Drill-though is a well-covered topic in Cognos Analytics but there is one feature of drill-through that seems to get overlooked: bookmarks.
The ability to drill to a bookmark can be found on the second tab of the drill-through definitions. This is such a useful feature if you have really big reports that are being generated. Drilling to a bookmark can allow the user to navigate easily from one point the the output to another.
Another amazing feature of bookmarks is that, unlike traditional drill-through, drill-through to a bookmark works in both pdf and excel outputs.
Using bookmarks for drill through
Here is an example of how to build a drill-through to a bookmark report. You can use the Great outdoors data module that is part of the Cognos Analytics.
Build a list that just contains Product line.
Build a second list with Product line, Product type, Product, and Revenue. Group on Product line and Product type.
Unlock the report:
From the toolbox, add a Bookmark to the second list (make sure it is unlocked first) next to the Product line text item.
Select the bookmark in the list and, in the property sheet, set it to Data item value.
Lock the report again (same button).
Add a Drill-through to the top list on the Product line.
Run the report as a PDF. Notice that you can drill directly to the correct spot in the second list. This will also work in a saved HTML format and in Excel output.
Back in edit mode, add a bookmark to the top list next to the Product Line label (unlock report first).
Click on the bookmark and in Properties, Add “Back to top” next to Label. Lock the report again.
Add drill through to the Product line in the second list. Drill to a bookmark: Source type: Text, Text: Back to top.
Save the report and run it to PDF.
This example should work in all versions of Cognos Analytics (10.2, 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, 12.0).