Cisco Cisco Prime Service Catalog 10.0 Technical References

The Home page provides shortcuts for running the Standard reports, without having to choose the 
Reporting module from the Service Catalog drop-down menu.

The Ad-Hoc Reports tab provides access to IBM Cognos Query Studio, for writing queries against 
the data mart. 

The Report Designer tab provides access to IBM Cognos Report Studio, for writing professional 
quality reports against data mart.

Users must be granted appropriate permissions to access the Ad-Hoc Reports and Report Designer 
options. 

This section offers instructions on how to access the Advanced Reporting Module and detailed 
information on the contents and structure of the Service Catalog data mart.

To use the advanced reporting capabilities, from the Service Catalog drop-down menu, choose the 
Advanced Reporting module.

The Home Page of the Advanced Reporting option displays the three predefined public folders.

The Reports folder offers an alternate path to the prebuilt reports accessible as part of the Reporting 
module. Custom-designed report views and any new reports created via Ad-hoc Reports or Report 
Designer will also typically be stored on subfolders of the Reports folder.

The remaining folders (Custom Reports Data Model, Standard Reports Data Package ) are 
“packages” which are used by Report Designer and Ad-Hoc Reporting, allowing you to build 
queries and reports against the Service Catalog data mart.

Typically, you will click a tab corresponding to the Ad-Hoc Reports or Report Designer option. These 
options start the Cognos Query Studio and Report Studio components respectively. You will then be 
asked to choose which of the two reporting package you want to use. 

To access the data mart, choose the Custom Reports Data Model by clicking on the name. If you are 
using Report Designer, you will then be asked to specify the type of report you would like to create. 
Specify a list (it is the easiest). If you are using Ad-Hoc Reports, Query Studio automatically opens for 
a list report. The Custom Reports package appears in the left-hand pane, labeled “Insertable Objects”.

The data mart is configured as a “dimensional model”.

The basic transactional data in a dimensional model is called a “fact”. Facts in the data mart include 
the tasks, requisitions, and effort entry. Each fact may include several measures—numeric 
quantities. For example, the estimated duration of a requisition is a measure, as is the actual 
duration.

Each fact has relationships to one or more “dimensions” – descriptive attributes that can be used to 
choose or filter the rows in the related fact. For example, dimensions that describe the task-based 
facts include the task performer as well as the date the task was closed. Dimensions, in turn, are 
usually shared across multiple facts. For example, the service dimension may describe both a task 
and a requisition.

Each fact, together with its related dimensions constitutes a “star schema”. 

In addition to star schemas, the Custom Reports Package includes other tables to provide complete 
coverage for potential reports and queries users might need to formulate about form, dictionary and 
service-based data, as well as the organizational structure at the site.