Finding the Rules Editor in Cognos Insight

I was tasked to draft up something on Cognos Insight.  Without going through the Cognos Insight user guide, I have got stuck when trying to link data between cubes.  “How I do edit rules in Insight?”, I asked.

Until I have got a reply from a colleague, “Look for the widget toolbars!”.

Have you ever been wondering why there are so very few menu options on the main toolbar in Cognos Insight?  That is because a lot of the functionalities are available on the specific widget you are working on.

With calculations and links, there are two different ways you can tackle them in Cognos Insight.

Element Calculations

For basic single dimensional calculations, you can use the element calculation editor.

1. 1. First, you need to place a cube widget onto your workspace, by click and drag a cube object from the content pane, and drop it onto a blank area in the workspace.  To show content pane, click on the top right corner.
   2. You can add or update calculations against an element simply by selecting the element that you want to update and click on the Calculate icon on the widget’s toolbar.  Alternatively, you can right-click on the element, select Calculate, then Edit Calculation.  Notice there is a downward arrow next to the calculate icon, which contains some basic calculation options.
   3. Here you can enter simple calculations such as add, subtract, multiply or divide value(s) or other element(s) within the same dimension.  In the expression field, only need to enter right-hand-side of the rule expression.  For example: [‘Unit Cost’] * [‘Quantity’]. This rule is added to this cube’s rules file, and feeders associated with this calculation are also added.

N: and C: are not required in the express field.  Instead, it is controlled by Calculation order selections below the expression field.

When the first option is selected, rule will calculate at both N and C level, while the second option will only calculate N level, and allowing dimension consolidation elements to aggregate automatically.

1. 1. To link data from other cubes, enter the standard DB(<cube name>,<dimension names> … ).  You can also do additional calculations on top of the DB data already linked through.

You can also do quick variance calculations by highlighting two elements on the same dimension, and click on Calculation icon to reveal all the calculation options.  You can also show a variance as traffic lights when the compare calculation option is selected.

While you can do a lot of calculations using just the calculate icon (and have access to pretty much all of the TM1 functions), only one rule can be entered against one element.  And rule area can only apply to a single dimension element.

Cube Rules editor

1. To set and/or update multi-dimensional calculations and/or complex rule calculations for a cube, you need to access to

cube rules editor

1. .To reveal rules for all the cubes by placing your cursor on a cube widget to expose the widget toolbar, then click on the Widget Actions icon

1. , and select

Set Cube Rules …

1. .

Here you have access to all the rules for all the cubes within your Cognos Insight project.  Each tab represents a cube in the project.  In this cube rules editor, you can use all the TM1 rule functions.  All rule calculations would work the same way as TM1/Cognos Express.

There you go, look for the widget toolbars, and explore your options on Cognis Insight.