Working with Dynamic Filtering

So one question I usually get asked by users when I build an analysis object is 'How do I drill through to the details?'. As much as we want to talk users out of looking at the details when we're building them aggregates, the reporting task of detail dumps invariably comes up. It's also a likely a sign of an immature business process, but that's a whole different post.

In relational scenarios this is straight forward, a drill target mapping can be used to jump from any context to any other, map the parameters and there you go, from a summary level, select the details.

In IBM Cognos 7 this was not too difficult, you could setup an IMR details report, link it as a drill target and the dynamic filtering would filter that result set based on the context of your selection at the time of drill through. (based on business key). In Cognos 8 this process has become a hectic jumble of xml, sql generation, report variables and other black magic. Don't be fooled by the numbering, Cognos 7 and 8 are totally different pieces of software and handle the drill through process completely differently. This contextual filtering in Cognos 8 and Cognos 10 is handled by a setting you may have seen in drill through definitions called 'dynamic filtering'.