Unexpected or Empty Results When Drilling Through

When you drill from a source report to a target report, there might be no data returned. This might be the correct result if there is no data that corresponds to the drill-through selections or if you do not have permission to view the data.

In other cases, if no data or the wrong data appears, the source item might not be mapped to the target correctly or the values in the data sources might not be conformed (the values do not match in both data sources).

If you have the necessary permissions, you can debug drill-through definitions by using the drill-through assistant from the Go To page (right-click the selection in the source report and select Go To). You can view the passed source values and the mapping to the target report parameters. You can use this tool for both authored and package drill-through definitions.

You might be able to correct the problem by modifying the parameter mapping in the drill-through definition. For example, when you drill from a cube to a relational data source, sometimes no data is returned or the wrong data is returned because the business key values in the two data sources do not match. You can change the drill-through definition to pass the caption of the IBM® Cognos PowerCube member instead of the business key, but you must also change the target report to filter on the corresponding string value and not the business key value.

However, it is best to ensure the data sources are conformed. In this example, the business keys in the cube should match the business keys in the relational source. Filtering on a key is more efficient than filtering on a larger string that may or may not be indexed in the database.

For more information on data source conformance, search for "conformed dimensions" and "business keys" in the IBM Cognos Transformer User Guide.

Procedure

Ensure that the target report filters on a string value that matches the caption being passed from the PowerCube.
Edit the drill-through definition as follows:
- If the drill-through definition was created in IBM Cognos Report Studio, open the report, and go to the drill-through definition associated with the drill-through source object. On the parameter mapping page, select Member Caption in the Property to pass column.
- If the drill-through definition was created in the source package, go to IBM Cognos Connection, Drill-Through Definitions, and open the package drill-through definition. On the Target tab of the drill-through definition, select Member Caption in the Property to pass column for the appropriate parameter.

Results

When you drill through, instead of the business key, the caption is passed to the target.

You might also want to see Data Does Not Appear in a Target Report or the Wrong Data Appears. For more information about drill-through access, see the Drill-Through Access chapter in the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Administration and Security Guide.