Apply a Custom Exception Definition

You can apply a custom exception definition to highlight

  • exceptional values in a report

    IBM® Cognos® PowerPlay® compares each value in the report to the range of values in the custom exception definition. If a value in the report falls in the range, it is highlighted.

  • entire rows or columns that contain exceptional values

    PowerPlay compares the values in a driving category to the range of values in the custom exception definition. If a value in the driving category falls in the range, the entire row or column that contains the value is highlighted.

    If, in a Reporter report, you created a custom exception definition based on a particular category that doesn't apply in an Explorer report, then that category doesn't appear in an Explorer report custom exception definition. For example, if you base a custom exception definition on All Years and then switch to an Explorer report, the All Years parent category doesn't exist in the custom exception definition.

  • only values in the rows and columns you selected

    PowerPlay compares the values in the selected rows and columns to the range of values in the custom exception definition. If a value in the selected rows and columns falls in the range, it is highlighted.

    For example, you create a revenue report with products in the rows and months in the columns. You can highlight all negative values in red so you can see which products lost money in which months. Because March is a critical month for selling backpacks, you select the March column as the driving category. If a product lost money in March, the entire product row is highlighted in red.

When you drill down on data after the custom exception definition is applied, data that falls within the specified ranges is highlighted as you drill down and up.

When you apply a custom exception to the entire report, all rows, or all columns, PowerPlay highlights any new data that is added when the cube is refreshed. This is particularly useful for identifying subsets and new categories that are added to the cube when the data is refreshed.

Custom exception definitions are based on the measure being used. If you applied custom exception highlighting and then change the measure, the custom exception highlighting is not visible. However, if you change the measure back to the one that was used with the custom exception definition, the custom exception highlighting is visible again.

Only one custom exception definition can be applied at a time. The one that was applied most recently to the report is the active custom exception definition.

Before you begin

You must create a custom definition before you can apply it.

Procedure

  1. Select the report, the rows or columns, or the information in the report to which you want to apply the custom exception definition.

    You can click a value to select both a row and a column. You can click a label to select either a row or a column.

  2. From the Explore menu, click Custom Exceptions.
  3. In the Exception name box, select a custom exception definition.
  4. Choose where you want to apply the definition.
    • To apply the definition to all the values in the report, click All.
    • To apply the definition to rows or columns, click All Rows or All Columns.

      If you select All Rows or All Columns, you may select a driving category in the Based on Category box. If you apply the custom exception definition to rows, the driving category is a column, and if you apply it to columns, the driving category is a row.

    • To apply the definition to selected information, click Selection.
  5. Click Apply and click Close.

Results

Data that meets the criteria specified in the custom exception definition is highlighted. If no data is highlighted, then none of the data fit the specified criteria.