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Overview
Instructions on how to navigate to, and run, reports in Cognos Analytics.
Navigation Options
Upon logging into Cognos, you begin with the Cognos Analytics Portal welcome page.
Navigation and actions take place in three areas, the Top Application Bar, the Side Navigation Bar and the Switcher (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Cognos Front Page, with main navigation options highlighted
As you run reports, many windows open within the portal so if you lose your way, you can use the Switcher in the middle of the top application bar to see all of the reports you have open (Figure 2).
- Clicking on IDR | Cognos option will take you back to the main Cognos Analytics Portal page
- Clicking on the X icon to the right of the content item name will close the report or folder
Figure 2: Cognos Switcher, used for managing the multiple windows that the application opens for report runs
Running a report
- From the left side navigation bar, click into an Enterprise report folder (Student, HR, or Finance), or use the main Content link to navigate to the folder of interest (Figure 3). The Tile/List View toggle switches the folder view - List View will be more familiar to long time Cognos users. Content can be added to the users list of Favorites for easy navigation
Figure 3: Cognos Folder Navigation Features
- Select the report name to run the report in the default format (typically HTML), or,
- To run the report directly to Excel or PDF, bring up the Action Menu by selecting the three dots
to the right of the report name, or right-clicking the report name, and select Run As.
- The Run As option will launch a new window that will allow you to select the desired output format and configure background run options, if desired. (Figure 4). HTML format outputs to the browser window. Other formats are routed to the browser file download area.
Figure 4: The Cognos Run As Menu
- After running a report, there are options for Resetting the prompt values and running the report or running the current output to a different format available on the Top Application Bar (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Options for rerunning the active report
Running a report in the background
When running a report that may take a while or if you would like to work in Cognos while a report is running, you can opt to run a report in the background.
- Follow the directions in the previous section through Step 3.
- Select Run in background and the desired output format (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Running the report in the background with report output formatting options.
- Select the delivery method. If you would like to send the report by email only, select Send the report by email, then uncheck the Save box (Figure 7).
Figure 7. The Run As menu with report delivery options.
- To specify the details of email delivery, click on Edit details (Figure 7). Here you can specify the email recipients, subject of the email, a message (optional), and choose to have the report output attached to the email (Figure 8).
Figure 8. The Run As menu with email details.
- After specifying the details of the email delivery, you can select Run to run the report or click the arrow to return to the previous menu and review the details of the job before clicking Run.
To set up a schedule to run a report, see the article How to Schedule a Report in Cognos.
Report Output Sharing
Report output can be shared by hard copy or email but the expectation is that information sharing will be limited to UO business purposes. Electronic data and reports need to be kept on university servers. You are constrained in your use and sharing of data by the agreement you signed when hired and when you gained a Cognos account.
Additional Support
For further assistance, contact the IDR Team by clicking the Create a Ticket button at the top of the article.
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