Tag Archive for: IBM Cognos 10

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Integrating IBM SPSS Modeler with IBM Cognos – Case Study

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IBM SPSS offers a variety of integration options with other enterprise solutions, i.e., enterprise data warehouses, file systems, and business intelligence applications. In this article, we specifically focus on the integration with the IBM Cognos BI environment. As most of you are aware, IBM SPSS leverages the power of predictive analytics by allowing the user to examine the current state of their business, while at the same time providing a view of the future using advanced analytics techniques. With the use of the IBM Cognos BI integration point, the results are immediately available for IBM Cognos reporting, allowing for easy distribution to broad user communities.

In our previous article, we described the general workflow on how to import and export IBM Cognos packages from IBM SPSS Modeler. In this article, we will provide a simple case study using the standard IBM Cognos sample set to further illustrate the above mentioned integration.

Note:

-The integration is only available in IBM SPSS Modeler version 14.1 or higher.

-The supported IBM Cognos environments are version 8.4 and higher.

Providing Data to IBM SPSS from IBM Cognos

The IBM Cognos BI source node enables data miners to read data directly from IBM Cognos Framework Manager, including relational, dimensionally-modeled relational (DMR), and OLAP sourced packages.

In this case study, we select the Go Sales (query) package from IBM Cognos samples and use the following items from the query subject as our source data:

Go Sales (query)

  • Sales (query)

    • Sales

      • Revenue

    • Time

      • Year

      • Month Key

      • Month

      • Date

Before choosing a Framework Manager package to import the data, the user needs to establish a connection to the IBM Cognos server by providing the dispatcher URL and user credentials.

Conduct Data Mining Analysis in IBM SPSS Modeler

The source data we bring in from IBM Cognos contains revenue data for years 2004-2007. The objective of this study is to use advanced modeling techniques to discover trends behind the revenue data and predict future revenues. The following stream in IBM SPSS Modeler uses time series analysis to analyze the patterns in the monthly historical data and project those patterns to determine a range within which future values of the series are likely to fall.

 

 

 

In this example, we extend the forecast of the expected revenue to the next four time periods. The following output from IBM SPSS is a time series graph and shows the predicted (green line) vs. actual (blue line) revenue for each month between Jan, 2004 – Jul, 2007 and the projected revenue for Aug – Nov 2007.

 

 

 

 

Exporting IBM SPSS Predictive Results into IBM Cognos BI

The end results from an IBM SPSS Modeler stream can be exported back to the IBM Cognos BI environment, including both the transformed and scored data based on predictive modeling. In this case study, we will export the scored dataset of time series analysis into a database table called “Predicted_Sales” and generate an IBM Cognos package on the Cognos server reflecting the new database table.

Once the export is complete, we could use IBM Cognos Report Studio to create a visual report based on the exported data, including the predictions and confidence interval values for consumption by a broad user base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through this case study, we showcase how a user can combine the predictive analytic capabilities of IBM SPSS Modeler with business intelligence features of IBM Cognos BI. For any additional questions regarding the integration and its implementation, please contact us at the Ironside Group.

 

 

Business Intelligence on the Cloud

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Do you need a business analytics platform yesterday? Is your IT team overloaded? Do you want your business analytics environment built on best practices and managed by the best in the in the business? If so, allow Ironside to host and manage your business analytics environment. We will manage everything from the OS, to the database, to the IBM Cognos application based on your needs through our Managed Platform and Application Services.

Our Managed Platform Services (MPS) provide enterprise-level, secure, scalable provisioning of IT services to fit your requirements. Our MPS offering is hosted in a SAS 70/SSAE16 compliant data center, using industry leading technology. Our clients work with our dedicated managed services team to customize our offerings to fit your needs. In addition, we offer recommendations along the way to determine the optimal environment based on expected usage patterns.

Just some of the services we offer include:

  • Dedicated Firewall

  • Virtual Private Cloud

  • A Shared Management Environment

  • Patch Management

  • Change Management

  • System and Application Monitoring

  • Disaster Recovery

All platform services utilize industry best practices to provide the most stable, scalable, and secure environment available.

Our Managed Application Services (MAS) leverage our expertise in business intelligence and the IBM Cognos platform to provide best-of-breed support for your solution. Some of the services we provide using Ironside’s best practices include:

  •  Cognos Installation and Configuration

  • Cognos Security

  • High Availability

  • Data Warehousing

The Ironside MAS allows access to Ironside’s expert IBM Cognos architects, many of whom have over 10 years of experience implementing IBM Cognos solutions in some of the country’s largest companies.

Please contact us today for further information on how we can craft a solution that reduces your total cost of ownership and administration, while providing greater capability, performance, and flexibility.

 

5 Tips to Building Effective IBM Cognos Active Reports

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Active Reports has been quite the buzz since its introduction. As more organizations move to Cognos 10 we have seen many seasoned report developers experiment with Active Reports. In an effort to shorten the learning curve I’m going to go over a few quick tips that I have found useful.

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What you need to know about IBM Cognos licensing

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When talking to new or existing IBM Cognos customers, there often seems to be confusion around Cognos licensing. The new functionality in C10 adds to this complexity. In hope of shedding some light on this topic, this article will discuss the impact of C10 and the different roles. In a follow-up article next month we will cover “Authorized User” versus “PVU”.

What changes for C10?

There is technically no license cost for migrating from C8 to C10. However, in order to take advantage of much of the new user interfaces and visualizations available in C10 (e.g. Business Insight, Active Report), you may need to trade up to a higher user role. While many of the existing roles will carry forward in C10, there seems to be a conscious effort by IBM to consolidate and simplify the roles in C10. We will discuss the two most common roles: Enhanced Consumer and Advanced Business Author. We’ll also look at how an organization can protect their current investment in other roles. Read more

The Importance of Planning Ahead

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As a new year approaches, new projects and initiatives within organizations of all types and sizes begin to surface. In order to ensure on-time completion and delivery of projects, it is crucial for organizations to always be looking ahead. As many IT teams are already feeling the squeeze of a heavy workload, managing expectations of business sponsors can be difficult.

Recently, Ironside Group spent time working with a life sciences organization in Massachusetts on an upgrade to Cognos 10. Although the initiative is slated to begin in early 2012, Ironside Group made it a point to begin the process in October to ensure on-time delivery for this time sensitive project. Since Ironside Group had no previous relationship with the client, Ironside made it a point to better understand their business by meeting with key business units within the organization who rely on Cognos daily. With IT’s help, Ironside quickly understood the importance of Cognos within the organization and started to generate an upgrade project plan. Read more

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IBM Cognos Tabbed Report Design

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Often times developers will get a request to create several different variations of a single report. While this can be done with user prompting or even multiple versions of a report, another option would be to create tabs within a report which would allow for the user to easily switch between variations. In this month’s tech tip we’ll go over how to create this using drill-throughs, a string variable and a conditional block.

The first step is to identify what tabs you’ll want to display. Each one of the tabs will need to be set up individually. In our example (sample included) we’ll use the seven days of the week.

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Dynamic Query Mode for Relational Databases

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In September, IBM introduced Cognos version 10.1.1, the latest update to Cognos 10. Among the significant enhancements in the software is the ability to Dynamic Query Mode with relational databases.

Dynamic Query Mode (DQM) is an intelligent data caching mechanism which can dramatically improve the performance of OLAP style queries. With the prior version, DQM supported cubes built from TM1, Essbase and SAP BW. With version 10.1.1, IBM Cognos adds support for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis cubes, and the most common relational databases, specifically DB2, Netezza, SQL Server, Teradata and Oracle. Read more

Ironside Group Annual Golf Tournament was a Hole-In-One

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Ironside Group Annual Golf EventOn Tuesday September 20th, the Ironside Group hosted their Annual Golf Event at Shaker Hills Golf Club in Harvard, MA.   Although the weather was initially ominous, it  did not stop most from participating and as we were about to tee off, the rain stopped!   Immediately following golf, the club house was open for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by an awards ceremony for the winning and losing groups, longest drive, and closest to the pin. Cognos 10.1.1 was the honored guest with discussions and demonstration by Ironside consultants.  Prizes included; gift certificates to the Proshop, Golf Shirts, Trophies, and more. Thank you to everyone who joined us, we are already looking forward to next year’s event!

Enhanced Tomcat Monitoring with IBM Cognos 10

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IBM Cognos Tomcat Heap Monitoring with PSI-Probe

Some of the most common requests that we field from our clients are related to IBM Cognos application performance tuning. Most administrators have the desire to squeeze every last drop of performance out of their applications and make the most out of the hardware they are hosted upon and Cognos is no exception to this practice. Read more

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IBM Cognos 10 Business Insight Advanced: 5 Key Features that Can Transform Your Organization

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Back in October when IBM Cognos 10 was first released, I initially touted Business Insight Advanced (BIA) as the single-most important enhancement over IBM Cognos 8. After a few months of hands-on usage, I am sticking to my initial assessment. Here are five key features that I’ve identified as having the greatest potential for a positive impact on practical business intelligence within most organizations. Read more