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IBM Cognos 10 Platform => Cognos 10 BI => Business Insight Advanced / Cognos Workspace Advanced => Topic started by: cogimi on 08 Mar 2013 08:55:53 AM

Title: Updating external data in Cognos Workspace Advanced
Post by: cogimi on 08 Mar 2013 08:55:53 AM
Hi all, how can I update external data in Cognos Workspace Advanced?

1)   Adding a file (EXCEL or CSV) as external data to a package
2)   Publish the package
3)   Create a List Report with the external Data --> everything works fine
4)   Adding more datasets to the Excel or CSV file
5)   Publish the package again
6)   Create a List Report with the external Data --> no new datasets are displayed

Thanks,
cogimi
Title: Re: Updating external data in Cognos Workspace Advanced
Post by: cognostechie on 08 Mar 2013 06:35:00 PM
The reason there is a feature to add external data is so that you can add external data dierectly into the report without having to make that external data as part of the package. The objective is to leave the package as is and add external data into the List report when you make the report. So the CSV/Excel data would NOT be part of the package. Once you add the data into the report, you can join it to the query of the package as long as there is a valid relationship between the external data and a field in  some table.
Title: Re: Updating external data in Cognos Workspace Advanced
Post by: cogimi on 11 Mar 2013 04:59:25 AM
Yes, I want to use external data right in a Cognos Workspace Advanced Report.
I use the wizard for external data. But before I can use the external data, I have to publish it as a new package.

The process is described here (Step 9):
http://www.ironsidegroup.com/2013/03/05/managing-external-data-in-cognos-workspace-advanced/

Or is there a way to use the external data without publishing?
Title: Re: Updating external data in Cognos Workspace Advanced
Post by: cognostechie on 11 Mar 2013 10:15:39 PM
Ok, I rectify my earlier answer. I had done this an year ago so I did not remember the complete steps.

The external data (let's say a CSV file) can be added directly to a report and in order to make it work with the rest of the package, the join has to be established in the report and then it has to be published as part of the package. Hoever, once it has been published, and further data is added to the CSV file, it does not need to be published again. I just did the test and I had to publish it only the first time. After that I added new data to the CSV file and ran the report again. The new data showed up in the report. I did not have to publish it again.

I used ver 10.1