Cognos Report Prompts Job Aid

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1 CognosReportPrompts JobAid Reportpromptsallowyoutospecifyselectioncriteriathatdeterminewhatinformationisincludedinthereport. Thesepromptsmaybeoptionalorrequired. Theorangeasteriskindicatesapromptisrequired. Theorangearrowindicatesavaluehasnotyetbeenenteredforarequiredprompt. Scrolldowntoseeallprompts. Thereportintheimageaboveincludesfourpromptsforthereport;theFiscalYearandtheAccountingPeriodare requiredprompts.Youmustcompletetherequiredprompts,butyoualsomaywanttousetheoptionalpromptsto narrowyourreportresults.Ifyouleaveapromptblank,thisindicatesthatyouwanttoincludeallvaluesforthe promptinyourreport.Forexample,ifyouleavetheFundpromptblank,allFundsareincludedinthereport. Usethepromptswisely.Usingtoomanypromptsmayexcludedatayouneed,butnotusingenoughmayproducea largereportwhichrequiresalongerprocessingtime. Revision00 Page1 of8

2 CognosReportPrompts JobAid SingleSelectPrompt Inasingleselectpromptyouchooseonevaluefromthelist.Thelistmaybepresentedinoneofthefollowingformats: Dropdownlist:Editboxesthatdisplayasmall arrowtotherightofthefieldindicateadropdown listisavailable.Clickthearrowtodisplaythelist andthenselectonevalue. Radiobuttons:Roundoptionsthatappearin groupsoftwoormore.Youcanselectonlyone radiobuttoninthegroup. Listbox:Alistofvaluesinagroupedarrangement. Youcanselectonlyoneiteminthelist. MultiSelectPrompt Inamultiselectpromptyouchooseoneormorevaluesfromthelist.Thelistmaybepresentedinoneofthe followingformats: Checkboxes:Squareoptionsthatappearingroups oftwoormore.Youcanselectanyorallcheck boxesinthegroup. Listbox:Alistofvaluesinagroupedarrangement. Clicktoselectanysinglevalueinthelist.Orpress theCtrlbuttonandselectmultiplevaluesinthelist. Hyperlinksareavailableinbothoftheselisttypesto allowyoutoselectalloftheoptionsorclearallofthe optionsatonce.TheSelectallandDeselectalllinks appearbelowthelist. Revision00 Page2 of8

3 CognosReportPrompts JobAid SearchandSelectPrompts(SingleSelect) Forsingleselectsearchprompts,twofieldsappear: KeywordsandChoice.Yousearchforakeywordto createalistofvalues,whichwillbedisplayedinthe Choicegroupbox. NOTE:ClicktheOptionslinkbelowtheKeywords sectiontodefinetheoperatorforthesearch,suchas startingwithorcontainingthekeyword.Youcan alsoclicktheCaseinsensitivecheckboxtosearch allvaluesregardlessofwhetherthedatawas enteredinuppercaseorlowercase. Whenyousearch,youcanenter%(percentsign), whichactsasawildcard.Whenyouclickthe Searchbutton,thefirst1000valuesarepopulatedin theChoicegroupbox.ClickavalueintheChoice listtoselectit. SearchandSelectPrompts(MultiSelect) Formultiselectsearchprompts,threesectionsappear: Keywords,Results,andChoice.Yousearchfora keywordtocreatealistofvalues,andthenselectoneor morevaluesfromthelist.Youcanperformmultiple consecutivesearchestoaddmanyvaluestothelist. NOTE:ClicktheOptionslinkbelowtheKeywords sectiontodefinetheoperatorforthesearch,suchas startingwithorcontainingthekeyword.Youcan alsoclicktheCaseinsensitivecheckboxtosearch allvaluesregardlessofwhetherthedatawas enteredinuppercaseorlowercase. Whenyousearch,youcanenter%(percentsign), whichactsasawildcard.Whenyouclickthe Searchbutton,thefirst1000valuesarepopulatedin theChoicegroupbox. SelectmultiplevaluesintheResultslistbyholding downCTRLonyourkeyboard,andthenclickthe InsertbuttontomovethemtotheChoicegroupbox. TheSelectallandDeselectalllinksarealsoavailable. Revision00 Page3 of8

4 CognosReportPrompts JobAid DatePrompts Inadatepromptyouspecifyadateorrangeofdatesforthereportcriteria. Clickthecalendarbuttontodisplayacalendarfromwhichyoucanselectthedate.Thecalendarallowsyouto scrollthroughthemonthsandyearstofindthedate. Youalsocantypethedateinmostaccepteddateformats,suchasusingslashesordashestoseparatethemonth, day,andyear. NOTE:Ifyouleavethedatepromptblank,Cognosusestodaysdateastheselectioncriteria(onlyifthepromptisnot required). TreePrompts Inatreeprompt,youdrilldownthroughahierarchyof data,similartoafolderstructure,andclickthecheck boxtoselectvalues. Whenyouselectavalue,Cognosautomatically includesallvaluesthatfallbelowtheselectedvaluein thehierarchy. Forexample,intheexampleontheright: IfyouselectPrincetonUnivProvost,alloptions belowPrincetonUnivProvostarealsoselected. Or,ifyouselectAcademicDepartments,alloptions belowthatlevelareselected,eventhosethatarenot currentlyvisible. Alternatively,ifyouselectoneormore Departmentsfromlowerlevels,forexample, ElectricalEng,youhaveonlyselectedthose Departmentsandthelevelsdirectlyunderneath them.ThelevelsabovewillNOTbeincludedinthe report,eveniftheyaregreyedoutwithcheckmarks. Revision00 Page4 of8

5 CognosReportPrompts JobAid PromptCombinations Insomecases,morethanoneprompttypeisavailablefor thereportcriteria.Inthisexample,ifyouknowyour departmentnumberand/orname,itismoreefficientto usetheSearchandSelectPromptoption.However,if youareunsureofwhatdepartmenttolookfororyou wanttoseehowdepartmentsarerelatedtoeachother, thentheTreePromptoptionprovidesahierarchical structurethatismoreusefulforyoursearch. Firstselecttheradiobuttonforthetypeofprompt youwanttouse.Cognosrefreshesthepagetodisplay theappropriateprompttypefields. Thenselectyourreportcriteriausingtheappropriate instructionsfortheselectedprompttype. CascadingPrompts Incascadingprompts,thevalue(s)selectedinone promptdeterminethevaluesavailableinthenext prompt. Intheexampleontheright,youmustfirstsearch andselectanaward. AfteryouselectanawardintheChoicegroupbox, youclicktheLoadProjectsbuttontoseethe availableprojectsforthataward. PromptSelectionsinReportHeader Theheaderofareportdisplaysyourselectioncriteriaforallprompts.Ifyouprefertodisplaythecriteriaona summarypageattheendofthereport,deselecttheDisplayPromptSelectionsinHeadercheckboxbeforeyourun thereport. Revision00 Page5 of8

6 CognosReportPrompts JobAid TipsforSearchingandSelectingPromptValues WhenyouclicktheSearchbutton,onlythefirst1000valuesarepopulatedintheChoicegroupbox. WhenyouperformasearchonthePromptpage,youcanenterawildcard(%)atthebeginning,middle, and/ortheendofyoursearchcriteria.Wildcardsareusedinplaceofunknowncharactersifyoudonotknow theexactvalueforaprompt.Youcanalsouseablankspacebetweenwordsordoublequotestohelpwith yoursearch. Examples: o Ifyouentered%engineering,allthevaluesthathaveengineeringinthenamewilldisplay. o Ifyouentered%electricalengineering%,allvaluesthathaveelectricalORengineeringinthe namewilldisplay. o Ifyouenteredelectricalengineering,allvaluesthathaveelectricalengineeringinthenamewill display. ClicktheOptionslinkbelowtheKeywordssectiontodefinetheoperatorforthesearch,suchasstartingwith orcontainingthekeyword. YoucanclicktheCaseinsensitivecheckboxtosearchallvaluesregardlessofwhetherthedatawasenteredin uppercaseorlowercase. Youcanselectmultipleindividualvaluesbydoingthefollowing: o IntheKeywordsfield,entertheindividualvaluesseparatedbyablankspace. Revision00 Page6 of8

7 CognosReportPrompts JobAid o ClickSearch. ThespecifiedvaluesdisplayintheResultsgroupbox. o Toselectthevalues,clicktheSelectalllinktoselectallofthevalues,orclickeachoneindividually whilepressingtheCTRLkeyonyourkeyboard. Revision00 Page7 of8

8 CognosReportPrompts JobAid o Afteryouhaveselectedallofthevaluesyouwanttoincludeinthereport,clicktheInsertbutton. TheselectedvaluesarenowdisplayedintheChoicegroupbox. Revision00 Page8 of8

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