Author: Pavan Kalyan Boya

Co-Author: Soumya Dash

Why Manage and Delete Reports in IBM Enterprise Records with Cognos Analytics?

Managing and deleting reports in IBM Enterprise Records (IER) integrated with Cognos Analytics is vital for compliance, optimising performance, and maintaining information security. Reports often contain sensitive or regulated data, and mishandling them can lead to legal or operational risks. By aligning report retention and deletion with defined lifecycle and regulatory policies, organisations reduce storage costs, prevent unauthorised access, and ensure users only access the most accurate and relevant information. Automated processes using Cognos scheduling and IER disposition rules help enforce governance while keeping systems efficient and audit-ready.

What Is the Purpose of Managing and Deleting Reports?

The goal of managing and deleting reports in IBM Enterprise Records (IER) integrated with Cognos Analytics is to ensure compliance with records retention policies, enhance system performance, and protect sensitive information. As reports are created for audits, business analysis, or legal purposes, it is crucial to control their lifecycle according to regulatory requirements. Proper management prevents the accumulation of outdated or redundant reports, reduces storage and maintenance costs, and ensures users access only accurate, relevant, and authorised information. Deleting obsolete reports also helps maintain audit readiness and supports secure, compliant records governance across the organisation.

Managing and Deleting Reports in IBM Enterprise Records with Cognos Analytics:

 It offers a streamlined and secure way to handle report lifecycles. Users benefit from a centralised repository where all reports are organised and accessible based on roles and permissions, ensuring proper access control. Through seamless integration with Cognos Analytics, users can generate, view, and manage reports with advanced filtering and visualisation features. IER supports report versioning, enabling users to retain historical copies for reference and compliance. Automated deletion schedules help enforce retention policies, while audit trails record every report-related action for transparency and governance.

IER Cognos Report deletion design:

IER Report Delete Implementation:

To implement report deletion in Cognos after the "Back to Parameters" action in IBM Enterprise Records (IER), the system must capture the user's interaction and trigger a backend process that interfaces with the Cognos API. When the user clicks "Back to Parameters," the application should identify the associated report instance—typically using the report ID or output path—and initiate a deletion request through the Cognos REST API or SDK.

Why does IER Report delete automatically from the Database tables:

IBM Enterprise Records (IER) may automatically delete report data from its database tables as part of its built-in data retention and cleanup policies. This typically occurs to ensure efficient use of storage, maintain system performance, and comply with records management rules

SS From Report

After clicks on BackToParameters:

Check the same report id in the database tables

Benefits and Utilisation of the IER feature

Key Benefits:

·       Generate, view, and discard reports directly through the IER interface.

·       Reports can be deleted automatically when the user clicks on the BackToParameters button to avoid cluttering the database.

Secure and Compliant

• Ensures only authorised users can view or delete records/reports.
• Maintains audit trails for regulatory compliance.

Improved Performance

• Reports are removed from the database if not needed, reducing database load and storage overhead.
• Optimises resource usage in high-volume environments.

User-Friendly UI Actions

• Users can delete unnecessary reports with a single click (BackToParameters) after they are generated, improving usability and workflow efficiency.
• No need to manually clean up temporary report data.