Customize the Report

You can change the report options from the defaults to customize the report for your audience.

The following are the options you can change:

  • Change one or more report output formats.
  • Change one or more languages.
  • Change one or more delivery methods.
  • Burst the report if it was authored with bursting specifications.

Default options are set by the report author. You can change some default run options for reports.

You change the report options when you click Set or Edit in the Specify the report to run dialog box. For more information, see Add a Report Task.

Procedure

  1. In the Select the report options dialog box, select the Override the default values check box.
  2. Under Formats, click the formats you want for the report output.
  3. To select different or additional languages for the report, click Select the languages and use the arrow keys to move the available languages to the Selected languages box and click OK.

    Tip: To select multiple languages, press Ctrl+click or Shift+click.

  4. Under Delivery, choose a delivery method:
    • To save the report to a local file system, select the Save check box, then click the button next to Save the report.
    • To save the report to the cloud, follow these steps:
      1. Select the Save to cloud check box, then click Edit the cloud save options.
        Tip: The Save to cloud option won't appear unless your Cognos Analytics environment is connected to a valid Cloud Object Storage (COS) location.

      2. In the Set the options when saving to cloud window, use the default name for the report or type in a new one.

      3. Select a Cloud Object Storage connection as the location.
      Notes:
      • If you select only the Save to cloud checkbox and do not set the Name and Location value, the reports will fail to save to the Cloud Object Storage with these errors:

        RSV-SRV-0112 Saving report output to cloud storage failed. Response was 500 Internal Server Error.

        RSV-DST-0014 Unable to deliver the output of the report.

      • Variables, such as Date or User, are not supported in the Specify a file name box.
    • To save the report as a report view, select the Save check box, then click the button next to Save the report as a report view. You can change the name or target folder of the report view by clicking Edit the options. Make the changes, and click OK.

      Tip: Save the report as a report view if you do not have write access to the report. You can then add a link to the report view when you specify an e-mail task.

    • To print the report, select the Print the report check box and click Select a printer. Click the button next to the printer you want to use and click OK. Or, if the printer is not listed, you can type the printer information.

      Tip: If you have administrator privileges and want to set up the printer for future use, click New printer. You must type the network address of the printer by using the format \\server_name\printer_name for a network printer on a Windows operating system installation and printer_name for a UNIX operating system installation or for a local printer.

    • To e-mail the report, select the Send the report by email check box.
  5. If you clicked Send the report by email, click Edit the options to specify what you want:
    • To send the e-mail to IBM® Cognos® Analytics with Watson recipients, click Select the recipients. Select the check box next to the names you want to include, and click To, Cc (copy), or Bcc (blind copy). The entries that you select are listed under Selected entries. Click OK.

      Tip: To select all entries in a list, click the check box. To remove names from Selected entries, select the check box next to the name and click Remove. To search, click Search. In the Search string box, type the phrase you want to search for. For advanced search features, click Advanced.

    • If you want to send the e-mail to other recipients, in the To:, Cc, or Bcc boxes, type the email addresses separated by semicolons (;).

      Tip: If you logged on, your name automatically appears in the To list box.

    • Under Subject, type the subject of the e-mail.
    • Under Body, type a message to be included in the e-mail.
    • If you want to include an attachment, select the check box to include the report or a link to the report, and click OK.

      If you are an administrator, you can prevent users from including attachments. For more information, see the IBM Cognos Administration and Security Guide.

  6. Under Bursting, specify whether the report should be bursted.

    This option is available only if the report author defined burst keys in the report.

  7. Click OK.

    The Specify the report to run dialog box appears.

  8. Continue specifying the report. For more information, see Add a Report Task.