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Accessibility

Mary Kemp

Mary Kemp05/02/22 03:06 PM

  • 1.  Accessibility

    Posted 02/16/22 03:05 PM
    Documentation shows how to create accessible reports.

    Can the same be done in dashboards?
    Example - Conditionally Show a List Below a Chart for an Accessible Report

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------

    #CognosAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 03:04 AM

    Hi Mary,

    I have no idea that this feature is also implemented in dashboards. but there are several workarounds:

    - you can set up a drill-through to a report which has this accessibility feature set up
    - you can use an extension to create a tab inside of a dashboard tab (https://community.ibm.com/accelerators/catalog/content/Present-additional-content-by-adding-a-Tabbed-Widget-(11.2.0-to-11.2.1)) one tab then contains the chart and the other the table. Unfortunately it's only accessible by an additional click.
    - create list and achart just side-by-side
    - there was once an action button extension available in the IBM Accelerator Catalog which I cannot find at the moment. It lets you record any action on your dashboard and give these pre-recorded actions as buttons to the user. One approach would be to record the switch between list and chart and let the user change the style with an action button.



    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Team Leader BI
    GEMÜ
    Ingelfingen
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 08:23 AM
    Hi Robert, 

    First, thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated. 

    I have version 11.1.7 so I won't be able to use 2 of the suggestions. 
    • extension to create a tab
    • https://community.ibm.com/accelerators/catalog/content/Button-and-Dropdown-action-widgets-for-dashboards-(11.2.0-and-above)

    Drill-thru reports are very good, but for accessibility issues such as eye sight, the selection is so small.
    Is there a mechanism to have a drill-thru button, or another method to drill thru without using the provided icon?

    My other option may be to have to use a 'report' as my 'dashboard'. 


    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 08:42 AM
    Is there a mechanism to have a drill-thru button, or another method to drill thru without using the provided icon?​

    There is not.

    We do support using browser zoom levels up to and including 200% on the latest version of Firefox ESR. Would that be a suitable alternative?

    If it is not, we are open to suggestions of how to improve the user experience for people who need more accessibility features. Please open Ideas in Aha and ask your team / colleagues to vote for them.



    ------------------------------
    Brennan Fox

    Product Quality @ IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 08:54 AM
    Hi Mary,

    if it's 11.1.7.x you may have a look at this extension which lets you create a link button. The buttons appearance can be modified:
    https://community.ibm.com/accelerators/catalog/content/Dashboard-widget-to-create-link-buttons-(11.1.7-FP2-and-above)

    Maybe this is a suitable solution for you to set up a link to the desired report.

    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Team Leader BI
    GEMÜ
    Ingelfingen
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 12:54 PM
    Thanks Robert, I will take a look at the extension for link buttons. It's not clear yet if my organization allows me to use extensions, here's hoping !

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/02/22 09:13 AM
    Edited by System Admin 01/20/23 04:43 PM
    Hi @Robert Dostal, @Brennan Fox

    I hope it's ok to ask another accessibility question in this same thread. I have to be WCAG 2.1 compliant.

    color differences are used to convey information within non-text content, patterns are included to convey the same information in a manner that does not depend on color.

    I'd like to use patterns with my color on my charts, on the dashboard. 
    Is this possible? 

    For the measures below, I'd like to add patterns

    ​​​

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/02/22 10:06 AM
    Hi Mary, it is not. Feel free to share that suggestion for improvement via the Ideas portal in Aha

    There is one pattern palette that can be used to conditionally format Table and Crosstab visualizations on older versions of Cognos Analytics (11.1.7 and older), but it is not generally available for all visualizations

    ------------------------------
    Brennan Fox

    Product Quality @ IBM Cognos Analytics with Watson
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/02/22 11:01 AM
    Hi Mary,

    You could use this workaround with a report instead of a dashboard.

    Create a report, insert a visualization then choose Charts (instead of 11.1 visualizations)

    Add a chart (for instance 100% Stacked Column).
    Click on Chart Palette Presets
    Then you will be able to use colors and patterns:


    Best regards,

    ------------------------------
    Patrick Neveu
    Positive Thinking Company
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/03/22 09:48 AM
    Hi @Patrick Neveu,

    Thanks for this information and workaround for my accessibility requirements!

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/04/22 08:56 AM
    Edited by System Admin 01/20/23 04:35 PM
    Hi @Patrick Neveu, @Robert Dostal,

    Based on the responses in this thread, it appears that 'reports' will provide me the accessibility functions.
    However, now I wonder if I move to reports, what I will lose. 
    • reports will give me the ability to conditionally show a list, great for accessibility, and I can use patterns on charts.
    • report will give me the ability to export to csv, not just pdf
    • it's the statement below that makes me hesitate to go to reports. 

    Reports: Limited user interactivity to what Author allows.

    Dashboards: All widgets interactive


    I could use dashboards and then just create another tab and have an accessible-only tab with more tables/lists.
    However, I would need to resolve my need to export the dashboard content to multiple formats. Should I be searching for workarounds for this? 


    ​​​

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/04/22 09:19 AM
    Hi Mary,

    Regarding your comment "I would need to resolve my need to export the dashboard content to multiple formats.", there is nothing out of the box except PDF format.

    If you use Report:
    • you will have access to all accessibility features.
    • you will be able to create multiple output formats.
    • you could create prompts to let your users select or choose any required values.
    Let me know if you have any other questions.

    Best regards,

    ------------------------------
    Patrick Neveu
    Positive Thinking Company
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 03/04/22 09:27 AM

    Hi Mary,

    the statements are true. Reports will only be as interactive as you as author create them. The best way for interactivity is to use the corresponding mode for the report.
    See (which is enabled by default):

    It will show a tool bar on top of the report which allows the consumer to drill, filter, group and calculate the data in your report. It will not give the same interactivity as in dashboards like when clicking on a data point in one chart that automatically all other shown data containers will also be filtered. To achieve a similar behaviour: create prompt variables + prompt boxes for each attribute the user should be able to select a filter criteria.

    We use those prompts a lot in our reports:
    You will also be very flexible regarding the output format as the export function of dashboards is very limited. the PDF looks ugly and the csv export is only accessible to authors and must be done for each visualization.

    Feel free to ask more questions or respond privately.



    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Team Leader BI
    GEMÜ
    Ingelfingen
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 08:17 AM
    Hi Mary, thank you for your question.

    There is no direct equivalent of this functionality in dashboards. If this is important to you and your team, we encourage you to create an Aha Idea for our team to review in product roadmap discussions.

    ------------------------------
    Brennan Fox

    Product Quality @ IBM Cognos Analytics
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 02/17/22 12:52 PM
    Thanks Brennan for the help as well. I will consider the 'Aha Idea'  as accessibility is definitely a requirement.

    ------------------------------
    Mary Kemp
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: Accessibility

    Posted 05/02/22 03:06 PM
    Edited by System Admin 01/20/23 04:40 PM