Saving report output files in IBM Cognos software

Users can save copies of report output files in IBM® Cognos® software. All report output files are saved to a location specified in Content Manager.

Before you begin

Before using this functionality, set the Save report outputs to a file system property in IBM Cognos Configuration to true. For more information, see the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide.

About this task

You must specify a location in Content Manager where copies of the report output files will be saved. The location applies to saved output originating from the selected Content Manager service. This location is represented by the CM.OutPutLocation parameter.

When you save a report output this way, an XML descriptor file is also created for the output file. The descriptor file contains information about the report output, such as the name, locale, creation time, burst key, search path for the associated report, and report version contact. The descriptor file takes the name of the output file with the added suffix _desc. For example, a saved PDF report named 158_1075940415360.pdf will have a descriptor file named 158_1075940415360_desc.xml.

You can also specify a script so that post-processing commands can be run each time a report output is copied to the file system.

Procedure

Follow the steps in the section Configuring advanced settings for specific services.
For the ContentManagerService, define the following parameters:
- CM.OutPutLocation
  Specifies a location in IBM Cognos software where copies of report output files are saved. Old report versions are not deleted from this location when new versions are saved. This location must be properly managed so that only selected report versions are kept.
  
  This parameter is mandatory if you want to save report output files in IBM Cognos software.
- CM.OutputScript
  Specifies the location and name of a shell script, such as a .bat or .sh file, that runs after the report output is saved to the target directory. Full names of the report output file and the associated descriptor file are passed to the script. This parameter is optional.
- CM.OutputByBurstKey
  This parameter is applicable when report output is distributed by bursting. It specifies whether to store report output files in a subdirectory with the same name as the burst key. The default is false, which means that the output is not stored by the burst keys.