Bursting Reports
Bursting is the process of running a report once and then dividing the results for distribution to
recipients who each view only a subset of the data. For example, salespeople in different
regions each need a report showing the sales target for each country. You use burst reports to
send each salesperson the information they need. Burst reports can be distributed by email or
saved to a directory.
To create a burst report, you
❑ create a burst table in the source database
❑ import the database metadata into Framework Manager
❑ create the report and set burst options in Cognos Report Studio
Creating a Burst Table in the Data Source
To create a burst report, you must first create a burst table in the source database. The steps to
create a burst table depends on the database system you are using. The burst table must
contain the following information:
• a unique identifier
Tip: Some database systems do not require a unique identifier for each table.
• the list of recipients
• the data item that you want to burst on
Importing the Database Metadata into Framework Manager
After you create the burst table in the source database, import the database metadata into
Framework Manager. Then publish the resulting model to Cognos Connection to make it
available in Cognos Report Studio.
For more information, see the Framework Manager User Guide.
Create the Report and Set Burst Options in Cognos Report Studio
After the Framework Manager model is published to Cognos Connection, use it to build your
report. Ensure that the report contains the query item that represents the list of recipients, and
group it. Then set the burst options you want. In the burst options, two pieces of information, a
burst key and a burst recipient, are required. The burst key defines how the data should be
filtered and divided. The burst recipient determines who receives the subset of data.
Steps
1. Open the report that you want.
2. From the File menu, click Burst Options.
3. Select the Make report available for bursting check box.
4. Under Burst Key, in the Query box, click the query that contains the query item to be
distributed.
5. In the Level box, click the query item to be distributed in each burst report.
6. In the Label box, click the query item to be used to label each burst report.
7. Under Burst Recipient, in the Query box, click the query that contains the query item to be
used as the distribution list.
8. In the Item box, click the query item that contains the list of recipients.
9. In the Type box, select the type of recipients specified via the Item box.
• Click Email if the recipients are email addresses.
• Click Directory if the recipients are users, groups, roles, contacts, or distribution lists.
• Click Automatic to let ReportNet determine whether the recipients are email addresses
or directory entries.
10. Click OK.
After you set burst options for a report, enable the report for bursting in Cognos Connection. For
more information, see the ReportNet Administration and Security Guide.
Creating Burst Reports Using an SAP BW Data Source
You can burst a report that is based on an SAP BW data source by using burst information
stored within an SAP BW reporting object. It is assumed that you do not want to append
bursting information to existing SAP BW InfoCubes.
Note that bursting information can also be placed in any relational data source.
In the SAP Administrator Workbench, the characteristic must contain the burst information and
the values must represent a form of user identification, such as SAP BW user IDs. If you use
email addresses to burst, add an attribute that contains the user's email address to the
characteristic.
For each characteristic that is used as a burst key in Cognos Report Studio, add a presentation
hierarchy to the burst characteristic based on the burst key characteristic. The child nodes of
each of the presentation hierarchy nodes are the intended recipients of the reports that are burst by that particular burst key value.
For example, the burst information is contained in a characteristic called BurstInfo and the
values of the characteristic are
• Tom
• Fred
• Mary
• Liz
You want to burst reports by the values of the Country characteristic. Therefore, define the
presentation hierarchy BurstByCountry for the BurstInfo characteristic as follows:
• USA
• Tom
• Fred
• Canada
• Mary
• Germany
• Liz
In Framework Manager, you must include both the InfoCube that is the basis for reporting, and
the burst InfoCube, which is BurstInfo in the example above, in the model.
In Cognos Report Studio, you must create a master-detail report in which the master query
drives the report of interest and the detail query contains the burst information.
The master report must be grouped by a characteristic for which exists a corresponding
presentation hierarchy in the burst InfoCube.
The detail report is authored against the burst InfoCube and contains two columns, the query
item corresponding to the one used in the master report for bursting, and the query item that
contains the value on which bursting is performed. The value can be an email address or an
expression used to obtain address information based on the underlying authentication
mechanism used by Cognos Access Manager.
The detail report must not be visible, but must be evaluated by ReportNet when the report is
executed. Do the following:
• Place the detail report in a conditional block for which the box type is set to None.
• Link the master and detail reports with the expression [Master Burst Key] = [Detail Burst
Key].
When setting the burst options for the report, the master query provides the query items for the burst key and the detail report provides the query items for the burst recipients.
