IS&T Financial Reporting using Cognos Reports – Draft
Q: As an IS&T Director, how do I monitor my spending plans and my actuals using Cognos reports?
Using Cognos Reports
Go to the IBM Cognos portal and log in using your MIT Kerberos account and password.
If you are new to Cognos, documentation, including quick cards and videos, can be found at the Knowledge Base page for Cognos Reporting Tool
Which Reports do I use?
Follow the path to IBM Cognos Content > Public Folders > School & Area Reports > IS&T > Financial Reporting
Here you will find 8 reports designed for the purpose of reporting, spending planning, and reconciling spending:
The starting point is the Spending Plan Input - Cost Object Level Template. You will run the report, download it to Excel, enter your spending plan and upload the resulting spreadsheet to the Finance Dropbox. To see a description of the reporting process, please see IS&T Financial Reporting – Cognos Spending Plan Input – Cost Object Level Template
The Process
The calendar shows the schedule of reporting required for Directors in IS&T.
The first step is for directors to run and download their Spending Plan Template. This is the Cognos report IS&T Spending Plan Input - Cost Object Level Template
- From the list of reports, click the title of the report.
- When prompted, select the appropriate values for the report.
- The report runs and returns the data to the ..... area.. on the report and select the The report is populated with data. Download the report to Excel using the pulldown menu blah blah blah.
- Remove those columns of data for all those months not covered by the current period, and complete the report with the projected spending plan, month by month for each of the cost object.
- Upload your spreadsheet with the Spending Plan Template to the Dropbox folder as designated by the IS&T Finance HQ. [we need a location] This includes a commentary whenever there are differences between the actuals and the projected ?[huh? is this the right word?]
A few things to know:
- Click the report name to run the report. The report pauses and waits for you to supply values. In many cases, you are given a pull-down menu or radio buttons to select from.
- In many of the reports, you are given a Budget Plan selection list and the default plan I04 - IS&T Current Spending Plan is selected. In most cases, you will use this default.
- Once you have made your selections, click Finish and the report runs.
- The report displays in your browser window called IBM Cognos Viewer.
- The blue underscore of a value in a report field, whether it is a GL Account name, a value, a document number, etc., signifies the ability to drill down on that field and to view in more detail.
- Each drill down opens a report in a new tab in your browser. To return to a previous report, do not use your browser back arrow, but instead, inspect the names on your browser tabs for the report you seek.
- If you choose to print a report, always print to PDF before printing paper copies to ensure that the report format is preserved.