Creating a Basic Analysis

Create an analysis to help you make more effective business decisions by exploring significant relationships in your company data.

You can also open an existing analysis to use as the basis of a new analysis.

Before you can create an analysis, the administrator must have created a package in IBM® Cognos® Framework Manager and published it to a location in the IBM Cognos Connection portal to which you have access.

For an example about creating a basic analysis, see Example - Create a Crosstab for an Analysis of Order Method Revenue.

If you are already comfortable with the IBM Cognos Analysis Studio fundamentals, you may want to refine your analysis by using tasks such as manipulating the rows and columns, filtering data, calculating data, and sharing the results.

Create a New Analysis
You can create a new analysis using either a blank analysis or the default analysis.
Finding the Items That You Need
The source tree for the package that you select can contain large amounts of data. To find the items that you need in the source tree, you can
Limitations When Inserting Multiple Hierarchies from the Same Dimension
You can insert multiple hierarchies from the same dimension in a crosstab. For example, you can place one hierarchy from a dimension on one edge of the crosstab and another hierarchy from the same dimension nested on the same edge, on another edge, or in the Context filter area.
Inserting Items
You insert items from the source tree as rows and columns in a crosstab to create sets for analysis. A set is a collection of like data. For example, you can have a set of data named years that includes quarters as details.
The Default Measure
The default measure specifies the measure to use for a crosstab or chart if the measure is not set by one of the existing axes.
Save an Analysis
Save the analysis to preserve any changes.
Save an Analysis as the Basis of a New Analysis
You can save an analysis using a different name or location to use it as the basis of a new analysis.
Open an Existing Analysis
You can open an existing analysis to view the current data, make changes to it, or use it as the basis of a new analysis.
References to Inaccessible or Missing Items
When you open an existing analysis, it may reference items from the underlying data source that are missing or inaccessible. This may occur for one of these reasons:
The IBM Cognos Business Intelligence lineage tool
The IBM Cognos Business Intelligence lineage tool includes two views: the business view and the technical view.
Using Lineage
View lineage information of a data item to see what the item represents before you add it to a report. Lineage information traces the metadata of an item back through the package and the data sources used by the package. Lineage also displays any data item filters that were added by the report author or that were defined in the data model. Viewing lineage information ensures that you add the correct data items to a report. For example, you can view the lineage information of a model calculation to see how it was created.
Access to the IBM InfoSphere Business Glossary
If you use the IBM InfoSphere® Business Glossary, you can access the glossary from any of the following data objects:
Insert Items From Multiple Levels of a Dimension
Use selection-based sets to position one or more items from a dimension adjacent to each other in the crosstab for a mixed grain comparison.
Insert All the Items of a Level
You can simultaneously insert all the items of a level.
Insert Items Without Details
If you are interested in only the summarized results, you can insert items without details.
Example - Create a Crosstab for an Analysis of Order Method Revenue
You are a business analyst at the Sample Outdoors Company, which sells sporting equipment. You are asked to analyze the consequences of discontinuing the fax and mail order methods, which are expensive to process.