You need a Server URL (Web site address) to access the Contributor application. If you do not have one, ask your administrator.
In Excel, click the Contributor menu and click Log On.
In the Server URL box, type the address supplied by the administrator, for example:
http://server_name/Cognos8.
Click Log On.
Enter a User ID and Password that is valid for Cognos applications.
You may be prompted to select from a list of applications. Click the application you require.
The workflow screen appears and provides a graphical overview of all the areas you are responsible for, and the status of the data.
Tips: To show more information about an item, click the blue down arrow. This opens a details panel. You can close the details panel by clicking either of the arrows.
To send email to people listed in the tree, click the name of the person in the Ownership or Reviewer cells or in the details panel.
In the tree on the left side of the screen, click an item, and, in the table that appears, click the name of the item.
The item appears in an Excel workbook.
Tip: To return to the workflow screen from the Excel interface, click Contributor, Workflow. To open other parts of the model from the Workflow screen, first save and close workbook you are currently working on.
Open the Microsoft Excel Workbook (.xls) containing the data.
If prompted, type the password for the workbook.
If you are not logged on to the server and want to save or submit the data, from the Contributor menu, click Log On.
Only users with authorized access rights can connect to the Contributor network.
You can modify the view of Contributor data.
When you swap rows and columns, formula ranges on the worksheet are also converted. Orientation-specific Excel functions such as HLOOKUP (horizontal lookup) and VLOOKUP (vertical lookup) may become invalid when views are transposed or reoriented and should not be used on worksheets containing Contributor data.
If you want to swap the rows and columns that currently appear in the view, do the following:
From the Contributor menu, click Swap Rows and Columns.
Data and formatting you added transpose according to the rules of the Paste, Transpose command in Excel. Columns and rows inserted in the Contributor zone also transpose.
If you want to change the orientation so that different dimensions appear in the rows or columns, do the following:
Click Reorient View, select the items you want to view as rows or as columns, and click OK.
Any data or formatting you added rotates out of view when you change the orientation. The formatting and data reappear when you return to the orientation in which they were created.
If you want to change the Contributor page dimensions shown on a worksheet, do the following:
In the lists in the Contributor Page Selection toolbar, click the page dimensions you want to view.
Any data or formatting you added remains because you are still on the same orientation.
If you want to hide a page, rows or columns containing only zeros on a worksheet, do the following:
Click Zero Suppression, Suppress Zeros - Pages, Suppress Zeros - Rows, Suppress Zeros - Columns.
Hiding a page may cause the application to slow down.
You can use Contributor for Excel to view multiple worksheets or workbooks on the same screen using standard Excel procedures. For example, you can view the Staff Salaries and the Total Expenses worksheets on the same screen. When you make a change to staff salaries, you can see how this change affects your total expenses.
When you view multiple worksheets on the screen, the page dimension lists on the Contributor Page Selection toolbar show the dimensions for the active worksheet.
Each Contributor cube is on a separate worksheet. When you enter data or change the view of data, Contributor for Excel automatically handles these tasks for you.
It always updates all of the data in the Contributor plan.
It synchronizes shared page dimensions in all Contributor cubes. For example, if you view two cubes on the screen, the Contributor for Excel automatically synchronizes the page dimensions. If you view Budget 2 in the active cube, the other cube also shows Budget 2. If you switch to Budget 1 in the active cube, the other cube also switches to Budget 1.
It refreshes its cells portrayed on worksheets not currently visible on the screen.
To improve performance or to allow unsynchronized views, you can change the last two of these setting in workbooks and templates so that they do not occur automatically, but instead rely on you to activate them manually. Performance improves because these automatic events do not occur until you choose to activate them.
Click Update Options.
Select the Manually synchronize common page dimensions or Manually refresh off-screen standard Excel references to Contributor data option.
Tip: Clearing these options sets them back to automatic.
Click the Refresh button .
There are two consequences of not activating these tasks once they have been set to manual:
Manually refresh off-screen standard Excel references to Contributor data
Standard Excel references to Contributor data on off-screen worksheets are not
be updated until you select the Refresh button on the Contributor Update Options toolbar.
Tip: Formulas that directly reference Contributor plan data, that is, those created using the Contributor, Copy Location and Copy Relative Location Commands always continue to be updated automatically.
Manually synchronize common page dimensions
Other Contributor cubes are not synchronized to show the common dimension you are currently using.
Tip: You might also choose
to set the Manually synchronize common page dimensions setting
so you can view different (unsynchronized) dimensions for different cubes
when you view multiple cubes on the screen . For example, if you view two cubes on the
screen, Contributor for Excel no longer automatically synchronizes
the page dimensions. If you view Budget 2 in the active cube, the
other cube can continue to show Budget 1.
When you save workbooks or templates locally, any changes you make to default update options are saved within the workbook.
You can open single or multi-e.List items from saved templates. You can then view the data using the formatting and calculations saved in the template. If you open a multi-e.List item view, custom formulas in the template are calculated using the active e.List item.
For more information about templates, see Save Templates.
In Excel, open the saved template.
You are prompted to log on to Contributor.
Click Log On.
Enter a User Id and Password.
You may be prompted to select from a list of applications. Click the application you require.
In the table, open an e.List item.
The item opens in the saved template.
For multi-e.List item views only, if you reorient the view so that the e.List page dimension becomes a column or row, custom formulas linked to the e.List in the template are temporarily undefined. The formulas are again populated with data when you restore an orientation with the e.List as a page.