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Welcome to this month's BSP Newsletter. We would enjoy hearing your suggestions regarding the content you'd like to see. Please e-mail us if you would want to have a particular topic discussed in future newsletters. |
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Join Us At Cognos Forum 2008!
BrightStar Partners is a Proud Silver Sponsor
BrightStar Partners is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the 2008 IBM Cognos Forum held in Las Vegas May 12th - 15th. Please join us at Booth 15 in Performance World to discuss what's new in the Cognos product suite, how BrightStar Partners Professional Services and Software can help you maximize your investment in Cognos, as well as what's new with BrightStar Partners including:
- Our new Enterprise Planning and Office of Finance Practice!
- The opening of our Southeast Regional Office!
- MetaManager 2.1 MR2 Release!
- The Premier of CPM Explorer!
- What's New in Our CPM Support Communities!
If you can't attend Forum, you can see our Flash presentation here. On behalf of everyone at BrightStar Partners, we look forward to seeing you at Forum next week! | |
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Creating TOC Reports in IBM Cognos 8 BI
It is a common practice to have Bookmarks or a Table of Contents (TOC) in Business Reports when the Report page count is too high. Consumers should have the flexibility to navigate to any part of the report through the use of bookmarks or TOC. For example, by creating a dynamic TOC such that the user from each Business Unit could simply click on the Business Unit link in the TOC to navigate to the particular report section, their consumption would be significantly streamlined.
Here are the steps required to create a TOC report in IBM Cognos 8 BI reports:
- Create a basic simple list report off of the 'GO Sales and Retailers' package.
- Insert into the list report 'Order method', 'Retailer name', 'Order number', and 'Quantity'.
- Ensure you group on 'Order method'.
- Set up the proper page sets to separate each of the order methods to be displayed on a separate set of pages.
- Add another report page to house the TOC.
- In the 'Page Explorer' select 'Report Pages'.
- Drag a 'Page' object from the 'Insertable Objects' pane into the 'Report Pages' window.
- Place it above the Page Set.
Edit the newly added page and drag Query1 from 'Insertable Objects' to the page.
- This will associate 'Query1' to the page.
- Delete all other data items except 'Order Method' from the page.
Add a Bookmark to the Page.
- Set the 'Source Type' to 'Text'.
- Set the label to 'List of All Order methods'.
Right click on the List data item 'Order method' and select
'Drill Throughs'.
- Select the 'New Drill Through' button to create a new drill through object.
- Select the 'Bookmark' tab.
- Change the 'Source type:' to 'Data Item Value'.
- Switch the 'Data Item:' to 'Order method'.
Navigate to the Page Explorer and choose Page1.
Insert a 'Text' report object into the header of the report and add the text 'Back to Index'.
Now drag and drop another 'Bookmark' report object into the header of the report to the right of the text item that was just inserted.
- Set the 'Source Type' of the bookmark to 'Data Item Value'.
- set the 'Data Item Value' property to 'Order method'.
Right click on the text item 'Back to Index' and select 'Drill
Throughs'.
- Create a new drill through and again select the 'Bookmark' tab.
- Set the 'Source type:' to 'Text' and the 'Text:' value to 'List of All Order methods'.
- The case of the text used in this drill through must match the text used to create the text item on the TOC page.
Run the report in PDF
To request a copy of this IBM Cognos published best practices document, complete with screen-shots, please e-mail BrightStar Partners.
Additional Information
With the release of IBM Cognos 8.3 BI, a Table of Contents (TOC) report object has been included in the list of toolbox objects. It is important to note that this object will only work in PDF and non-interactive HTML reports. |
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BSP Introduces CPM Explorer for Consumers
CPM Explorer is a Windows Explorer extension for IBM Cognos Connection, providing quick and easy access to IBM Cognos consumers' daily activities. Using CPM Explorer, consumers are able to navigate the IBM Cognos Connection portal in the familiar Windows Explorer user interface without the need for a web browser. IBM Cognos users can perform common, everyday operations such as:
- Creating Folders
- Renaming Reports
- Creating Report Shortcuts
- Moving and Copying Reports and Folders
- Viewing and Running reports in HTML, PDF & Excel
- Emailing Report Output
- Viewing Report Properties
Click here to find out more!
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BSP Launches eCommerce Website!
As we continue to expand our portfolio on the Implementation-Based Software side of the business, we have decided to broaden our reach with our new online store.
The BSP Software eCommerce website will allow our customers around the globe to access and purchase new products as they become available. The new website is also an outlet for distributing various free and commercial utilities, samples and how-to documents that we have authored over the years and continue to develop. Over the next few months this site will be growing to provide our customers with more content and better support resources, so be sure to check back often! | |
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Did You Know...
In IBM Cognos 8...
- You can create TOC reports in IBM Cognos 8 BI. ( refer to the techniques section above)
- The new 'No Data' handler for Lists and Crosstabs in IBM Cognos 8.3 BI has made displaying custom messages in No Data situation much easier.
About 'Chaos Theory'...
- Edward Lorenz, who died last month at the age of 90, was a meteorologist
- He was the father of what is now called "chaos theory", which is said to have brought about one of the most dramatic changes in mankind's view of nature since Isaac Newton.
- One day, Edward Lorenz inadvertently ran what seemed like the same calculations through a simple calculator ... and came up with very different answers.
- What he actually did was that he started his calculations from a middle point by entering the results of a previous calculation.
- He noticed that there was one infinitesimal decimal point change of 0.0001 --- well within what used to be called "wiggle room". Such an insignificant thing, and yet it led to significant error.
- He turned that "wiggle room" into measurable numbers ... and a scientific theory which he incorporated as the "butterfly effect."
- He explained how something as miniscule as a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil changes the constantly moving atmosphere in ways that could later trigger tornadoes in Texas.
- In his book "The Nature and Theory of the General Circulation of the Atmosphere," Lorenz laid out the general principles of small changes bringing big effects on which even today meteorologists base their forecasts.
- He literally proved ... "Little Things Mean a Lot"
- To read more, click here.
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BrightStar Partners is committed to bringing you quality content month after month. If you have ideas for topics or if there is something you'd like to learn more about, please contact us and we'll do our best to address your request! We hope you enjoy this newsletter as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. |
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