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Using Cognos HTS for Report Review and
Approvals
Business Analytics software
© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Report Review or Approval Flow
Overview

Creates
Report

Create a Report
Review or
Approval Flow
Approve/Reject

Run agent via
Run Options in
Cognos portal






Request
appears in
Inbox
Updated
request
Create a Taskflow Agent in Event Studio
 Step 2ba: Create an event condition
– For reviews or approvals that are to start when the agent is run, specify an event condition that will always be true.
e.g. 1=1
 Step 2b: Select the report to be reviewed or approved
 Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
– If just one person within a group just needs to approve, then a group can be specified
 Repeat Steps 2c for each reviewer or approver required
 (optional) Step 2d: Completion notification
– (optional) Notify yourself when all responses have been received
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2ba: Create an Event Condition
Specifying an event condition is required for all agents. If the report approval workflow is to be initiated when it is run,
then a condition that always returns true needs to be specified. Otherwise, a condition based on checking a status or
other data could be specified.
1=1
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2b: Select the report to be reviewed or approved
Select the report to be reviewed or approved. Specify the delivery options and prompts parameters, if any.
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
Click the Run an approval request… see next slide
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
A task identifies one review or approve request. A task for each response or approval needs to be defined. First, select
who needs to respond to the request (owner) and who is interested in knowing the results (stakeholder).
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
Note: If more than one person is identified as an owner (aka reviewer or approver), only one response is required to
complete the request. If multiple responses are required, then an approval request is required for each response.
Alternatively, the owners or stakeholders can be driven by a data item, e.g., the data item used in report bursting.
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
Illustrates selecting a group to add as a potential owner.
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2c: Specify the review / approve task
Setting a start and due date will trigger reminder notifications to be sent if the request is not completed. Other options
include when to send notifications, what icon to display, the request response options (accept/reject) and tasks to run
when a response is received.
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Defining a Report Review or Approval Flow
Step 2d: (Optional) Completion Notification
Once all responses are received (i.e., approve or reject) for each approval task, a custom notification message could be
sent to confirm that all approvals have been received. e.g., customize the subject line with a data item so that a
personalized notification is sent to a group of people. “The quarterly sales report for” [region] “is ready for viewing”
Alternatively, this step could initiate running a report and saving or bursting for distribution.
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Running the approval agent
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Run approval request 2
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Run approval request – run history view
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Run approval request – run history waiting
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
View from My Inbox
After the approval task is defined, it can be run from Cognos Connection. The request appears in the inbox of the
owner(s).
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Run history - succeeded
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Run history detail - succeeded
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© 2010 IBM Corporation
Business Analytics software
Background materials
 https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/0a7c97bb-6cf9-4ddb-a91880994e7b444d/entry/using_my_inbox_to_control_event_studio_agent_workflow_in_cognos_
1027?lang=en
 Within SDK – undocumented toolkit which can be used to simplify using SDK (e.g. getting
lists of tasks)
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© 2010 IBM Corporation