Save Reports

When you save reports you can select which format they are saved in.

Depending on which format you choose, you can either open the report in Microsoft Excel or in IBM® Controller. The following menu commands in Excel are used to save reports:

  • Add-Ins tab/Controller/Reports/Save Report (Excel 2007) - saves the report in an IBM Cognos® Controller format, which means that you can open and run it in Controller from the Reports/Run menu. This option only works for reports created with Controller Create Reports.
  • Office Button/Save As (Excel 2007) - saves the report in Excel format, which means that you can only open and run it in Excel.
Note: When you save an Excel report created in Controller Report Generator, you should use Save Report on the Controller menu if you want to continue working with the report in Controller or run/print the report from Controller. This only applies to reports created in the Controller Report Generator. If the report is created only in IBM Cognos Controller Link for Microsoft Excel, there is no layout connections to Controller Reports/Run. You can then use Office Button/Save As (Excel 2007). A report created as an IBM Cognos Controller Link for Microsoft Excel report cannot be saved as a Controller report. Office Button/Save As (Excel 2007) is the only way to save IBM Cognos Controller Link for Microsoft Excel reports.

Expanded Areas

On the Row/Column Definition tabs you can, for example, expand a summation account. This means that all accounts that sum up to the summation account will be displayed when you run the report. When you define the layout in Excel, the summation account is not yet expanded.

The Excel sheet indicates whether a row or column will expand when you run the report by placing a code after the number on the system row/system column. Rows expand downwards while columns expand to the right.

Edit Expanded Areas

Do not insert rows or columns within the expansion area.

Note: References to an expanded area will not work in Excel.

Copy Reports

You can use the Save As button (on the Reports/Create menu) to copy an existing report definition and its formatting. The row/column definitions will now be shared between the two reports. You can also copy just the formatting between reports using the standard commands in Excel.

Copy Row and Column Definition

You can save a row definition and a column definition separately using the Save or Save As buttons. You can then re-use the same row definition or column definition in several different reports without having to create them from scratch each time. If you make a change in a row definition or column definition, this will automatically update all reports that use them. If you save changes in a row definition or column definition that you use in several reports, a question will appear asking you to confirm that you want the change to apply to all the reports.