Hands-on Lab 6: Advanced Dashboard Capabilities in

Cognos Analytics
Estimated time needed: 30 minutes

In this lab, you will learn and leverage some advanced Cognos Analytics dashboard capabilities. You will learn how to create calculations, how to
keep/exclude data points from a visualization, how to set top/bottom on a visualization, how to create and leverage navigation paths and lastly, how to
filter data in a dashboard.

Software Used in this Lab

Like the videos in the course, for the hands-on labs we will be using IBM Cognos Analytics trial version (currently limited to 30 days) as this is available at
no charge.

Dataset Used in this Lab

The dataset used in this lab comes from the VM designed to showcase IBM Cognos Analytics. Source:
https://www.ibm.com/cloud/garage/dte/tutorial/ibm-cognos-analytics-1113-getting-started-exploration-0. This dataset is published by IBM. You can
download the dataset file directly from here: CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv

Objectives
After completing this lab, you will be able to:

Start a new dashboard.

Create calculations.
Keep/exclude data points from a visualization.
Set top/bottom on a visualization.
Create and leverage navigation paths.
Filter data in a dashboard.

Exercise 1 : Start a New Dashboard

In this exercise, you will start a new dashboard for working with advanced Cognos Analytics dashboard capabilities.

1. To sign in to the Cognos Analytics platform with your IBMid, go to myibm.ibm.com/dashboard/.

2. Enter your IBMid and password.

3. Scroll down and click Launch.

4. From the Recent section, click on the uploaded data file CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv.

5. The Template window will be displayed, allowing you to select the type of dashboard and the template style. Select the tabbed dashboard style.
This will allow you to have multiple pages for your dashboards. Select the five-panel template, then click Create.
6. To save the newly created dashboard, press CTRL+S. Select 'My content' as the Destination. On the Save as: text field, type "Advanced dashboard",
and click Save.

7. As you build the dashboard, the location placement for Widgets in the dashboard template will be referenced using the following Panel numbers.

8. From the Data Source panel, select Revenue and drag it to the center of Panel 1, releasing it once you see the drop zone turn blue.
 9. Click on the Summary chart in Panel 1 to bring it into focus. From the on-demand toolbar, click Summarize. Then select Average.

10. Click on the Summary chart in Panel 1 if needed to bring it into focus. From the on-demand toolbar, click Edit the title. Enter the title "Average
Revenue" to the visualization.

11. From the Navigation panel, select Widgets to open the widgets panel. Drag and drop Money coin from Shapes to the center of Panel 1.
 12. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

13. Your Panel 1 widget should look like the one below:

Exercise 2 : Working with Advanced Cognos Analytics

Dashboard Capabilities
In this exercise, you will practice some advanced Cognos Analytics dashboard capabilities.

Task A : Create Calculations

Task B : Keep/Exclude Data Points from a visualization
Task C : Set Top/Bottom on a visualization
Task D : Create and Leverage Navigation Paths
Task E : Filter Data in Current tab

Task A : Create Calculations

1. From the Navigation panel, select Sources to open the data source panel, if it is not already open. The Data Source panel displays the uploaded
file “CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv” as the Selected Source.

2. Right-click on the CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv of data source panel and select Calculation.

3. Name the calculation as "Margin". From panel Components to the field Expression, drag and drop Unit_Sale_Price, type minus - and then drag
and drop Unit_Cost. Click OK.

4. On the Data Source panel, expand CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv, if needed. From the Data Source panel, select Margin and drag it to the center of
Panel 2, releasing it once you see the drop zone turn blue.

5. Click on the Summary chart in Panel 2 to bring it into focus. Right-click on the Summary chart in Panel 2 and select Summarize. Then select
Average.

6. Right-click on the Summary chart in Panel 2 and select Format. Then select Currency. Finally select $(USD) as the currency.
 7. Click on the Summary chart in Panel 2 if needed to bring it into focus. From the on-demand toolbar, click Edit the title. Enter the title "Average
Margin" to the visualization.

8. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

9. Your Panel 2 widget should look like the one below:

Task B : Keep/Exclude Data Points from a Visualization

1. On the Data Source panel, expand CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv, if needed. From the Data Source panel, press CTRL and select Revenue, Product
Line and drag it to the center of Panel 3, releasing it once you see the drop zone turn blue.

2. From the Data Source panel, press select Location Code and drag it to the drop zone of Color of Panel 3.

3. Right-click on the Suburban data point of the panel 3 visualization. Select Exclude.
 4. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

5. Your Panel 3 widget should look like the one below:

Task C : Set Top/Bottom on a Visualization

1. From the Data Source panel, press CTRL and select Quantity Sold, City and drag it to the center of Panel 4, releasing it once you see the drop
zone turn blue.

2. Click on the chart in panel 4 to bring it into focus and render the on-demand toolbar.

3. Click the Change Visualization button in the on-demand toolbar. Use the arrow “>” to expand All Visualizations. Find and select Column.

4. Click on the Column chart in panel 4 to bring it into focus. Right-click on the axis label Quantity Sold (Sum) and select Top or bottom.

5. Set the value of Number of results as 10. Select Top count.

 6. From the on-demand toolbar, click Edit the title. Enter the title "Top 10 Quantity Sold by City" to the visualization.

7. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

8. Your Panel 4 widget should look like the one below:

Task D : Create and Leverage Navigation Paths

1. Click on the Create navigation path of Navigation paths of the data source panel.

2. In the Create navigation path dialog box, expand CustomerLoyaltyProgram.csv, if needed. Select, drag and release Order Year, Quarter, Country,
City sequentially, maintaining the order(shown on the image below) on the right panel. Once done, click OK.
3. From the Data Source panel, press CTRL and select Margin, Product Line, Order Year and drag it to the center of Panel 5, releasing it once you
see the drop zone turn blue.

4. Click on the chart in panel 5 to bring it into focus and render the on-demand toolbar.

5. Click the Change Visualization button in the on-demand toolbar. Use the arrow “>” to expand Recommended visualizations. Find and Select
Bar.

6. Right-click on the axis label Order Year. Select Navigate.

7. One by one select Order Year, Quarter, Country, City to navigate among the columns of the navigation paths and observe the resulting panel 5
visualization. Lastly, keep the Order Year selected.

8. Alternative interactive way with Drill down/back:

Click on the chart in panel 5 to bring it into focus if needed.

Right-click on 2016 Smart Electronics bar of the bar chart.

Select Drill down.

 Now right-click on Q1 Smart Electronics bar of the bar chart.

Select Drill back.

9. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

10. Your Panel 5 widget should look like the one below:

Task E : Filter Data in the Current Tab

1. If required, click Filters in the Dashboard Toolbar to display the filters pane.

2. From the Data Source panel, select Product Line and drag and release it on the This tab filter panel on the right-hand side.
 3. Click on the Product Line filter tab of This tab filter panel. Select Computers and Home Office, Photography, TV and Video Gaming. Click OK.

4. To save the current work in the dashboard, press CTRL+S.

Finally, your dashboard should look like below:

Congratulations! You have completed Lab 6, and you are ready for the next topic.

Author(s)
Sandip Saha Joy

Other Contributor(s)
Steve Ryan
Changelog
Date Version Changed by Change Description

2020-10-02 1.1 Steve Ryan ID review

2020-09-24 1.0 Sandip Saha Joy Initial version created

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