Hi Michael,
actually that's the way I do it all the time - I'm lazy ;). I only update FM models when important changes have applied to the tables.
Why should Cognos cut the value of a column value? It's basically an SQL generator and displays the result set. The system does not check the length of a column with the acutal value as far as I know. It's more important to set the usage, aggregate types and determinants of your query items & subjects. That's what Cognos really needs to know to build the query.
Sometimes Cognos generates SQL with CAST() used. Maybe then it is more important to have the right precision for the field in your model...
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Robert Dostal
Principal Expert BI
GEMÜ Gebr. Müller Apparatebau GmbH & Co. KG
Kupferzell
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