What's new and changed in Cognos Dashboards

Cognos® Dashboards updates can include new features, bug fixes, and security updates. Updates are listed in reverse chronological order so that the latest release is at the beginning of the topic.

You can see a list of the new features for the platform and all of the services at What's new in IBM® Cloud Pak for Data.

Refresh 9 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in May 2022.

Operand version: 4.0.9

Refresh 8 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in April 2022.

Operand version: 4.0.8

This release includes the following changes:

New features

The 4.0.8 release of Cognos Dashboards includes the following features and updates:

Select multiple objects by dragging your mouse
You can now select multiple widgets and visualizations by using your mouse. Click anywhere on the canvas and drag your cursor around the objects that you want to select. All items within the lasso are selected, and you can group them or easily move them all.
Vertical and horizontal distribution for objects
You can specify a vertical or horizontal distribution for objects on your dashboard to determine where they appear.

Set vertical or horizontal alignment by selecting at least three objects, and then either click the Align icon from the toolbar or use the Visualization properties under Layout.

Screen shot showing the Align option in Cognos Dashboard, and the Visualization properties option, which allows you to set an object's alignment
Change the style on axis and legend text
You now have more options for changing the text styles in visualizations on your dashboard.

Right-click an axis or a legend title and select Style text from the list. You can edit the title and the title style. And, you can apply your styling to all the axes on the visualization.

Screen shot of the Style text option which you can edit the title and the title style. And, you can apply your styling to all the axes on the visualization.
A different background color for each tab
You now have more control over the look of tabbed dashboards. In the dashboard properties, you can set a different background color for each of your tabs.
Enhanced widget properties
You can now style any visualization or widget on your dashboard to have rounded corners. The opacity property was improved so that it affects only the text widget background and not the text.
In addition, you can now control the following text widget properties:
  • You can adjust the inner margins.
  • You can choose a vertical alignment.
  • You can set indentations.
  • You can specify the line height.
Security fixes
CVE-2016-6811, CVE-2016-7103, CVE-2017-15095, CVE-2017-15713, CVE-2017-17485, CVE-2017-18640, CVE-2017-7525, CVE-2018-11307, CVE-2018-12022, CVE-2018-12023, CVE-2018-14718, CVE-2018-14720, CVE-2018-14721, CVE-2018-19360, CVE-2018-19361, CVE-2018-19362, CVE-2018-5968, CVE-2018-7489, CVE-2018-8009, CVE-2019-12086, CVE-2019-12384, CVE-2019-12814, CVE-2019-14379, CVE-2019-14439, CVE-2019-14540, CVE-2019-14892, CVE-2019-14893, CVE-2019-16335, CVE-2019-16942, CVE-2019-16943, CVE-2019-17267, CVE-2019-17531, CVE-2019-20330, CVE-2020-10672, CVE-2020-10673, CVE-2020-10968, CVE-2020-10969, CVE-2020-11111, CVE-2020-11112, CVE-2020-11113, CVE-2020-11619, CVE-2020-11620, CVE-2020-13936, CVE-2020-14060, CVE-2020-14061, CVE-2020-14062, CVE-2020-14195, CVE-2020-24616, CVE-2020-24750, CVE-2020-25649, CVE-2020-28469, CVE-2020-35490, CVE-2020-35491, CVE-2020-35728, CVE-2020-36179, CVE-2020-36180, CVE-2020-36181, CVE-2020-36182, CVE-2020-36183, CVE-2020-36184, CVE-2020-36185, CVE-2020-36186, CVE-2020-36187, CVE-2020-36188, CVE-2020-36189, CVE-2020-8840, CVE-2020-9488, CVE-2020-9493, CVE-2020-9546, CVE-2020-9547, CVE-2020-9548, CVE-2021-20190, CVE-2021-21295, CVE-2021-21409, CVE-2021-23177, CVE-2021-26272, CVE-2021-29425, CVE-2021-29923, CVE-2021-31566, CVE-2021-32808, CVE-2021-32809, CVE-2021-33829, CVE-2021-36090, CVE-2021-37136, CVE-2021-37137, CVE-2021-3765, CVE-2021-37695, CVE-2021-39239, CVE-2021-3999, CVE-2021-4104, CVE-2021-41164, CVE-2021-41165, CVE-2021-41182, CVE-2021-41183, CVE-2021-41184, CVE-2022-0261, CVE-2022-0318, CVE-2022-0359, CVE-2022-0361, CVE-2022-0392, CVE-2022-0413, CVE-2022-21724, CVE-2022-23218, CVE-2022-23219, CVE-2022-23307, CVE-2022-23308, CVE-2022-23852, CVE-2022-24407, CVE-2022-25235, CVE-2022-25236, CVE-2022-25315

Refresh 7 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in March 2022.

Operand version: 4.0.7

Refresh 6 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in February 2022.

Operand version: 4.0.6

This release includes the following changes:

New features
The 4.0.6 release of Cognos Dashboards includes the following features and updates:
Improved categorical axis labels in visualizations
The padding and angle have changed to improve the legibility of categorical axis labels.
New logarithmic scale in visualizations
Logarithmic scales are useful when the data you are displaying is much less or much more than the rest of the data or when the percentage differences between values are important.
New axis options for visualizations
You can change the value axis tick interval in some visualizations: Value axis minimum value and Value axis maximum value.
Changing the label options in a pie visualization
You can change the format of the labels and use a callout for the label location in pie visualizations.
Improvements to visualization legends
If there are too many items in the legend, an ellipsis is displayed.
Sub-categories added to waterfall visualizations
You can use sub-categories in waterfall visualizations and to display how categories are built up.
Treemap visualization supports different display modes
You can now select slice, dice, and slice-dice as the display mode in a treemap visualization.
Drop zones on visualizations
You can use drop zones on visualizations to add data directly to specific fields and quickly build a visualization.
Creating a visualization using search in data fields
You can quickly build a visualization that uses search in data fields.
Conditionally format crosstabs
You can define rules to color cells based on key business metrics. On the toolbar, open the properties for a crosstab or table to highlight conditionally formatted data with color.
Select IBM Plex font
You can now select the IBM Plex font when you author a dashboard or a report.
Bullet visualization range coloring
You can now apply color to the min/mad/max ranges. With the options Minimum range color, Middle range color, and Maximum range color, you can set the color of the ranges.
New visualizations in a dashboard
You can now use the box plot and radar visualizations in dashboards. Use box plots for identifying outliers and for comparing distributions. For details and an example, see Box plot in the Cognos Analytics documentation.
Figure 1. Box plot visualization
Example of box plot visualization
Radar visualizations are also useful for seeing which variables are scoring high or low within a data set, making them ideal for displaying performance. For details and an example, see Radar in the Cognos Analytics documentation.
Figure 2. Radar visualization
Example of radar visualization
Showing labels in local language in a map in a dashboard
When you use a map in a dashboard, you can show the labels in the local language.
The following example shows a map visualization with standard labels.
Figure 3. Standard labels
Example of map with standard labels
The following example shows a map visualization with local labels.
Figure 4. Local labels
Example of map with local labels
3D hexbin maps
You can use a 3D hexbin grouping option in maps. Display high density spatial point data in a hexbin map.
Figure 5. 3D Hexbin map
Example of 3D Hexbin map
Donut visualization created from a pie
You can edit a pie visualization so that it appears as a donut that displays a total of the segments in the center. There are two new features to help you with this:
  • A quick palette selector allows you to choose between Recently used palettes and All palettes.
  • An improved look and feel in the conditional formatting properties.
Figure 6. Donut visualization from a pie
Example of a donut visualization from a pie
Conditional formatting enhancements
You can change the conditional color palettes on your crosstab, table, and KPI visualizations more quickly and easily. There are two new features to help you with this:
  • A quick palette selector allows you to choose between Recently used palettes and All palettes.
  • An improved look and feel in the conditional formatting properties.
Responsive option
A responsive option has been added to hide certain aspects of the visualization if the size is limited, to maximize the space that is available to display data.
Export visualization data to a CSV file
You can export the aggregate and detail data from a visualization to a CSV file. The Export data feature is available from the Visualization data menu in the data tray.
New title options for visualizations
You can provide more clarity by adding a title to any visualization.
The following options are available for titles in a visualization:
  • Custom title: You can specify the title.
  • No title.
Several new visualization properties
You can set or change the following color visualization elements:
  • Border color on a per-axis basis
  • Grid line color on a per-axis basis
  • Value label color
  • Repeat label color on a column
  • Repeat label color on a row
The following new properties are also available:
  • Transpose bullet visualizations. This new property allows you to switch between horizontal or vertical bullet charts.
  • Customizable range of bullets in bullet visualizations. These new properties allow you to customize the appearance to suit your preference or to align with your corporate branding.
  • Default swatch symbol shape for legend symbols. Choose a legend symbol from a list of options such as, circle, square, star, triangle, and so on.
  • Use iterator to set how repeating visualizations are displayed. This property changes the display so that the chart iterations for each value of the repeat category are shown one at a time, using the whole widget for each iteration. You can then swipe or click the visualization to view each iteration.

These properties are available on certain visualization types and only in relevant contexts. For example, you will not see the option to change a repeat column label color if there is no data on the repeat column.

Security fixes
CVE-2021-3521, CVE-2021-4122, CVE-2019-2391, CVE-2022-0536, CVE-2018-20673, CVE-2021-20197, CVE-2021-20271, CVE-2021-22922, CVE-2021-22923, CVE-2021-22947, CVE-2021-23841, CVE-2021-33910, CVE-2021-3421, CVE-2021-3487, CVE-2021-3580, CVE-2021-3712, CVE-2021-3800, CVE-2020-15257, CVE-2020-24553, CVE-2020-26160, CVE-2020-28362, CVE-2020-28366, CVE-2020-28367, CVE-2020-29652, CVE-2021-21334, CVE-2021-27918, CVE-2021-3114, CVE-2021-31525, CVE-2021-33195, CVE-2021-33196, CVE-2021-33197, CVE-2021-33198, CVE-2021-3872, CVE-2021-3984, CVE-2021-4019, CVE-2021-41771, CVE-2021-4192, CVE-2021-4193, CVE-2021-44716, CVE-2021-29923, CVE-2021-36221, CVE-2021-38297, CVE-2021-39293, CVE-2021-41772, PRISMA-2021-0041

Refresh 5 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in January 2022.

Operand version: 4.0.5

This release includes the following changes:

Security fixes

CVE-2021-44832

Refresh 4 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in December 2021.

Operand version: 4.0.4

Refresh 3 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in November 2021.

Operand version: 4.0.3

Refresh 2 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in October 2021.

Operand version: 4.0.2

New features
The 4.0.2 release of Cognos Dashboards includes the following features and updates:
Support for Power®
You can install Cognos Dashboards on a Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform Version 4.8 cluster running on Power hardware.

Refresh 1 of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0

A new version of Cognos Dashboards was released in August 2021.

Operand version: 4.0.1

This release includes the following changes:

New features
The 4.0.1 release of Cognos Dashboards includes the following features and updates:
Support for upgrade
You can now upgrade Cognos Dashboards from the following Cloud Pak for Data releases:
  • Cloud Pak for Data Version 3.5.x
  • Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.0.x