To use Cognos product documentation, you must enable JavaScript in your browser.

View Contributor Data in Excel

You need a Server URL (Web site address) to access the Contributor application. If you do not have one, ask your administrator.

Steps to Work with Live Plan Data
  1. In Excel, click the Contributor menu and click Log On.

  2. In the Server URL box, type the address supplied by the administrator, for example:

    http://server_name/Cognos8.

  3. Click Log On.

  4. Enter a User ID and Password that is valid for Cognos applications.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

Steps to Work with Previously Saved Workbooks
  1. Open the Microsoft Excel Workbook (.xls) containing the data.

  2. If prompted, type the password for the workbook.

  3. 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.

Modifying the View

You can modify the view of Contributor data.

Swap Items in Rows and Columns

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:

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.

Change Rows and Columns

If you want to change the orientation so that different dimensions appear in the rows or columns, do the following:

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.

Change Contributor Page Dimensions

If you want to change the Contributor page dimensions shown on a worksheet, do the following:

Any data or formatting you added remains because you are still on the same orientation.

Hide a Page, Rows, or Columns Containing Only Zeros

If you want to hide a page, rows or columns containing only zeros on a worksheet, do the following:

Hiding a page may cause the application to slow down.

Viewing Multiple Worksheets or Workbooks

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.

Manual Update Options to Improve Performance and Allow Unsynchronized Views

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.

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.

Steps to Set Update Options to Manual
  1. Click Update Options.

  2. 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.

Step to Manually Activate both Update Options

Consequences of Not Activating these Tasks

There are two consequences of not activating these tasks once they have been set to manual:

When you save workbooks or templates locally, any changes you make to default update options are saved within the workbook.

View Data Using Saved Templates

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.

Steps
  1. In Excel, open the saved template.

    You are prompted to log on to Contributor.

  2. Click Log On.

  3. Enter a User Id and Password.

  4. You may be prompted to select from a list of applications. Click the application you require.

  5. 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.