Cognos User

IBM Cognos Analytics — End User & Report Consumer

Companion skill to cognos-admin (server administration, security, Framework Manager, REST API, deployment). This skill focuses on the day-to-day tasks of report consumers, dashboard creators, and self-service authors working within the Cognos Analytics web portal.

1. Portal Navigation

Cognos Analytics Home Page

The home page is the landing screen after login. Key areas:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Navigation bar (top)                                    │
│  ┌──────┬──────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────────────┐ │
│  │ Home │ Content  │ Recent  │ New (+)  │ Search (🔍)  │ │
│  └──────┴──────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────────────┘ │
│                                                          │
│  Welcome panel — recently viewed, pinned, and suggested  │
│                                                          │
│  Quick launch cards — Dashboards, Reports, Explorations  │
│                                                          │
│  Activity stream — recent runs, shared content           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Content Pane

Content (hamburger menu or sidebar):
├── Team content — shared organizational reports and dashboards
│   ├── Published packages (data sources for reports)
│   ├── Departmental folders (Finance, Sales, HR, etc.)
│   └── Shared dashboards and reports
├── My content — personal workspace (visible only to you)
│   ├── My reports
│   ├── My dashboards
│   ├── Saved output versions
│   └── Uploaded data files
└── Recent — last accessed content (sorted by timestamp)

Navigation Tips

• Search — Global search bar at the top; searches report names, descriptions, and content metadata. Use quotes for exact phrases ("Sales Q1 2026").
• Favorites — Star/pin any report, dashboard, or folder for quick access from the home page.
• Recent items — Automatically tracks your last viewed items (reports, dashboards, explorations).
• Breadcrumb trail — Navigate folder hierarchy; click any breadcrumb segment to jump up.
• Set home page — Customize your landing page: Home > Profile > Set a specific dashboard or folder as default.
• Personal folders — Create folders under My Content to organize personal work by project, time period, or data domain.

2. Running Reports

Opening and Running Existing Reports

Navigate to report in Team Content or My Content:
  1. Single-click to open in interactive viewer (HTML)
  2. Right-click (or "..." menu) for run options:
     ├── Run as — choose output format
     │   ├── HTML (interactive, default)
     │   ├── PDF (print-ready, paginated)
     │   ├── Excel (XLSX — formatted spreadsheet)
     │   ├── CSV (raw data, no formatting)
     │   └── XML (structured data exchange)
     ├── Run in background — queues report, notifies when done
     └── View output versions — see previously generated outputs

Prompt Handling

Prompted reports present parameter selections before running. Common prompt types:

Value prompt (dropdown / list):

Select Region: [dropdown]
  ☐ EMEA
  ☑ APAC
  ☑ Americas
  ☐ Global

Tips:
  - Use the search box within the prompt to filter long lists
  - Ctrl+click or checkboxes for multi-select
  - "Select all" / "Deselect all" buttons for bulk selection

Date prompt (calendar picker):

Report Date Range:
  From: [2025-01-01]  (calendar icon to pick)
  To:   [2025-12-31]  (calendar icon to pick)

Tips:
  - Type dates directly in YYYY-MM-DD format for speed
  - Some reports accept relative dates ("current month", "last quarter")
  - Check if the report has default date values pre-filled

Search prompt (type-ahead):

Customer Name: [type to search...]
  Results update as you type
  Select one or more matching values

Tips:
  - Type at least 3 characters to trigger search
  - Wildcards may be supported (depends on report design)

Cascading prompts:

Step 1: Select Country → [United Kingdom]
Step 2: Select City → [London, Manchester, Birmingham]
         (city list filters based on country selection)
Step 3: Select Branch → [filtered by city]

Tips:
  - Always complete parent prompts before child prompts
  - If child prompt is empty, verify parent selection
  - Use "Reprompt" button to change selections and re-run

Run Options

Run in background:
  - Report queues on the server; you can close the browser
  - Check status: My Content > My Schedules and Subscriptions
  - Or: Recent > look for the completed output
  - Notification appears when output is ready

View output versions:
  - Report Properties > Versions tab
  - Lists all previously saved outputs with timestamps
  - Download or view any historical version
  - Admins control how many versions are retained per report

3. Report Viewing

Interactive Viewer Features

When viewing a report in HTML format, the interactive viewer provides:

Drill actions:

Drill up     — aggregate to higher level (City → Region → Country)
Drill down   — expand to finer detail (Year → Quarter → Month → Day)
Drill through — jump to a related detail report (passing context values)

Right-click a data cell or chart element to access drill options.
Drill-through targets are configured by the report author.

Sorting and filtering in viewer:

Column header click — sort ascending/descending (toggle)
Right-click column → Filter:
  ├── Keep only this value
  ├── Exclude this value
  ├── Top N / Bottom N
  └── Custom filter (comparison operators)

These are viewer-level filters — they do NOT modify the report definition.
Filters reset when you close the viewer unless you save as a view.

Chart interactions:

Hover    — tooltip shows exact values and labels
Click    — select a data point (highlights related data)
Lasso    — drag to select multiple data points
Exclude  — right-click selected points → Exclude
Zoom     — scroll wheel on chart area (where supported)
Legend   — click legend items to show/hide series

Other viewer features:

Bookmarks       — save current viewer state (filters, drill position) for quick return
Conditional highlighting — pre-set by report author (e.g., red = negative, green = above target)
Page navigation — for multi-page reports, use page controls at bottom
Find on page    — Ctrl+F to search text within the rendered report

4. Scheduling & Subscriptions

Scheduling a Report for Recurring Delivery

Report > Properties > Schedule tab > Create Schedule:

Frequency options:
  ├── Daily      — every N days, or every weekday
  ├── Weekly     — select days of the week (Mon, Wed, Fri)
  ├── Monthly    — day of month (e.g., 1st, 15th) or ordinal (first Monday)
  ├── Yearly     — specific date each year
  └── Custom     — cron-style expression for complex patterns

Additional options:
  ├── Start date / End date — bounded schedule window
  ├── Time zone — ensure correct execution time for your region
  ├── Priority — Normal / High (High runs before Normal in queue)
  ├── Output format — HTML, PDF, Excel, CSV
  └── Prompt values — set fixed values for prompted reports

Delivery Targets

Delivery options for scheduled reports:
  ├── Save to portal — output stored in Content Store (view via Versions tab)
  ├── Email delivery — send output as attachment or inline link
  │   ├── To / CC / BCC recipients
  │   ├── Subject line (can include report name, date)
  │   ├── Attach output or include link to portal
  │   └── Email body text
  ├── Burst by recipient — personalized output per recipient
  │   ├── Each recipient gets only their data slice
  │   ├── Burst key = data column (e.g., Region, Department)
  │   └── Distribution list maps burst key values to email addresses
  └── Save to file system — write output to a server-side path (admin-configured)

Managing Your Schedules

My Content > My Schedules and Subscriptions:
  - View all your active schedules
  - Enable / disable individual schedules
  - Edit schedule frequency, format, or delivery
  - View run history (success/failure, timestamps, duration)
  - Delete schedules you no longer need

Tips:
  - Schedule during off-peak hours (early morning, weekends) to reduce server load
  - Check run history periodically — failed schedules may indicate expired credentials
    or data source issues
  - Disabled schedules retain their configuration — re-enable without reconfiguring

5. Dashboard Creation

Dashboard Authoring (Drag-and-Drop)

New (+) > Dashboard:
  1. Select a template layout (freeform, 2-column, 3-panel, tabbed, etc.)
  2. Add a data source:
     ├── Published package (from Team Content)
     ├── Data module (self-service or published)
     └── Uploaded file (CSV/Excel in My Content)
  3. Drag data items from the source panel onto the canvas
  4. Cognos auto-suggests a visualization type based on the data
  5. Customize the visualization, filters, and layout
  6. Save to My Content or Team Content

Widget Types

Available widgets:
  ├── Visualization — chart/graph (see visualization types below)
  ├── List          — tabular data display with sorting
  ├── Crosstab      — pivot-table-style summary
  ├── Text          — static or dynamic text (can reference data items)
  ├── Image         — upload or URL-linked image
  ├── Shape         — rectangles, circles for design elements
  ├── Web page      — embedded iframe (URL, internal or external)
  ├── Media         — embedded video
  └── Summary       — KPI summary number with comparison (up/down indicator)

Visualization Types

Charts and graphs:
  ├── Bar (vertical/horizontal, stacked, clustered)
  ├── Line (with/without points, area fill)
  ├── Pie / Donut
  ├── Scatter / Bubble
  ├── Map (filled region, point, heat map — requires location data)
  ├── Treemap (hierarchical proportional areas)
  ├── Heat map (matrix with color intensity)
  ├── Waterfall (cumulative positive/negative values)
  ├── Box plot (statistical distribution)
  ├── Radar / Spider
  ├── Word cloud
  ├── KPI / Summary number
  ├── Gauge (radial or linear)
  └── Infographic (icon-based proportional display)

Choosing the right visualization:
  Comparison across categories → Bar chart
  Trend over time              → Line chart
  Part of whole                → Pie/Donut or Treemap
  Correlation between measures → Scatter/Bubble
  Geographic distribution      → Map
  Matrix of two dimensions     → Heat map
  Single KPI with target       → Gauge or Summary

Filtering in Dashboards

Filter levels:
  ├── Local filter    — applies to a single widget only
  │   (drag a data item to the filter shelf of the widget)
  ├── Page filter     — applies to all widgets on the current tab/page
  │   (use the page-level filter bar at the top)
  └── Dashboard filter — applies to all tabs/pages in the dashboard
      (use the dashboard-level filter icon)

Filter types:
  ├── Value selection (include/exclude specific values)
  ├── Range (between, greater than, less than)
  ├── Top N / Bottom N
  ├── Condition (e.g., Revenue > 100000)
  └── Relative date (last 30 days, current quarter, YTD)

Widget-to-widget filtering:
  - Click a bar/slice/point in one widget to filter other widgets on the same page
  - This is enabled by default when widgets share the same data source
  - Disable per widget via Properties > "Use as filter" toggle

Calculations in Dashboards

Add calculated fields directly in the dashboard:
  1. Data panel > right-click data source > Create Calculation
  2. Build expression using available functions:
     ├── Arithmetic: +, -, *, /
     ├── Aggregation: sum, avg, min, max, count
     ├── String: concat, substring, upper, lower
     ├── Date: _days_between, _add_days, _year, _month
     └── Conditional: if-then-else, case

Example calculations:
  [Profit %] = ([Revenue] - [Cost]) / [Revenue] * 100
  [YoY Growth] = ([This Year Revenue] - [Last Year Revenue]) / [Last Year Revenue] * 100
  [Status] = If ([Actual] >= [Target]) Then ('On Track') Else ('Behind')

Dashboard Tabs

Add multiple tabs to organize dashboard views:
  - Click "+" next to existing tabs to add a new tab
  - Each tab can have its own layout and widgets
  - Dashboard-level filters persist across tabs
  - Page-level filters are tab-specific
  - Rename tabs by double-clicking the tab label
  - Reorder tabs by dragging

Common tab patterns:
  Tab 1: Executive Summary (KPIs and trends)
  Tab 2: Regional Breakdown (maps and comparisons)
  Tab 3: Detailed Data (lists and crosstabs)

6. Self-Service Reporting

Cognos Analytics Reporting (Web-Based Authoring)

For users with authoring permissions (Authors role), the web-based report editor provides more control than dashboards:

New (+) > Report:
  1. Select data source (package or data module)
  2. Choose initial layout:
     ├── List        — row-by-row detail report
     ├── Crosstab    — pivot table (rows × columns × measures)
     ├── Chart       — standalone visualization
     ├── Blank       — freeform layout with manual placement
     └── Template    — pre-built layout with placeholders
  3. Drag data items onto the report canvas
  4. Configure properties, filters, and formatting
  5. Preview (Run > View Report)
  6. Save to My Content or Team Content

Adding Data Items

Source panel (left) shows available data items organized by:
  ├── Query subjects / tables
  ├── Dimensions and hierarchies
  └── Measures

Drag items to:
  ├── Column headers (List report)
  ├── Row/Column/Measure drop zones (Crosstab)
  ├── Axis areas (Chart)
  └── Detail filters area

Filters in Reports

Detail filter (applied before aggregation):
  [Order Date] between ?StartDate? and ?EndDate?
  [Region] in (?SelectedRegions?)

Summary filter (applied after aggregation):
  [Total Revenue] > 50000

Prompt-based filters (interactive at run time):
  Create a prompt page with value/date/search prompts
  Link prompts to filter expressions using parameter references
  Users select values before the report executes

Grouping and Aggregation

Grouping:
  - Select a column > Group/Ungroup to add group headers and footers
  - Grouped columns become section breaks
  - Nest groups: Region > Country > City

Aggregation:
  - Summary row automatically added to group footers
  - Default: Sum for numeric, Count for non-numeric
  - Change via: Data Item Properties > Aggregate Function
  - Options: Sum, Average, Count, Min, Max, Median, Standard Deviation,
             Percentage, Running Total, Custom expression

Section headers and footers:
  - Add text, images, or calculated values to group headers
  - Repeat group headers on each page for multi-page reports

Conditional Formatting

Select data item or cell > Conditional Style:
  1. New Condition:
     If [Profit Margin] < 0  → Red background, white text, bold
     If [Profit Margin] < 15 → Yellow background
     If [Profit Margin] >= 15 → Green background

  2. Condition types:
     ├── Value-based (numeric thresholds)
     ├── String match (equals, contains, starts with)
     ├── Date comparison (before, after, between)
     └── Top/Bottom N (percentile or count)

  3. Style options:
     ├── Background color
     ├── Font color, size, weight
     ├── Borders
     ├── Data format (number of decimals, currency symbol)
     └── Icon (checkmark, arrow, traffic light)

Calculated Fields in Reports

Query > Data Items > Add Calculated Field:

Expression examples:
  [Profit]          = [Revenue] - [Cost]
  [Margin %]        = [Profit] / [Revenue] * 100
  [Full Name]       = [First Name] || ' ' || [Last Name]
  [Fiscal Quarter]  = 'Q' || cast(ceiling(extract(month, [Order Date]) / 3.0), varchar(1))
  [Days Outstanding]= _days_between([Due Date], current_date)
  [Status Flag]     = CASE WHEN [Amount] > [Budget] THEN 'Over' ELSE 'Under' END

Headers, Footers, and Page Breaks

Report layout elements:
  ├── Page header  — appears at top of every page (logo, title, date)
  ├── Page footer  — appears at bottom (page number, confidentiality notice)
  ├── Report header — appears once at the beginning
  ├── Report footer — appears once at the end
  └── Page breaks  — force new page after group sections

Inserting dynamic text:
  Page footer example: "Page &npages; of &tpages; | Generated: &current_timestamp&"

Tip: Use headers/footers for PDF and print output — they are less relevant in HTML.

7. Data Modules

Creating Data Modules

Data modules provide self-service data preparation for dashboards and reports:

New (+) > Data Module:
  Source options:
  ├── Uploaded file — CSV, Excel (.xlsx), or text file
  │   (file stored in My Content, size limits apply)
  ├── Existing package — published Framework Manager package
  ├── Data server connection — direct connection (if permissions allow)
  └── Other data module — build on top of existing modules

Steps:
  1. Select source(s) — can combine multiple sources
  2. Preview data — verify columns, data types, row counts
  3. Clean and shape — rename, filter, calculate, join
  4. Save — to My Content (personal) or Team Content (shared)

Join and Blend Data Sources

Combining multiple tables or files:
  1. Add multiple sources to the data module
  2. Cognos auto-detects relationships based on matching column names
  3. Manually define joins if auto-detect misses:
     ├── Inner join — only matching rows from both sources
     ├── Left outer — all rows from left + matching from right
     ├── Right outer — all rows from right + matching from left
     └── Full outer — all rows from both sources
  4. Set join condition: [Table1.CustomerID] = [Table2.CustID]

Blending (for sources without direct relationships):
  - Cognos stitches results at the report level using shared dimension values
  - Less precise than explicit joins — verify results carefully

Data Module Operations

Column operations:
  ├── Rename     — give business-friendly names (e.g., "cust_id" → "Customer ID")
  ├── Hide       — keep in module but hide from report authors
  ├── Data type  — change type (string, number, date, time, timestamp)
  ├── Format     — set display format (currency, percentage, date pattern)
  └── Calculate  — add computed columns (same expressions as report calculations)

Row operations:
  ├── Filter     — exclude rows (e.g., [Status] != 'Cancelled')
  ├── Sort       — default sort order
  └── Aggregate  — pre-aggregate (sum, count) for performance

Table operations:
  ├── Union      — stack tables with same columns vertically
  ├── Pivot      — convert columns to rows (unpivot) or rows to columns
  └── Navigation path — define drill hierarchies (Country > Region > City)

Publishing Data Modules

Sharing a data module for team use:
  1. Save to Team Content (requires Write permission on target folder)
  2. Set permissions: right-click > Properties > Permissions
     ├── Traverse — users can see the module in folder listings
     ├── Read     — users can use the module as a data source
     ├── Write    — users can modify the module definition
     └── Execute  — users can refresh/run queries against it
  3. Other users can now select your data module when creating dashboards or reports

Tips:
  - Include clear descriptions when saving (Properties > Description)
  - Test with a sample dashboard before publishing
  - Coordinate with IT if the module will be used widely — they may want to
    review data governance and performance implications

8. Data Exploration

Explore (AI-Assisted Data Discovery)

Cognos Analytics Explore uses AI to help discover insights without manual report building:

New (+) > Exploration:
  1. Select a data source (package, data module, or uploaded file)
  2. Cognos displays an initial overview:
     ├── Key metrics summary
     ├── Distribution of categorical fields
     ├── Time-based trends (if date fields exist)
     └── Notable outliers or patterns

AI-assisted features:
  ├── Natural language questions — type in plain English:
  │   "What is the total revenue by region for 2025?"
  │   "Show me the trend of customer count over time"
  │   "Which products have declining sales?"
  │   "Compare profit margin across departments"
  │
  ├── Suggested visualizations — Cognos recommends charts based on:
  │   - Data types (categorical, numeric, temporal)
  │   - Relationships between columns
  │   - Common analytical patterns
  │
  ├── Pattern detection — automatic identification of:
  │   - Trends (upward, downward, seasonal)
  │   - Clusters (natural groupings in the data)
  │   - Correlations (which measures move together)
  │
  ├── Anomaly detection — flags unusual values:
  │   - Outliers in numeric data
  │   - Unexpected spikes or drops in trends
  │   - Values outside normal distribution
  │
  └── Driver analysis — answers "what influences this metric?":
      - Select a target measure (e.g., Revenue)
      - Cognos identifies top contributing factors
      - Ranks dimensions by their influence on the target
      - Shows how each factor value impacts the metric

Working with Explorations

Actions within an exploration:
  ├── Refine — drag additional fields to modify the analysis
  ├── Filter — narrow the exploration to a subset of data
  ├── Pin — pin a specific visualization to keep it visible
  ├── Convert — promote an exploration visualization to a dashboard widget
  ├── Share — save to Team Content or export results
  └── Ask again — rephrase your question for different results

Tips:
  - Start broad ("show me an overview of sales") then narrow down
  - Use Explore for initial discovery, then build a proper dashboard for ongoing use
  - Exploration results depend on data quality — verify against known reports
  - Natural language works best with well-named columns ("Revenue" vs "AMT_01")

9. Exporting & Sharing

Export Options

From report viewer or dashboard:
  ├── Export to PDF  — full report with formatting, charts, and pagination
  ├── Export to Excel (XLSX) — formatted spreadsheet, formulas preserved where possible
  ├── Export to CSV  — raw data, comma-separated (best for data analysis tools)
  ├── Export to XML  — structured data (for system integrations)
  └── Print         — browser print dialog (Ctrl+P)

Tips:
  - PDF is best for sharing with non-Cognos users (no login needed to read)
  - Excel preserves most formatting; crosstabs export well as pivot-ready data
  - CSV strips all formatting — use for loading data into other systems
  - Large exports may time out — use "Run in Background" for big reports

Sharing Content

Share options (right-click content > Share):
  ├── Copy link / URL — direct URL to the report or dashboard
  │   Recipients need Cognos login and appropriate permissions
  │
  ├── Email — send link or attachment via Cognos email integration
  │   (requires SMTP configuration by admin)
  │
  ├── Create shortcut — place a shortcut in another folder
  │   Shortcut points to the original; updates propagate automatically
  │
  └── Embed — generate embed code for intranet portals or web pages
      (requires admin to enable embedding and configure allowed domains)

Permissions on Personal Content

Sharing content from My Content:
  1. Move or copy the content to a Team Content folder (recommended)
     - Or -
  2. Set permissions directly on the My Content item:
     Right-click > Properties > Permissions
     Add specific users or groups with Read access

Warning: Sharing from My Content can be fragile — if your account is
deactivated, your My Content becomes inaccessible to everyone.
Always publish important content to Team Content.

Collaboration Features

Annotations and comments:
  ├── Add comments to a report or dashboard (Properties > Comments)
  ├── Tag colleagues with @mentions (if directory integration is configured)
  ├── Comment threads — reply and discuss within the context of the report
  └── Comments are stored in the content store and visible to users with Read access

Notifications:
  ├── Subscribe to content changes — get notified when a report is updated
  ├── Schedule completion alerts — know when your scheduled output is ready
  └── Manage notifications: Profile > Notification preferences

10. Best Practices for Users

Prompt-Friendly Report Requests

When asking IT or report authors to build or modify reports:

Good request:
  "I need a monthly sales summary by region with prompts for:
   - Date range (default: current month)
   - Region (multi-select, default: my region)
   - Product category (optional, default: all)
   Output: PDF for email distribution, Excel for ad-hoc analysis"

Bad request:
  "I need all sales data" (too broad — will produce a massive, slow report)

When to Use Dashboard vs Report

Use a Dashboard when:
  ├── You need interactive, visual exploration
  ├── Multiple KPIs need to appear on one screen
  ├── Users will filter and drill at run time
  ├── Data needs to be current (live connection)
  └── Audience is executives or analysts who want self-service

Use a Report when:
  ├── Output needs exact formatting (pixel-perfect for print/PDF)
  ├── Data is tabular with many columns
  ├── Output is distributed via schedule or burst
  ├── Regulatory or compliance formatting requirements exist
  └── Active Report (offline interactive) is needed

Performance Tips for Report Consumers

1. Always supply prompt values — never leave prompts blank if "all values"
   would return millions of rows
2. Use date ranges — limit to the period you actually need
3. Avoid "Select All" on large multi-select prompts — pick specific values
4. Run large reports in background — do not wait in the browser
5. Use saved output versions — re-view existing outputs instead of re-running
6. Check if a pre-built dashboard exists — before requesting a new report
7. Limit Excel exports to necessary data — exporting 100K+ rows to Excel
   is slow and may fail; use CSV for large extracts
8. Close browser tabs for completed reports — each open report consumes
   server session resources

Organizing Personal Content

Recommended My Content folder structure:
  My Content/
  ├── Current Projects/
  │   ├── Q1 Budget Review/
  │   └── Product Launch Analysis/
  ├── Saved Outputs/
  │   ├── Monthly Reports/
  │   └── Ad-hoc Extracts/
  ├── My Dashboards/
  ├── My Data Modules/
  └── Archive/

Tips:
  - Clean up old outputs periodically — they consume content store space
  - Move finalized work to Team Content for team access and durability
  - Use descriptive names with dates: "Sales_Summary_2026-Q1_EMEA"
  - Delete draft/test content you no longer need

Working with IT and Admin Team

When to contact your Cognos administrator:
  ├── Need access to a new data source or package
  ├── Need access to a Team Content folder
  ├── Report runs slowly or times out consistently
  ├── Scheduled report fails repeatedly
  ├── Data appears incorrect (may be a security filter or data source issue)
  ├── Need to upload large datasets (admin may need to adjust limits)
  └── Need to share content externally (requires admin approval and configuration)

Information to provide when reporting issues:
  ├── Report name and location (full path in Team Content)
  ├── Prompt values used when the issue occurred
  ├── Time of occurrence (for admin to check server logs)
  ├── Expected result vs actual result
  ├── Screenshot of error message (if any)
  └── Browser type and version

Anti-Patterns

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