Business Analytics Resources: Cognos & Tableau Webinars, Blogs, Demos & Tips

RESOURCE LIBRARY

Welcome to our extensive, free library of past webinars, demos, whitepapers, presentations and helpful hints. Use the topic boxes to the right to filter through and easily locate content. We are constantly adding new materials, so please check back often to see our latest content. Enjoy!

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Catch Up On the Weekly Wind Down

Our Trainers Share Their Favorite Tips

Missed a recent Weekly Wind Down? Just discovered this great sharing of favorite tech tools, tricks and best practices from our Senturus training experts? Not to worry…we’ve got you covered. Check below to catch a recording of anything you missed. If you’re serious about analytics, it’ll be the most informative 30 minutes of your work week!

And check out the schedule of upcoming Weekly Wind Down topics.

TABLEAU TIPS

[drawer title='' instructions='▼ TABLEAU DESKTOP VISUALIZATION TOOLTIPS (AUGUST 31)']

August 31 Tableau Desktop Visualization Tooltips

So you've created the perfect dashboard…congratulations! Once your dashboard consumers have been using it for a while (perhaps days… perhaps minutes…) the next request will undoubtedly be the ability to get to more detail. Sure, you could provide a detailed list of relevant transactions, but imagine if you could provide the ability to hover over a data point of interest and get visual detail. Imagine how useful it would be to allow users to hover over a column, bar, or pie slice to see how a specific data point has trended over a specific period of time. Join us to learn how to embed visualizations in tooltips with Tableau Desktop.

WATCH RECORDING

[/drawer][drawer title='' instructions='▼ ALL ABOUT DATES IN TABLEAU (AUGUST 3)']

August 3 All About Dates in Tableau

See the differences between discrete and continuous dates and learn how to create custom dates and use date calculations.

WATCH RECORDING

[/drawer] [drawer title='' instructions='▼ TABLEAU DATA PANE TIPS (ORGANIZATION, DEFAULTS, CUSTOM HIERARCHIES, ETC.) (JULY 20)']

July 20 Tableau Data Pane Tips (organization, defaults, custom hierarchies, etc.)

One of the most powerful features of Tableau Desktop is the ability to customize the metadata. Watch the video to learn how to

Customize the data pane
Set each data item's default color, shape, format, sort order and many other behaviors
Create custom hierarchies
Define aliases
Use lots of other cool features

Plus, learn how to save it for reuse in other workbooks.

WATCH RECORDING

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COGNOS TIPS

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September 14 IBM Cognos Report Templatization

A persistent challenge we come across in nearly all of our large Cognos projects is how to manage the proliferation of reports and inconsistencies across them. How can you enforce some level of standardization and at the same time reduce repetitive and redundant development tasks? Are you using a templatized approach? Do you use Layout Component References (LCRs)? We will demonstrate how and why using base reports and LCRs will save you time, deliver more consistent and attractive reports and minimize maintenance cycles.

WATCH RECORDING

QUESTIONS LOG

[/drawer][drawer title='' instructions='▼ IBM COGNOS ANALYTICS SET OPERATIONS - UNIONS WITH RELATIONAL DATA (SEPTEMBER 7)']

September 7 IBM Cognos Analytics Set Operations - Unions with Relational Data

Have you ever wondered how to get all of the months to show up on a trend chart even if there was no data that month? Have you ever wanted to see all of you locations, products, customers, or accounts in a chart legend even if there was no data? Have you ever needed to combine data such as sales and forecast, actual and budget, or Company A data with Company B data, but the data is not joined in the data model?

Join us to learn how to use unions to accomplish various complex requirements with IBM Cognos Analytics.

WATCH RECORDING

[/drawer][drawer title='' instructions='▼ IBM COGNOS ANALYTICS – USING DATA SETS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE (AUGUST 24)']

August 24 IBM Cognos Analytics – Using Data Sets to Improve Performance

Looking for a way to build a snazzy dashboard in Cognos Analytics, but struggling with performance issues? When working against large, centralized data packages do you get discouraged when dashboards are not responsive due to data latency? We expect near-instantaneous responses to queries and gestures. Why compete with massive queries across millions of rows of history when the scope of your analysis is only a small subset of that data?

Data sets are a new feature of Cognos Analytics that make reports and dashboards lightning-quick! They let you extract only the relevant data for your analysis, set it aside and schedule automatic refreshes. Come see how this feature works and learn some important factors to consider when deploying data sets.

WATCH RECORDING

[/drawer][drawer title='' instructions='▼ COGNOS ANALYTICS FORMATTING REPORTS FOR EXCEL (AUGUST 17)']

August 17 Cognos Analytics Formatting Reports for Excel

Have you have ever created a report in Cognos that looks great in HTML and PDF, but has major formatting issues when exporting to Excel? If so, watch this recording to learn clever tips and tricks on how to format your reports for Excel.

WATCH RECORDING

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July 27 IBM Cognos Analytics Dimensional Authoring – Troubleshooting Coercion Errors

The most common challenge when authoring reports in IBM Cognos against multidimensional data sources such as a PowerCube, DMR model or TM1 is avoiding coercion errors. Watch the video to understand why those errors occur. Plus, get tips on how to combine functions in a way that produces dynamic calculations that follow coercion rules.

WATCH RECORDING

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Training

Use Power BI with Trusted Cognos Data

Senturus Analytics Connector Available for Power BI

As organizations that have relied on Cognos introduce Power BI and Tableau, they find that end users are hampered by the inability to connect to Cognos as a data source. All that governed and prepared data in Cognos, with its business rules and security measures, gets bypassed by users. Instead, they work directly with raw data sources and go through the labor intensive and error prone task of remodeling data. Aside from wasting loads of valuable time, this method comprises data integrity, security and reporting accuracy.

During this demo see how easy it is to tap into Cognos as a data source for Power BI using the Senturus Analytics Connector. Originally developed for Tableau and now including Power BI in release 3.0, Our easy-to-use Analytics Connector provides a wealth of benefits including

Faster, more accurate reporting
Reduced change management cost and risk
Improved security with appropriate guardrails around data access
Increased data accuracy
Better overall Power BI performance

Learn more about the Cognos to Power BI Analytics Connector.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos, Microsoft Power BI

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Michael’s team is responsible for the development of the Senturus Analytics Connector. He also heads up our Tableau Practice. Before Senturus, Michael spent over 20 years in different roles at Oracle, IBM and SAP acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and big data experience.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of the Senturus Analytics Connector

Huge value in existing BI models
Power BI users circumvent them
Why you shouldn’t (re)-create metadata
The solution? The Senturus Analytics Connector!
Instant access to quality data sets
Don’t sacrifice integrity for agility
The Senturus Analytics Connector gives you
- Faster, more accurate reporting
- Change management reductions
- Trust in the data
- Improved security
- Superior Power BI performance

Frequently asked questions

Connectivity method
- Custom Analytics Connector – direct query mode
Supported Cognos platforms and versions
- IBM Cognos 10.1.x/11 and higher
- Cloud is supported as long as dispatcher can be accessed
Supported data sources
- Relational, PowerCubes, DMR, Dynamic Cubes, TM1
- Reports
Release date
- The product was released on 11/7/16
- In development for over three years, current version 3.0
Supported Power BI versions/platforms
- Power BI Desktop 2.5x
- Microsoft Windows operating system (Windows 7, 8, 10, Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016)
Connector Installation Location
- Wherever connectivity to Cognos is required (Power BI Desktop)
- Nothing installed on Cognos servers
- Also available as client/server
Minimum Software Requirements
- Similar to those for any other typical ODBC driver
Cognos Environment Impact
- Power BI users leveraging the Analytics Connector will generate load on the Cognos servers similar to an interactive report user on those systems
Licensing Requirements - Cognos
- Direct query: Cognos Analytics user or equivalent
- Import: Cognos Analytics user for imports, users accessing Power BI files leveraging imports would require an Analytics Connector license
Security
- Enforces security applied within the Cognos environment
Framework Manager Modeling Requirements
- No special modeling requirements for the Analytics Connector
- Power BI requires that joins are created between query subjects
- Supports Cognos CQM & DQM
Method for Accessing Cognos
- ODBC/JDBC connection via Power BI Custom Connector
Support
- Provided by Senturus and included in the price of the product

ROI for the Senturus Analytics Connector

Time and money required to create metadata from scratch in Power BI –hours to weeks+ depending on the number and complexity of packages/reports
Risk of not having proper data security (GDPR, PII, HIPPA, SOX, FERPA)
Time saved converting reports to Power BI
Time wasted maintaining multiple metadata layers between Cognos and Power BI
Time wasted, cost and risk of inaccurate/misaligned business metrics

Take an Analytics Connector test drive at info@senturus.com

Features

IBM Software Licensing: Tips to Safeguard Your Bottom Line

Save Money, Reduce Risk and Maintain Compliance

Having a solid understanding and staying on top of the IBM evolving license structures and maintenance agreements can mitigate risk and have a serious impact on the bottom line. IBM aggressively audits its software customers—being caught out of compliance results in settlement for license entitlement delta plus two years of retroactive S&S fees. There’s even more savings to be had by understanding your way around IBM’s pricing and licensing models.

In this webinar recording we share great tips to save money and maintain compliance of IBM analytics software licensing. You will learn

How to optimize your investment and contain costs
Software Subscription & Support (S&S) renewal gotchas
How to maintain compliance and prepare for an audit

You may also be interested in our individualized complimentary IBM analytics software licensing review.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos

PRESENTER

Carson Bradshaw
Director of Client Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Carson is an 18-year business analytics veteran who has spent formative time working for Cognos and various IBM business partners and resellers. In addition to numerous technical certifications from leading enterprise BI software companies, he holds sales certifications from IBM for Cognos, TM1, SPSS and more.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

IBM license types
- Fixed term and indefinite
- Cloud (SaaS)
- Hybrid cloud
License considerations – on-premise vs. cloud
- Product limitations
- Technical aspects
- Financial aspects
IBM user and capacity based licensing
- User-based licensing
  - Authorized user (named user)
  - Concurrent user
- Capacity-based licensing
  - Processor Value Unit (PVU): measured by processor cores
  - Resource Value Unit (RVU): measured by a specific resource
- IBM Processor Value Unit (PVU)-based licensing
- IBM PVU calculator for sub-capacity
  - Two key factors for determining PVU license requirements
    - Type of processor technology
    - Number of processor cores
  - IBM PVU table specifies the # of units, based on the processor technology, which is then multiplied by the # of cores available to software product
    - Ex: 100 units X 8 cores = 800

IBM sub-capacity licensing requirements
- Requires use an eligible
- Sub-capacity product: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/SubCapacity/Sub_Capacity_Eligible_Programs.pdf
- Virtualization technology: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/SubCapacity/Eligible_Virtualization_Technology.pdf
- Processor: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/SubCapacity/Eligible_Processor_Technology.pdf
- Mandatory installation of the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) within 90 days of deployment: https://www-01.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/ibmlicensemetrictool.html
  - Exceptions:
    - Less than 1000 employees
    - Licensed at full capacity

IBM software subscription and support renewals
- All IBM software products include first year of IBM Software Subscription & Support (S&S)
- Fixed-term licenses must be renewed for continued usage
- SaaS license subscriptions are elective
- Perpetual license renewals are elective
  - License reinstatements are required for lapsed renewals

IBM software renewal gotchas
- Cloud/SaaS automatic renewals
  - Must cancel 90 days in advance
- YoY uplift policy
- License reduction policy

Passport Advantage
- Passport Advantage is relationship based
- Passport Advantage Express is transaction based

IBM license information documents
- Search LI documents provides portal to access IBM announcements for individual programs (Ex: Cognos Analytics)
- These programs and supporting programs are key to understanding the specific access rights for the various license types
- In this example for Cognos Analytics, there is a hierarchy with respect to access rights, which is common

IBM Software License Matrix Example
IBM Software Audit/Compliance Review
- IBM informs customer of compliance review via Audit Announcement Letter (AAL)
- Audit kickoff may be with IBM, but more likely third party independent auditor partners (e.g. Deloitte & KPMG)
- Deployments are collected in an IBM Server workbook (ISW) and IBM entitlements are collated in the Effective License Position (ELP) and matched to deployments to create the License Compliance Table (LCT)
- IBM provides distribution results summary, which details the S&S owned, license requirements and license discrepancy
- IBM submits Settlement Summary and expects PO for the final settlement quote within 30 days
- IBM issues audit relief

How to Avoid/Prepare for IBM Audit
- Maintain list of all IBM agreements (e.g. ELA, IULA, STA, etc.) and Proof of Entitlements (PoE) documents, especially those with special terms
- Keep IBM contact information up-to-date via IBM (PAO) to confirm receipt of renewal quotes and PoEs as well as license changes, updates to agreements and other important notifications
- Limit software acquisitions to smaller group that is aware of licensing implications and educate user community accordingly
- Develop Software Asset Management (SAM) process to effectively manage IBM software entitlements compared to actual use
- Restrict Authorized User licenses based on current access rights
- Verify sub-capacity eligibility requirements and deploy ILMT ASAP
- Acquire non-production licensing for any PVU based deployment
- Perform self-audit to promote preparedness

Tips
- PVU licenses do not limit the number of users but are restricted by processors.
- Full-capacity licensing requires license for every processor core of the physical server, but sub-capacity licensing allows licensing of fewer cores through the use of eligible virtualization technology.
- Reduction of processor cores available to the IBM product can substantially reduce the expenditure. However, there are caveats.
- Customers are out of compliance if they do not deploy the ILMT within 90 days, submit quarterly reports and retain reports for 2 years.
- Senturus has secured discounts for our clients by leveraging our channel margin as IBM reseller to yield savings off the price from IBM.
- Right-sizing IBM software renewal(s) can substantially reduce the expenditure.
- PA provides automatic co-termination of license renewals (vs. multiple sites for PAX).
- Licensing documents contain terms of use, including prohibited uses, license restrictions and limitations, etc.
- IBM requires customers to impose user access limitations for many software programs, which is one of the keys to maintaining compliance.
- If a customer out of compliance, IBM asks them to buy the right licenses and pay two years of retroactive S&S fees.

Business Strategy

A Deep Dive into Tableau Dashboard Starters for Salesforce

Finishing What They Started

The latest release of Tableau Online includes Dashboard Starters -- pre-built dashboards for use with Salesforce, Marketo, Oracle Eloqua and ServiceNow ITSM.

In this webinar recording, our Salesforce and Tableau experts do a deep dive into the Dashboard Starters for Salesforce. You’ll get an understanding of how to turn the Starters into the finished products that decision-makers really need.

Topics include:

How to refine the Starters to get them to work with your Salesforce data, including your custom fields
How to determine which components of the Starters are relevant to the way your organization uses Salesforce
Whether to modify or rebuild the Starters to include the functionality most important to your decision makers
How to incorporate key metrics not available in the base Salesforce tables
How to address exceptionally long data refresh times when modifying the Starters
How to acquire dashboard starters if you are not using Tableau Online

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce

PRESENTERS

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

Greg co-founded Senturus in 2001. He has been helping clients implement Salesforce analytic solutions since 2003, Marketo analytics since 2011 and Tableau visualizations and dashboards since 2014.

Monica Van Loon
Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Monica is a Tableau-certified consultant and trainer and has been delivering Tableau-based solutions for Senturus clients for over two years.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Tableau’s Dashboard Starters
- Functional overview of the dashboard
- Starters for Salesforce data
- Open pipeline
- Account tracking
- Marketing leads
- Opportunity overview
- Quarterly sales result
- Opportunity tracking
- Top accounts
What’s missing?
- Revenue attribution
- Sales bandwidth optimization
- Forecast accuracy
- Pipeline growth
- Campaign effectiveness
Which marketing campaigns are the best revenue drivers?
Account prioritization based on behavior
How much of our pipeline do we win?
What’s the trend in each component of pipeline growth?
Are we gaining new prospects or recycling?
Tableau and Salesforce overview
- How to surface Salesforce data in Tableau
- Downloading Salesforce Dashboard Starters
- Helpful information about the Starters
Methods to Surface Salesforce Data in Tableau
- Manually extract data from Salesforce into flat files, pull into Tableau
- Use Tableau’s direct connections to Salesforce Cloud
- Connect Tableau to a replica database of Salesforce data that you control
- Connect Tableau to an integrated database that you control
Overview - Tableau’s Dashboard Starters what you need to know
- By default, Salesforce Dashboard Starters use Tableau’s direct connection to Salesforce cloud
- Dashboard Starters are available with the Creator license in Tableau Online or you can download them
- The data is not real-time, Dashboard Starters work off of Tableau extracts
- Modify the Dashboard Starters to include selections of your custom fields
- Dashboard Starters can be modified to work with a local replica of your Salesforce database
  - This is required to address the missing capabilities
Demo 1: open pipeline - Dashboard Starter
- How to avoid gotchas and make it work with your Salesforce Cloud data
How to get a Salesforce reporting database
- Many important analytical capabilities are not available when connecting Tableau directly to the Salesforce Cloud
- The primary limitation is that the Salesforce Cloud data is organized to robustly support a CRM application – it is not organized for analytics
- Pulling the Salesforce Cloud data into a reporting database creates the foundation required for robust analytics – specifically an enhanced data model that is analysis-ready
- Senturus has built a solution that includes
- Pre-built Tableau Dashboards with the Salesforce visibility decision-makers need
- A tool that replicates Salesforce Cloud data into a reporting database -- and keeps it refreshed
- Pre-built extensions to the database that optimize the data for robust analytics and decision-making
Setting up replication: step 1 ID for secure data
Setting up replication: step 2 – logon to Salesforce
Setting up replication: step 3 – confirm with Salesforce
How to make the Dashboard Starters work with an integrated Salesforce reporting database
- Getting Dashboard Starters to work with a database
  - Create a new Tableau data source using your reporting database (match the joins used in Dashboard Starter)
  - Go to Starter - add that as a New Data Source
  - Replace Data Source
  - Look for Dimensions and Measures with a red !
  - Right click on red dimensions or measures to replace references to the database field names
  - Results
- Tableau Dashboard Starters – summary
  - Pros
    - They provide a great gallery of visualization capabilities on Salesforce data
    - Salesforce data is pre-joined which makes it easy to create new worksheets
    - They use Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) Dates
    - They have embedded calculated fields that are useful and can be reused
    - They use great features like viz in a tooltip, and URL actions to launch Salesforce screens
  - Cons
    - Many Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are missing
    - They use Tableau’s Salesforce cloud connector technique, which has limitations
    - The UTC Dates will not exactly match Salesforce Cloud reports
    - Performance can be slow, especially when refreshing extracts
    - They are limited to snapshots, trend analysis is very limited
  - Leverage the Tableau Dashboard Starters to quickly build Salesforce visualizations
  - Build on their foundation – add your custom fields and groupings where appropriate
  - Apply the benefits toward a Salesforce reporting database that delivers crucial functionality not available from just the Salesforce Cloud tables
  - Don’t stop at just sales and marketing
  - Customer behavior data exists in several systems including order entry and customer support

Business Strategy

Revving Tableau Server Performance

Performance Degradation Causes and Cures

Get to the bottom of why you are experiencing Tableau Server performance loss.

During this webinar recording, we discuss

Most common causes of Tableau Server performance degradation
How to get ahead of your performance issues
When to scale out and when to scale up
Cloud-based options

You may also be interested in another popular webinar recording, Four Methods to Secure and Filter Data by User in Tableau.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau

PRESENTERS

Todd Schuman
Practice Lead – Installations, Upgrades and Performance Tuning
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Most common causes of Tableau Server performance loss
Data extract refresh schedules
Undersized hardware/concurrent users
Row level security
Poor workbook/dashboard design
Data extract chaos
Long refreshes during peak hours
Failing extracts
Duplicates and deprecated extracts
Undersized hardware/concurrent users
On paper, 8 CPU/32GB RAM should support 1000 total users
- Assumes 10% are active
- Light workload
Row level security in extracts
- Live vs. extracts
  - Live can apply security for each SQL execution
  - Extract needs to store specific rows for each user/group
- One-to-one
  - [Column]=USERNAME()
  - Will create a row for each user
  - 1M rows, 1K users = 1B row extract
- One-to-group
  - IF ISMEMBEROF(“GROUP”) THEN [Column]=”Value”
  - Can help reduce users to multi-user groups
  - 1M rows, 20 groups, 20M row extract
Poor dashboard design
Slow dashboards in Desktop will not run faster on Server
Usual suspects
- Custom SQL
- Too many details/marks
- Too many quick filters
- Complex calculations
- Excel/CSV files as data sources
- Operational databases
- LOD calculations

Getting ahead of performance issues

Restrict schedules – don’t allow peak hour scheduling
Clean up extracts
- Hide unused columns – expose only what is needed
- Remove lower level detail if only focused on aggregates
  - If you only report on monthly data, you don’t need to store daily row level detail
- Filter – If you only need one year of data, filter out the historical data
- Massive reduction in rows and size
Data Stewards
- Restrict non-stewards from scheduling extract refreshes
- Data steward ensure extracts are only refreshed when needed
- Duplicates are removed
- New extracts are validated
Row level security
- CONTAINS()
  - High performing without duplicates
  - Requires creating custom comma delimited fields
  - Note: issues with HYPER in 10.5 and 2018.1.0
- Display name
  - Fast performance
  - Users can edit
  - Ugly for users
- Tableau admin tools
  - Out of box reports
- Internal postgres Tableau reporting
  - Build your own dashboards
  - Have it delivered automatically
    - Extract timelines
    - Daily use
    - Weekly use
    - Monthly use

Scaling up vs. scaling out

Up vs. out
- Up – adding additional hardware/resources to existing servers
- Out – adding new servers to distribute load
When to scale up
- Tableau Server recommended hardware
  - 8 CPU
  - 32GB RAM
  - https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/server_hardware_min.htm
- If Less < 8-16 CPU - scale up before out
- If on core-based licensing, make sure you are using what you paid for
  - Single gateway nodes don’t count
  - DEV and TEST environments don’t count as long as they are <= prod core count
- When to scale out
  - Single node >= 8 CPU
  - Need to address failover/high availability (HA)
  - Need to dedicate hardware to Tableau processes
- Response times scaling out
- Comparisons
  - Scaling up
    - Lower cost
    - Less maintenance
    - Simple configuration
  - Scaling out
    - Additional cost for servers and licenses
    - Distribute load
    - Dedicated workers
    - Failover/high availability
  - Cloud-based options
    - Tableau Online
      - Now runs on AWS
      - Turnkey
      - Auto upgrade
      - No access to file system
      - Limited on-prem access
      - 100 GB limit
    - DIY cloud
      - AWS, Azure, Google
      - Maintain updates and software
      - Full feature set
      - Need to setup network access to on-prem data and authentication

Tips & Tricks

Portal Tabs: Past, Present and Future

Defining Custom Landing Pages in Cognos Analytics

In IBM Cognos BI 8-10, the Portal Tab feature was an extremely useful one. The ability to define a custom landing page for different users and groups made it easy to find and access the required reports, while also securing areas that should be locked down.

With the advent of Cognos Analytics, a brand-new UI was introduced, and Portal Tabs disappeared. Since 11.0.5, Cognos Analytics included features that could be easily setup to provide the same capabilities as in Cognos BI 8-10. And now…Portal Tabs are back!

In this webinar recording, we look at how Portal Tabs have been integrated into the new Glass UI of Cognos Analytics. We review how to set them up and the pitfalls and work-arounds required to use this re-introduced feature.

On a Cognos Analytics roll? Then, you may also be interested in these other resources:

How to Create a Cognos Analytics Dashboard (webinar recording)
Designing Flexible Reports in Cognos Analytics (whitepaper)
Cognos Analytics: Dashboards or Reports? (webinar recording)

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics

PRESENTERS

Chris McPherson
Senior Offering Manager
Data Science & Business Analytics
IBM

Chris's areas of responsibility include the Cognos Portal, APIs, Mobile and the Business Partner Channel. He joined Cognos in 2005 and held a number of senior technical roles in the Support organization before moving to Product Management in 2008 when Cognos was acquired by IBM.

Todd Schuman
Practice Lead – Installations, Upgrades and Performance Tuning
Senturus, Inc.

You might also be interested in reading Todd's blog Windows vs Linux: What’s Best with Cognos Analytics? in which he discusses the pros and cons of each to help you assess the best fit for your organization.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Cognos 8/10 Portal Tabs

Navigator
Search
Viewer
HTML
Images
RSS
Strengths
- Easy to set up
- Custom landing page for groups/users
- Simplify Cognos portal
- Only expose folder/content needed for user/group
Weaknesses
- Cognos 10.2.X standard support ended 4/30/2018
- Cognos 10.2.X is now in extended support

The Present: Portal Tabs in Cognos 11.0.11

Where are they?
Disabled by default
Use the config setter to enable
Log in as administrator
- Add “:/bi/utils/ConfigSetter.html” to your Cognos URL
- So https://Cognos.Senturus.com/ibmcognos would be https://Cognos.Senturus.com:9300/bi/utils/ConfigSetter.html
Name: ContentApps.enableMyPortalPages
Value: True
Strengths
Quick transition for Portal Tab users to move to Cognos 11
Provides similar look and feel
Weaknesses
Difficult to edit once migrated
Unable to use interactive viewer or Cognos 11 dashboards

The Future: Extensions

Create customs buttons for
- Dashboards
- Reports
- Folders
- Websites
- More
Add/remove buttons for each Cognos role
Strengths
- Fully integrated with Cognos 11 UI
- Unlimited customization options
Weaknesses
- Requires admin to rebuild Portal Tabs
- Requires context menus to be edite/restricted
- Requires basic understanding of json code

Demo

Review ConfigSetter tool
- Enable/disable Portal Tabs in 11.0.11
Review sample IBM extensions
- How to upload and enable
Review process to create custom extensions
- Quick edits to json code
Assign extension to Cognos roles
Set as home page
Share/embed Portal Tab
Custom folder

Tips & Tricks

How to Create a Cognos Analytics Dashboard

Using the New Drill-Down Feature

Tips & Tricks

Visualizing Data in TM1 Cubes Using Tableau

Connector for Tableau and IBM Planning Analytics

Ever wish you could connect Tableau to the data residing in your IBM Planning Analytics/TM1 cubes without a complex, expensive implementation? You can, using the Senturus Analytics Connector.

Installed alongside Tableau Desktop, the Analytics Connector lets you easily author visualizations executing real-time queries against TM1 cubes.

In this webinar recording, we demo the capabilities of this powerful solution. Among the items covered

Executing real-time queries against TM1 cubes using the Analytics Connector
Creating a Tableau workbook with an IBM Planning Analytics/TM1 cube data source
Data source cube design
Solution components

Learn more about the Senturus Analytics Connector.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, TM1, IBM Planning Analytics

PRESENTER

Ken O'Boyle
Solution Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Ken is our lead TM1 Solution Architect in addition to being Tableau certified. He has more than 20 years of hands-on experience architecting, implementing and delivering training for enterprise planning, business intelligence and data warehousing solutions.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

History of the Senturus Analytics Connector
- December 2015 – first release – Tableau connection to Cognos packages with a relational data source
- July 2017 – version 2 – support for Cognos packages with an OLAP data source
- April 2018 – version 2.5 – enhancements and configuration options for Planning Analytics/TM1 data sources

One TM1 Cube – many Tableau workbooks
- Why you shouldn’t (re)-create meta-data
  - Time consuming
  - Compromises data integrity
  - Compromises data security
  - Creates data silos

Tableau behavior with TM1 Cubes
- TM1 dimension/alternate hierarchy = Tableau table
- TM1 named level = Tableau field
- TM1 measures reporting dimension element = Tableau measure
- TM1 geographic named level = automatically assigned a Tableau geographic role
- TM1 dimension with YYYY-MM-DD elements = can be converted to the Tableau date type
- TM1 aggregate values = returned in Tableau queries

TM1 beats Tableau aggregate calcs
- Benefits of managing calculation logic in TM1
- TM1 strength is complex cell/slice-level calculations at any level
- TM1 calculated values are cached and stored in memory
- Avoids need for long, resource intensive client-side queries
- Calculations do not need to be replicated across Tableau workbooks

Planning analytics cube design considerations
- Balanced hierarchies with named levels work best
- Naming – fields sort alphabetically in Tableau
- Named level = Tableau field
- Named levels with country, state, city, etc. automatically convert to Tableau geographic roles
- Elements named as YYYY-MM-DD can be converted to the date type in Tableau to achieve time-based functionality

Solution components
- Cube data source – IBM Planning Analytics /TM1 (v10.2.2 or above)
- Cognos package – Cognos Analytics BI (v10.2.2 or above)
- Tableau
- Senturus Analytics Connector (v2.5 or above)

Map visualizations – Tableau detects geographic fields from TM1

Time-based visualizations – Tableau can convert yyyy-mm-dd members to date type

Server-based calculations -- Tableau returns aggregate values from the server

Planning analytics /TM1 Cube – cube design impacts Tableau behavior

Cognos package – use administration console to create data source connection and package to the TM1 Cube

Senturus Analytics Connector – use other databases (ODBC) to connect to TM1

Data source setup – TM1 dimensions listed as tables in Tableau

Features

Designing Flexible Reports in Cognos Analytics

Step-By-Step Instructions for Consolidating Reports

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Analytics: Dashboards or Reports?

Matching Tools to Business Requirements

With all the capabilities that have been added to the Cognos Analytics platform, it can be a bit unclear as to which is the right choice – dashboards or reports?

In this webinar recording, we break down the benefits and differences in functionality between Cognos reports and dashboards so you can determine the best tool for your business requirements.

We address these questions and more

What is the difference between a dashboard and a dashboard-style report?
Where is the best place for experimental data discovery?
What are data modules and stories?

You may also be interested in these free Cognos Analytics resources

Our Favorite New Features in Cognos Analytics Release 10 – blog describing features such as dashboard drill-throughs, exporting dashboards to PDF, the return of the Job button and more
Tips for Installing Cognos Analytics – webinar recording that reviews the latest steps for installing and upgrading your Cognos environment
Cognos Analytics Release 7+ Authoring Improvements – webinar recording showing demos of new and reintroduced authoring features

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions

Albert has more than 17 years of experience in business intelligence education and technical training. In addition to founding and running the Senturus training division, Albert also serves in various roles in the company including senior consultant and solutions architect. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos. Albert is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

IBM Cognos Analytics rapid releases – history
Cognos Analytics releases – new dashboarding features
What is a dashboard?
- From Stephen Few: “A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.”
- Our basic understanding, dashboards typically have the following characteristics or features
  - Multiple visual representations of data on a single screen
  - Interactivity, allowing consumers to narrow focus and understand interdependencies of the data via visual gestures
  - High-level measurements with access to underlying details via drill-down, drill-through or some other intuitive data exploration gesture
  - Examples: IBM Cognos Analytics; Tableau; Microsoft Power BI
- What is a report?
  - Information delivered in ANY format
    - Excel workbooks – mostly tabular (row and column) format
    - Easy to combine with graphical representations (visualizations) of same, similar or related data
    - Mostly static (NOT interactive) snapshots of data
    - Answer specific questions, meet detailed, well-defined specifications
    - Can be highly formatted for the target consumer (internal business analyst, external customer, regulatory agency)
    - Examples: IBM Cognos Analytics, Tableau
  - Is a report a dashboard building block?
- Demo: use case for dashboarding
  - Upload data, blend data, explore/visualize
  - Data discovery and experimentation – don’t know exactly which question(s) to ask
  - Little or very light data manipulation
  - Multiple data sources (cannot be linked)
  - All widgets interactive
  - All widgets connect to one another by default (automatically)
  - Use pinned items for reuse in dashboards and stories
  - Designed for on-screen consumption, now able to export to PDF for printing (as of Release 10)
  - No access to query model
  - Simplified tabbed layout
  - Widgets can be set to refresh automatically
  - Can use ANY source, including uploaded files and data sets
  - Tabular visualization available, very limited
  - Automatic visual interpretation and recommendations, more modern visual features, limited control over individual properties
  - Quasi-Natural Language Processing (NLP) search can recommend visualizations
  - Easily create tabbed viewing experience
- Demo: use case for reporting
  - Use existing metadata
  - Highly-specific presentation requirements, like fixed-size, pixel-perfect layout and formatting
  - Extensive data manipulation
  - One source at a Time
  - Limited consumer interactivity to what author allows
  - Tedious inline filtering (prompting)
  - Use layout component references for templatization/standardization
  - Various delivery formats available (HTML, PDF, Excel, CSV, XML)
  - Advanced query modeling (master/detail, joins, sets, etc.)
  - Consolidate reports using report references
  - Robust scheduling, subscription and bursting
  - Requires data module or package (you can always create a data module on top of one or more of the various source types)
  - Advanced crosstabs, statement-style reporting
  - Tight control over visualization and chart properties
  - 100% user-directed design
  - Adding tabs to reports is labor-intensive

Tips & Tricks

Restricting Access to Content by User in Tableau

Four Methods to Secure & Filter Data By User

Good news: Tableau provides ways to restrict, or filter, what data appears in visualizations based on the audience. Bad news: the mechanisms in Tableau for restricting access to sensitive content are not obvious. And to make it more challenging, Tableau’s default is to make all the data in a report visible to everyone looking at it!

In this webinar recording learn the different ways for restricting access to content with Tableau. See step-by-step demos on how to control who sees what in your visualizations. The four methods covered are

Using Tableau Server Groups and a workbook filter (requires Tableau Server or Tableau Online)
Using Tableau’s built-in user filters (requires Tableau Server or Tableau Online)
Joining to a security table
Using database security to restrict access

In this whitepaper, we provide step-by-step instructions for each of the four methods.

You may also be interested in these free Tableau resources

The Perks and Pitfalls of Tableau Server -- webinar recording describing success strategies for expanding Tableau company wide
Six Ways to Publish and Share Tableau Content -- blog with details on how to distribute your Tableau content

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau

PRESENTER

Monica Van Loon
Analytics Consultant
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview – Types of Security in Tableau
Four Methods to Implement Data Security in Tableau
- Tableau’s Built-in User Filters
- Tableau Server Groups and a Workbook filter
- Join to a Security Table
- Use Database Security
Method 1: Tableau’s Built-in User Filters
- Navigate to the worksheet to which you want to apply a filter
- Server > Create User Filter
- Select the field you want to use for filtering (i.e. Region)
- In the User Filter dialog box, type a name for the set of rules you are creating
- (i.e. Regional Managers)
- In the list on the left, select User/Group
- On the right, under Members for:select what you want the selected users to see
- Do this for each Tableau Server/ Tableau Online user
Method 1: Pros
- Easy to implement, user-friendly
- Build in feature of Tableau Server
- No Tableau Server or DBA assistance required
Method 1: Cons
- Must be done for each worksheet or workbook: new worksheets may show unfiltered data
- High maintenance: if user base changes, you need to update the filter and republish
- Security can be tenuous: if users can download and edit workbook they can see ALL of the data
- Requires Tableau Server or Tableau Online
Method 2: Tableau Server with a Worksheet Filter
- Create groups on Tableau server (i.e. ‘Central’, ‘East’ etc..)
- Connect to your data source
- Create a calculated field
- Publish the workbook to Tableau Server
- Note: when publishing to Tableau Server, ensure web-editing and download is set to “no”
Method 2a: Tableau Server Groups with a Data Source Filter
- Create groups on Tableau server (i.e. ‘Central’, ‘East’ etc..)
- Connect to your data source
- Create your calculated field
- In the Data Source tab - add a data source filter using the calculated field and select ‘true’
- Publish the data source - publishers can connect to the published data source and create dashboards with built-in security
- Note: with a data source filter you can allow “web edit"
Method 2 and 2a: Pros
- Once Tableau Server groups are set up they can be used for multiple workbooks
- Built-in feature of Tableau Server
- No DBA assistance required
Method 2 and 2a: Cons
- Must be implemented for each worksheet, workbook or data source
- Medium maintenance: groups must be maintained in Tableau Server as users are added deleted and move
- Security can be tenuous: if users can download and edit workbook they can potentially see ALL of the data
- New worksheets may show unfiltered data
- Requires Tableau Server or Tableau Online
Method 3: Join to a Security Table
- Create a security table
- Join data source to security table
- Create a calculated field
- Note: the security table needs to have a one to one mapping with data table or you may get duplicate rows
Option: Create a Published Data Source
Advantages of a Published Data Source
- Shared business-friendly semantic layer
- Reusable
- Single source of the “truth”
- Secure with data source filter
- Note: you need a 1 to 1 mapping to security table to avoid row duplication
Option: Use Subscriptions
- Tableau Server Subscriptions are a great way to distribute content
- Each subscribed user gets a user specific view with a thumbnail
Method 4: Use Database Security
- Example: Security embedded in a database view:
- Create or replace view My_Employee_Details as select e.employee_id, e.first_name, e.last_name, e.salary, m.Last_name manager_name from HR.employees e, HR.employees m where e.manager_id = m.employee_id and upper(m.LAST_NAME) = user;
- Notes: this is one example there are many ways to accomplish this; the syntax is often database specific, for example: ‘user’ is Oracle specific; in Sql Server it would be current_user or session_user or current_user
Method 4: Pros
- Security implemented in the database level can be shared by other reporting tools
- Security information can be extracted from other sources (i.e. HR systems like Workday and built into a database view or materialized view)
- Very flexible and hierarchies can be implemented (i.e. VP – Regional Manager – Department Manger …)
Method 4: Cons
- Must be set-up prior to publishing workbook
- DBA assistance required
- Medium maintenance: DBA need to maintain database ID’s that map to security
Secure Your Data - Functionality Matrix
Good – Tableau Server with user filters
Better – Tableau Server groups or a database security table
Best – A fully integrated, automated and shared data security model
Key Takeaways
- Multiple ways to secure and restrict data shown in Tableau
- Requirements, restrictions and maintenance vary by method
- Many combinations and variations for each method
- Contact Senturus if you need help

Tips & Tricks

Use Tableau to Get to the Gold Hidden in Salesforce

Secrets to Unearthing Missing Valuable Indicators

A wealth of sales insights is buried inside – and outside – of Salesforce. Learn how and where to unearth those gems and you can help your sales team make better time prioritizations and your execs to make better sales strategy decisions. Senturus President Greg Herrera reveals both quick wins and secret techniques for uncovering sales gold using Tableau and Salesforce.

In this webinar recording learn how your sales team can

Get reports that drill down to the Salesforce record
Look at Tableau visualizations embedded directly into the Salesforce dashboard
Pull in data from outside Salesforce to get key reports such as
- Clustering reports, multiple people engaging with marketing
- Web activity from people in their pipeline

You’ll also learn how your sales management can track hard-to-get leading indicators, such as

Components of pipeline growth
- Growth from new opportunities
- Changes to the value of existing opportunities
- Changes to the win-probability of existing opportunities

You may also be interested in our webinar recording that shows how to Embed Tableau in Salesforce Dashboards using the free Salesforce Canvas and Tableau Sparkler adapters.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce

PRESENTER

Greg Herrera 
President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

Greg Herrera co-founded Senturus in 2001. He has been helping clients implement Salesforce analytic solutions since 2003, Marketo analytics since 2011 and Tableau visualizations and dashboards since 2014.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The different techniques for connecting Tableau to Salesforce data – and the pros and cons of each
How to enable the capability to drill from a Tableau dashboard into the specific record within Salesforce
How to embed Tableau dashboards directly inside the Salesforce screens your sales reps are already using
How to use Tableau to make all relevant data available to your sales team from within Salesforce – including data that is not even in the Salesforce database
How to prepare Salesforce and other demand generation data so that it’s organized the way Tableau prefers to use it
How to organize your demand generation data so that all business people can easily understand and analyze it
- Pipeline growth analysis
  - How much of our/my pipeline growth is coming from new opportunities?
  - How much is coming from opportunities changing stage or probability?
  - How much is coming from changes to the size of the deal?
  - What’s the trend in all of these?
  - Where do I need to focus my efforts?
- Marketing effectiveness
  - Which marketing programs are creating the newest opportunities?
  - Which marketing programs bring in the most greenfield prospects?
  - Which marketing programs drive the most revenue and profit?
  - What’s the trend in new leads?
  - From where are the best new leads coming?
  - Where do I find the Glengarry leads?
- Demand funnel analysis
  - What are the conversion rates within our demand funnel (e.g., percent of leads that convert to wins)?
  - Which marketing programs are best at improving conversion rates?
  - Which sales activities improve conversions?
  - Leading indicators, how are we trending with?
    - Length of sales cycle
    - Win rate
    - Average deal size
    - Pipeline growth
- Installed-base analysis
  - Are we spending so much time chasing new accounts at the expense of existing?
  - Which existing accounts are likely to lead to the most follow-on?
- Demonstrations of Tableau and Tableau’s integration with Salesforce

Business Strategy

Taming the Data Wildcat with the Senturus Analytics Connector

Northwestern University Leverages Cognos Data in Tableau Visualizations

Get a firsthand account of the value the Senturus Analytics Connector, our solution that ties Tableau to enterprise BI platforms like Cognos and MicroStrategy. Senturus client, Northwestern University, shows how the Senturus Connector allows them to derive the full value of their investment in Tableau Server by leveraging their extensive Cognos data marts.

Valuable data in Cognos is available to a wide group of analysts and consumers and the quality of reporting data across school departments is greatly improved. Now, Northwestern is able to automatically generate interactive, at-a-glance Tableau dashboard reports, presenting summary analyses to senior leadership while giving departmental administrators access to the underlying data.

In this webinar recording, you will see a demo of how the Connector works and how it enabled Northwestern to tie Tableau into the secure, governed data already existing in their Cognos data mart.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Analytics, Tableau

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, Program or Project Managers

PRESENTERS

Jeffrey Weiss, PhD
Director for Research Analysis
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

Jeffrey Weiss earned his PhD in Physiology from the University of Virginia in 1987 and completed his post-doctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He joined Northwestern University as an investigator in 1993 and is the author of 55 peer-reviewed publications in the field of endocrine signaling. He has held various secondary positions in information management since 1996 and assumed his current full time role in analytics in 2013.

Kimberly Griffin
Director for Electronic Research Administration
Office for Sponsored Research
Northwestern University

Kimberly has been the Director for Electronic Research Administration since 2014. Prior to that, she worked at The University of Chicago for 15 years, including 10 years in Business Intelligence as a Senior Business Analyst. Kimberly holds a M.S. in computer science from The University of Chicago, an M.S. in public services management from DePaul University and a B.S. in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP).

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Michael heads up the Tableau Practice at Senturus. Michael comes to us from Oracle, IBM and SAP, where he spent over 20 years in different roles acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and Big Data experience. Michael’s team is also responsible for the development of the Senturus Business Analytics Connector for Tableau to Cognos, which lets Tableau use Cognos as a data source.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of the Senturus Analytics Connector

Huge value in existing BI models
Tableau users circumvent them
Why you shouldn’t (re)-create metadata
The solution? The Senturus Analytics Connector!
Instant access to quality data sets
Don’t sacrifice integrity for agility
The Senturus Analytics Connector gives you
- Faster, more accurate reporting
- Change management reductions
- Trust in the data
- Improved security
- Superior Tableau performance
New Senturus Analytics Connector features
- Local cache for Cognos package metadata – improves performance
- Support for Cognos 10.2.0 and 11.0.6
- Support for multiple dispatchers and fail over by specifying multiple dispatcher URLs in dataSoruces.xml.
- 32 bit ODBC driver on Windows 64 bit OS
- Automatically install documentation with Connector
- DSN modification via Windows ODBC Administrator
- Improved troubleshooting via new batch script (diagnosis.bat)
- Configuration GUI
- Simplify installation process - no need to copy Cognos SDK jar and Tableau .dll post-installation
- Support silent installation
- Support IIS/Windows authentication
- Increased the length limit of character data types, from 254 to 8000 for char, from 4000 to 32765 fro varchar, 127 to 4000 for nchar and from 2000 to 16383 for nvarchar
- Support sort on min/max value of PowerCube and Dynamic Cube levels
- Support Top N in filter
- SiteMinder SSO
Northwestern -- before the Analytics Connector
- Run Cognos queries and export to Excel
- Merge with local data from other sources using elaborate templates
- Merge data sources for Tableau visualizations
- Manually update data at defined intervals (weekly/monthly/quarterly)
Senturus @ Northwestern -- after the Analytics Connector
- Tableau reports query data directly from Cognos
- Joins with local data done in Tableau; no more staging in Excel
- Time to update reports cut drastically
Business value
- Senior leadership has direct access to performance metrics
- Department administrators have access to the underlying data used to track their activity and progress
- Different administrative units (e.g. OSR and FSM) can base analyses on common data sets, increasing consistency in reporting
Technical benefits
- Cognos security is maintained automatically, no additional work for the Tableau authors
- Cognos package updates flow through without additional Tableau work
- Complicated business logic does not need to be reproduced in Tableau, just pulled from existing verified Cognos packages
Demo
Summary
Frequently asked questions
ROI for the Senturus Analytics Connector
Take an Analytics Connector test drive

Features

Embedding Tableau in Salesforce Dashboards

A How-To Primer with Demos

Turbocharge Salesforce – and your sales team – by inserting Tableau analytics directly into Salesforce dashboards. Our brains process visual data (think Tableau) better and faster than text-based data (think Salesforce). By integrating the two tools, sales gets an at-a-glance overview of their accounts and opportunities instead of being forced to scroll through text. And it saves time: no need to go outside SFDC to run a Tableau report.

In this webinar recording we show you how to embed Tableau into Salesforce using the free SFDC Canvas and Tableau Sparkler adapters. Using https encryption, Canvas allows parameters to be securely passed back and forth so that Tableau vizzes are automatically customized to each account or opportunity. And the icing on the cake: these adapters are free!

During this hour-long recording, you’ll get

A demo of a Tableau dashboard embedded in SFDC
How vizzes are created and refreshed automatically for any account
How easy it is for users to interact with a Tableau visualization from a dashboard, clicking through to opportunities and different accounts
Instructions of what it takes to make this integration happen using Salesforce Canvas and Tableau Sparkler
Tips on where it gets tricky and what to avoid

You may also be interested in our webinar recording to Learn how to Use Tableau to Get to the Gold Hidden in Salesforce. It shows how to use buried leading indicators to help your sales team make better time prioritizations and your execs to make better sales strategy decisions.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Michael Weinhauer heads up the Tableau Practice at Senturus. Michael comes to us from Oracle, IBM and SAP, where he spent over 20 years in different roles acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and big data experience. Michael’s team is also responsible for the development of the Senturus Analytics Connector for Tableau, which lets Tableau use Cognos or MicroStrategy as a data source.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Accessing Salesforce Data
- Use Salesforce integrated reporting (no Tableau)
- Manually extract data from Salesforce into flat files, pull into Tableau
- Utilize Tableau’s direct connections to Salesforce cloud
- Connect Tableau to a replica database of Salesforce data that you control
- Connect Tableau to an integrated database that you control
- Drill from a Tableau dashboard directly into the relevant Salesforce screen
- Configure a Tableau URL action that combines your Salesforce domain with the relevant Salesforce record ID
Technique Capabilities Matrix
What If You Want Both? Enter Sparkler!
- Analytics in the flow of the business process, at the point of impact!
Why Sparkler?
- Security
- Context
Top Level Sales View – Opportunities Dashboard
Accounts Dashboard
Opportunities Dashboard

Demo

What Is Tableau Sparkler?
- Canvas is a Force.com framework for integrating 3^rd party applications into the Salesforce platform
- Sparkler is a Tableau created and supported Java adapter that enables embedded dashboards via Canvas
- Free download from Tableau
  - Includes Sparkler adapter
  - Sample Tableau workbooks
  - Sample Visualforce pages
- Tableau Sparkler Architecture
- Do I Need Tableau Sparkler?
  - IF you use SAML authentication, AND both Tableau and SFDC use the SAME SAML authentication provider, you don’t have to set up Sparkler
  - In this case, just use the Visualforce pages and content; the applications will trust each other automatically

Installation

Skills Required
- Java CLI
  - Keytool used to create self-signed SSL certificates
  - Sparkler
- Apache Tomcat install and configuration (or other web app server)
- OpenSSL
  - If creating RSA keys for Tableau
- Salesforce administration/Visualforce application configuration
- Tableau Desktop
- Tableau Server configuration and administration
- Linux
Install Components
- Java
  - Sparkler is a Java application
  - Used to create self-signed SSL certificates
- Apache Tomcat
  - Open source application server
  - You can use any application server
- Sparkler (Salesforce Canvas)
  - Runs as a Java application within Tomcat
- OpenSSL
  - Used to create RSA keys for Tableau
- Enable SSL on Tomcat
  - Get/create certificate using Java keytool utility
    - Warning: do not COPY text, it will fail!
    - Critical: CN MUST MATCH fully qualified machine name
      - g. request URL=https://tableau.mycompany.com
      - CN=tableau.mycompany.com
    - Enable SSL in configuration (conf\server.xml)
      - Uncomment SSL section, set ports, location of keystore and keystore password
    - Tomcat Self-Signed SSL Certificate
    - Test Tomcat SSL
    - Enable SSL on Tableau Server
      - Get/create Certificate using openSSL
        
        If creating self-signed, refer to this guide
      - Add certificate to Java keystore
      - Install certificate
      - Enable SSL in Tableau Server configuration
      - Use Configure External SSL on Tableau Server help
    - Tableau Self-Signed SSL Certificate
    - Configure SSL in Tableau
      - Must be done via TABADMIN (don’t edit text file)!
      - “tabadmin set wgserver.trusted_hosts “MWEINHAUER, localhost””
    - Test Tableau SSL
    - Configure Tableau Workbooks
      - Included with download from Tableau
        
        Accounts
        
        Opportunities
        
        Account Dashboard
      - Fix data fields
      - Other tweaks
    - Publish Tableau Workbooks to Server/Online
      - Create extract
      - Set refresh schedule
    - Tableau Sparkler Architecture
    - Deploy Sparkler on Tomcat
      - Copy .war file into Tomcat webapp directory
      - Tomcat will see the file and automatically deploy the application using the name of the file
    - Configure Sparkler (sparkler.xml
      - Debug level
      - Sparkler status page
    - Test Sparkler Adapter
    - Salesforce Configuration
      - Create Visualforce connected app in Salesforce
      - Create Visualforce pages and/or use provided samples
      - Setup > App Setup > Develop > Visualforce Pages
      - Create Visualforce pages or use provided samples
      - Create Tab pages (Tabs contain Visualforce pages)
      - Setup > App Setup > Create > Tabs >Visualforce Tabs
      - Create page layouts embedding content
      - Clone existing pages and modify
      - Setup > App Setup > Customize > %PAGENAME% > Page Layouts
      - Create page layouts embedding content
      - Visualforce pages section – drag and drop into layout
      - Create page layouts embedding content
      - Assign to role(s)
    - Challenges/Caveats
      - Clustered environments
      - Auth providers - SAML/Online/Trusted Tickets
      - Proxies/VPN
        
        Needed for remote access to Tableau
      - Mapping Tableau/SFDC users
      - Certificates
        
        Canvas apps must be both secure and trusted
        
        Any browser warnings will result in failure to render
      - Visualforce pages
        
        Parameters
      - Customizing Tableau content
        
        Fields must be mapped correctly
      - Linux
    - Support
      - Limited to Tableau and Sparkler Adapter
        
        Limited knowledge of Sparkler by support team
      - Won’t help with routing, network, firewalls, load balancing
      - Won’t help with Java, app server or browser
      - Won’t help with Salesforce
    - Summary
      - There are many ways to access Salesforce data from Tableau, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.
      - Tableau Sparkler enables leveraging the power of Tableau visualizations directly in Salesforce, providing analytics within the flow of the business process, at the point of impact!
      - Using Tableau with a combined data source allows organization to truly unlock the power of both applications!
      - Installation of Sparkler is not straightforward or easy, but the benefits are significant!

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos Analytics Release 7+ Authoring Improvements

Demos of New and Reintroduced Features

For report writers, it was hard not to be bummed by the first several releases of Cognos Analytics. Some of the go-to features and functionality that we relied on in previous generations of Cognos reports seemed to either go away, or change unexpectedly. For instance, in R5 there were issues with synchronized drill down (behavior changed). Bookmarks, Tables of Content and Report References just did not work the way we had hoped. Our hopes have been restored starting in Release 7. It’s time to get fired up again about using Cognos to build reports!

In this webinar recording, we share all our cool reporting discoveries along with tips and demos. We cover

How to use these newly refreshed features to add interactivity to your reports with OLAP data.
Simple techniques for creating briefing book-style reports based on existing reports using report references and tables of contents (really cool!).
How to use the report pages framework to combine various presentations of data into a single report, complete with hyperlinked tables of contents and bookmarks.
Tips to increase efficiency in report building.

You may also be interested in viewing our Cognos Analytics Release 8 Enhancements webinar recording, which focuses on time saving efficiencies and making visualizations easier to understand.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Business Analysts

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions

Albert is the Vice President of Learning Solutions at Senturus. He has more than 17 years of experience in business intelligence education and technical training. In addition to founding and running the Senturus training division, Albert also serves in various roles in the company including senior consultant and solutions architect. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos. Albert is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The IBM Cognos Analytics Rapid Releases – History
The IBM Cognos Analytics Rapid Releases - Future
- March 2018: R10 – significant enhancements
- June 2018: R11 – major enhancements
Demo #1: Synchronized OLAP Behavior is Back by Default
Demo #2: Authoring Productivity Hints: Explore Data, Save Tim and Combine Reports
Demo #3: Briefing Book Reports with Enhanced Navigation: Using Table of Contents and Bookmarks
The IBM Cognos Author – The Path Forward
- Keep building skills
  - Invest in training – Cognos 10 skills and content (Report Studio and Workspace Advanced) will not become obsolete
- Check out what’s new
  - V11 New Features training
    - Experienced Authors training – training to transition
  - Senturus Resources
  - YouTube
- Take advantage of new features
  - Data modules and dashboarding
  - Want a quick overview of the entire new environment?

Tips & Tricks

Tips for Installing Cognos Analytics

Configuring and Installing the Server

We review the latest steps for installing and upgrading your Cognos environment. Our Cognos installation and upgrade expert, Todd Schuman, describes the installation and configuration steps on the server side of Cognos Analytics.

Among the highlights:

Install options
Gateway and IIS setup
Database drivers
Release upgrade strategy
Schedule migration tips

Learn more about Cognos Analytics from the IBM product team who is responsible for v11 updates in this webinar recording, Cognos Analytics Release 8 Enhancements.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Analytics

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, Program or Project Managers

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Practice Lead – Installations, Upgrades and Performance Tuning
Senturus, Inc.

Todd has over 16 years of business analytics experience across multiple industries. Todd also regularly connects with the IBM product development team and has been in the forefront of the Cognos Analytics upgrade and installation process since it debuted. Plus, he presented Considerations When Upgrading to IBM Cognos Analytics alongside IBM product managers at the 2016 World of Watson conference.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Installation options
- Cognos Analytics – server software
- Cognos tools – lifecycle manager
- Easy vs custom
- First install vs connect and install
- Selecting components
  - Content repository
  - Application services
  - Optional? gateway
  - Samples

Multi server environments

Adding Servers
- Need at least one running content repository
- Namespace
- Need an account with system admin rights
- Need content manager URI

Gateway/webserver configuration

IIS steps
- Stay on top of documentation – frequent changes
- ARR 3.0
- Application request routing
- URL rewrite
- App pools
- MIME types
- Rewrite rules
- Server farms
- SSO
ISS cheat code
- Automate everything with a command line, batch file!
- Plug in:
  - IIS website name (Default)
  - App pool name (ICAPool)
  - Alias (ibmcognos)
  - Install path
  - Dispatcher list (0-X)
  - Enable SSO
  - Web farm name
- Updated frequently – 1.9.18 most recent
Apache
- As of 11.0.5+
- Included as part of install gateway_component_install_location/cgi-bin/templates
Database drivers
- JDBC drivers – must have fro Cognos Analytics
  - [install Dir]\drivers and dashboard
  - Data modules require JDBC
- Install DB software on servers that require database access
  - App tier/dispatchers
  - Content repository
- SQL native client
- Oracle client
JDBC – SQL Server
JDBC – Oracle

Releases upgrade strategy

Preserve custom folders
- New releases overwrite all folders
- Always backup before
- [Install Dir]\analytics\configuration\preserve – preserve.txt
- # specify files or folders to preserve – [folder name] and [folder name]\image.jpg
- Preserve
  - Images/logos
  - JS files
  - WAR files
  - Certs
Installing releases
- On top installation
- Backup/archive content store before
- Export Cognos configuration to external location
- Check supported software and prerequisites
- Download and install new samples

Schedule migration tips

Prevent schedules from running
- Batch, delivery, job services
Separate Enabled/Disabled Schedules
- Most schedules default to priority 3
- Find a priority number with nothing set to it (#1 or #5)
- Filter on all enabled schedules
- Select all and set priority to number from step #2
- Disable all schedules
Schedule migration
- You can now turn batch, job, delivery services back on to test capabilities without accidently sending emails
- When you are ready to go-live, filter on the priority you used to isolate, select all and enable the schedules to restore back to current production

Tips & Tricks

Advanced Analytics in Tableau: Use the Force!

Built-In Functions and 3rd Party Tools for Deeper Data Insights

Tableau users have become data Jedi masters, pushing beyond BI into advanced analytics. Not only can advanced analytics find insights more quickly, but when used in the right manner they can also reveal the "why" behind past performance or behavior.

Tableau includes built-in capabilities for performing straight forward advanced analytics such as clustering and forecasting. For more complex analytics, Tableau allows for easy integration with data science tools like Python and R. When combined with the statistical horsepower of these third-party tools, Tableau’s visualizations allow analysts to awaken the Force within and conduct deep analysis.

In this recorded webinar, you’ll learn the pros and cons and hear real use case studies of doing advanced analytics in Tableau using various methods including

Tableau’s built-in capabilities
Tableau’s integration with Python and R
Stand-alone analytical programming languages Python and R
Enterprise software platforms such as Alteryx

You may also be interested in reading these related blogs

Get instructions to help you install, configure and start a R server to allow Tableau integration
See a matrix that includes functionality ratings and discussion on the options for performing advanced analytics in Tableau

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau

PRESENTER

Arik T. Killion
Advanced Analytics Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Arik has 16-years of experience in advanced and predictive analytics. Before joining Senturus, Arik was a consultant working at IBM as a data scientist/ technical professional for the North American Analytics Channel Development Team, Prior to IBM, Arik was the director of analytics at a large national marketing agency.

Arik has developed deep experience using a variety of methodologies from simple quantitative statistics to predictive modeling techniques and text/sentiment analysis to produce actionable insights, guide strategic management decisions and acquire meaningful business intelligence. He has created solutions for clients such as Chrysler Group, Kraft Foods, Allergan, Lowe’s, Verizon Wireless, JD Power, Nielsen Ratings Group, Sony Entertainment and many others.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Advanced Analytics Options within Tableau

The Analytics Maturity Curve
Tableau’s Built-In Analytics
Using 3rd Party Analytics with Tableau – integrated and stand-alone architecture
Open Source Analytic Programming Languages
- R
  - Users primarily have been from academia and research, but is expanding into the enterprise
  - Steep learning curve, but quite user friendly and easy to move into more advanced things once this is achieved
  - Many packages available to perform various advanced analytics tests and models
  - Most common IDE is RStudio
- Python
  - Users primarily have been programmers crossing over into advanced data analysis
  - Gradual learning curve due to code readability and simplicity
  - Came a little later to the analytics game, but has many libraries available that are comparable in R
  - Various IDEs available, but most common for data science work is Spyder or Rodeo
- Tableau Integration with R & Python
  - Requires a server to handle and process requests coming from Tableau: R uses Rserve and Python uses TabPy
  - Configuration on Tableau is as easy as telling it where the server is and what port address – found under Help > Settings
  - Both server apps can run on a local machine for personal use or in a multi-user environment on an actual server
  - The Rserve server for R for can only accommodate a single user when it is being run on Windows OS

Built-In Analytics: Clustering Demo

Clustering with Tableau

From Built-In Analytics to Advanced Forecasting in R: Time Series Demo

Demand Forecast – Built-In Function
Demand Forecast Using R – Monthly Seasonality
Demand Forecast Using R – with Holiday Variable

A/B Marketing Test Models: Using Alteryx

A/B Test for Offer Response

Evaluating Options for Using Advanced Analytics with Tableau

The (Functionality) Matrix
Benefits of Using Advanced Analytics
- Greater insights and visualization capability
- More powerful clustering and forecasting capabilities over the built-in functions
- Allows the analytics to find insights that may not be readily apparent
- Flexibility to use any available analytic applications, such as:
  - Extracting sentiment from text
  - Outlier & anomaly detection
  - Geocoding & spatial analytics
  - Identify & measure risk
  - Prediction models for attrition or conversion
  - Association & sequence analysis
  - Optimize & prioritize
  - Root-cause analysis

Business Strategy

Cognos Analytics November 2017 Enhancements

11.0.8 Demos and Q&A with IBM Product Team

Release 11.0.8 focuses on time saving efficiencies and making visualizations easier to understand. Plus, it includes many features in response to user requests for enhancements (RFE). In this webinar recording, Nicolas Leduc from the IBM product team demonstrates and discusses the November 2017 release.

Learn how R8 allows for:

Faster and more precise dashboard and report creation, including the addition of latitude and longitude layer in reporting
Customization, such as uploading custom images
Faster data preparation with capabilities such as faster data set creation
Better visibility and control of the BI and analytics environment
Easy tracking of dashboard use with support for auditing

You may also be interested in these webinar recordings about Cognos Analytics

Configuring and installing the server in Tips for Installing Cognos Analytics
Reporting discoveries, tips and demos in Cognos Analytics Release 7+ Authoring Improvements

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Business Analysts

PRESENTER

Nicolas Leduc
IBM Cognos Analytics
Offering Management

Nic is part of the Product Management team for IBM Cognos Analytics. His main responsibilities are focused around dashboarding and mobile capabilities.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of IBM Cognos Analytics Releases

Continuous delivery for on premise and on the Cloud
Contains defect fixes and enhancements
Installs on top, it preserves your settings and configuration
R3 – July 2016
- Dashboard calculations and filters
- Multiple packages in reporting
- Interactivity in modeling UI
R4 – September 2016
- Dashboard conditional highlighting
- Refresh timer for widgets
- Portal theming and extensibility
- Storytelling
R5 – November 2016
- FM packages in dashboards
- Mapping and new visualizations
- Infographics and nav model
- Embed and share content
- Portal customizations
R6 – March 2017
- OLAP support in Dashboards
- Dashboard widget connectivity
- Mapping enhancements
- Storytelling enhancements
- Shortcuts and report views
R7 – August 2017
- New UI for portal, dashboard and modules
- Filter enhancements in dashboards and reporting
- Additional visualizations
- New logging framework
R8 – November 2017
- Default Run As
- Ambiguous connections for dashboards and modules
- Image library in reporting
- Latitude/longitude support in reports
- Kiosk mode in storytelling

Highlights – R8

Make the old new
- Default run action per report
- Access to my schedules and activities
- Ambiguous data source connections and sign-ons support in dashboards and modules
- Ability to output a report as XML
- Auditing of dashboards and stories
Easier & easier to use
- Design mode in data set editor
Make it your own
- Image library extension
Communicate findings through storytelling
- Apply selection highlights on timeline
- Kiosk mode for storytelling - autoplay + loop
See things clearly with viz enhancements
- Latitude/longitude support in reporting
Closed 10 RFEs (Requests for Enhancements)

Content and Administration

Default run action per report
Auditing of dashboards and stories
Monitor my schedules and activities

Reporting

Ability to save and output a report as XML format
Latitude/longitude support
Design mode in data set editor
Access to the image library

Dashboarding

Support for ambiguous connections
Increased cap on data points
- Tables and crosstabs: 10K
- Maps: 30K
Widget title is consistent across all vizzes
Usability improvements
- Change viz icon now shows the currently selected viz
- Data point exclusions now stack and are tracked independently
Auditing of dashboard use
- User, asset name, source names, execution time
- New audit sample report
Audit example

Storytelling

Apply selection highlights on timeline
Kiosk mode for storytelling - autoplay + loop

Modeling

Modeling diagram improvements
Ambiguous connections support

New Data Server Technology

Amazon Athena
Spark SQL Thrift Server
Azure SQL Data Warehouse
MongoDB BI Connector 2.2

Useful Links

Main Cognos Analytics page + Free Trial
- http://www.ibm.biz/cognosanalytics
Community
- https://www.ibm.com/communities/analytics/cognos-analytics/
Documentation
- http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_11.0.0/
Upgrade Central
- https://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/cognos/customercenter/upgrade.html
Request for Enhancements (RFE)

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/

Features

Aero Precision Creates Tableau Vizzes Against Live Cognos Data

Using the Senturus Analytics Connector

Senturus client Aero Precision gave a before-and-after look at how the Senturus Analytics Connector radically improved its supply chain OEM performance reporting. Aero Precision account managers no longer spend painful hours scanning static rows and columns of data each month only to deliver incomplete reports. They now automatically generate interactive, at-a-glance Tableau dashboard reports that include critical markers and historical trending they could not previously report on.

Watch the demo of how the Analytics Connector enabled Aero Precision to tie Tableau into the secure, governed data already existing in its enterprise BI platform. Aero Precision now benefits from the best of Tableau and the best of Cognos: accurate numbers, self-service visualizations, standardized and interactive reporting, secure data, plus its manual reporting processes have disappeared.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos, Tableau, Senturus Analytics Connector

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Tableau users

PRESENTERS

David Clausen
Business Intelligence Architect
Aero Precision Industries

Dave Clausen is a Business Intelligence Architect for Aero Precision Industries. With more than four decades as a technologist specializing in application integration and development, Dave has worked with CEOs and executives in developing analytical software solutions designed to meet corporate reporting requirements. With Dave’s 10 years of Cognos design experience, he has implemented a robust BI platform at Aero Precision.

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of the Senturus Analytics Connector
Huge value in existing BI models
- Organizations have invested heavily in existing models that provide governed, secure, business-friendly, performant results
Tableau users circumvent them
- Using BI tools as ETL and/or recreating models in Tableau’s data prep pane wastes time and compromises integrity
Why you shouldn’t (re)-create metadata
- Time consuming
- Compromises data integrity
- Compromises data security
- Creates data silos
The solution? The Senturus Analytics Connector
- Tableau users can connect directly to the BI modeling layer, giving them instant access to high quality data
Instant access to quality data sets
Don’t sacrifice integrity for agility
Benefits of the Senturus Analytics Connector
- Faster, more accurate reporting
- Reduces change management
- Trust in the data
- Improves security
- Superior Tableau performance
What’s new
- MicroStrategy connectivity
- TM1 connectivity
- Local cache for metadata – improves performance
- Support for Cognos 10.2.0 and 11.0.6
- Support for multiple dispatchers and fail over by specifying multiple dispatcher URLs in dataSoruces.xml.
- 32 bit ODBC driver on Windows 64 bit OS
- Automatically install documentation with Connector
- DSN modification via Windows ODBC administrator
- Improved troubleshooting via new batch script (diagnosis.bat)
- Configuration GUI
- Simplified installation process for Tableau Server – no post-installation file copying required
- Support silent installation
- Support IIS/Windows authentication
- Increased the length limit of character data types, from 254 to 8000 for char, from 4000 to 32765 for varchar, 127 to 4000 for nchar, and from 2000 to 16383 for nvarchar.
- Support sort on min/max value of PowerCube and Dynamic Cube levels.
- Support Top N in filter
- Support for SiteMinder SSO
- Support for custom joins between query subjects (Cognos only, i joins only)
- Support for TM1 cubes!
- Aero Precision – Improving Supply Chain Visibility
  - Past state
    - Static Cognos report used for monthly/quarterly reviews
      - Not visual
      - Not interactive
      - No trending
    - Manual creation effort for each account manager (3 hours/month)
    - Using Excel extracts was not an option
    - Excellent OEM relationships cornerstone of Aero Precision’s business
  - Current State
    - Use the Analytics Connector to create data source
    - Worked around complex Cognos model challenges
    - Create Tableau visualizations directly against curated data
    - Automated, consistent and interactive
  - Future state
    - Leverage Analytics Connector against other packages to greatly improve efficiency and effectiveness of other business areas
    - Migrate scorecards and KPIs to Tableau to improve sales, business development, customer service, warehousing and shipping
  - Business value
    - Improved communications with OEM and vendor managers
    - Senior management can see trends and anomalies and can respond more quickly
    - Saves 80 hours of time PER MONTH across team, which equals $100,000 annual savings
  - Technical benefits
    - With the use of a flattened Framework model consisting of three data sources, we designed and implemented the ideal solution for management
    - With the Analytics Connector in place, creating each monthly supply chain report is effortless and automatic
  - Demonstration

Features

Is OLAP Dead?

Can Next Gen Tools Take Over?

Poor ol’ OLAP. Like the snazzy flip phone when the iPhone was introduced, OLAP is being passed over for what’s sexy and new. Next generation visualization tools and fast technologies like columnar and in-memory databases are causing people to question the relevancy of the OLAP cube.

But is OLAP really dead?

This webinar recording explores various facets of OLAP to answer this question and discusses real-life client scenarios for a pragmatic perspective.

We look at

Traditional OLAP and its role and limitations in modern BI
The pros and cons of the big three current OLAP technologies — IBM Cognos Dynamic and Transformer Cubes and Microsoft SSAS – as well as TMI and Hyperion Essbase
OLAP vs new generation visualization tools such as Tableau, Qlik, Cognos Analytics (v11)
OLAP vs columnar and in-memory databases
Vendors and open source solutions that are creating new scalable OLAP for big data

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Transformer, IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Microsoft SSAS, TM1, Hyperion Essbase, Tableau, Qlik, Cognos Analytics (v11)

PRESENTER

Pedro Ining
Senior BI Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Pedro Ining joined Senturus in 2010 and brings over 20 years of BI and data warehousing experience to his role. Before joining Senturus, Pedro held technical roles in data and BI architecture as well as leadership management roles in companies such as Visa Inc., LeapFrog Toys, Chevron Inc., AT&T and the University of California at Berkeley.

Pedro has been instrumental in implementing data warehousing systems from scratch and has experienced the evolution of the BI industry through several iterations of BI products like Cognos, MicroStrategy and Tableau.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

OLAP, OLTP, DWH Defined

OLTP – Online Transaction Processing
- Core data repository of data flowing into business systems (ERP)
- Optimized for quick data entry and relational integrity
- Not optimized for reporting and data analysis
- Typically very complex schema design with many normalized tables that facilitate high volume throughput of transactions
DWH - Data Warehouse
- Central repository of multiple ERP systems or other data sources
- The data warehouse (DWH) is a database system separate from the OLTP
- Architected in an optimized fashion for easy reporting and analysis
- Organizes and hides the complexity of the OLTP systems OLAP – Online Analytical Processing
- Edgar F. Codd father of relational database coined the term OLAP, Arbor/Essbase went on to market the term
- The data warehouse plus a central repository that defines the relationships between tables (facts/dimensions) and stores complex business rules/calculations (e.g. YTD, YTD LY, Margins, Inventory Turns, etc.)
- Allows for high performing interactive analysis
- Generally referred to as cubes for efficient, timely and accurate reporting
Modern BI Architecture
Typical Best Practices BI System with OLAP Layer
Why OLAP
- Historically, size and speed limitations of databases limited query performance
- Central repository for relationships and complex business calculations
- Buffers the business user from complex native database structures and sensitive calculation logic
- Cubes generally have higher performance vs. relational queries
- Fast, simple, drag-and-drop ad-hoc analysis and reporting
  - Self-service with guardrails
- Visual exploration
  - Multi-dimensional view of data
  - Drill-down on hierarchies
- Many business users love the interface and are used to querying by governed data dimensions and measures that are prebuilt for them
OLAP Familiar Interfaces
Why Not OLAP
- Massive increase in data volumes
  - Latency – large cubes increase cube build times, impacting SLAs
  - Large cardinality dimensions and many dimensions
  - Real-time updates are difficult if not impossible
- Movement of data into another proprietary structure
- Upfront investment in cube modeling
  - Measures, dimensions, hierarchies all defined upfront
  - Not a flexible agile BI environment
  - New cube builds and designs are required as the business changes
- Continued developer maintenance and administration
- CPU power, memory and powerful servers are very affordable – do we still need the OLAP layer

The Current State of OLAP Architecture

Traditional OLAP Architectures
- MOLAP – Multi Dimension OLAP
  - Most traditional OLAP design
  - Data is stored in the multidimensional cube
  - Data is moved from the relational database to the cube
  - Data is pre-aggregated and allows for very fast analysis
- ROLAP – Relational OLAP
  - Modeled on top of the relational star schema database
  - Data storage is kept in the relational database
  - Utilizes SQL to query the DB in an OLAP manner
  - May use proprietary in-memory caching techniques
- HOLAP – Hybrid OLAP
  - Combines the advantages of MOLAP and ROLAP
  - Stores summary data in MOLAP structure
  - Can drill-through to relational database for more detail
Top OLAP Products
- For Dimensional BI Uses
  - IBM Cognos Transformer Cubes (MOLAP)
  - Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
    - Dimensional and Tabular (MOLAP/HOLAP)
  - IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes (ROLAP)
  - MicroStrategy (ROLAP)
- Typically For Finance Use
  - IBM Cognos TM1 (writeback)
  - Hyperion Essbase (writeback)
Cognos PowerPlay (Transformer)
- Advantages
  - Performance (vs. relational)
  - Easy to use and develop
  - ETL-like capabilities (limited) – i.e. no star schema needed
  - Can act as meta-data layer
  - Great relative-time calc capabilities (YTD, Rolling 13 months)
  - Less intensive hardware requirement
- Challenges
  - Significant cube size limitations
  - Limited categories per dimension level
  - Cube builds take time and cubes exist as separate files (.mdc)
  - Lacks capabilities now available in other OLAP tools
  - Row-level (dimensional) security is very challenging to maintain
  - Unclear product support going forward
  - Only works in the IBM Cognos stack
- IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
  - IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes was added to the Cognos 10.2 BI suite as an in-memory relational OLAP product that could address the challenge of high-performance/low latency interactive analysis against terabytes of data
  - The last significant update to Dynamic Cubes occurred in version 10.2.2; IBM has since focused most development efforts on the Cognos Analytics v11 release
  - No current plans for IBM to enhance the Dynamic Cubes product
  - Advantages
    - Scalability – limited only by database and RAM cache sizing
    - Handles large dimensions well, allows dimension attributes
    - Built-in relative time calcs on par with Transformer
    - MDX scripting – can set up just about any type of calculation
    - Dynamic security – can set up dimensional filtering so that all security is derived from SQL tables
    - Aggregate aware – can dynamically select database aggregate tables or in-memory aggregates for fast results
  - Challenges
    - Requires star or snowflake schema as data source
    - Cache needs to be warmed for decent performance
    - Requires 64-bit application server and may require significant memory footprint for large cubes (e.g. 64-128GB)
    - Report authors require dimensional reporting experience
    - CAN ONLY BE USED BY COGNOS BI STACK (Senturus has developed the Analytics Connector to access Tableau)
- Dynamic Cubes in Play
  - Large Health Insurance Provider Deployed Dynamic Cubes
    - Finance project used IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes to replace legacy Cognos Transformer cubes, went into production Q1 2017
    - Large number of reports were converted or created on top of the Dynamic Cube to provide a guided set of highly formatted reports that allowed drill-down
    - Many complex business calculations were developed and stored in the cube, report writers can leverage a central set of calculations without having to write them in the report
  - Major American Clothing Company
    - Re-architected an older Oracle based data warehouse to a SQL Server
    - User community already very familiar with cube technologies
    - Wanted to use SSAS OLAP cubes for their advanced relative time calcs
    - Ability to create complicated advanced inventory calcs and on the fly currency conversions
    - Ability to set defaults for certain dimensions such as currency type
    - SSAS fits into their corporate strategy for multiple tools
    - SSAS Tabular was chosen for performance and flexibility
- Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) Tabular Model
  - Introduced in SQL Server 2012
  - Model paradigm = tables and relationships
  - Data stored in-memory
  - Uses a different engine (xVelocity) and uses a columnar DB structure
  - Combines the functionality of MOLAP cubes and relational DBs
  - Advantages
    - Simpler data development model, faster to develop
    - Generally much faster than MOLAP
    - DAX learning curve is easier than MDX
    - Fast COUNT DISTINCT queries
  - Challenges
    - Dependent on server memory footprint (DirectQuery mode available in 2016)
    - Some multidimensional features are not available (e.g. many-to-many)
    - Complex calculations may be difficult to implement
    - Large datasets

New Generation Visualization Tools

Over the last few years desktop visualization tools have sprouted on desktops throughout the enterprise
IBM Cognos Analytics v11 allows similar functionality over a web interface
Rich visualizations are easily created by business users without the help of IT
Decentralized model of data governance
No waiting on developers to create next iteration of an OLAP cube
Allows users to integrate data on the desktop/web
Creation of desktop micromodels (Tableau data extracts)
Can use OLAP data sources, but works best with non-OLAP sources
Can begin to have performance issues when creating large data extracts or going against large data sources
Tableau Data Extracts
- TDE is a compressed snapshot of data stored on disk and loaded into memory as required
- Data engine can be described as its own “in-memory analytic database”
- Stores data in a columnar store structure
- Dramatically reduces the input/output time required to access and aggregate values
- New in upcoming 10.5 – hyper data engine
- Reasons to Use TDEs
  - Better performance vs. connected data sources
  - Reduced load on connected data sources
  - Portability – can be bundled in a packaged workbook for easy sharing
  - Pre-aggregation – option to aggregate data for visible dimensions “aggregated extract”
- Tableau and Cubes
  - Leverages
    - One version of the truth
    - Complex calcs that are already created in the cube
    - Billions of rows response time across pre-aggregated calcs - faster
  - Tableau will work if you stay within the structure of the cube
  - Functional differences
    - No cube extracts (10.4 supports BW cubes)
    - No user-defined hierarchies
    - Aggregations controlled in the cube
  - Supports
    - Oracle Hyperion Essbase
    - Teradata OLAP
    - Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS)
    - SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse
    - Microsoft PowerPivot
    - Analytical Views in SAP Hana
- IBM Cognos Analytics v11
  - Cognos Analytics v11 architecture adds data modules which represent a major shift in the central metadata layer (framework) paradigm
  - Data modules allows end users to quickly add new data sources and model new data subjects without having to wait for DWH changes
  - Uploaded files and data sources can be stored as ‘snapshots’ on the server’s file system using the Apache Parquet columnar file storage mechanism
  - Allows for fast query response times

Fast Columnar and In-Memory Databases

Columnar Databases
- Traditional databases store data by each row
- Columnar databases store data in columns rather than in rows
- This storage architecture can result in high-performing queries especially aggregation queries
- Example DBS:
  - Sybase IQ
  - IBM DB2 with BLU Acceleration
    - A capability built into DB2, not a separate install component
    - Focus on analytics
    - Dynamic in-memory, does not require all data to be in-memory
    - Columnar and traditional row-based tables
- SQL Server 2014/16
  - Columnar store indexes
  - In-memory OLTP tables
But If Remove the OLAP Layer
- Raw queries will be fast, but what about the semantic layer?
- You could use relational models with some level of metadata and calculations
- But complex calcs, dimensions, drill downs would be missing

The Current State of OLAP Architecture

Big OLAP on Big Data
- Several new vendors and open source solutions are creating new scalable OLAP on Hadoop products: Kyvos Insights, At Scale, Apache Kylin, Druid
- Slow performing queries on big data implementations are driving new OLAP technologies
- Classic OLAP technologies on big data necessitated movement of Hadoop data into traditional relational data warehouses further increasing latency
- New OLAP technologies are architected to be part of the Hadoop stack and allow queries across Hadoop with no additional movement of data

Summary

Is OLAP Dead?
- The concepts of OLAP – dimensions, measures, hierarchies, drill-down are still alive and well but the technology that surfaces those concepts are changing
- Business users will always want a high performing BI layer that is easy to use and allows for interactive BI
- Some will want a central repository that contains all the relationships, hierarchies and complex business rules already developed
- Other users like data scientists and advanced business analysts will want a more agile free form solution with have high performance

Business Strategy

Unlocking Salesforce and Marketo Value with Tableau

Five Pragmatic, Quick-Win Techniques

Do you ever have the feeling that you are right on the edge of a breakthrough, but just can’t crack it? Where you’ve done everything right, but that last hurdle feels like a wall?

That’s the feeling we hear from marketing and sales executives who have invested in Marketo, Salesforce and Tableau. They know Tableau has the power to provide unique insights, that Marketo and Salesforce are teeming with valuable customer behavior data and that the combination should result in breakthrough marketing and accelerated revenue growth, but the promise remains unfulfilled.

In this webinar recording Greg Herrera, Senturus President, guides you through a roadmap of pragmatic, quick-win tips and tricks you can use to achieve the elusive breakthrough. He prescribes a series of self-funding projects you can implement to get the biggest bang for the buck, including:

Leveraging the existing Tableau connectors for Salesforce and Marketo
Adding the ability to measure pipeline growth over time
Adding visibility into the components of pipeline growth (new deals, changes in deal size, changes in deal stage)
Leveraging the existing integration between Marketo and Salesforce to improve analysis by combining marketing data with sales pipeline data
Combining Marketo and Salesforce data into a single database that is optimized for Tableau consumption
Adding the ability to measure conversion rates and lead velocity across the entire demand funnel – including both the Marketo and Salesforce portions of the funnel
Helping your sales team prioritize leads by enhancing Salesforce with behavior and scoring data
Organizing your marketing and sales data for advanced analytics

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce, Marketo

PRESENTER

Greg Herrera 
President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The Demand Funnel
- Prospect
- Engaged
- Marketing qualifiied
- Sales accepted
- Sales qualified
- Sales cycle
- Closed on
Questions to be Answered During the Webinar
- Which of our marketing programs are truly effective?
- Are there early indicators that tell us which engaged prospects are likely to become high-value customers?
  - How do we increase our conversion rates with them?
  - BTW, what are our conversion rates with them?
- Which programs are great at generating new leads?
- Which programs are great at progressing deals?
- Are we getting better?
- Trend of lead velocity?
- Trend of conversion rates?
- What should we stop doing?
Techniques for Unlocking the Value
- Integrate Tableau content into Salesforce screens
- Utilize Tableau’s direct connections to Salesforce cloud and Marketo cloud
- Connect Tableau to a replica database of Salesforce data that you control
- Connect Tableau to a replica database of Marketo data that you control
- Connect Tableau to a database with integrated Salesforce and Marketo data that you control
Technique Capabilities Matrix
- Drill from Tableau to SFDC Screen
- Display Tableau Dashboards in SFDC (with context)
- Basic Visualizations
- Blended Data
- Pipeline Growth Trend
- Components of Pipeline Growth
- Marketo-Sourced Behavior Score Growth Trend
- Marketo-Sourced Updates to SFDC Campaign Members
- SFDC Pipeline Analysis
- SFDC Marketing and Pipeline Activity
- Marketo Activity
- Combined Marketo and SFDC Activity
- Velocity Through Entire Funnel
- Conversion Rates Through Entire Funnel
- Marketing Effectiveness
- Full History of all Marketing and Sales Engagements
- Advanced Analytics
Integrate Tableau Content into SFDC Screens
- Enable fact-based decisions across the sales team
- Leverages existing infrastructure
- Low cost
- Very quick win
- Drill from a Tableau dashboard directly into the relevant Salesforce screen
- How to: configure a Tableau URL action that combines your Salesforce domain with the relevant Salesforce record ID
Distribute Tableau Content via SFDC Screens
- Use Tableau Canvas to embed context-aware Tableau visualizations into your Salesforce screens
Utilize Tableau’s Direct Connections to Salesforce Cloud and Marketo Cloud
- Quick win – immediate access to the cloud data
- Many basic visualizations are possible
- SFDC and Marketo data can be blended in Tableau
- Limitations are the storyline
Tableau Direct Connections to Cloud Data – Limitations
- Marketo Limitations
  - Marketo purges key activity history data after 90 days
  - Visits web page, click link, change data value, change score
  - Each type of activity history is in a separate table (60) and requires a separate Tableau data source
- Salesforce Limitations
  - All or nothing, downloads entire history table even if you only need to look at data for yesterday
- Limitations of both
  - Marketo: 75 minutes to read 1M records
  - SFDC: 16 minutes to read 500k records
  - Tableau Server can perform data refresh on a nightly schedule
- Connect Tableau to a Replica Database of Salesforce Data that You Control
  - Quick win – setup within 1-2 days
  - Advanced visualizations very achievable
  - Derived data becomes available to Tableau
  - Derived time stamps become available to Tableau
  - Can leverage the existing integration between Marketo and SFDC, Marketo data synced to SFDC can be surfaced in Tableau (e.g., behavior score, funnel stage)
Time Stamps are Key to Trending
- Tableau is outstanding at visualizing trends
- Time stamps in your data records that capture the date and time that a metric changed are the foundation Tableau uses for trending
- Having a database replica enables analysts to derive time-stamped transactions that are not maintained as such in SFDC, local databases enable insights not available in SFDC cloud reporting
Example: Pipeline Growth Trend
- SFDC does not have a table that provides time-stamped records of pipeline growth
- SFDC does have tables from which time-stamped records of pipeline growth can be derived
- Tableau provides unique insights when visualizing these derived records
Leverage the Existing Integration Between Marketo and SFDC
- Instant win – it already exists
- Just click a “Track History” setting in SFDC
Example: Surface Marketo Behavior Score Trend via SFDC
- Automated program in Marketo calculates behavior scores for each digital interaction
- History tracking functionality in SFDC provides time-stamped history of each change in Behavior Score
- Tableau visualizes it
Connect Tableau to a Replica Database of Marketo Data that You Control
- Fairly quick win – setup within 1 day, initial history loads take 4+ weeks due to Marketo API limits
- Advanced visualizations very achievable
- Makes all Marketo activity history available
  - Saves copies of records Marketo purges at 90 days
    - Visits web page, Click link, Change Data Value, Change Score
  - Saves copies of activity history for deleted persons
- Be prepared for data preparation activities
- Combine with SFDC replica to see full demand funnel activities
Connect Tableau to an Integrated Database of Combined Marketo and SFDC Data
- Complete analytical power
- Fulfills the vision
Connect Tableau to Combined Marketo and SFDC Database (II)
- Initial implementation phase 2-3 months
  - Determine business rules that define conditions for each funnel stage
  - Build funnel history based on the business rules to enable trending and predictive analysis
Connect Tableau to Combined Marketo and SFDC Database (III)
- Populate table with demand funnel record for each lead
  - Capture all movements of the person through the funnel
  - Date Entered, Date Exited, Driving Engagement, etc. for each funnel stage
- Create calculations in Tableau for
  - Conversion Rates of each stage, Velocity through each stage, Lead Growth Trends
- Connect Tableau to Combined Marketo and SFDC Database (IV)
  - New analytical capabilities drive need for groupings that were not previously apparent
  - Develop new analytical groupings of marketing programs/engagements
    - G., Group by message, group by topic
Summary
- Deliver analytics as a series of self-funding projects
- Deliver high-impact value, build on it, repeat
- Integrating Tableau content into SFDC screens delivers big bang for the buck
- Direct connections to cloud data provide quick wins but limited headroom
- Local databases expand Tableau capabilities dramatically and remove the ceiling
  - Highest value comes from the combined database delivering all metrics
Expand on data preparation capabilities when needed
- Get advice/build roadmap to avoid painting into corner
Don’t stop at just Marketo and SFDC
- Customer behavior data exists in several systems including order entry and customer support

Business Strategy

Cognos Analytics Performance Tuning

Tips & Tricks to Rev Performance

Cognos Analytics has literally hundreds of configurations and settings options. Knowing their capabilities will ensure your Cognos environment is tuned for best performance and stability. For example, the latest release includes an Interactive Performance Assistant (IPA) to view query and rendered performance on report objects.

In this webinar recording, our in-house Cognos expert and practice lead, Todd Schuman tells you how to use the IPA feature and shares lots of other tips and tricks to improve the performance of your Cognos environment.

Topics covered in this high-performance webinar included

Hardware and server specifics
Failover and high availability
High and low affinity requests
Overview of services
Java heap settings
IIS configurations
Non-Cognos related tuning

You may also be interested in learning steps for installing and upgrading your Cognos environment in our Tips for Installing Cognos Analytics webinar recording.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11, Cognos BI

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Business Analysts

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Practice Lead - Installations, Upgrades and Performance Tuning
Senturus, Inc.

Todd heads up the Installation, Upgrade and Performance Tuning practice at Senturus, bringing more than 16 years of Cognos and Tableau experience to his role. Since his early days in BI working with Cognos Enterprise Planning and Cognos Impromptu to today, Todd has worked extensively on developing and designing enterprise systems and reports. In addition to managing and performing multiple architecture engagements at Senturus, Todd works closely with the IBM Cognos product development team to stay abreast the latest enhancements and changes.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Hardware and Server Specifics

Use the following processor settings as a starting point and adjust them based on the use of your system
- Content manager – 4 CPU
- Dispatcher - 8 CPU
- Server can have multiple sockets
- Each socket can house a CPU
- CPU can have 1-48 cores
- Logical processors <> cores
- Hyper threading
RAM
- Use the following memory settings as a starting point and adjust them based on the memory use of your system
  - 4 GB for the base operating system and accompanying software, such as antivirus, back up and enterprise management software
  - 4 GB for a 64-bit content manager JVM
  - 4 GB for a 64-bit application tier JVM
  - 1 GB for the Cognos graphics service JVM
  - 8 GB for the query service (Dynamic Query Mode) JVM
  - 1.5 GB for each batch/interactive report service

Architecture – Distributed Environments

Basic distributed environment
- Dedicated:
  - Gateway
  - Dispatchers
  - Content manager
Distributed environment with failover
- Active/standby content manager
  - Both pointed to same content store
  - First CM to start becomes active
  - Standby always checking for active up status
  - Will become active when primary becomes unresponsive
High availability (HA)
- No single point of failure
- At least 2 of each Cognos component (gateway, dispatcher, CM)
- Load balancer for gateways

Tuning

High affinity activities
- Report viewer links
  - Run again
  - Return
- HTML report navigation
  - Top page
  - Page up
  - Page down
  - Bottom page
- Delivery options
  - Save
  - Save As
  - Print
  - Email
  - Viewing
Low affinity activities
- Report querying
  - Reporting
  - Report processing
- Report authoring
  - Metadata retrieval
  - Query validation
- Administrative
  - Testing data source connections
  - Adding objects (folders, jobs, schedules, etc.)
  - Refreshing portal page
Cognos services
- Running reports
  - Batch – running in the background
    - Jobs
    - Schedules
    - Emails
    - Saved output
    - Triggers
- Report – interactive, user actively involved and watching screen
Peak vs non-peak
- 24 hour clock
- Defaults
  - 7 (am) start
  - 18 (6 pm) end
- Recommended
  - Give report service priority during peak
  - Give batch server priority during non peak
Concurrent users
- 100:10:1 rule
- 100 named users
- 10 active Users
- 1 concurrent user
- 4000 named users = 40 concurrent users
Putting it all together
- Affinity + Cognos service + peak/non peak
- Be aware
  - Each connection is multiplied by the number of processes
    - 16 low affinity (8*2)
    - 4 high affinity (2*2)
    - 20 total connections
  - # of CPU * (2-4) = # of connections
  - 5 GB RAM * # of connections
Report status
Server monitoring

Virtual Servers

Traditional vs virtual
VM recommendations
- Dedicated resources
- Enterprise level host hardware
- 5-10% overhead

Report Specific Tuning

Data Explosion
- Data
  - Queries/SQL
  - SQL execution plan
  - Joins/modeling
  - Star Schema/data warehouse
  - Indexes
  - Summary tables
  - Cubes (Transformer PowerCubes/Dynamic Cubes)
Interactive Performance Assistance (IPA)
- New with R7
- HTML only
- Enable
  - Run option dropdown
  - Show run options
  - Include performance details
- Output
  - Execution time (in milliseconds)
  - Rendering time (hover)
  - Query time (hover)

Features

Enhancing BI with Predictive Analytics

Real World Applications

Predictive analytics is no longer a fictional technology best suited for sci-fi movies. What was formerly only potential is now possible. But with the proliferation of technology companies selling space-age, overly complicated solutions, organizations are often challenged about where to sensibly start.

It turns out that most (or all) of the data for making meaningful predictions more than likely exists in your organization. And getting to ROI is easier than you might think.

In this webinar recording, you’ll take a journey into the attainable. We walk you through an actual client use case study to show how using predictive modeling saved them over $1million in their first quarter alone. And we talk about different applications for predictive analytics and what’s needed to start your own project.

You may also be interested in learning how to use built-in functions and third-party tools to gain deeper insights in this Advanced Analytics in Tableau webinar recording.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Predictive Analytics

PRESENTER

Arik T. Killion
Advanced Analytics Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Arik has 16-years of experience in advanced and predictive analytics. Before joining Senturus, Erik was a consultant working at IBM as a data scientist/ technical professional for the North American Analytics Channel Development Team, Prior to IBM, Arik was the director of analytics at a large national marketing agency.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

If This Is The Future, Where’s My Jetpack?

The relevancy problem with predictive analytics
Advances in technology seems to have made things more difficult

Marketing Case Study – The $1Million BI Column
The Company

Major flooring manufacturer in the U.S.
$8.1 billion in revenue (2015)
Distribute to ~18,000 independent retailers in North America

The Problem

Floor samples units were a major investment
1 factory plant to produce year round
~$3k-$4k per unit (materials, labor, shipping, setup)
Placement guided by relationships with company sales personnel
$12 million/year marketing line-item

The Solution

Compile historical sales, RFM Analysis on prior unit placement sites
Compile profile data for each store
Gather demographics for each store
Outcome bands:
- Green = Exceeded margin cost of unit in 1 year for the related products
- Yellow = Broke even or came close
- Orange = Fell short
- Red = Didn’t even look like they tried
Created predictive models for each band within 3 brands (12 models)
Automated scoring of every retailer on a monthly basis with a voting mechanism to select the best outcome prediction

The Outcome

BI report for ordering sample unit placements
Column for likely predicted margin outcome
Saved $1.1million in the first quarter of use

Your Jetpack!

How to start
- Start in a problem area that will have great impact
- Realize you probably already have all the data you need
- Find a trusted adviser to help navigate
- Most predictive project ROIs are between 3 & 8 months (particularly in marketing)
- Understand systems can be automated

Marketing is the tip of the iceberg
- Employee growth and satisfaction
- Accurate forecasts, demand planning, assortment planning
- Root cause analysis

Business Strategy

Tool Comparison: Enterprise BI vs. Self-Service Analytics

Choosing the Best Tool for the Job

Business Strategy

Rolling Out Tableau to the Enterprise

10 Things I Wish I Had Known Beforehand

Scaling Tableau beyond departmental boundaries introduces significant new challenges and risks around performance, data integrity, maintainability, security and training.

Relying on Tableau for enterprise-wide reporting and analytics requires a very different approach (and mindset) than using it as a desktop analysis tool.

In this webinar recording, the Tableau gurus at Senturus discuss the things they wished they had known before rolling out Tableau to the enterprise.

The presentation included these topics and more:

A demonstration of best practices for designing shared dashboards
Which tasks to keep in Tableau and which to offload
The consequences of data prep vs data blending
The changing role of IT
Avoiding performance issues

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTERS

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Kyle Biehle
Tableau Solutions Architect

Kyle has 20 years of experience in data analytics and 10 years working with Tableau. Kyle is focused on helping clients use Tableau in novel and efficient ways by helping them see and interact with their data in ways they hadn’t before.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Things that change when crossing the departmental boundary:

Analyst role
Skills required
Audience
Environmental control
Training
Role of IT
Security/access control
Source of data
Data refresh
Data validity
Data control
Updates/maintenance
Single source of the truth

Ten pitfalls to avoid when rolling out Tableau to the enterprise:

Tableau can’t do everything – play to its strengths and offload other tasks
Analysts need training to become Tableau authors – roles change when you go wide
Less is more – broad use magnifies confusion and maintainability issues
Data preparation is critical – just because Tableau can do it, doesn’t mean it should
Tableau Server will become a dumping ground – freedom can sometimes become a curse
Single source of truth still matters – data governance is king
Shared environments will effect user experience – separate the sandbox from the board room
You will need IT – stealth mode does not scale
Monitor and control – “post and go” won’t work
Stakeholder engagement is critical – “if you build it, they will come” fails

Tips & Tricks

Tableau Dashboard Design: Best Practices

10 Tips with Demonstrations

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Analytics August 2017 Enhancements

11.0.7 Demos and Q&A with IBM Product Team

Features

Connecting Tableau to Cognos & Microstrategy

Easily Access the Governed Data in Your Enterprise Analytics Platform

Some organizations running enterprise analytics have hesitated to widely deploy Tableau – with understandable reason. Because Tableau can’t connect to the Cognos and MicroStrategy environments, Tableau users bypass the secure, governed and business friendly data that lives there. Instead, they work directly with raw source data, going through a labor-intensive process of re-remodeling data. Aside from wasting valuable time, this method compromises data integrity, security and reporting accuracy.

View a show-and-tell of the Senturus Analytics Connector, our simple, elegant solution that ties Tableau to Cognos and MicroStrategy as data sources. By increasing data accuracy and eliminating time consuming redundancies in report creation, the Analytics Connector provides significant benefits to both IT and Tableau users.

This demo shows how the Senturus Analytics Connector easily enables:

Faster report building in Tableau
Reduced change management
Improved security with appropriate guardrails around data access
Increased data accuracy
Better overall Tableau performance

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos, Tableau, Senturus Analytics Connector, MicroStrategy

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Tableau users

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Michael Weinhauer heads up the Tableau Practice at Senturus. Michael comes to us from Oracle, IBM and SAP, where he spent over 20 years in different roles acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and Big Data experience. Michael’s team is also responsible for the development of the Senturus Business Analytics Connector for Tableau to Cognos, which lets Tableau use Cognos as a data source.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of the Senturus Analytics Connector

Huge value in existing BI models
Tableau users circumvent them
Why you shouldn’t (re)-create metadata
The solution? The Senturus Analytics Connector!
Instant access to quality data sets
Don’t sacrifice integrity for agility
The Senturus Analytics Connector gives you
- Faster, more accurate reporting
- Change management reductions
- Trust in the data
- Improved security
- Superior Tableau performance
New Senturus Analytics Connector features
- Local cache for Cognos package metadata – improves performance
- Support for Cognos 10.2.0 and 11.0.6
- Support for multiple dispatchers and fail over by specifying multiple dispatcher URLs in dataSoruces.xml.
- 32 bit ODBC driver on Windows 64 bit OS
- Automatically install documentation with Connector
- DSN modification via Windows ODBC Administrator
- Improved troubleshooting via new batch script (diagnosis.bat)
- Configuration GUI
- Simplify installation process - no need to copy Cognos SDK jar and Tableau .dll post-installation
- Support silent installation
- Support IIS/Windows authentication
- Increased the length limit of character data types, from 254 to 8000 for char, from 4000 to 32765 fro varchar, 127 to 4000 for nchar and from 2000 to 16383 for nvarchar
- Support sort on min/max value of PowerCube and Dynamic Cube levels
- Support Top N in filter
- SiteMinder SSO
Demonstration
Summary
Frequently asked questions
ROI for the Senturus Analytics Connector
Take a Connector test drive

Features

Choosing the Right Microsoft BI Tool for the Job

Microsoft BI Past and Present

Features

The New Reporting Experience in IBM Cognos Analytics

Demos of Our Favorite New Features

Tips & Tricks

Leveraging the Cloud for BI Infrastructure

With Focus on and Demos of Microsoft Azure

Business Strategy

Cognos Analytics: March 2017 Enhancements

11.0.6 Demos and Q&A with IBM Product Team

Features

IBM Planning Analytics 2.0: New Capabilities for TM1 Users

TM1 Cubes New Features for Cognos Analytics

The release of IBM Planning Analytics 2.0 brings many new capabilities for TM1 users and Cognos Analytics authors. With this release, IBM adds an on-premise offering to the initial cloud version, allowing users to leverage the latest TM1 capabilities within their local environment.

Planning Analytics Workspace delivers a friendly web-based interface that allows users to organize, analyze and present TM1 content from a variety of sources. Workspace provides self-service interactive dashboards, visualizations and report books for web and mobile. Integration with Cognos Analytics allows authors to leverage their Cognos BI knowledge with TM1 cube data sources.

In this webinar recording, we look at new features in Planning Analytics 2.0 and demo key concepts. Topics covered:

Planning Analytics Workspace – authoring of interactive dashboards, chat feature for collaboration and seamless integration with Excel to reduce reliance on IT
Hierarchies – the ability to create virtual dimensions and multiple hierarchies to extend analytical and reporting capabilities without structural and code changes to the TM1 cube
Integration with Cognos Analytics – advantages to using TM1 as an OLAP data source for Cognos Analytics

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11, Cognos TM1, IBM Planning Analytics

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Financial Planners, Financial Analysts, Finance Managers, Finance Executives (Controllers, CFO), Marketing Analysts, Marketing Managers / Directors, Program or Project Managers, Business Analysts

PRESENTER

Ken O’Boyle
Senior Planning Architect

Ken has more than 20 years of hands-on experience architecting, implementing and delivering training for enterprise planning, business intelligence and data warehousing solutions.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of IBM Planning Analytics

What is it?
Major new features

Demonstrations

Workspace
Hierarchies
Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx)
Cognos Analytics Integration

Features

Under the Hood with Cognos Analytics R5

Say Hello to Portal Tabs Replacement

Cognos Analytics 11 Release 5 was released in November 2016 and contains great new features - including (finally!) administrator controlled user group customizations that can help you migrate off Cognos BI 8/10 Portal Tabs.

In this webinar recording we get hands-on with some of the best features in Release 5 and discuss what to expect in Release 6.

Topics covered:

Role customizations – bridge the Portals Tab gap to make the leap from Cognos BI 10 to Cognos Analytics
Geospatial mapping – today and tomorrow
Navigation paths – break free of traditional dimensional modeling

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11, Cognos BI 8, Cognos BI 10, Portal Tabs

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Business Analysts

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Cognos Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Todd has over 15 years of Cognos experience and heads up the Senturus install, upgrade and optimization practice. Todd presented alongside IBM product managers at the 2016 World of Watson conference Considerations When Upgrading to IBM Cognos Analytics. View his webinar on the same topic.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Portal Tabs in Cognos BI 8/10

Search
Websites/intranet
Report/dashboard viewer/landing page
Security – limit access
Remove public folder

Cognos Analytics Search

Vastly superior to Cognos BI 10
No need to run index jobs
Auto complete
Save searches

Recent

Every report you run

Cognos Analytics Landing Page

Users can set as home
- Report or dashboard
- Run report or dashboard, click ellipsis to set
- My preferences, home page, reset to default to revert back
Administrators can set as home
- Cognos groups only
- Available in R5
- Manage -> accounts

Cognos Analytics Customizations

Cognos Analytics Sample JSON

Cognos Analytics Customize Accounts

Administrators can now control
- Home page
- Features
- Themes
Create Cognos groups
- Add in AD groups/users
- Assign home page, UI features
- Set priorities
Extensions can be enabled/disabled
- Grant/restrict access to folders
- Restrict access to team content
- Restrict new content creation

Demonstration

Navigation Paths

Create with data modules
Access with dashboard
Special context icon
Break free from dimensional modeling

Geospatial Mapping

Today
- Visualizations

- - Dynamic map (older)
  - MapBox (one with pin)

Dashboard only
State level shape coloring

Tomorrow
- City and zip code color boundary
- Available in reporting
- MapBox customizations
- Custom shapes – building interiors

Cognos Analytics Release 6 Update

March expected release date
BlueID SSO
Additional mapping capabilities
Planning analytics
Dashboard PowerCubes

Features

Keys to Success in Business Analytics

Proven, Practical Strategies that Work

The value of data-driven decision making has never been greater, and the tools with which to deliver it have never been more powerful. Furthermore, the demand from business users for useful information continues to grow as organizations realize that good analytics enable them to outperform competitors by wide margins.

So why is it that study after study shows that 60-90% of the time business intelligence and analytics projects fail? One hint: it is not the tool and technologies that dictate a successful outcome.

What can be done to dramatically improve your organization's chances of success when undertaking these high-value – and typically high-profile – projects?

Senturus President, John Peterson, reveals the keys to business analytics success. Drawing on real-life experience with more than 1000 customers and thousands of projects, John distills the top actionable steps to help dramatically improve the outcomes of your BI and analytics initiatives.

Among the critical strategies discussed:

How to better scope out and manage projects
Why you shouldn’t trust anyone who says data staging isn’t important
Tips on how to better deliver what users really need
Ways to increase user adoption
How to deliver more value, more quickly while using fewer resources

Technologies Covered

Business Analytics, Business Intelligence

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Operational and Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Presenters

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Keys to Success in Business Intelligence

Find your executive leadership/sponsor
- Don’t build what they ask for, build what they need
  - Seek Relevance at all costs
  - Seek Forward Visibility & Accountability
  - There is ALWAYS Much More than Expected
- Offer up a buffet – self-service is the new norm
- Don’t try to boil the ocean
- Become a Pareto disciple
- Shoot early and often
- Scope it out and manage it
- Don’t build castles on sand – choosing the right architecture & foundation is critical
- Rally a team – strong business-IT partnership with cross-functional involvement is critical
- Worry about the data
- Remember everything is relative – good decision-making requires context
- Get the ball all the way across the goal line – focus on user adoption and provide information that is:
  - Relevant
  - Trustworthy
  - Timely
  - Comprehensive
  - Explorable
  - Well-understood
  - Contextual
- Extra: Shout it from the rooftops – perception of BI Value is crucial

Business Strategy

Connect Tableau to Cognos: Ixia Shows How

Demo of Analytics Connector

Some organizations running Cognos have hesitated to widely deploy Tableau – with understandable reason. Because Tableau can’t connect to the Cognos environment, Tableau users bypass the secure, governed and business friendly data that lives there. Instead, they work directly with raw source data, going through a labor-intensive process of re-remodeling data. Aside from wasting valuable time, this method compromises data integrity, security and reporting accuracy.

View a show-and-tell of the Senturus Analytics Connector, our simple, elegant solution that ties Cognos to Tableau as a data source. You’ll also hear from one of our customers, Ixia, and learn how they are you using the Connector. At Ixia, the Connector has replaced rerunning calculations in Excel for their weekly, monthly and quarterly reports saving many hours of labor per month. The biggest benefit Ixia appreciates is knowing the data is trustworthy and not subject to human errors associated with Excel manipulations.

Designed to help both IT and Tableau users, this demo shows how the Analytics Connector enables:

Faster report building in Tableau
Reduced change management
Improved security with appropriate guardrails around data access
Increased data accuracy
Better overall Tableau performance

Learn how your organization can enjoy the self-service visualizations of Tableau while preserving the benefits of your Cognos model.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos, Tableau, Senturus Analytics Connector

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Tableau users

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Michael Weinhauer heads up the Tableau Practice at Senturus. Michael comes to us from Oracle, IBM and SAP, where he spent over 20 years in different roles acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and Big Data experience. Michael’s team is also responsible for the development of the Senturus Business Analytics Connector for Tableau to Cognos, which lets Tableau use Cognos as a data source.

Rajat Sharma
Financial Planning and Business Intelligence Specialist
Ixia

Rajat has over 10 years of experience as a Financial Planning and Business Intelligence Analyst. He is a motivated self-starter who is committed to looking for ways to improve processes and exceed expectations of customers. Rajat manages multiple priorities and is always adjusting in the fast-paced environment in which he works. He continually strives to understand the data and present analysis in an engaging delivery.

Steven Kiser
Senior Manager, Financial Systems
Ixia

Steven has over 25 years of experience in FP&A, Business Intelligence, and Process Improvement. He has implemented numerous Business Intelligence and budgeting systems for financial institutions and High Tech firms. His mantra is “if you can’t find the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?”

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Huge Value in Existing BI Models
Tableau’s Data Prep Pane Wastes Time and Compromises Integrity
Some Challenges with (Re)-Creating Metadata
The Solution? The Senturus Analytics Connector
Instant Access to Quality Data Sets
Don’t Sacrifice Integrity for Agility
Senturus Analytics Connector Demo
Summary
- (Re)-creation of Metadata is Slow, Challenging and Risky
- The Senturus Analytics Connector Gives Agility and Integrity
- Spend Time Doing Analysis, Not Prepping Data that’s Already Curated Elsewhere

Features

Case Studies: Enterprise BI vs. Self-Service Tools

Real-Life Considerations When Choosing a BI Tool

There’s a tug-of-war going on between self-service analytics tools and enterprise BI. With the ensuing confusion – and downright FUD – in the marketplace, organizations struggle to determine which of the two types to use. The answer is… it depends on the task at hand. Each has its drawbacks and benefits.

In this recorded webinar, our experts cover real-life client use cases and the factors playing into the choice of tool. You’ll get practical input on guiding considerations when selecting an approach: governance, accessibility, functionality, time to decision (agility).

Among the use cases under discussion:

A large health care organization using enterprise BI centralized data
An online e-tailer using self-service analytics
A capital equipment manufacturer using a hybrid solution of Tableau self-service analytics and Cognos enterprise BI

Because Senturus works across the spectrum of enterprise BI and self-service tools, we can clear the FUD and shed some much needed light on where each type of tool is best suited.

See an updated version of this webinar in which we delve deep into the comparison of features matrix.

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Mangers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTERS

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Albert is the Vice President of Learning Solutions at Senturus. He has more than 17 years of experience in business intelligence education and technical training. In addition to founding and running the Senturus training division, Albert also serves in various roles in the company including senior consultant and solutions architect. Albert has overseen the growth of the Senturus training practice from a few Cognos authoring classes to dozens of courses covering the breadth of Cognos Analytics and Tableau.

Business Strategy

UPGRADING TO COGNOS ANALYTICS R4: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Release 4: Installation, Configuration & Architectural Considerations

Senturus’ Todd Schuman describes installation, configuration and architectural considerations that you need to know when upgrading to Cognos Analytics Release 4.

Learn what has changed since the last release. Topics include:

Updated prerequisites
New installation options
Changes to the configuration
Changes to the gateway
Latest news on legacy studios
Odds and ends

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11, IBM Cognos BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

System Administrators, BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Practice Lead- Installations, Upgrades and Performance Tuning
Senturus, Inc.

This was Todd's presentation topic at the IBM 2016 World of Watson conference. You may also be interested in viewing Todd’s webinar recording Preparing for Cognos Analytics V11: Prep Now to Ensure a Smooth Upgrade Later, in which he explains a fast way to convert Query Studio reports now before you upgrade.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Prerequisites

Supported software
Operating systems
Content server databases
Data source databases
Browsers

Installation Options

Easy install
Custom
Smarter Cognos configurations
Centralized configurations

Gateway/Web Server Configurations

Optional gateway
IIS/IHS redirects/rules
Reverse proxy

Companion/Legacy Tools

Report Studio, Workspace Advanced viewer
Query Studio
Analysis Studio
Cognos Workspace
Event Studio
Metric Studio
Cognos for MS Office
Cognos Connection

Odds and Ends

JDBC drivers
Uploaded files, data sets
Unique install paths – no more 64 or 32 bit file paths

Releases vs. Fix Packs

No more fix packs
Releases are full builds, available on Passport
Run on existing install directory
Goal is quarterly releases

From the Labs

Release 5
New features?

Tips & Tricks

The Perks and Pitfalls of Tableau Server

Success Strategies for Expanding Tableau Company Wide

You have been creating dashboards and insightful analysis with Tableau Desktop. But now you want to share your work with others and allow them to interact with your worksheets. How do you do it? What should you avoid? How do you manage your costs?

The solution is Tableau Server. It’s secure, powerful – and equally important – easy-to-use from both the end user and IT perspectives. This recorded webinar reveals the perks of Tableau Server and reviews the top 11 avoidable pitfalls that impact performance, scale and user adoption.

Learn valuable Tableau Server insights including:

How Tableau Server allows users to share their work, with anyone, via any browser, in a secure environment
How Tableau Server enables self-service analytics over the web and via mobile devices
How Tableau Server can help control your Tableau spend
Tips that can significantly improve Server performance
What preparation is required when adding Server to your environment
Security considerations
The #1 barrier to entry and user adoption

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer

Michael heads up the Tableau Practice at Senturus. Michael comes to us from Oracle, IBM and SAP, where he spent over 20 years in different roles acquiring a wealth of hands-on, practical BI and big data experience. Michael’s team is also responsible for the development of the Senturus Business Analytics Connector for Tableau and Cognos.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

If your Tableau environment is like this…
Then maybe it’s time for Tableau Server
Achieving the Holy Grail of Self Service
- View and interact – (almost) anywhere on any device
- Create your own views
- Enable ad-hoc and data discovery
- Support collaboration
Server can be more cost effective – license views provide visibility into desktop usage
- All users don’t need desktop license
- Consider Cloud options
- Consider Tableau Reader
Tableau Server versions & licensing costs
Mobile apps
Pitfalls
- #1 Underpowered hardware
- #2 Just install with defaults and go
- #3 Insufficient care and feeding
- #4 Lack of governance
- #5 Out of date Tableau versions
- #6 Just upgrade to the latest version
- #7 Inadequate data prep
- #8 Winging it with security
- #9 Always consider end users
- #10 Insufficient training
- #11 Rip and replace legacy BI
Summary and conclusions – Tableau Server is powerful, but…
- Plan ahead for installation
- Support its care and feeding
- Prepare your data
- Establish governance
- Plan for security
- Get and provide training
- Never forget the end user/business use case

Features

Death of the Data Warehouse?

29+ Reasons Why You Still Need to Properly Stage Your Data

Data warehouses. Who needs them anymore…right? Today’s self-service analytics tools such as Tableau and Cognos Analytics V11 have put tremendous power in the hands of the departmental business user. And gone are the days of 65,000 row limits in Microsoft Excel.

Business managers can directly tap large information sources throughout the organization to create insight-rich visualizations and dashboards, often without the need to wait for IT resources to deliver data. Vendors of new technologies such as Hadoop often tout large cost savings by doing away with traditional ETL tools and data warehouse environments.

So why would an organization still want to invest the time and energy (and dollars) to create a centralized repository of data? And what processing and transformations are still prudent, if not mandatory, to do in a centralized fashion?

In this recorded webinar, Senturus CEO John Peterson discusses the modern data warehouse with 29+ reasons why you still need to properly pre-process and stage your data. He touches on topics ranging from security to performance to universal definitions to blending data sources to snap-shots and more.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Data warehouses

PRESENTER

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Analytics Critical Success Factors
- Architectures and data transformation
- BI tools
- Methodologies and techniques
- People and processes
Goals of Business Analytics
- Help monitor, analyze, plan and predict
- Support and improve decision-making throughout the organization
- Drive competitive advantage
Business Intelligence Drives Competitive Advantage
Universal BI System Requirements
- Deliver a stable and user-friendly data structure
- Provide fast performance
- Handle multiple sources of data
- Deliver high quality, validated data
- Maintain historical data in a common format
- Provide additional ways to “roll-up” data
- Provide field, table and measure names that make sense to business users
- Enable pre-calculations for commonly used measures
- Provide user- and role-based security
Technical Solution
- Separate intensive query and reporting tasks from servers and disks used by transaction processing (OLTP) systems
- Create data models and technologies optimized for query and reporting that are NOT appropriate for transaction processing
- Transform data and embed knowledge, roll-ups and business logic into the data structures so that non-IT users can perform self-service BI
- Create a single location where information from multiple source systems can be accessed and combined for reporting purposes
- Provide a validated repository of data that has been cleaned of inaccurate or spurious data quality issues
- Maintain a repository of historical data gathered from prior and legacy sources and data that would otherwise be purged from the current transaction processing system(s)
- Allow for secured access to data for analytics without opening up access to systems where data might inadvertently be modified or transaction processing performance hindered
- Provide a stable platform on which end-users can build customized reports, dashboards and analytics
The Complete Solutions
- Properly staged data
- Good tools to consume and use the information
Create a Data Warehouse
Definition: Data Warehouse
What We Will Not Cover
- Data warehouses and business analytics systems can be built with a dizzying array of technologies and tools
- … And they are changing daily
- The variety of technical options has exploded (as value of data increases)
- No fancy new paradigms to shift
- No logical, physical, virtual mumbo-jumbo
Data Warehouses are not Universal Panaceas
29+ Specific, Pragmatic Reasons Why
- Consolidates multiple sources of data
- Retains history when changing/upgrading systems
- Captures snapshots and realigns data
- Consolidates data from cloud and on-premise
- Provides persistent storage of critical data
- Increases efficiency by storing data only once
- Cleanses data
- Handles and fixes NULL values
- Applies universal, one-time filters
- Improves performance (end-user reports)
- Eliminates expensive and incorrect joins
- Transforms complex source data into usable facts
- Captures strategic business-centric metrics
- Consolidates and simplifies disparate attribute data
- Adds mandatory business dimensional richness
- Simplifies complex data relationships
- Applies logic to complete and align data
- Facilitates allocation and attribution
- Provides insulating layer from source systems
- Eliminates complex logic needed in BA layer(s)
- Allows for slow-changing dimensions
- Captures slow-changing facts
- Eliminates live connections to source data
- Eliminates spreadmarts and local databases
- Reduces risk of trained person(s) leaving
- Eliminates incorrect calculations by end-users
- Provides security and controlled access
- Helps reduce software license fees
- Enables consolidated dashboards and aligned metrics
- Enables better dashboards thru context
Takeaways
- To make data truly usable and valuable, it needs to be transformed and enriched
- Transformation needs to take place somewhere between the raw source and the final report/analysis
- Question of where and how you handle that transformation
- Not addressing this simply forces business end-users to tackle it themselves
- Which leads to: Excel hell Access aggravation and complex, slow and inaccurate self-service dashboards and reports
- A properly architected data warehouse has its place… and can help
Benefits of Properly Staged Data
- Better decisions
- Faster actions
- Unified strategic direction – what gets measured, gets managed
- Greater efficiency – less time in Excel hell
- Less redundancy and waste
- Fewer errors – some can cost millions of dollars
- Happier business users
- Greater user adoption
- Competitive advantage and higher ROIC

Business Strategy

Data Acquisition & Storytelling in Cognos Analytics

How-To Demos: Data Modules, Data Sets & Data Servers

Tips & Tricks

Surface Better Insight from Your Sales Pipeline Data

Capture, Calculate and Track Hard-To-Find Key Leading Indicators

Effective executives rely on leading indicators of sales revenue — such as pipeline growth and win rates — to keep their fingers on the pulse of company performance.

Many firms have invested in sales pipeline tracking systems such as Salesforce and visualization tools such as Tableau to surface leading indicators to their executives. However, if you are connecting your visualizations directly to your CRM system, you are missing some of the valuable indicators.

The solution is a “staging database”—an intermediary between the two systems that transforms the data and surfaces all the information organizations need for early, high powered performance visibility.

Senturus explains how to capture, calculate and track the hard-to-get leading indicators, such as:

The components of pipeline growth:
- Growth from new opportunities
- Changes to the value of existing opportunities
- Changes to the win-probability of existing opportunities
Conversion rates for each stage of the sales cycle
The marketing metrics that lead to new pipeline
- Individual lead score trend
- Marketing engagement trend

This information is most valuable to B2B organizations, those having sales teams entering and tracking multi-stage sales cycles in an opportunity database. The “how to” examples feature Tableau and Salesforce, but we explain how the techniques are useful even if you use other tools.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce, CRM

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

Executives who want to ensure all the sales indicators are being surfaced
Business analysts interested in expanding their data capture and transformation techniques
Members of the business analytics teams who are tasked with providing forward visibility
Technologists who want to increase the business value of their systems

PRESENTER

Greg Herrera  President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

Greg founded Senturus in 2001 and today leads the demand creation side of the company. Under his leadership, the company has been on Inc. Magazine’s annual list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies for three years running. In addition, Senturus was inducted into the San Francisco Business Times "Fast 100" Hall of Fame. Greg has 13 years of hands-on experience with Salesforce and the application's underlying tables.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Leading Indicators
- Measure performance that has already happened
- Financial statements: revenue, gross margin, profit
Leading Indicators
- Indicate the direction of in-course performance
Lounging Indicators
- “… will be leaving the company to spend more time with family”
Leading Indicators – What’s Missing?
Leading Indicators of Revenue
4 Ways Companies can Increase Revenue
- Increase the number or value of deals in the pipeline (pipeline growth)
- Improve their rate of success (win rate)
- Close bigger deals (average deal size)
- Increase the velocity of the deals moving through the pipeline, such as shorten the sales cycle (time to close)
Pipeline Growth in 3 Ways
- New deals entering the pipeline (new deal)
- Existing pipeline deals changing size (value change)
- Existing deals changing stage (stage change)
Contextual Attributes – What’s Missing?
Leading Indicators Have Leading Indicators
- The conversion rate (probability) for each stage should be calculated from empirical data contained in historical pipeline snapshots and historical wins
- Marketing automation systems (Pardot, Marketo) track interactions with behavior scores
- Integrates to CRM systems, such as Salesforce, that update contact’s records with behavior score -- more interactions lead to more new deals entering the pipeline
Sales Pipelines are Current Snapshots
- In Salesforce and most other CRM systems, sales pipeline tracked in an opportunity table, which maintains only the current values
- Win rate, average deal size and time to close are calculations of closed deals (date and value of the transaction is known)
- The date and value of pipeline growth transactions is not known from this table
Contrast: Pipeline Balances Monthly Snapshot
Contrast: Pipeline Growth from Same Pipeline!
1-Derive Transactions from Snapshot Differences
2-Derive Transactions from SFDC Opp History
3-Derive Transactions from SFDC Opportunity Field History
Use Similar Techniques for Interaction Trends
- Marketing automation systems (e.g. Marketo) integrate with CRM Systems (Salesforce) and push Behavior Score balances several times per day
- Derivation technique 1 can work with any combination of marketing and CRM systems to derive Behavior Score transactions
- Derivation technique 3 can be configured in Salesforce
Behavior Clusters as Leading Indicators of Purchase
Dashboard and Analysis Tips
- Good dashboard practice says to use auto-refresh relative time periods instead of having to specify date ranges
- Leading indicators enable in-course corrections, so frequent (daily) updates are valuable
- Many sales organizations experience quarter-based seasonality in their pipeline growth
- For these organizations, look at pipeline growth across 91-day periods (quarter of a year)
Considerations when Averaging Pipe Growth (1)
Considerations when Averaging Pipe Growth (2)
Considerations when Averaging Pipe Growth (3)
Demo Using Tableau
Takeaways
- Ideally pull your CRM pipeline data into the data warehouse or sales data mart
- Next best interim situation is to pull it into a staging database
- In these databases you will be able to do the transformations and contortions that surface the missing leading indicators
- Pipeline growth transactions provide much better visibility than pipeline balance snapshots
- Need to know not just where you are, but how you got there
- Valuable marketing interactions which lead the leading indicators can be surfaced by similar techniques

Business Strategy

WHAT’S NEW IN COGNOS ANALYTICS 11.0.5

Demos and Q&A with the IBM Product Team

Features

A PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO SALES FORECASTING

Using Salesforce, ERP Systems, Tableau & R

Salesforce and integrated ERP systems collect tons of valuable information, but the challenge is figuring out how to use that data to predict future sales. Predictive modeling has promised to deliver tomorrow’s numbers, but remains under-used due to complexity or inaccuracy.

In this webinar recording, we share effective, pragmatic sales forecasting approaches. We describe best practices for organizing and preparing your Salesforce and ERP systems for predictive modeling, and reveal how to best use Tableau and R to visualize the future.

Effective methods for sales forecasting discussed include:

How to best organize, prepare and integrate your sales pipeline and ERP data for predictive modeling
Data preparation techniques specific to Salesforce
Three of the R-based algorithms available for sales forecasting
How to setup a continuous feedback framework so that your algorithms will improve as data volume grows
When it makes sense to use simple algorithms with less accuracy instead of complex ones that are more accurate
How to leverage the built-in integration between Tableau and R to visualize your historical, forecasted, and confidence-level data
How the techniques can be applied to environments that do not include Salesforce or Tableau

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau, Salesforce, ERP Systems, R

PRESENTERS

Asa Levi
Senior Consultant
Senturus, Inc.

Asa joins Senturus with over 10 years of experience in business intelligence and predictive analytics, having spent most of his career at Pearson Education. While there, Asa used multiple ERP and CRM systems to unify insight across all platforms to gain more understanding of issues, such as cost-to-serve and pricing model selection. He also led development of a combined SSRS/Tableau/Salesforce BI solution to allow CRM, ERP, customer support, and product master data be used in a unified environment to allow for simpler access to data and enable more thorough, complex analyses. Asa began his career in the Microsoft BI stack, working with SQL Server and SSRS on ROI analysis for product customization.

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

Greg founded Senturus in 2001 and today leads the demand creation side of the company. Under his leadership, the company has been on Inc. Magazine’s annual list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies for three years running. In addition, Senturus was inducted into the San Francisco Business Times "Fast 100" Hall of Fame. Greg has 13 years of hands-on experience with Salesforce.com and the application's underlying tables.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Predictive Modeling Methodology
Sales Forecast Algorithms Require Historical Snapshots
Sales Pipelines are Current Snapshots
Techniques for Maintaining Historical Pipeline
Salesforce Opportunity History Table
Salesforce Tracks History Functionality
Goal: Merge Predictions for Actionable Insights
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
How to Measure Accuracy
Regression KPIs
Custom KPIs
The Common Refrain: Why can I predict that our net sales will be within 5% of last year, but we are 30% off at the product level
The Central Limit Theorem
Granularity Up, Accuracy Down
Accuracy By Industry
Choosing a Model
Investigating Predictor Relationships
Removing Outliers
Setting Up A Regression
Occam’s Razor Applies
Results
Learn and Iterate
Insights
Clustering to Find Insight
Conclusion

Business Strategy

Cognos Analytics V11: A Closer Look

New Report Authoring, Dashboarding and Modeling Tools

Up until now, demos of Cognos Analytics have been more about look and feel than its implications to users. In this show-and-tell, Nic Leduc, Product Manager of Cognos Analytics shows demos and covers topics that satisfy your curiosities:

IBM’s intent behind the radical new design
How Cognos Analytics solves the riddle of providing enterprise level analytics and governance while still being friendly for line-of-business users
How Cognos Analytics has made authoring easier while maintaining the robustness
Data discovery: how users can directly access data sources
See a demo of the new dashboarding, self-service modeling and simplified authoring

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI: Cognos Workspace, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Cognos Transformer, Cognos Query Studio, Cognos Analysis Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Program or Project Managers

PRESENTER

Nic Leduc
Product Manager
Cognos Analytics

Nic is part of the Product Management team for IBM Cognos Analytics. His main responsibilities are around the dashboarding and mobile capabilities.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence in Review

General availability of IBM Cognos BI v10.2.2 on Cloud – March 27, 2015
Announced IBM Cognos Analytics – October 26, 2015
General availability Cognos Analytics – December 23, 2015

Cognos Analytics on Cloud

Cloud computing expertise delivers a highly secure BI SaaS offering
Managed by IBM, with no need to move your data or security to the cloud
Choose from three editions starting at 25 users, full user flexibility

Factors Shaping the Future of Business Intelligence

Self-serve analytics
Data governance
Smarter, more embeddable analytics

Cognos Analytics v11 Delivers Ease of Use for the Business Without Compromising IT Functionality

Completely re-designed experience – dramatically increase productivity for departmental and enterprise reporting

Cognos Analytics Demo
Interact

Intuitive and interactive
Personalization
On-demand toolbars and menus

Create

Easy access to corporate or uploaded data
Easily combinable data modules
Intent-driven modeling and authoring

Creators, Simple Dashboards, and Reports

Select data source and get started
Guided experience
- Design and layout
- Drag and drop content
- Recommended visualization
Progressive interface
Create dashboard on a tablet

Creators, Power Users

Intent-driven modeling process based on the selected data
- Search for fields
- Join multiple sources
- Automated model generation
Improve data quality – data cleansing
Visualize the model

Updating to Cognos Analytics v11

Cognos Analytics is an upgrade to Cognos Business Intelligence (v8, v10)
All your existing content will be brought forward
Traditional 10.2.2 studios are available (now called Companion Applications)
No license changes (free to download from Passport Adv for existing customers)
Life cycle manager is planned to ship in Q1, 2017

Simplification of the Studios

We’ve reduced the number of interfaces for simplicity:
- Report
- Dashboard
- Data module
IBM recommends to create new content using the new tools

Where are the Old Studios in Cognos Analtyics?

Companion applications are still available for existing customers
- Cognos v10 studios
- My Inbox
- Drill-Through definitions
- My Watch items

Cognos Workspace in Cognos Analytics

Currently
- Still available in Cognos Analytics, opens in a new browser tab
- Removed certain capabilities such as the Do More
- Announced for deprecation
What we are looking at:
- Reusable parts in the new dashboards and reporting
- Multiple packages in reporting (vote on RFE 68073)
- Master filtering across multiple sources / widgets / pages
- Auto-refresh of widgets in dashboards

Portal Pages and Tabs in Cognos Analytics

Currently
- Portal pages open in a different browser tab
- Portal tabs are no longer accessible
Recommendations
- Users can set a report or dashboard as their home page (not portal pages)
- Recently used list provides a quick way for users to get to their content
- Search has been greatly enhanced to find content they need
What we are looking at:
- Ability for admins to set their user’s home pages based on users and groups
- Vote on RFE 84915

Infrastructure, Installation

Installation options
- Ready to run! Provides a quick way to get up and running in minutes without any additional configuration or third party software
- Custom: same as previous version of Cognos
Gateway component is optional, meaning no dependency on a web server
- Only required for advanced options such as SSO or third party portal integration
Items to consider
- Size of snapshots and uploaded content
- Potential additional load on the servers as users interact with their content

Mobile Experience

iOS Safari for connected experience
Native apps for disconnected
Interface only shows the capabilities that are supported on mobile devices
On-demand toolbar menus are touch friendly
Report prompts are converted to native controls

Embedded Items

Models, OLAP, Query Engines

Useful Links

Main Cognos Analytics page – http://www.ibm.biz/cognosanalytics
Videos and demos – https://www.youtube.com/user/Analyticszone/videos
Free trial – http://www.analyticszone.com
Documentation – http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_11.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.cbi.doc/welcome.html?lang=en
FAQ installation steps – http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21974153

Features

Meet Tableau 10

Overview of New Features

Features

Using Query Explorer in Cognos Analytics

Report Authoring in Cognos v11

Tips & Tricks

DATA INTEGRATION TOOL FOR BOTH BUSINESS AND IT USERS

Informatica Cloud Demo

The rapid growth in self-service business analytics has created tremendous value for organizations, but in many cases has created tension between technical and business users. Technical teams have spent years building solid data warehouses filled with trusted data from source systems such as sales, finance and operations.

Business teams are gaining insights using new data discovery tools such as Cognos, Business Objects, Tableau and Power BI. But, the insights create the desire for new data sources – and the data warehouse teams can’t keep up. Informatica Cloud provides a solution that both business and IT users will appreciate.

This demonstration shows a best-of-both-worlds solution that combines data integration for both business and IT users. We show:

How IT is able to incorporate the business analyst’s data integration routines into the core, trusted data warehouse
The user experience for business analysts doing data integration from both cloud-based and on-premise data sources
How the business analyst’s wizard-driven tool seamlessly uses the industrial-strength data integration engine that IT teams have loved for years
Out-of-the-box integration for apps such as Salesforce, NetSuite, Workday, Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure, Marketo, SAP, Oracle and SQL Server

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Informatica, Salesforce, NetSuite, Workday, Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure, Marketo, SAP, Oracle, SQL Server, Cognos, Business Objects, Tableau, Power BI, Cloud

PRESENTERS

Grady Drago
Principal Cloud Sales Consultant
Informatica

John Stimson
Cloud Alliances Director
Informatica

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Informatica Overview
Full Data Management Platform
Leverage A Single Unified Platform: an example of how you can use INFA platform as business and IT initiatives change…
Informatica Is Only About Data Management
Informatica Cloud Overview
Cloud Data Integration Demo Scenario: Cloud Data Warehousing
Hundreds of Connectors for Every App
Informatica Rev: Self-Service Cloud Data Profiling, Cleansing and Preparation
Cloud Data Integration
Informatica Cloud Designer: Developer Productivity: Drag & Drop Palette
Data Integration and Management is Key
to Success
The Informatica Cloud Solution
- Enable business user self-service and IT collaboration
- Demo
Get Started with a Free Trial

Business Strategy

Transitioning to Cognos Analytics V11

Tips for Developers and Administrators

This recorded webinar helps Cognos developers and system administrators make the transition from v10 to Cognos Analytics (v11). Blending demos and discussions, we explain dashboarding, data modules, and administration in Cognos Analytics.

The informational benefits of this webinar include:

Data Modules

How to setup data servers
The data module tool and how to blend data
How to publish and verify the results

Dashboards

How quickly you can create stunning dashboards
The limitations around metadata sources

Administration

The gaps moving from Portal tabs to the new interface
How the Motio PI Pro Tool can be essential to efficient migrations
How to limit external data uploads and data server access

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics v11, IBM Cognos BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

System Administrators, BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Cognos Architect
Senturus

Todd has over 15 years of Cognos experience and heads up the Senturus install, upgrade and optimization practice. You may also be interested in reading Todd's blog post that describes Cognos Analytics Release 3 Known Issues and their work arounds.

Want to learn more about data modules? If so, view our step-by-step demo on how to Create Data Modules in Cognos Analytics.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Dashboards
- Still limited to file uploads and/or data modules
- Drag and drop visualizations and filters
- Multiple sources
- Create engaging and visually stunning dashboards quickly
Data Modules
- Set up data servers
- Module creation process
- Intent
- Custom groups
- Calculations
- Joins
- “Try it”
Administration
- Control limit file upload size
- Restrict access to data servers
- Manage schedules and batch jobs
- Portal tab migration plan
- Motio PI Pro
- Request for enhancement website
Motio PI Pro – Batch Set Interactive Mode
Request for Enhancement (RFE)

Tips & Tricks

CASE STUDY: VISUALIZING COMPLEX DATA IN TABLEAU

How to Achieve on a Budget

Tips & Tricks

Which Chart or Bar Graph is Right for You?

Best Practice Recommendations for 13 Chart Types

Tips & Tricks

Preparing for Cognos Analytics V11

Prep v10 Now to Ensure a Smooth Upgrade Later

By now, you have heard about all the new features of Cognos Analytics. And while there are many good things in store, the truth is that its integration with Cognos BI v10 is not seamless. Learn what you need to know to prepare for Cognos Analytics−before you upgrade.

We tell you what technologies you should be investing your resources in, and which ones you should stop using. Learn which reports you should convert now and what you can leave for later. We also demonstrate a new product that allows you to automate report conversions.

We demonstrate how Cognos Analytics works – or does not – with the following:

The Studios: Query, Analysis, Report
Portal Tab, public folders and Cognos Connection
Workspace Advanced and Workspace

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI: Cognos Workspace, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Cognos Transformer, Cognos Query Studio, Cognos Analysis Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Program or Project Managers

PRESENTERS

Todd Schuman
Cognos Architect
Senturus

Todd has over 15 years of Cognos experience and heads up the Senturus install, upgrade, and optimization practice.

Jeff Dean
Strategic Accounts Manager
Motio

Jeff is responsible for guiding strategic Cognos customers. Prior to joining Motio, he spent over 14 years with Cognos.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Farewell to Studios

Query Studio and Analysis Studio supported for one more release
Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Event Studio, Metric Studio and PowerPlay Studio all open in new tab using old interface
Single reporting tool in Cognos Analytics
Report Studio and Workspace Advanced reports are fully integrated
Interactive / non-interactive concept
- Potential JavaScript issues

Cognos “Dis”-Connection

Public folders is now team content
My Folders is now My Content
Portal Tabs open in new window – cannot create new or set as home
Search index built it – no more scheduling

Preparing for Cognos Analytics

Halt development of non Report Studio / WSA content
Convert existing content into Report Studio / WSA

Convert Query Studio Objects to Report Studio Objects

Replace Any References to the Old Objects

Tips & Tricks

MAKING TABLEAU DASHBOARDS SHAREABLE

Easily Create Secure, Browser- and Mobile-based Dashboards

You have been creating dashboards and insightful analysis with Tableau Desktop. But now you want to share your work with others and allow them to interact with your worksheets. How do you do it?

The solution is secure, powerful – and equally important – easy-to-use from both the end user and IT perspectives. If your company is using Tableau, view this webinar recording on Tableau Server to learn successful implementation, including:

How Tableau Server allows Tableau Desktop users to share their work, with anyone, via any browser, in a secure environment
How easy it is to install, upgrade, administer, publish to and use
The powerful self-service capabilities that Tableau Server provides
Different versions (in-house / cloud) and licensing option (named user / unlimited)

Free Tableau Server Trial and Free Help with Installation
Click here to access the 14-day free trial and if you would like free assistance with installation contact info@senturus.com.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Tableau

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTER

Chuck Hooper
Business Analytics Consultant

Chuck’s career includes over five decades of business and IT experience. He started Tableau's Professional Services consulting organization and was a Tableau Zen Master from 2012-2014. He conducts training sessions on the use of Tableau Software products, and does speaking engagements on visual analytics, data warehouse design, and other business intelligence topics at both the technical and the executive levels.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Tableau Server Versions & Licensing

In-House – Named User License: $1000 / named user – unlimited hardware
In-House – Core Based License: $3xx,000 per 8 core box – unlimited users
Tableau Online – hosted Tableau Server: $500 per year per person – 100GB storage allowed

Install Tableau Server (Upgrade)

Run a backup of the current environment
Do a Windows uninstall of the old
Download the current installer (~990Mb)
Trial version is 100% functional – with 14-day trial license
Installs on a Windows Server – a both 32 bit and 64 bit versions available
Typical install, accepting all defaults = 15-30 minutes

Demonstration of Server Installation

Basic Installation is Done – Gotchas

Creating a “cluster” environment, for larger installations
Non “Active Directory” authentication can by tricky
Setting up Server / role-based security
Determining causes of performance issues
When to publish live connections vs. extracts
Connectivity from Server to DBMS – firewall issues

Ways to Implement Security

DBMS Server based
Database table linked to our analysis
The publisher can use a “User Filter”
Server administrator

Build an Interactive Dashboard

Use Desktop to publish a dashboard
Then, we will work inside Tableau Server:
- View what we published (browser)
- Create out own views (“edit” function)
- Discuss administration
- Discuss Tableau iPad apps

iPad Apps

Tableau App
- More eloquent way to get to Tableau Server views
Vizable
- Free app for analyzing flat file data
- No relation to other Tableau apps / products

Tips & Tricks

The Holy Grail of Marketing Analytics

Delivering on the Promise of Closed-Loop Marketing Optimization

If you’re like many companies, you struggle to connect your sales and marketing systems and are frustrated by the inability to accurately profile and track your customers. Closing the loop to connect the two silo'd systems is easier to achieve than you may realize. Learn to use the right tools and maximize your expertise to easily surface critical marketing metrics to:

Measure return on marketing investment
Know your customer lifetime value
Optimize your marketing and sales funnels based on profit per marketing dollar

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Alteryx

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Marketing Analysts, Program or Project Managers

PRESENTERS

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder
Senturus

Adam Smithline
CEO
Opticity, Inc.

John Policaro
Channel Manager
West Region
Alteryx, Inc.

Albert Pardilla
Solutions Engineer
Alteryx, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Closed-Loop Marketing Overview

What is Closed-Loop Marketing?
Closed-Loop Marketing Metrics: Cost Per Acquisition
Closed-Loop Marketing Metrics: Return on Marketing Investment
Closed-Loop Marketing Metrics: Customer Potential
Ways to Use These Metrics in Practice
- Optimize marketing investment based on campaign and test results
- Segment customers to focus on high live time value (LTV) low share of wallet
- Use LTV and data augmentation to target premium prospects
- Use your understanding of retention to improve marketing and the customer experience in an effort to reduce churn
Optimize
- Review impact of marketing campaigns and split tests on customers, sales, and profit
- Plan marketing campaigns and split tests
- Gather results from marketing campaigns and split tests and produce reports
- Execute marketing campaigns and split tests
Segment
Target
Retain

Addressing the Data Challenges: Tremendous Potential, Easier Said than Done

Organized Data is at the Core of Closed-Loop Marketing
Analytics State of the Art – Sales Analysis
Marketing Analytics Vision
Enhance Customer Information with Derived Behavioral Attributes
Case Study: Associating Marketing to Sales/Profit
- Technique 1: Allocate profit to engagements
- Technique 2: Allocate profit to each person, then to their engagements
- Challenge: Marketing systems and sales systems are usually in different silos

Importance of Data Quality and Matching

Demonstration of Alteryx: State-of-the-Art Tool for Marketing
The Modern Platform for Self-Service Data Analytics
Enabling Self-Service for the Business Analyst

Appendix A

Pragmatic Techniques for Matching Marketing Engagements to their Associated Revenue and Profit (B2B)

Business Strategy

RETHINKING THE DATA WAREHOUSE

Emerging Practices and Technologies to Meet Today’s Requirements

Business Strategy

FUEL ANALYTICS WITH SELF-SERVICE HADOOP DATA PREP

Trifacta Data Wrangler

The great paradox of data analysis is that 80% of the overall analysis process is spent cleaning or preparing data. The reason is the complexity and diversity of data. Complicating matters is that users increasingly expect self-service, yet their organizations struggle to help them effectively work with data in a properly governed and secure environment.

In this webinar recording, Trifacta explains how the emergence of new self-service data prep solutions for Hadoop are benefiting organizations. We discuss how Trifacta’s data wrangling solutions are used to improve the efficiency of existing analytics processes and successfully execute new analytics initiatives.

We demo Trifacta Data Wrangler and discuss:

The challenges self-service data prep solutions are designed to solve and why the space has quickly gained in popularity.
How organizations are implementing self-service data prep to execute new types of analysis or augment existing processes.
The range of user and administrative features of self-service data prep tools like Trifacta.
How companies like PepsiCo and Royal Bank of Scotland use self-service data prep.

Get a free trial of Trifecta Wrangler.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Hadoop, Big Data, Qliktech, Tableau, Trifacta

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Marketing Analysts, Program or Project Managers, Predictive: Quality Assurance, Risk & Fraud

PRESENTERS

Will Davis
Director of Product Marketing
Trifacta

Connor Carreras
Customer Success Manager
Trifacta

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The Data Analytics Process
Self-Service Data Preparation Coverage
The Gap Between Raw Data & Analysis
Back & Forth Between Business & IT
What’s the Cause? Existing Tools
Oh Yeah…There’s Excel Too
Trifacta’s Data Wrangling Solution Demo

Business Strategy

THE DATA LAKE: EMPOWERING YOUR DATA SCIENCE TEAM

Data Science and BI in the Business Landscape

There is confusion about how data science fits into the landscape of business…and IT. In this intriguing webinar with Bill Schmarzo, CTO of EMC’s Global Services Big Data Practice, we look at what data science is, what it hopes to accomplish, how it is related to business analytics, where it differs, and ultimately how organizations will benefit from using both data science and business analytics.

Viewers learn:

The difference between BI and data science and the complementary nature of both
How the data lake can empower data science teams and free up valuable data warehouse resources

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Hadoop / big data, data warehouses

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Financial Planners, Financial Analysts, Marketing Analysts, Marketing Managers / Directors, Predictive: Quality Assurance, Risk & Fraud, Data Scientists

PRESENTER

Bill Schmarzo  CTO
EMC Global Services, Big Data Practice

Bill Schmarzo is the author of Big Data MBA: Driving Business Strategies with Data Science and Big Data: Understanding How Data Powers Big Business. Bill is responsible for setting the strategy and defining the big data service offerings and capabilities for EMC Global Services Big Data Practice. He has written several white papers, is an avid blogger, and is a frequent speaker on the use of big data and data science to power organizations’ business initiatives. He is a University of San Francisco School of Management (SOM) Fellow where he teaches the big data MBA course.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Poll Results
Where are you in the process of integrating Big Data with your existing data warehouse environment?

Actively working to replace data warehouse with data lake
Already using big data (Hadoop) to offload ETL work
In the testing phase
In early discussions
No plans/don’t know

Introducing Data Science

Data Science is about identifying variables and metrics that are better predictors of performance
Evolution of the analytics process – business intelligence vs. data science
Business intelligence engagement process
Transitioning the business questions
Data science engagement process
Power of analytic profiles (healthcare example)
Analytic profiles x use cases (healthcare example)

The Data Lake

Modern BI / analytics environment
Characteristics of a data lake – free up costly data warehouse and BI resources; enable your advanced analytics / data science environment
Why a data lake? Enable analytics! – analytics hub and spoke service architecture
#BigData reference architecture
Lean data governance lifecycle

How to Get Started

Prioritize your business initiatives

Additional Resources

Business Strategy

MICROSOFT FOR BI AND DW

Using the Right Tool for the Job

Organizations that use the Microsoft platform to build their BI and data warehouse solutions have a wealth of resources at their disposal. Understanding these assets and how they can work together allows users to build an efficient, integrated BI solution.

This webinar recording peels back the lid on Microsoft’s offering of its BI and DW related products, including:

A review of product features and benefits
Discuss use cases
Demo of product capabilities

In addition, we touch on the core functionalities of these six products:

Power BI
Azure
Office
SQL Server
SharePoint

Knowing these functionalities allows users to come away with a solid understanding of the role of each product and how they work together to create an integrated BI solution.

You may also be interested in our webinar recording Case Studies: Enterprise BI Platforms vs. Self-Service Analytics Tools in which we discuss real-life client use cases and the factors playing into the choice of tool.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Microsoft, all database, data warehouse, and business intelligence related products (front and back end)

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Program or Project Managers, anyone involved with the creation or use of a BI or data warehouse system

PRESENTER

Paul B. Felix
Senior BI Architect
Senturus, Inc

Paul is an agile business intelligence and data warehousing junkie living in Austin, Texas. He spends his time helping organizations use data to make better decisions by implementing BI/DW solutions.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Microsoft for BI and DW Tools

Power BI
Azure
Office
SQL Server and related products
SharePoint

The Microsoft BI/DW Ecosystem
SQL Server

Relational DB
Tabular SSAS
Multidimensional SSAS
Reporting Services
Integration Services
Master Data Services
Data Quality Services

Power BI

Data
Reports
Dashboards

Azure

HDInsight
Database as a Service
Data Factory
SQL DW (MPP)
Stream Analytics
Machine Learning

Office & SharePoint

Excel
Power Pivot
Power Query
Power View
Power Map
Data Mining
Access
SharePoint

POWER BI
BI front-end SaaS application

Notes

Easy to use
Nice visualizations
Mobile support (multi-platform)
Limited feature set

Cost

Subscription schedule: free to $9.99 user per month

AZURE – HDINSIGHT

Managed Hadoop clusters

Notes

Easy to get started
Well integrated with toolset (Hive, Pig, Spark, Excel)
Multiple development languages (java, .net)

Cost

Subscription schedule: $60 to $1,832 node per month

AZURE – DATA FACTORY
SaaS ETL Tool

Notes

Well integrated with other Azure services
Built-in monitoring
SaaS benefits

Cost

Activity frequency and location based (on premise or cloud)
Subscription priced monthly per activity

AZURE – DATABASE AS A SERVICE
Relational database as a service

Notes

Easily scaled
No need to maintain host hardware
Familiar SQL Server environment

Cost

Database throughput units
Subscription price is based on use

AZURE – SQL DATA WAREHOUSE (MPP) PREVIEW
Data warehouse as a service using massively parallel processing architecture

Notes

Easily scaled and easy to get started
Polybase (structure and unstructured SQL to Hadoop)
Fair amount of T-SQL support

Cost

Database throughput units

AZURE – STREAM ANALYTICS
Stream processing as a service

Notes

Real time analysis of internet of things – easily scaled
SQL based language

Cost

Pricing based on volume of data and number of streams

AZURE – MACHINE LEARNING
Predictive analytics platform as a service

Notes

Easily scaled and shared
R and Python support
Customizable

Cost

Free and standard pricing options

SHAREPOINT
CMS (content management system)

Notes

Huge array of features
Easy to use and customize
Plenty of skilled resources

Cost

Office 365 subscription or Office licensing

OFFICE - EXCEL
Spreadsheets and much more

Notes

Easily connect to large array of data sources
Highly customizable
Nice set of built-in data navigation and presentation tools

Cost

Office 365 subscription or Office licensing

OFFICE – POWER PIVOT
Collect, model, transform, integrate

Notes

Integrate on the fly
Handle datasets of fairly large size
Powerful columnar structure and DAX language
Path to enterprise deployment (tabular)

Cost

Excel add-in, no additional cost

OFFICE – POWER QUERY
Discover, transform, refresh, analyze

Notes

Easily collect web-based datasets
Simple and powerful transformations
Integrated in PowerBI

Cost

Excel add-in, no additional cost

OFFICE – POWER VIEW
Interactive data exploration, visualization, presentation

Notes

SSAS tabular and multidimensional data sources
Easily to build and share interactive reports
Self-service or enterprise standard

Cost

Excel add-in, no additional cost
Enable options > com add-ins

OFFICE – POWER MAP
Interactive mapping

Notes

Easily plot geographic data
Play time lapse
Share via Excel or video formats

Cost

Excel add-in, no additional cost

OFFICE – DATA MINING
Excel-based modeling and predictions

Notes

Powerful set of tools
Leverage SSAS built models or self-service
Simple to get started and use

Cost

Excel add-in, no additional cost

OFFICE – ACCESS
Business user database, reporting, querying, writeback

Notes

Wizard based
Easily connect to ODBC
Enable feedback and sharing
Excel web apps

Cost

Office 365 subscription or Office licensing

SQL SERVER RDBMS
Relational database management system

Notes

In-memory OLTP
Columnar indexes
Always-on availability groups

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER ANALYSIS SERVICES - MULTIDIMENSIONAL
Multidimensional cube engine

Notes

Rich set cube of features
Data mining

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER ANALYSIS SERVICES - TABULAR
Tabular model engine

Notes

Subset of cube features
In-memory columnar (VertiPaq)

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER INTEGRATION SERVICES
Generic data integrations tool

Notes

Powerful ETL tool
Highly customizable
C# and Visual Basic language support

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER REPORTING SERVICES
Canned reporting

Notes

Enterprise canned reporting
Close to pixel perfect
Developer and analyst designers

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER MASTER DATA SERVICES
Master data management

Notes

Model master data
Maintain entities, attributes, members
Excel- and browser-based interface
SSIS integration

Cost

SQL Server product

SQL SERVER DATA QUALITY SERVICES
Manage and enforce data integrity / quality rules

Notes

Knowledge-driven data quality product
Domain management, matching policies
Thick client

Cost

SQL Server product

Features

RUNNING COGNOS ON HADOOP

Cost Effective, Highly Scalable, High Speed

You can do data discovery or rapid BI prototyping on large data sets without becoming a Hadoop expert. Our webinar shows how you can enjoy benefits of big data and the ability to analyze it with standard BI tools, including Cognos.

IBM BigInsights Product Manager Paul Yip demonstrates a cost effective, scalable solution that does not have the barriers to entry common with big data applications. He reviews:

Use cases for Hadoop
Pros and cons of different visualization tools and their integration with Hadoop
Demonstration of BigInsights, IBM’s solution

You may also be interested in the following YouTube videos authored by Paul Yip:

DEMONSTRATION CLOUD

Big SQL Technology Sandbox is a large, shared environment for data science. You can use it to run R, SQL, Spark, and Hadoop jobs. It is a high performance cluster demonstrating the advantages of parallelized processing of big data sets. Click here to access

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Hadoop / Big Data, Tableau

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, Marketing Analysts, Marketing Managers / Directors, Program or Project Managers, Predictive: Quality Assurance, Risk & Fraud

PRESENTER

Paul Yip, IBM Analytics
BigInsights Product Manager

Paul has 15 years of hands-on technical experience with the design, implementation, and performance tuning of information management systems. His career has involved many aspects of information management including distributed transactional systems, data marts and warehousing, information security and governance, Hadoop, and Big Data. Paul is the author of three books and has published dozens of technical articles.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

What is Hadoop?
Hadoop’s Cost Advantage
Distributed Analytics Example: MapReduce
Hive Provides a SQL Interface to MapReduce
SQL on Hadoop Matters for Big Data Analytics for BI Tools like Cognos
Hive – Joins in MapReduce
N-way Joins in MapReduce
IBM BigInsights
Hive is Really 3 Things…Storage Format, Metastore, and Execution Engine
Big SQL Preserves Open Source Foundation
IBM First/Only to Produce Audited Benchmark Hadoop-DS (based on TPC-DS) / Oct 2014
Performance Test – Hadoop-DS (based on TPC-DS) 20 (Physical Node) Cluster
Big SQL Runs More SQL Out-of-Box
Cognos & Hadoop Lessons Learned
Big SQL Security – Best in Class
Announced at Strata + Hadoop World Sept 2015
Performance Test Summary
BigSheets: Browser based analytics tool for BigData
BigSheets Demo
Big Data Technology Patterns
- Traditional Enterprise Analytic Environment
- Traditional Approach to Improve Analytic Architectures
- Faster, Deeper Insights while Reducing Costs
- Current State: Analytics Development Cycle
- Target State: Rapid Prototyping
- Right Tool, Right Job
Backups
- Big SQL: Query-able (Rapid) Archive
- Two Models for High Performance Analytics
- IBM Open Platform (alone) is similar to Hortonworks
- This is Hortonworks…Oh wait...no, its BigInsights!
- IBM Open Data Platform as of 1
- IBM Open Platform vNext (1Q 2016)
- IBM’s Big R vs Native Open Source R
- Sequential vs Task Parallel Execution
- Automatically Distributes Workload Across Cluster
Spark SQL vs Big SQL
- How did Big SQL Scale?
- Client Stories - Leveraging IBM Value Adds
- Public Customer References
- Big R Machine Learning – Scalability and Performance

Business Strategy

Information Dashboard Science and Design

The Science Behind Effective Dashboard Development

Learn how to strategically design analytics dashboards to bring actionable insights to light. During this webinar recording, Senturus Co-Founder John Peterson explores the science behind creating effective dashboards, including the challenges, opportunities and human factors that come into play. Using this science as the basis, John gives his top 13 tips to optimize dashboard visualizations.

PRESENTER

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Preface: Common Questions

We want to implement Self-Service BI, how…?
We need to develop a Dashboard, what should…?
Do we really need a Data Warehouse?
What’s the Right tool for the job?

A Few Resources to Start Things Off

Edward Tufte
Stephen Few (Perceptual Edge)
Nathan Yau (Flowing Data)
Andy Kirk (Visualisingdata.com)
New York Times Infographics
- www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/29/us/year-in-interactive-storytelling.html
Kaplan & Norton (Balanced Scorecard)

The Problem: Challenges, Opportunities & Human Factors

Today’s Recipe for Decision Making Support
- Business Requirements inform Display & Visualization
- Raw Data inform Display & Visualization, but requires much more Relative Time and Energy put into Transformation
Recipe for Better Decision Making
- Business Requirements and Raw Data inform Display & Visualization, but each requires a more balanced, equal amount of Relative Time and Energy put into Transformation
Considerations
- In the journey of the data from the sources to the information “consumer/user,” how much time and energy have you really focused on the final 24 inches?
The Vision Thing
- When our eyes are open, our vision accounts for two-thirds of the electrical activity of the brain — a full 2 billion of the 3 billion firings per second, and50% of our neural tissue is directly or indirectly related to vision (Source: Neuroanatomist R.S. Fixot, 1957)
- More of our neurons are dedicated to vision than the other four senses combined, and olfactory cortex is losing ground to the visual cortex. About 60 percent of our smell-related genes have been permanently damaged in this neural arbitrage(Source: John Medina, Brain Rules, 2015)
Example 1: Preattentive Processing
- The unconscious accumulation of information from the environment
- Prior to conscious perception, yet very powerful
Example 1: Preattentive Attributes
Example 2: Color Perception
- The effect of contrast
Example 3: Memory Types
- Sensory Memory: < 1 second
  - Ultra-short-term memory and decays or degrades very quickly, typically in the region of 200 - 500 milliseconds (1/5 - 1/2 second) after the perception of an item
- Short-Term (Working) Memory: < 1 minute
  - Holds a small amount of information (typically around 7 items or even less) in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time (typically from 10 to 15 seconds, or sometimes up to a minute).
- Long-Term Memory: life-time
  - Decays very little, but requires more “effort” to store & retrieve
Implications
- Information display methods matter a lot
  - Color
  - Shape
  - Layout
  - Page size
  - Contrast & Context
- Tapping into your brain’s innate capabilities will enhance information delivery efficacy
And What Gets Measured
- “What gets measured gets managed.” (Source: Peter Drucker, 1954)
- "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.”(Source: Lord Kelvin, 1883)
- “I chalked a big “6” on the floor, and then passed along without another word. When the night shift came in they saw the “6” and asked about it.”
- (Source: Charles Schwab, US Steel, 1917)
- “Metrics don’t just report results, they drive strategy.” (Source: Kaplan & Norton, 1992)
- What is a Dashboard Really?

What is an Information Dashboard?
- Definition
  - A dashboard is an information display that people use to rapidly monitor current conditions that potentially require an immediate response to fulfill a specific role. (Source: Stephen Few, revised 2015)
  - Dashboards display information that matters, is updated frequently, requires a timely response. (Source: Stephen Few, 2015)
Other Display Types (Source: Stephen Few, 2015)
- Lookup Report, for lookup
- Explanatory Report, for narrative
- Infographic, for narrative
- Live Presentation, for narrative
- Dashboard, for monitoring
- Analytical Application, for guided data analysis
- EDA Tool, for exploratory data analysis
- Predictive Model, for predictive analysis
More Implications
- A person’s role really matters
  - One size fits all dashboards are suboptimal
  - Business requirements drive design/layout
- Layout matters
  - Particularly if it exceeds one page
  - Efficient use of space is critical
- Filtering, interactivity state changes actually reduce dashboard effectiveness
- Choice of what to display is crucial
- So is how you display it

Putting It All Together: Do’s and Don’ts

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Consider “Role-specific” Dashboards
- Example: Store Dashboard vs. District Dashboard
- Who exactly is the audience?
- What specific decisions do managers need to make with the data?
- “One size fits all” rarely fits anyone well
- Filtering (especially when not persistent and obvious) destroys “situation awareness”
- Consider modular approach, but beware of lack of
  - Maintainability, consistency, company priority
Don’t Waste Space: Stick to One Screen
- Use appropriate graph types and layout
- Real-life example from US Patent & Trademark Office vs. Award winning dashboard (Perceptual Edge, 2012)
- Personalized Surf Report
Simple and Clean is Best
- Watch your data-ink (or data-pixel) ratio
- If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority
Be Very Careful with Color
- Powerful but dangerous
Avoid Gratuitous Graph Types
- Nice eye-candy, but not good information
- Beware of vendor provided templates
Focus on Leading (vs. Lagging) indicators
- Don’t drive via the rear view mirror
  - Unique visitors vs. past financials
  - Emails opened
  - New customers signed up
  - Events attended
  - Samples requested
  - Contracts in process
Integrate Context
- Relative to what? Metrics versus:
  - Last year
  - Plan
  - Forecast
  - Rolling average
  - Competition
  - Industry averages/standards
Use Ratios, Variances, Moving Averages, and Trends
- Help identify the issues
Provide Drill-to-Detail Interactivity
- And conditional formatting
Consider your Delivery Platform(s)
Beware of Mockups
- Requirements tend to harden
- Watch out for amateurs acting like pros
- Focus on core requirements instead
  - Metrics and measures
  - Dimensionality
Prototype Early and Often
- Before major development, be sure to:
  - Explore the data
  - Unearth requirements
  - Test preferences
  - Test tools
  - Sell the concept
John Peterson’s Management Level Rework Theorem
- Beware of copious, often contradictory, feedback
- Number of rework iterations = Number of levels of management in the review loop
- Corollary:Cost and duration of project is directly proportional to levels of management involved
The Good News: Parting Thoughts
- The tools are better than ever
  - More powerful
  - More flexible
  - More built-in (best practices)
  - More modular
- The need for good information is more pressing than ever
- There are now some (but not lots of) good examples in use
- Go forth and visualize!

Additional Resources

Books
- Information Dashboard Design (2^nd edition) by Stephen Few
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
- Visualize This by Nathan Yau
- The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan & David Norton
- John Peterson’s library (just call me)
Other
- Graph Selection Matrix (Perceptual Edge)
  - www.perceptualedge.com/articles/misc/Graph_Selection_Matrix.pdf
- New York Times Infographics
  - www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/29/us/year-in-interactive-storytelling.html

Business Strategy

BEGINNING COGNOS REPORT AUTHORS: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

Learn Fundamentals Plus How They Translate to v11

Get unique insight into the most common Report Studio questions and obstacles to adoption. In addition to valuable information about Cognos BI v10.x, we explore several areas of concern regarding changes to Cognos Analytics v11.

Our own report authoring expert, Albert Valdez, will help you:

Overcome the uncertainty of working with Report Studio
Learn best practices for creating effective reports
Learn, through demos, the fundamental authoring techniques, such as interactive prompts, simple calculations, complex expressions, visualizations and drill-throughs

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Workspace, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Albert has spent the last 15 years as a technical trainer focused on business analytics and performance management. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Albert has served as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director of Education for Senturus.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

These questions were answered during the webinar:

Where/how do I get started with report authoring in IBM Cognos BI v10?
Cognos BI v10 has a lot of options for report authoring: Report Studio, Workspace Advanced, Query Studio, and Analysis Studio. Will you describe which tool is best to use for which situation?
If Report Studio is the most powerful tool, why would I ever use Workspace Advanced or Query Studio?
Using Report Studio, how do I build a new report with sales information or product lines and revenue?
How can I make reports more interactive so I can customize them? For example, I want to create a report that is going to be delivered to all the sales managers around the world, but each manager wants to see only the results for her/his territory.
Will reports migrate from Cognos BI v10 to Cognos Analytics?
Is it possible to migrate workspaces and other objects that have been built in one of the deprecated studios such as Query Studio or Analysis Studio to Cognos Analytics?
What is the difference between a dashboard and a report? Can I use Report Studio to build dashboards?
How can I reuse objects in a report?
I’ve re-used the query within reports to add data in a line chart. Can I reuse components on multiple reports?
Is it helpful to know SQL to optimize reports?
Can I execute a stored procedure directly from Report Studio?
In creating reports, is there any way to set a default value that is dynamic to make my prompt more intelligent?

Features

IS YOUR FINANCIAL PLANNING SOLUTION KEEPING PACE WITH YOUR BUSINESS?

Cloud-Based Planning with Adaptive Insights Is Enterprise-Ready

If you have been resisting cloud-based financial planning, it may be time to give it another look. Web-based solutions have matured considerably in the past few years, and offer significant benefits over traditional on-premise solutions, including lower cost of ownership and the ability to respond quickly and confidently in a volatile business environment. In particular, we have been impressed with a solution that provides the robustness, agility, and data security that are critical to the office of finance while also providing end user self-service financial planning and reporting.

During this recorded webinar, you can view a demo of Adaptive Insights, a cloud-based financial planning solution. Our own enterprise planning expert Ken O’Boyle hosts the event. A 15 year planning veteran, Ken is deeply familiar with traditional on-premise planning tools, the needs of the office of Finance, and the Adaptive Insights solution. Ken shares frank comparisons between the solutions, and speaks about how Adaptive Insights can complement or replace on-premise solutions.

The Adaptive Insights demo covers:

Built-in features that lead to more simple implementations: versioning, time dimension/horizon, pre-defined account structure, sheet templates, etc.
Unique user/planner capabilities (planning method – balance level, line-item detail, formula or breakback – can vary from one department to another for the same account)
Do-it-yourself features including integrated financial reporting
Security measures

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Adaptive Insights

PRESENTER

Ken O’Boyle
Solution Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Ken has more than 20 years of hands-on experience architecting, implementing, and delivering training for enterprise planning, business intelligence, and data warehousing solutions. He has both a CPA and MBA.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Financial Planning Solutions

Key Considerations

Cloud vs. On-premise
Application vs. Tool
Web-based & Excel-based Options
Centralized vs. Decentralized Planning

Adaptive Insights

Cloud vs. On-premise
Application vs. Tool
Web-based vs. Excel-based (with option for an MS Office add-in for reporting)
Centralized vs. Decentralized Planning

Differentiators

Intuitive experience
Customer service
Integrated analytics
Financial processes

Support for Your Evolution

Enhance planning = increases efficiency and accuracy
Optimize finance = improves processes and decisions
Transform performance = creates profound strategic value

Demonstration

Features

Get A+ Reporting from Existing Higher Ed Analytics Solutions

Portland State University Shares Its Quick Win

Are you looking to do more reporting than your Banner or PeopleSoft solution provides out of the box? Many colleges and universities are looking for self-service analysis but think it requires expensive new software, the need for more already hard-to-get dollars, or the addition of expert resources. It does not!

By properly preparing your data and using modules found in your existing Banner or PeopleSoft solution, you can provide integrated insights across your entire organization and dramatically improve report creation time and accuracy.

In this webinar learn about the potential that already exists in current reporting system. Portland State University demonstrates how they were able to quickly obtain ROI by dramatically improving their report performance.

We examine how data preparation allows you to leverage your ERP solution to:

Stop performing time-consuming, manual data manipulation in Excel and Access
Create reports in seconds, not days
Adapt to new reporting requirements exponentially faster
Respond efficiently to auditing requirements such as Title IX, Higher Education Opportunity Act, and HIPPA
Enable self-service analytics and user adoption
Ensure accurate, consistent data
Improve report performance

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Banner, PeopleSoft, Cognos

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

Higher Education Institutions, Universities

PRESENTERS

Alison Nimura
BI Manager
Portland State University

John O’Rourke
Architect, Education
Senturus, Inc.

Jim Pelichowski
Architect, Education
Senturus, Inc.

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Current State of Analytics in Higher Ed
Trends in Analytics in Higher Ed
Challenges, Barriers, Concerns
Solutions & Roadmap
- Shift to self-service
- Performance
- Enterprise data warehouse requires a enterprise-wide investment
Portland State University Case Study & Demo

Business Strategy

COGNOS 10.2.2 PERFORMANCE TUNING

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Investment

Performance Tuning

Learn proven practices and industry standards for setting up your Cognos servers to handle anything you can throw at it. In this free webinar, we focus on how to fine-tune the following different aspects of the Cognos environment to maximize the platform’s potential:

Hardware-based Performance: Hardware to procure for servers, virtual vs. physical servers, and how to structure your environment
Cognos Server Tuning: Settings to adjust, establishing enough resources to handle concurrent user base
64/32-Bit: Determining which one is right for your organization, leveraging 64-bit advantages
Data Tuning: Determining when a data warehouse is needed, tackling bottlenecks, Dynamic Cubes and PowerCubes

Discover how to get the most out of your Cognos investment.

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Cognos Architect
Senturus, Inc

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Hardware Performance

Sizing Up Servers: Processors, Sockets, and Cores
- Processes
  - An independent program running on a computer. A process has a full stack of memory associated for its own use, and does not depend on another process for execution.
- Thread
  - A thread is essentially a process that does not have a full stack of memory associated for it. The thread is tied to a parent process, and is merely an offshoot of execution. Typically thread processes must run on the same computer, but can execute simultaneously on separate cores of the same node.
- Hyper-threading
  - Hyper-threading is an Intel technology that originally preceded multi-core systems, and was used to make a single core appear logically as multiple cores on the same chip. Intel abandoned hyper-threading briefly during the advent of multi-core processors but reintroduced the technology in 2008. Since then, Intel has used it extensively to improve the performance of parallel computations in its multi-core processors. Hyper-threading improves performance by sharing the computational workload between multiple cores whenever possible, allowing the operating system to schedule more than one process at a time.
Adjusting RAM
- Use the following memory settings as a starting point and adjust them based on the memory usage of your system.
  - 2 GB for the base operating system and accompanying software, such as antivirus, back up, and enterprise management software
  - 4 GB for a 64-bit Content Manager JVM
  - 4 GB for a 64-bit Application Tier JVM
  - 2 GB for the graphics JVM (IBM Cognos Workspace)
  - 2-4 GB for the query service (dynamic query mode) JVM
  - 1 GB per core for the report services processes (dynamic query mode) (JVM)
  - 2 GB per core for the report services processes (compatible query mode) (BIBuS)
- Note: Dual Core, 64-bit Single Server needs 16GB for CQM
Distributed Environments
- Load balancing
- Fail over
- Hardware aligned for specific Cognos needs
- Scalable
Virtual vs. Physical Servers
- Pros
  - Reduced maintenance on physical servers
  - Easily allocate additional resources
- Cons
  - Overhead: 5-10%
  - Dedicated resources

Cognos Server Tuning

Concurrent Users
- 100:10:1 Rule
- 100 Named Users
- 10 Active Users
- 1 Concurrent User
- 4,000 Named Users = 40 Concurrent Users
Dispatcher Tuning
- 93 Tuning Categories!
- Batch Report Processes
- 1 * # CPU Cores, 2GB CQM, 1GB DQM
- Interactive Report Process
- 2 * # CPU Cores, 2GB CQM, 1GB DQM
Dispatcher Requests
- High Affinity Tasks
  - Report Viewer links (Run again, Return)
  - HTML report navigation(Top page, Page up, Page down, Bottom page
  - Delivery options(Save, Save As, Print, Email, Viewing)
- Low Affinity Tasks
  - Report Querying(Reporting, Report Processing)
  - Report Authoring(Metadata Retrieval, Query Validation)
  - Administrative(Testing Data Source Connections, Adding Objects (Folders, Jobs, Schedules, etc.), Refreshing Portal Page)
- Peak/Non-Peak Hours
WebSphere Liberty Profile
- To reduce the startup time, memory footprint, and resources used, use the default setting of 768.
- To balance between fast startup time and quick operating speeds, type a value about 1.5 times the default value, such as 1152.
- To maximize operating speeds and if performance is more important than fast startup time, and if your computer has a lot of resources, type a value about double the default value, such as 1536.
Quick Fixes
- ISAPI instead of CGI
  - Improved management of multiple users
- IIS – Content Expiration
  - COG_ROOT>/webcontent/pat/images
  - 600+ Images
  - Set HTTP Response Headers
  - Common Headers
  - Expire Web Content
- Dynamic Query Mode (DQM)
  - Not using DMQ? Turn off Query Service to gain 1GB RAM each server
Performance and Scalability Testing
- End-User Transactions and Load Generation Tools
  - IBM Rational Performance Tester
  - HP Loadrunner
  - Telerik Test Studio (previously Fiddler)
- Server Resource Tools
  - Microsoft’s SysInternals Tools (Windows)
  - Microsoft’s Performance Monitor (Windows)
  - NMon (AIX and Linux)
  - ‘top’ and ‘ps’ (Linux and UNIX)

64-bit and Data / Report Tuning

64-bit Advantages
- Access more memory
- 64-bit registers allow faster, more efficient execution
- Stability
DQM / Dynamic Cubes
- In-memory Aggregation
- Relational DMR
Run DQM
- Install JDBC Drivers
- Enable JDBC Connections
- Enable JDBC in Framework Manager
Senturus.com/Resources
- Beyond PowerPlay: Choosing OLAP
- Dynamic Cubes in 10.2
- IBM Cognos Dynamic Cube Deep Dive
Star Schema
- Less join paths
- Allows quick understanding, navigation, and analysis of large, multidimensional data sets
- Flexibility
Summary Tables
- Pros
  - Eliminate need for large, on-the-fly aggregation of large tables
  - Fast performance
- Cons
  - Requires DBA / maintenance
  - Built at only one level of aggregation
Power Cubes
- Pros
  - Drill up / down
  - Aggregation at every dimension
  - Cognos dimensional functions
- Cons
  - File size
  - Latency
  - Build time
Other Performance Causes
- Reporting Design
- Database Performance
- Network / Firewall
- Stitched Queries
- Local Processing
- Infinite Others

Tips & Tricks

FASTER SELF-SERVICE DATA ANALYTICS

Data Enrichment with Alteryx

Business analysts deal with multiple types of data from a variety of internal and external sources, including behavioral data, census data, sales data, and predictive data. All too often, they are spending too much time preparing data, or relying on others to get the data in the right format for visualization. These burdens often mean missed opportunities regarding the richness of the information.

In this webinar, learn how Alteryx empowers analysts to deliver deeper insights to the organization. See how self-service data analytics help organizations to:

Put all available data in the hands of the line of business analysts who are most familiar with the day-to-day business challenges
Blend predictive analytics and spatial data with existing datasets to enhance the profitability of marketing and asset location strategies
Complement their current data prep solution
Handle and enrich all types of data, including demographic, social media, and the rapidly-emerging Hadoop-based datasets
Perform sophisticated analysis and easily repeat the process – without coding

Feed directly into visualization environments such as Tableau, Qlik, and Power BI

Free Trial of Alteryx

Download a free trial of Alteryx Designer. Learn More

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Hadoop / Big Data, Data Warehouses, Microsoft Power BI, Qliktech, Tableau

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Financial Analysts, Marketing Analysts, Program or Project Managers, Predictive: Quality Assurance, Risk & Fraud

PRESENTERS

John Policaro
 West Region Channel Manager
Alteryx

John manages the Alteryx Partner Ecosystem for the West Region. He has been working with technology leaders in BI and analytics, helping clients and partners, for over 15 years. Assisting individuals succeed in leveraging transformative solutions, such as Alteryx, is a passion.

Kim Hands
Solutions Engineer
Alteryx

Kim has served in a variety of customer and partner enablement roles. She enjoys helping organizations unleash the power of their data through analytics and is most excited when new users see for themselves how Alteryx can transform their day-to-day data needs.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Top four barriers analysts face
Legacy analytics: multi-step, multi-tool approach
The Alteryx solution for analyst enablement
Demonstration of Alteryx solution

Business Strategy

PREVIEW OF COGNOS ANALYTICS VERSION 11

Totally New User Interface

With Cognos Analytics v11, IBM has taken self-service analytics head on. In this recorded webinar, our guest from IBM previews the new functionality including the user-friendly interface with great visualizations.

Cognos Analytics will be widely available at the end of 2015. Highlights of the changes include:

Interactive and personalized self-service reporting that provides answers without involving IT
No more multiple studios, just one clean, simple UI with intuitive functionality for reporting and dashboard needs
The added functionality of modeling on the web

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Cognos Analytics, Cognos BI

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO)

PRESENTER

Jim Youldassis
Business Analytics Portfolio Architect
IBM

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Cognos Analytics Portal – Welcome Screen

Easy access to samples
Coach marks to guide users

Navigation Revamp

New sliding panels for each section
Helps to retain current context
Allows easy navigation with minimal complexity

Content Management

Manage content in wide view
Create folder, sort, copy, move and more
Properties

New Names

Search: Newly redesigned
My content: Content from my folder
Team content: Content from public Folder
Recent: List of all recently used assets

Portal Pages & Tabs
Pages

Opens in new browser tab, outside of the new UI
Cannot set them as home
Cannot create them

Tabs

Cannot be set as home
Planned to create as shortcuts for the users

Authoring

Authoring interface merges Report Studio and Cognos Workspace Advanced
- It’s the same studio under the covers
- It uses same XML report specification

Other Items

Prompts have slightly different appearance
User interface profiles not available
Templates now in template folder
- No more editing XML file to customer template palette

Query Studio & Analysis Studio

Studios still available
No changes in functionality or look
Launches in new browser tab

Existing Reports Assets

Existing reports are upgraded in “non-interactive” mode by default
Switching to “interactive mode” will remove all JavaScripts and prompt APIs
Query Studio reports -> no change
Analysis Studio reports -> no change
Saved outputs -> no change
Report Views -> no change
Report properties -> no change
- Name, descriptions, security

Cognos Workspace

Opens in a new browser tab
Fully functional (filter, toolbar actions, drill)
Can edit, create new dashboards
Cannot set as home
Removed: Do More, new report widget

Manage

Basic administrative capabilities
Targeted at the departmental admin
Simplified UI

Uploaded Files

Existing reports will continue to work
2.2 My Data Sets are no longer updateable
Re-upload your data using new upload files feature

Schedules & Subscriptions

All schedules and jobs are maintained
Users can now subscribe to reports
The report is delivered to their notification center on a schedule

Data, Metadata & Query

Framework Manager, models and packages as is
Compatible Query Engine (CQE) as is
Dynamic Query Engine (DQE) as is
Dynamic Cubes and Cube Designer as is
PowerPlay and Transformer as is

Infrastructure Changes

Gateway removed
Moving internal APIs from SOAP to REST
Life Cycle Manager will be updated and will ship later

Embeddability& Partner Apps

Viewer URL APIs should continue to work
SDK is unchanged
- Some APIs may no longer work
- New UIs are not part of the SDK
Portlets to embed content in third party portal unchanged
- SharePoint
- WebSphere

Other Changes

Event Studio – No change (opens in new browser tab)
Metric Studio – No change (opens in new browser tab)
Cognos Office Connection – No change
Drill-through definitions – No change (opens in new browser tab)
Cognos mobile native apps – Remove access to regular reports and consume Active Reports and CW only

Features

IBM COGNOS ANALYTICS VERSION 11 DISCUSSION

Whitepaper Overview of Changes and Features

Features

NEW CALCULATIONS IN TABLEAU 9

New Level of Detail and Regex() Calculations

Tips & Tricks

Cognos CAFE

Using Excel with Cognos TM1 and Cognos BI

Cognos Analysis For Excel (CAFE) is a popular way for business and financial analysts to combine enterprise information with local data in an Excel spreadsheet that can be refreshed as server information changes. In this webinar recording, we look at the capabilities of CAFE, compare them when using the tool with TM1 versus Cognos BI as a source and share useful tips and caveats along the way.

Providing demos of concepts, we cover the following topics:

Differences between using CAFE with TM1 and Cognos BI
When and why to consider using CAFE
Useful techniques and common pitfalls

If you'd like to learn more, you may be interested in taking our Cognos Analysis for Excel training course. You will learn how to combine queries of Cognos data with Excel features to create complex, presentation quality reports. It also covers customization options and sharing of CAFE content.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos BI, CAFE (Cognos Analysis for Excel), Cognos TM1

Recommended Audience

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Financial Planners, Financial Analysts, Finance Managers, Marketing Analysts

PRESENTER

Ken O’Boyle
Solution Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

What is CAFE?

Excel add-in (IBM Cognos tab/ribbon)
Provides analytical and report authoring capabilities against Cognos BI packages and TM1 cubes
Evolving as the successor to TM1 Perspectives, the legacy add-in for TM1 forms and reports
Productivity tool to streamline report writing tasks

Why use CAFE?

Excel is the most widely used reporting tool with estimates of nearly 1 billion users. Many reports will be done in Excel; CAFE can make the task more productive, reliable and accurate.
Leveraging Excel skills can broaden authoring and self-service capabilities within the organization.
Enables IT/BI groups to focus on high priority, high impact projects and delegate some report writing to business users.
Best of both worlds: Excel ease-of-use, cell-based calculations and formatting, charting, print precision combined with refreshable links to governed, system of record data.

Demonstration
CAFE Modes

Exploration – List or Crosstab (BI and TM1)
Cell-based (BI)
Flex View (TM1)

Launch CAFE

Click IBM Cognos icon
IBM Cognos panel opens to access server content

Logon

Logon to BI, TM1 or both
Functionality is based on the selected system

Exploration Overview

Works with both BI and TM1 data sources
Behaves like Analysis Studio/TM1 Cube viewer within

Excel

Limit: one exploration per worksheet/tab
Each exploration can reference a different data source within a single Excel workbook
Governed data can be combined with local, cell-level calculations, formatting and commentary
Starting point for other modes

Exploration Example

Multi-page report referencing a BI and a TM1 data source
Excel formatting, chart and commentary
Excel page setup/print functionality

Cell-based Overview

Works with BI sources only (note: TM1 can be configured as a BI source)
Data from multiple sources can be included on a single sheet
Data access implemented with Excel functions (COGNAME and COGVAL)
No IBM Cognos toolbar, limited right-mouse menu

Cell-based Example

Multiple data sources on a single sheet

Flex View Overview

Works with TM1 sources only
Ability to combine data from multiple cubes/servers on a single sheet
Views can be linked to each other to share parameters
TM1 functionality includes write back, spreading and sandboxes
Excel cell-level calculations, formatting and commentary

Flex View Example

Multiple Flex Views on a single sheet
Link context cells
Asymmetric crosstab
Excel formatting, calculations

Conclusion
CAFE Advantages

Enables IT to focus on data management and enterprise wide reporting, and delegate some report writing to business users
Improves productivity
Combines governed data with local data, calculations, formatting and commentary
Easy to reference multiple data sources in a single workbook and a single sheet in some cases
Business users can overcome technically challenging authoring by leveraging Excel skills

CAFE Advice

Train CAFE users on BI/TM1 exploration tools; experience with Excel does not eliminate the need for Cognos BI or TM1 knowledge
Develop guidelines within your organization for when to use CAFE versus Cognos BI for report development
Leverage CAFE as tool for business users to prototype and provide specifications for BI report requests
Do not use CAFE to download large data sets, there are more efficient ways to move large amounts of data to the desktop

Features

Leveraging Cognos Content in MS Office Apps

Professional Report Authoring for Dashboard and Desktop Use

Cognos Content

As an IBM Cognos licensee, you probably already own IBM Cognos for Office. This means that you can leverage dynamic content developed in Report Studio and Cognos Workspace Advanced inside your PowerPoint, Word and Excel applications, showing trusted data that can be updated with the push of a button!

In this eye-opening webinar we teach proven practices for developing reusable report artifacts that can be used in Cognos Workspace dashboards as well as within Microsoft Office applications. In this session, we review fundamental report authoring concepts and showed how to create clean and lightweight report artifacts. Following a modular approach, participants:

Learn how professional authors can develop a library of reusable content that can be assembled by business users in either Cognos Workspace or Microsoft Office
Understand the benefits and potential drawbacks of each approach
Learn how to eliminate manual updates to desktop applications each time the data changes

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Workspace, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Microsoft Office

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Albert has spent the last 15 years as a technical trainer focused on business intelligence and performance management. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos for five years. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Since 2007, Albert has acted as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director of Education for Senturus.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Bi-Modal Business Intelligence
Using Personal Data Sets in IBM Cognos

New feature to version 10.2.2, previously the External Data feature was used
Users can now create stand-alone packages based on local flat files such as Excel, CSV, TXT
Data sets are stored in a DB2 repository, making them more centrally-available and scalable
You must use DB2 for Personal Data Sets repository
The version 10.1(+) External Data feature enables similar functionality, but must be associated with an existing package
Joins to existing metadata are available, but NOT required
Local data file is always referenced by the server

From Professional Author to Information Consumer

Authors must take into consideration their target audience when developing content
- Traditional Report Viewer audience is well-covered
Things have changed with introduction of the Workspace
- Report PARTS are used as widgets
- Embedded prompts do not offer much benefit
- Superfluous layout elements such as page headers, footers and variables become irrelevant
- Workspace filtering requires common query items to reside in the report output
- Keep it generic, users can customize elements such as display types, palettes, simple calculations and filters within the Workspace
Developing content for MS Office consumption
- Objects will be embedded as images
  - Tabular objects will deliver to Excel as cell values
- Can be formatted using Office features, but things like data format, palette, should be managed by the author
- Keep it simple and clean, only relevant objects such as data containers are needed
How does it work?
- All BI licensees have rights to the MS Office add-in
- Must be installed centrally on server as well as locally on each client

Demonstration

Authoring content for an MS Office audience
Consuming content in PowerPoint
Updating personal data sets and downstream impact

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Dynamic Cubes: Set to Retire Transformer?

10.2.2 Update: Pros & Cons

With version 10.2.2, is Dynamic Cubes now ready to replace Transformer implementations? In this webinar, the business analytics experts at Senturus take an unbiased look at the pros and cons of switching. Drawing on our own experience and providing real client anecdotes, we examine:

Types of Transformer implementations that could benefit by switching to Dynamic Cubes
Pre-requisites for replacing a Transformer implementation with Dynamic Cubes
Typical pitfalls you may encounter in the process

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Cognos Transformer

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers

PRESENTER

Pedro Ining
Senior BI Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Cognos Dynamic Cubes: Set to Retire Transformer?

Typical Customer Questions
- What are Cognos Dynamic Cubes?
- Is Transformer going away?
- Should I replace Transformer with Dynamic Cubes?
- What’s the effort to replace Transformer with Dynamic Cubes?
- Will Dynamic Cubes resolve my current Transformer issues?
- Can I still use PowerPlay Studio against Dynamic Cubes?
Current Transformer Architecture
Cognos Transformer Pros
- Fairly easy to model, build, and deploy a cube
- ‘ETL’ like functionality, allows creation of cubes from a variety of data sources
  - Star schema
  - Excel and text files
  - Operational sources
- Performance
  - For properly sized cubes, performance is quite good
  - Once the cube is build, very little on-going tuning is required
- Cognos Transformer Pain Points
  - Transformer build times are too long
  - Size limitations prevent full analysis of data
    - Create separate cubes for different years
    - Transformer is a 32bit app and consequently limits the file size to 2GB
    - Various partitioning schemes are required to implement cubes with sizes > 2GB
  - Performance
    - Large cubes slow as you nest dimensions
    - Suppress ZERO is expensive for large data sets
  - Drill through to detail
    - Requires different packages and harder to configure
- Cognos BI Stack
- Dynamic Cubes: Key Architectural Differences
  - A ROLAP in-memory engine that sits on top of star-schema data warehouse
  - Does not extract all data to build a physical cube
  - Cube startup is relatively quick
  - Uses a variety of in-memory and disk caches to enable fast query retrieval
  - Not limited by the physical limitations of cube size like Transformer
  - Can query the full breadth of data warehouse facts through the use of database and in-memory aggregates
  - Aggregate aware query engine
  - Requires optimization maintenance processes in order for the cube to continually perform adequately
- Dynamic Cubes Architecture
- Dynamic Cubes Aggregate Layers
  - Load time of in-memory aggregates will depend on performance of the in-database aggregates layer
- Dynamic Cubes Development Lifestyle
- Dynamic Cubes Product Evolution
  - Dynamic Cubes was initially released in 10.2 and IBM has continually added features that may close the features gap between Dynamic Cubes and Cognos Transformer
- Dynamic Cubes Support of Transformer Features
  - Relative time support
    - Supported
    - Custom Relative Time became available in 10.2.1 FP3
    - Custom Single Period e.g. Same Month, Last Quarter
    - Custom Period-to-date e.g. Quarter-to-Date, Last Year
    - Custom N-Period Running Total e.g. Trailing Six Months, Next Year
  - Semi-Aggregate Time-State Rollups
    - FIRST, LAST are supported but cannot be optimized in-memory
  - Transformer Style Security – Suppress, Apex, Cloak
    - Can be replicated via MDX Expressions within dimension security
  - Orphan Categories
    - Not supported as this should be handled in the star schema

Dynamic Cubes Checklist

Dynamic Cubes Checklist: Data Source
- Is the data stored in a star or snow-flake schema?
  - If not, can it be ported to one
  - Use of DB Views to create a star schema are not recommended due to performance reasons
- If data is in a star schema, is there referential integrity between dimensions and facts?
  - Ignoring this check will result in erroneous totals as you drill up and down the cube
- Can the underlying database support execution of multiple queries against a star schema?
  - Reports executed against a dynamic cube may result in serial execution of multiple queries
- Are most measures Semi-Aggregate in nature?
  - Semi-Aggregate measures are not supported by in-memory aggregates. Manual optimization of in-database aggregates is required.
Dynamic Cubes Checklist: Resources
- Is there access to resources with DBA skills and privileges?
  - DBAs are a key resource in the optimal tuning of a Dynamic Cube
  - As data volumes grow and query patterns change, creation of in-database aggregates will be required
- Are the personnel developing a Dynamic Cube have advanced modeling/authoring skills?
  - Dynamic Cubes requires dimensional modeling skills as well as a good understanding of relational star schemas and SQL Queries
  - Report developers need to understand how to author reports against dimensional sources
- Is the LOB responsible for application maintenance?
  - As data volumes grow and more users write reports, a Dynamic Cubes will need to be continually optimized. This may be beyond the skill set of the LOB. Unlike Transformer, Dynamic Cubes require optimization across the full stack.
Dynamic Cubes Checklist: Change Management
- Do you rely on Cognos PowerPlay Studio?
  - PowerPlay Studio is only used for Transformer Cubes
  - Transitioning to Dynamic Cubes will require a change management strategy for shifting users to Cognos Workspace Advanced
- Do you have many Cognos Report Studio reports against Transformer cubes?
  - Each report will require conversion to the new Dynamic Cube
  - Depending on the complexity of the report and structural differences between the Transformer and Dynamic Cubes, this can take 1-3 days per report

Case Study

Summary
- Customer requested a POC of Dynamic Cubes in their environment to replace a problematic Transformer implementation
Key Current State Issues
- Transformer Cube takes 20+ hours to build for 3 years of data
- Various smaller cubes and packages were created as a workaround
- Performance using PowerPlay Studio is slow
- Fact table contains 600+ million rows and growing
- Would like to create a cube with 5 years of data for trending analysis
- Slow PowerPlay Studio Reports takes 4+ minutes to render
- Advanced complex reports are maintained by the support group
Our Findings
- This use case could benefit from the use of a Dynamic Cubes
- Transformer load time of 20+ hours goes away to a fully optimized cube load of 30 minutes
- Performance of a majority of PowerPlay studio reports went from minutes to seconds when hitting in-memory aggregates
But Need To
- Clean up star schema further to resolve RI issues
- Roadmap to optimize star schema with integer keys
- DBA Resources will need to be allocated up-front and on-going
- Continually optimize cube
- Plan for report conversion and change management from PowerPlay Studio to Cognos Workspace Advanced
- Recommend moving to 10.2.2 in order to speed up optimization via the ‘user-defined’ in-memory aggregate feature
What We Did
- Environment was 10.2.1 FP5
- Analyzed one Transformer cube
- Analyzed the Transformer data sources and validated the underlying star schema
- Modeled one Dynamic Cube against two fact tables. Based the design on how the Transformer cube was structured.
- Implemented one virtual cube that combines the two fact tables
- Optimized and validated the cube. Worked with DBAs to create in-database aggregates.
- Create 44 in-memory aggregates
- Converted one Transformer-based report to Dynamic Cubes in consultation with in-house developer
What We Determined
- Performance
  - Queries that hit in-memory aggregates were nearly instantaneous
  - Queries that did not hit in-memory aggregates but hit in-database aggregates performed slower but were still in under 10secs
  - Subsequent request of the same queries performed well due to data cache hits
  - Queries that hit the 600M row fact table performed poorly as expected
  - After creation of in-database aggregates, load time of in-memory aggregates went from 4 hours to 30 minutes
- Optimization
  - Several runs of the Dynamic Query Analyzer were required against an adequate workload log to get satisfactory in-memory aggregates
  - The new 10.2.2 ‘user-defined’ in-memory aggregates would have sped up optimization
- Data Source
  - Star schema but:
    - No surrogate keys were used
    - Dimension level keys were not unique. Some were blank and rolled up to multiple parents.
  - Later determined referential integrity between facts and certain dimensions was lacking
- Data Quality
  - Due to referential integrity issues, totals and sub-totals were not footing across various dimensions
  - Did not tie back to Transformer totals as Transformer used the ‘orphan’ category feature
- Report Conversion
  - One complex report took approximately 3 days to convert. Required export to XML and search/replace parsing.

Demo

2.2 user defined in-memory aggregates
What happens when RI goes bad

Business Strategy

Tips for Tableau Beginners

Dashboard Design with Tableau Desktop

For Tableau Beginners

Learn fundamental techniques and best practices to turn critical data into meaningful insights in a matter of hours using Tableau.

In this webinar, we demonstrate how to use Tableau to take raw data, both from the desktop as well as from a typical enterprise data warehouse, to quickly create engaging, actionable visuals.

Demonstrations highlight the following:

Connecting to various data sources (flat file and database)
Core techniques for visualizing data using the Tableau canvas
Enhancing visualizations with filters, calculations, summaries, and palette selection
Combining visualizations to construct dashboards

Learn more about what the Tableau platform and philosophy, and how self-service solutions can complement a traditional, centrally managed BI initiative.

For a free, 14-day full version trial of Tableau, click here.

PRESENTERS

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Making the Case for Data Visualization and Agile, Self-Service Business Analytics: Why It’s Important and How It’s Done
- What is Tableau?
  - Mission: “Tableau helps people see and understand their data.”
  - Software for anyone and everyone
    - Fast access to data, wherever it lives: desktop, database, cloud (liberate data)
    - Not constrained by IT (empower people)
    - Easy-to-use user experience (UX) that is designed for optimal visualization from the ground up (design for people)
Why is Data Visualization Such a Big Deal?
User Experience and Time to Decision
Why is Data Visualization Such a Big Deal?
- How do we take raw data and make it visual?
- Traditional Business Intelligence (BI) tools provide strong visualization capabilities, why don’t we just use those?
  - Go ahead! This is always going to be a critical solution, but we have to understand that the world is changing
  - The variety, volume, and velocity of data are all accelerating
  - Our time to decision window is shrinking
- Agile (or Self-Service) BI complements our traditional BI solution to address this changing requirement
Traditional BI vs. Agile (Self-Service)
- The Traditional model is based on highly-governed, centralized data sources and models that are rigid and not designed to be changed in real-time
  - There always have been, and always will be significant benefits of this model:
    - Data governance
    - Crucial business rules and logic are centrally managed, providing a single version of the truth
    - Enterprise-scale, central administration for security
    - Strengths in operational (managed) reporting
  - But what happens when:
    - You need to analyze data that is not available in the centralized data source?
    - You need to perform self-service analytics in real-time, without assistance from IT?
  - Agile BI complements this model with one that delivers information to decision makers much more quickly
Traditional BI vs. Agile (Visual/Interactive)
The Importance of an Analytical Approach
- Humans are not good with data
- We have dozens of built-in cognitive biases: http://businessinsider.com/cognitive-biases-2014-6?op=1
- The power of Visualization cannot be overstated
- Raw data from: http://fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/on_the_fly_download.aspx
- Can be turned into this: https://public.tableau.com/profile/ben.jones#!/vizhome/Railroad_Accidents/RailroadAccidents
Tips for Tableau Beginners: Demonstration of Dashboard Design with Tableau Desktop

Tips & Tricks

Installing Cognos BI 10.2.2

Tips for Successful Migration

Installing Cognos

Learn important tips in order to successfully upgrade to Cognos BI version 10.2.2. During this free webinar, our experts provide attendees with a better overall understanding of the core Cognos architecture, plus discuss common pitfalls and misconceptions.

This webinar covers:

A review of the Cognos architecture and the individual components that can be installed in a single or multi-tiered environment
The Cognos Configuration interface and what settings to modify
A review of Internet Information Services (IIS), including virtual directories, handler mappings, application pools, and setting up your webpage
A review of Cognos default security and how to set up a third party authentication provider

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Cognos Transformer, Data Warehouses

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO)

PRESENTER

Todd Schuman
Cognos Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Installation of Cognos Components

View of 10.2.2 Core Components
- Presentation / Web tier
  - IBM Cognos Gateway connection
- Application Tier
  - Custom fit to serve your organizations reporting needs
  - Dispatcher: IBM Cognos Content Manager
    - Content Manager: workhorse for the environment, content to data tier, be authenticated through third party connection
- Dispatcher: IBM Cognos Report Server
  - Report Servers: heavy lifting for running reports, connected to data sources, data marts, can access OLAP cubes here as well
- Data tier
  - Security namespace
  - IBM Cognos content store
  - Data source
  - OLAP
Component selection
- Cognos Content Database: small, standalone database that can be used to set up a demo environment. Wouldn’t recommend using in a production environment, but good for a demo environment.
New feature in 10.2.2: IBM Cognos Quick Setup
- Installs all BI components (web, app, content)
- Install and configure servlet gateway
- Installs and starts DB1 10.5 Advanced Workgroup Server Edition
- Creates Content Store database
- Sets up and configured My Dataset database to allow importing flat files
- Configures Cognos
- Starts Cognos service
Confusing “Content”
- Content Manager
  - The Cognos service that manages the storage and retrieval of report specifications, published packages, configuration data and Cognos security settings from the content store database
- Content Store
  - The set of database tables that are used by the Content Manager to store Congos application data
- Cognos Content Database
  - Self-contained Apache Derby database server – can be used to host the content store database in demo environments when an enterprise DMBS is unavailable
- Load Balancing
  - Cognos load balancing performed by the Dispatchers, not the Gateway
  - The gateway always sens its requests to a single dispatcher URI – we would call this the gateway’s “current” target dispatcher
  - Web server gateway > IBM Cognos BI servier with dispatch (will go to next one if first one fails)
- 64-bit vs. 32-bit
  - 64-but Report Server includes both the 64-bit and 32-bit report server
  - Gateway now defaults to 64-bit, no need for CopyGateMod.bat
  - 64-bit = Dynamic Query Mode (DQM)
  - Recommend installing 64-bit BI Server to access both report types

Configuring Servers

Setting up your environment
- Depending on how you set it up, if you’re doing a tiered environment, you’ll see different options available.
- Use fully qualified domain names for servers (recommended)
  - Gateway URI
    - Webserver (ISS, Apache)
    - Local host vs. Fully Qualified Domain name
    - CGI or ISAPI
    - Ports
  - Dispatcher URI
    - Used by the gateway to send requests to Cognos
    - First in list is default dispatcher
    - Will move to second if first is not available
  - External Dispatcher
    - Identifies dispatcher to other external dispatchers in same installation
  - Internal Dispatcher
    - Always set to the same as external
    - Exception: SSL
  - Dispatcher URI for external applications
    - How Framework Manager, Dynamic Query Analyzer connect to Cognos
    - Always set to the same as external dispatcher
    - Exception: Load Balancer (third party)
  - Content Manager URIs
    - Used by dispatcher and services to send requests for content manager(s)
    - Add servers where you installed the Cognos Content Manager component
Setting up Content Store and Audit Databases
- Must delete existing value to change type
- Right click to access menu (delete / test)
- Create database ahead of time
- New databases for each Cognos version
- Use Cognos version in database names (e.g. c1022_content)
- Test and ensure able to connect
Setup Security
- Add Active Directory or LDAP
- Access Manager support ending soon
- Validate/ test connection
Disable Anonymous
- First Run: Leave Anonymous = True
- Define System Admins from new AD / LDAP
- Remove “Everyone” from System Admin
- Set Anonymous = False
- Restart Cognos

Setting Up Server

Application Pools
- Cognos strongly recommends creating a new application pool dedicated to Cognos, instead of using default application pool
- Name: Specify version for future upgrades
- .NET Framework: 2.0 = default, 4.0 supported since 10.2.1
- Managed Pipeline: Integrated
- Start application pool immediately if running 64-bit
Virtual Directories / Applications
- Tell server where Cognos is installed and how to run it
- Alias your website
  - [ComputerName][Alias]
  - IBM Cognos, Cognos1022, etc.
- Map Path
  - [Install Directory]webcontent
- Add as Application
- Alias = cgi-bin [required]
- Application Pool = Pool from Previous Slide
- Path = [Install Directory]
ISAPI vs. CGI
- Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
- cgi set as default
- CGI modules spawn a new worked process for each session, which makes them unsuitable for high load production environments
Internet Server Application
- Best practices recommend CognosISAPI.dll
- ISAPI provides better performance and resource allocation in high load production environments
- Requires additional steps and modifications
ISAPI and CGI Restrictions
- Set ISAPI and CGI Restrictions at Top Level
- Path: [Install Path]cgi-bincognosisapi.dll
- Ensure “Allow extension path to execute” is checked
Handler Mappings
- Add Handler Mappings at cgi-bin level
- Request Path: cognosisapi.dll
- Module: ISAPIModule
- Executable: [install path]cgi-bincognosisapi.dll
- Name: CognosISAPI
Modify HTML and Web.Conf Files
- HTML files
  - Navigate to [Cognos Install Dir]webcontent
  - Edit default.htm and index.htm files
  - Changes cognos.cgi to cognosisapi.dll
- Config
  - Navigate to [Cognos Install Dir]cgi-bin
  - Edit web.config
  - Add allPathInfo=”true” after

Common Pitfalls

Where is the Software?
Cognos Service Accounts
- Add Cognos service account to Local Administrator group
- Ensure Cognos service account is confused to run Cognos Service
Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
- Installed on almost all servers, intended to stop malicious code from running
- Right click My Computer
- Select System Properties
- Advanced Tab
- Performance Options Button
- Data Execution Prevention tab
- Simple approach: Essential Windows programs and services only
- Advanced approach: add individual exceptions for Cognos
Database Connections
- Incompatible Collation Sequence
  - The Cognos Content Store requires a case-insensitive collation sequence.
    - SQL Server: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
    - Oracle: AL32UTF8
  - Oracle: Incorrect JDBC Driver File for Content Manager
    - The correct JDBC drive must be copied from the Oracle client installation location to.. /webapps/p2pd/WEB-INF/lib
  - Dynamic Query Mode: Spaces in the path to the JDBC Drives
    - DQM cannot handle spaces in the path to the JDBC drivers
    - Use non spaced paths such as “C:IBMCongos..”instead
Incorrect Bitness of Database Client Software
- For Compatible Query Mode (CQM), access to 3rd party data sources, 64-bit Cognos still requires 32-bit client libraries
  - Oracle: Install 32-bit client libraries when running Cognos on 64-bit server
  - SQL Server: 64-bit native client includes 32 and 64-bit libraries
IIS Role Services
- Server Manager
- IIS
- Add Roles Services
- Ensure the following are installed:
  - ISAPI Extensions
  - Windows Authentication

Tips & Tricks

The Microsoft Modern Data Warehouse

Must-Have Capabilities a DW Needs to Fit Modern BI and Analytics

Features

Demystifying In-Memory Technologies

Best Uses and Competitive Advantages for the Enterprise

With technology advances and an increasingly attractive price-performance, in-memory technologies have proliferated from their early days to take center stage on buzzword bingo cards. You may be wondering, what is in-memory, and what can it be used for, particularly for the enterprise?

In this webinar, we address these questions and more, as we discuss the origins and history of in-memory technologies with a review of high-level architectures. We also dive into several primary applications and use cases, including transactional, operational, and analytical, and examine the different ways this technology may benefit the enterprise by providing a competitive advantage.

PRESENTER

Michael Weinhauer
Practice Area Director and Solutions Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Current Challenges

Setting the Stage
- Can the speed at which your current reports run best be described asglacial?
- Are the number and type of data sources in your organization best being described asexploding?
Current Challenges: Data Explosion
- Volume
  - In 2005, mankind created 150 Exabytes of information. In 2011, 1,200 Exabytes will be created (The Economist)
- Velocity
  - Worldwide digital content will double in 18 months, and every 18 months thereafter (IDC)
- Variety
  - 80% of enterprise data will be unstructured spanning traditional and non traditional sources (Gartner)
Setting the Stage
- Is the speed of your business processes best communicated using geologic time?
- Do changes and additions to your EDW require superhuman effort?
- Are the demands for real-time information in your enterprise skyrocketing?
Time Value of Information
- Varies greatly but time is decreasing and value is potentially unlimited in some cases
- Latency occurs between data collection, analysis, and decision points
- There are three dimensions of latency on the continuum between when an event occurs and when an informed action is taken: data latency, analysis latency, and decision/action latency
  - Data latency is the time it takes to collect raw data, prepare it for analysis, and store it where it can be accessed and analyzed. Important functionality here includes data profiling, extraction, validation, cleansing, integration, transformation, delivery, and loading. There are a wide variety of tools and products that address one or more of these aspects of data latency. These tools fall into several categories, including extract, transform, and load (ETL); data replication; enterprise application integration (EAI); enterprise information integration (EII); master data management (MDM); and others. The destination platform of the data is typically a data warehouse or data mart.
  - Analysis latency is the time it takes to access the data, analyze the data, turn the data into information, apply business/exception rules, and generate alerts if appropriate. Analysis may be done by a user or an application.
  - Decision latency is the time it takes to receive an alert, review the analysis, decide what action is required, if any, based on knowledge of the business, and take action.
Setting the Stage
- Have you dreamt of brilliant new ideas that would catapult your company light years ahead of the competition, but can’t suggest them because you’ll sound crazy?
The Problem with Hard Drives: Latency = SLOW
- 10ms for spinning physical disk I/O
- .2ms for SSD (50x faster)
- .0001ms for RAM (2000x faster than SSD, 100,000x faster than physical disk)
Server Technology State in 1995
- Existing systems were created using the optimal architecture at the time
- RAM: small and expensive
- CPU: smaller, single-core, non hyper-threaded, no cache
- HDD: smaller, slower
- Slower LAN/WAN
- Addressable memory (16-bit/32-bit)
- In 1995, 16-bit applications were still the norm
Currently Implemented Technology State
- RAM: larger, still relatively small, 64-128GB
- CPU: quad-core, hyper-threaded
- HDD: faster, some SSD
- Clustering: 4-8 node
- LAN/WAN: gigabit Ethernet, Optical OC-48
- 32-bit Applications, some 64-bit
Current Available Technology State
- RAM: 12TB, NVRAM
- CPU: 16 sockets, multi-core, MPP
- HDD: high capacity SSD
- Clustering: infinite nodes
- LAN/WAN: 100 gigabit Ethernet, Optical OC-96
- 64-bit Applications
Trends: Logarithmic Drops in Cost and Increase in Capacity
High End Server Configurations

What is In-Memory?

In-Memory Defined
Traditional Architecture
So Why Don’t I Just Get a Box with a Bunch of RAM?
In-Memory Architecture
Types of In-Memory
- TM1
  - Cube engine resides in memory, early 64-bit application
  - Duplicates data from source
  - Highly indexed bitmapped array, i.e. not columnar
- Dynamic Cubes
  - In-memory ROLAP engine, sits on top of RDBMS (DB2)
  - Replicates data from source
- Qlik, Spotfire, Tableau
  - In-memory, columnar stores, replicate data
- DB2 BLU, Oracle 12c, MSFT
  - Accelerator
  - Duplicates data into separate store to improve performance
  - RDBMS instance lives in-memory
  - Extend existing RDBMS skills and technology
- Exalytics, PureData, Teradata
  - Appliance optimized for analytics
  - Combines in-memory with SSD
  - Built-in intelligence for optimizing in-memory
- SAP Hanna
  - Appliance-like
  - Completely in-memory (OS, Engines, Data)
  - SSD for log files
  - Engines exist natively on the same instance

Use Cases: In-Memory Technology

Transactional/Operational
- Simplify and optimize business processes
  - Batch-oriented or process-intensive areas like MRP
- New business processes
  - Real-time re-pricing
  - Real-time offers
- Embed operational reporting into transaction processing
  - Order fulfillment
- Eliminate/minimize need for ETL
Landscape Simplification
- Eliminate redundant data and hardware
- Less power, cooling, floor space, manpower, maintenance
- Easier H/W upgrades
- Less/simpler ETL
- Bring the engine(s) to the data
Analytical
- Agile Analytics
- Real-time
- Sentiment Analysis
- Ads
- Re-pricing
- Complex Event Processing of Streaming Sensor Data
- Predictive/Prescriptive
- Fraud Detection
- Machine Learning
- Geospatial
- Text Analysis
- Image/Video
Simplifying the Stack = Speed and Agility
- A key advantage of running in-memory and having HW acceleration is that you no longer need data marts, aggregates and indices.
- You can create logical representations of these in memory using views because you are running 1 million times faster than disk.
- Also, because you are using columnar technology, you see 2.5x -5x or more compression. This compresses the size of your DW.
- This is important because it significantly reduces the total amount of data that requires managing.
- In some cases, where the engine is embedded in the server, as in the appliance case, you can eliminate another layer.
- Finally, we reduce latency by enabling real-time replication of information into super fast analytical appliance. You don’t need an operational data store anymore.
Operations and Analytics Together
- Use a single environment for both analytics and applications
Proof Point: Step-by-Step Process Today: Demand Forecasting (APO-DP Variant)
How Processes Change with In-Memory: Demand Forecasting (APO-DP Variant)
Success Stories
- MKI: sequences DNA from biopsies, delivers targeted treatment regimen in 20 minutes, down from 2-3 days
- Citi – Foreign Exchange: 100ms delay costs $1m
- Google: half second delay in search results in 20% traffic drop = lost revenue

Implications, Considerations, Predictions, Musings

Time Value of Information
- We mentioned earlier that the value of information declines rapidly over time. This is true, until you need it again- for an audit, or historical analysis – whatever the reason. Because of the cost of in-memory, you will likely want to segment your data to keep only the most used data in memory, while placing other data in more cost-effective stores.
Data Temperature
- Transparent query processing
- Cross-store optimizer
- Data for immediate use (daily, hourly etc. reporting) direct from source/stream
- Pareto principle: 20% of data falls into this category
- High potential candidate for in-memory or flash/SSD
- Data for immediate use: daily, hourly etc. reporting
- 20% of data falls into this category
- Good candidate for columnar store
- Infrequently used data
- Archive storage
- Good candidate for Hadoop, traditional RDBMS, tape or other offline
Data Temperature Analysis: Example
- Captured by analysis of database statistics
- Can also be captured via audit reports from BI tools
- Business impact analysis
Not All Technologies are Created Equal
- Who is how columnar?
- Comparison of Vendor/Product and Columnar Maturity
  - Teradata Database: 2
  - Oracle Exadata: 1
  - SAP HANA: 3
  - Pivotal Greenplum/HAWQ: 2
  - IBM DB2 BLU: 3
  - Microsoft SQL Server xVelocity: 2
  - HP Vertica: 3
  - Actian Paraccel: 3
  - IBM Netezza: n/a
  - SAP Sybase: IQ, 3
  - Infobright: 1
  - Vectorwise: 1+
  - Columnar Maturity Key
    - Level 1 Columnar: Uses PAX to achieve columnar compression. No columnar projection provided. No columnar engine provided. Approximate 4X performance advantage over row store for read queries (10X column compression versus 2.5X row compression).
    - Level 2 Columnar: Uses columnar compression and projection. No columnar engine provided. Approximate 10X advantage over Level 1 read queries (10% of the columns are selected).
    - Level 3 Columnar: Uses columnar compression and projection… and includes a columnar engine that optimizes processing. Approximate 50X advantage over Level 2 read queries (Vector processing – 20X, SIMD – 8X, Fewer CPU Stalls – 2X, Cache Utilization – 10X, in-memory compression + projection 20X in differing combinations for each query)
- Who is how parallel?
Cost Considerations & Comparisons
- SAP HANA
- Microsoft SQL
- Oracle TimesTen
- IBM DB2 BLUE
- Teradata
- Tableau
- Qlik
- Spotfire
- TM1
- Dynamic Cubes
- Hadoop
Implications, Predictions, Considerations, Musings
- For the right business problem, in-memory can truly be a game changer
  - New competitive differentiation through the implementation of new/better business processes
  - Real-time applications combining analytics and transactional at the point of impact
- In-memory technology is now mainstream and proven, and will move increasingly to de facto status
- As with any technology, the business value and use case should drive the adoption of a specific technology
- While expensive, given competition and simultaneous growth in capacity and precipitous price drops, in-memory technology will become increasingly attractive for a growing number of use cases
- In-memory is so fast - don't POC for incremental speed - we're talking orders of magnitude
- Mobile/social data can be processed fast enough in-memory then be persisted as needed
Senturus Recommendations
- While powerful, in-memory will add the most benefit to properly architected applications
- Can be expensive enablers of bad habits otherwise
- Use the right tool for the right job
- Don’t just speed up bad decisions or accelerate faulty processes

Business Strategy

Transitioning to Cognos Workspace Advanced

Migrating from Query & Analysis Studio

IBM has recently announced that both Query Studio and Analysis Studio will be deprecated after the Cognos 10.2.2 release. With this announcement, it is important to plan an eventual migration away from Query and Analysis studio usage, as Cognos Workspace Advanced will serve as the new environment for future ad-hoc queries or analysis type capabilities.

This webinar provides an overview of the Cognos Workspace Advanced user interface and capabilities against both relational and dimensional data source. In addition, we compare and contrast Workspace Advanced against Query and Analysis Studio, including a review of any current functionality gaps.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Query Studio, Cognos Analysis Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Managers

PRESENTER

Pedro Ining
Senior BI Architect
Senturus, Inc.

Pedro brings over 20 years of business intelligence experience to his engaging and informative presentations.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Have you migrated from Query Studio and Analysis Studio to Cognos Workspace Advanced?

We have already migrated
Not yet, but we have a plan in place to migrate
We do not have a migration plan

IBM Deprecation of Query Studio & Analysis Studio

10.2.2 will be the last release to include Analysis & Query Studio
Subsequent releases will NOT INCLUDE Analysis & Query Studio
Query & Analysis Studio will be supported until Oct 2018, you can pay for an additional 3 years of support beyond 2018
Subsequent Cognos releases will bridge current gaps between Cognos Workspace Advanced and Query/Analysis Studio

What about existing QS & AS Reports?

Query Studio

Existing Query Studio reports will be able to run from the portal and editable in CWA

Analysis Studio

IBM is not intending that users edit existing analysis reports in Cognos Workspace Advanced
Users will be able to run all existing Analysis Studio assets from the portal and create new analyses as required

Migration Options

Individual Query Studio report migration

Open each QS report in CWA and perform a Save As

What if our users have hundreds of QS and AS reports?

Motio is a company that specializes in Cognos Administration tools
Motiowill be adding functionality to its PI product that will allow for batch updates

How Cognos Thought It Should Work...

Cognos 10 Going Forward

Cognos Workspace Advanced Overview

Web-based tool to author reports and perform ad-hoc analysis
Formerly called Business Insight Advanced in 10.0/10.1
A bridge between the older Cognos 8 Query/Analysis Studios and Report Studio

Capabilities

Can be used against either relational or dimensional data source
New to 10.2.1 can be used with external data sources: e.g. CSV files. 10.2.2 enhances this feature with My Datasets
One place for all reporting (OLAP, Relational)
Presents data as Lists, Crosstabs, or Charts
Integration with Cognos Workspace
Compatibility with Report Studio
Basically a Report Studio light

Why Should We Move to Workspace Advanced?

Single Interface for Ad-Hoc Query and Data Exploration

Single tool for the job eliminates confusion over multiple studios
Training is consolidated on to one tool
Intuitive drag-and-drop interface, see data as you author

More functionality than Query and Analysis Studio

Leverage multiple queries and objects, more flexibility with charts and lists/crosstabs, improved formatting and layouts
Empowers users to create more complex professional looking reports without the complexity of Report Studio, bridges the gap

Integration with Cognos Workspace

Perform in-context analysis directly from Workspace without needing to jump to another studio and start from scratch

Integration with Report Studio

Start with CWA to create a simple report that can be further enhanced by professional report developers in Report Studio
Query & Analysis Studio will be gone in subsequent releases

Comparison Chart with Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Workspace Advanced

User Interface

The user interface exposes the most commonly used controls needed for reports including business view of data, object formatting, and properties

Cognos Workspace Advanced Report Types

List report objects used to show detailed information from data source
Crosstab report objects used to show data in a more summarized compact form: e.g. total sales by product line by sales reps
Chart report objects used to show information graphically, various chart types are supported
RAVE visualizations
Report Studio Maps and Active Reports cannot be created in Cognos Workspace Advanced

Enhanced Filtering

Standard filtering
User customizable filters bring values from Excel

Copy Report Data to Excel

CWA report data can be copied directly into Excel

Cognos Workspace Integration

From within Cognos Workspace, you edit report widgets by choosing the Do More option
The widget is opened with Cognos Workspace Advanced where the report widget can be edited
Once saved, the changes are reflected in Cognos Workspace

Current Gaps Between Query & Analysis Studio

Query Studio to CWA Gaps – CWA has most of the capabilities of Query Studio – IBM is intending to fix the following gaps in the next release:

Page header special text (filter, sort and suppression text)
Templates with page header, footer, and special text support
Filter attributes on lists
Drill through from Cognos Workspace Advanced
Filter on group summaries
Number of days filter
Aggregate options: Ranking Median, Standard Deviation, Variance, Count Distinct, Calculated, and None in Calculation dialog.
Filter on custom groups
Framework Manager prompt information properties

CWA has most of the capabilities of Analysis Studio – IBM is intending to fix the following gaps in the next release:

Independent drill with nested or stacked edge items
Move replaced edge items to the context bar to retain current context
Many arithmetic functions such as rank()
Page header special text (Data Source Name or PowerCube Build Date)

IBM has worked with customers and determined the following gaps are NOT critical and will not be addressed in the next release:

More subtitle in/excluded
Linked chart and crosstab
Switch between chart and crosstab
Show attributes

IBM has stated the existing Analysis Studio reports will NOT be editable in Cognos Workspace Advanced. Existing Analysis Studio reports will be able to run from the portal. New analyses will be created in CWA as required.

Poll Question

Do you consider Cognos Workspace Advanced a viable alternative to Query Studio and Analysis Studio for your organization?
- Yes
- No
- Unsure
- Only after future enhancements to Cognos Workspace Advanced

Features

Tips for Intermediate Cognos Report Studio Authors

Demos of Techniques, Tips and Tricks

Chock full of tip-and-trick demonstrations, this webinar helps boost productivity and makes reports more dynamic. Continuing our Beginning Cognos Report Studio Author webinar series, this session is ideal for users with a grasp of the Cognos platform and report building basics. Albert Valdez, Vice President of Learning Solutions at Senturus, provides a number of demonstrations using the Cognos BI version 10.2.2.* Covered are intermediate fundamentals such as:

Dynamically filtering report data based on the user running the report
Using report bursting to enable dynamic report delivery based on report groupings
Using report references to quickly consolidate individual reports into a single master report
Creating dual-axis charts, assigning default parameter values and using layout component references

*Techniques shown are applicable to all versions of Cognos BI.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Active Report

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, IT Managers, IT / BI Executives (CTO), Business Executives (CEO), Financial Analysts, Marketing Analysts, Marketing Managers / Directors

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Poll Question

How many years have you been doing development work with Cognos Report Studio?
- < 1 year
- 1-3 years
- 4-6 years
- > 6 years

Business Analytics and Professional Authoring

Report Studio is a professional authoring tool that leverages a metadata package, allowing us to create reports
Metadata is produced using IBM Cognos Framework Manager and is based on one or more physical data sources
A well-designed architecture makes authoring more effective and less labor-intensive
- Less data manipulation
- Easier to identify and understand – better query performance
- More stable and reliable results

Good Data Architecture = More Effective Reporting

Tips & Tricks

USING TABLEAU TO GAIN ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS

Overview & Demonstration of Visualization Software

Executive managers and analysts are frequently turning to Tableau to get to actionable insights stored in their business intelligence environments. In many companies, Tableau is complementing existing business intelligence tools, such as those from IBM Cognos, SAP Business Objects, Oracle and Microsoft.

In this webinar, “Tableau Zen Master” Chuck Hooper highlights the ease of use of this software for interactive data visualization and analysis.

We build an actual dashboard, and also demonstrate how this applies across multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, education, and banking.

For a free, 14-day full version trial of Tableau, click here.

PRESENTER

Chuck Hooper
Business Intelligence Consultant

Chuck Hooper is the former head of Tableau's consulting organization. He is one of the few individuals officially designated as a “Tableau Zen Master,” and has received this recognition for the past three years, since Tableau first started bestowing this honor.

He conducts training sessions on the use of Tableau Software products and does speaking engagements on visual analytics, data warehouse design, and other business intelligence topics, at both the technical and executive levels. His career includes over five decades of business and IT experience.

WEBINAR DEMONSTRATIONS: OUTLINE

Ease of Use Demo

Tableau does automatic intelligent analysis of data files brought into the dashboard
- Example: Connect to Excel file on desktop and bring data into Tableau
Dimensions are where Tableau categorizes and places things that are used to analyze the data (i.e. the way data is categorized)
Measures are where Tableau puts numeric values associated with the data (i.e. areas that might require or warrant calculations)
Simply double-click or drag and drop on dimensions and measures to bring into worksheets in dashboard, including the main shelf, side shelf, top shelf options (no need to even touch the keyboard for these purposes)
Change data views including chart type, color coding, values, dates, etc. with simple clicks on various fields
Create multiple sheets with different types of data charts within the same dashboard
Creating a bar chart
- View multiple dimensions and values such as sales, profit, and product views by region, and differentiate by:
  - Length of bar (sales)
  - Color of bar (profit)
  - Number of rows (region)
  - Number of columns (product category)
  - Thickness of bar (shipping dollars)
- Change from sum to average by simply clicking on field and choosing alternate view
Creating a scatter plot chart
- Tableau will automatically select and suggest the best way to view the data (in terms of chart type) based on the measures and dimensions selected
- View multiple dimensions and values such as sales, profit, and product views by region, and differentiate by:
  - Scatter plot axis (profit)
  - Color (difference in regions)
    - Note: Tableau also has a “color blind” palette built in as an option
  - Filter shelf (ship date)
  - Shape shelf (product categories)
- Lasso data points, right click to view underlying data
Creating a map chart
- Tableau automatically recognizes geographic dimensions (such as state and province) from your original data document, and generates latitude and longitude measures
- Alter color and size of data mark to view and differentiate between different measures, such as sales and profit
- Map options include adding view of per capita income per state; lots of demographic variables are included as part of the Tableau
Creating a date chart
- Look at multiple years, by quarter, or drill down to monthly views of data, and add color variances for better visibility
Multiple charts (sheets) in one interactive dashboard view
- Making one chart a driver for other charts
- Choosing a measure or dimension on the driver chart will automatically change and align the data view on all the other charts associated within the same dashboard
Publish workbook to Tableau hosted online server (note, must extract data first)

More Advanced Capabilities Demo

Tableau has a direct interface connection to R, a free statistical package open source
- Multi-variant outlier package (there are 7,000+ packages to choose from with R)
- Add color coding to each one of the outliers
Tableau can also create trellis charts, as well as gauges, waterfall, and spider charts
When you hover over any mark in Tableau, you get tool tips
Tableau forecasting is also built in with multiple editing options in terms of forecast length, etc.
Map ranges and masks
Drop down view list eliminates need for tabs to change views
Big Data Wine example
- Looking at multiple dimensions and measure (such as brand, flavor, dollars spent) all executable in sub-second response time
- Not aggregated data; looking at a lot of detailed rows of data
- Sub-second response time is coming from a Tableau data extract on notebook computer with over 1 billion rows of data

Industry Examples Demo

Banking
- Wanted to understand why customers were leaving the bank and pulling their accounts
- Industry database outlines various reasons people leave
- Local bank data comes from SQL server
- National average comes from Excel database
- Calculations done taking data from both; two different databases on one chart
Healthcare
- Blood supply for last 30 days
- Three types of product: red-blood cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma
- Blue reflects where transfusion was medically indicated, red reflects where it was not medically indicated
- Why would a doctor prescribe it if not indicated?
- Click into red data to see further details (who is prescribing it, cost per unit, etc.)
Education
- Masters program, number and percent of students studying abroad
- Sort by region via drop down options
Manufacturing
- Manufacturing score card: KPIs performance versus target by retailer
  - Yellow is neutral/ok, red is bad, green is good
  - Executive dashboard that satisfies the needs of many users
  - Simple clicks to gray out the data you don’t want to view, and drill down to data that matters
- Speed to shelf chart
  - How many days between authorizing order to time it sold, time product actually hits the shelf to seeing first sales record, etc.
- Price elasticity models
  - If I raise the price of one of my products, how does it impact the sales of my other products?

Features

Is Hadoop the Demise of Data Warehousing?

The Impact of Hadoop/Big Data on BI and Data Warehousing

Business Strategy

Introducing Microsoft BI Tools

Microsoft BI Tools and the Key Workloads They Best Support

Features

Hadoop and the Future of SQL

Using BI Tools with Big Data

Business Strategy

IBM Cognos Reporting Tools Feature Set Comparison

How Are Reporting Tools Different?

Features

Top 10 Trends in Business Intelligence for 2015

Looking Ahead at the State of Analytics

Business Strategy

Tableau 9.0 New Features

Overview of Business Intelligence Data Analysis Suite

Features

Tips for Beginning Cognos Report Studio Authors

Live Demos of Techniques

Beginning Cognos Report Studio Authors

Learn the fundamentals of professional report authoring with IBM Cognos Report Studio. This webinar is perfect for those just getting started with the platform, or for colleagues new to the team who need to get up to speed on building reports for your organization.

Albert Valdez, Vice President of Learning Solutions for Senturus, provides a number of live demonstrations using the latest Cognos version 10.2.2*:

How to use templates and predefined data items to build various types of reports
Working with the layout framework in Report Studio to create freeform reports
Building user-friendly reports with interactive prompts and drill-through reports

*Techniques shown are applicable to all versions of Cognos BI.

Technologies Covered

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Active Report

Recommended Audience

Presenter

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

What is IBM Cognos Report Studio?

Browser-based Professional Authoring Tool
Supports Sophisticated Report Design
- Advanced Layouts (Dashboard-style Reports)
- Interactive Reports (Sophisticated Prompting and Drill-Through)
Supports Advanced Data Manipulation
- Full Access to Common, Database, Macro, and Dimensional Functions
- Advanced Query Design (Joins, Sets, Query References)
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
- Drag-and-drop Graphical User Interface
- The base of most reports is usually pretty straight forward.
What Resources are Available?
- IBM Documentation and other resources at IBM.com
  - Hint: Search for Cognos Proven Practices
- Senturus.com and Other Third Party Sites
  - www.senturus.com/recorded-webinars.php
  - YouTube
  - IT Toolbox (www.ittoolbox.com)
  - Cognoise.com
- Tailored Learning Solutions

Live Demonstration of Fundamental Report Authoring Techniques

Buidling a report with prompts
Creating a job/scheduling reports
Report bursting
Detail filter expressions
Use templates and predefined data items
Create reports with freeform layout.
Build user-friendly reports with interactive prompts and drill-through
Rapidly Adaptive Visualization Engine (RAVE)
- Currently only available for Active Reports.
- The RAVE technology is not based upon pre-defined chart types, but rather on a visualization language(vis JSON). It uses the Grammar of Graphics approach to describe and define new visualizations.
- New visualizations are available through a simple download from the new Extensible Visualization Community on IBM AnalyticsZone.
  - Report authors can browse through a continually increasing range of visualization options in the community.
  - Cognos Administrators download visualization files from the community.
- Extensible visualizations that have been uploaded into the BI system will appear as new visualization types in Report Studio.
- Using an extensible visualization in an Active Report provides a number of advantages over the existing static charts that are used today.
  - Data can be filtered and/or selected based on actions that the user does in the Active Report.
  - Animation from filtering the data in the visualization using a variety of transition effects provides a visual cue to the user of the change that occurred.
- Extensible visualizations in Active Reports does not replace the existing static charts that are in use today.
  - Both can be used in an Active Report.
Active Reports Target Audience
- Executives
  - Easy-to-use high level information while in the office or remote.
- Remote Professionals
  - Access to critical business information while on the road.
- Internal Consumers
  - Where responsiveness is inconsistent or slow, Active Reports can serve as interactive Dashboards and as drill-through sources to additional information.
IBM Cognos Active Report Authoring
- What skills are required to create Active Reports?
  - Experienced Professional Report Authors
- Leverages the same Report Studio authoring interface.
  - However, also requires new skills to leverage new features.
- Significant, compelling new interactive controls available in Active Reports that are NOT possible with standard reports.
- Awesome Resource: Active Reports Cookbook
  - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/cognos/reporting/active_report/page593.html
IBM Cognos Active Reports For Mobile Consumers
- Active Reports are an effective way to deliver content to Mobile users.
  - The Active Reports can reside on the device for disconnected access.
  - New Active Report controls in Report Studio are designed specifically for iPad interface (Iterator controls support “swipe” gestures).

Demonstrate New Visualization Capabilities for Active Reports: The 10.2.2 RAVE Engine

Business Analytics and Professional Authoring
- Report Studio is a professional authoring tool that leverages a metadata package, allowing us to create reports.
- Metadata is produced using IBM Cognos Framework Manager, and is based on one or more physical data sources.
- A well-designed architecture makes authoring more effective and less labor-intensive.
  - Less data manipulation.
  - Easier to identify and understand.
  - Better query performance.
  - More stable and reliable results.
Good Data Architecture = More Effective Reporting
Business Process Dimensional Model – Example
- Orders Fact
  - Customer Dimension
  - Product Dimension
  - Territory Dimension
  - Date Dimension

Cognos Training Options: Senturus Education Solutions

Cognos Training Options
- We offer 20 live instructor-led online Cognos training.
- Senturus offers private training that can be tailored to your needs.

Tips & Tricks

Using TM1 Cubes with Cognos BI

Three Tips for TM1 Cube Design

TM1 Cubes

TM1 can be a high performance dimensional data source for Cognos BI. Learn more about how these two product suites can work together to improve the BI report building process in this webinar, as we share examples of key TM1 capabilities.

Featured demonstrationsusing the latest Cognos BI and TM1 versions (10.2.2) cover the following topics:

Reporting examples from a TM1 cube source
How TM1 cube design choices impact reporting capabilities
Including text formatted cells in a BI report

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM COGNOS BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos TM1

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers, Financial Analysts, Finance Managers, Marketing Analysts

PRESENTER

Ken O’Boyle
Solution Architect
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview: Why Use TM1 with Cognos BI?

For BI Users: Reasons to Use TM1 as a Data Source
- Faster cycles from input/data load to content delivery
- Reduced ETL processes
- Reporting and analysis directly against an application
- Streamlined inclusion of planning information within the enterprise reporting platform
For TM1 Users: Reasons to Use Cognos BI
- Enterprise-scale, web-based reporting platform
- Broaden the audience for TM1 content
- Reduce dependence on Excel
Common BI Architecture Including Planning Information
Streamlined BI Architecture with TM1
Key Points
- The BI Package for a TM1 cube has a similar look and capabilities as other OLAP/DMR sources
- Common requirements can be delivered with TM1
  - Balanced and Unbalanced Hierarchies
  - Alternate Hierarchies
  - Dimension Attributes
  - Relative Time
- TM1 Dimension and Cube design impacts BI capabilities
- TM1 allows you to store text values in an OLAP source

TM1 Reports: Examples

TM1 Reports: Package Example
- TM1 Package Characteristics
  - Package is a reference to one or more TM1 Cubes
  - Displayed the same as other OLAP/DMR sources
  - Measures Dimension is specified in TM1 cube design
TM1 Reports: Hierarchies
- Balanced vs. Unbalanced
  - Balanced: Example = Product
    - Named levels listed accurately and consistently
    - Attributes available within each level
  - Unbalanced: Example = Organization
    - Level based reporting is problematic
    - Attributes available across the entire hierarchy
TM1 Reports: Alternate Hierarchies
- Example: Promotion_Alt_Hiers Dimension
  - Use Case: Marketing Promotions
  - Two hierarchies each with a with a distinct root element
  - Each leaf-level element rolls up to two parent elements
  - Rollups by Bundle Group and Campaign
TM1 Reports: Relative Time
- Time Dimension Characteristics
  - Relative time elements can be constructed (in TM1 10.2.2, they can also be generated)
  - Implemented as alternate hierarchies
TM1 Reports: Example 1 – Crosstab with Nested Level and Attribute
- Product Sales by Year Report Design
  - Product Level is nested to the right of Product Type
  - Color attribute is included for each Product
TM1 Reports: Example 2 – Crosstab with Relative Time
- Product Sales Comparison Report Design
  - Columns are defined relative to the current time period
TM1 Reports: Example 3 – Crosstab with Separate Year and Month Dimensions
- Product Sales Year-over-Year Comparison Report Design
  - Month/ quarter can be nested with year
  - Not limited to current/relative time periods

TM1 Cube Design Options: Dimensions, Hierarchies and Attributes

TM1 Design: Hierarchies
- Balanced vs. Unbalanced
- Balanced
  - All leaf-elements are the same distance from the root element
- Unbalanced
  - Distance from root element varies for leaf-level elements
TM1 Design: Alternate Hierarchies
- Dimension Design for Alternate Hierarchies
  - Elements are assigned to more than one parent
  - Level names are not hierarchy specific
  - Care must be taken to avoid in the design and reporting to avoid double counts
TM1 Design: Named Levels
- Level Attribute
  - System-generated attribute
  - Defaults Level 1 ... Level n (top down)
  - Defaults are ignored in BI
  - Editing the Level for one element updates all peers
  - Named Levels provide additional capabilities in BI
- TM1 Design: Attributes
- Attribute Characteristics
  - Attribute Types: Alias, Text, Numeric
  - One Alias attribute for each dimension can be set as the default display name in the BI package
  - Populate at any or all levels of the hierarchy
  - Attributes can be included in BI content
TM1 Design: Relative Time
- Time Dimension Features
  - Dimension Type = Time: generates common attributes
  - Populate Time Dimension Wizard populate elements, hierarchy and attributes
  - Right-mouse menu has option to generate relative time elements
TM1 Design: Measure Dimension
- Measure Dimension Characteristics
  - Cube Property: Measure Reporting Dimension
  - Mandatory selection before creating BI package
  - Elements are displayed as Measures in BI

TM1 Text Cells in BI Reports: List Report Example

TM1 Text in Cells
- Common Challenge
  - TM1, unlike many OLAP platforms, supports Text values in cube cells
  - BI crosstabs do not render text, so the typical method for reporting and analysis against an OLAP source is not applicable to this use case
- Solution
  - Use BI list reports when you need to deliver text values in reports
- Scenario
  - TM1 Supports Text/Date-formatted Measures
  - Requirement: Formatted Report with Crosstab Layout
  - BI Crosstab Component does not Display Dates or Text
- Display TM1 Text with List Report
  - Be sure to make a specific selection for each dimension in the report body, page or context area
  - Include at least one measure as a column
- List Report Design

Tips & Tricks

Case Study: BI Dashboards Presentation by President of AERO Precision

Leveraging Insights to Double Sales and Gain the Competitive Edge

Business Strategy

A Case Study in Predictive Modeling

How One Firm Achieved Dramatic Results with Analytics

Case Study

Getting Started with Tableau Desktop

Quick Start Guide

Tips & Tricks

Maximizing IBM Cognos BI for the Business User

Demos of Built-in Productivity Features

Features

Agile Analytics Demystified

With Special Guest, Lawrence Corr, Author of Agile Data Warehouse Design

Agile analytics and techniques have revolutionized software development and are increasingly being adopted by business intelligence/data warehouse developers. Learn how the early/frequent delivery of working software, customer collaboration, and responsiveness to change can transform traditional dimensional modeling and analytics system design.

In this webinar, Lawrence Corr, author of the book Agile Data Warehouse Design, describes how agile methods can dramatically improve the design of one of the most critical parts of BI/DW systems: database schemas. Specifically, Lawrence introduces BEAM (business event analysis and modeling): a set of agile tools and techniques for dimensional modelstorming(modeling + brainstorming) with BI stakeholders and users.

Webinar recording includes discussed Q&A to help apply these valuable concepts to specific needs.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

Maximizing business stakeholder involvement during BI solution development coupled with early and repeated solution releases, results in more business benefits early and better BI user adoption.

The classic “waterfall” development method delays solution delivery and places the incorporation of the full volume of useful business data at the end of the lengthy project. This separates the first useable solution delivery from the requirements and design phase so far in time, that often major gaps and surprises that compromise usefulness and adoptability occur.

Shortening the solution release cycle so that useful business data is incorporated earlier and business users continually interact to test and refine the delivered solution in each release, eliminates most surprises and provides incremental business value early and often.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Business Intelligence; Data Modeling; BI Software Development

Recommended Audience

Business Analysts; Business BI Users; BI Developers; IT Management

PRESENTER

Lawrence Corr

Lawrence Corris a leading data warehouse designer and educator. Early in his career, he was invited by Ralph Kimball to become an associate and teach data warehousing classes for Kimball University in Europe and Africa. He now regularly teaches agile dimensional modeling courses and has taught dimensional BI skills to thousands of students in Europe, North America, the Middle East and South Africa. Using his proven techniques, he has helped optimize DW architectures in healthcare, telecoms, engineering, broadcasting, financial services and retail sectors. He is the author of Agile Data Warehouse Design: Collaborative Dimensional Modeling, from Whiteboard to Star Schema, an Amazon.com #1 bestseller in data warehousing.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Agile Business Intelligence

“Agile” as applied to Information Technology (Agile Alliance, 12 years ago, Aug. 2001)

Agile is generally defined as:

able to move quickly and easily
active; lively
mentally quick or acute

Agile Computer SoftwareDevelopment => “Agile Manifesto”

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Twelve Principles of Agile Software Development:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter time scale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most ef?cient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace inde?nitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team re?ects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Standard, “waterfall” approach: BDUP => “Big Design Up Front”

Agile [iterative] development: JEDUF = “Just Enough Design Up Front” Agile7

( also: JEDI => Just Enough Design Initially )

Agile6

What’s in the “Analysis, Design and Data Modeling” [red] box above?

Agile5

Why do the Analysis, Design and Model with BI Stakeholders?

Identify the signi?cant business events worth measuring
Scope and Prioritization
Discover how business events are described
Dimensions
Determine how they are measured
Measures, Hierarchies, Comparisons, KPIs
Unearth budgets, forecasts, targets and other user-controlled data sources.
Extra data, Common summarization levels: Physical Optimization
Create business ownership and pride in the DW design

Approach to data modeling with business people (business modeling):

Use R.K.’s keywords . . .

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who…

— Rudyard Kipling

The Elephants Child (1902)

Plus: How many or how much? Relating to the Event / Fact (see below).And relating this to the star schema data model:

Agile3

A new methodology and documentation technique for doing agile business requirements gathering, analysis and data modeling with business stakeholders:

”BEAM”=>

Business Event Analysis &Modeling

Agile6 Agile8

Model as a BEAM Table – an Example Data Model

Agile4

Q&A

Question / Topic

Requirement Changes:

If requirement changes are welcomed from release to release (as a result of early BI solution versions and business user feedback), doesn’t that result in a considerable amount of development rework?

If the focus of requirements gathering, analysis and subsequent design is on business processes more so than on a current, point-in-time perception of needed reports, then the basic business dimensions and needed granularity comes out and usually stands the test of time and future releases. Subsequent requirement changes then are mostly about additional and augmented dimension attributes and only rarely do new dimensions or major changes to granularity come about to cause major development rework.

Time and Date Dimension

A rich date and time dimension in a well-thought out data model supports flexible reporting without the need for lengthy, report specific SQL date calculations that need to be developed for each report.

Business Strategy

WHAT’S NEW IN COGNOS BI VERSION 10.2.2

Overview of Added Features & Functionalities

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence version 10.2.2 includes a number of added features and functionalities, with more impact than anything released in the last two years.

This webinar highlights the latest and greatest offerings, including the Report Studio preview modes making authoring for Active Report and other mobile consumers much less cumbersome.

Our special guests Stefan Constantinides, Solution Advisor North America for IBM, and Don Davis, Client Technical Professional in Business Analytics for IBM, also demonstrate and discuss:

Simplified end-user functionality for greater user self-service
Simplified deployment for faster time to value
Numerous improvements in general data access and administration

Additionally, we touch on Cognos Disclosure Management (CDM), which can be a huge time saver when generating reports, along with Watson Analytics.

Get up to speed on what the latest version of Cognos BI offers.

PRESENTER

Stefan Constantinides
Solution Advisor North America
IBM

Stefan Constantinides has Expert level certification within IBM as a Solution Advisor and technical pre-sales solution architect. Over the course of his career, Stefan has had successful sales engagements with companies like Amazon, Disney, Wells Fargo, Sprint, Charles Schwab, AT&T and many other large, high profile accounts. With over 6 years at IBM and almost 3 decades of enterprise level experience, Stefan is now working with large companies to ensure their success with IBM products and helping to guide their business into the future.

Don Davis
Client Technical Professional - Business Analytics
IBM

Don Davis is a Client Technical Professional in IBM's Business Analytics software group, residing in the Seattle area. Don has been helping clients with Cognos BI since 2006, and with business intelligence and enterprise reporting technology since 1999.

OUTLINE

What’s New in Cognos BI Version 10.2.2: Added Features and Functionalities Overview

Enabling Foundational Self-Service with Cognos Business Intelligence V10.2.2
- Speed deployment to enable foundational self-service
  - Targeted profiles will engage even more users and make them more self-sufficient
    - Customize profiles in Report Studio and Workspace Advanced
    - Views based on skill and required functionality
    - Enables more users to be self-sufficient
  - Use ‘quick set-up’ to easily install and configure all Cognos BI components for testing and prototyping
  - Increase confidence by managing security at the individual
    user level in multi-tenant deployments
  - Leverage high performing Dynamic Cubes by quickly migrating existing Framework Manager models
  - Proactively plan your upgrade using the Cube Designer hardware sizing guide
  - Support users with a broad range of disabilities with broadened accessibility
    - US Section 508 Compliant, from modeling through to authoring
    - Supports assistive technologies
  - Produce fully accessible, compliant reports
Streamline the report creation process to save time and make authors more efficient
- Build a report once and create a consistent corporate identity with reusable style templates
  - Define styles for standardized reporting
  - Create templates for groups to provide a starting point
  - Simplify report maintenance by updating styles once
- Leverage the new visualization capabilities and customize them directly in Report Studio
  - Extensible visualization properties are exposed in Report Studio and Workspace Advanced
  - Extensible visualization data slots are now flexible, use only those that you need.
- See changes to your reports in real-time and speed authoring with Active Report Live Preview
  - View Active Report Content in Report Studio Directly
  - Change Layout to Match Device Output or Custom
  - Make Formatting Changes Directly in Preview Mode
Empower more users with increased personalization and targeted capabilities
- Quickly upload and easily model personal data sources for end-to-end analysis with My Data Sets
  - Upload CSV, XLS, XLSX, and create reports and dashboards
  - Manage uploaded data files without IT
  - Administrators can define who has privileges
- Quickly focus your analysis by using Dynamic Filters in Cognos Workspace
  - Create interactive dashboards for easy analysis
  - Define custom buttons that specify a filter action
  - Filter related widgets by selecting values
- Learn more about these exciting innovations on AnalyticsZone
IBM Watson Analytics and Cognos Business Intelligence
- Cloud-based agile analytics for business users
- Guided flexible exploration with cognitive computing and automated visualization selection
- Automated discovery of combinations and permutations of data providing new answers
- A standardized gateway to maximize business intelligence value across the Enterprise
- Foundational business intelligence for the enterprise
- Support for multiple data sources and operating environments with customizable visualizations
- A known and trusted analytics foundation
- Provides a baseline of information to feed Watson Analytics across one integrated and supported environment
Demonstrations Cognos 10.2.2
Cognos Disclosure Management (CDM) Introduction
- CDM Deployed at Amazon: HUGE time saver
  - Now with using CDM, it takes five minutes to generate the monthly executive level report that used to take a minimum of 3 hours to cobble together
  - CDM is rapidly becoming irreplaceable at Amazon
  - One of the Amazon team described it as something as essential as turning the lights on
  - How?
- Specific and underlying reporting problems
  - The “Do it Again” Problem
- How IBM Cognos Disclosure Management (CDM) addresses the problems
- Organizations are relying on outdated tools and processes to meet mandated reporting requirements
  - Abundance of reports and changing requirements
  - Manual time-consuming processes
  - High Risk of errors
- What we deliver
  - Employ a repeatable process
    - Instead of navigating gaps in the production of recurring reports over and over again
  - Streamline report assembly
    - Instead of manually piecing together Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
  - Make better decisions
    - Instead of interpreting “just read” data, get to understanding right away
- Recurring, multi-author reports create the same problems
- Cognos Disclosure Management (CDM) solution features

Questions: What’s New in Cognos BI Version 10.2.2

The following questions were originally collected during the live webinar session and answered by the Senturus team. You can download the complete Questions Log from the right hand side bar at the top of this page.

Questions

Q: Just looking at the 10.2.2 videos online, there are many mentions of new Framework Manager and Report Studio capabilities. However, I only see TM1 and Business Insight as actual 10.2.2 updated applications on the IBM site under Software Catalog. Is there actually a Framework Manager 10.2.2 or Report Studio 10.2.2? Can you go over the actual products that were updated, and if not, what their packages may be (i.e., Framework Manager 10.2.1 + TM1 10.2.2) or other actual updated mix & matches to install to get the updates claimed in the videos?

Q: Will the IBM Cognos quick setup be available for SQL server in the future?

Q: Will the tenant capabilities be called out in the licenses?

Q: Do I have to get 10.2.2 for additional RAVE charts?

Q: Will Cognos add Venn diagrams to their reports?

Q: Is external data still available?

Q: Is it possible to easily assign colors so they are consistent across multiple charts?

Q: Can you stop someone from loading 10M rows?

Q: How will the admin know who has loaded large files?

Q: Can we load multiple data sets into one package?

Q: Can you link multiple spreadsheets or worksheets?

Q: How can I do the join for more than one Excel file column?

Q: Could we have created a new calculated field when modeling the external data?

Q: Can it connect to databases, or only to the files?

Q: How will My Data Sets affect resource needs? Limits to how much users can store?

Q: Is the space consumption shared across all users? Can we put limit on the size for users? What would be the size of the database?

Q: If the spreadsheet has multiple worksheets, will it import all of them and create multiple tables? Will the package have all the metadata?

Q: When Excel data changes, how do I refresh the data from Excel to data stored in Cognos (DB2)?

Q: Can we keep changing the Excel files?

Q: Can I join two dataset packages?

Q: Can we upload multiple Excel files and get one model published that is inclusive of data from all the uploaded Excel files?

Q: Can we schedule the loading frequency of data to get the latest data every day?

Q: Can we restrict the My Data Sets feature?

Q: Is the default that everyone can use My Data Sets, or do you have to specifically give a user access?

Q: What's the modeling process of multiple external files to use it in a single package?

Q: Can relationships be set between two My Data Sets or between two external files in creating one My Data Set?

Q: Can I make updates to the same my data set?

Q: Will it be updated when source file is updated?

Q: Can data sets be combined in a single package?

Q: Can we use two external spreadsheets and create one package out of them?

Q: Can I change the source Excel file at a later time?

Q: If I have multiple sheets in my Excel file, can I import all the sheets?

Q: Can we use multiple files in Data Set and create one package?

Q: Can we join multiple My Data Sets?

Q: Can My Data be used as data sources for modeling in FM?

Q: Can we join two Excel sheet one create one package?

Q: Can data published out ever be refreshed? Or do you need to create a new package each time you want current data?

Q: Does that mean you can't refresh the data in My Data Set?

Q: When backing up the content stored from Cognos, does it also backup the data set in DB2?

Q: Do I have to republish the Excel file if the data changes after the report created?

Q: Will Transformer cubes still work in Cognos 10.2.2?

Q: Is Query Studio and Analysis Studio still supported in the new version of Cognos?

Q: Do we have any zoom option to enlarge particular region in a map?

Q: Can the values on the axis be formatted to remove extra decimal places?

Q: As an Australian example, is there a way to display labels on the chart, so we could see Australia category without hover over?

Q: In Report Viewer, can we finally expand/collapse, re-sort columns, do on the fly calculations and on the fly resizing?

Q: How stable will 10.2.2 be?

Q: How is My Data Sets different from Cognos Insight? Do we still need Cognos Insight?

Q: Any info on Analysis Studio capabilities in workspace? I understand that Analysis Studio is depreciated in 10.2.2?

Q: Is dynamic filtering only available in Workspace or can it be used in HTML report?

Q: Is Dynamic filters only available in Workspace or can it be used in Report Studio reposts?

Q: If you have both relational and dimensional widgets on a page, will the global filter work for both?

Q: Is possible to use dynamic filters if the other charts don't have the filtering element visible?

Q: Can we use the dynamic filters in chart like the crosstab?

Q: Will dynamic filters work on any two fields with the same name or only on base package fields?

Q: Cognos 10.2.1 requires IE11 to run in compatibility mode. Is this true in Cognos 10.2.2?

Q: What happened to the query studio icon and other icons?

Q: With external data sets, is it only with DB2 or other RDBMS as well?

Q: Is it possible to publish Cognos workspace in a Cognos viewer within a portal tab?

Q: How do you clean up all the junk if it’s uploaded in DB2?

Q: Does the Excel file need to be present on the BI server, or it can be local to user's machine?

Q: Can I publish my report objects created using My Data Set to other people in my team?

Q: Do you have to use the personal edition of DB2? (We are an ORACLE shop)

Q: Does this new integrated DB2 component included in 10.2.2 require special configuration/installation file when upgrading to 10.2.2 from 10.1.1?

Q: How does the data refresh happen for external data?

Q: Can an external data source have a scheduled refresh in Cognos?

Q: What is the difference between charts and visualizations? Are visualizations just more options for displaying data?

Q: With the upgrade from 10.2.1 to 10.2.2, is it a new installation or an upgrade of the current version?

Q: Can you only use My Data Sets using the DB2 database?

Q: Can the built in DB2 engine shipped with 10.2.2 be used as the content store? If so, does that replace the Apache database used in the previous versions?

Q: How can I do more than one Excel file that I need to join?

Q: Do we have any size limits on the local files?

Q: Does My Data Sets have to be uploaded to its own DB2 database? Is that separate from the content store?

Q: Is self-analytic support connecting to DB through Cognos data sources?

Q: Is it possible to upload multiple spreadsheets and then perform "joins" as in Framework Studio?

Q: Can we include this option as part of existing package like external data?

Q: Can I join the uploaded table (new package) to an existing package?

Q: Do you need separate licensing for DB2 server installed with Cognos 10.2.2?

Q: Will that affect the current database behind Cognos (i.e. Oracle)?

Q: Can you access other packages with My Data Sets?

Q: What version of DB2 is the My Data Sets using?

Q: What's the maximum size for a data set?

Q: What's the difference between My Data Sets and external data source in this version?

Q: Is each import a different package?

Q: Is Cognos 10.2.2 certified on IE 11?

Q: Do we have to import RAVE visualizations into Cognos, or do they come with a Cognos License?

Features

IBM COGNOS 10.2.2 NEW FEATURES FOR PROFESSIONAL AUTHORS

Live Demonstrations with Q&A

IBM Cognos 10.2.2 provides a number of added features for professional report authors. Get an overview of our favorites, with the following demonstrations:

New look and feel of IBM Cognos 10.2.2 Report Studio
How to tailor the authoring experience via user interface profiles
Improved templatization using Style References
More productive Active Report development using Live Preview
Enhanced visualizations and greater control of visualization properties

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Active Report

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

BI Report Authors, BI Report Consumers, BI Power Users (Developers, Support Staff), BI Managers

PRESENTERS

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

Greg Herrera
Co-Founder and President
Senturus, Inc.

Greg originally founded Senturus in 2001, and currently heads sales, recruiting, marketing, human resources, and new ventures. Under his leadership, the company achieved the honor of placing in the San Francisco Business Times “Fast 100” Hall of Fame. Prior to Senturus, Greg established over 20 years of experience at Quovera, Oracle, and Accenture.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Audience Poll #1

What version of Cognos are people running?

What’s New in IBM Cognos 10.2.2?

Official Release Date: Nov 21, 2014
What this release really means:
- It is a culmination of various fix and feature packs that had been introduced between 2012 and 2014
- Instead of rolling all the incremental packs onto your 10.2.1 environment, fresh install of 10.2.2 will have a BIG Impact
Which areas were addressed – where do we anticipate the biggest impact?

The Highlights:

For the Professional Author, Report Studio gets significant enhancements in the following areas:
- Active Report preview mode
- Tabbed HTML report output
- Better control over extensible visualizations, expanded library of visualizations, including dynamic maps
- Style references
For the Business Analyst, Cognos Workspace becomes more functional with:
- More intuitive filter controls
- The ability to author reports from directly within a Workspace

We see significant attention being paid in these additional areas:

Custom User-Interface Profiles allow Administrators to roll out precise features and functionality to different types of authors, eliminating barriers to adoption for self- service authoring
Personal Data Sets allows users and administrators to create packages from desktop-based files such as Excel or CSV
Framework Manager metadata enhancements
Dynamic Cubes metadata improvements as well as a new hardware sizing utility and greater control over in-memory aggregation

Audience Poll #2

What would compel you to upgrade to this version?

Cognos 10.2.2 New Features Demonstrations

Features

How to Better Manage Cognos Upgrades

Leveraging the New Release of MotioCI

Features

Tableau: Understanding Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions

Using and Leveraging LOD Expressions in Data Analysis

Tips & Tricks

TESTING & IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN IBM COGNOS BI

Plus Automated Cognos Testing System, MotioCI

Demands on business intelligence systems are growing, and with increased usage, we often see a corresponding rise in performance issues.

During this webinar, we discuss the various layers that can contribute to performance issues, from the presentation layer to the database and host server architecture. We review some of the OS-level and Cognos-specific tools that are available to help gather relevant information to pinpoint the causes of performance issues. With a case study, we also show you how to use an integrated performance testing method, along with how tuning changes can be used to reach the target level of performance.

One of the tools highlighted is the automated Cognos testing system, MotioCI. MotioCI is an iterative testing tool that enables repeatable, automated testing in order to evaluate changes in report execution performance as tuning changes are made.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI 10; MotioCI

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT, Cognos and BI Support Staff

PRESENTERS

Steven Reed-Pittman
Practice Director – Systems Integration and Optimization
Senturus, Inc.

Steve leads the installation and upgrade team at Senturus. He has installed, and configured, and optimized hundreds of Cognos instances from Cognos Series 7 through Cognos 10 on the Windows, UNIX and Linux environments.

Dr. John Boyer
Proven Practice Lead
Motio, Inc.

John has nearly 20 years experience in business intelligence, database architecture, and software development. He is an IBM Information Champion, has led workshops and been invited to speak at numerous national events including IBM Information On Demand, Cognos Forum, Cognos User Groups, and the Composite Software annual conference.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Sources of Trouble: Where is My Problem Coming From?

Where to Begin
- Performance troubleshooting requires detective work.
  - Gather data from systems and people.
  - What changed, and when?
  - Consider all of the possible layers.
  - Options for addressing performance issues vary across different Cognos versions and configurations.
Cognos-Specific Problem Areas
- Performance issues can originate from multiple layers:
  - Configuration Layer
    - Cognos software configuration and tuning (install/configinconsistencies, esp. in distributed environments).
  - Database Layer
    - Data warehouse schema design.
  - Metadata Layer
    - Framework Manager model.
  - Presentation Layer
    - Report Studio, Workspace Advanced, etc.
Other Problem Areas
- Performance issues can also originate outside of Cognos:
  - Network (network speed, latency).
  - Database server (concurrent query execution, contention with other databases hosted on the same db server or cluster).
  - Host server architecture (CPU, RAM, disk, virtual vs. physical infrastructure).

Approaches to Troubleshooting

Fire Prevention vs. Fire Fighting
- Is your organization proactive or reactive with regard to the performance of your Cognos systems?
- When trouble strikes, quick answers can be hard to find. Preventing the fire is better than fighting it!
- Tools can make this easier by providing:
  - Baseline performance data.
  - Replicable test cases.
Some Tool Options
- MotioCI as an iterative testing tool for determining changes in report execution performance (SLA testing).
- LoadRunner scripting.
- Commercial and open-source application performance monitoring tools (e.g., SolarWinds, Opsview).
- Built-in OS tools (e.g., Resource Monitor, perfmon).
- Cognos Administration dashboards.
Why Use Tools?
- The risk of doing this without tools or methodology:
  - Lack of repeatability makes it difficult or impossible to know whether changes have made a difference.
  - Tools enable repeatable testing for reliable performance comparisons.

Keys to Improving Performance: Three-Phase Methodology for Performance Testing and Tuning

The Key to Improving Performance
- A three-phase approach to successfully beat performance issues in IBM Cognos.
- Solving performance issues is like playing “Whack-a-Mole”: every time you thought you killed the beast, it will pop up again!
A Three-Phase Approach to Solving Performance Issues
- Just a commodity approach?
  - Build
  - Measure
  - Learn
A Three-Phase Approach to Solving Performance Issues
- A tailor-made approach for IBM Cognos.
  - Build
    - Identify all elements that can impact performance.
    - Set up monitoring for capturing system performance metrics.
    - Analyze user and system behavior.
    - Set up test cases using MotioCI.
  - Measure
    - Run test cases and metrics to capture initial baseline.
    - Review test results and captured metrics.
    - Run load test.
    - Analyze system behavior.
  - Learn
    - Implement tuning changes based on the results.
    - Return to “Run load test” step (Measure, step three).
    - Repeat steps until the target level of performance is achieved.
What does your multi-disciplinary team look like?
- Cognos Knowledge
  - Cognos Admin
  - Cognos Architect
  - Cognos Modeler
- Infrastructure
  - DBA
  - Network/firewall Specialist
  - Hardware Specialist
- General Roles
  - Project Management
  - Senturus BI Specialist
    - Knowledge of methodology.
    - Knowledge of Cognos.
    - Knowledge of MotioCI.
    - Experience at different environments, organizations and infrastructure set ups.

Building Your Test Case: Tools, Techniques and Questions to Consider

How to Build Your Test Case
- Four essential steps to being well prepared.
  - Step one: identify all elements that can impact performance.
  - Step two: set up monitoring tools for capturing system performance metrics.
  - Step three: analyze user and system behavior.
    - Who is using IBM Cognos?
    - When are they using it?
    - How long, what frequency?
    - What do they execute?
    - How often?
    - What is used the most?
    - What is used during peak time?
    - What is taking the most time?

Sample Testing: Running a Stress Test with MotioCI

Set Up Test Cases using MotioCI
- MotioCI server creates multiple simulated Cognos users.
- Each simulated user asks Cognos to run reports.
- Cognos processes report request, and produces finished reports.
- MotioCI evaluates each finished report for accuracy and notes the time required to generate it.
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
- Define a Stress Test
- Configure Stress Test
- Customizing a Stress Test
  - Ramped User Logins and Ramped Report Executions
  - Ramped User Logins
  - Ramped Report Executions
  - Simulated User Interactivity
- Results Summary
- Interactive and Non-Interactive Executions by Report
- Samples Reports
How to Build Your Test Case
- Four essential steps to being well prepared.
  - Step four: set up test cases using MotioCI.
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
- Executing repeatable test cases with comparable results:
  - Run test cases and metrics to capture initial baseline.
  - Review test results and captured metrics.
  - Run load test.
  - Analyze system behavior.

Adjustments and Aftercare: Analyzing Results and Making Changes

How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
- Examining the test case results.
How to Improve and Tweak the Settings
- Solve the bottleneck and retest.
  - Reviewing metrics from Cognos Administration.
  - Executing repeatable test cases and viewing final results.
What is So Revolutionary About This?
- The right combination of tools and expertise promotes rapid results.
  - Key problem: Performance issues are hard to tackle without reliable metrics and deep knowledge of the systems in question.
  - Without a simple and repeatable approach, troubleshooting and tuning is difficult to perform effectively.
    - Unstructured troubleshooting is hard to manage, and can be both expensive and slow to produce results.
    - Dependencies across multiple layers aren’t always obvious.
    - Custom-made test cases often require lots of programming/scripting.
  - MotioCI helps the project team focus on the core, repeatable test cases: test, analyze and measure improvement.
  - Deep Cognos system expertise from Senturus provides multi-layer examination of the affected systems, interpretation of test results, recommendation of tuning changes, and implementation assistance when needed.

Aftercare
- Proactive Monitoring of your Cognos BI Environment
  - When the problems are solved, organizations need to stay healthy!
  - By constantly monitoring performance, BICC’s stay in control and on topof the quality of their BI environment, regarding:
    - Performance.
    - Data quality.
    - IBM best practices and corporate standards.

Tips & Tricks

Getting Started with Tableau Server

Quick Start Guide

Tips & Tricks

IBM COGNOS BI LICENSING CHANGES in V10

What You Need to Know

Features

COGNOS DATA MANAGER SUPPORT CHANGES

Entitlements Migrate to DataStage

Business Strategy

How to Develop a Ragged or Unbalanced Hierarchy

IBM Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler

Tips & Tricks

Editing Existing Reports in IBM Cognos Workspace

Allowing End Users to Take Ownership of Existing Content

Tips & Tricks

Do You Really Need a Data Warehouse?

Why Properly Staged Data is Critical to BI System Success

The most common question we have been asked over the last 14 years is “Why do we need a Data Warehouse?” Data warehouses are often perceived as expensive, monolithic, slow and built for old requirements. BI software vendors often go out of their way to tone down the need for one, and recently, some new technologies have been heralded as bringing, “the end of data warehousing.”

Despite these claims, there are many significant reasons why properly staged data is the most important element of Business Analytics system success. And it is now clear that companies with well-designed, enterprise-wide business insight capabilities consistently outperform their peers by wide margins.

In this webinar, Senturus CEO and Co-FounderJohn Peterson dispels a number of myths about data warehouses, addressing:

How integrated data warehouses (or marts) differ from OLTP systems, ODS’s and reporting databases.
Why they are a mandatory complement to operational systems.
How to correctly design and build a best-practices data warehouse, and not simply a “dumping ground for tables of raw data.”
Why the initial architectural foundation for integrated data is so critical to long-term performance, scalability and usability.
How to quickly and cost-effectively implement a world-class solution.

Join the experts from Senturus to learn strategies your organization can use to gain the benefits of enterprise-wide business insight while avoiding the downsides typically associated with data warehouses. These proven strategies have been refined over our 14 years of experience delivering successful business intelligence solutions for more than 750 clients.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Architecture and Solutions

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Managers and Professionals; Business Analysts and Business Managers responsible for Enterprise Performance Management and Improvement

PRESENTER

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Business Strategy

Streamline Management and Regulatory Report Processes

Narrative Reporting with Cognos

Features

Developing a Flexible Copy Process

IBM Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler

Tips & Tricks

INTERACTIVE REPORTS AND DASHBOARDS FOR THE MOBILE AUDIENCE

IBM Cognos 10.2.1

Tips & Tricks

COGNOS BI PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION 101

For IBM Cognos Servers

Tips & Tricks

UNDERSTANDING IBM COGNOS BI

Holistic Platform Review

If you’re overwhelmed by the breadth of your IBM Cognos Business Intelligence solution, and not sure where to get started, we can help get you on the right track.

In this recorded webinar, we take a step back and provide a holistic look at the platform from 30,000 feet. We break down the many moving parts, and set focus on what you need to know, as our IBM-certified experts pinpoint where the greatest value in this tool set lies.

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions
Senturus, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Key components of Cognos 10, such as Cognos Connection, Cognos Workspace, Report Studio, Framework Manager
- Consume reports using the Cognos Connection Portal
  - Running and reviewing reports within the IBM Cognos Viewer
  - Quick drop down tools built within the IBM Cognos Viewer to see reports in various formats, including HTML, PDF, XML, and Excel
  - Navigation capabilities within table of contents
  - Saving, emailing, and exporting options
  - Using the My Folders tab to organize content
  - Setting My Preferences, including increasing the number of entries and adding separators in list view
  - Run a report with a prompt
  - Create a Report View to create alternate versions of reports, save in My Folders, and set a default prompt value
  - Setting up, customizing and testing report delivery schedules via email, with multiple delivery options such as single email recipient, adding an email distribution list, embedding the report within the email or sending as an attachment
  - Altering report output versioning and viewing scheduled report delivery results
  - Creating and delivering data driven reports based on actionable items
  - Setting report view properties, including enabling advanced options, specifying rules, and creating alerts when new version becomes available
- Use Workspace and Workspace Advanced to:
  - Create a Workspace from existing reports
  - Customize a Workspace
  - Interact with and explore the data
  - Enhance the consumer experience
  - Drag and drop elements from other reports onto Workspace dashboard, without needing to re-create from scratch
  - Changing and customizing selected data packages / chart elements
  - Adding interactive filtering interfaces for different display types
- Run reports, build your own reports, create and schedule report views
- Organize content and create portal tabs
- Use the inbox and define alerts and subscriptions
  - Enhance the consumer experience with Workspace

Features

IBM Cognos BI 10.2.2
Video Series

New & Added Features

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence version 10.2.2 supports business users, report authors, and administrators alike by simplifying end-user functionality and speeding time to value with simplified deployment. Below is a summary of the changes. You may also view the videos-all listed on the right sidebar-- on each subject.

Simplified end-user functionality for greater user self-service:

End-to-end analysis with personal data import for business users.
Support for customization of Rapidly Adaptive Visualization Engine visualizations in IBM Cognos Report Studio and IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced.
Create reusable style templates for a consistent corporate identity including styles, fonts, and colors.
Interactive maps in IBM Cognos Workspace.
Accelerate Cognos Active Report creation with live preview.

Simplified deployment for faster time to value:

Use quick setup to easily install and configure all Cognos Business Intelligence components for testing and prototyping.
Securely manage individual users and administration in multitenant deployments.
Reduce Cognos Dynamic Cube develop time by migrating existing IBM Cognos Framework Manager models.
IBM Business Intelligence Pattern now included with the Analytics Architect and Analytics Administrator roles.

General data access and administration:

Filter join optimization: Optimization of joins by applying filters in Cognos Framework Manager and Cognos Report Studio
- Improve performance by filtering one side of a join using the values retrieved by the other side
- Minimize the amount of data retrieved by the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence server

Summary query subjects: Ability to control the grouping and aggregation when creating a model
- Control grouping and aggregation in ways previously only possible in reports
- Define a join between aggregated values and detail values
- Specify the granularity of filters and calculations available to ad hoc users

Bridge query subjects: Creation of a bridge table to link star schemas or subject areas in a model
- Identify bridge tables in your database
- Avoid double counting in stitched query aggregations
- Filter entire rows of a multiple fact datastream when filtering the bridge

Parameter map freshness: Ability to enable parameter caching
- Control the frequency for which parameter map values are refreshed
- See data updated seconds before a report is run
- Balance the performance benefits of caching with data latency requirements

NIST SP800-131a
- Cognos Business Intelligence now leverages IBM Global Security Kit (GBKit) for security.

Encrypted (SSL) connection to the content store database
- Control security features such as enabling SSL and Data Encryption, during the database definition process

Support for SSL and Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate pinning
- You can now protect the Android and Apple iOS apps from the man-in-the-middle attacks by restricting the apps to connect only to those IBM Cognos Business Intelligence servers that use trusted certificates.

Conformance updates:

Content Store
- IBM DB2® 11 for z/OS®
- Microsoft™ SQL Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft SQL Server 2014

Portal servers
- IBM WebSphere® Portal V8.5
- Liferay Portal

Security libraries
- GSKit

Web servers
- Microsoft Internet Information Services 8.5

Data sources
- Cloudera Impala 1.3
- IBM Netezza® V7.1, V7.2
- IBM DB2 for i 7.2
- IBM Cognos TM1® V10.2.2
- IBM InfoSphere® BigInsights™ V2.1, V3.0
- Apache Hive 0.11, 0.12
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 R2, 2014
- Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 R2, 2014
- MySQL 5.7
- PostgreSQL 9.3, 9.4
- Teradata 15

Drivers
- JT400 JDBC driver (IBM DB2 for i)

Mobile
- Apple iOS 7
- Android 4.4
- Phone support for iOS and Android

Features

Leveraging TM1 Performance Modeler

3 Tips the Manual Doesn’t Tell You

Tips & Tricks

TIPS & TRICKS FOR EFFECTIVE DASHBOARDS

How to Build Practical Widgets Using IBM Cognos

Tips & Tricks

#2 Key to Success in BI: Understanding True Business Requirements

One of the 10 Keys to Success in BI

Business Strategy

Join Queries

Advance Query Design in Cognos Report Studio

Tips & Tricks

INTRODUCTION TO SELF-SERVICE DASHBOARDING AND REPORT AUTHORING

Leveraging IBM Cognos Workspace

Self-service Dashboarding and Report Authoring

During this webinar, we examine the IBM Cognos landscape of self-service data discovery and report authoring. This webinar will prepare you to take full advantage of the functionalities across Workspace, Workspace Advanced, and Report Studio.

We demonstrate how you can extend dashboards into deep data exploration and leverage self-service authoring to free yourself from the traditional constraints of the information consumer. We also touch on the role of the advanced report author to illustrate the limitless potential of the IBM Cognos 10 platform for delivering professional reports.

This presentation also includes an introduction of IBM’s changing licensing model and how this impacts your business.

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions, Senturus Inc.

Albert has spent the last 13 years as a technical trainer focused on business intelligence and performance management. His Senturus training courses have received numerous accolades over the years, such as:

“Meticulously prepared and superbly presented, (with) a huge amount of theory, advice and practical examples.”
“Single best session on Cognos Report Studio.”

Before joining Senturus, Albert was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos for five years. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Since 2007, Albert has acted as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director of Education for Senturus.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The following demonstrations are featured in this webinar:

Viewing and interacting with multiple data visualizations
Simple filtering through self-selected values to focus on specific data and provide better insights
Easy double-click functionalities to drill down into details on specific data points
Self-managing desired changes from one chart type to another, including data point color schemes
Slicing and dicing data on a deeper level through improved “Do More...” actions with advanced feature options
Dropping additional dimensions into dashboards
Building a report from scratch as a business author, starting with Workspace Advanced (using a Crosstab report as an example)
Ad-hoc experience that provides ability to see selected report dimensions and measures in order to build and visualize in real-time as one fluid experience
Dragging and dropping columns of data
Easy toolbar short cuts for quick data formatting
Data exploration functionalities with Workspace and Workspace Advanced, such as drilling up, drilling down, and replacing data
Moving report draft from Workspace Advanced into Report Studio for additional content development with more sophisticated options, including visualizations within tables in Report Studio
Adding value prompts through the Report Studio Prompt Wizard to drive context filtering
Using padding within Report Studio to provide adequate spacing between objects
Adding drilling up and drilling down options to reports

Features

Implementing Relative Time in Cognos BI

Using OLAP Modeling & Reporting Tools

Tips & Tricks

IMPROVING THE PLANNING CYCLE FOR SOPHISTICATED BUSINESS NEEDS

TM1 Demo, Plus Case Study by Meyer Corporation

Features

Income Statement Reporting: Reversing the Sign Rule

Showing Expense Numbers as Positive

Tips & Tricks

Using Predefined Templates to Create a Report

IBM Cognos Report Studio

Tips & Tricks

Metadata Modeling Best Practices

IBM Cognos Framework Manager

Don’t be intimidated by metadata modeling! During this webinar, our expert trainer Albert Valdez breaks down the role of metadata modeling with Framework Manager.

Albert explains how, and more importantly why, we implement:

Multi-tiered metadata.
Row-level security using session parameters.
Dynamic Query Mode (DQM) and JDBC for OLAP Over Relational (OOR), or Dimensionally Modeled Relational (DMR) Packages.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

Increased productivity for data model development. The data model is the Business Intelligence (BI) foundation for performance management, operational and financial reporting. Speedier development means earlier realization of the business benefits of timely decision support information. It also means shorter IT queue times for business’ service requests for data access.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Framework Manager 10; Cognos BI 10

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions, Senturus

Albert has spent the last 13 years as a technical trainer focused on business intelligence and performance management. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos for five years. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Since 2007, Albert has acted as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director of Education for Senturus.

Framework Manager Demonstrations: Context

All demonstrations are based on the standard IBM Cognos 10.2.1 Great Outdoors Sample package.
Demonstrations are valid for ALL supported versions of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence.
These exercises are part of what we teach in our classroom, specifically from our Metadata Modeling Best Practices with Framework Manager course.

Best Practices for Project Design: Advantages for Multi-tiered Metadata

Metadata Modeling for Best Practices
- Use a multi-tiered design.
- Establish query item properties and relationships early on (in the first tier).
- Plan your design with consideration to how the IBM Cognos query engine generates SQL.
- Define Model Query Subjects as either a “true” Dimension or a “true” Fact.
- Relate Facts to one another through one or more Conformed Dimensions.
- Review and carefully define Determinants.
- Define Package and Object-level Security.
- Create a user-friendly Presentation.
- Use Dimensional Modeling techniques where appropriate.
Multi-tiered Design
- Use Namespaces and Folders to organize your Query Subjects.
- Start with an Import View.
- There should be at least two tiers, however a three-tiered design offers some advantages.
Advantages of Three-tiered Designs
- Import Layer
  - All database objects are represented here exactly as they appear in the physical data, making references between this metadata and the database simple and obvious.
  - All base relationships should be defined in this layer.
- Design Layer
  - Establish the “dimensional design” that will guide the query engine toward more predictable results.
  - Use Model Query Subjects, Merging, Aliasing, and other techniques to enforce desired query behaviors.
- Business Layer
  - Create value-added features such as embedded and stand-alone Calculations and Filters.
  - Implement user-accepted naming and presentation conventions.
Why?
- Use metadata to your advantage.
  - Query logic is controlled by our design, not restricted by the physical limitations of the database.
- Referential metadata creates a “buffer” between the physical model and what is used by our authors.
  - Changes to our Database layer in order to address changes in the physical data can be made without impacting existing reports, or the end-users’ view of the model.
- Simplify the modeling process by isolation certain tasks within their respective layer.

Best Practices for Project Design: Advantages of Multi-tiered Metadata

Demonstration

Row-Level Security: Using Session Parameters and Query Macros

Parameterized SQL
- Typical application of this technique is to create dynamic filtering based on user attributes.
- We can use a Parameter Map and Query Macros in combination with unique user account attributes to enforce these rules in the metadata.
- Session Parameters:
  - Attributes unique to each user’s session.
  - Derived from your Authentication Provider.
Parameter Map: Three Types
- Manually key in the values in the project.
- Import from an external text file (.txt, .csv).
- Reference a query subject (db table).
Query Macros
- #$UserLookup{$account.personalinfo.userName}#
- Several functions available, allowing for the creation of dynamic expressions.

Row-Level Security: Session Parameters and Query Macros

Demonstration

OLAP in Framework Manager: Setting Up for Success

OLAP in Framework Manager
- In the Cognos version 8 release, we were introduced to Dimensionally Modeled Relational (DMR) capabilities.
- What happened?
  - Run-time OLAP presents significant query response challenges in large data environments.
  - Guess what? We ALL live in large data environments!
- What’s changed?
  - There is a shift in the architecture strategy, adding more query processing capacity on the application tier.
  - Dynamic Query Mode presents a new approach to query processing.
- Dynamic Query Mode
  - Next-generation, Java-based query mode.
  - Query optimizations to address query complexity, data volumes and timeliness expectations with improved query execution techniques.
  - Significant improvement for complex OLAP queries through intelligent combination of local and remote processing and better MDX generation.
  - Security-aware caching.
  - New data interfaces leveraging 64-bit processing.
  - Take advantage of increased capacity of 64-bit in-memory processing.
  - Ease of maintenance with query visualization.
- Why are OLAP sources important?
  - True MDX-style analytics and reporting provide tremendous benefits to end-users.
    - Drill-up/ drill-down functionality is built-in to the data source, encouraging simple, intuitive data investigation.
    - Access to MDX functions and gestures in reporting tools allows for more dynamic reports, dashboards, and analyses.
  - Data Exploration and Data Discovery are the next level of analytics (move beyond reporting!).

OLAP in Action: OLAP Vs. Relational for Self-Service Authors

Demonstration
OLAP in Framework Manager
- What needs to be done to enable DQM?
  - Cognos 10.x? You own it.
  - The Query Service spawns its own java process, consumes resources whether you use it or not.
- Data Sources
- Must configure the JDBC Connection and copy the requisite driver to the Cognos library.
- Framework Manager
- DQM can be switched on at the Project or the individual package level.
- System Administratior
- Configure Query Service resources, optimize application tier components to maximize throughput.
- JDBC Drivers – what to do?
- http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/cognos/infrastructure/cognos_specific/page529.html
- Basically, you download and copy the requisite JDBC driver to both the ..v5dataserverlib and the ..p2pdweb-inflib directories.
- Make sure you only have ONE version of the driver in the library!
- Specific instructions for each database type are detailed in the above document.

Tips & Tricks

BEYOND POWERPLAY: CHOOSING THE RIGHT OLAP TOOL FOR YOUR BI ENVIRONMENT

Cognos Dynamic Cubes vs. Microsoft SSAS vs. TM1 vs. Powerplay

Almost all business intelligence systems benefit significantly from using OLAP as part of the overall system architecture. Blazingly fast reports, interactive dashboards, instantaneous drill-down and speed-of-thought analysis are just a few of the reasons to use cubes in your BI environment.

For almost 25 years, PowerPlay cubes and PowerPlay Transformer have played dominant roles in BI systems as the OLAP tool of choice for Cognos BI environments. However, due to limitations of its 32-bit architecture, PowerPlay has been unable to keep pace with the growing data volumes common to BI systems today. Accordingly, IBM’s development resources have focused on newer technologies, allowing PowerPlay’s feature set to fall further behind.

The good news is that there are several excellent alternatives for OLAP in your BI system. In fact, these tools now have features long desired by PowerPlay users. The challenge is determining 1. what those alternatives are and 2. how they compare and contrast.

In this presentation and demo, we highlight the important feature differences between the various OLAP tools used for BI applications, including IBM Dynamic Cubes. This session outlines important criteria that should be considered before investing significant hours (and dollars) in development. As always, we give a candid review of relevant tool capabilities, show key features in action and provide some pragmatic decision-making tips on how to make the right choice for your BI environment.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI 10, IBM Cognos PowerPlay, IBM Cognos PowerPlay Transformer, IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes, Microsoft Analysis Services, IBM Cognos TM1, Hyperion Essbase, IBM Cognos Dimensionally Modeled Relational (DMR)

PRESENTERS

John Peterson
CEO & Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Pedro Ining
Senior BI Architect, Senturus, Inc

Tips & Tricks

CREATING USER-FRIENDLY COGNOS ACTIVE REPORTS

Advanced Reporting Techniques

Tips & Tricks

Advanced Authoring Comes to Life

IBM Cognos Report Studio Techniques

Tips & Tricks

Predictive Analytics Demystified

Explanation of Predictive Models and their Applications

Many organizations have made big investments in Business Intelligence, deploying sophisticated reporting systems and performance dashboards. Yet for most companies, translating "interesting insights" into quantifiable business benefits is more the exception than the rule. Predictive analytics can be the next logical step in the evolution toward achieving dramatic improvements to the bottom line. In this webinar, Eric Zankman demystifies predictive analytics by explaining what predictive models are, how to develop them, and how to apply them within a customer management framework to create measurable Return on Investment (ROI)

Key components of a comprehensive analytics approach are explored:

Creating a customer data mart with predictive analytics in mind
Building predictive models
Segmenting customers
Developing champion/challenger strategy tests
Establishing processes for continuous learning and improvement
Reaping the benefits of predictive models

This webinar includes a demonstration of IBM SPSS Modeler.

Business Context

Predictive analytics can greatly improve profitability when part of a comprehensive analytics solution

A well-designed data mart is the first step toward effective predictive analytics
Organizations must be committed to ongoing strategy testing to maximize their benefits

Technologies Covered

Predictive Analytics, IBM SPSS Modeler

Recommended Audience

Business executives, managers and analysts who are responsible for devising and implementing a range of strategies that would be applied to different customer, product or other market segments to improve profitability.

Presenter

Eric Zankman

Mr. Zankman is an analytics and business intelligence consultant with a 20-year track record of improving profitability for some of the world's largest firms by applying data mining, predictive modeling, customer segmentation, experimental design, and optimization.

Mr. Zankman heads the predictive analytics practice for Senturus. He has founded Zankman Solutions, a provider of analytics consulting services, and served as Analytics Practice Leader, Coordinator of CRM Knowledge Center, and Senior Subject Matter Expert at American Management Systems (AMS), a global business and IT consulting firm.

Mr. Zankman has given numerous presentations at major industry conferences related to customer analytics. He has authored several white papers and thought leadership articles, including a Gartner publication on customer loyalty.

Mr. Zankman earned a BS degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Arik Killion

Client Technical Professional, IBM Business Analytics, SPSS

Outline

PREDICTIVE MODELS

General Definition

Empirically-derived algorithms used to predict future outcomes

Customer Analytics Definition

Predicts future customer actions
Combines individual attributes that are strong predictors
Produces an assessment score for each customer

Model Uses

Customer Analytics
- Direct Marketing
- Underwriting
- Usage Stimulation
- Cross-sell / Up-sell
- Retention / Churn
- Customer Value
Operational Analytics
- Risk Management
- Credit Policy Decisions
- Channel Preference
- Portfolio Management
Threat and Fraud Analytics
- Fraud Detection
- Collections
- Write-offs / Recoveries
Predictive Model Timeline
- Observation Period / Observation Point
- Performance Period / Forecasts

Part of a Comprehensive Analytics Solution

Customer Data Mart
Predictive Models
Customer Segmentation
Champion / Challenger Strategy Tests
Model, Segmentation and Strategy Execution
Strategy Test Evaluation
New Champion Strategy
Back to Step 4 (continuous learning and improvement)

Predictive Model Development Methodology

Define business goals
Specify model objective function
Design/build modeling database
Partition modeling data
Derive potential predictors
Analyze predictor strength
Perform sub-population analysis
Build model algorithms
Evaluate model performance
Deploy Model

Champion / Challenger Strategy Improvement Methodology

Develop a "champion" strategy and "challenger" strategies for each segment
Execute strategy tests and analyze results after a defined test period
Perform model validation (controlling for treatment)
Deploy new champion strategy with quantifiable business improvements
Create new round of promising challengers

Example Application: Customer Churn Reduction

Develop predictive models for customer value and churn
Identify customers with high value and/or high churn propensity for tailored treatments (e.g., special retention campaigns, VIP service, liberal fee-reversal policies)
Conduct champion/challenger tests to identify the best treatments for each segment
Implement new champion and develop next set of challengers

Demonstration: IBM SPSS Modeler

Q&A

Topics

Groups and Point Assignments
- For scoring models, there are tools within SPSS that help define the number of groups for an attribute (e.g., the breadth of each group: Customer Age groups of <1 yr; 2 to 3 yrs; 3 to 5 yrs; 6 or more) and the number of points that should be assigned to each group for scoring purposes.

Consulting Validation for Data Readiness
- Senturus does offer this "discovery" call or visit as a service and it usually takes a few hours.

Modeling Technique Choice Criteria
- Statistical Regression and Point Scoring models work well for binary outcome situations (e.g., a customer cancels an account or doesn't; a customer defaults or doesn't, etc.)
- Decision Trees work well for multi-outcome situations
- Neural Nets work well for a resulting list of suspects (as for fraud) as opposed to an off/on or yes/no evaluation for each customer

Customer Involvement
- Usually significant over the 2 to 3 month implementation period for domain expertise; model validation; segmentation implementation; strategy determination, testing and strategy changes

Model Implementation Challenges
- Business Use and Customer treatment (for example)

Model Validation Frequency: at least quarterly is recommended

How is SPSS software implemented: hosted or on-premise?
- Both (see links in the slide deck)

Does SPSS require a data warehouse?
- Not necessarily because the observation data can come from any source, but a customer DW - for example - provides other reporting and analysis benefits and is an excellent source for SPSS for it supports changing the combination and population of attributes that SPSS analyses.

Are the SPSS demonstrated charts and graphs available in Cognos 10 BI suites?
- No. The SPSS data would have to be brought into Cognos BI, some calculations added, and the native Cognos charts and graphs would then display the SPSS data.

Is in-data base analytics recommended for SPSS?
- Yes, this is one way SPSS has been architected. Most data bases have internal algorithms that can be turned on and utilized by SPSS for analysis. (As opposed to the older, perhaps “standard” approach of extracting data from the data bases and handing that data to SPSS to store and analyze.)

Can data marts and warehouses support predictive modeling?
- Yes, but there are analysis and sampling requirements for making observations and getting attribute values that usually require multiple snapshots and date stamping them so that values can be obtained for a specific point in time. Such as the values on a day that a customer defaults on a payment, or the values on the day a customer cancels an account, or the first day of each month to obtain trended historical values in the observation period.

Business Strategy

#1 Key to Success in BI: Executive Sponsorship

One of the Ten Keys to Success in BI

Business Strategy

Choosing the Right Tool for the Job

Cognos Workspace vs. Traditional Studios vs. Active Reports

One of the challenges every Cognos user faces is, "Which tool should I use for my application?" With Cognos 10, you have many choices: Active Reports, Cognos Workspace Standard and Advanced, the traditional studios (Query, Report, etc.) all with different features and functions.

In this presentation and demo, we highlight the important differences in features between the various Cognos Studios, as well as the newer tools, such as Cognos Workspace Advanced. This session outlines important criteria that should be considered before investing significant hours (and dollars) in development, and provide tips on how to make the right tool choice.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos BI 10, Cognos Workspace, Cognos Workspace Advanced, Cognos Report Studio, Cognos Active Reports, Cognos Query Studio, Cognos Analysis Studio, Cognos PowerPlay Studio & PowerPlay Client, Cognos Metrics Studio, Cognos Insight, CAFE (Cognos Analysis for Excel)

Recommended Audience

BI Developers, BI Report Writers, BI Authors, BI Power Users, BI Report Consumers, Cognos and BI Support Staff

Presenters

John Peterson
Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Peter Jogopolus
Senior BI Architect, Senturus, Inc.

Outline

The Challenge: Which (Tool) Studio Should We Use?

The Olde Days
- Impromptu Client – Relational Source
- PowerPlay Client – Dimensional Source (OLAP)

The Good News: Cognos 8 & 10 BIVision
- Universal Web-based Front End
  - Relational Source
  - DMR Source
  - Dimensional Source (OLAP)
  - External Data

The Reality: Cognos 8 & 10 BI
- One application server, but too many different Tools & Studios.

How Cognos Thought It Should Work
- Use determines the tool.
  - Use: Ad Hoc Query
    - Tool: Query Studio
  - Use: Drill-down Analysis
    - Tool: Analysis Studio
  - Use: Formal Report
    - Tool: Studio Report
  - Use: Dashboards
    - Tool: RS/Portal or Workspace
  - Use: Mobile
    - Tool: Active Reports

Framework Manager Metadata Model
- Relational Source
- DMR Source
- Dimensional Source (OLAP)
- External Data

How Analysis and Reporting Really Work
- It’s a continuum.
  - Ad Hoc query: a simple question.
  - Drill-down and explore: needs more detail.
  - Simple report: make it routine.
  - Complex report: make it fancy.
  - Complex report or dashboard: automate and distribute it.

Other Factors
- Training on all tools for all users doesn’t make sense.
- Licensing on all tools for all users doesn’t make sense.
- Handing off to Report Studio pros is not scalable (nor is it self-service).

The Challenge: Lots of Front End Tools
- Report Studio
- Query Studio
- Analysis Studio
- PowerPlay Studio & PowerPlay Client
- Metrics Studio
- Cognos Workspace (Standard)
- Cognos Workspace Advanced
- Cognos Insight
- CAFÉ (Cognos Analysis for Excel)
- Active Reports

Important Criteria: What Should IConsider?

Uses to Consider
- Standardized Reports
  - Self-run
  - Automated Distribution
- Ad-hoc Reports
- One-off Queries
- Individualized, Interactive Dashboards
- Scorecards
- Speed-to-thought analytics
- Visualizations
- Mobile Reports and Analysis

Features to Consider
- Software Requirements & Browser Support
- Data Source & Package Support
- Report Types & Visualization Capabilities
- Report Functionality
- Query Support
- Prompting
- Report Formatting & Outputs
- Printing, Distribution & Security
- Licensing Considerations
- Overall Ease of Use & Development Speed

Feature Set Comparisons: How Are Tools Different?

Caveat Audience
- Nowhere is change more constant than in software feature sets.
- The following slides were based on the latest available information regarding Cognos 10 tool functionality (note: items are changing constantly).
- Note, focus of the following slides is not on:
  - Cognos Insight
  - CAFÉ
  - Metrics Studio
Software Requirements & Browser Support
- Software type
  - Requires Server software installation
  - Desktop Client (Windows)
- Browser Support
  - Internet Explorer
  - Google Chrome
  - Mozilla Firefox
  - Apple Safari
  - Apple Safari on iOS
Data Source Support, Report Types &Visualization
- - - Data Source & Package Support
      - Data Source & Package Support
        
        Relational Package
        
        Dimensional Package
        
        External Data Sources
    - Report Type
      - Supports List Reports
      - Supports Crosstabs
      - Supports Charts
      - Supports Maps
      - Supports Active Reports
    - Visualization
      - Immediate Data Preview
      - Both Run & Design Modes
      - RAVE Support
    - Report Functionality
      - Filtering
      - Advanced Filtering
      - Slicers
      - Create Calculations
      - Create Complex Calculations
      - Copy Report to Clipboard
      - Drill-through Definitions
      - Drill-up/ Drill-downs
      - Variable Support
      - Layout Calculations (Param. headers)
      - Complex Nesting and Row Selection
      - Intersections/Tuples
      - Expand-Collapse Built-in
    - Query Support
      - Supports Multiple Queries
      - Supports Joins
      - Supports Unions
      - Supports Excepts
      - Supports Outer Joins
      - Supports Member Sets
      - Supports MDX Functions
      - Can “link” Dimensional and Relational Data
    - Prompting
      - Basic Prompting
      - Controlled Filtering & Sorting
      - Cascading Prompts
      - Cognos Prompt API
      - Prompting Page design
    - Report Formatting
      - Blocks & Tables
      - Box Type
      - Background Effects
      - Alignment
      - Size and Overflow
      - Conditional Styles
      - Advanced Conditional Styles
      - Data Formatting
      - Multiple Tabs
      - Multiple Pages (Report Books)
    - Report Outputs
      - HTML
      - PDF
      - Excel
      - CSV
      - MHT
    - Printing and Distribution
      - Page layout control
      - Multi-object page printing
      - Single Frame printing only
      - Bursting
      - Saved Prompt Values
      - Result set size constraints
    - Security
      - Supports row-level security in FM Model.
      - Supports row-level security in Cubes.
      - Supports portal/folder security.
      - Interactive report can be emailed.
    - Licensing Considerations
      - Minimal Role required (for development).
      - Minimal Role required (for consumption).
      - Ease-of-use (scale: 1-5, where 5 is most difficult).
      - Development Speed (scale: 1-5, where 1 is fastest).
Other Considerations
- - Remember that many tools export to Report Studio for further enhancement, but only CWA can re-import modified reports.
  - Write-back capability not included (only available in Cognos Insight & TM1.
  - Use Event Studio for advanced report scheduling & delivery control.

Cognos OLAP Roadmap: How Should you Stage your Dimensional Data?
- IBM Cognos OLAP Roadmap
  - IBM Cognos TM1
    - Optimal for write-back, what-if analysis, planning and budgeting, or other specialized applications.
    - Able to handle medium data volumes.
    - Aggregation occurs on the fly, which can impact performance with high data and high user volumes.
  - IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
    - Optimal for read-only reporting and analytics over large data volumes.
    - Aggregate-aware, with extensive in-memory caching for performance.
    - Star or snowflake schema required in underlying database (highly recommended to maximize performance).
  - IBM Cognos PowerCubes
    - Optimal to provide consistent interactive analysis experience to large number of users when the data source is an operational/transactional system, and a star or snowflake data structure cannot be achieved.
    - Cube (MOLAP) architecture that includes pre-aggregation is such that scalability requires careful management using cube groups.
    - Data latency is inherent with any MOLAP cube technology, where data movement into the cube is required.
  - Dimensionally Modeled Relational (DMR)
    - Optimal to easily create a dimensional data exploration experience over low data volumes in an operational/transactional system, and where latency needs to be carefully managed.
    - Caching on the Cognos Dynamic Query server helps performance.
    - Processing associated with operational/transactional system impacts performance.

Demo: Recreating Existing PowerPlayReports using Cognos Workspace Advanced

A Few Decision Making Tips
- Carefully evaluate your expected uses (especially mobile use and delivery)
- Seriously consider Cognos Workspace Advanced (particularly prior to deploying Analysis Studio).
- If interactive mobile is important, look at Active Reports, but beware of significantly more effort.
- Mock up Active Reports before starting development.
- QS and CWA work well for quick research and validating.
- Make full use of the ability to shift reports between of Report Studio and other tools.
- Push logic and relationships “upstream” into the FM model & Mart(s), instead of relying on report tools (Self-service BI).

Tips & Tricks

Installing Cognos 10.2.1: Tips and Tricks from the Trenches

How to Ensure a Successful Upgrade

Leveraging our experience installing Cognos hundreds of time across all versions of Cognos 8 and Cognos 10, Senturus shares the common issues and how-tos for a successful upgrade to Cognos 10.2.1.

This presentation covers the common issues and how-tos, such as: Cognos 10.2.1 BI Server core components, common installation issues, and tips for a successful configuration (including Dynamic Query Mode and support for the RAVE visualization engine).

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos 10.2.1

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Developers, BI Report Writers, BI Authors, BI Power Users, BI Report Consumers; Cognos and BI Support Staff

Presenter

Steven Reed-Pittman
Practice Director – Systems Integration and Optimization, Senturus, Inc.

OUTLINE

Core Architecture of the BI Server (and Some Common Misconceptions)

Cognos 10.2.1 BI Server Core Components
- Note: Report Servers are part of the “Application Tier Components” in the Cognos installation program.
Component Selection Options
- Note: The Cognos Content Database isn’t generally used in enterprise installations; it is only recommended for use in demo environments.
Content “*” Confusion: What Are These Things?
- Content Manager
  - The Cognos service that manages the storage and retrieval of report specifications, published packages, configuration data and Cognos security settings from the content store database.
- Content Store
  - The set of database tables that are used by the Content Manager to store Cognos application data.
- Cognos Content Database
  - Self-contained Apache Derby database server; can be used to host the content store database in demo environments when an enterprise DBMS is unavailable.
What is a Dispatcher?
- The “Dispatcher” is a Java application that runs a configurable set of Cognos services, not just reports.
- A dispatcher can also route requests to other dispatchers for load balancing.
Load Balancing Basics
- Cognos load balancing is performed by the Dispatchers, not the Gateway.
- The gateway always sends its requests to a single dispatcher URI; we could call this the gateway’s “current” target dispatcher:
- The gateway’s “current” target dispatcher performs load balancing as needed with the other dispatchers in the environment.
- The gateway will switch to a different dispatcher only if the “current” target dispatcher stops responding.

64-Bit Identity Crisis: The Ever-Growing Maze of Cognos Bitness

32-bit and 64-bit Components
- Java code is architecture agnostic (can run on a 32-bit or 64-bit JVM).
- Some components are still strictly 32-bit native C++ code (e.g., BIBus processes for Compatible Query Mode).
32-Bit Components in 64-Bit Cognos
- There are still some 32-bit-only components embedded in 64-bit Cognos 10.2.1:
  - Report execution processes for Compatible Query Mode (BIBusTKServerMain.exe) are still 32-bit.
  - 32-bit database client libraries are required for native-client integration with third-party databases.
Selectable-Bit Components In 64-Bit Cognos
- In 64-Bit Cognos 10.2.1, some components are delivered as BOTH 32-bit and 64-bit:
  - Web gateway components have been available as both 32-bit and 64 bit since Cognos 10.2.0.
  - Both versions of the gateway components are installed whenever you install the 64-bit BI Server.
  - In 10.2.0, the 32-bit gateway components were used by default.
  - In 10.2.1, the 64-bit gateway components are now used by default.
  - Use the “copyGateMod.bat” script to switch between them.
More Selectable-Bit Components in 64-Bit Cognos
- In 64-Bit Cognos 10.2.1, the Report Server execution mode can be set to 32-bit or 64-bit:
  - 32-bit execution mode allows the report server to handle CQM or DQM requests (DQM query requests are forwarded to the 64-bit Query Service for execution).
  - 64-bit execution mode allows the report server to handle DQM and Dynamic Cubes requests ONLY (note: routing rules are needed if running a combination of modes in one environment).
What Difference Does It Make? 32-Bit Versus 64-Bit
- 32-bit components are limited to a smaller amount of memory per-process (4 GB max addressable).
- Out-of-memory errors can occur on complex reports when a BIBus process hits this limit. Even if additional memory is available on the server, the BIBus process cannot use it.
- 64-bit components aren’t subject to the 4 GB memory limit, so they can perform higher complexity, memory-intensive processing.
- Dynamic Query Mode and Dynamic Cubes leverage 64-bit scalability to provide in-memory caching for high performance.

Things Go Wrong: Common Installation Problem Areas

Why Things Go Wrong: Cognos is Not an Island
- Famous last words: ”How hard can this be… don’t you just, point, click and go?”
- External dependencies add unique and variable complexity in every environment, including:
  - Network Security
  - Virtual Infrastructure
  - Database Access (SQL, Oracle, DB2, ODBC, JDBC)
  - Authentication Mechanisms (AD, LDAP, Series 7)
  - Web Server Configurations (IIS, Apache, SSL)
  - Anti-virus and Endpoint Security Solutions
Where Things Go Wrong: four Common Problem Areas
- Operating System (Windows)
- Database (SQL Server, Oracle)
- Web Server (IIS)
- Fix Packs

Common Problem Area #1: Operating System

Common Windows OS Issues
- Service account not added to Local Administrators group.
- Cognos hasn’t been configured to run using the service account credentials.
  - Check the service’s properties.
- Data Execution Prevention (DEP) has not been configured to allow Cognos to run.
  - For simplicity, DEP is enabled here for essential Windows programs and services only.
- Alternatively, individual DEP exceptions can also be explicitly configured for Cognos.
- Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is turned on.
  - Set IE ESC to “Off” in order to access Cognos Connection directly from the server.
  - Note: This change is NOT required for browsers on client PCs to be able to connect to the server.

Common Problem Area #2: Database

Common Database-Related issues
- Incompatible Collation Sequence
  - The Cognos content store requires a case-insensitive collation sequence. Some common collation sequences for Cognos installations are:
    - SQL Server: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
    - Oracle: AL32UTF8
- Oracle: Incorrect JDBC driver file for Content Manager
  - The correct JDBC driver must be copied from the Oracle client installation location to .../webapps/p2pd/WEB-INF/lib.
    - ojdbc6.jar is recommended for use with Cognos 10.2.1.
- Dynamic Query Mode: Spaces in the Path to the JDBC Drivers
  - Beware: DQM cannot handle spaces in the path to the JDBC drivers (e.g., the default Cognos installation path “C:Program Filesibmcognos...” ).
  - Use something like “C:ibmcognos...” as your installation path instead.
  - See the IBM Cognos 10 Dynamic Query Cookbook for additional details on required JDBC driver files and configurations for DQM.
Common SQL Server and Oracle DB Issues
- Incorrect Bitness of Database Client Software
  - For Compatible Query Mode (CQM) access to third-party data sources, 64-bit Cognos 10.2.1 still requires 32-bit client libraries.
    - For Oracle, you must explicitly install the 32-bit Oracle client libraries when running Cognos on 64-bit Windows.
    - For SQL Server, the 64-bit SQL Native Client includes both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries.

Common Problem Area #3: Web Server

Common IIS Configuration Issues
- Role Services have not been installed for ISAPI and Windows Authentication.
- Application Pool Identity not set to Network Service.
- Application Pool not configured properly for the bitness of the gateway extensions.
  - Set “Enable 32-Bit Applications” to True when using the 32-bit gateway extensions.
  - Set “Enable 32-Bit Applications” to False when using the 64-bit gateway extensions.

Common Problem Area #4: Fix Packs

Fix-Pack Madness: Which Fixes To Install?
- 10.2.1 Fix Pack 1
  - Unlike standard fix packs, FP1 also added new functionality.
  - Support for the RAVE visualization engine was added in FP1.
  - XML schema change for report specifications – requires a separate step to upgrade existing 10.2.1 content after applying FP1.
- 10.2.1 Fix Pack 1 Dynamic Query Feature Bundle
  - Also known as 10.2.1.1 Interim Fix 3.
  - This is a separate install that goes on top of 10.2.1 FP1 to add enhanced capabilities for DQM and Dynamic Cubes.
  - The Dynamic Query Feature Bundle MUST be installed before FP2 if its features are needed. It CANNOT be installed after FP2 has been installed.
- 10.2.1 Fix Pack 2
  - Unlike standard Cognos fix packs, FP2 is not quite cumulative (it doesn’t include the Dynamic Query Feature Bundle changes).
Recommended Install Sequence for 10.2.1 BI Fix Packs
- To get to the latest, most stable and most feature-complete version of Cognos 10.2.1, use the following install sequence:
  - 10.2.1 Base Install
  - 10.2.1 Fix Pack 1
  - 10.2.1 FP1 Dynamic Query Feature Bundle (aka 10.2.1.1 Interim Fix 3)
  - 10.2.1 FP2
Additional Gotchas: 10.2.1 Mobile Fix Packs
- Mobile adds a further layer of complexity to the Fix Pack process:
  - Cognos Mobile 10.2.1 has its own, separate Fix Packs.
  - The latest SERVER-SIDE Mobile Fix Pack is Mobile 10.2.1 Fix Pack 2, which requires BI 10.2.1 FP1 or later to be installed first.
  - Mobile 10.2.1 Fix Pack 3 is also available now, but Mobile 10.2.1 FP3 is only an app upgrade (iOS/Android), not a server-side upgrade.
- Plan carefully and patch carefully!

Some Final Notes: Keeping 32-bit Tools Separate, Disabling the Query Service to Save Memory

Keeping 32-Bit Tools Separate
- As always, the “pure” 32-bit client tools still can’t be installed in the same directory as the 64-bit BI Server components.
  - Because Framework Manager, Transformer and Cube Designer are 32-bit components, they must be installed in a separate directory from any Cognos BI 64-bit server components.
  - The Dynamic Query Analyzer is available as both a 32-bit and a 64-bit install.
The Cognos 10 Query Service
- If Dynamic Query Mode is not being used, you can disable the Query Service to save memory.
- The Query Service uses a dedicated JVM instance for Dynamic Query Mode execution, which allocates 1 GB of memory by default at startup.

Getting Unstuck: Use the Cognos Knowledge Base

Using the IBM Cognos Knowledge Base
- Simple searches are more likely to produce relevant articles.
- Detailed searches are less likely to return anything at all.
  - http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/Overview/Software/Information_Management/Cognos_Business_Intelligence
  - Select “Search only Cognos Business Intelligence,” otherwise you’ll get results for all IBM products.

Tips & Tricks

Mobile Business Intelligence with Roambi

Delivering Existing BI Content to Mobile Devices

Our clients are finding Roambi to be a valuable solution for mobile BI because it:

leverages the mobile interface elements such as swipes, zooms and auto-refreshes.
is a mobile front-end to the business intelligence infrastructure that you already own including: SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Oracle OBIEE and Microsoft BI.

In this webinar recording, we objectively discuss Roambi and give a demo Roambi for mobile business intelligence.

The discussion and demos include:

the mobile BI capabilities of Roambi.
the steps required to configure an existing BI report to be a data source for Roambi Mobile BI as well as the steps required to deploy to the mobile device.
the mobile BI experience from the perspective of your users.

Business Context

Deploying business intelligence results and capabilities to mobile devices provides significant benefit for managers and analysts because it is often more timely and interactive than connecting to enterprise data with a computer.

When the mobile capability leverages a company’s existing BI infrastructure – and relies on a company’s existing security processes as well – it both adds value and security.

Technologies Covered

Existing BI infrastructure (SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Oracle OBIEE and Microsoft BI); Roambi

Recommended Audience

BI Developers; BI Managers

Presenters

Greg Herrera

President and Co-Founder
Senturus

David Bacerra

Vice President Strategy
and Business Development
Roambi

Tom Wilseck

Customer Success Team
Roambi

Outline

Architecture

Roambi is a mobile presentation layer that exists on top of a company’s existing BI infrastructure. Multiple BI environments can be supported simultaneously, such as: SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Oracle OBIEE and Microsoft BI. If a company has more than one BI environment deployed, all may be presented to mobile devices and use the same Roambi interface.
Access and security is managed by the specific BI environments – there is no additional Roambi-only security environment to manage. Access is passed through Roambi to the specific BI environment to that is being connected.

Configuration and Connections

Multiple mobile devices are configured
Connections to multiple Business Intelligence infrastructures are configured
Depending upon a user’s security and access that is defined within each separate BI environment, BI content is published and refreshed on the mobile device and presented in a chosen format or view.

Presentation Views and Rendering

There are currently 10 view options for rendering BI content from an existing BI content store, package, or report:
- Blink
- Cardex
- CataList
- Elements
- Layers
- PieView
- Pulse
- Squares
- SuperList
- Trends

These are chosen from a “carousel” during deployment.

Data is pushed to the mobile device from the BI environment and then rendered with the device’s native Roambi application. The much larger files that contain the presentation graphics and images usually created on a server or host computer (and sent to other mobile applications, such as Cognos’ Active Reports) are not sent to the mobile device with Roambi, resulting in a much faster user experience.

Leveraging multiple, existing BI infrastructures and sources

Portals supported include sources that hold BI reports, documents and cubes directly. Also, xls, xlsx and csv sources are supported.

Q&A

What are the connectivity options for a company that doesn’t have a formal BI environment and source?

Roambi can also pull data from Excel and csv files as well as direct connectivity via ODBC to data bases.

Can Salesforce be used as a live source (as opposed to having to extract data and have a duplicate copy of it apart from the source)?

Yes – so a SaaS system (in the cloud) is also a valid source

What mobile devices are supported currently and what are planned?

iOS devices currently. Soon an HTML5 version will be released, so that Android and desktop devices will be supported as well.

What are typical transfer times?

Many reports and files are in the 5MB or less size range and take a few seconds over WiFi and 4G networks. Over 3G and LTE can take 30-40 seconds or even 1 minute.

When sourcing a Roambi mobile rendering from a Cognos report, does the report have to have been previously refreshed in the Cognos environment?

The Roambi application assumes that either the report has been run and has data in it; or if it is associated with a query, then the query is executed and the resultant data is used.

Is there a specific format that source data needs to be in for Roambi to render?

Not just one, there are a number of formats for data: cross-tab, lists, hierarchies, query result sets, etc.

What is the approach to data security?

Apple’s native on-device encryption.

Also, https “in flight” security.

Device-side security via PIN for the Roambi application.

The application may be locked by a remote user or a remote administrator; and a block-and-wipe capability is also available to the administrator.

Does the user need to be on a corporate VPN for access?

Yes, but others are available also: such as reverse-proxy servers and installing the Roambi server in the “DMZ” relative to the firewall.

How does Roambi handle prompted reports?

It can, but using prompts in a Roambi report requires the persistent connectivity with the company data base for the back and forth communication. A better practice is to render a much larger report and use the mobile device’s Roambi processing and rendering capabilities to filter and navigate the values offered in the prompt(s).

Can Roambi support drill-throughs?

Yes, but the report would need to contain all the levels and details needed for the drilling.

What is available for proof of concept projects (POC’s)?

Two options:

Light-weight, small scope, free POC involving a few examples with no on-site software installation.

Mobile Value Case: a fee-based approach for $10,000 - $20,000 that includes on-site installation and multiple views with unlimited user access. The fee can be credited towards the software license.

Features

What’s New in Cognos Version 10.2.1.1

Plus Previews of New Products

Cognos Version 10.2.1.1

This overview demonstrates several exciting new functionalities, including end-to-end Visualization workflow, Cognos Workspace on Mobile, Active Reports with Visualizations, Report Booklets, Theme Designer, and embeddable workspaces.

We discuss performance enhancements and extended support for big data, along with a preview of several products first announced at the 2013 IBM Information on Demand (IOD) Conference. This includes IBM Concert, which gives users a simplified way to collaborate and work on content,anywhere, anytime.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

The enhancements in IBM Cognos Version 10.2.1.1 speed business users’ insights into their data by significantly advancing the capabilities that provide interactive visualization, mobile access, improved performance and support for big data.

Specifically these enhancements:

Amplify mobile business intelligence with new and innovative visualizations allowing users to quickly pinpoint trends in data.
Leverage native and optimized web applications for Android and iOS to support a broader range of smart phones and tablets.
Get insights quicker than ever before through performance improvements gained from more efficient memory usage, reduced memory footprint and improved use of compression.
Gain a more complete view of the business and act quickly off insights with expanded support for big data sources including Hadoop, analytic data stores and real-time streaming data.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence 10.2.1.1, Concert, Analytics Zone

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Developers, BI Report Writers, BI Authors, BI Power Users, BI Report Consumers; Cognos and BI Support Staff

PRESENTERS

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc

Greg originally founded Senturus in 2001. He now heads sales, recruiting, marketing, human resources, and new ventures.

Jeff Dean
Solution Advisor North America, IBM

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Overview of innovations in Cognos Business Intelligence

Interactive Visualization: New Features in Version 10.2.1.1.
Mobile: New Features in Version 10.2.1.1
Performance Enhancements in Version 10.2.1.1
Extended support for Big Data in Version 10.2.1.1

Additional innovations in Version 10.2.1.1

Cognos Workspace
Ability to map slider/select values to group items that are alike.
Dynamically update the slider/select value filter when the report changes.
Bulk Widget Updates
Cognos Workspace Advanced/Report Studio.
Show value as percentage.
Share sets between reports.
Expanded text-based filtering options.
Simplified custom grouping (CWA).
Improved Excel formatting.
Visualization Library
Interactivity
Provide drill up/down, drill through, tool tips and selection for server side generated visualizations enabling deeper analysis.
General reporting.
Chrome/Safari Support
Dynamic Cubes
Performance
Dynamic Cubes API
Focused performance improvements of DMR first run.
New monitoring/management of DQ memory usage through Cognos Administration.
New Data Source Support
Administration

IBM Concert

IBM Concert surrounds TM1 interfaces, offering step-by-step user guidance.
Guided Business Processes
Focus on collaboration.
Cloud Deployable, Mobile Enabled

Features

Interactive Reports and Dashboards for the Mobile Audience

IBM Cognos Active Reports

Are you looking for a way to reach your growing mobile and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) audience, while leveraging your investment in IBM Cognos?

Experienced authors can deliver interactive reports and dashboards to decision makers, regardless of their location or choice of device through IBM Cognos Active Reports. Active Reports build on existing skills in the IBM Cognos Report Studio, creating a minimal learning curve for your developers. Native Apps for Apple and Android devices make consumption and administration of content simple and intuitive.

IBM has invested heavily in architectural improvements to make Cognos 10.2.1.1 Active Reports a more viable solution for a growing number of applications.

This webinar demonstrates Active Report development in action, including:

How Active Reports help you achieve your mobile analytics initiative
Fundamental concepts, best practices, and techniques for creating Active Reports via live demonstration
How the latest versions of IBM Cognos 10 have significantly improved the efficiency and shortened the development cycle for Active Reports

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos Report Studio 10.2.1, IBM Cognos BI 10.2.1, IBM Cognos Active Reports 10.2.1, IBM Cognos Active Reports 10.2.1.1

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff; BI Report Writers; BI Authors; BI Power Users; BI Report Consumers.

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Learning Solutions, Senturus, Inc.

OUTLINE

Reaching the Mobile Audience

Who
- Consumers of analytics that can benefit from access to information via non-traditional channels or access points.
What
- Mobile devices such as tablets (iPads), smart phones (Android, iPhone).
Where
- Out of the office, either connected or disconnected.
- In the office via non-traditional devices.
When
- NOW: Better devices and infrastructure.
- Increasing supply of and demand for information.
Why
- Improve time to decision via interactive analytics where they were not previously available.
- Increase productivity by making key information accessible anywhere, anytime.
How
- Install
  - Mobile server and gateway components.
- Develop
  - Content specifically designed for mobile consumption.
- Consume:
  - Point mobile browser at external gateway, and/or install native apps for devices.
- Administer
  - Secure devices and content.
  - Schedule delivery to mobile recipients.

Getting Started

Extending your existing IBM Cognos BI solution.
Download and Install IBM Cognos Mobile on gateway and each dispatcher.
Identify target users and develop a security policy.
Establish a content strategy.
- Which existing content is suitable to be consumed “as-is”?
- Which existing content can be efficiently modified for mobile consumption?
- Which high-value requirements justify new development specifically for the mobile audience?
- Are Active Reports the answer?

Getting Started – Infrastructure and Licensing

Licensing
- Existing IBM Cognos customers? You own it.
- Enhanced Consumer or above license role can access via Mobile.
- Not sure? Contact Senturus and let us help you save some money and optimize your license investment.
Infrastructure and security concerns
- Consider a dedicated gateway for external users on a separate web server outside the DMZ.
- Installation is easy:
  - Run the install package on gateway and each dispatcher.
  - Cognos Mobile service integrates with existing services and is centrally managed through your existing Config and Admin consoles.

What’s the Big Deal with Active Reports in this New Release?

With each new release of IBM Cognos 10, we’ve seen significant improvements in the platform with regard to Active Reports development and consumption.
10.2.1
- RAVE: Rapidly Adaptive Visualization Engine
  - Extends the visualization library making graphical and other visual displays more appealing and interactive, not limited to a fixed Chart library.
  - Visualizations allow for run-time rendering so authors can apply Filter methods to these displays; this reduces development efforts, as well as the size of Active Reports.
- Ability to track Mobile usage through Audit DB.
- The new compression feature compresses Active Report controls within the output, producing files that are smaller and open faster.
  - This significantly improves the performance of Active Reports that include large amounts data versus graphical content.
- Improvements to the Active Report engine streamline performance, and result in improved memory consumption characteristics.
10.2.1.1
- With the new IBM Cognos Mobile interface, you can navigate BI content in a more visual way. For instance, you can sort your local content and pause and restart report downloads.
- Automatic Configuration
  - iPad users can tap on a web location (URL) to automatically configure the IBM Cognos Mobile application to connect to the BI server.
  - This greatly simplifies configuration by eliminating the need to type long URLs and choose configuration settings.
- Faster Mobile Reports
  - Multi-page reports that are manually executed are retrieved and presented one page at a time, rather than all at once.
- High-fidelity Reports
  - IBM Cognos Mobile has enhanced its support for HTML reports on mobile devices
  - Enhancements include:
    - Rendering of additional fonts.
    - Page layout.
    - Prompt controls.
    - Drill-through actions.
    - Saved HTML output.
- The capabilities for IBM Cognos Workspace on mobile devices, along with the drill-through actions between active reports and regular reports, remain unchanged from the previous release.
- Zooming on Active Reports
  - When viewing active reports on Apple iOS devices, users can zoom in and out using the standard pinch gesture.
- Apple Push Notifications
  - You can now use Apple push notifications to notifyusers of the IBM Cognos Mobile native iPad application about the availability of new IBM Cognos Business Intelligence reports.
  - The supported notifications include badges and text alerts.
- Reports can now be distributed to IBM Cognos Mobile users by bursting.

Live Demonstration

Access Existing IBM Cognos content via PC and via iPad.
Use the iPad native App.
Build and consume an Active Report on iPad.

Senturus Cognos Training Options

Just getting started with IBM Cognos? Talk to the experts at Senturus!
Senturus training content: all new for 2014.
- Updated to version 10.2.1
- New Courses:
  - Expert Authoring
  - Expanded Cognos Workspace Advanced (OLAP and Relational)
  - Expanded Metadata Modeling
  - Expanded Dimensional Authoring
Senturus can deliver tailored training solutions, including private training engagements.

Features

The Challenge of Mobile Business Intelligence

Mobile BI Strategy

Mobile Business Intelligence

Business Context

Smartphones and Tablets are only growing in use, and they are used for both personal and work purposes. Companies need to develop a mobile strategy that incorporates business user needs to maximize worker productivity and collaboration.

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

The Newest Wave:

As mobile device use increased, business users increased demand for BI on personal devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
Companies are motivated to improve BI deployment to expand the number of non-technical users, improve employee efficiency and attract talent.

Key Study Facts:

The top motivator for participants (68% of research participants) was the need to provide information to Line of Business users.
70% of businesses have deployed mobile BI, are getting ready to deploy mobile BI, or hope to deploy mobile BI in the near future.

A Changing Environment:

Smartphones are changing the way in which people work and access their information. The major limitation of the smartphone is its screen size. Tablets are only growing in demand and its larger screen size makes it a viable alternative to the desktop.

The Challenge for IT:

Personal mobile devices and other technology are being used for both work and life. IT will have to deal with a greater variety of data types and increased security requirements. The key question is which mobile operating systems and which mobile applications will be supported. Business Intelligence will definitely be part of the mix.

New Promise for Collaboration:

Companies are considering ways to support social networking and business collaboration tools to encourage information sharing and teamwork. Vantana’s research suggests that collaboration capabilities should exist on smartphones and tablets, and be linked to BI analytics for information sharing.

Toward a Successful Strategy

Organizations should consider business mobility as part of its strategy. There is a huge potential to improve employee productivity and competitive positioning. It is important to involve employee input while developing your mobile strategy to ensure the right BI capabilities are incorporated into your plan.

Business Strategy

IBM Cognos Report Studio Version 10 Tips and Tricks

Demos of Maps Feature, All Demos Applicable to Cognos v8 and v10

Tips & Tricks

User Friendly IBM Cognos Report Authoring: IBM Cognos 10.2 Workspace

Desktop Dashboard

Business Users have long needed a dashboard that allows them to easily interact and explore their data. IBM Cognos Workspace is a desktop dashboard that allows business users to do report authoring without assistance from I.T. During this webinar, we explore Cognos Workspace and Workspace Advanced. We demonstrate techniques and evaluate its features.

Business Context

There are significant improvements in the 10.2 release of IBM Cognos Workspace and IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced (previously Business Insight) that speed "time to deployment" for reports and dashboards.

Power business users as well as BI Developers will benefit.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Workspace and IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced

Recommended Audience

Business Intelligence Report Authors; Business Users

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus Inc.

Albert has spent the last 12 years as a technical trainer focused on business intelligence and performance management. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos for five years. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Since 2007, Albert has acted as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director of Education for Senturus.

Outline

IBM Cognos 10.2 Release Highlights (Oct. 2012)

End user experience

Both Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace (formerly Business Insight):
- More interactive visualizations (filtering and drilling on charts)
- Top/bottom filtering; expand/collapse; freeze headers
- Tabbed workspaces

IBM Cognos BI Tool Applicability

Query Studio
- Ideal for simple, ad hoc reporting
- Easy to learn and use, but limited
Analysis Studio
- Dedicated data exploration interface for slice-and-dice functions
- Not intended to produce reports
Report Studio
- Highly sophisticated professional authoring studio
- Not intended for ad hoc reporting
- Full featured and complex - steep learning curve
Cognos Workspace
- Assemble existing content and personalize, collaborate, explore
- Not an end-to-end authoring solution
- Enhances the business consumer's experience
- Amplifies the value of standard reports
Cognos Workspace Advanced
- Nearly complete authoring
- Unrestricted data exploration
- Compatible with Report Studio
- Flexibility similar to PowerPlay client Reporter Mode
- A hybrid of Query, Report and Analysis Studio
- Supports complex expressions (calculations)
- No access to the Query model

Demonstration

Cognos Workspace
- Create a Workspace from existing content
- Enhance the Workspace
- Extend the analysis with Workspace Advanced
Cognos Workspace Advanced
- Create a multi-display report layout
- Conditionally format data
- Filter and prompt for criteria

Create an asynchronous crosstab and perform deep data exploration

Q&A

Topics

Licensing review

Workspace: "Enhanced Consumer" license or above
Workspace Advanced: "Advanced Business Author" license or above

Does Workspace completely obsolete Query Studio?

No. It's a license expense versus capability trade-off discussion that may have a different answer, company to company.
Workspace versus Report Studio? Probably not as RS supports pixel-perfect report results, but is much more complex to learn and use.

Publish and Sharing

The Workspace is available through the portal for collaboration
Exports to html, pdf and Excel are for each widget in the workspace, not for the entire workspace (yet).

Challenges, considerations, constraints, "gotcha's"?

Clean OLAP and Dynamic Cube sources are important to performance

Tips & Tricks

Income Statement Reporting Challenges with BI Tools

Helping IT and Finance to Understand Each Other

The income statement is the most widely used financial report in the world. Yet at many organizations, it’s also often a source of tension between the finance and information technology (IT) teams. Finance grows frustrated, as they have not been given the software tools needed to dig into the numbers and slice and dice the income statement in greater detail. Meanwhile, IT also becomes frustrated as they have invested in world-class business intelligence tools — tools that are purpose-built for drill-down and slice and dice — but user-adoption in Finance remains elusive.

In this 90-minute session, experts from Senturus discuss and demonstrate key tips and techniques for using general-purpose IBM Cognos Business Intelligence tools for income statement reporting. Specific issues addressed include:

The need for:
- Both revenue and expenses to be displayed as positive numbers in the income statement.
- Variances to foot across both the rows and the columns of the income statement.
- Roll-ups to work correctly. Sometimes, roll-ups are additions, sometimes they’re subtractions but they always need to be correct.
- These requirements to be addressed not just for standard reports but for ad hoc analysis as well.
The need to:
- Compare budget versus actual, with the flexibility to choose which budget version to use.
- Display positive variances as favorable in some cases, and as unfavorable in others.
- Slice and dice the income statement by department, business unit, product family, etc.

We also share tips and techniques for configuring your IBM Cognos Transformer models to enhance OLAP-based income statement reporting and ad hoc analysis. Additionally, this webinar includes a demonstration of business end user income statement reporting and analysis using Cognos Workspace Advanced.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos BI 10.2.1, IBM Cognos Report Studio 10.2.1,IBM Cognos Active Reports 10.2.1

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

IT Departments; Finance Departments; IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff; BI Report Writers; BI Authors; BI Power Users; BI Report Consumers.

Presenters

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

Greg originally founded Senturus in 2001. He now heads sales, recruiting, marketing, human resources, and new ventures.

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Andrew Wyatt
Senior Managing Consultant, Senturus, Inc.

OUTLINE

Income Statement Fundamentals: The Language and the Math

The Basic Language of an Income Statement
- The language of the income statement often varies by company.
- The income statement is sometimes called the profit and loss statement (P&L), sometimes the statement of operations, and sometimes the statement of income.
- It shows the profitability of the company for the period, on the bottom line.
The Basic Math of an Income Statement
- Net Profit = Total Income less Total Expenses
- Income statement includes break-outs of the income and expenses associated with different types of activities (e.g. primary and secondary activities).
- In the basic math, the income items are positive, the expense items are negative, and the totals and subtotals are summation roll-ups using straight addition.
  - Straight addition roll-ups are especially important in ad hoc reporting.
The Basic Math with Budgets and Variances
- Budget versus Actual (with Variance) is a very common business requirement, and must be supported in both standard and ad hoc reporting.
- Business Users need the income statement to indicate whether the Variance is Favorable or Unfavorable.
- In basic math, the Variance equation is always Actual minus Budget (A minus B).
- In basic math, the positive numbers are the Favorable variances and the negative numbers are the Unfavorable variances.
- In the rate cases where the business requirement accepts the mix of positive for income and negative for expense, you are almost done.

Challenge #1 Feeling Negative: Keeping It Positive Creates Challenges

Keeping it Positive – Challenge 1A: No Rollups
- As seen, the business requirements almost always mandate that both revenues and expenses be presented as positive values.
- The major challenge of the “Keep it Positive” requirement is that it removes the ability to use straight addition for summation rollups. Hierarchical rollups no longer work, because those rollups rely on straight summation where the parent value equals the total of the child values. When all the values are positive, summations no longer hold, as additions are required in some places and subtractions in others.
- This forces both report authors and ad hoc users to create calculated rows for each total and subtotal.
  - Requires tedious formula creation.
  - Not user friendly.
  - Prone to error.
  - Requires accounting knowledge.
Keeping it Positive – Challenge 1B: Variance Formulas
- The need to present both revenues and expenses as positive numbers forces variations of the variance formulas, which equates to four separate variations.
- This forces both report authors and ad hoc users to figure out which of the four variance formulas to apply, then apply it manually to each row of the report.
  - Cannot call it ad hoc reporting when that is not the case.
  - Requires accounting knowledge that not all report developers have.
  - Prone to error.

Tip #1: Delay The Positive – Do the Math First, Then Reverse the Sign

The Common Mistake
- The roll-up and variance formula challenges are the result of using positive values for both revenue and expenses, and trying to accommodate via situation-specific formulas.
- The challenging reports are either using:
  - A source database that maintains positive values for both revenue and expenses.
  - A technique that converts the negative values to positives.
- Common Mistake
  - Causes the reporting nightmares.
  - Removes hope of reasonable ad-hoc analysis.
Better Way: Leverage the Basic Math
- The basic math enables consistent, correct:
  - Roll-ups at every level.
  - Representation of favorable and unfavorable variances.
- The problem with the basic math is that it displays negative numbers when the business requires positive.
- Solution: Have the reporting software use the basic math behind the scenes, and selectively reverse the sign only when the data is being displayed to the user
Tip: Selectively Reverse the Sign via a Rule
- This report illustrates the concept of the selective sign reversal.
- The values in the Variance column already correctly represent favorable and unfavorable variances.
- The positive numbers in the Actual and Budget columns are also already correct.
- The numbers highlighted in blue are the ones that need their signs to be selectively reversed, after the basic math is complete.
Tip: Use the Fundamental Accounting Elements
- As a rule, once the basic math is complete, selectively reverse the sign when:
  - The value is in an account having Normal Balance Type of Debit, and the value is either an Actual measure or a Budget measure.
Result: Correct Signs, Rollups, and Variances
- Bonus: Works for ad hoc analysis as well.

Challenge #2: The Data is Almost Always Sore, and Needs Massaging

The Basic Math Needs the Right Data
- Sources of accounting data from which the Income Statement information is derived include:
  - General Ledger software module (or package).
  - Planning/Budgeting software packages.
  - Spreadsheet-based budget models.
  - Finance Marts or Data Warehouses.
  - Operational Data Stores (ODS).
  - Consolidation software packages.
  - Disclosure Management software packages.
- Positives and negatives are not always maintained in the data values themselves.
- The data needs to be organized and harmonized.
Five Fundamental Accounting Examples
- Element: Asset
  - Debit: Increase
  - Credit: Decrease
  - Example Accounts: Cash, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Land, Furniture, Equipment, Patents, and Prepays.
- Element: Liability
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Accounts Payable, Salaries Payable, Prepayments, Income Taxes, etc.
- Element: Income / Revenue
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Sales, Interest Income, Rent Income, Interest from Investments, etc.
- Element: Expense
  - Debit: Increase
  - Credit: Decrease
  - Example Accounts: Salaries, Rent, Repairs, Insurance, Utilities, and Telecommunications.
- Element: Equity / Capital
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Common Stock, Paid-in Capital, Retained Earnings.
Organizing the Data: Scenario #1All Positive
- Scenario #1: Source data holds both Debits and Credits as positive numbers.
  - Create derived Natural GL Amount field by multiplying Source Amount by -1 whenever the account has a normal balance type of Credit. When the normal balance type is Debit, the derived Natural GL Amount is the same as the Source Amount.
  - For use in the Basic Math approach, create a derived Reversed GL Amount field that is the reverse of Natural GL Amount.
Organizing the Data: Scenario #2 Already Mixed
- Scenario #2: Source data has Debits as positive and Credits as negative.
  - Derived Natural GL Amount field is the same as Source Amount.
  - For use in Basic Math approach, create derived Reversed GL Amount field that is the reverse of Natural GL Amount.
Organizing the Data – Decompose Chart of Accounts
Harmonizing the Data –Enables the Drillable P&L

Realizing the Potential: Income Statements with General-purpose IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

Technique for Selective Sign Reversal in Cognos Transformer
Settings for Measures: Actual and Budget
- Make sure you source Actual and Budget measures from appropriate Reversed GL Amount field.
Settings for Categories: Account Dimension
Don’t Forget Mixed Rollup Accounts
Actual and Budget Need to be Measures

Putting it to Work: Income Statement Demonstrations Using IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced

Demonstrations
- Row and Column Selection
- Budget versus Actual
- Relative Time and Comparisons
- Expanding Specific Sections
- Business Unit per Page
- Asymmetrical Reporting
- Seasonality
- Conditional Highlighting
- Actuals and Forecast by Month
- Percent of Total
- Drill-through to Transaction Detail

Business Strategy

Self-Service Business Authoring in a Manage Reporting World

IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced

During this webinar, we explore ways to take full advantage of the authoring capabilities available within the IBM Cognos 10 platform.

Evolving a traditional report consumer into a self-service author is a persistent challenge. We demonstrate features of Cognos Workspace Advanced that can help your organization deliver on a truly self-service reporting solution.

In this webinar, we demonstrate:

How you can deliver sophisticated reports to a self-service audience while allowing them to make modifications and perform ad-hoc analysis.
Creative professional authoring and deployment techniques that take advantage of the bi-directional compatibility between Report Studio and Cognos Workspace Advanced.
Traditional, as well as OLAP, report authoring best practices for business authors.
Using visualizations to create more appealing reports.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos 10 Workspace Advanced, IBM Cognos Report Studio

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Developers, BI Report Writers, BI Authors, BI Power Users, BI Report Consumers; Cognos and BI Support Staff

PRESENTER

Albert Valdez
Vice President of Education Services, Senturus, Inc.

Albert has spent the last 12 years as a technical trainer focused on business intelligence and performance management. Before joining Senturus, he was a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos for five years. He is an IBM Cognos Certified Trainer, and has his lifetime CTT and certification from CompTIA. Since 2007, Albert has acted as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect and Director, and Vice President, of Education for Senturus.

OUTLINE

Overview of an approach to Self-Service Analytics

The Goal of Self-Service Analytics
- History
  - Most analytics platforms are based on the traditional author-consumer relationship.
  - Authoring tools are sophisticated and typically not in the realm of the everyday analyst.
  - Specialized skills are required to build and deliver high-value information.
  - Business authoring solutions lack adoption:
    - Too weak
    - Infrequent use
    - Reliance on the traditional information delivery model
- What’s changed?
  - The world is still complicated.
  - The need for and availability of data are both growing.
  - Platforms are adapting:
    - Self-service capabilities are being introduced to the Consumer audience
  - The Consumer is evolving:
    - Take ownership of some authoring tasks in order to shorten time to decision
    - Collaborate with technicians in order to reduce redundancies and increase productivity
An Approach to Self-Service Using IBM Cognos
- Understand which is the right tool for the job:
  - http://www.senturus.com/resources/choosing-right-tool-job/
  - Cognos Workspace Advanced can address business authoring needs much better than any tool we had before
- Professional Authoring and highly technical reporting experts are still necessary: don’t fight it.
  - Collaborate!
- Publish traditional reports as before, but:
  - Include base and template reports that can be used as catalysts for self-service.
  - Leverage bi-directional compatibility so self-service objects can be enhanced as needed and delivered back to the business.
Cognos Workspace Advance Sweet Spots
- Short learning curve.
- Unlimited calculation sophistication.
- Ad-hoc experience and in-line filtering.
- Supports advanced multi-dimensional (OLAP) data exploration.
- Bi-directional compatibility with Report Studio.
- Tight integration with Cognos Workspace.
- It is NOT “Advanced.”
Business Analytics Architecture
- All authoring tools leverage a metadata package.
- Metadata is produced using IBM Cognos Framework Manager and is based on one or more physical data sources.
- A well-designed architecture makes authoring more effective and less labor-intensive.
  - Less data manipulation.
  - Easier to identify and understand.
  - Better query performance.
  - More stable and reliable results.
Good Data Architecture = More Effective Reporting

Tips & Tricks

Smarter Analytics for Retailers

Adapt to the Information Empowered Customer

The relationship between retailer and customer is changing as customers are becoming more knowledgeable and empowered by information provided through the web, mobile technologies and social media. Read this paper to learn how retailers are challenged to adapt to these changes and adjust their business model to stay connected to their customers. Retailers are turning to business analytics to get forward looking insight into their customers’ needs to improve customer satisfaction, strengthen the brand experience and maintain customer loyalty.

Business Context

Analytics can greatly improve retailers’ customer satisfaction and loyalty when part of a Smarter Analytics solution.

Align the organization and IT infrastructure around real-time customer intelligence
Integrate predictive analytics into operational processes to identify future behavior and trends
Organizations that utilize predictive analytics in addition to business intelligence achieve an average return on investment of 250 percent (source: IDC: The business value of predictive analytics, June 2011).

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Marketing, Operations and Merchandizing Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Insight in the High-Velocity Retail Environment

Retailers today are facing more technology-savvy, demanding customers and more sophisticated competitors, which are forcing changes in retail business models driven by three imperatives:

1) Delivering a smarter shopping experience

2) Developing smarter merchandising and supply networks

3) Building smarter retail operations

The types of insight that retailers can use to serve their customers better, and ultimately drive business success

Pricing insight
Customer insight
Sales insight
Marketing insight
Merchandising insight
Business success

Smarter Analytics for Smarter Retail

Align the organization and the IT infrastructure around information to effectively gather, manage, and analyze the growing volume, variety and velocity of data, which drives the need for a scalable integration platform to meet current and emerging data warehousing needs.
Anticipate and accelerate actionable insights with systems and storage optimized for analysis and information delivery to understand consumer behavior and build strategy, shifting the analytics process from a purely passive, after-the-fact model, to an active, during-the-fact model.
Act with confidence in real time with pervasive and embedded analytics supported by an infrastructure foundation capable of swiftly handling critical actions to drive action.

Performance and Organizational Benefits of Smarter Analytics

Retailers applying a Smarter Analytics approach enable themselves to harness the full power of analytics on structured and unstructured data, with superior IT economics.
The approach allows the retailer to get a holistic view of what is happening with customers, suppliers, partners, and the market, beyond the surface indications of purchasing activity.

Retailers Using a Smarter Analytics Approach to Gain Competitive Advantage

GS Retail Propels Growth with Customer Insight
Intersport is Future-Proofing with an Analytics Advantage
Migros

Deeper Insight, Better Responsiveness, and Business Success

Retailers striving to deliver a smarter shopping experience want to engage their customers on a personal basis, serving them whenever and wherever the customers want, and matching inventory and brand experience across channels.
Developing smarter merchandising and supply networks involves gathering customer information continuously at every touch point to manage and deliver assortments based on customer insight.
Building smarter retail operations involves inserting intelligence into customer data management and processes to understand and predict sales trends, while improving management across production, product development, and assets to drive operational excellence and lower costs.

Retail CIOs and line-of-business managers should consider adopting a Smarter Analytics approach if:

The organization typically relies on information that is weeks or days old
More management time is spent looking back at historic data than at real-time findings or predicting probable outcomes
Analysis is limited to looking at lists of data output, rather than looking at exceptions, proactive alerts, and graphic visualizations of findings

Business Strategy

Asset Management: Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance

Given the current economic climate, there is continued pressure for companies to limit capital and operational costs. Some companies have focused on specific capabilities and technologies to predict equipment or asset failure so they can avoid costly downtime while reducing maintenance costs. Read this Analyst Insight based on responses from 140 executives to learn how they use data and analytics to manage the reliability and predictive maintenance of their assets.

Business Context

Predictive Maintenance can help companies with assets or manufacturing operations reduce costs and maximize Return on Assets (RoA) for Best-in-Class performance.

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Finance, Operations and Supply Chain Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Forces Driving Predictive Maintenance

Reduced Operational budgets 40%

Need to Maximize Return on Assets (RoA) 37%

Reduced Capital Budgets 28%

Rising Material Cost 25%

Aging Assets 17%

Maturity Class Framework

Performance for Best in Class (top 20% of performers)

1.7% Unscheduled Asset Downtime
91% Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
+20% Return on Assets vs. Corporate Plan
-31% Reduction in Maintenance Costs

Strategic Actions by Best in Class to Maximize RoA

Improve long term capital planning with better analytic tools
Outsource maintenance activities to third party
Manage energy and emissions as part of the maintenance strategy

Establishing Predictive Business Capabilities

Historical asset data (trends) and real-time data used as actionable intelligence for optimized decision making
On-demand asset lifecycle information easily accessible by all employees
Centralized knowledge warehouse to store asset performance data from different plants
Budget allocated to support reliability centered maintenance activities

Leveraging Sustainability Data

Visibility into anomalies when assets exceed acceptable performance thresholds
Asset data utilized to minimize energy consumption
Benchmark the performance of each asset to determine the cost of maintaining versus replacing it with a newer, more energy efficient asset
Energy management integrated with overall asset management strategy

Technology Enablers

Master Data Management
Analytics
Workflows
Dashboards
Spare Parts Inventory Optimization

Key Takeaways

Provide centralized, real-time data
Utilize predictive analytics to make educated decisions about future events
Provide integration between business systems
Consider sustainability as a critical part of a maintenance strategy

Business Strategy

#3 Key to Success in BI: Build Incrementally

One of the Ten Keys to Success in BI

Business Strategy

The Science of Predictive Maintenance

IBM's Predictive Analytics Solution

Features

Predictive Threat and Fraud Analytics

Systematic Approach to Identify Risk

The growth of online transactions and communication, the increased use of mobile devices and the fluctuating economy highlight the many dynamic forms of threat today. In this paper, you will learn about the growing prevalence of threat and fraud and why it is a top priority for businesses.

To address the ever-changing landscape, businesses need a systematic approach to identify their own risk. They need insights that identify existing trends as well as future exposure. This paper identifies how to incorporate business analytics into your decision making and how to build a proactive threat and fraud strategy. Authored by IBM, this whitepaper includes examples of how organizations apply IBM business analytics solutions to minimize the negative impact of risk and maximize positive results.

Business Context

Companies that get ahead of threat and fraud save significant costs while preserving their reputation and customer satisfaction. Organizations that utilize predictive analytics in addition to business intelligence achieve an average return on investment of 250 percent (source: IDC: The business value of predictive analytics, June 2011).

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Risk and Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Key facts about Threat and Fraud trends included in this paper:

According to a recent study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the typical organization loses 5 percent of its revenue to fraud every year. Globally, it’s estimated that annual fraud losses exceed $3.5 trillion.
Nearly half of organizations that are victimized by fraud are unable to recover their losses.
Estimates from National Heath Care Anti-Fraud Association put health care frauds costs in the US at $68 billion annually. Other estimates range as high $230 billion.
The total cost of insurance fraud (non-health insurance) is estimated at more than $40 billion annually, costing the average US family up to $700 in increased premiums, according to the FBI.
Globally, the total cost of credit card fraud is estimated to be $5.5 billion. In the US alone, ten percent of citizens have been victims of credit card fraud.
According to a recent IBM global study of senior executives, 75 percent say that data theft and cyber attacks impact customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

With a business analytics-based risk management strategy in place you become able to:

Access threat information across the organization in real time to determine the best time to accept the risk or stop it altogether.
Make decisions faster and spend less time “putting out fires.”
Gain more confidence and trust in decisions that are made.
Reduce costs and make better use of resources.
Build a stronger organization that is resilient to change and ready to exploit new opportunities.
Support business innovation while reducing or maintaining an acceptable level of operational risk.
Avoid negative publicity.

Reduce Exposure and Minimize Impact

Identify organizational threats with business analytics
Eliminate insider threats
Reduce Credit Card Risk
Detect and Prevent Fraud
Minimize Inventory Loss
Assess network outages
Prevent energy Fraud
Protect national borders
Keep communities safer
Manage financial risk
Identify next-best action

Five steps to a proactive threat management strategy

Determine your organization’s current threat management strategy
Examine how you are using business analytics today
Integrate threat management into business as usual and ensure the positive commitment of all stakeholders.
Assess your enterprise and external data
Identify opportunities for automation and control.

Business Strategy

TM1 10.2 – Developer Productivity with Performance Modeler

Is it Time to Move on From Architect?

Demo

Business Intelligence for Business Users: Insight When and Where You Need It

Self-Service Business Intelligence

Companies can attain better business outcomes when many different business users can access complete, consistent and trustworthy information the way they want, (e.g., from the web, smartphones, tablet or desktop). Business users want self-service BI, so they do not have to rely on IT for important reports or data. This paper covers how important it is to address the needs of different BI users, so they have insight when and where they need it.

Business Context

Business Intelligence is used more pervasively by all business user types. A comprehensive BI solution addresses all user needs, when and where they need information.

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Business users and BI: A progression

BI Solutions are no longer limited to a select user base. The expansion of business intelligence allowed managers to access to timely, detailed reports needed to do their job.

Start anywhere, go everywhere

A comprehensive BI solution allows companies the ability to:

Assemble and more easily interact with relevant information to understand the business
Analyze information to make fact based recommendations.
Share and collaborate so everyone is aligned on decisions.
Act on what they find to drive better business outcomes
Work where they want
- Over the web
- On a mobile device
- On a desktop
- In other applications

Executives need a BI solutions to:

Connect with other executives or managers to share insight and gather broader perspective and opinions.
View plans and information and make annotations so others can view their comments and suggestions and make adjustments.
Track projects and activities and gain instant access to a complete task list.
Put their fingers on a source of data or a report whenever they need it with features that easily trace the history, author and path of any information received.

Business Managers need a BI solution to provide:

Reporting capabilities that provide them with a comprehensive and consistent view of business and operations
Features for interacting with those views on their desktop, with a web browser or both
Multidimensional data management for reconciling transaction and planning data to create a corporate-sanctioned view of business information
An enterprise dictionary to provide meaning
A facility for integrating external or standalone data with their corporate information

Using automated, ad hoc workflow capabilities, business users can:

Interact with their activities
Start tasks
Match individuals with activities
Manage projects and monitor progress

Business Analysts need query and reporting capabilities that:

Presents them with a complete and consistent view of business and operations, not disparate perspectives that they must later compare and rationalize
Helps them access reliable statistical evidence, trends, patterns and predictions easily
Expands visibility and intelligence beyond the information at hand

Business Analysts need to be able to:

Use and save BI content or create sophisticated desktop reports such as briefing books and dashboards in a Microsoft Office application.
Refresh Microsoft Office documents with updated information on demand.
Share and publish files to a secure BI portal.
Access modeling tools that can help them incorporate analysis of a broader range of alternative scenarios to build “what-if” projections.

Non-technical users require:

A single place they can use as a starting point for understanding information and uncovering insight—and checking on how they are doing
A browser-based reporting feature to help them interact with the data they need for actionable insight
Automated scorecards and metrics to help them visualize how they are performing based on targets set for role-specific projects and activities.

The right BI solution allows users to:

Collaborate with other business users.
Follow their activities in an automated workflow.
Make comments and notes in reports

Business Strategy

BI forward: A full view of your business

Comprehensive BI with Predictive Analytics

What businesses need from business intelligence (BI) is the full picture – BI should help you not only describe and diagnose your past and current performance, but also predict future performance. Predictive analytics enhances the value of deploying BI reports, dashboards and scorecard capabilities, and identifies future risks and opportunities for business success.

Business Context

Using the full range of BI solutions can help your company anticipate forward-looking trends and improve overall performance and ROI.

Organizations that utilize predictive analytics in addition to business intelligence achieve an average return on investment of 250 percent (source: IDC: The business value of predictive analytics, June 2011).

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Operational and Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Business Intelligence can drive success by helping to:

Identify market trends ahead of the competition.
Understand customer behavior.
Tackle and solve operational inefficiency.
Make sound business decisions with confidence.
Overcome bad decisions that seem obvious in hindsight.
Make sense of the explosion of data and data sources that are currently clouding the business horizon.

Predictive analytics takes BI to a new level:

Predictive analytics processes historical data, “learns” what has happened in the past and creates models.
Predictive analytics gives you the glimpse of the future that is needed for a more complete picture of your business.
You can get this forward view of your business without advanced algorithms or Ph.D. skills because the predictive information can be accessed from your dashboard, report or scorecard.

The benefits of a forward view of your business:

Beat the competition. Transform your business from a reactive operation to a proactive market leader by setting and staying ahead of trends with integrated analysis of text, web and survey data.
Reinforce accuracy and confidence in decisions. Move beyond simply understanding past performance by validating business intuition and existing practices and policies with a view into what is likely to happen next.
Enrich the data discovery experience. Understand your data better by discovering patterns and trends in your structured and unstructured data.

Benefits by role:

Executives can use predictive intelligence in decisions made at all levels of the organization—strategic, operational and tactical.
Business managers can recognize which factors are influencing outcomes and the relationships therein to pinpoint issues and drive improvements.
Business analysts can easily attain a very detailed understanding of the relationships hidden in all your data (numerical and text). They can generate focused predictive intelligence that can improve decision outcomes for measureable ROI.
Analytics professionals can use structured and unstructured data to determine relationships and construct models to predict outcomes and future events.
System managers can take advantage of non-intrusive integration with operational systems and flexible deployment

How forward-thinking BI works:

The right BI:

Unified workspace
Agility and accessibility
Hypothesis testing
Predictive analytics
Desktop analytics

Your BI solution should allow you to:

Understand what happened
Explore why it happened.
Predict what is likely to happen next.

Business Strategy

Architectural Options for Using IBM Cognos with SAP

Including Alternatives to the Standard Recommendations

In this webinar recording, we discuss the underlying architectural challenges of reporting from SAP. We present a number of options for connecting SAP to Cognos, along with pros and cons for each. Included are several lesser known approaches that have been highly successful with our clients – methods that can be implemented today without the high cost and risk associated with SAP’s standard answer to the problem, HANA.

Presenter, John Peterson, Senturus co-founder, draws from case studies of how these innovative architectural approaches were implemented successfully for our clients.

If you've upgraded to Cognos Analytics, you may be interested in our Cognos Analytics Performance Tuning webinar recording. You will learn how to use the Interactive Performance Assistant feature and tips and tricks to improve the performance of your Cognos environment.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

Many organizations continue to struggle with getting enterprise BI tools to work well with SAP ECC (R/3) and BW. Too often we find that, despite following vendor recommended practices, companies continue to suffer from poor analytics performance and usability, crippled features, lack of self-service BI, and very high development and maintenance costs. Innovative architectural approaches have been shown to quickly and cost effectively overcome those difficulties and shortcomings.

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED

IBM Cognos; SAP

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCE

BI Managers, BI Directors, BI Developers

PRESENTER

John Peterson

Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Outline

Basic options using IBM Cognos

Use SAP BW Info/Multi-Providers Directly (i.e. Publish InfoCubes thru Cognos FM without Bex queries)
Use SAP BW InfoCubes and BEx (Info) Queries
Skip SAP BW altogether and build data marts from the SAP ERP (R/3, ECC) source tables
a. “Rolling your own ABAP code”
b. Using special “connectors” (Informatica, Microsoft…)
Use SAP BW Data Storage Object (DSO) + ETL Hybrid Approach

Option 1: SAP BW & Cognos via direct connect to InfoCubes

PROS

Enables full multi-layer model to be created & maintained in Cognos FM.
- Implication: reports are abstracted from changes in underlying data source.
FM Model can be used to “join” additional non-SAP data into reporting layer.
Cognos report developers and data modelers have more control.
Published packages can (often) contain more subject area breadth allowing for great end-user self-service.
Can be fast if queries pass limited sets of parameters.
Multi-providers may be used to “join” other BW objects (e.g. DSO’s)

CONS

Business rules end up residing in SAP & Cognos. Need for dual data modelers.
Performance, particularly during prompting, not optimized due to MDX and query rendering limitations.
Cognos has no roles in data security when SAP security and authentication is used. Row level should be set by SAP Infocube (best practice).
Report results can become unreliable due to MDX translation issues, etc.

Option 2: SAP BW & Cognos via BEx

PROS

Reporting off InfoCubes is the most straightforward method for reporting out of SAP BI. Recommended by IBM.
All of the business rules reside in SAP. No need for dual modeler resources.
BEx queries allows passing variables to Cognos for prompting purposes – fast (see Cons in Option 1 re: alternative)
BEx queries can be augmented and supplemented without breaking Cognos reports. Also, one BEx query can be setup to serve multiple reports.

CONS

No ability to add “abstraction” layers in FM model. BEx queries are published thru “as is”. Any changes made in FM will be lost if query is republished.
Changes on a BEx query requires reloading all metadata from the source
Potential performance issues must be addressed in SAP system
Row level security must be controlled in SAP. Often has licensing implications.
“Joining” of multiple subject areas must be handled in SAP, not FM
Implication: Published BEx query packages are often limited to specific subject areas (less flexible reporting)

Option 3: SAP & Cognos via ETL and “connector”

PROS

Complete control over data warehouse layer
Allows use of EDW as data integration hub, as well
Not limited by SAP BW capabilities
No need to use SAP BW as repository for non-SAP sources
Mappings provided by vendors (Informatica, Microsoft…)
Virtualization/federation helps demystify SAP table structures & relationships
Connectors can fully generate ABAP code (less dependent on ABAP programmers)

CONS

Requires reverse engineering the table and column relationships in ECC
But at least, the connectors give you a significant headstart
Potentially higher cost due to additional datamart(s) required
Requires special connectors due to non-SQL nature of ECC
Additional ETL software required (connectors), some at a cost
Some connectors can introduce significant performance issues

Option 4:

PROS

Has same benefits of Option 3 in terms of open architecture and data warehouse
Enables full multi-layer model to be created and maintained in Cognos FM.
FM Model can be used to “join” additional non-SAP data into reporting layer
Cognos report developers and data modelers have more control
Loading database and cubes can be very fast
Not as dependent on ABAP programmers
Does not require historical data to be put into SAP or BW
Does not rely on SAP user security (and licensing)
Opening up DSO table data to Cognos reduces load on direct ECC reporting and improves end-user access and control

CONS

Does not leverage SAP expertise and pre-built InfoCubes
Requires understanding DSO tables and the ability to add them
Requires greater understanding of open-architecture DW systems and Cognos
Potentially higher cost than SAP BW due to additional datamart(s) required

RECOMMENDATION: Hybrid Architecture (Option 4)

Additional benefits:

Existing base of users with Cognos depth
Need different security than what SAP BW provides
Avoid pulling historical data through SAP BW
Data and requirements constantly changing
Speed of report development
Limited resources
Desire to re-use existing Cognos reports/logic/skills
Need different security than what SAP BW provides

Case Study specifics (Ariat International)

Desire to re-use existing Cognos reports/logic/skills
Reduced SAP user licensing needs.
Did not have to hire resources for the migration of historical data. There was no separate history migration project, and yet they still have access to all the history.
Avoided using ECC for operational reports, which improved SAP performance.
About 90% of the operational reports leverage SAP BW, with flexibility for business users to write ad hoc reports in Query Studio.
No training costs for SAP report user as they were already trained in Cognos ad-hoc query tools
Reduced SAP user licensing needs.
Did not have to hire resources for the migration of historical data.
There was no separate history migration project, and yet they still have access to all the history.

HANA: Potential Implications

PROS

May significantly enhance multi-provider report performance due to in-memory query rendering (i.e. overcomes negative MDX performance impact)
Non-BEx Query FM Model can be repointed to Hana without breaking Cognos reports CONS
BI Benefits & challenges posed by Hana still unknown at this time
Hana does not use summary tables, so Cognos queries relying on them would need to be remapped or lost.
Hana changes the KEY ID and Leaf level pointers to the new InfoCube, thus requiring remapping

OPEN QUESTIONS

Still lots of unknowns and untested items re: Hana and BI at this time

Typical Recommendation from SAP

Traditionally: Use SAP BW and BEx (as front-end)
Now: Use SAP BW and SAP Business Objects
- BICS...
SAP also now often recommending Hana instead

Typical Recommendation from IBM Cognos

Use Option 2 – SAP BW InfoCubes connected to Cognos via BEx queries
Carefully create BEx queries prior to report development
- Think of BEx Query Designer as Cognos FM Modeler
Make BEx queries broad so a single query can support multiple reports and drill-down/drill-thru (if possible)
Use row level security in SAP
- Pass sign-on info from AD/Cognos to SAP via user group mapping

Senturus Recommendation

Seriously evaluate Option 3 and Option 4 beforesimply following the standard recommendations
We have become very strong supporters of hybrid architectures
The mappings and complex lookups are maintained in your ERP vendor’s system (usually the primary operating system and system of record for organizational information
Your company has control over company-specific items, such ashierarchies, other source systems, additional transformations, reporting & analytics, etc.

Training

Overview of User Interface Tools in Cognos 10.1

What Is the IBM Cognos 10 Platform all About?

Features

Predictive Threat and Fraud Analytics

Meeting the Challenges of a Smarter Planet

The growth of online transactions and communication, the increased use of mobile devices, and the fluctuating economy highlight the many dynamic forms of threat today. In this paper, you will learn about the growing prevalence of threat and fraud and why it is a top priority for businesses.

In order to address the ever-changing landscape, businesses need a systematic approach to identify their own risk. They need insights that identify existing trends as well as future exposure. This paper identifies how to incorporate business analytics into your decision making and how to build a proactive threat and fraud strategy. Read examples of how organizations apply IBM Business Analytics solutions to minimize the negative impact of risk and maximize positive results.

Business Context

Companies that get ahead of threat and fraud save significant costs while preserving their reputation and customer satisfaction.

Organizations that utilize predictive analytics in addition to business intelligence achieve an average return on investment of 250 percent (source: IDC: The business value of predictive analytics, June 2011).

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Risk and Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Key facts about Threat and Fraud trends included in this paper:

According to a recent study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the typical organization loses 5 percent of its revenue to fraud every year. Globally, it’s estimated that annual fraud losses exceed $3.5 trillion.
Nearly half of organizations that are victimized by fraud are unable to recover their losses.
Estimates from National Heath Care Anti-Fraud Association put health care frauds costs in the US at $68 billion annually. Other estimates range as high $230 billion.
The total cost of insurance fraud (non-health insurance) is estimated at more than $40 billion annually, costing the average US family up to $700 in increased premiums, according to the FBI.
Globally, the total cost of credit card fraud is estimated to be $5.5 billion. In the US alone, ten percent of citizens have been victims of credit card fraud.
According to a recent IBM global study of senior executives, 75 percent say that data theft and cyber attacks impact customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

With a business analytics-based risk management strategy in place you become able to:

Access threat information across the organization in real time to determine the best time to accept the risk or stop it altogether.
Make decisions faster and spend less time “putting out fires.”
Gain more confidence and trust in decisions that are made.
Reduce costs and make better use of resources.
Build a stronger organization that is resilient to change and ready to exploit new opportunities.
Support business innovation while reducing or maintaining an acceptable level of operational risk.
Avoid negative publicity.

Reduce Exposure and Minimize Impact

Identify organizational threats with business analytics
Eliminate insider threats
Reduce Credit Card Risk
Detect and Prevent Fraud
Minimize Inventory Loss
Assess network outages
Prevent energy Fraud
Protect national borders
Keep communities safer
Manage financial risk
Identify next-best action

Five steps to a proactive threat management strategy

Determine your organization’s current threat management strategy
Examine how you are using business analytics today
Integrate threat management into business as usual and ensure the positive commitment of all stakeholders.
Assess your enterprise and external data
Identify opportunities for automation and control.

Business Strategy

IBM Cognos 10.2 Under the Hood

What’s New in 10.2

Learn what the new IBM Cognos 10.2 release means to different Business Intelligence stakeholders – report and data consumers, authors, modelers, administrators, and IT managers.

The webinar includes a new features overview with several product demonstrations, a question and answer session, and an explanation of the increasingly complex role-based licensing model.

View this recording to see how the IBM Cognos 10 platform has improved in the areas of

Enhanced end-user experience through Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace
- Understand the new naming conventions and integration points
Improved authoring capabilities with access to macro functions and the Prompt API
- Big Data challenges addressed with the extension of the Dynamic Query Mode and introducing Dynamic Cubes

Business Context

Improved Business Intelligence report and dashboard development efficiencies and end-user capabilities means faster and more effective information in decision-makers hands more quickly. Realization and timeliness of the business benefits are accelerated with the IBM Cognos 10.2 release.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos 10.2; Business Insight / Business Workspace; Cognos Insight; Dynamic Query Mode; Dynamic Cubes

Recommended Audience

BI Managers, BI Developers, BI Report Writers, BI Authors, BI Power Users, BI Report Consumers

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus Inc.

Outline

NEW FEATURES FOR COGNOS 10.2:

Workspace User Experience

For BOTH Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace (formerly Business Insight):
- More interactive visualizations (drilling, filtering on charts)
- Top/bottom filtering, expandcCollapse, freeze headers
- Tabbed Workspaces
For Cognos Insight:
- Enhanced data import
  - Import directly from existing packages
  - “Smart” metadata
  - Time rollups
- More integration with BI
  - High-fidelity publish (requires TM1)

Dynamic Query Mode

Expanded data sources from original release to include
- MSAS; SAP Netweaver; IBM DB2 and InfoSphere; SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2012; IBM Netezza; Oracle 10g, 11g; Teradata; Salesforce.com; Siebel; SAP R/3;
IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
- In-memory OLAP cubes load data directly from relational data warehouses
- Part of Dynamic Query Mode, leverage 64-bit framework
- Enables OLAP-style analytics over terabytes of warehouse data
- Leverages in-memory and in-database aggregate awareness
- Modeling is achieved via GUI interface using Cube Designer

Report Studio

Access to macro functions in the Expression Editor components
- Easy access to powerful functions, much like what you see in Framework Manager
- Better control of dynamic security at the report level
- Easier access to advanced Prompt syntax
Fully documented and exposed Prompt API
- No longer need to “hack” into source code
- Fully supported
- Samples included with Javascript
  - Set dynamic default prompt values
  - Validate prompt values
Static repeater table control for Active Reports
- Makes the repeater control interactive
- Supports repeating grids of custom content such as images or buttons
New export to Excel options
- Standard Excel 2007 now supports 16,384 columns by 1,048,576 rows (requires advanced server configuration)
- Excel 2007 data
  - Lightweight, list only, no formatting to native .xlsx format

Other Compelling New Features

Improvements to Mobile
- Push notifications
- Multi-page reporter trickle
- Multi-key bursted reports
Cognos configuration validation utility
New archiving features
Cognos style management utillity

Cognos Insight

Documentation
Accelerators
Demonstration
- Drag and drop external data for analysis
- Crosstab and charts
- Multiple widgets in a CI workspace
- Save as .cdd file and distribute

Cognos Workspace (previously Business Insight)

Cognos Insight comparison to Cognos Workspace

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.2 – which are free and which are for a fee
New user types with Cognos 10.2
License upgrades

Q&A

Topics

Is Cognos Statistics still a separate install? (Yes, it is still a separate install; but being discontinued after this release; to be replaced by SPSS and the new features within the enhancements to charting)
Is a dimensional source (dimensionally modeled relational (DMR) data base or a cube) required for drilling? (Yes.)
Is Cognos Insight included in existing licensing? (Yes, the CI Standard Edition is included with TM1 Contributor licenses, BI Author and BI Professional Author.)
Can a user with a free CI version read a .cdd file that was created by someone with a Standard, Enterprise Edition? (Yes.)
Can a PowerPlay cube be a source for Cognos Insight? (Yes. If the PowerPlay cube is published as a Cognos package, then that package can be a source for Cognos Insight.)
Compatibility with Excel versions? (Yes: Excel 2007 since 10.1; but Excel 2010 will be at some point in the future.)
What is the best tool for enterprise dashboard development and distribution? (Using the portal for distribution and Cognos Workspace for development is probably the best combination, especially for high resolution work.)

Features

Active Reports – New Features Cognos 10.1.1

Active vs. Standard Reports and the New Features of the Cognos 10.1.1 Active Reports Release

Timely distribution of small to medium sized, targeted, interactive performance reports to mobile devices greatly improves the effectiveness of business decisions and speeds the response potential for decision makers. IBM Cognos has expanded the reach of Active Reports in the 10.1.1 release.

During the webinar, Senturus explains the Active Reports strategy: when to use Active Reports and when standard reports are more appropriate.

Active Report demonstrations included are:

Creating an Active Report using a deck
Data iterators and swipe gestures
Active Report output in a Business Insight Workspace.

The webinar begins with a review the other major new features of Cognos 10.1.1 and clearly explains which features are included at no additional charge and the cost of those that require license trade-up.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Active Reports 10.1.1; Cognos BI 10.1.1

Recommended Audience

IBM Cognos Report Authors, Consumers, and Users, including Executives, Managers and Analysts; Business Intelligence Managers; IT, Cognos and BI Support Staff

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

Outline

Cognos New Features 10.1.1

Mobile support for Active Reports, including native support for the iPad
Importation of Active Reports from email (new to Cognos Mobile)
Active Report access from Cognos Insight

Active Reports New Features 10.1.1

Data Decks
Control and Variable objects (instead of prompts and parameters)
Data iterators and default value selections
Value slider
Master-detail relationships
Bi-directional connections
Mobile swipe gesture support

Active Reports Limitations

Size limitation
No drill-down
No data level security

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.1.1 – which are free and which are for a fee
New User Types with Cognos 10.1.1
License Upgrade Opportunities

Active Report Development Example

Active Reports1

Deployment to Business Insight Workspace

Active reports2

Features

#4 Key to Success in BI: 80/20 Rule

One of the Ten Keys to Success in BI

Business Strategy

Dynamic Cubes in Cognos 10.2

IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes Deeper Dive

Cognos Dynamic Cubes is an extension of IBM Cognos Dynamic Query that leverages substantial in-memory data assets as well as aggregate awareness in order to achieve high performance interactive analysis & reporting over terabytes of warehouse data.

The shift in IBM's OLAP solutions is described, plus an in-depth look at IBM Cognos 10.2 Dynamic Cubes.

Discussion and demonstrations include:

What the world of OLAP looks like in 2013
- The different technologies that are available in the IBM Cognos world
- How the Dynamic Query Mode (DQM) factors into an OLAP choice

Infrastructure Requirements and Deployment Proven Practices
- What infrastructure is required to host Dynamic Cubes
- What Senturus has learned about sizing, configuration, and deployment strategies that work
- How to best leverage in-memory caching

IBM Cognos 10.2 Cube Designer
- Import metadata and
  - Create Dimensions
  - Create Measures and Calculations
  - Define a Cube
- Publish a Dynamic Cube Data Source

Business Context

Many business information analysis and visualization needs require the interactive manipulation of very large amounts of data. These processes have been made much more effective and responsive with the provision of in-memory and aggregate aware methods, specifically Cognos Dynamic Cubes and the Dynamic Query Mode. Business users can now use these techniques for gaining information insights to support their operational and strategic decisions.

Technologies Covered

Cognos BI 10.2 – Dynamic Cubes and Dynamic Query Mode (DQM)

Recommended Audience

IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff; ETL developers

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

Outline

Analytic Cube Options, Architecture and Applicability

Transformer PowerCubes
- Relatively small-scale OLAP
- Rapid development; deployment
- Great for departmental, or enterprise solutions, if data volume is low to moderate
- Cubes need to be regularly updated, but are portable
TM1
- Do you need to do write-back?
- Real-time budget vs. actuals
- Strong budgeting, forecasting features built-in
- Excel interface, Performance Modeler, Cognos Insight
DMR
- No need to build separate cubes
- Familiar modeling interface (Framework Manager)
- Reliant on data source performance
- Can leverage DQM
Dynamic Cubes
- Large-scale enterprise data warehouse
- True MDX authoring and analytics at the front-end
- In-memory caching and aggregates
- In-Database aggregate-awareness
- Must use DQM
- Performance can be tuned

NEW FEATURES FOR COGNOS 10.2:
Workspace User Experience

For BOTH Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace (formerly Business Insight):
- More interactive visualizations (drilling, filtering on Charts)
- Top/Bottom Filtering, Expand/Collapse, Freeze Headers
- Tabbed Workspaces
For Cognos Insight:
- Enhanced Data Import
  - Import Directly from Existing Packages
  - “Smart” Metadata
  - Time Rollups
- More integration with BI
  - High-Fidelity Publish (requires TM1)

Dynamic Query Mode

Expanded Data Sources from Original Release to Include:
- MSAS; SAP Netweaver; IBM DB2 and InfoSphere; SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2012; IBM Netezza; Oracle 10g, 11g; Teradata; Salesforce.com; Siebel; SAP R/3;
IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
- In-memory OLAP cubes load data directly from relational data warehouses
- Part of Dynamic Query Mode, leverage 64-bit framework
- Enables OLAP-style analytics over terabytes of warehouse data
- Leverages in-memory and in-database aggregate awareness
- Modeling is achieved via GUI interface using Cube Designer

Report Studio

Access to Macro Functions in the Expression Editor Components
- Easy access to powerful functions, much like what you see in Framework Manager
- Better control of dynamic security at the report level
- Easier access to advanced Prompt syntax
Fully documented and exposed Prompt API
- No longer need to “hack” into source code
- Fully supported
- Samples included with Javascript
  - Set dynamic default prompt values
  - Validate prompt values
Static Repeater Table Control for Active Reports
- Makes the Repeater Control Interactive
- Supports repeating grids of custom content such as images or buttons
New Export to Excel options
- Standard Excel 2007 now supports 16,384 columns by 1,048,576 rows (requires advanced server configuration)
- Excel 2007 Data
  - Lightweight, list only, no formatting to native .xlsxformat

Other Compelling New Features

Improvements to Mobile
- Push notifications
- Multi-page Report Trickle
- Multi-key Bursted Reports
- Cognos Configuration Validation utility
- New Archiving Features
- Cognos Style Management Utility

Dynamic Cubes

Dynamic Query Mode (DQM) - Cognos version 10.1
- Memory resident DMR Model
Dynamic Cubes released in Cognos version 10.2
- Allows aggregations based off the DQM technology
High Performance analytics over growing datavolumes
- Integrates into existing Cognos 10.2 platform with both Analysis Studio, Report Studio
- Scalability Limitations - None
- Scalable to hardware limits - Terabytes

Additional characteristics and topics

Dynamic Cube Architecture
Dynamic Cube Lifecycle
Dynamic Cubes vs. DMR
Aggregate-aware
Pre-requisites

Cube Designer

Data sources and importing metadata
Project validation
Model dimensions
Model hierarchies
Model levels
Properties
Model measures
Mapping between dimensions and measures

Deploying and publishing dynamic cubes

Access dynamic cubes through IBM Cognos Report Studio

Aggregate Advisor optimizes In-Memory and In-Database Performance

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.1.1 – which are free and which are for a fee
New User Types with Cognos 10.1.1
License Upgrade Opportunities

Tips & Tricks

Going Mobile with Cognos 10

Roadmap for Mobility with IBM Cognos and BI in General

Features

INCOME STATEMENT REPORTING Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Tools

The income statement is the most widely used financial report in the world. In this 90-minute session, experts from Senturus discuss and demonstrate key tips and techniques for using general-purpose IBM Cognos Business Intelligence tools for income statement reporting.

Specifically, we share tips and techniques for configuring your IBM Cognos Transformer models to enhance OLAP-based income statement reporting and ad hoc analysis. We also demonstrate business end user income statement reporting and analysis using Cognos Workspace Advanced.

We help finance users understand the data challenges IT faces, and help IT understand the fundamental accounting concepts that require unique technical solutions.

Issues addressed within this webinar include:

The need for:
- Both revenue and expenses to be displayed as positive numbers in the income statement.
- Variances to foot across both the rows and the columns of the income statement.
- Roll-ups to work correctly. Sometimes, roll-ups are additions, sometimes they’re subtractions but they always need to be correct.
- These requirements to be addressed not just for standard reports but for ad hoc analysis as well.
The need to:
- Compare budget versus actual, with the flexibility to choose which budget version to use.
- Display positive variances as favorable in some cases, and as unfavorable in others.
- Slice and dice the income statement by department, business unit, product family, etc.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos BI 10.2.1, IBM Cognos Report Studio 10.2.1,IBM Cognos Active Reports 10.2.1

RECOMMENDED AUDIENCES

IT Departments; Finance Departments; IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff; BI Report Writers; BI Authors; BI Power Users; BI Report Consumers.

PRESENTERS

Greg Herrera
President and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

Greg originally founded Senturus in 2001. He now heads sales, recruiting, marketing, human resources, and new ventures.

John Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder, Senturus, Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Andrew Wyatt
Senior Managing Consultant, Senturus, Inc.

OUTLINE

Income Statement Fundamentals: The Language and the Math

The Basic Language of an Income Statement
- The language of the income statement often varies by company.
- The income statement is sometimes called the profit and loss statement (P&L), sometimes the statement of operations, and sometimes the statement of income.
- It shows the profitability of the company for the period, on the bottom line.
The Basic Math of an Income Statement
- Net Profit = Total Income less Total Expenses
- Income statement includes break-outs of the income and expenses associated with different types of activities (e.g. primary and secondary activities).
- In the basic math, the income items are positive, the expense items are negative, and the totals and subtotals are summation roll-ups using straight addition.
  - Straight addition roll-ups are especially important in ad hoc reporting.
The Basic Math with Budgets and Variances
- Budget versus Actual (with Variance) is a very common business requirement, and must be supported in both standard and ad hoc reporting.
- Business Users need the income statement to indicate whether the Variance is Favorable or Unfavorable.
- In basic math, the Variance equation is always Actual minus Budget (A minus B).
- In basic math, the positive numbers are the Favorable variances and the negative numbers are the Unfavorable variances.
- In the rate cases where the business requirement accepts the mix of positive for income and negative for expense, you are almost done.

Challenge #1 Feeling Negative: Keeping It Positive Creates Challenges

Keeping it Positive – Challenge 1A: No Rollups
- As seen, the business requirements almost always mandate that both revenues and expenses be presented as positive values.
- The major challenge of the “Keep it Positive” requirement is that it removes the ability to use straight addition for summation rollups. Hierarchical rollups no longer work, because those rollups rely on straight summation where the parent value equals the total of the child values. When all the values are positive, summations no longer hold, as additions are required in some places and subtractions in others.
- This forces both report authors and ad hoc users to create calculated rows for each total and subtotal.
  - Requires tedious formula creation.
  - Not user friendly.
  - Prone to error.
  - Requires accounting knowledge.
Keeping it Positive – Challenge 1B: Variance Formulas
- The need to present both revenues and expenses as positive numbers forces variations of the variance formulas, which equates to four separate variations.
- This forces both report authors and ad hocusers to figure out which of the four variance formulas to apply, then apply it manually to each row of the report.
  - Cannot call it ad hocreporting when that is not the case.
  - Requires accounting knowledge that not all report developers have.
  - Prone to error.

Tip #1: Delay The Positive – Do the Math First, Then Reverse the Sign

The Common Mistake
- The roll-up and variance formula challenges are the result of using positive values for both revenue and expenses, and trying to accommodate via situation-specific formulas.
- The challenging reports are either using:
  - A source database that maintains positive values for both revenue and expenses.
  - A technique that converts the negative values to positives.
- Common Mistake
  - Causes the reporting nightmares.
  - Removes hope of reasonablead hocanalysis.
Better Way: Leverage the Basic Math
- The basic math enables consistent, correct:
  - Roll-ups at every level.
  - Representation of favorable and unfavorable variances.
- The problem with the basic math is that it displays negative numbers when the business requires positive.
- Solution: Have the reporting software use the basic math behind the scenes, and selectively reverse the sign only when the data is being displayed to the user.
Tip: Selectively Reverse the Sign via a Rule
- This report illustrates the concept of the selective sign reversal.
- The values in the Variance column already correctly represent favorable and unfavorable variances.
- The positive numbers in the Actual and Budget columns are also already correct.
- The numbers highlighted in blue are the ones that need their signs to be selectively reversed, after the basic math is complete.
Tip: Use the Fundamental Accounting Elements
- As a rule, once the basic math is complete, selectively reverse the sign when:
  - The value is in an account having Normal Balance Type of Debit, and the value is either an Actual measure or a Budget measure.
Result: Correct Signs, Rollups, and Variances
- Bonus: Works for ad hoc analysis as well.

Challenge #2: The Data is Almost Always Sore, and Needs Massaging

The Basic Math Needs the Right Data
- Sources of accounting data from which the Income Statement information is derived include:
  - General Ledger software module (or package).
  - Planning/Budgeting software packages.
  - Spreadsheet-based budget models.
  - Finance Marts or Data Warehouses.
  - Operational Data Stores (ODS).
  - Consolidation software packages.
  - Disclosure Management software packages.
- Positives and negatives are not always maintained in the data values themselves.
- The data needs to be organized and harmonized.
Five Fundamental Accounting Examples
- Element: Asset
  - Debit: Increase
  - Credit: Decrease
  - Example Accounts: Cash, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Land, Furniture, Equipment, Patents, and Prepays.
- Element: Liability
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Accounts Payable, Salaries Payable, Prepayments, Income Taxes, etc.
- Element: Income / Revenue
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Sales, Interest Income, Rent Income, Interest from Investments, etc.
- Element: Expense
  - Debit: Increase
  - Credit: Decrease
  - Example Accounts: Salaries, Rent, Repairs, Insurance, Utilities, and Telecommunications.
- Element: Equity / Capital
  - Debit: Decrease
  - Credit: Increase
  - Example Accounts: Common Stock, Paid-in Capital, and Retained Earnings.
Organizing the Data: Scenario #1 All Positive
- Scenario #1: Source data holds both Debits and Credits as positive numbers.
  - Create derived Natural GL Amount field by multiplying Source Amount by -1 whenever the account has a normal balance type of Credit. When the normal balance type is Debit, the derived Natural GL Amount is the same as the Source Amount.
  - For use in the Basic Math approach, create a derived Reversed GL Amount field that is the reverse of Natural GL Amount.
Organizing the Data: Scenario #2 Already Mixed
- Scenario #2: Source data has Debits as positive and Credits as negative.
  - Derived Natural GL Amount field is the same as Source Amount.
  - For use in Basic Math approach, create derived Reversed GL Amount field that is the reverse of Natural GL Amount.
Organizing the Data – Decompose Chart of Accounts
Harmonizing the Data –Enables the Drillable P&L

Realizing the Potential: Income Statements with General-purpose IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

Technique for Selective Sign Reversal in Cognos Transformer
Settings for Measures: Actual and Budget
- Make sure you source Actual and Budget measures from appropriate Reversed GL Amount field.

Settings for Categories: Account Dimension
Don’t Forget Mixed Rollup Accounts
Actual and Budget Need to be Measures

Putting it to Work: Income Statement Demonstrations Using IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced

Demonstrations
- Row and Column Selection
- Budget versus Actual
- Relative Time and Comparisons
- Expanding Specific Sections
- Business Unit per Page
- Asymmetrical Reporting
- Seasonality
- Conditional Highlighting
- Actuals and Forecast by Month
- Percent of Total
- Drill-through to Transaction Detail

Tips & Tricks

Measuring User Adoption of your Cognos BI System

Implementing a Cognos Audit Database

One of the keys to business intelligence success is user adoption; do you know who is using your BI system? Of all those Cognos reports you have to administer, how many are really being used? Do system updates, migrations or outages require undue efforts due to the large amount of reports that need to be moved or recovered? By implementing an audit database, you will be able to gauge the success for your BI system and tell which reports are really being used, how often and by whom.

During this webinar we show you how easy it is to implement an audit database and deploy the Cognos-supplied audit reporting package. We teach how to create custom, dynamic audit reports using Report Studio. We also demonstrate how to create an Agent using Event Studio that can trigger an alert to administrators when specific events occur.

Business Context

Knowing the details of the BI system usage supports informed decisions that improve performance, increase user adoption, help plan future capacity needs, and put on-going administration and maintenance efforts where they are most beneficial.

Details such as identifying bottlenecks, under and over used system resources, unused reports, problem queries or reports, users in need of training, etc. are some of the results possible with standard and custom reports from the audit data base.

Technologies Covered

Cognos Audit Database; Event Studio; Report Studio

Recommended Audience

Cognos BI Developers; Cognos BI Administrators

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

Outline

Track Cognos BI Usage in order to:

Identify what’s used and what’s not (and in what volumes)
Support capacity planning and bottleneck resolution
Identify where retraining would be useful

Configure an Audit Database

SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Informix, Sybase
URL_XML data source
Java Development Kit (JDK) and Runtime Environment (JRE)

Training Demonstrations

Create a database in SQL Server (named: Audit)
Configure IBM Cognos 10 for database logging
Deploy the vendor-supplied sample Audit package
- Installing the separate samples package is needed for access to Audit’s Framework Manager configuration, etc.
- Administration => System => Dispatcher (each one) => Set Properties => Audit Settings
  - Minimal, Basic, Request, Trace, or Full
  - Webcontent and deployment folders
  - Data base connection (so SQL server db Audit)
Create custom reports using the Audit package
Create an Event Studio agent to automatically alert when a user logs in
- Alert setup
- How to eliminate repetitive alerts for the same event

Q&A

Topics:

Alerts for scheduled reports that fail

Troubleshooting queries relative to the data base being accessed (using the data base log versus auditing the native query)

The report description is not in the audit data, but is in the content store

Studio identification in audit data

Audit report specification changes

PowerPlay auditing capabilities comparison in version 10 versus version 7

Data about reports that haven’t run is available via the url_xml source only (there is no data in the audit tables for reports with no activity)

Multiple dispatchers use the same audit data base

Sufficiency of the sample audit reports

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos Mobile Reporting on the iPad

Considerations and Recommendations

Tips & Tricks

Cognos 10 Under the Hood

A Pragmatic Review of the New Features of Cognos 10

Features

Cognos Advanced Report Authoring & New Features In Report Studio v10

Learn the Helpful New Features Added in v10 and Create an Active Report

Tips & Tricks

Self-service BI Keys to Success

Plus an Unbiased Look at QlikView

Many companies – even those who consider themselves successful with BI – have been disappointed with the degree to which their business users have adopted “self-service” BI. Self-service BI is the situation in which business decision-makers are readily accessing, analyzing and reporting on virtually all the information they need -- without regular assistance from the IT group. In this chapter of the Senturus “BI Demystified” series, we discuss the keys to success for self-service BI.

This webinar recording also includes an unbiased, under-the-covers look at QlikView. The goal of the QlikView demo is to provide information sufficient for you to decide for yourself whether QlikView can enable self-service BI in your organization.

Business Context

Slow user adoption of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions and capabilities can delay or even prevent a business from realizing the benefits of putting data access, visualization and discovery in the hands of decision makers and analysts. Multi-purpose tools and an understanding of the keys to success can jump-start that adoption and speed benefits.

Technologies Covered

Self-service BI architecture; QlikView

Recommended Audience

BI Professionals; BI Developers; BI Power Users

Presenters

John Horner, Armanino McKenna, LLP

Our guest speaker is John Horner. John is a renowned expert with 15 years of experience working within the business intelligence and data warehousing industry including five years of hands-on experience with QlikView. John leads the BI Practice at Armanino Consulting, a Senturus Business Partner.

Greg Herrera

Co-Founder and Chairman, Senturus, Inc

Greg originally founded Senturus in 2001. He now heads sales, recruiting, marketing, human resources, and new ventures.

Outline

The keys to Self-Service BI Success are explained in detail with examples:

Organize the data
Don’t build what they ask for; build what they need
Organize the team
Shoot early and often
Attempt one-tool-fits-all, but don’t die by it
Watch your costs

QlikView Utilization with and without other enterprise data sources (warehouses and marts)

Multi-purpose tool:

Data Staging (ETL tool)
Data Integration
Data Warehousing
Data Provisioning
Metadata services
Visualization and Presentation

QlikView Functional Demonstration – Developers Actions and View

Main
Connect
Extract
Provision
Calendar
Cleanup
Script Save

QlikView Functional Demonstration – Server Deployment and End User’s View

Dashboarding
Ad hoc Search and Analysis: Data discovery
Filtering

Q&A

Topics

QlikView volume issues and constraints

Features

Migrating a Cognos Instance between Authentication Sources

Stress Free Cognos Migrations with Motio

Migrating a Cognos instance between authentication sources can be a scary experience, it's not as simple as moving from point A to point B. A namespace transition can have a profound effect on your Cognos environment’s content and configuration - e.g. the security policies and owners on all Cognos content (objects, scheduled executions, email recipients, group memberships, My Folders, etc.) all depend on CAMIDs from a Cognos namespace.

Some forces that drive the need for migrating a Cognos instance from one authentication source to another are:

Migrating Cognos 8 / 10 authentication from Series 7 Access Manager to LDAP or Active Directory
Consolidating multiple installations of Cognos
Corporate policies which mandate consolidation of identity information
Upgrading Cognos to a version which no longer supports your legacy security source

During this webinar, we will how to utilize Motio’s technology to make a Cognos migration a stress free journey.

Business Context

Business user security and ease of access to enterprise information, reports and BI infrastructure is enhanced with a centralized user identity approach. Reducing security risk often mandates a change from multiple, legacy security systems to centralized LDAP or Active Directory systems.

A Motio software-assisted migration that is efficient, timely and stress-free from one authentication source to another can minimize business user access interruption and be done with minimal impact on IT resources.

Technologies Covered

Motio; Cognos authentication source; LDAP; Active Directory

Recommended Audience

IT Professionals; IT Developers; DBA’s; Security Administrators; System Administrators

Presenters

Steve Reed-Pittman

Senturus Consultant

Lance Hankins

Chief Technology Officer, Motio

Outline

Migration Scenarios

Access Manager (SunONE LDAP) -> Active Directory
Access Manager (SunONE LDAP) -> newer LDAP(e.g., Oracle Directory Server, IBM Directory Server)
Migration of users between Active Directory domains (e.g., consolidating from multiple domains to one)

Cognos Security ID’s (CAMID) are assigned for:

Every security policy
Every object’s owner
Every object’s contact
Schedules
Schedule Recipients
Burst Slices
Cognos Namespace Membership
Each User & their Content
- My Folders
- Preferences
- Portal Tabs
- Watch Items
Framework and Transformer models if data level security has been deployed

Migration Options

Changing the authentication source causes the Cognos software to change all of the internal CAMID’s. Therefore the migration options are:

Manually remap each ID in Cognos Connection
Write custom code to migrate using Cognos SDK
Use a packaged namespace migration tool (e.g., Motio)

Motio Cognos Security Migration

Option 1: “Persona IQ” (licensed software)

WITHOUT changing the CAMIDs of users, groups & roles
Supports Migrating From / To :
- Access Manager
- Active Directory
- LDAP
- Persona IQ
- Requires less than five minutes of Cognos downtime.
- ZERO changes to the Cognos Content Store or FM / Transformer Models
- Empowers application support personnel while still adhering to corporate authentication standard

Option 2: “Motio Namespace Migration Service” (consulting)

Software-assisted, consulting engagement that moves the security namespaces from one instance to another.

The Motio software is not left with the client with this option.

Q&A

With a change from Access Manager to Active Directory, does the access to My Folders change?

Under Option 1 (Motio’s Persona IQ), no it does not (as the CAMID values remain unchanged).

Under Option 2 (Motio’s Migration Service), the My Folders folders are copied and relinked to the new security namespace (and then the old My Folders are deleted).

After a migration, does a new Cognos user have to also be added to Persona IQ?

No. Once the migration is completed, a new Cognos user who is already in the enterprise’s Active Directory system, does not need to be added to Persona IQ. (They will be authenticated to Active Directory, even though Cognos is looking at the Persona IQ data base.)

In the demonstration, Active Directory was the authentication source. Does it also perform as the authorization source after the migration?

No. The security namespace (Active Directory, LDAP, Access Manager, etc.) is the authentication source (who is the user) and that is what is migrated. The authorization source (what can the user access and what can the user do) is still contained in the content store.

When Series 7 is used to manage user classes, can they be migrated as well?

Yes, but if there are a very large number (e.g., 20,000), it may be preferred to leave them in the Persona data base and continue to manage them there. Otherwise, they can be mapped into Active Directory groups or roles (where they’d be managed after the migration).

Does the Motio software work with home-grown authentication sources?

No.

What level of network access is needed to accomplish the migration?

No special network access credential is needed, but access to the namespaces involved and to the Cognos dispatcher is required.

In the conflict identification step of the migration, will a source security system entry of John Lock be matched to a target system entry of Lock, John?

A number of pre-defined as well as custom mapping criteria can be used to match and to identify conflicts. For example, use of some or all of: first name, last name, id, combined fields with prefixes and suffixes (and delimiters) can be used.

Can the software help with a migration from Active Directory to Tivoli Security?

Not at this time, but might be available in the future.

Can Persona IQ handle multiple Active Directory namespaces concurrently, including single sign-on (SSO)?

Yes, both SSO and multiple Active Directory instances can be accessed (as multiple, top-level nodes).

After migration is complete, how long does the intermediate Persona IQ data base need to be maintained?

It is permanent and persists within the Cognos security system (and looks like an additional security provider to the ones initially provided in the Cognos software when installed: Series7, LDAP, Active Directory).

Features

IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes Deep Dive

In-Depth Look at Capabilities and Demos

An in-depth look into the Dynamic Cubes capability that is available with IBM Cognos 10.2. Details of the technology are presented that enables Dynamic Cubes and the advantages and value that the new capability provides.

By using 64-bit in-memory technology that builds on the proven IBM Cognos dynamic query architecture, Dynamic Cubes are a compelling solution that allows leveraging existing data warehouse infrastructure to provide more analysis on greater volumes to a larger audience with better reliability and responsiveness.

The following capabilities and tools are demoed

IBM Cognos 10.2 Cube Designer
Deploying and reporting of Dynamic Cubes
Dynamic Query Analyzer and Aggregate Advisor

Business Context

Some of the challenges facing business intelligence reporting and business analytics delivery include:

Very large volumes of data are often needed for meaningful analysis.
Analyzing and visualizing patterns in the data with respect to many business dimensions and attributes may be necessary for valuable business insights.
The number of business users that need access to large data volumes has increased beyond the small, traditional “power user” group.
The traditional OLAP solutions are no longer responsive enough.
Poor query performance can limit user adoption.

These challenges can make achieving a robust business analytics vision difficult if not impossible. Dynamic cubes that use 64-bit in-memory processing can overcome these challenges and provide significant, new capabilities while leveraging a company’s existing data warehouse infrastructure.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Bi 10.2; IBM Cognos Dynamic Query Mode (DQM); Dynamic Cubes; Cube Designer

Recommended Audience

Cognos BI Managers, BI developers, report developers, data modelers, ETL developers

Presenters

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

John O’Rourke

Senior Solutions Architect, Senturus, Inc

John has over 20 years of IT experience. He has been working as a Senior Solutions Architect with Senturus since 2004 helping clients that include Kaiser Permanente, Franklin Templeton Investments, Sephora, Fremont Bank, and more. He has an in-depth knowledge of the entire BI stack from server hardware, database design, ETL, and metadata modeling.

Outline

NEW FEATURES FOR COGNOS 10.2:

Workspace User Experience

For BOTH Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace (formerly Business Insight):
- More interactive visualizations (drilling, filtering on Charts)
- Top/Bottom Filtering, Expand/Collapse, Freeze Headers
- Tabbed Workspaces
For Cognos Insight:
- Enhanced Data Import
  - Import Directly from Existing Packages
  - “Smart” Metadata
  - Time Rollups
- More integration with BI
  - High-Fidelity Publish (requires TM1)

Dynamic Query Mode

Expanded Data Sources from Original Release to Include:
- MSAS; SAP Netweaver; IBM DB2 and InfoSphere; SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2012; IBM Netezza; Oracle 10g, 11g; Teradata; Salesforce.com; Siebel; SAP R/3;
IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
- In-memory OLAP cubes load data directly from relational data warehouses
- Part of Dynamic Query Mode, leverage 64-bit framework
- Enables OLAP-style analytics over terabytes of warehouse data
- Leverages in-memory and in-database aggregate awareness
- Modeling is achieved via GUI interface using Cube Designer

Report Studio

Access to Macro Functions in the Expression Editor Components
- Easy access to powerful functions, much like what you see in Framework Manager
- Better control of dynamic security at the report level
- Easier access to advanced Prompt syntax
Fully documented and exposed Prompt API
- No longer need to “hack” into source code
- Fully supported
- Samples included with javascript
  - Set dynamic default prompt values
  - Validate prompt values
Static Repeater Table Control for Active Reports
- Makes the Repeater Control Interactive
- Supports repeating grids of custom content such as images or buttons
New Export to Excel options
- Standard Excel 2007 now supports 16,384 columns by 1,048,576 rows (requires advanced server configuration)
- Excel 2007 Data
  - Lightweight, list only, no formatting to native .xlsxformat

Other Compelling New Features

Improvements to Mobile
- Push notifications
- Multi-page Report Trickle
- Multi-key Bursted Reports
Cognos Configuration Validation Utility
New Archiving Features
Cognos Style Management Utility

Dynamic Cubes

Dynamic Query Mode (DQM) - Cognos version 10.1
- Memory resident DMR Model
Dynamic Cubes released in Cognos version 10.2
- Allows aggregations based off the DQM technology
High Performance analytics over growing datavolumes
- Integrates into existing Cognos 10.2 platform with both Analysis Studio, Report Studio
- Scalability Limitations - None
- Scalable to hardware limits - Terabytes

Additional characteristics and topics

Dynamic Cube Architecture
Dynamic Cube Lifecycle
Dynamic Cubes vs. DMR
Aggregate-aware
Pre-requisites

Cube Designer

Data sources and importing metadata
Project validation
Model dimensions
Model hierarchies
Model levels
Properties
Model measures
Mapping between dimensions and measures

Deploying and publishing dynamic cubes

Access dynamic cubes through IBM Cognos Report Studio

Aggregate Advisor optimizes In-Memory and In-Database Performance

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.2 – which are free and which are for a fee
New User Types with Cognos 10.2
License Upgrade

Dynamic Cube Designer Example (62:40)

Dynamic Cube Designer Example Cognos Deeper Drive Jan

Q&A Topics

Cube Designer and Dynamic Cube Server: 32-bit and 64-bit processors

Publishing to My Folders versus Public Folders

Dynamic Cubes versus Transformer / Transformer Cubes versus PowerCubes

Flushing and the Data Cache and the Result Set Cache

Scripting language is part of the Cube Designer platform

Dynamic cube environment migration (development to production)

Multiple and stand-by dispatchers

Cognos 8.x OLAP cubes have to be rebuilt into dynamic cubes (no migration path)

Real-time cubes with TM1 (Dynamic cubes are refreshed in memory, not real-time)

DQM for existing Report Studio packages

Dynamic cubes as a source for Business Workspace Advanced (previously Business Insight Advanced)

Virtual cubes merge multiple dynamic cubes and handle data at any level of granularity

Dynamic cubes access data from a relational star schema data base (required pre-requisite)

Dynamic cubes can use SQL server as a data source

Dynamic cube approaches and alternatives instead of the Relative Date Wizards of Transformer

Joins from data marts and surrogate keys

MDX is a the Multi-Dimensional Expression language used to query data from an OLAP cube or DMR (Dimensional Model Relational) that is generated off of an RDBMS (Relational Data Base Management System)

Charts and Tables

Cube Architecture and Primary Use Cases

TM1
Dynamic cubes
OLAP Over Relational (OOR)
PowerCubes

Report Studios and Cubes

IBM Cognos Report Studio
IBM Cognos Analysis Studio
IBM Cognos PowerPlay Studio
IBM Cognos PowerPlay Client
IBM Cognos Workspace

IBM Cognos Insight

Features

Secrets to Managing Dimensions, Attributes & Hierarchies

Case Study and Demonstration of IBM Cognos Business Viewpoint

Some key dimensions of businesses are always changing: companies reorganize, finance and marketing departments keep different product hierarchies, sales territories are realigned. Changing these dimensions within the company’s business intelligence system can take days or even weeks involving the business managers and IT personnel.

While helping clients overcome these challenges, Senturus has found that IBM Cognos Business Viewpoint gives the business user the self-service of hierarchical management they need while offering control and stability. During this webinar recording we give a case study of how Business Viewpoint was implemented for one of our clients and show a demonstration of the product.

Business Context

The business benefits of dimension ownership and management by business data owners in a shared, visible and auditable way are:

Replacement of manual, error-prone or untimely methods with transparent and automated processes.
Approved, shared viewpoints across BI and Performance Management environments and availability of structures to other systems and IT.
Reduction in the reliance on IT personnel and their availability for business changes.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Business Viewpoint

Recommended Audience

BI Business Users; BI Professionals; BI Administrators; BI Developers

Presenter

John Peterson

Co-Founder, Senturus Inc.

John is the company's thought leader and visionary. John directs the delivery of all projects with Senturus, providing the bridge of technical and business understanding.

Outline

Business Requirements

Dimension hierarchy maintenance
Alternate hierarchies
Attribute maintenance
Absolute need for full self-service BI for business users

Dimension Maintenance Options: Pro’s and Con’s

In Source systems
- But all source systems have built-in limitations and usually a fixed number of user-defined fields available.
In Data marts / warehouses
- Senturus recommendation: This is the best place for maintenance (so all downstream cubes and reports benefit), but IT usually owns the DBMS layer and the business owns the business dimensions.
- Often there isn’t a business-like interface available for easy maintenance
In individual data cubes (that have been refreshed from DM/DW)
- But then all cubes will need to be individually maintained so that synchronicity and timeliness is a major challenge
In individual reports (that have been generated from data cubes and/or DM/DW)
- But then all reports that depend on a dimension that has been changed will need individual maintenance that is both costly and typically untimely
In external files (e.g., In Excel after a report or file above is exported)
- But then multiple users and departments will probably not be looking at an enterprise, conformed dimension in the same way, leading to misunderstandings and poor communication (e.g., organization structure, product category hierarchy, customer groups, etc.)

Business Viewpoint Objectives and Methods

Create and Maintain:
- Business personnel create and maintain dimensions (with multiple hierarchies and attributes) centrally create, edit, manage, compare, import
  - All line item dimensions required for Performance Management (chart of accounts, cost center, product etc)
  - Assemble multiple hierarchies, views or versions to support the performance management process
  - Notifications by role as changes occur
  - Business Rules – validate user entry
  - IT personnel maintain data integrity via system & database control

Govern and Collaborate:
- Business personnel govern and collaborate with transparency and audit ability
  - Workflow collaboration, multi user contribution
  - Audit who makes changes and what changes are made
  - Version control and roll back
  - Security for dimensions, users and user roles
  - Lineage of maintenance history back to the source
  - Add comments to changes

Share and Synchronize:
- Dimensions and their hierarchies and attributes are shared and synchronized
  - Create, edit, manage, compare, import
  - All line item dimensions required for PM (chart of accounts, cost center, product etc)
  - Assemble multiple hierarchies, views or versions to support the performance management process
  - Notifications by role as changes occur
  - Business Rules – validate user entry
  - Data integrity control

Business Viewpoint Licenses

“Mixed license” approach: a server component and a user role component:
- Server component: Starter or Enterprise version
- User Role component: Data Stewards and Contributors

Business Strategy

Better Inventory Investment Decisions for Increased ROI

GMROI Metric Provides Valuable Insights for Inventory Decisions

Business Strategy

Cognos Business Insight

Comparison of Standard vs. Advanced Licenses

Features

Making Business Insight Dashboards Available via IBM Cognos Portal Tab

Easy to Follow, Step-by-Step Instructions

Tips & Tricks

Integrating IBM Cognos Data into MS Office

Cognos for Microsoft Office & CAFE with Client Case Study and Tips & Tricks

Is exporting your enterprise data to Excel getting old? Are you tired of updating your Powerpoint charts with the new month’s data?

Why not integrate your IBM Cognos Business Intelligence platform directly with your Microsoft Office tools?

Cognos Analysis for Excel (CAFE) is a powerful embedded analytics engine that works directly inside of an Excel worksheet so “spread-heads” can intuitively work with live enterprise data while leveraging powerful and familiar Excel features such as formulas, lookups, and cell-based calculations and references. You can explore and slice-and-dice data using the CAFE interface and reference live data from local expressions.

IBM Cognos for MS Office allows you to embed any report object, such as a chart or crosstab, directly in an MS Office document, presentation, or workbook. Simply open the file to refresh the data – no more manually embedding values or images into your standard briefing books or desktop reports!

During this webinar one of our clients speaks about how her organization implemented these tools and was able to eliminate redundant, manual processes.

We also cover licensing and implementation factors.

Business Context

Reasons why many business prefer MS Office for final reports and distribution to business end users:

Most business analysts are very familiar with the MS Office suite of tools
Office tools allow us to do things that do not seem possible from within the IBM Cognos suite
- Cell-based expressions, vLookup, pivot tables, etc.
Integrating data from Cognos with other data objects and sources for final presentation
Deliver to recipients in a familiar format

But manually exporting data from BI sources to Excel and other MS Tools is painful:

Labor intensive for IT and/or business staff
Significant time delays, especially getting needed data to business decision makers for exploration and analysis
Low value for business analysts
Takes time away from analysis

Therefore, integrating BI data with Excel and other MS Office products for direct, refreshable updates may be the best solution.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Analysis for Excel (CAFE); IBM Cognos for MS Office

Recommended Audience

Business Analysts; BI End Users; BI Developers

Presenters

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus Inc.

Elcenora Martinez

Senior Director, Business Intelligence, Host Hotels

Outline

Cognos Analysis for Excel (CAFÉ) versus IBM Cognos for MS Office and Studios

Typical steps for CAFÉ:

Extract enterprise data from IBM Cognos, Export to Excel
Copy to master workbook
Perform necessary calculations and other operations to get the data in shape for final analysis and distribution

Typical steps for IBM Cognos BI and then MS Office:

Run standard IBM Cognos report
Export to Excel and/or copy report object into presentation or document
Update final deck or document for distribution

When CAFÉ makes sense:

Performing spreadsheet analysis that uses data from one or more sources where the data need to be updated routinely
Integrating data from multiple sources
You need to perform complex calculations that cannot be performed from within the IBM Cognos Studios

When to stick with the IBM Cognos for MS Office and Cognos Studios:

If you want to perform dynamic data exploration, look at PowerPlay Studio/Client, or Cognos Workspace Advanced!
If you need dynamic prompting, drill-through, automated delivery, dynamic alerts – consider Report Studio or Cognos Workspace Advanced (CWA)

CAFÉ Tips and Tricks (and Cautions):

Cube data is retrieved by creating COGVAL formula which is made up of a series of arguments
Each argument is the equivalent of a Dimension or Measure in a Cognos Cube
Arguments are dragged and dropped into Excel and appear as a COGNAME formula
Syntax Matters!
The first 2 components of a COGVAL formula MUST be:
- System Name
- Package Name
After 1 & 2, the user can choose the order of COGVAL arguments
Best Practice – be consistent with the order of the additional arguments and consider the context of ALL the dimensions that may impact your result
All Components of any COGVAL formula must be from the same Cube
Calculations:
- Do not create a formula in a cell containing a COGVAL
- Make sure all cell references in your COGVAL formula point to cells with COGNAMEs
- Use color shading to identify which rows/columns are calculations as opposed to COGVALs
Common Formula Errors:
- Missing System or Package Name (#ERR_INVALID_MEMBER)
- Missing one key argument
- Be aware, the COGVAL formula will still return a value, but it will be incorrect
Best Practice – try to only use Absolute Reference for System and Package Name
Use Mixed References for columns or rows that you want to maintain when copying a COGVAL formula in your worksheet
Data is not updated automatically when opening an Excel document with CAFÉ links – you must click the Refresh tool
Best Practice – do not insert or delete rows or columns when connected to the Cognos server otherwise your entire worksheet will return #ERR_INVALID_ME

License Pricing

CAFÉ can be licensed on an Authorized User or Processor Basis
- $918/ Authorized User or $830/PVU
- Volume discounts may apply
- IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office is available to all users licensed Consumer or above
- Contact us at info@senturus.com to get answers to any of your Cognos Licensing Questions

Tips & Tricks

Predictive Analytics Explained and IBM SPSS Demo

Predictive Models: What They Are, How to Use Them and Demo of SPSS

Many organizations have made big investments in business intelligence, deploying sophisticated reporting systems and performance dashboards. Yet for most companies, translating “interesting insights” into quantifiable business benefits is more the exception than the rule. Predictive analytics can be the next logical step in the evolution toward achieving dramatic improvements to the bottom line. In this webinar recording, Eric Zankman demystifies predictive analytics by explaining what predictive models are, how to develop them and how to apply them within a customer management framework to create measurable ROI.

Components of a comprehensive analytics approach are explored:

Creating a customer data mart with predictive analytics in mind
Building predictive models
Segmenting customers
Developing champion/challenger strategy tests
Establishing processes for continuous learning and improvement
Reaping the benefits of predictive models

The second half includes a demo of IBM SPSS Modeler.

Business Context

Predictive analytics can greatly improve profitability when part of a comprehensive analytics solution

A well-designed data mart is the first step toward effective predictive analytics
Organizations must be committed to ongoing strategy testing to maximize their benefits

Technologies Covered

Predictive Analytics, IBM SPSS Modeler

Recommended Audience

Presenters

Eric Zankman

Mr. Zankman is an analytics and business intelligence consultant with a 20-year track record of improving profitability for some of the world’s largest firms by applying data mining, predictive modeling, customer segmentation, experimental design, and optimization.

Mr. Zankman earned a BS degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Arik Killion

Client Technical Professional, IBM Business Analytics, SPSS

Outline

PREDICTIVE MODELS

General Definition

Empirically-derived algorithms used to predict future outcomes

Customer Analytics Definition

Predicts future customer actions
Combines individual attributes that are strong predictors
Produces an assessment score for each customer

Model Uses

Customer Analytics
- Direct Marketing
- Underwriting
- Usage Stimulation
- Cross-sell / Up-sell
- Retention / Churn
- Customer Value
Operational Analytics
- Risk Management
- Credit Policy Decisions
- Channel Preference
- Portfolio Management
Threat and Fraud Analytics
- Fraud Detection
- Collections
- Write-offs / Recoveries
Predictive Model Timeline
- Observation Period / Observation Point
- Performance Period / Forecasts

Part of a Comprehensive Analytics Solution

Customer Data Mart
Predictive Models
Customer Segmentation
Champion / Challenger Strategy Tests
Model, Segmentation and Strategy Execution
Strategy Test Evaluation
New Champion Strategy
Back to Step 4 (continuous learning and improvement)

Predictive Model Development Methodology

Define business goals
Specify model objective function
Design/build modeling database
Partition modeling data
Derive potential predictors
Analyze predictor strength
Perform sub-population analysis
Build model algorithms
Evaluate model performance

10. Deploy model

Champion / Challenger Strategy Improvement Methodology

Develop a “champion” strategy and “challenger” strategies for each segment
Execute strategy tests and analyze results after a defined test period
Perform model validation (controlling for treatment)
Deploy new champion strategy with quantifiable business improvements
Create new round of promising challengers

Example Application: Customer Churn Reduction

Develop predictive models for customer value and churn
Identify customers with high value and/or high churn propensity for tailored treatments (e.g., special retention campaigns, VIP service, liberal fee-reversal policies)
Conduct champion/challenger tests to identify the best treatments for each segment
Implement new champion and develop next set of challengers

Demonstration: IBM SPSS Modeler

Q&A

Topics

Groups and Point Assignments
- For scoring models, there are tools within SPSS that help define the number of groups for an attribute (e.g., the breadth of each group: Customer Age groups of <1 yr; 2 to 3 yrs; 3 to 5 yrs; 6 or more) and the number of points that should be assigned to each group for scoring purposes.

Consulting Validation for Data Readiness
- Senturus does offer this “discovery” call or visit as a service and it usually takes a few hours.

Modeling Technique Choice Criteria
- Statistical Regression and Point Scoring models work well for binary outcome situations (e.g., a customer cancels an account or doesn’t; a customer defaults or doesn’t; etc.)
- Decision Trees work well for multi-outcome situations
- Neural Nets work well for a resulting list of suspects (as for fraud) as opposed to an off/on or yes/no evaluation for each customer

Customer Involvement
- Usually significant over the 2 to 3 month implementation period for domain expertise; model validation; segmentation implementation; strategy determination, testing and strategy changes

Model Implementation Challenges
- Business Use and Customer treatment (for example)

Model Validation Frequency: at least quarterly is recommended

How is SPSS software implemented: hosted or on-premise?
- Both (see links in the slide deck)

Does SPSS require a data warehouse?
- Not necessarily because the observation data can come from any source, but a customer DW – for example – provides other reporting and analysis benefits and is an excellent source for SPSS for it supports changing the combination and population of attributes that SPSS analyses.

Are the SPSS demonstrated charts and graphs available in Cognos 10 BI suites?
- No. The SPSS data would have to be brought into Cognos BI, some calculations added, and the native Cognos charts and graphs would then display the SPSS data.

Is in-data base analytics recommended for SPSS?
- Yes, this is one way SPSS has been architected. Most data bases have internal algorithms that can be turned on and utilized by SPSS for analysis. (As opposed to the older, perhaps “standard” approach of extracting data from the data bases and handing that data to SPSS to store and analyze.)

Can data marts and warehouses support predictive modeling?

Yes, but there are analysis and sampling requirements for making observations and getting attribute values that usually require multiple snapshots and date stamping them so that values can be obtained for a specific point in time. Such as the values on a day that a customer defaults on a payment, or the values on the day a customer cancels an account, or the first day of each month to obtain trended historical values in the observation period.

Features

IBM Cognos 10 Framework Manager in Action

Demonstrations of New Features

Tips & Tricks

What’s New for Report Authors in Cognos 10.2

Report Studio New Features

Senturus’ IBM Cognos 10.2 Under the Hood webinar series continues with a deep dive into Report Studio, the go-to report development solution for professional authors.

These new Cognos Report Studio features are demonstrated:

Using the new Query Macro components to resolve complex prompting challenges as well as implement row and object-level security in reports
Exploring several examples of the new open Prompt API which will enable authors to implement
- Prompt validation
- Dynamic date range selection based on relative dates

In addition, several hot, new authoring tips & tricks are presented by our expert team of developers. These are new techniques we learned in the field, they are not out of the box.

Business Context

New report development features increase the productivity for report development. Speedier development means earlier realization of the business benefits of timely decision support information. It also means shorter IT queue times for information service requests from business users.

Technologies Covered

Cognos 10.2; Report Studio

Recommended Audience

BI Report Authors; Report Developer

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

Outline

Cognos 10.2 New Features Recap

Workspace User Experience

For BOTH Cognos Insight and Cognos Workspace (formerly Business Insight):
- More interactive visualizations (drilling, filtering on Charts)
- Top/Bottom Filtering, Expand/Collapse, Freeze Headers
- Tabbed Workspaces
For Cognos Insight:
- Enhanced Data Import
  - Import Directly from Existing Packages
  - “Smart” Metadata
- Time Rollups
- More integration with BI
- High-Fidelity Publish (requires TM1)

Dynamic Query Mode

Expanded Data Sources from Original Release to Include:
- MSAS; SAP Netweaver; IBM DB2 and InfoSphere; SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2012; IBM Netezza; Oracle 10g, 11g; Teradata; Salesforce.com; Siebel; SAP R/3;
IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
- In-memory OLAP cubes load data directly from relational data warehouses
- Part of Dynamic Query Mode, leverages 64-bit framework
- Enables OLAP-style analytics over terabytes of warehouse data
- Leverages in-memory and in-database aggregate awareness
- Modeling is achieved via GUI interface using Cube Designer

Report Studio New Features

Access to Macro Functions in the Expression Editor Components
- Easy access to powerful functions, much like what you see in
- Framework Manager
- Better control of dynamic security at the report level
- Easier access to advanced Prompt syntax
Fully documented and exposed Prompt API
- No longer need to “hack” into source code
- Fully supported
- Samples included with Javascript
  - Set dynamic default prompt values
  - Validate prompt values
Static Repeater Table Control for Active Reports
- Makes the Repeater Control Interactive
- Supports repeating grids of custom content such as images or buttons
New Export to Excel options
- Standard Excel 2007 now supports 16,384 columns by 1,048,576 rows (requires advanced server configuration)
- Excel 2007 Data: Lightweight, list only, no formatting to native .xlsx format

Other Compelling New Features

Improvements to Mobile
- Push notifications
- Multi-page Report Trickle
- Multi-key Bursted Reports
Cognos Configuration Validation utility
New Archiving Features
Cognos Style Management Utility

Demonstrations include:

Create an optional parameter for use in a slicer
- Use parametized slicer to filter a dimension that doesn’t appear on a report’s “edge”
Change the data item selection based on who is running the report
Demonstrate the prompt API sample reports

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.1.1 – which are free and involve a fee
New User Types with Cognos 10.1.1
License Upgrade Opportunities

Q&A

Are the performance improvements available from upgrading from Cognos 8 to Cognos 10 only available if there is also a change from 32-bit to 64-bit processing?

No. There are significant performance improvements from the architecture and methods changes in Cognos 10. So even if you don’t use Dynamic Query Mode (DQM), there is benefit from Cognos 10 over Cognos 8.

Are some of the features shown in the demonstrations also available in Active Reports?

Probably (except for prompts), but not all of them have been tested. Because the Active Report is rendered on the server and then distributed as an MHT file, additional server-side processing would not be possible once the report is distributed. Also, Active Reports do not use prompts, but use Active Report Controls – which is different and not demonstrated today.

Are the features of Cognos Workspace available when running in the native iPad application?

Probably, but not sufficiently tested yet. When consuming a report through the iPad app, it’s functioning as a browser, so more testing is needed to be sure.

What license type is needed to consume (as opposed to design and create) dynamic cubes?

No additional or special or upgraded licenses are needed for consuming dynamic cubes.

Is the new, freeze column header feature available in Report Studio?

No, this is only available in the widgets of Cognos Workspace and Cognos Insight. Other Report Studio methods still need to be used to get this type of behavior in Report Studio. One option is to create the report in Report Studio and then push it into a widget in Cognos Workspace where the freeze column header can be used.

When moving from Cognos 10.1 to Cognos 10.2, are reports or dashboard affected significantly?

No, there has been minimal affect – assuming that there are no or very few custom objects imbedded in existing, standard reports. Use the Lifecycle Manager to create a parallel upgraded instance for validation.

Is there a new feature to support column sorting for Report Studio?

Not really (as there is for Active Reports which support dynamic column sorting). The prior method of passing a sort parameter in a drill-through request – which results in re-querying a self-drilling report – provides the same result . . . but it’s not a new feature, just a prior work-around.

Is there a preference for using a query calc versus a calculated measure?

The query calculation is always recommended as it provides access to the full expression editor.

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos TM1 version 10.1

Demos of New Functionality

Features

Scorecarding with IBM Cognos Metric Studio

Understand the Strategic Impact of Metrics and How to Track These Performance Indicators

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos TM1 10.1 Performance Modeler Deep Dive

In-Depth Demo of Functionality

Features

IBM Cognos Enterprise Planning Tips: D-Cube Allocation

Eliminate the Need to Open or Change D-Links From Forecast to Forecast

Tips & Tricks

How to Install Cognos Insight Free Trial on Windows 7

Step-by-Step Instructions

Tips & Tricks

Unconstrained Enterprise Planning

Preview for TM1 10.2 and Case Study

Features

Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the Trenches

How to Streamline an Upgrade

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos Insight Demo and Datasheet

Released in March 2012: More End User Capabilities Without IT Assistance

Features

Automate the Close & Consolidate Processes

Demonstration of IBM Cognos Controller

Features

Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance

Avoid Costly Downtime and Reduce Maintenance Costs

Given the current economic climate, there is continued pressure for companies to limit capital and operational costs. Some companies have focused on specific capabilities and technologies to predict equipment or asset failure so they can avoid costly downtime while reducing maintenance costs. Read this Analyst Insight by the Aberdeen Group based on responses from 140 executives to learn how they use data and analytics to manage the reliability and maintenance of their assets.

Business Context

Predictive Maintenance can help companies with assets or manufacturing operations reduce costs and maximize Return on Assets (RoA) for Best-in-Class performance.

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Finance, Operations and Supply Chain Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Forces Driving Predictive Maintenance

Reduced Operational budgets 40%

Need to Maximize Return on Assets (RoA) 37%

Reduced Capital Budgets 28%

Rising Material Cost 25%

Aging Assets 17%

Maturity Class Framework

Performance for Best in Class (top 20% of performers)

1.7% Unscheduled Asset Downtime
91% Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
+20% Return on Assets vs. Corporate Plan
-31% Reduction in Maintenance Costs

Strategic Actions by Best in Class to Maximize RoA

Improve long term capital planning with better analytic tools
Outsource maintenance activities to third party
Manage energy and emissions as part of the maintenance strategy

Establishing Predictive Business Capabilities

Historical asset data (trends) and real-time data used as actionable intelligence for optimized decision making
On-demand asset lifecycle information easily accessible by all employees
Centralized knowledge warehouse to store asset performance data from different plants
Budget allocated to support reliability centered maintenance activities

Leveraging Sustainability Data

Visibility into anomalies when assets exceed acceptable performance thresholds
Asset data utilized to minimize energy consumption
Benchmark the performance of each asset to determine the cost of maintaining versus replacing it with a newer, more energy efficient asset
Energy management integrated with overall asset management strategy

Technology Enablers

Master Data Management
Analytics
Workflows
Dashboards
Spare Parts Inventory Optimization

Key Takeaways

Provide centralized, real-time data
Utilize predictive analytics to make educated decisions about future events
Provide integration between business systems
Consider sustainability as a critical part of a maintenance strategy

Business Strategy

Beyond BI: Predict Future Performance

Predictive Analytics

Business Context

Using the full range of BI solutions can help your company anticipate forward-looking trends and improve overall performance and ROI.

Organizations that utilize predictive analytics in addition to business intelligence achieve an average return on investment of 250 percent (source: IDC: The business value of predictive analytics, June 2011).

Recommended Audience

Senior Executives; Operational and Finance Managers; IT Managers; Business Intelligence Managers; Business Analysts

Outline

Business Intelligence can drive success by helping to:

Identify market trends ahead of the competition.
Understand customer behavior.
Tackle and solve operational inefficiency.
Make sound business decisions with confidence.
Overcome bad decisions that seem obvious in hindsight.
Make sense of the explosion of data and data sources that are currently clouding the business horizon.

Predictive analytics takes BI to a new level

Predictive analytics processes historical data, “learns” what has happened in the past and creates models.
Predictive analytics gives you the glimpse of the future that is needed for a more complete picture of your business.
You can get this forward view of your business without advanced algorithms or Ph.D. skills because the predictive information can be accessed from your dashboard, report or scorecard.

The benefits of a forward view of your business

Beat the competition. Transform your business from a reactive operation to a proactive market leader by setting and staying ahead of trends with integrated analysis of text, web and survey data.
Reinforce accuracy and confidence in decisions. Move beyond simply understanding past performance by validating business intuition and existing practices and policies with a view into what is likely to happen next.
Enrich the data discovery experience. Understand your data better by discovering patterns and trends in your structured and unstructured data.

Benefits by role:

Executives can use predictive intelligence in decisions made at all levels of the organization—strategic, operational and tactical.
Business managers can recognize which factors are influencing outcomes and the relationships therein to pinpoint issues and drive improvements.
Business analysts can easily attain a very detailed understanding of the relationships hidden in all your data (numerical and text). They can generate focused predictive intelligence that can improve decision outcomes for measureable ROI.
Analytics professionals can use structured and unstructured data to determine relationships and construct models to predict outcomes and future events.
System managers can take advantage of non-intrusive integration with operational systems and flexible deployment

How forward-thinking BI works

The right BI

Unified workspace
Agility and accessibility
Hypothesis testing
Predictive analytics
Desktop analytics

Your BI solution should allow you to:

Understand what happened
Explore why it happened.
Predict what is likely to happen next.

Business Strategy

Beyond Gross Margin: Insight into Profitability

20-40% of Your Products and Customers are Losing Money - Do You Know Which Ones?

Features

Streamlining Financial Statement Reporting

Demonstration of Cognos FSR

Features

Framework Manager’s Design Accelerator – Cognos 10

How FM's Model Design Accelerator Can Reduce Relational Metadata Model Development Time

Increase productivity for data model development.The data model is the BI foundation for performance management, operational and financial reporting.

Metadata Modelers now have even more tools to guide them through proven design practices in IBM Cognos 10 Framework Manager. The Framework Manager Model Design Accelerator is a feature of IBM Cognos 10 that can significantly reduce the development cycle times for relational metadata models.

The following techniques are demonstrated for developers

Using the Model Design Accelerator
Dimensionally Modeled Relational (DMR) best practices
Row-level security best practices

Other major new features of IBM Cognos 10 are reviewed. The new features are explained, indicating which new features are included at no charge and which new features require license trade-up.

Business Context

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Framework Manager 10; Cognos BI 10

Recommended Audience

IBM Cognos BI Developers; Business Intelligence Managers; IT Cognos and BI Support Staff

Presenter

Albert Valdez

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc

Outline

The IBM Cognos Framework Manager 10 demonstrations will cover the following techniques:

Use the Model Design Accelerator to start one, new Star Schema (as compared to FM’s Metadata Wizard).(NOTE: For additional fact tables and stars, use the classic metadata import and relation generation techniques.)

Steps:

Build the fact table
Build the query (dimension) subjects
Generate the model

Including using the:

Model Tree
Model Accelerator Workspace
Explorer Diagram

For these functions:

Relationship Editing

And observable in these layers:

Physical layer
Business layer (and Star Schema Groupings) made up of subjects and shortcuts

Implement a common row-level security requirement using:
- Parameter map
- Session parameters and user session parameters

Leverage Query Macros to make the solution dynamic
Implement Dimensionally Modeled Relational models
- Create Regular Dimensions and Measure Dimensions
- Understand how to use level attributes

Metadata Modeling Best Practices are reviewed:

Use a multi-tiered design
Establish query item properties and relationships early on (in the first tier)
Plan your design with consideration to how the IBM Cognos query engine generates SQL
Model Query Subjects as either a Dimension or a Fact
Relate Facts to one another through one or more Conformed Dimensions
Review and carefully define Determinants
Define Package and Object-level Security
Create a user-friendly Presentation
Use Dimensional Modeling techniques where appropriate

Licensing Update

New Features of Cognos 10.1.1 – which are free and which are for a fee
New User Types with Cognos 10.1.1
License Upgrade Opportunities

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos TM1 Demo and Financial Planning Best Practices

See TM1 in Action and Learn Software Independent FP&A Best Practices

Features

Business Intelligence Applications-Build or Buy?

A Review of Pre-Built BI Applications

Business Strategy

Building a Business Intelligence Competency Center

Establishing a Culture of Best Practice

Business Strategy

Designing Scorecards with IBM Cognos Metric Designer

Tips for Developers

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos Enterprise Planning V10 and Beyond

EP's Latest Features and a Comparison of EP and Cognos TM1

Features

Cognos Multi-Dimensional Dashboarding : Best Practices

Learn Best Practices for Creating Interactive Dashboards in the Cognos Portal

Tips & Tricks

Automated Planning System Requirements Kick-start

Assessment tool to determine the appropriate planning solution for your organization

Business Strategy

12 Elements of FP&A Best Practices

The do's and don'ts with examples

Business Strategy

Transforming spreadsheets: planning, budgeting and forecasting

IBM Cognos Express Whitepaper

Features

IBM Cognos 10 Demo: Predictive Analytics

Integration of predictive analytics and SPSS functionality

Features

Scorecarding with IBM Cognos 10

Guest Speaker: Greenville Hospital System

Features

Improving Your Marketing ROI

Implementing Marketing Analytics Best Practices

Business Strategy

The Pain of Closing the Books (and Prescriptions to make it painless)

Improving the Close-to-File Process Whitepaper

Business Strategy

Best Practices in OLAP Modeling with Cognos Transformer

Demos of Techniques that Make Cognos Transformer a Valuable Part of BI

Tips & Tricks

Microsoft SSAS

Which version of Analysis Services should I use? Multi-dimensional or Tabular?

Choosing the right version of Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services-- multi-dimensional or tabular --is key because once you start developing, you will not be able to easily “migrate” the work to the other version. You pretty much need to start over.

During this webinar, Senturus discusses the importance of choosing the correct version—multi-dimensional or tabular--of Microsoft SSAS for your analytic needs. We review the various features and benefits that each version provides.

This one hour webinar could save you countless hours by helping you choose the right product before you start developing.

Business Context

There are significant differences between the two data base design options available for Microsoft SSAS; and switching between them after development starts is very problematic. Knowing the differences and applicability before starting is critical to efficient and productive development efforts.

Technologies Covered

Microsoft SSAS

Recommended Audience

Microsoft SSAS Users and Developers

Presenter

David Shroyer

David is a Senturus consultant with over 12 years of experience implementing BI solutions with the Microsoft stack. He has provided training and/or consulting to over 60 companies nationwide. David’s past experience includes working at ProClarity, which was later purchased by Microsoft. David had an MBA from California State University of Sacramento.

Outline

BACKGROUND:

SSAS Multidimensional

MSOLAP debut with the release of SQL Server 7.0
SSAS was completely overhauled with the release of SQL Server 2005
This new version allowed for “sub cubes” with the Scope statement. This radically increased the functionality of the cubes
SSAS 2008R2 and 2012 have primarily been concerned with query performance and scalability
SSAS Multidimensional is positioned as a “Corporate BI” tool

PowerPivot

With the release of Excel 2010 came an add-in called PowerPivot
PowerPivot uses a local instance of Analysis Services with the new xVelocity engine
The xVelocity in-memory engine can greatly increase query performance PowerPivot is a client based tool. All data is stored in the Excel workbooks.
PowerPivot does not have any security, other than securing a workbook on the file system
PowerPivot is positioned as a “SelfService BI” tool

SSAS Tabular

With the release of SQL Server 2012 came the “server version” of PowerPivot which is a “tabular” instance of SSAS on the server
Models can be created directly on the server or PowerPivot models can be imported

Languages

Multidimensional cubes use MDX for calculations, security, and queries
Tabular uses DAX for calculations and queries. It is also MDX compliant, which means that MDX based tools, like Excel, can query Tabular cubes

MODELING:

Multidimensional Modeling

Based on a traditional star schema methodology. This includes dimension tables and fact tables. (Kimball methodology)
Multidimensional models can include advanced calculations and sophisticated business logic.

Tabular Modeling

Organizes data into related tables
Because tables do not need to be designated as “dimensions” or “facts” the development time is less with tabular because all related tables serve both roles

Data Considerations

One to Many Relationships – Both models handle these out of the box. Although with tabular you can only join on ONE field
Many to Many Relationships – Multidimensional handles this out of the box. Tabular does not allow for M2M relationships but you can “work around it” by using DAX calculations
Standard Hierarchies:
- Multidimensional needs to have hierarchy attribute relationships to be defined. The cube then uses those hierarchies to precalculated “totals” at those levels
- Tabular does not need any defined relationships. Because it is “in-memory” there is no need for pre-calculated aggregations
Ragged Hierarchies:
- Multidimensional provides support for ragged hierarchies by hiding any missing values in the hierarchy
- Tabular does not support ragged hierarchies
Parent/Child Hierarchies:
- Multidimensional allows for parent/child hierarchies out of the box. These are useful for supervisor/employee dimensions as well a chart of accounts dimension
- Tabular does not support the definition of parentchild hierarchies; however, the DAX language provides a set of functions that allows users to explore parent-child hierarchies and to use these hierarchies in formulas.
Unary Operators:
- Multidimensional offers out of the box support for unary operators. This is very important for chart of account hierarchies
- Tabular does not support unary operators
Semi-additive Measures:
- Multidimensional has built in aggregation functions
- Tabular handles these measures but you need to use separate DAX functions for each level such as ClosingBalanceMonth

Additional Features:

Perspectives – available in both models
Translations – only available with multidimensional
Actions – only available in multidimensional
Drill-through – available in both models
Write-back – only available in multidimensional
Role Playing Dimensions – not available in Tabular
Formatting Measures – Tabular does not allow for custom formatting
Display Folders – Tabular does not allow for display folders
Naming the All Level – Tabular does not allow for the naming of the All Level

Calculations:

Both models have a wide variety of calculation possibilities
Multidimensional allows for extra calculation properties such as font color and background color based on logic
Multidimensional allows for calculations that are not located on the measures dimension

Shell Dimensions:

In multidimensional you can create “shell dimensions” which can store “global” calculations
This is often used for Date Calculations such as year over year variances and YTD
These can also be used for unit of measure conversions and other global calculations

Date Calculations

Adding a date calculations dimension to a cube can make creating dashboard type reports very easy

With tabular you have two choices
- You build your date calculations into the measures dimension – Qty, Qty LY, Qty LY Var, Qty LY Var %, Sales, Sales LY, etc
- Or you create a faux shell dimension and include massive nested IIF statements to trap for every possible intersection. (which is just not reasonable) This also causes problem in that you can only format a measure so shell dimensions are just not suited for Tabular

MDX vs. DAX

MDX (Multi-Dimensional Expressions) is used in Multidimensional and it is a language of hierarchies and dimensions
DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is used in Tabular and it is more columnar based
One of the reasons why Microsoft invested heavily into the xVelocity technology was because they felt that MDX was too difficult for the average DBA
MDX can be hard to conceptualize but it has the advantage of being able to navigate hierarchies
Percent of Parent calculation in MDX
Percent of Parent calculation in DAX

Named Sets:

In multidimensional named sets allow you to retrieve common sets of members that can be used in reporting, such as “current day”, “current month”, or “last 12 months”
Named sets are not available in Tabular but you can duplicate some of their functionality using attributes and SQL date functions
Named sets are critical for automating date selection in dashboards

Data Storage:

Multidimensional stores data in data partitions and then it creates aggregations within the partitions
- Compression is normally 3X to 4X
Tabular loads data into memory so there is no need for aggregations
- Compression is normally 10X

Scalability:

Multidimensional can scale to billions of records. This is accomplished through the use of data partitioning
Tabular is limited by the amount of memory on the server
- The lower the cardinality of the data the more records can be fit into memory

Processing Performance:

Multidimensional has dependencies which can make cube processing somewhat tricky
- All dimensions must be processed before the fact tables
- Updating of dimensions drops all aggregations and therefore they need to be recalculated
- Full process of dimensions drops the data
Tabular is just a “collection of tables” so there are no processing dependencies
Therefore it is much more flexible when it comes to processing
You can partition the data within the tabular model so that you don’t have to process the full data set each day but the partitions cannot be processed in parallel

Query Performance:

Multidimensional query performance is dependent upon the partition design and the aggregation design
Tabular query performance does not need to be tuned
Generally tabular will provide for better query performance especially if the users are pulling large amounts of detailed data

Security:

Multidimensional bases security on members within a dimension
Tabular bases security on rows in a table
Both versions support dynamic security
Multidimensional also allows for visual totals and allows users to use drill-through

Microsoft Client Tools:

Microsoft Excel can connect to both models.
- Although the query performance benefits of Tabular are lost when you query with MDX
PerformancePoint can only connect to Tabular with the use of a custom data source
PowerView can only connect to Tabular
Most third party products can connect to both models because Tabular is MDX compliant

Q&A

Topics:

PowerView: Cannot be used with Multidimensional. Only can use PowerView with Tabular (for now).
Using integer keys (rather than text) facilitates getting the maximum compression from both Multidimensional and Tabular options.
IBM’s future plans for the Multidimensional and Tabular options.

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Security Best Practices

Over 16 topics discussed and demonstrated

Tips & Tricks

The Business Value of Business Intelligence

How to get good, timely data from your enterprise reporting system

Business Strategy

Cognos Enterprise Planning Tips and Techniques Part II

Valuable techniques for administrators, developers and end users

Tips & Tricks

Trends and Best Practices in Performance Management

Top factors that enable companies to outperform their peers

Business Strategy

More Cognos Report Studio Advanced Authoring Techniques

5 more demonstrations including creating a briefing book, conditional drill-through report, and more

Tips & Tricks

IBM Cognos TM1 Contributor

How to deploy TM1 Contributor, create pick lists, use sandboxes for sophisticated analysis

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Enterprise Planning Tips and Techniques

Modify your model, allocate expenses and more

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Framework Manager Metadata Modeling Tips & Tricks

Use of determinants, parameter maps, query macros, and implementing row-level security

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Multi-Dimensional Dashboarding: New Techniques

New techniques and demonstrations

Tips & Tricks

Cognos Report Studio Advanced Authoring Techniques

Five demonstrations including prompt-driven dashboards, queries, merging results and more

Tips & Tricks

How Shutterfly Cut 5 Days Off Their Close

Eliminate manual preparation and make faster, better business decisions

Business Strategy

Microsoft Business Intelligence: Too Good to be True?

Comparison of Microsoft BI with traditional BI leaders

Features

Managing Labor Data to Drive Profitability

Using business intelligence to maximize profit and service

Business Strategy

Is The Cloud Ready for your Financial Reporting?

Ten key factors to consider

Features

Affordable Analytics and Planning

IBM Cognos Express Demonstration

This webinar is a discussion and demonstration of an affordable, easy-to-implement business analytics system solution for replacing Excel spreadsheets.

An enterprise planning platform eliminates the limitations, inefficiencies and dangers of the reliance on spreadsheets used for financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidations, analytics and reporting.

The IBM Cognos Express solution, which delivers the reporting, analysis, dashboard, planning, budgeting and forecasting capabilities at an affordable price, discussion and demonstration includes

Reviewing the dangers and inefficiencies inherent in spreadsheets (to help make the cost-benefit case to management for changing from Excel to an enterprise planning platform).
Showing the simple steps that can be taken to minimize risk and deliver greater business efficiencies.
Demonstrating how to extend the familiar spreadsheet-based user interface for better budgeting, planning and forecasting in an enterprise-wide platform.

Business Context

Excel spreadsheets and workbooks have severe limitations in the areas of ease of consolidation, central control over formulas and structure, security and workflow. There is significant business benefit to eliminating Excel workbook management time and risk and replacing spreadsheets with an enterprise-wide, centrally controlled planning and analysis platform.

Cognos Express packages many of the Cognos Enterprise components for 100 users or less on a single server, providing analysis, planning and reporting capabilities that eliminate all of the spreadsheet limitations.

Technologies Covered

IBM Cognos Express

Recommended Audience

Business analysts and planners; IT business analysts; Planners

Presenters

Jim Frazier

Vice-President of Sales, Senturus

Brad Greene

Senior Consultant, Senturus

Ivan Aguilera

IBMNorth America, Channel Enablement Specialist,Business Analytics

Outline

Spreadsheet limitations:

Limited security and work flow
Difficult to audit and validate
Awkward to share and distribute
Changes in business rules, calculations and structure can involve major retrofit rework efforts and result in errors (especially for large numbers of distributed workbooks that are not under central control)
Not easy to integrate with multiple data sources
Not easy to consolidate multiple workbooks once they are distributed to other departments, divisions and business units

IBM Cognos Express characteristics:

Spreadsheet-like interface
Centrally managed business rules, calculations and structures result in quick, efficient and accurate consolidations
Centrally managed dimensions and hierarchies result in consistent structures for all users all the time
Integrated planning, budgeting and forecasting
Integrated reports and dashboards

IBM Cognos Planning Options

Individuals, working independently: Cognos Insight
- Windows only, installed on individual computers
- Gather, structure and visualize data, gaining business insights from multiple sources
Work groups, working together: Cognos Express
- Single Windows 2008 server, maximum of 100 users
- Centrally managed data and planning models
- Managed workflow
- Acquire data, analyze, visualize, plan and report
Organizations, working as an integrated whole: Cognos Enterprise
- Multiple platform support, unlimited users
- Historical, real-time, future plans and predictive results
- Cost effective scale, enterprise-wide unified workspace

Demonstration highlights:

Data import from Excel (or csv)
Dimensional model creation
Publish to Cognos Connection for Cognos Insight or Web (Contributor) access with security and workflow
Dashboard and report creation with multiple graphing options
Multiple scenario (sandbox) planning using direct input and breakback (spreading)

Product information:

The IBM Cognos iPad mobile application is available from iTunes (free)
An individual copy of the IBM Cognos Insight program is available (free)

Q&A

What are the components of Cognos Express?

Cognos Insight
Cognos Workspace (previously: Business Insight and Business Insight Advanced)
Cognos TM1
Cognos Mobile
Framework Manager
Report Studio
Query Studio
Advisor
Transformer (because Cognos Express uses TM1 as the DBMS)
Analysis Studio
Through a one-stop Cognos Express Manager that provides access to users, security, data sources, configuration options, etc.

What Cognos components are NOT included: How is Cognos Express administered?

Transformer (because Cognos Express uses TM1 as the DBMS)
Analysis Studio

How is Cognos Express administered?

Through a one-stop Cognos Express Manager that provides access to users, security, data sources, configuration options, etc.

Features

Windows 7 Requires Cognos Planning Upgrade

The issues, the solutions, and the new features in the Cognos Planning upgrade.

Features

Optimize your BI and IT Resources

Demonstration of Innotas' IT Governance and Project Portfolio Management solution

Features

Cognos for Business Users

Get the information you need without waiting for I.T. by using Interactive Dashboards

Tips & Tricks

Straight Talk about Cognos Insight

Demonstrations of Cognos Insight for Planning and BI

Features

Next-Generation Forecasting

Performance management and rolling forecasts

Business Strategy

# RESOURCES SHOWN