Updating reports to use the latest version of packages

When you publish a package for the first time, you create a corresponding package on the IBM® Cognos® server. The package contains a model, but no reports.

When you publish a package, you can select the number of versions of the model to keep on the server. The next time you publish the package, the version of the model is updated in the existing package on the server.

New or modified reports use the latest version of the model in the package. When a report is saved, the version of the model used is saved in the report specification. If the package is republished, the report author is notified that the report uses the newest version of the model in the package. The report author must save the report to complete the update. If you open a saved report after the package it is based on is republished, one of two things happens:

• If the original version of the package still exists, the report runs against the original version. If you want the report to run against the latest version of the package, you must update the report to use the latest version of the package. See the steps below.
• If the original version of the package no longer exists, the report is updated to run against the most recent version.