By

Manjeet Singh
20-Oct-2011
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
1.1 Purpose................................................................................................................................3
2. Features and Limitations.........................................................................................................3
2.1 Features of Active Reports...................................................................................................3
2.2 Limitations of Active Reports..............................................................................................4
3. The Summary...........................................................................................................................4
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1. Introduction
IBM Cognos Active Reports are interactive, intuitive, stand-alone reports with the
ability to be highly- formatted. An Active Reports profile in Report tudio allows
developers to create these sophisticated report applications.
1.1Purpose
Improved time-to-decision through a more interactive and richer user
e!perience.
Improved user satisfaction through performance improvements gained
through a saved .M"# output.
Improved productivity by being able to wor$ while not being physically
%connected& to Cognos reporting application.
2. Features and Limitations
2.1Features of Active Reports
Interactivity
Interact with a rich user interface, and easily filter data in dashboards with
prompts.
'sers can interact with the reports using te!tbo!, combo bo!, chec$ bo!
etc.
Performance
Access and wor$ with information without wait times.
After access to the data and response from the Active Reports.
Disconnected
Access and interact with dashboard content while disconnected from the
networ$.
Access to data anytime anywhere i.e. data is available offline also.
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Distribution
Access dashboards as attachments in email rather than through a website.
Reports can even be saved in local system and distributed to people.
2.2 Limitations of Active Reports
No Security
#hese reports are intended to be consumed as individual stand alone files
thereby eliminating the security that is applied to reports consumed through
the Cognos Connection.
As there reports generate .M"# files, which can easily run on Internet
browser.
Performance effected due to large file size
As the amount of data in the Active report increases there will be a
corresponding increase in the file si(e which ultimately result in decrease in
the responsiveness of the report.
)ue to the non availability of charting engine once the report has been
saved as an M"# file, it is necessary for the report to hold a pre-rendered
view of each chart view a user may re*uest. #his can of course lead to very
large report files again impacting performance.
. T!e "ummar#
#he Active report capability of the Cognos +, can help users to interact and get reports
available to them anywhere and at anytime. Apart from some of the limitations this
feature is going to prove its worth when users will start interacting with these reports.
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