Yes, Cognos is running on a windows server. We have two dispatcher servers, one content manager server, one gateway and one application server.

I found in the IBM Cognos Analytics forum other users with the same issue, and that looks particular on the scheduled reports. The rest is not a problem, is the scheduler that gets affected and you need to renew the credentials, which is kind of what I did the following day when I notice the issue.

I will revie the different suggestions on the other forum and will write here what was applied to have a generic scheduler user.

I may be wrong, but...

I'm pretty sure we've had report/schedule owners leave the organization, their Active Directory accounts destroyed, and their report schedules continue to work.

Are you running Cognos on a Windows Server?  How is the IBM Cognos service configured?  On the Log On tab in the service properties, is your account running Cognos?

Three weeks ago, we encountered an issue after I changed my password-the scheduler stopped running reports.

The following day, when I noticed the problem, I manually ran the critical reports using the "Run Once" option. Shortly after, the scheduled reports began processing normally again.

We'd like to prevent this from happening in the future.

Does anyone know if it's possible to assign a generic user as the Scheduler User? If so, how can that be set up?

Thank you,

Quote from: eklund86 on 19 Sep 2025 06:59:02 AMThat worked beautifully in 2025 - thanks! :-)

Great to hear this is still useful fifteen years later :-)

Cheers!

MF.

Thanks dougp for your comments.  They are helpful and in fact one of the axis on my heat map is in fact an "Hour" (of the day) column.  So, you're example was perfect.

I was thinking someone like a "data scientist" or maybe a "statistician" might bite on my ask.

I can't imagine what "credential" would be helpful in this area.  Pick up some books by Ed Tufte.


Possible causes of confusion:

Low information resolution.  This is basically what people do in PowerPoint.  Data is so highly summarized it's meaningless because there is insufficient context.

Choosing the wrong visualization to present the information.  If basic sorting doesn't show patterns, maybe a heat map is not the appropriate visualization.  For example, looking at Cognos report usage counts, I see that my busiest times are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., usage ramps up at 6 a.m. and drops off at 5 p.m., and Friday afternoons are really slow.  This pops out quickly on a heat map with day of week along the top and hour of day along the left side.  You'd get the same thing with traffic volumes, electricity usage, water usage -- with the same axes.  There are several versions of a visualization that looks basically like https://dataschool.com/assets/images/how-to-design-a-dashboard/find_the_best_chart_for_your_metrics/visualizationWeb.png that shows which type of viz to use when.  But you must not follow such a recommendation blindly.  You should also consider the outputs your data presents through these options and whether or not the viz you have chosen tells a clear story.

Confusing colors.  Does blue = hot and red = cold?  Do some of your report viewers suffer from some form of colorblindness?

There is a "Rows per page" property on a list or crosstab.

CA 12.0.2

I want to set the default delivery options for a single report to always be:

• Output - Excel
• Burst - Yes
• Save to File System - Yes (with appropriate defaults)

Note: The report has prompts - I want the user to enter these, but never have to enter the delivery criteria.

In searching the web, I am seeing references to "Under the Report options section, check the box to Override the default values".
However, I am not seeing this checkbox anywhere!

Assuming this is possible, am I missing something straightforward or is there something needed to configure this option?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Adam.

I see your intended example output.  Just want to ask if this kind of similar (but not same) output might be acceptable as it's easy to produce in a List report.

Field A       Field B
-----------   -----------
A1             B1
                 B2
-------------------------
A2             B3
-------------------------
A3             B4
                 B5
-------------------------

The above can be done by Grouping the first column.

I can also image a way it might be done (or at least influenced) with a long Case statement but I don't know if all of the values/variables in both columns are always known to you.

I have a report with a heat map visualization which is causing very serious confusion across much of the intended audience.  I did not create the report - a peer did.

I'd like to explain to my peer why the report might be causing confusion.  I believe there is at least one and likely two design flaws.

Is there any forum user with relevant credentials (so I can substantiate that the input is valid and external) who is willing to take a gross look at one example of the heat map and provide input?