Access a shortcut (or program) and then send date range to it

[flyingmonkeyofdoom]

Is it possible to activate a shortcut on a desktop/start menu/folder and activate it?
Then would it be possible to input data into this?
Finally extracting the data (.csv save as) to a set location?

It's in relation to COGNOS Impromptu so I can auto run reports using excel to open, pass the date range and run the report, then extract and manipulate within excel

I have no idea if this is possible and no idea where to start looking for answers to this.

Any help is gratefully appreciated