I've been teaching reporting with Cognos since it first released in 2003 (and before that with Impromptu).
I have a few tips that I show users in my classes that always makes someone really happy. There is nothing new here - if you are still using Cognos 10, these tricks should still work (thought the settings will be in different places).
Here is the first tip.
Output to Excel
If you have built a report in Report Studio/Authoring and you have exported it to excel (like most reports are), one of my favourite tips is preventing the report from doing the merging of cells in excel.
If I have a list or a crosstab report with grouping and I want the report to be able to be exported as PDF, HTML, or Excel, I don't want to have to design a page for every output type.
When I run the report at HTML and PDF, I want the grouping to look like this:
When I run it as Excel, though, the grouping is great for subtotals but it limits what I can do to further work with the output in Excel.
If I try to do something like filtering in Excel, I get this as a result:
Not ideal.
But, with a quick property change, I can keep the grouping functionality but not create the merged columns in Excel.
In report authoring, if I click on the Report and go to the property sheet, I can change the property "Group repeating cells - Export to Excel" to No.
When I run to PDF or HTML, I see the grouped report as before. When I run to Excel, here is what happens:
If you are in still in Cognos 10, you can find this option under File > Report Properties. Also, if you are still in Cognos 10, you should call PMsquare and we can help you with your upgrade. It's time. :)
Thank you! <3