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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
IBM Cognos is Business Intelligence software that enables businesses to fully utilize their maximum potential. It connects people with information from virtually any data source whenever and wherever they need it so that they can make better decisions, faster.Take the practical, hands-on approach to managing your reporting environment with "IBM Cognos Business Intelligence" - packed with coverage of all the latest features to truly help you maximize your potential.With this in-depth practical guide you will learn how to fully utilize IBM Cognos 10 so that your business can make smarter decisions, achieve better results and gain a deeper understanding of your company's data. You will learn about critical topics like Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Security and Administration as well as in-depth coverage of other features like Business Insight, Business Insight Advanced, and Active Reports, which were introduced with IBM Cognos 10.
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Seitenzahl: 317
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Table of Contents
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: May 2013
Production Reference: 1250413
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-84968-356-2
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Neha Rajappan (<[email protected]>)
Credits
Author
Dustin Adkison
Reviewers
Brian Green
Andy Rachmiel
Ramin Rahmani
Jeff Wade
Kirk Wiseman
Darshan Donni
Sameer Sheth
Acquisition Editors
Erol Staveley
Edward Gordon
Lead Technical Editor
Mayur Hule
Technical Editors
Sayali Mirajkar
Kaustubh S. Mayekar
Ankita R. Meshram
Copy Editors
Brandt D'Mello
Insiya Morbiwala
Aditya Nair
Alfida Paiva
Project Coordinator
Kranti Berde
Proofreader
Lindsey Thomas
Indexer
Rekha Nair
Production Coordinator
Manu Joseph
Cover Work
Manu Joseph
Foreword
Analytics is proving to be the key for surfacing important insights into business performance and driving improved business outcomes. Organizations that leverage analytics have been shown to significantly outperform their peers. In 2012, when the IBM Institute for Business Value studied the real-world use of big data, 63 percent of those surveyed indicated that the use of information and analytics is creating a competitive advantage for their organizations. What's more interesting is that this figure reflects a 70 percent increase in just the past two years.
Here's a great example of how one company leveraged analytics to transform their business and improve their bottom line. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden wanted to optimize the customer experience for their 1.3 million annual visitors, increase attendance, boost sales, and streamline some of their operational processes. With the IBM Business Analytics software and with expertize of IBM Business Partner BrightStar, they were able to create a more accurate 360-degree view of customer behavior that helped increase new visits by 50,000, save the Zoo over $100,000 per year by optimizing promotions and discounts, and increase food revenues by 25 percent over the previous year. These are impressive results driven by greater insight into their data.
For those organizations looking to embed analytics into the fabric of their business, the question becomes: where do I start? The simple answer is by building your skills. That's where the knowledge from books like this one will help.
This book will help new users of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence to quickly learn the analytics skills—from basic usage to advanced authoring—to communicate analytics to people across the organization. Those individuals who are upgrading from IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Version 8 will learn more about the new features in this release. This technology is putting more power in the hands of users throughout the organization to create their own reports and do their own analysis—which greatly reduces the reliance on IT departments.
Additionally, in this book you will get step-by-step how-to information for the different components of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence, and how end users, business users, and developers/administrators would use these features. This book will help you learn how to use BI tools to deliver business intelligence to users wherever they are—in their office, on mobile devices, or offline.
Improving your organization's Analytics Quotient (AQ) will complement the technical skills in your analytics journey. Evaluating your AQ will help you understand how well you're using analytics now and guide you to that next step in analytics growth. Assess your Analytics Quotient now by taking IBM's AQ quiz.
There's no question that the speed of business continues to accelerate. What's good to see is that the power of technology is not only keeping pace but also providing the tools to steer the business towards better results. In the analytics space, the even better news is that users throughout an organization are in the driver's seat—having the tools at their fingertips to gain insight from information.
Gene Villeneuve
Director, Product Management, Interactive Analytics & BI
Business Analytics
IBM
About the Author
Dustin Adkison is an active member of the IBM Cognos community. He began his career in Business Intelligence at one of the premier Cognos customers, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. After a short period, he became one of the Cognos administrators of a very large Cognos implementation as well as the training coordinator for all Cognos needs. While at BCBST, Dustin began to shape his skills in Cognos Report, which later became IBM Cognos 8 and IBM Cognos 10.
Dustin soon joined the Cognos consulting industry with Market Street Solutions (a Tennessee-based IBM Premier Partner that focuses on IBM Cognos). There he worked as both a consultant and a sales and presales resource. Dustin was an active member of the Atlanta and Tennessee Cognos User Groups during this time. He also further developed his skills around IBM Cognos and began presenting to various user communities.
For the last 5 years, Dustin has worked for BrightStar Partners and BSP Software, which are now owned by Avnet. He manages a team of sales resources, provides sales and technical sales support, and sets the direction for the sales team. Dustin is currently an active member of the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, St. Louis, and Michigan User Groups. He has been a speaker at each of these User Groups in the past. In addition, he has presented at the Chattanooga, Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Victoria, Toronto, and Vancouver User Groups as a guest.
As one of the leaders of the adoption of Cognos Express, Dustin was asked to present both on a panel and as an individual at IBM Information on Demand (IOD) and on a cfo.com webcast. Dustin has written about the importance of soft skills in the BI industry and has had his writings featured on various forums.
For the past two years, Dustin has been honored as an IBM Champion, an award that is given to the information leaders within the IBM space.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my content editors/reviewers: Brian Green, Andy Rachmiel, Ramin Rahmani, Jeff Wade, and Kirk Wiseman. I appreciate each of you for not being afraid to call out my mistakes and, in doing so, helping me to learn and grow. For all of you, that is true not only in this writing, but in my career and the growth of it that you have each helped to shape.
I would like to thank my co-workers who have helped me to learn much of what I have shared in this book. Many of you helped mentor me at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and at Market Street Solutions. Many of you have taught me new techniques at BSP. It is through teaming together that we can each hope to grow our skills the most.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me while I was writing this book. You have all been a huge emotional support with the constant encouragement. I especially would like to thank my loving wife, Amanda. I know that this has required almost as much sacrifice from you as it has from me. Thank you for all of the weekends, where you have taken care of things that I would normally help with so that I could have time to write. I could not do anything without you. I love you.
About the Reviewers
Brian Green is the manager of Business Intelligence and Performance Management at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. He has over 30 years of experience in Information Management and has co-authored two books about developing successful Business Intelligence and Analytics programs.
Andy Rachmiel is the VP of Software Solutions, Business Analytics at BSP Software, an Avnet Services company. He's a high octane, laser-focused, and highly entrepreneurial individual that exudes passion and integrity in all aspects of his life. Andy leads by example and lives for the challenge. Over the past decade Andy built and ran very successful consulting and software companies. Both BrightStar Partners and BSP Software were acquired in 2012 by Avnet, Inc.
Ramin Rahmani focuses on delivering end-to-end Data warehouse, analysis, and reporting solutions that meet business needs. Ramin builds strong relationships through trust and workable business/technical strategies, which shape many successful IBM Cognos BI and BSP Software clients in Australia. Ramin specializes in IBM Cognos and WhereScape data warehouse and business intelligence tools. He has managed multiple successful consultancies and has over a decade of experience as a highly-sought-after consultant covering Australia.
Jeff Wade is the CEO and president of Market Street Solutions, a Business Analytics solutions firm based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has over 30 years of experience helping enterprise clients leverage technology to improve their business performance. Jeff's company, Market Street Solutions, has been recognized multiple times on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies, Business TN's Fast 50, and as an IBM Premier Business Partner.
Kirk Wiseman is the president of PerformanceG2, an IBM Premier partner that specializes in Business Analytics. Kirk has over 15 years experience in the information technology industry with an emphasis in Business Analytics, specifically with Cognos, where he spent over eight years of his career supporting the North and South American Cognos user base as a trainer, consultant, and architect. Kirk came to PerformanceG2 from Merador, where he was the Director of Training Services. Prior to Merador, Kirk was a trainer and consultant at Cognos Corporation, where he was recognized with awards including North American trainer of the year and Eclipse Outstanding Performance. In addition, Kirk was a Program Director at ITI, a private post-graduate school located throughout Canada. Kirk holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Post Graduate diploma in Applied Information Technology from ITI.
Kirk contributes Business Analytics videos to YouTube on a regular basis that can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/PerformanceG2 and blogs at http://www.performanceg2.com/blog. You can contact Kirk at <[email protected]>.
I would like to thank Dustin for putting together this book and Packt for giving me the opportunity to review. I hope my feedback proved helpful. Much love and thanks for my wife, Mireille, and our three children: Aiden, Zachary and Kaelyn.
Darshan Donni has worked with the Cognos BI third-level support team in the IBM India Software Labs. Prior to this, he worked with the Cognos BI second-level support team. He blogged actively on http://cognoscommentary.blogspot.com. He has participated in numerous customer engagements for IBM clients.
Sameer Sheth has been practicing as a Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing consultant since the year 2004. His primary focus is on architectural design and development and implementation of Enterprise Performance Management, Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing solutions across various domains, such as oil and gas, the education sector, retail, financial spectrum, health care, and airline industries.
Overall he has more than 13 years of relevant experience in the IT industry blended with proven project management skills. His key roles have been that of a Senior Implementation Lead, a Senior Solution Architect, and a Project Manager. He has also spent time as a Technical Mentor.
Sameer is certified in Global Business Leadership from Harvard Business School Publishing, USA. Along with it, he is certified in Managerial Excellence from Duke University Fuqua School of Business, USA. He has earned numerous IBM certifications including IBM Certified Solution Designer—Cognos 10 Planning, IBM Certified Solution Expert—Cognos 8 Planning, and IBM Certified Solution Designer—Cognos 8 Planning.
Sameer has been the technical reviewer for few books published by Packt Publishing, such as IBM Cognos TM1 Developer's Certification Guide and IBM Cognos Business Intelligence 10.1 Dashboarding Cookbook. This book was developed for users to successfully understand, implement, and obtain the best ROI on their Business Intelligence solution.
Heartfelt thanks to my wife Shruthi for a lifetime of endless patience, love, and support.
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Preface
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence is a reporting and analytics product that enables end users to develop robust reports and analyses through a web interface. This book will look at the latest version of IBM Cognos BI, IBM Cognos BI V10. With the release of IBM Cognos BI V10, we find many new features, such as:
In this book we will look at the new features that come with IBM Cognos BI V10, and we will also revisit the features that were available in earlier versions of Cognos BI.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, IBM Cognos Connection, covers the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Cognos Connection interface that is accessed by end users and developers. Cognos Connection is the default web interface for navigating IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10. This chapter covers in detail some of the common ways in which end users interact with this web interface.
Chapter 2, Introducing IBM Cognos Workspace, covers the new self-service dashboard tool in IBM Cognos Business Intelligence that allows end users to create their own interactive dashboards. This chapter covers in detail how to add content to Cognos Workspace, how to filter that content, and how to change the way content is viewed.
Chapter 3, IBM Cognos Active Reports, covers how end users interact with Cognos Active Reports. Cognos Active reports are MHT files that contain data and formatting information in a single file. As such, they are easy to take with you on your laptop or a mobile device.
Chapter 4, IBM Cognos Mobile, covers how to interact with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence on a mobile device. This chapter covers in detail how to access mobile content and interact with it on an Apple iPad.
Chapter 5, IBM Cognos Query Studio, covers the legacy product, Cognos Query Studio. Although IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced is the preferred product for creating ad hoc reports, many environments will still have Cognos Query Studio installed. This chapter shows in detail how to create a simple report using Cognos Query Studio.
Chapter 6, IBM Cognos Analysis Studio, covers the legacy product, Cognos Analysis Studio. Although IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced is the preferred product for performing basic analysis, many environments will still have Cognos Analysis Studio installed. This chapter shows in detail how to create a simple analysis using Cognos Analysis Studio.
Chapter 7, IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced, covers the new tool, Cognos Workspace Advanced. Cognos Workspace Advanced allows basic developers to create high-quality reports and analyses in one interface. It also interacts directly with Cognos Workspace for a seamless, single interface. This chapter covers in detail how to create new reports and analyses using Cognos Workspace Advanced.
Chapter 8, IBM Cognos Report Studio, covers how to create complex reports using Cognos Report Studio. Cognos Report Studio is the most powerful and complex development tool within IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. This chapter shows in detail how to create reports using this incredibly powerful tool.
Chapter 9, IBM Cognos Framework Manager, covers the metadata design tool for IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. This tool allows you to change how data is displayed, how to create custom calculation and model table relationships, and so much more. This chapter shows in detail how to create a simple model using Cognos Framework Manager.
Chapter 10, Administration and Performance Tuning, covers the basics of how to administer IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and some common tips on performance tuning for your environment.
Chapter 11, Common Administrator Tasks – Streamlined, covers Avnet's BSP Software product offerings. These offerings are add-ons to IBM Cognos Business Intelligence that help to enhance the product.
Chapter 12, User Adoption, covers ideas for how to increase user adoption. The greatest product in the world will still need users to make it successful. This chapter shows in detail, tips and tricks for creating your user community into IBM Cognos Business Intelligence.
What you need for this book
In order to make the most of this book, you need to have an environment set up with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10. This book does not cover installation and configuration; however, Cognos Business Intelligence does ship with a detailed installation and configuration guide that can be used for assistance.
Who this book is for
This book is designed for administrators, developers, end users, and other stakeholders working with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "For instance, a set of folders structured this way may be named Financial Data, Sales Information, or Marketing Results."
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Report views, on the other hand, are created from within the Actions area for the report for which you are creating a view".
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Tip
Tips and tricks appear like this.
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Chapter 1. IBM Cognos Connection
IBM Cognos Connection is the out-of-the-box interface that IBM provides with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. It is the primary interface for finding reports, opening development studios, and collaborating with other users within your business intelligence environment. IBM Cognos Connection was first introduced with Cognos ReportNet (CRN), but it is worth revisiting here in order to set the stage for the rest of the book.
In this chapter, we will look at the concept of web-based reporting, talk about the customizations that are available, and explore the interface, that is, IBM Cognos Connection. Some of the areas that we will look at are:
Web-based reporting
If you were to follow the evolutionof reporting, you would find a logical transition that shows companies uncovering as much information as they could in as meaningful a way as possible while using the best technology available.
In the 1980s, the key concepts of reporting were defined and enhanced. Companies were learning how to use computers to make decisions based on their data. Reports were built from software tools that resided on end user computers. The tools would connect to company databases for reporting purposes. Later, the data would be consolidated into OLAP (or cube) data sources for reporting. OLAP stands for Online Analytics Processing and is a standard term to used describe data that is formatted for multidimensional analysis. With OLAP, data is preconsolidated with multiple cross-sections of data. This allows for faster reporting.
In the late 1990s, during the dot-com boom, software was developed to bring reporting into the Web. Cognos ReportNet was one of the first tools to do so. Much of the technology introduced by this tool remains as the backbone of Cognos BI today.
With the introduction of web-based reporting, users around the world could share one centralized version of their data. All data and reports began to be stored in a single location, which made it easier to manage the information that was being dispersed within and outside an organization.
A few key benefits of web-based reporting are:
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence v10.x continues to use the web-based platform that was developed for Cognos ReportNet. Let's start by taking a look at the welcome screen that many users see when they first log on to IBM Cognos BI v10.x via the Web.
The welcome page
The welcome screen is designed to help steer new users towards the tool that will meet their need for reporting or analytics. Most users will eventually choose to not show the welcome screen at start-up, simply because it can slow you down from getting to the report or report design tool that you are interested in accessing.
This is how the welcome screen appears:
You can see from the preceding screenshot that there are a variety of options available. The options shown on the screen will be determined by the access rights that are defined for each user and the options that have been installed by the administrator. For the purpose of this book, we will have administrator access, which will allow us to see every available option.
The available options are as follows:
Folder structures
The default folder structure will have two primary folders that can be viewed within the two default tabs in IBM Cognos Connection (Public Folders and My Folders). Public Folders is where shared content is stored, whereas My Folders is more for personal content. The default screen that can be seen is as follows:
In the preceding screenshot, you can also see two types of folders. The yellow folders (the first two in the screenshot) represent purely structural folders that hold content. The blue folders (third folder onwards in this example) represent packages.
A package is a set of metadata that defines how IBM Cognos BI will query a data source. The metadata may define things such as formatting of data from the database, or it could have more advanced calculations for data from the database before it is presented to the end users in IBM Cognos BI.
The way that you choose to structure these folders will depend on your environment. Many businesses choose to structure the folders based on the data that is contained within them. For instance, a set of folders structured this way may be named Financial Data, Sales Information, or Marketing Results. A second alternative would be to structure the folders by functional areas of the business. In this scenario, you may use folder names such as Human Resources, Marketing, or Accounting. For the purpose of this section, a third and final way of structuring the folders would be by cost center or team. This tends to be the most granular way of structuring the folders and will often require replication of packages into multiple folders. You can use this folder-structure model in conjunction with the functional-areas model and have subfolders named after each group or team within a department. Examples of this naming convention may include folders such as Bob's Team, Web Support, or Cost Center 1234.
The key takeaway is that, when you first install IBM Cognos Business Intelligence v10.x, you will have a blank slate. It is easy to simply begin creating packages and folders without a clear picture of how you want to organize your content. However, if you plan ahead, you can have a much cleaner and easier way to navigate the content environment for your end users.
My Area
IBM Cognos BI allows the end users to separate out their personal items and preferences from the shared ones. This is done through My Folders, as discussed in the previous section, but it can also be done in My Area. The My Area option is shown as a little avatar icon that will allow users to interact with areas and set preferences that are unique to them.
From within My Area, you can access My Inbox. My Inbox is new with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence v10.x and is an interface for setting and managing tasks related to Cognos development.
My Watch Items will allow users to interact with alerts and rules that they have set on specific data points within different reports. Watch items are data points on reports that users want to track. This can be done by right-clicking on a data point within a report and choosing to watch for changes. As an end user, you can then set thresholds to alert you of changes made. In the My Watch Items area, you can edit and remove these alerts and rules.
An end user can customize the look and feel of their Cognos BI environment through the My Preferences area under My Area as well. The My Preference area looks like the following screenshot:
Within thisMy Preferences area, you can set a number of variables:
