Filtering Linked Tables in Data Modules without breaking the link

Master Data Modules are shared globally in our Cognos Analytics environment to allow users to link to their own data modules containing their fact data. This allows the business community to easily reap the benefits of dimensional data (navigation paths, auto-aggregation, etc). However, when leveraging this capability, attempting to filter your fact data using a Master Data Module results in a painful experience where you must sift through all the master data available to the entire organization in order to find the values that are aligned with your available fact data.

The simplest example may be a Calendar Master Data Module. If you only have facts for a single Fiscal Year but there are even just 10 years of master data, you are forced to scroll through 120 months of data to find a particular month that you are looking for.

Current workarounds involve creating Table Views or Joined Views in order to apply filters, but this harshly detracts from the benefits of using Linked Tables in the first place. The proposed solution is a filter option on linked tables just as there is for unlinked tables. Filters applied to the linked table would not impact the original table. The filter would only exist in the data module where the filter was created - much like using a WHERE clause to query a View of a SQL table.

The benefits of this would be a Cognos Analytics tool that is more attuned to the benefits of dimensional data. Less repetition, faster development, and cleaner Data Modules that are easier to understand would result. As we continue to grow Data Module expertise within both our IT and business community, hundeds of users will be impacted on a nearly daily basis whether it be directly through Data Module development, or indirectly through Dashboard consumption.