Creating Banded Reports in Cognos ReportNet

Banded reports are typically used in financial reporting.  They differ from more traditional grouped list reports in that the totals appear with the parent group items before the children (details) rather than after them in the footings.   In essence, this is a grouped report with data displayed at the start of each group.  That makes it a list report using group headers.

Here’s how to build a banded report.

Note:  If you do not have access to query subject listed below you can use any query subject within the package that you have access to.

1. Open Report Studio with the X_UST_ODS22_SCT model and Create a new list report.
2. Add query items:  AID_YEAR, FUND_TITLE, OFFER_AMOUNT, and ACCEPT_AMOUNT from the Award by Fund query subject under the Financial Aid Award Disbursement namespace.
   
   
   
   
3. From the tool box, drop a calculation into the list.  Name it Count.  Type is Detail.  Expression is count([FUND_TITLE]).
4. Group by AID_YEAR.
5. Select OFFER_AMOUNT and click Total from  the aggregate button to create group footers and totals.  Repeat for the ACCEPT_AMOUNT and Count query items.
6. Select AID_YEAR and click the  create header button to create a header. 
7. With the AID_YEAR column still selected, click the cut button to remove the detail row.
8. Select the AID_YEAR group header and click the split cell button to create cells in that header that match the detail rows.
9. The report should now look like this:
   
   
   
   
10. Drag and drop the totals from the AID_YEAR line footer to the AID_YEAR line header as shown below.
    
    
    
    
11. We need to delete the extraneous footer.  Click the  list headers & footers button to display the List headers and footer dialog.
12. Uncheck the  AID_YEAR footer and the Overall footer.
    
    
    
    
13. Drop a text item from the tool box to the right side of AID_YEAR and set the text to “ (“.
14. Drag and drop the count from the count column to the right of the ( text .
15. Drop another text item “)” to the right of the count.
16. Select the Count column and cut   it to remove it from the report.
17. The last step is to indent the FUND_TITLE.  To do this you will need to un-lock the list by clicking the  lock button.
18. Drop a text item before the FUND_TITLE and make it three spaces long “   “.
19. Run the report. 
    

Finally, you can play with the alignment, colors, and other design elements as well.