Group Relational Data

Group data items in a list report to remove duplicate values. For example, you have a report that shows all the products purchased and their product type. You group the Product type column so that each product type cell spans the products purchased cells.

You can specify whether grouping a column automatically makes it the first column in the list by selecting the Automatic group and summary behavior for lists check box in the IBM® Cognos® Analytics - Reporting options. With this option selected, if the list contains any fact or measure columns, footers that show the summary values for the columns are automatically created for each group. Grouping a second column makes it the second column. When you ungroup a column, that column becomes the first column after the grouped column.

After a column is grouped, you can move it elsewhere in the report.

You can also group data items in repeaters and in page sets.

In addition to grouping, you can specify the sort order of data items. In lists, you can sort data items within groups as well as ungrouped items. In crosstabs, you can sort row and column items. For more information, see Perform Advanced Layout Sorting.

Tip: The Succession Report sample report in the GO Data Warehouse (analysis) package includes grouping.

Procedure

  1. Click the column on which to group.

    You can click either the column title or one of the column cells.

    Tip: To perform multiple groupings at once, use Ctrl+click or Shift+click.
  2. In the report object toolbar, click Group/Ungroup group/ungroup icon.

Results

A symbol appears indicating that the column is grouped. You can control when its values appear by setting the group span, and the column appears in the list of headers and footers that you can add to the report.
Note: Grouping all columns in a list is equivalent to creating a single-edge crosstab.