Chapter 7. Creating and Publishing Packages

Once all the layers of the model have been created, we have to present the model to the report authors for them to use. This chapter covers the creation of the package, or packages, including setting up security.

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

• Creating packages

• Publishing packages

• Creating externalized query subjects

• Using package versions

• Applying security settings to packages

By the end of this chapter you will be able to create and publish a package to allow report authors to use the data model to design their reports in IBM Cognos Studios.

After creating our Framework Manager model we must now make our model available to report authors. To do this we need to create a package; the items within the package are what the report author uses to create their reports.

Once we have created the package we need to publish the package to the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Server. During the publishing process there are various options available...

Creating a package

The first step in making our model available to report authors is the creation of a new package. A package can be created as follows:

1. In the Package Viewer pane of our model, select Packages.

2. Right-click and select Create | Package, or from the menu choose Actions | Create | Package

3. This will launch the Create Package wizard.

   

4. The first thing we must do is provide a name for the package and optionally a description and screen tip, and then click on Next.

5. We must now define the objects to be included in our package.

   

6. The current project is the default for choosing what to include in the package.

7. We do not want to include all objects in this package so click on the down arrow next to the Foundation Layer name; we now have the following choices:

   • Select Component and Children (this is the default option)

   • Hide Component and Children

   • Unselect Component and Children

   

8. Use the Hide Component and Children option for the Import (Foundation) Layer, and repeat this choice for the Modeling...

Publishing a package

Once we have created our new package we need to publish it to the IBM Cognos Server. To publish our package perform the following steps:

1. Right-click on the package name and choose Publish Package.

2. This will launch the Publish Wizard window.

   

   Note

   Initially, the publish location will be set to Public Folders, but you can change this location and put all your packages into any folder on the IBM Cognos Server. In this case, the packages are all published into Public Folders > Packages. You can change the folder location by clicking on the folder icon to the right of the box labeled Folder location in the Content Store and selecting a new location.

3. Select whether you want to include versioning by selecting the Enable model versioning checkbox, and setting the number of versions to retain.

   Note

   The Location on the network option is only relevant if creating externalized query subjects.

4. Click on Next to continue.

   

5. Initially you will be asked to set package security; if you have...

Summary

In this chapter, we have looked at creating packages for our reporting metadata to make this available for the report authors. We have also looked at publishing the packages to the IBM Cognos Report Server.

In the next chapter, we will look at maintaining projects, and enabling your projects for multiple users.