Using IBM Cognos Reports to Create a Data Source

You can use Reporting or Query Studio list reports, designed against DMR or relational data sources, as a data source in Cognos® Transformer. When doing so, create the report to include prompts so that when testing the model, you can test a subset of the data that would be included in the full cube build.

Prompted reports are supported in Cognos Transformer, regardless of the platform on which the cube build is performed. Prompts from reports can be handled either interactively or silently as part of a batch script.

Consider taking advantage of the data filtering capabilities of IBM® Cognos reports to

  • filter by value on specific columns

    For example, you can include data for only a few of your regions when generating categories for the Regions dimension in the model.

  • return a specific number of rows

    For example, if the server data source contains two million records, you can use only the first 10,000 records for your model prototype.

  • return only unique records if the server data source contains a lot of duplicate records

    After you generate categories and create .mdl files and cubes for your production server, Cognos Transformer can acces the same database that you used to build the prototype model.

Using an IBM Cognos Data Source for a UNIX Cube

Suppose you have a sales analysis model with reports defined for Products, Regions, and Sales Transactions. You save these reports in the Cognos Analytics portal, and use Cognos Transformer on Windows to read the data and define the model structure with a small number of text rows in Cognos Transformer.

You then use Cognos Transformer to rebuild the model using the report with no restrictions on data retrieval, build the cube, and deploy it to your UNIX server.

  1. In IBM Cognos Analytics - Reporting or Query Studio, create a new list report against a DMR or relational package that returns sufficient data to build a prototype model, using a prompt to filter the data results.
  2. In Cognos Transformer on Windows, design and build the prototype, using the report as a source for the data source query.
  3. Fill in the prompt information to filter the data results for testing purposes.

    After you have the cube designed the way you want it, you can remove the filter using the prompt, or set the filter to the level of data required.

  4. Build the cube.
  5. If your production server is a different machine than the one on which you built the cube, use your standard file transfer protocol (FTP) procedure to upload the cube to your UNIX production environment.