledger.
Theywouldlike twochartsat the top of the reportpage as follows:
1. Year againstDebit/Credit
2. Year/Period againstDebit/Credit

4. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Launch IBM Cognos
We needtologintoIBM Cognosinorder to access CognosWorkspace Advanced.
 Double-Clickonthe IBMCognosBusinessIntelligence shortcutonthe desktop
Or
 OpenInternetExplorer(IE)
 Clickthe linkinthe Favoritesbarcalled IBM CognosBusinessIntelligence.
 If the screenbelowappears,clickon Myhome,otherwise proceedtonextstep.

5. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Start Cognos Workspace Advanced
1. In the upperright,clickon Launch
a. ClickCognosWorkspace Advanced.
Select a Package
2. SelectFinancial Statements Package.
a. It may showin ‘Recentlyusedpackages’orwe mayneedtonavigate toit inthe “List of all
packages”.
Financial Statements displayedin“Recentlyusedpackages”
b. If you see Financial Statements inthe listof “Recentlyusedpackages”, selectit.

6. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Financial StatementsNOT displayedin “Recentlyusedpackages”
c. If you do notsee Financial Statementsinthe listof “Recentlyusedpackages”:
1. Look at the “PublicFolders”section >Finance Packages>Financials.
2. Clickon “Financial Statments”.
3. Clickon Financial Statements. CognosWorkspace Advancedwill openwiththe Financial
Statementspackage loaded.

7. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Building the Report
3. ClickCreate new.
4. SelectList
a. ClickOK.

8. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Add Data Items to the Report
5. On the right,expand Transaction Detail by clickingonthe arrow.
Dragand DropDataItems
From TransactionDetail we are goingto drag and dropthe Year, Period,DebitandCreditdataitems
ontoour report.
6. Clickon Year,drag and dropit ontothe Listin ourreport.
The resultshouldlook similartothis.

9. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan

10. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
7. SelectPeriodanddrag it ontothe report.
a. Release whenyouhave three barsshownas below.
b.
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.
8. SelectDebitandCredit.
a. You can CTRL-Clickmultipledataitemstoaddthemat the same time.
b. Drag themto the rightof Period;dropthemwhenthe bars appearto the rightof Year.

11. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
The resultshouldlooksimilartothis.
9. Collapse ‘TransactionDetail’
10. Expand ‘GL ObjectCode Information’
a. Clickand Drag GL ObjectType ontothe reportbetween PeriodandDebit
You reportshouldlooksimilartothis.

12. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
11. Collapse GLObjectCode Information
12. ExpandGeneral LedgerInformation.
13. Drag General LedgerCode and General LedgerDescription intothe report
a. Place thembetweenthe YearandPeriodcolumns.
The report shouldlooksimilartothis.

13. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Formatting
Grouping
14. CTRL-Clickthe Year,General LedgerCode,General LedgerDescription andPeriodcolumns
a. Clickon the Groupicon onthe toolbar.
Your reportshouldlook similartothis.

14. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
CalculatedField
One of the requestsforthisreportwasto provide “Net Amount”,orDebit - Credit. A CalculatedField
allowsusthe flexibilitytodoanythingfrombasicarithmetictohighlycomplex calculations.
15. CTRL-Clickthe Debitand Creditcolumns.
16. Clickon the InsertCalculation iconon the toolbarand select Custom.
17. On the InsertCustomCalculationdialog:
a. Selectsubtractionas the operation
b. Debit-Creditasthe calculation
c. Enter ‘NetAmount’for the name

15. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
The report shouldlook similartothis.
Nowwe want to addsummarytotalsto the Debit,CreditandNetAmountcolumns.
18. CTRL-Clicktoselectthe Debit,Creditand NetAmount columns
a. Clickthe Summarize icon.
b. SelectTotal

16. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
The report shouldlooksimilartothis.
Both General LedgerCode andDescriptionhave Summarytotals.
We should remove the General Ledger(Description) - Summarytotal,asitis a duplicate.
19. Clickon the blue General LedgerDescriptionsummary.
a. Pressthe Delete Key

17. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
The report shouldlook similartothis.
Filters
We were askedbythe accountinggroupto provide the abilitytodisplayone,several,orall the yearsof
data containedinthe database. To dothiswe will setaFilteronthe Year column,andturn it intoa
prompt.

18. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
20. Clickon the Year column headertohighlightit,
a. Clickon the Filtersiconinthe toolbar
b. SelectCreate CustomFilter.
21. Selectthe “Prompt everytime the report is run in viewer”option.
a. ClickOK.
NOTE: The reportwill refresh,howeverthe resultsdisplayed will notchange.
Additionally,the reportneedstoshowonlyRevenuesandExpenses.
22. Selectthe GLObject Type ColumnHeadertohighlightit

19. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
a. Clickon the Filtersiconinthe toolbar
b. SelectCreate CustomFilter.
23. Select‘RV’and‘XP’(Ctrl+Click) inthe ValuesColumn
a. Clickon the ‘Insert’Arrowtoadd themto the Selectvaluescolumn
b. ClickOk
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.
We were alsoaskedtofilterthe General LedgerCode toshow onlythe ‘GL’ code.

20. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
24. Selectthe General LedgerCode columnheader
a. Clickon the Filtersiconinthe toolbar
b. SelectCreate CustomFilter.
25. Select‘GL’in the ValuesColumn
a. Clickon the ‘Insert’Arrowtoadd itto the Selectvaluescolumn
b. ClickOk
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.

21. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Addinga Title
26. Double-clickonDouble-clicktoedittext
a. Enter RevenuesandExpenses
b. ClickOK.
The report shouldlook similartothis.

22. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
AddingCharts
27. Clickon the Toolboxtab in the lowerrightside of the screen.
28. Clickand drag a Table fromthe Toolbox tothe LEFT of the list.
a. Make sure,onlya solidblack line shows,withoutthe whiteborderbeforedropping.
29. On the InsertTable dialog,
a. Numberof columns and Numberof rows : Leave Default
b. Uncheck Maximize width.
c. ClickOK.
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.

23. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
30. Clickand drag a Chart from Toolbox intothe leftcell of the table.
31. Selectthe ClusterColumnwith 3D effects chart
a. ClickFill withdata
b. ClickOK.

24. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Your reportshouldlook similartothis.
We donot needGeneral Ledger, General LedgerDescription orPeriodinthe chart.
32. To delete them
a. Selecttheminthe Categories(x-axis) box
b. Pressthe delete key.

25. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
The report shouldlook similartothis.(Clickingonthe chartwill show the measure andcategory
boxes):
33. Clickand drag a Chart from the Toolbox intothe rightcell of the table.
You may have to scroll tothe rightto see it.

26. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
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34. You will be presentedwiththe followingdialogbox;
a. SelectClusteredCylinder
b. ClickFill withdata
c. ClickOK.

27. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.
We needtoremove General LedgerCode andGeneral LedgerDescription fromthe chart justadded.
35. To delete them
a. Selecttheminthe Categories(x-axis) box
b. Pressthe delete key.
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.

28. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
36. Clickto the rightof the listand clickthe Centericon on the toolbar. The listwill now appear
centeredonthe page.

29. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
We needtosort the YEAR in one chart and Year andPeriodin the otherchart.
37. SelectYearinChart 1
a. ClickSort
b. SelectAscending
c. ClickOk
Your Chart shouldlooksimilartothis.

30. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Scroll to the rightto see Chart 2
The Chart Legendisverysmall and maybe hardto manuallyselectalevel toSort.
38. SelectChart2
a. SelectYearinCategories(x-axis)
b. SelectSort Ascending
Scroll to the rightto see Chart 2

31. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
39. SelectChart2
a. SelectPeriod inCategories(x-axis)
b. SelectSort Ascending
Your reportshouldlooksimilartothis.

32. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
Run the Report
40. Run the reportby clickingonthe “Run Report” button,
a. Selectyears 2012 – 2013
b. ClickOK.
The report shouldlook similartothis.
The exercise iscomplete,exit byclosingthe browser. If prompted,save yourwork.

33. HandsOn Exercise CognosBusinessIntelligence
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IBM – Cognos10 Workspace Advance Guide
Developed by Bilal Khan
End of Exercise