Cognos Connection

How to Schedule a Cognos Report

A Cognos report can be set up so that it runs unattended at a later time and saves the output. The output is attached to the report object and can be viewed by clicking on the stack of papers icon which will appear when the report is finished. You must first create a copy (report view) of the report in your My Folders since the output can only be saved there (since you do not have permission to write to the Public Folder). Instructions for creating a report view are included at the end of this tutorial. You can set up a report to run a single time or you can set it up to run on a repeating daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Part I details the one-time method and Part II details the repeating method.

Part I: How to Set Up a One-Time Report Schedule

You must first create a report view of the report that you want to schedule. In this example, the GL211 Cost Center Summary (Expenses) will be used. To create a report view, click on More beside the report, click on Create a report view, and then save the report view in a folder in your My Folders tab. More detailed instructions are available at the end of this tutorial. Step 1: Once you have the report view created, click on More.

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The next series of steps involves pre-setting the prompt values so that the report can run unattended. Click on the Report tab.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Click on the Default action and change this to Run the report. Click on Set in the Prompt values section to bring up the reports prompt page so you can select the values that will be used when the report runs.

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Select the values that you want to use in the report and then click on Finish, as if you would normally do to run the report. Note that, in this report, if you want to get a report of everything that you can access, just click Finish after selecting the fiscal year and period without selecting an organization.

Step 4:

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Note that, after you click on Finish, the text in the Prompt values section has changed (see below). You can click on Edit to modify the values that you selected on the prompt page. You can click on View all to see the values that will be used when you run the report. Uncheck the Prompt for values box since we want to run the report on an unattended basis. Click on OK.

Step 5:

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The report view in its current state can be run simply by clicking on it. The report will run with the values that have been selected and will be displayed in HTML format since we have not changed any of the other options of the report.

The next set of steps is intended to set up the general options to be applied when the report view is run: what format will the report have, what will happen to the output after it is run, and when will it be run. Click on More and then click on Run with options.

Step 6:

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The report options could be set on this screen. That is, we could select a format, click on the Save the report radio button, and click on Run. This would run the report immediately and the output would be saved with the report view. However, since we are going to set up a one-time schedule, we can do all of this within the advanced options. Step 7: Click on advanced options.

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Step 8:

Click on the radio button to Run in the background. After you click on this radio button, the bottom of the screen will transform and various options will be presented.

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Step 9:

To enter a one-time only schedule, click on the Later radio button and select the date and time when you want the report to run. In this example, since the data in the reporting database are refreshed around 4AM and its best to leave some time for this process to complete, 6AM is selected. Note: Remember, the data is refreshed only once a day in the morning so the data will be the same until the next refresh process. Use Self Service Banner to access live data that changes immediately to reflect new Banner INB transactions entered throughout the day

Step 10: Step 11:

Select Save the report. Select the format of the report output. Multiple formats can be selected. Click on Run at the bottom of the screen.

A screen will appear that recaps all of your selections. If these are as you intended them to be, click on OK. The report will run at 6AM on the morning of March 11 and the output will be saved.

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When you arrive in the morning of March 11 and sign into the TUportal and Cognos, you will notice a new icon in the Actions area associated with the report view. This indicates that output has been saved and is available. Click on this icon to see the output.

The next section looks at how to set up a repeating schedule.

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Part II: How to Set Up a Repeating Schedule

A repeating schedule can be set up so that a report runs on a periodic basis. The report can run every day, week, month, or year. Running a report based on a trigger is not yet supported. For example, the steps below will set up a report to run every Sunday so that the report output would be available as soon as we arrive at our desk on Monday. Click on the More link associated with a report view that you want to schedule. Click on New schedule.

Step 12:

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You can set up the start date and time. You can also set an end date and time after which the report schedule will be disabled. If the schedule was left as it is below, the report would run every Sunday at 2:16PM forever. This is what we intend so it will be left as is.

Step 13:

Click on the Week tab and check the Sunday box. Uncheck other boxes if necessary.

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Note in the screen above, you can check the Disable the schedule if you dont want the schedule to run. You can limit how many versions of output are saved by adjusting the settings in the Report output versions section of the Properties tab of the report view. Click on More and then click on Set properties. Setting the Number of occurrences to zero will allow limitless copies to be saved. Otherwise, when the limit is reached, the oldest version is replaced with the new version. You can alternatively set the limit by specifying how long each version of report output should be retained.

Renewing Your AccessNet Credentials When Your Password Changes: A final note: When you save a schedule, your AccessNet password is saved with it. If you change your password (as you will need to do periodically), the new password does not automatically replace the credentials previously saved with your schedule. As a result, when the schedule attempts to run a report, Cognos will refuse the request since the password no longer matches the one on record. To fix this, go into My Preferences (the little person icon at the top of the viewer screen) and select the Personal tab. In the Credentials section in the middle of the screen, click on Renew the credentials.

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How to Create a Cognos Report View Cheat Sheet
A report view is a copy of a report that is stored in your personal folders. A production report can be copied into a report view in a personal folder. A report view can be set up so that associated prompt values can be pre-selected and saved with the report view. The report view can then be scheduled and run unattended using those values. Step A: Create a report view of the report and copy it into one of your folders 1. From Cognos Connection, click on More beside the report that you want to copy. 2. Click on Create a report view of this report 3. Optional: Give the report a new name. (You can do this later once the report view has been set up by adjusting the properties for the report view see Step B, below.) 4. Click on My Folders, or click on Select another location and navigate to a folder where you have permission to store a report. 5. Click on Finish Step B: Set up the defaults for the report 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Navigate to the folder where you stored your report view. Click on More Click on Set properties Click on the Report view tab Click on Set to select the default prompt values For each required prompt, select the desired values Click Finish

The default number of versions of the report is set to 1. New versions of the report output will replace older versions that have already been saved. If you want to keep multiple versions including older output, change the number of occurrences to a higher number. If you take away the check mark in the Prompt for values box in the Set Properties screen, the report can be run unattended on a predefined schedule and will use the values that you selected in the above steps. If you leave the Prompt for values box checked, the report will run interactively and the prompt page will appear and you will be given the opportunity to change the values that you selected in Step B. 13. Click on OK to save the selected options. Now you can schedule the report view to run in the background or you can click on the report view to run it interactively (if you set the prompting option appropriately). Step C: Select other options 14. Click on the Run with options icon (blue triangle) and then click on advanced options in the upper right of the screen. 15. Click on Run in the background radio button and many options will be displayed such as running the report directly to Excel or PDF. Click on Run after you select the desired options. If you want to change the prompt values that are used in the report view, repeat the steps in Step B, above. Note that you can create multiple report views of a single report each with its own separate report options.

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