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Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu
SeeBusinessSeeResultsSeeCognos
Copyright
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Impromptu version 6.0
This edition published 2000.
Copyright 2000 Cognos Incorporated
Portions Copyright Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 USA. All
rights reserved.
Portions Copyright AccuSoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Portions Copyright Syware, Inc.
Portions Copyright Three D Graphics, Inc.
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their respective companies.
Table of Contents
Welcome.................................................................. vii
Chapter 1: Essential Skills ......................................... 9
Start Impromptu.............................................................. 10
Select a Catalog............................................................ 10
Open the Great Outdoors Sales Data Catalog .............. 10
Open an Existing Report.................................................. 12
Open the Report ...................................................... 12
Respond to a Prompt................................................. 13
Print Your Report............................................................. 15
Create a List Report Using the Report Wizard ...................... 16
Select the Data ........................................................ 18
Filter the Data .......................................................... 20
Improve Your Report........................................................ 22
Filter Your Data to See Only What You Need ................ 22
Add Headers .......................................................... 23
Make the Report Easier to Read and Understand ............ 24
Whats Next? ................................................................ 25
Chapter 2: Create a List Report................................ 27
What Is a List Report? ..................................................... 28
Create a List Report Using a Template ................................ 28
Select Data Items to Include in the Report ............................ 29
Create a Filter to Focus the Report ............................... 31
Add New Data Items to the Report .................................... 34
Add a Title to the Report .................................................. 35
Change Views to See the Report in a Different Way ............. 37
Whats Next? ................................................................ 39
Chapter 3: Create a Grouped List Report ................. 41
What Is a Grouped List Report? ........................................ 42
Create a Grouped List Report Using a Template ................... 42
Start Creating the Report............................................ 43
Select the Data ........................................................ 44
Change the Order of the Data Items ............................ 45
Group the Data in the Report............................................ 46
Suppress Redundant Data Using the Associate Button ............ 47
iv Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu v
Welcome
What Is in This Book
Discovering Impromptu shows you how to create different kinds of
Impromptu reports, and teaches you the essential skills you need to be
successful with Impromptu.
Other Impromptu Documentation
To see a list of the documentation included with Impromptu, see the
Impromptu Documentation Roadmap. From the Impromptu Help menu,
click Documentation Roadmap.
How to Order Extra Books
You can order extra copies of the printed documentation that is shipped
with Impromptu. Please contact your local Cognos office or Cognos
Direct.
Customer Support
For information about customer support locations and programs, see the
customer support section of the online help or visit the Cognos customer
support Web site (http://support.cognos.com).
Your Comments Are Welcome
We are interested in your comments or questions about the
documentation. Please email them to bipubs@cognos.com
1
Chapter 1: Essential Skills
This chapter covers the essential skills you need to produce high-quality
reports with Impromptu. In this chapter, you will learn about:
opening a catalog
opening and printing a report
creating and filtering a report
Discovering Impromptu 9
Start Impromptu
You can start Impromptu by double-clicking the Impromptu icon on
your desktop, or by clicking the Start button.
You see the Welcome dialog box when you start Impromptu.
Select a Catalog
To use Impromptu to create or open reports for your business, you must
select an existing catalog. Catalogs are usually created by an
administrator. You can open a different catalog at any time during your
Impromptu session, but you can only open one catalog at a time.
10 Discovering Impromptu
Available catalogs
are indicated by
this icon.
When working with the Great Outdoors Sales Data catalog, your
user class is User if you have the User version of Impromptu, and
Creator if you have the Administrator version of Impromptu.
Tip: Check the message in the status line. When it says Sales data
for The Great Outdoors Co., this catalog is open.
Discovering Impromptu 11
12 Discovering Impromptu
Respond to a Prompt
Your report may prompt you for information before retrieving the data.
Your response to a prompt determines what is included in the report.
The prompt acts as a filter for the data so that only the information you
require appears in the report.
One or more prompt dialog boxes may appear when you open a report.
Each prompt dialog box further refines the data you will see in your
report.
You may be prompted to select one or more values from a list, or you
may be required to type in a value.
For example, this report requires you to select a sales representative
from a list. You can select one or more values from the Prompts dialog
box.
Discovering Impromptu 13
To respond to a prompt
1. Click OK to accept Bill Gibbons and to open the report.
You can see the details of Bill Gibbons sales this year, including
sales by customer and maximum and minimum sales. You can use
this report during your performance review of Bill Gibbons.
2. From the Report menu, click Prompt to show the Prompts dialog
box.
14 Discovering Impromptu
Now you can print these reports to use when you complete your
annual performance review.
To print a report
1. From the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Print dialog box, select the appropriate print settings, and
then click OK to send the report to the printer.
3. From the File menu, click Close to close the report.
Discovering Impromptu 15
16 Discovering Impromptu
3. Click List Report and then click Next to show the data item
selection page.
Discovering Impromptu 17
18 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 19
2. Double-click <=.
20 Discovering Impromptu
You can now see all the information you need to compare the
product margins, and you can focus the report further to see only
the margins on GO products.
5. From the File menu, click Save As.
6. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting the original sample report.
7. Type GO Product Margins in the File Name box and click Save.
Discovering Impromptu 21
22 Discovering Impromptu
When you compare the product margins for the GO products, you
see that both Back Packs and Cooking Equipment are only cost plus
33.33% instead of cost plus 50%. You can use this information to
decide if you want to raise the price of the GO products to meet
product margin policy.
Add Headers
While the Report Wizard can automatically add group footers, you can
add headers to your report to organize the information logically and
improve usability.
Using the Header button on the toolbar is an easy way to create headers
in your report. When you select a column or data item and click the
Header button on the toolbar, Impromptu removes the column or data
item from the report and adds it as a header.
For example, you can move the Product Line data into a header.
Try This...
Discovering Impromptu 23
The products are now grouped under the product line header,
making the report easier to read.
3. From the File menu, click Save.
To move a column
1. Select the Product Price column.
2. Move your pointer over the selected area.
The pointer turns into a four-headed arrow.
3. Click and drag the column to the left of the Product Cost column.
The pointer turns into a clear arrow with a box (indicating an
attachment).
The dotted line highlight indicates where the column would be
placed if you dropped it.
24 Discovering Impromptu
Whats Next?
This chapter showed you the essential skills you need to open existing
reports, respond to prompts, and create reports using the Report
Wizard.
You also saw how to print your report, filter information from your
report, add headers and footers, and organize the information in your
report to make it easier to use.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
catalogs
filtering
headers, adding
columns
Report Wizard
The next chapter teaches you how to create a list report without using
the Report Wizard and how to focus the information using a filter
expression.
Discovering Impromptu 25
2
Chapter 2: Create a List Report
The list report shows detailed information that you want from your corporate
database. It can help you answer specific questions, such as whether theres
room to lower prices for products priced over $100. In this chapter, you will
learn about:
You can see that the product margins for products priced over $100 are already at 33%,
and in one case under 33%. Since anything less than 33% profit margin is close to being
unprofitable given your volume of sales, this report indicates that you cannot lower the prices
unless your supplier lowers the cost to you.
Discovering Impromptu 27
28 Discovering Impromptu
You have completed the preliminary steps for creating the report.
Discovering Impromptu 29
Tip: Instead of double-clicking, you can also add data items to the
Query Data box in two steps by clicking the data item, and clicking
the Add button.
3. Double-click the Price and Cost folder to open it.
30 Discovering Impromptu
Query data items are catalog items you want Impromptu to retrieve from
the database. Each query data item is marked for insertion into the report
as you add it to the query.
Discovering Impromptu 31
2. Click the arrow next to the Filter button to see a list of filter
operators.
32 Discovering Impromptu
Your report contains only the products you sell for less than $165.00.
When you compare product cost and product margin, you see that
reducing the product margin on MoonBeam, MoonGlow, and
Dover-2 could bring the prices under $100. However, the Great
Outdoors has a policy that product margins must be no lower
than 33%.
Discovering Impromptu 33
34 Discovering Impromptu
You can see that the product margins for MoonBeam, MoonGlow,
and Dover-2 are already at 33.33%. The only way you can bring
their prices under $100 and maintain the 33% profit margin policy, is
to ask the manufacturer to lower the cost of the products.
Discovering Impromptu 35
Note: As you type the title, parts of it may disappear from the
screen. This happens because the text is in a frame with a limited
size. When you press Esc, all of your text appears.
4. Click any data item in the Product Cost column.
5. Position your pointer over any data item in the Product Margin
column and press Shift+click.
Your selection should look something like this
36 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 37
Page Layout
Screen
Layout
For example, you can check the information in your new report before
you print it. Notice that because this report is intended for printing, its
not optimized for screen viewing.
Try This...
In Screen Layout view, Impromptu shows only the report data, not
the layout objects (such as page margins, report title, date, and
so on).
You can change back to Page Layout view before you print
the report.
38 Discovering Impromptu
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you learned how to create a report using a template, add
data items to your report, filter the information, add a title, and change
the view.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
templates
adding, data to reports
filtering
The next chapter shows you how to use a Grouped List template to
compare information on a customer-by-customer basis.
Discovering Impromptu 39
3
Chapter 3: Create a Grouped List
Report
A grouped list report shows detailed information grouped by common
values. This report can help you answer specific questions about groupings
of data. In this chapter, you will learn about:
a group of
data
another
group of
data
Discovering Impromptu 41
42 Discovering Impromptu
Tip: Check the message in the status line. When it says Sales data
for The Great Outdoors Co., this catalog is open.
3. From the File menu, click New.
4. Click the Grouped List template, and click OK to show the Query
dialog box.
Select data
items for your
report
Discovering Impromptu 43
Note: The Data tab is the only tab where you can expand the
Grouped Item placeholder.
44 Discovering Impromptu
Your report contains all the information you need to check the
discounts for each customer. However, the report could be
improved with additional grouping.
Discovering Impromptu 45
Note: Youll notice that Customer No. is grouped. When you placed
Customer No. under the Grouped Item placeholder, Customer No.
was automatically grouped for this report.
3. Click OK to show the report.
You can see that Customer No. 1001 bought more Environmental
Line and Outdoor Products product types than GO Sport Line
product types.
46 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 47
You can see that Customer No. 1001 is GO Outlet Montreal, and the
report is easier to read.
Notice that the highlighted area extends to the right edge of your
screen. If you drag the Customer Name into this area without first
modifying its size, Impromptu will combine the two objects. To
avoid this, change the size of the highlighted text.
48 Discovering Impromptu
You can now easily see that Customer No. 1001 is GO Outlet
Montreal.
Discovering Impromptu 49
50 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 51
The information in
this box depends on
the information in
the report.
Check marks indicate
which headers and
footers will be shown
in the report.
52 Discovering Impromptu
5. Click the Environmental Line text in the Product Type column, and
press the Delete key to remove the Product Type column from the
report.
The report organization is better, but you could see more of it if you
reduce the height of the Customer Number row and the Product
Type Header row.
Discovering Impromptu 53
Tip: If you inadvertently select the entire header frame, press Esc
to clear the highlighting and try again.
7. Drag the objects in the frame, until they are in approximately the
same position as the example below.
8. Click just below the 1001 title to select the entire header area.
54 Discovering Impromptu
Notice that when you change the Customer No. header, all Customer
No. headers change.
10. Click the Environmental Line header area to select the entire frame.
11. Drag the bottom handle up until the position approximately matches
the example below.
12. Press Esc to clear the highlighting from the header frame.
Discovering Impromptu 55
Calculate button
56 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 57
Now you can see the discount Customer No. 1001 received for each
product type.
58 Discovering Impromptu
Discount Total
for each product
type
You can see the total discount for each product type. It seems that
the discount amounts are related to the quantities, and you should
take this into account when you review the discount policy for
active customers.
3. Click 1080.36 in the Discount column to select it.
4. Drag 1080.36 above 7.92 and into the Environmental Line header.
5. Click the blank area to the right of the report to select the entire
report.
6. From the Format menu, click Properties, and then click the
Layout tab.
7. Clear the three Footer check boxes, click OK to remove all the
footers, and then press Esc to clear the highlighting.
8. From the File menu, click Save As.
9. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
Discovering Impromptu 59
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you learned how to create a grouped list report, use a
predefined condition to filter your report, group data, create
calculations, add column totals, and move data around in the report.
a
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
templates
grouping
conditions
headers, adding
The next chapter shows you how to create a summary report containing
summary information without details.
60 Discovering Impromptu
4
Chapter 4: Create a Summary
Report
The summary report shows a synopsis of your data, and is useful when you
want to see an overview without the details. You can tailor the amount and
level of information in the summary report.
For example, a summary report helps you develop an overall picture that
you can use to decide which product lines are generating the highest total
sales for each product type. In this chapter, you will learn about:
This summary column shows that Water Purifiers are generating the highest total
sales for the Environmental Line product type.
Discovering Impromptu 61
In this chapter, the Great Outdoors sales manager asked you to create a
report that answers the question Which product lines are generating the
highest total sales?
62 Discovering Impromptu
Tip: Check the message in the status line. When it says Sales data
for The Great Outdoors Co., this catalog is open.
3. From the File menu, click New, and then click OK to accept the
Simple List default template.
4. In the Catalog box, double-click the Products folder to open it and
show its contents.
Discovering Impromptu 63
Summary button
64 Discovering Impromptu
Total button
Discovering Impromptu 65
You can see that Bio-Friendly Soaps has a high Total Sale Amount
compared with the rest of the products, and has a relatively low
Product Price, making it a high selling item. It would be a good
decision to consider focusing marketing on Bio-Friendly soaps.
You can now fine-tune your report to improve the usability and to
ensure you include only the relevant information.
Database
query
Database
report
For example, since you only need to see the total sale amount for each
product line, you can remove Product Price from the query.
66 Discovering Impromptu
Remove button
All the data items in the query are used in the report.
Discovering Impromptu 67
68 Discovering Impromptu
You can now organize the data so that you can easily compare sales
for each product type.
4. From the Report menu, click Query, and then click the Group tab.
Discovering Impromptu 69
70 Discovering Impromptu
Now you can see that Recycled Products, Sport Wear, and Back
Packs generate the lowest sale amounts across all Product Type
groups.
2. From the File menu, click Save As.
3. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
4. Type Total Sales Per Product in the File Name box, and click
Save.
To compare your report to our version, open the Total Sales Per
Product report in \Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports.
Discovering Impromptu 71
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you summarized the data to show the total sale amount
per product line.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
removing, data
summaries
grouping
columns
sorting
The next chapter shows you how to see your data from a different
perspective using a Crosstab report. You might use a Crosstab report to
evaluate the performance of your sales representatives.
72 Discovering Impromptu
5
Chapter 5: Create a Crosstab
Report
The crosstab report shows your corporate data from a new perspective. It
enables you to show values at the intersection points of rows and columns,
and is useful when you need to compare information using one or more
criteria in one report. In this chapter, you will learn about:
The sales figures for the Ultra Sports 4 customer indicate that Bill Gibbons is a good prospect
for promotion to managing sales for the Ultra Sports chain of customers.
Discovering Impromptu 73
74 Discovering Impromptu
Grouped crosstab
report
Discovering Impromptu 75
76 Discovering Impromptu
5. Click Crosstab Report, and click Next to show the crosstab page.
Discovering Impromptu 77
Try This...
Rows button
78 Discovering Impromptu
You can see that Bill Gibbons has the highest Environmental Line
sales. However, its difficult to compare all the sales representatives
figures for the Environmental Line, since most of them are off the
screen.
Discovering Impromptu 79
Note: You can also drop the dotted line at the top of the cell.
4. Click Bill Gibbons and move your pointer over the selected area.
80 Discovering Impromptu
Dotted line
Pivot pointer
Note: Do not release the mouse button until the Pivot pointer
appears. If you do release the mouse button, click Undo Drag and
Drop from the Edit menu, and then try again.
6. Drop the dotted line to complete the swap.
Here you see that Bill Gibbons has the highest sales figures for the
Environmental Line, and could be a good candidate for a promotion;
however, its difficult to compare the figures since they use different
formatting. Some of the values have one decimal place, and some
have two. For example, the first two items in GO Sport Line are
20631.44 and 1912.8.
Discovering Impromptu 81
82 Discovering Impromptu
You can see that the bulk of Bill Gibbons sales are to Ultra Sports 4.
This could indicate that hes a good candidate for managing the
Ultra Sports chain of customers.
5. From the File menu, click Save As.
6. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
7. Type Product Type Sales in the File Name box, and click Save.
Discovering Impromptu 83
Here you see that Bill Gibbons sells a lot of water purifiers and
carry-bags. You can also see that Bjorn Flertjans sales to the Over
the Top Cycles chain seem to be more consistent for all the product
lines. The nested crosstab report indicates that Bjorn Flertjans sales
are more consistent than Bill Gibbons across the Great Outdoors
line of products.
84 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 85
Whats Next?
This chapter showed you how to use a crosstab report to view your
corporate data from a different perspective. You saw how to create a
crosstab report, swap rows and columns, add data, create a nested
crosstab report and change a crosstab report into a list report.
The next chapter shows you how to use your corporate database to
create, format, and print mailing labels.
86 Discovering Impromptu
6
Chapter 6: Create Mailing Labels
The mailing labels template can save you time by formatting information
such as each customers name and address. In this chapter, you will learn
about:
You can use corporate data to create mailing labels for your new product brochure mailing.
Discovering Impromptu 87
In this chapter, you need mailing labels for all your customers so you
can send them the latest product brochure.
Since the mailing labels are intended to be printed, they appear in Page
Layout view rather than in Screen Layout view. You learned about the
different views in Chapter 2: Create a List Report.
Try This...
88 Discovering Impromptu
Note: If you put the wrong item in a placeholder, click the item and
then click the Remove button.
4. Double-click the Customers and Customer Sites folders to open
them.
5. Double-click Customer Contact to add it to the Query Data box.
Notice that Customer Contact is placed under the Name placeholder.
You can see that your mailing labels contain all the information you
require. However, you want to ensure that the company name and
the receiver name are highlighted.
2. Move your pointer over Sydney, NSW, and Ctrl+click the address
line.
3. Move your pointer over 2255, Australia, and Ctrl+click the address
line.
4. From the Format menu, click Font to show the Format dialog box.
Tip: You can also change the appearance of the text by using the
standard Windows options on the toolbar (font, font size, font style,
and color).
Discovering Impromptu 91
Impromptu changes the font and size of all the address lines in the report.
Changing the font and increasing the size of the address lines by
one point makes them easier to read.
92 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 93
11. In the Borders box, click the lower horizontal arrows, and then
click OK to add the Company style to the Style list in the Styles
dialog box.
12. Click Apply to apply the Company style to the mailing labels, and
click Close to show the report.
94 Discovering Impromptu
Discovering Impromptu 95
Your labels have a 1.25 in. by 1.25 in. (3.2 cm by 3.2 cm) white
square in the upper-left corner so theres enough room to
accommodate your companys pre-printed company labels.
Tip: You can change the ruler measure to inches or centimeters.
From the Tools menu, click Options and select Inches or
Centimeters in the Grid Interval box.
96 Discovering Impromptu
3. Click the Next Page button to scroll to the end of the report.
Next Page buttonlocated under the vertical scroll bar.
Count the pages. Youll need 15 pages of labels.
Discovering Impromptu 97
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you used your corporate data to create mailing labels,
you formatted the labels, and you previewed your mailing labels before
printing them.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
formatting
patterns
borders
changing
styles
previewing reports
The next chapter shows you how to create form letters to advertise sales
events, and how to create company templates.
98 Discovering Impromptu
7
Chapter 7: Create a Form Letter
Creating form letters in Impromptu can be as easy as selecting the company
name and address information, then letting Impromptu do all the work. In this
chapter, you will learn about:
Including data from the corporate database in your form letters is straightforward and can make
your form letters highly effective.
Discovering Impromptu 99
Note: If you put the wrong item in a placeholder, click the item and
then click the Remove button.
4. Double-click the Customers and Customer Sites folders to open
them.
The Query Data box contains all the information you need for the
personalized letter, as well as the Product data you will need to find
the customers favorite product.
13. In the Query Data box, click Product.
14. Click the Mark for Insertion button.
You removed the arrow from the Product data item. This means that
Product is in the query, but is not inserted into the report.
Do not click OK yettheres more to do.
The Available
Components box shows
the available filter
components.
2. In the Filter Type box, click Summary to eliminate data from the
report based on a summary data item.
3. In the Available Components box, double-click Summaries.
4. Double-click Rank to add it to the Filter Definition box.
You can add the product information to your letter by inserting the data
into the letter.
Try This...
Note: You may need to adjust the size of the frame containing the
product name to see all the name text. To do this, click to select the
product name, and drag one of the handles to increase the size of
the frame containing the product name.
Move the Favorite Product to the Body of the Letter
You can add the product name to the body of your letter from the data
you placed on the letter.
Try This...
6. Click to place the I-beam after RiverKind Soap in the letter body,
and type when you place your order using our new 24-hour
toll-free mail order number 1-800-555-9999.
7. Scroll down the page, and replace <senders name> with your name,
press Enter, and type Sales Director.
8. Press Esc.
Your form letters all have the company logo on the top and are
ready to print and send.
11. From the File menu, click Save As.
12. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
13. Type Voucher Letter in the File Name box, and click Save.
Save as a Template
You can save any report as a template. Because templates only store
formatting and placeholders, they can save you time and help you
produce reports and letters that are consistent with company standards.
Templates also simplify the process for creating new reports. If
Impromptu contained no templates, you would start with a blank report
and add frames every time you wanted to create a report.
You can add new corporate templates to the New dialog box by saving
them in a common directory in the \templates\standard folder.
For example, you know youll be sending out follow-up letters over the
course of the next two years as part of a marketing strategy for the mail
order catalog. You plan to use this letter as a template for next months
follow-up letter. You can save this letter as a template to make it easier
to update the letter next month.
Try This...
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you created a form letter that contains personalized
information for each customer. You also created and saved a template.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
templates
pictures
rank summary
calculations
text, frames
The next chapter shows you how to add charts to your report to get a
graphical overview of the information in your report.
8
Chapter 8: Add a Chart to
Enhance Your Presentation
Charts are a graphical way of presenting information. You can use a chart
to help you see relationships and trends in your business. In this chapter, you
will learn about:
creating a chart
showing overview information in a chart
adding a chart to a report
modifying a chart
Your charts show that the bulk of the Day Tripper sales are through the Mail Sales channel,
making Day Tripper a good candidate for a mail order catalog.
Create a Chart
You already know how to
open a catalog
create a new report using a template
add data items to the report
print a report
By
Summary button
Total button
Note: A chart shows the first grouped data item. In this example, the
first grouped data item is Product.
Your report now has multiple pages and each page shows the total
sale amount per sales channel for each product.
Note: Sales channel appears in the chart by default because it is the
next available grouped data.
You can see that the Mail Sales channel has higher total sales for this
product, indicating that its a good candidate for a product catalog.
However, you cant tell which product this represents. As well, its
difficult to see any exact numbers, and you cant see percentages.
Tip: You can make the font of the Product name bold and size 14 to
improve the usability of the report. As well, you can click the scroll
buttons to scroll through the product list. Notice that the product
changes as you scroll.
5. Click OK.
You can see that Direct Sales make up only 29.2% of the sales for
the Day Tripper product, while Mail Sales make up 35.7%, and
Telephone Sales make up 35.2% of the sales. The relatively high
sales percentage for Mail Sales could indicate that the Day Tripper is
a good candidate for your mail order catalog.
Now the pie chart showcases the figures for Mail Sales for each
product. The highest percentage of Day Trippers sales are made
through the Mail Sales channel. You should include it in the mail
order catalog.
12. From the File menu, click Save As.
13. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
14. Type Product Sales Chart into the File Name box, and click Save.
To compare your report to our version, open the Prod Sales Chart
report in \Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports.
Whats Next?
In this chapter, you created a chart report that combines two types of
charts. You also changed the appearance of the charts to increase their
usability.
For more information about the topics in this chapter, see the online
Help. In the Index tab, type
charts
text, inserting
The next chapter shows you how to use the charts and list reports to
create freestyle reports that combine many report frames.
9
Chapter 9: Create a Freestyle
Report
Impromptu gives you the flexibility of combining popular reports in a freestyle
report. A freestyle report is any report that combines frames, such as lists,
charts, and pictures. You can create a freestyle report that shows total sales
per sales channel using a list frame, a bar chart, and a picture of each
product. In this chapter, you will learn about:
Picture frameuse a
picture of each product
to identify the product.
Contains ...
Chart frame
Form frame
List frame
OLE Object
Picture frame
Text frame
In this chapter, you will use a blank form frame as the basis for a
freestyle report.
For example, you can create a report that contains a list report showing
the product sales by sales channel. As you scroll through the products,
the product picture changes, and a bar chart showing sales by channel
changes to match the product.
Try This...
Summary button
Total button
11. Click the Group tab, click Product, and then click the Group button
to group the report on Product.
12. Click Sales Channel, and click the Group button.
Your Group tab should look like this.
Scroll bars appear by default in list frame reports when the list
report is in Screen Layout view.
3. Click inside the list frame.
4. From the Insert menu, click Data.
Your pointer changes to the following.
5. Click inside the selected frame to show the Query dialog box with
the query information you already selected.
6. In the Query Data box, click the Product data item.
7. Ctrl+click the following:
Sales Channel
Total Sale Amount [for Sales Channel]
Note: Your list report may look slightly different than the example,
depending on the size of list frame you created.
You can now see the total sales per channel for each product. By
scrolling through the product list using the navigation buttons in
Screen Layout view, you can see that the Mail Sales channel
generates the lowest sale amount for almost every product. You can
use this information to make sales strategy decisions for the
products.
Tip: You can remove the border around the list box by clicking
Borders from the Format menu, and clicking None.
You can see a graphical comparison of the sale amount per sales
channel for each product. Some of the products are selling
significantly higher amounts than others.
You can click the navigation buttons to move from one product to
the next. The list and chart change to reflect the current product.
The title accurately reflects the reports contents. You can click the
navigation buttons to scroll through the product list.
8. From the File menu, click Save As.
9. Select a folder other than
\Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports to avoid
overwriting our version of the report.
10. Type Sales by Channel in the File Name box, and click Save.
To compare your report to our version, open the Sales by Channel
report in \Cognos\cer1\Samples\Impromptu\Reports.
Index
-A-
-C-
adding
borders, 94
calculations, 56-58
chart legends, 121
charts, 117-118, 132-133
data to crosstabs, 82-83
data to reports, 34-35
footers, 23-24, 51-55
formatting to report values, 35, 37
headers, 23-24, 51-55
list frames to form frames, 128-131
picture frames, 108
pictures, 108-109, 133
pullouts to chart frames, 121
query data to reports, 105
summaries, 59-60, 64-66
summary totals to crosstabs, 79
text frames, 134
titles, 35-37, 121
titles using query data, 118-119
totals, 59-60
adjusting
list frame size, 131
picture frame size, 109
applying styles, 90-95
associating
data in reports, 47-48
description, 47
calculation expressions
clearing, 104
component list, 56
calculations
adding, 56-58
description, 56
callouts, changing for charts, 120
catalog folders
description, 29
using conditions, 50
catalogs
opening, 11
selecting, 10-11
centimeters, setting for rulers, 96
changing
borders, 94
chart callouts, 120
chart legends, 121
chart types, 119
crosstabs to lists, 85-86
data in crosstabs, 80-84
fonts, 93
frame size, 106
list frame size, 131
picture frame size, 109
row width, 48
ruler scale, 96
size of mailing labels, 95
chart frames
inserting, 132
scoping data, 117
-Bblank reports
adding charts, 114-122
description, 114
borders
adding, 94
removing, 109
Index
charts, 119
adding, 117-118, 132-133
adding pullouts, 121
adding titles, 121
changing callouts, 120
changing legends, 121
changing types, 119
creating, 114-122
description, 114, 132
formatting, 121-122
frame description, 124
grouping data, 116
inserting frames, 117
selecting data items, 114-116
clearing calculation expression box, 104
column total, 59
columns
moving, 24
reordering, 68
resizing, 68
select pointer, 23
selecting, 23
swapping in crosstabs, 80-81
conditions
description, 50
using to filter a report, 50-51
copying, pictures into reports, 108
copyright, ii
creating
calculations, 56-58
charts, 114-122
crosstab reports with the Report Wizard, 7579
filters, 31-33
form letter reports, 100-109
freestyle reports, 125-135
grouped list reports, 43-55
list reports from crosstab reports, 85-86
list reports with a template, 28-31
list reports with the Report Wizard, 16-21
mailing label reports, 88-95
nested crosstabs, 84
new reports using templates, 110
styles, 92-95
summary reports, 62-66
crosstab reports
adding data, 82-83
adding summary totals, 79
changing data, 80-84
changing to list reports, 85-86
creating nested crosstabs, 84
creating with the Report Wizard, 75-79
description, 74
selecting data, 78-79
swapping rows and columns, 80-81
currency formatting, 37, 70
-Ddata items
adding, 34-35
adding to crosstabs, 82-83
associating, 47-48
changing in crosstabs, 80-84
description, 29
formatting, 58, 82
formatting with styles, 90
grouping in charts, 116
inserting in list frames, 128
inserting in text frames, 119
inserting into form letters, 106
inserting under placeholders, 89, 101
removing from queries, 66-67
removing from reports, 66-67
selecting, 29-31
selecting for charts, 114-116
selecting for crosstab reports, 78-79
data scope
changing in chart frames, 117
changing in form frames, 129-131
deleting data from reports, 66-67
dragging report objects to new position, 48
dynamic pictures
adding to freestyle report, 133
description, 124
Index
-Ffilter expressions
creating, 104-105
filter operators
description, 31
list, 32
filtering
creating new filters, 31-33
description, 22, 31
using conditions, 50-51
using Filter buttons, 22-23
filters
creating, 31-33
fonts, changing for styles, 93
footers
adding, 23-24, 51-55
description, 51
form frames
adding list frames, 128-131
changing size, 106
description, 117, 124, 129
in blank reports, 114
in freestyle reports, 125
in mailing label reports, 87
moving, 95
scoping, 129-131
form letter reports
creating, 100-109
description, 100
inserting data items, 106
formatting
charts, 121-122
data, 58
data as currency, 37, 70
report values, 35, 37, 58, 70
report values in crosstabs, 82
row height, 54
using styles, 90, 119
frames
changing data scope, 129-131
changing size, 106
chart, 124
form, 114, 124
in mailing label reports, 87
inserting charts, 117
list, 124
OLE object, 124
picture, 108, 124
removing borders, 109
text, 118, 124
freestyle reports
adding charts, 132-133
adding list frames, 128-131
adding pictures, 133
adding text frames, 134
creating, 125-135
description, 124
-Hheaders
adding, 23-24, 51-55
description, 51
resizing, 54-55
Index
-Qqueries
adding text to reports, 105
removing data items, 66-67
query data items
adding to titles, 118-119
description, 29
Index
-Ssaving
reports, 21
reports as templates, 110-111
scoping data
in chart frames, 117
showing specified data in frames, 129-131
Screen Layout view, description, 37
scroll bars, removing from list frames, 131
selecting
catalogs, 10-11
columns, 23
data items, 29-31
data items for crosstab reports, 78-79
multiple report objects, 90
Simple List template, 28
sorting
data in reports, 70-71
static pictures
adding to reports, 108-109
description, 124
styles
defining, 92-95
description, 90
formatting data, 90
highlighting critical information, 90-95
summaries
adding, 59-60
adding to reports, 64-66
summary
description, 64
summary reports
creating, 62-66
description, 62
summary totals
adding to crosstabs, 79
suppressing redundant data, 47-48
swapping rows and columns, description, 80
switching crosstabs to lists, 85-86
text frames
adding to freestyle reports, 134
changing size, 106
description, 118, 124
formatting text, 119
inserting, 118, 134
inserting data, 119
titles
adding to chart frames, 121
adding to reports, 35-37, 134
adding using query data, 118-119
description, 35
total, column, 59
totals, adding, 59-60
-Uusing
this book, vii
-Vviewing rulers, 96
views
changing, 37-38
description, 37
Page Layout, 95
Screen Layout, 37
-Zzooming reports, 97
-Ttemplates
description, 110
Form Letter, 101
Grouped List, 42
Mailing Labels, 89
saving a new, 110-111
Simple List, 28
using to create list reports, 28-31
using to create reports, 110