August 23, 2011

Single Speedtype Mode

While it is great that Cognos can run several speedtypes at once, this does result in a more sophisticated speedtype prompting interface. We search for speedtypes and then insert them. This feels a bit cumbersome when you are just itching to key in a speedtype and go. So we are experimenting with an additional prompt titled SINGLE SPEEDTYPE.

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  • Are the two clicks required to run a single speedtype via the search prompt driving you crazy?

  • Does specifying several speedtypes to run at once seem idealistic to you?

  • Do you often review results on screen and then move along to another speedtype instead printing everything?

  • Do you guzzle lots of coffee?

Yes? Single Speedtype Mode is for you.

Because we are just trying this out we have it in one report only, and only in Cognos QA [18-Oct-2011 moved to production]. Navigate to Public Folders > CU Reporting > Finance. Click the m-Fin TRIAL BALANCE SUMMARY. We sometimes set QA to prompt for database connection. If you encounter this, select ciw.

The SPEEDTYPE prompt works the same as before but below it is a new text box prompt titled SINGLE SPEEDTYPE. Key a speedtype into it and hit the enter key. The report runs. The SINGLE SPEEDTYPE prompt then also appears on the report output, allowing you to key in another speedtype and hit enter again for another run, without returning to the report’s initial prompt page. This prompt appears only in HTML output, not PDF or MSExcel.

If you use the soon to be decommissioned Denver site you know where we got this idea. In m-Fin it does present a peculiar first impression to the new user (two ways to enter a speedtype) but the benefits may be worth it.

Have an opinion about Single Speedtype Mode? I encourage you to leave a comment here on this page.

Thanks Kim Huber for the suggestion for how we could do this in m-Fin.

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