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Lesson 1: Create a multi-project report from a sample report

In this lesson, you will learn how to customize a report so that it depicts consolidated information for multiple projects.
Such consolidation helps senior managers get an overview of the health of their projects. This consolidation helps them identify areas that demand special attention, and thereby direct management bandwidth toward priority areas.

We will use the Defect status and distribution report in this tutorial. This report helps track patterns in defects, which can be used to take corrective action for reducing defect resolution time and the number of defects. When consolidated for projects, the report is a powerful tool for group managers to analyze the overall health of their groups.

Create a copy

The first step is to create a copy of the Defect status and distribution report.
  1. In Cognos® Connection, click Public Folders > Sample Report Definitions > Data Warehouse Reports.
  2. To create a copy, click More… on the same line as the Defect status and distribution report.
  3. In the perform an action page, click copy copy icon.
  4. In the save as a copy page, enter Defect status and distribution _1 in the name field.
  5. Under location click My folders and click OK.

Open Report Studio

You need to open Report Studio to customize the report element properties . To open Report Studio, in IBM® Cognos Connection, click the Report Studio link on the same line as the report or by selecting Report Studio from the launch menu.

Enable selection of multiple projects

You need to select more than one value in a prompt. For example, you have a prompt for which users must select a project. You need to modify the prompt so that you can select more than one project.

If you enable multiple selections, the Auto-Submit property is always set to no.

  1. On the Explorer bar, click Page Explorer, and click Report Pages.Page Explorer
  2. Click Page1 .
  3. Click the Project control. This is a Value Prompt control that shows up in the Properties pane and toolbox.
  4. In the Properties pane, set the Multi-Select property to Yes.
  5. On the Explorer bar, click Page Explorer, and then Prompt Pages.
  6. Click Prompt Page 1.
  7. Click the Project prompt control.
  8. In the Properties pane, set the Multi-Select property to Yes.
  9. On the Explorer bar, click Query Explorer. The report has five queries, one for each of the three charts (Defects by State, Defects by Severity, and Defects by Priority), one to select the program, and one to select the project.
  10. Click DefectByState.
  11. Double-click the filter expression associated with the Project prompt.
  12. Change the operator [Project]=?AllProject? to [Project] in (?AllProject?).
  13. Click Validate Expression, and click OK.
  14. Repeat steps 10 to 12 for the two queries: DefectBySeverity and DefectByPriority.

Add a Prompt button

To run the customized report, you need to add a Prompt button.
  1. Select Page1 in the page explorer under Report Pages folder.
  2. In the Insertable Objects pane, on the Toolbox tab, drag Prompt Button prompt icon to the work area.Insertable Objects
  3. Click the prompt icon and, in the Properties pane, set the Type property to Finish. This will enable you to run the report, because in this case Auto-submit is set to No.

Select multiple projects

You are now ready to generate a report showing defect status and distribution for multiple projects.

  1. From the Run menu, click Run Report - HTML.
  2. In the Parameters page, select PPMProgram from the Program list. Use the Ctrl key to select Auction, and Bid management from the Project list.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. Validate your report to make sure that it contains no errors. From the Tools menu, click Validate Report. A message box opens indicating whether any errors were found in the report.
  5. Verify that the report correctly contains data from multiple projects before saving.
  6. Save your report to preserve the modifications that you made. To save a copy of the report under a different name, from the File menu, click Save, or click Save As.

Lesson checkpoint

In this tutorial you learnt how to customize sample reports by making them multi-project. Consolidation of projects in this manner provides managers with a top-level view of groups of projects. They can focus on the macro picture, identify issues that affect the group in general, and then drill down into individual projects if necessary. For more information about how to customize reports see IBM Cognos Connection User Guide and Report Studio Professional Authoring Guide.
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