Create the Global Filters

A global filter is a value that is shared across different reports. At least one of the reports that you are using for the dashboard needs to contain a prompt or prompt control. The prompted report is embedded into a page or a dashboard using the IBM® Cognos® Viewer portlet and linked with other reports in the page using the global filter portlet properties. The prompts that are used as global filters control the display of your chosen linked reports. If this functionality is implemented in a single page, the prompts control linked reports in different sections of the page.

If the page is a dashboard with multiple tabs, the prompts can control the report filtering across tabs. Note that there is a limitation with filtering across tabs for IBM Cognos Viewer portlets. For prompts to control report filtering, the IBM Cognos Viewer portlet must exist as a sibling on the same page as the Multi-page portlet.

We recommend creating prompt reports in Report Studio. The rich editing environment of this studio gives the author access to a variety of prompt controls, such as the Next, Reprompt, or Finish buttons. These controls add more interactivity to portal pages.

For more information about building prompts and prompt pages, see the IBM Cognos Report Studio User Guide.

Procedure

In Report Studio, create a prompt on a report page, not on a prompt page, of the report.
Set the Auto-Submit property for the prompt to yes.

If you want to use cascading prompts, only the last prompt in the sequence needs to be on the report page.

For some prompts, such as the value prompts, you may need to add a Finish button to signal that the prompt selection is complete. For cascading prompts, the Reprompt button is also required to restart the prompting sequence.
Add other details, such as background images, instructions, or a title.

Results

The prompt can now be added to a portal page or a dashboard. For more information, see Assemble the Reports on a Page.