Explorer & Reporter in PowerPlay
What are the major differencies between reporter and explorer in Cognos PowerPlay?
There are two ways of analyzing and exploring data using Cognos PowerPlay: using Explorer mode and Reporter mode.
PowerPlay is opened in the Explorer mode by default. The two modes operate on the same data and users can switch between explorer and reporter dynamically (Menu Toolbar -> Explore -> Change to Reporter or Explorer).
| Criteria | Explorer | Reporter |
|---|---|---|
| Use | To explore one dimension at a time | To combine and mix various dimensions in rows, columns and layers |
| Default Layout | A crosstab structure with summaries on rows and columns | A Blank report which is completely customizable and can be tailored to users needs |
| Navigation | Moving categories accross replaces rows and columns | Moving categories accross adds rows and columns |
| Drill-down & Drill-up behaviour | Drill down displays the next value going down the categories hierarchy tree | Drill down adds more detailed values next to the parent category |
| Drill up displays the next value going up the categories hierarchy tree | Drill up removes values from the child categories | |
| Calculation | Columns and rows totals calculated automatically | Columns and rows totals not calculated |
Please refer to the reporter screenshot below to see its capabilities. Notice that it allows users to mix categories coming from various dimensions easily and customize layout of the report according to the needs.
Example of PowerPlay Reporter report which could not be made in the Explorer mode:
