How to Save and View Report Versions in Cognos Analytics

Overview

The following article describes how to save a version of a Cognos Analytics 11 report and then view or download that report at any time.

Information

It can be beneficial to use the following technique of saving and retrieving a Cognos Analytics 11 report version in the following situations:

1. The report takes a long time to run and creates a large data set that is too big to send via emal (10MB or larger)
2. Saving multiple versions of a report can be used as a point-in-time file for trend reporting

A report version can be created whenever a report is run in the background, either by selecting Run as in the menu of a report, or by scheduling the report to run. This article will just show how to save and view the report version by selecting Run as , but the same result can be done via a report schedule.

Creating a report version

1. Navigate to the report in the menu and click the More  button that is to the right of the report name.
2. Click the Run as item
   
3. Toggle the Run in background button
   
4. Expand the Advanced area
5. Select the arrow to the right of the Delivery option 
6. If you want an email letting you know the report has finished running, check the box to Send report by email
    
   1. Leave the Attach the report box unchecked
      
   2. Your user should show by default in the To: field but you could change or add additional addresses as desired
   3. Leave the Include a link to the report box checked
      
   4. Leave the Save report box checked
      
7. Click Done
   

Viewing a report version

You can use the link in the email to access your report version, or select it at any time in Cognos.

1. Navigate to the report in the menu and click the More  button that is to the right of the report name
2. Click the View versions item
   
3. Click the desired version date (if multiple exist) to expand the version
   
4. Click the desired version format (if multiple exist)
   
5. An HTML or PDF version will show in your browser window, Excel, Excel Data or CSV will be downloaded to your computer

Allowing multiple report versions

By default, Cognos only allows one report version to be saved and will overwrite an existing version for subsequent saves. To allow for more report versions, make the following change for that report:

1. Navigate to the report in the menu and click the More  button that is to the right of the report name
2. Click the Properties item
   
3. Click the Report tab
   
4. Expand the Advanced area
5. Modify the report output version value to the desired amount
   
6. You should take note that the Default portal action is set to View most recent report . If you would rather get a fresh version of the report when you select it, change this to Run the report . You can still access the saved version through the View version area.