Improved algorithm for handling MUN changes in Planning Analytics data sources

The IBM® Cognos® Analytics query service now uses an enhanced recovery algorithm to handle an invalid (stale) member unique name (MUN) in reports and dashboards that are based on Planning Analytics data sources.

The MUN in a report or dashboard can become invalid when an element is moved within the data source hierarchy. These referential changes in the data source result in the “member not found” or “missing member” errors when the report or dashboard runs.

To avoid this type of errors, an improved algorithm for handling invalid MUNs is implemented for the Cognos Analytics query service. The algorithm works in the following way:

• If a member whose MUN contains the parent path information ([dimension].[hierarchy].[parent1^parent2^element]) cannot be found, the query service tries to find another member whose MUN contains only the element name ([dimension].[hierarchy].[element]). If such a member exists in the data source, it is used instead of the invalid member when the query runs.
• If a member with a MUN that contains the parent path information ([dimension].[hierarchy].[parent1^parent2^element]) can be found in a different location in the data source, the invalid MUN in the query is replaced with the MUN of the member from the new location in the hierarchy.
• If none of the two scenarios applies, the Cognos Analytics query service follows the standard algorithm for handling missing members.