Conditional Delivery and Notification for Scheduled Reports Based on Data Availability

Problem

Cognos Analytics scheduled report delivery does not provide a standard condition based on whether the report returns data.

This would be useful for two common scenarios:

• Expected data is missing: A regular business report normally contains data but returns no data, for example due to filters, missing source data, or a delayed/failed Data Warehouse load. The empty report should not be distributed to the full recipient list. Instead, the responsible person should optionally be notified.
• Exception monitoring: A report searches for errors, data-quality issues, failed transactions, overdue items, etc. No data means everything is fine. The report should only be distributed when data is found.

Proposed Solution

Add Conditional Delivery options to the report scheduling configuration:

• Deliver report only if data is returned
• Notify exception recipient(s) if no data is returned

If data is returned, Cognos distributes the report to the normal configured recipients.

If no data is returned, Cognos suppresses the normal distribution and can optionally send a notification to designated exception recipients, such as the report owner or administrator.

Business Value

• Prevents unnecessary empty reports from being distributed
• Notifies responsible users when expected data is missing
• Enables exception and data-quality monitoring directly in Cognos
• Reduces unnecessary email traffic and confusion for report recipients
• Reduces the need for custom scripts, triggers, ETL checks, or external workflow solutions

Related Previous Idea

A previous Idea, “Set option on schedule to not send empty reports” (2020), addressed the basic empty-report scenario and is currently marked “Not under consideration”.

As this Idea dates back to 2020, I believe it may be worthwhile to reconsider this requirement in the context of current Cognos Analytics versions and today's increased focus on automated reporting, exception handling, and data-quality monitoring.

This proposal also extends the original request by adding conditional notification and exception-monitoring use cases, making the functionality applicable beyond simply suppressing empty reports.