Using IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office

Use IBM® Cognos® for Microsoft Office to access IBM Cognos Analytics content in Microsoft Excel where you can work with existing reports, apply calculations, and use your existing Excel macros. You can also import content into Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. You can use Cognos Analytics content as the basis for your presentation in PowerPoint, or for briefing books using Word.

Use IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office with any of the supported Microsoft Office applications to do the following:

  • Access IBM Cognos content by importing pre-authored reports and data.
  • Modify IBM Cognos Analytics content using familiar interfaces.
  • Refresh the Microsoft Office documents with updated information on demand for strategic planning, forecasting, and business reporting.
  • Publish and share IBM Cognos-enabled files to the secure IBM Cognos Analytics portal. For more information, see Publishing a Microsoft Office document to IBM Cognos Connection.

Access Permissions and Credentials

Security is maintained in your Microsoft Office environment. For example, if you share an Excel workbook with coworkers, when they connect to the IBM Cognos Analytics server to retrieve or refresh data, their security permissions are used. A logon within the Microsoft Office environment authenticates you and ensures proper administration.

Because IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office uses temporary folders while importing report content into Microsoft Office, when adding a new user, the system administrator must add TEMP and TMP user variables to the new user's Environment variables. These variables are not added automatically when a new user is added.

For more information about access permissions, see Access permissions and credentials.