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I am trying to schedule 10 reports that go to the same table and ask for the same columns, except that they differ in a key value (i.e. the report selects column a, b, c from table A but differ in the where clause = 'CLIENT1', = 'CLIENT2', etc).

I was wondering if I can use the same report and set an external variable before running it that defines that where clause. All of this scheduled so that I don't have to set the variable manually.

So what I want is for the report to run itself 10 times using 10 different external variables that define the key value of the client.

If such a thing is possible I would gladly take some help.

Thanks!

arunpandiyarajhen
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TheMadCapLaughs27
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3 Answers3

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2 - Options.

Your Scenario. Its sounds like you want to pre-run the report by several different Clients.

Options - Not in any order

  1. Bursting allows you to pre-run and/or pre-deliver a report based on a burst key(Your client id). The report is ran for the entire data set and then spliced by the burst key. You can store these as report output versions and/or target them to be emailed to specific users etc... (This was a popular feature in Cognos created several years back and plenty of documentation on it in the manuals). These reports can be scheduled and pre-ran so you dont' have to wait for Database queries etc...

  2. Report views - You can create a report view on top of report that is nothing more than a logical not physical instance of the report with its own default parameters etc.. This way you can create one report and create as many views on top of it as necessary with differing parameters. These can also be scheduled and pre-ran.

Hope this helps.

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    I read that you cannot burst crosstab reports. What exactly can I burst= Will I be able to burst tables, charts, etc? – TheMadCapLaughs27 Jan 25 '13 at 13:53
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    You can burst a crosstab but it is quirky to get setup sometimes.... here is an article that helps http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21341874 –  Jan 25 '13 at 14:57
  • and of course charts etc... can be bursted as well. It was designed for your exact purpose. There are some issues when doing some very advanced things but almost all of them have work arounds and more than likely you won't hit them in later versions. –  Jan 25 '13 at 15:08
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Report View would help you in this situation. Add a prompt to the report to select the choice for which you wanna run the report. Create 10 report views as you wanna schedule the report 10 times. In each report view select different values (1 value out of 10) ie. in first report view select CLIENT1, in the second report view select CLIENT2,etc... Schedule all the reports. Its done!!! When Compared to Report View, Bursting would be better as the data execution would be done once in Bursting but in Report View, it will be executed based on the number of report views present. Maintenance is easier in case of Bursting.

arunpandiyarajhen
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    but if I have more clients I would need a more views. It would be like having the same report a lot of times but without the physic space. I am trying to get a grip on bursting to see if I can use it to have only one report that runs like a script sending the same report to all the clients but with a different where clause in each one of them – TheMadCapLaughs27 Jan 25 '13 at 13:49
  • Yeah, I agree. Since you said that you wanna schedule small number of reports, I've suggested Report view. – arunpandiyarajhen Jan 25 '13 at 14:21
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If you have problems getting bursting working, you can probably also use pagesets.

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/c8bi/v8r4m0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.swg.im.cognos.ug_cr_rptstd.8.4.0.doc/ug_cr_rptstd_id28446cr_rptstd_frmat_rep_create_page_set.html

Nick.Mc
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