Setting access to user interface profiles for report authors

To meet the needs of both professional report authors and business users, IBM® Cognos® software provides distinct user interfaces and user interface profiles that contain reporting features relevant to these roles. Administrators set access permissions for the user interface profiles.

You can also create new, custom user interface profiles for use in Cognos Workspace Advanced if you migrate the existing user interface profiles from the Security tab to the Library tab. For more information, see Custom user interface profiles.

To use the existing interfaces for report authoring, you must grant Execute and Traverse permission for the Report Studio capability to the users, groups, and roles that require access. Additionally, you must ensure that there is no group or role that has the Deny setting explicitly set on the Execute and Traverse permissions because the Deny setting overrides the grant permissions settings. For more information about setting access permissions for a capability, see Setting Access to Secured Functions or Features.

The following user interfaces are supported:

Professional Authoring Mode
Professional authoring mode is available in Report Studio.

The Professional authoring mode gives users access to a full range of functionality. In this mode, you can create any report type, including charts, maps, lists, and repeaters, using any data source (relational or multi-dimensional). Professional authoring mode supports the use of external data.
Express® Authoring Mode
Express authoring mode is available in Cognos Workspace Advanced.

The Express authoring mode provides an interface that is designed for the business user. Users can create list, crosstab, and chart reports to explore and analyze data according to specific information needs. Express authoring mode supports the use of external data, and both dimensional and relational data sources.

To support the different authoring modes, IBM Cognos Administration provides two User Interface Profiles named Professional and Express. Use the Professional profile to set access to the Professional mode, and the Express profile to set access to the Express mode.

Users can have access to both the Professional and Express authoring modes, however, they must use Report Studio for Professional authoring mode and Cognos Workspace Advanced for Express authoring mode. To switch from Professional authoring mode to Express authoring mode, the user must exit Report Studio and launch Cognos Workspace Advanced. Similarly, if a user wants to switch from Express authoring to Professional authoring, they must exit Cognos Workspace Advanced and launch Report Studio. For more information, see the Report Studio User Guide and the Cognos Workspace Advanced User Guide.

Procedure

In IBM Cognos Administration, on the Security tab, click User Interface Profiles.
Specify access permissions for the user interface profile you want
- To grant access to the Professional authoring mode, click the actions button next to Professional, and click Set properties.
- To grant access to the Express authoring mode, click the actions button next to Express, and click Set properties.
The Permissions page opens.
Select the Override the access permissions acquired from the parent entry check box.
In the Name and Permissions list, select the check box for the user, group, or role that you want to grant access to.
In the Grant and Deny list, grant execute and traverse permissions for the selected users, groups, or roles.
No other permissions are required.
Click OK.
Now, for each newly-added user, group, or role that was added to the Professional or Express profile, you must grant Traverse permission to the report profiles container object. On the User Interface Profiles page toolbar, click the Set properties - User Interface Profiles icon. For each new entry, ensure that the Traverse permission is granted.

Results

For more detailed information about setting access permissions, see Set access permissions for an entry.