Manage external data

You can supplement your enterprise data with your own external or personal data file by using the Manage External Data tool the manage external data icon in IBM® Cognos® Analytics - Reporting.

You import your own data file and start reporting on it right away. After you import the file, it is protected by the same IBM Cognos security as your enterprise data. As a result, you can report on your data in a secure and private environment.

You can use the following types of files:

  • Microsoft Excel (.xls) spreadsheet software files

    The Manage External Data tool supports external data sources from Microsoft Excel up to version Microsoft Excel 2007.

    For an up-to-date list of the environments that are supported by Cognos Analytics, including information about operating systems, patches, browsers, web servers, directory servers, database servers, and application servers, see Software Product Compatibility Reports (https://www.ibm.com/software/reports/compatibility/clarity-reports/report/html/prereqsForProduct?deliverableId=DA295E70A6F611E88A70560C75A2DCDE).

  • Tab-delimited text (.txt) files
  • Comma-separated (.csv) files
  • XML (*.xml) files

    Your XML files must adhere to the IBM Cognos schema specified at c10_location/bin/xmldata.xsd. For more information, contact your IBM Cognos administrator.

    This schema consists of a dataset element, which contains a metadata element and a data element. The metadata element contains the data item information in item elements. The data element contains all the row and value elements.

    For example, the following simple XML code produces a table with two columns (Product Number and Color) and two rows of data.

    <?xml version="1.0" ?> <dataset xmlns="http://developer.cognos.com/schemas/xmldata/1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <metadata> <item name="Product Number" type="xs:string" length="6" scale="0" precision="2" /> <item name="Color" type="xs:string" length="18" scale="0" precision="8" /> </metadata> <data> <row> <value>1</value> <value>Red</value> </row> <row> <value>2</value> <value>Blue</value> </row> </data> </dataset>

To work with your external data by using the Manage External Data tool, you start with an existing IBM Cognos package. You import data from your external file into the package and create links between data items in your file and data items in your enterprise data source. You then publish a new package that you can use to create reports that use your data and your enterprise data, or reports that use only your data. You can link your external data with both dimensional and relational data sources.

Before you can import your own external data file, your IBM Cognos administrator must grant you permission for the Allow External Data capability that is found within the Reporting capability. You must also have permissions to use IBM Cognos Analytics - Reporting.

Packages that contain external data

When you import external data into a package with the Manage External Data tool, you do not overwrite the original package. You create a new package that includes the original package, the new external data, and any links or relationships that you defined between the two. By default, the new package is saved in the My content area of the IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson portal, with External Data appended to the original package name. You can change where your package is published.

Note: The current content language is used to create the new package, and users cannot select the language for the package. For example, the content language in the IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson portal is set to English. External data is imported into the GO Sales (query) package, and a new package called GO Sales (query) External Data is created. If the content language is changed to a different language, the package name is not translated, even though GO Sales (query) is a multilingual package.

IBM Cognos samples

Sample external data sources in Microsoft Excel (.xls) format are provided with IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson. You can import these sample files into the Sample Outdoors Company sample reports that are found in the GO Data Warehouse (analysis) or GO Data Warehouse (query) package.

You can find sample external data source files on the server where IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson is installed. Locate the Team content > Samples > Models > Sample file_GO sales.xls file to explore how to work with external data.

To obtain these files, contact your IBM Cognos administrator.