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PowerPlay cubes modelling & development process

The application development process in Cognos PowerPlay Transformer usually contains the following steps:

· Gather business users requirements

· Create a Model Plan which will include design and data requirements for the model and decide on the cube distribution methodology

· Select measures

· Plan dimensions and levels

· Design and develop the PowerPlay model in Transformer

· Create PowerPlay cubes and distribute them to the end users

· Analyze and explore the cube data using PowerPlay

A Transformer Model can be also created using a wizard with AutoDesign function or manually. We strongly recommend to avoid the AutoDesign function as in most cases it does not provide the results expected.

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Main PowerPlay Transformer features:

· Advanced modelling capabilities.

· Leverages aggregate and fact tables.

· Intergation of the query data into the model.

· The models are defined by dimension structures and measures which can be easily customized.

· No custom programming required.

· Time periods are handled in a specific way which makes data delivery easy.

· High flexibilty and portability..

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Cognos PowerPlay Transformer - Models and Cubes

PowerPlay Transformer is a Cognos component used to define OLAP cubes structure and data (in PowerPlay models) and build the multidimensional analysis cubes called PowerCubes.

A PowerCube contains calculated, summarized data organized into dimensions and measures and can be viewed and analysed in the PowerPlay Web Explorer, PowerPlay client for Windows, PowerPlay for Excel or Cognos 8 BI. PowerCubes provide secure and fast data access.

Keep in mind that Cognos cubes are static and building a PowerCube is a repetitive process (cubes may be refreshed every day, every month or even once a year).

The PowerCubes can be accessed and used both on-line (PowerPlay Web & Cognos 8) and off-line (PowerPlay Client).

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PowerPlay Transformer application

The default Cognos PowerPlay transformer window is composed of the following windows depicted on the the screenshots below. Building a PowerPlay model involves designating columns in the source files as measures and dimensions&levels.

· Data Sources - a list of all connected data sources. Each source can be expanded and it lists all available columns. Users can browse the source data by using Data Source Viewer. Columns from a data source window can be dragged & dropped to the dimensions and measures windows accordingly.

· Dimension Map manages the dimensions and levels hierarchy in the data model. It allows creating new dimensions and modifying existing using an user-friendly graphical interface. Dimensions and underlaying Levels are created by moving columns from the Data Sources window to the corresponding dimension column.

· Measures - drag & drop columns to manage number figures (facts) in a PowerPlay model.

· PowerCubes - you can specify here a list of cubes created by the model.

· User Classes - define the security.

· Signons - datasource connection information.


Cognos Powerplay Transformer model for the palm nursery business scenario:

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How do the Cognos 8 applications relate to Cognos 7 and earlier products?

· Query Studio and Report Studio are close to the idea of Cognos Impromptu

· Analysis Studio is an OLAP reporting tool which puts it in the same category as Cognos PowerPlay. However, there are still many features missing is Analysis Studio compared to PowerPlay Client or Web. That's why Analysis Studio may be considered as a complementary application for PowerPlay, not as a replacement.

Please refer to the following PowerPlay and Analysis Studio comparison for more details.

· Event Studio is an equivalent to Notice Cast

· Report Studio in Cognos 8 has an integrated maps feature which makes it a replacement for Cognos Visualizer

· Metric Studio is a replacement for Cognos 7 Metrics Manager

· Framework manager has the features of Impromptu Administrator. Framework Manager can also be considered in some aspects as an equivalent of PowerPlay Transformer.

· In Cognos 8 the powerplay cubes created with PP Transformer can be accessed via Query Studio, Report Studio and Cognos Connection.

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Cognos BI 8 components

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Cognos 8 Business Intelligence applications:

· Query Studio - a tool to create basic ad-hoc reports and a lighter version of Report Studio. It allows users to create one 1-page report at a time. Application used by Query Authors and Report Authors.

· Report Studio - used to create and manage more advanced reports, which are very often standarized and recreated periodically and distributed to people in various departments in an organization. Reports designs created in Query Studio can be read and edited in Report Studio (not the opposite way). Report Studio is used by Report Authors.

· Analysis Studio - an application to analyze cubes and explore business data in a multidimensional manner. Mainly used by business analysts.

· Metrics Studio - used for the scorecarding. The idea behind it is to put performance indicators next to the organization's key performance measures (red, orange, green status notation).

· Event Studio - a process (an agent) which runs in the background and monitors the data and reacts when ocurrs something which may be cause a problem in the future in the business. For instance, if quantity of product X on stock is less than a given value, event manager can send an email to the responsible person which will contain a warning with problem description and a cognos report attached.

· Cognos Connection - it is a Web portal for Cognos 8 and a component which interracts with the Content Store. It is a frontend to publish, find, manage, organize, and view organization’s business intelligence data.

· PowerPlay Transformer and PowerPlay Client - the default cognos 8 installation comes with the PowerPlay Transformer 7.3. By including PowerPlay in Cognos 8 suite, Cognos shows that they still have no complete replacement for this strategic product.

· Content Store is a database where the metadata for all the Cognos 8 component is stored and managed centrally.

Content store can be accessed directly from the Framework Manager. Framework Manager is the Cognos 8 modeling tool for creating and managing business-related metadata for use in Cognos 8 analysis and reporting.

The main users of Framework manager are data warehouse developers and data modelers. Report authors base on the metadata information set up using Framework manager when creating new reports.

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Cognos 8 Business Intelligence applications overview

Cognos 8 Business Intelligence combines the features of all previous products and applications and provides a complete and scalable BI solution for corporate business information management and reporting.

Cognos 8 has a completely different architecture than the previous versions, every component is integrated and in one place and the main and most significant idea is to use one common metadata for all components.

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The data model and flow of the data in Cognos is as follows:

· Analyze and define the data structure in source systems.

· Use PowerPlay Transformer to connect to one or more sources of data and build multidimensional models.

· Create the Cognos PowerCubes in Transformer and distribute those multidimensional models (and/or use PowerPlay Enterprise Server for distribution and to apply security to the OLAP cubes).

· View the distributed PowerCubes using Cognos PowerPlay for Windows, PowerPlay for Excel, Powerplay Web or Cognos Visualizer.

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Cognos 7 Business Intelligence applications overview

Cognos Series 7

The main Cognos Series 7 Business Intelligence and applications:

· Cognos PowerPlay - multidimensional analysis and OLAP reporting software. PowerPlay is available in a couple of versions: PowerPlay Web, PowerPlay Client and PowerPlay for Microsoft Excel. Cognos PowerPlay windows Client application has more features available than PowerPlay Web Explorer.

· Powerplay Enterpise Server is used to deploy cubes to the Cognos 7 WebPortal and also Cognos 8

· Cognos PowerPlay Transformer is an application used to generate and update PowerCubes which are distributed to the end users

· PowerPlay Connect - an application which manages connections to Cognos OLAP source or any of the supported OLAP servers (Hyperion Essbase, IBM DB2 OLAP, Microsoft Analysis Services, local Microsoft .cub files, SAP BW)

· Cognos Impromptu - software for advanced reporting

· Metrics Manager - scorecarding software

· Notice Cast - event management application which runs in the background

The data model and flow of the data in Cognos is as follows:

· Analyze and define the data structure in source systems

· Use PowerPlay Transformer to connect to one or more sources of data and build multidimensional models

· Create the Cognos PowerCubes in Transformer and distribute those multidimensional models (and/or use PowerPlay Enterprise Server for distribution and to apply security to the OLAP cubes)

· View the distributed PowerCubes using Cognos PowerPlay for Windows, PowerPlay for Excel, Powerplay Web or Cognos Visualizer.

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The data model, structure and sample figures stored in the datawarehouse are as follows:

Cognos Business Intelligence and performance management

The main objective of Business Intelligence is to bring the right information at the right time. Usually, the data is pulled from several sources and transformed into accurate and consistent information which is stored in the Data Warehouse.

Cognos Business Intelligence solutions help on understanding, monitoring and managing company's performance which includes business reporting & analysis, profitability measurement, budgeting, forecasting optimization and cost management.

Cognos is a fast and efficient technique to deliver multidimensional business intelligence data.
Building a Data Warehouse and a complete and well performnig Information Management system in an Organization is a challenge both for the business and technical experts. The most important thing to have in mind that Business Intelligence is not an IT driven area and it needs to come out as a need from the business and require tight and constant cooperation.

That is why in order to deliver valuable information to the business and perform efficiently it is required to understand end-users needs and cooperate closely with the business before implementing Cognos applications.

The first step is to define organization's goals, concerns, expectations and find out how users want to use the data, what types of reports will they want to create and what is the best way to spread the information accross the organization.

· The site is addressed to both business and technical users, includes cognos technical tutorials and guides for business users

· Includes cognos 7 and cognos 8 comparison and provides information on specific features of each of these systems

· Helps users resolve problems related to cognos products as well as provides rich information with tutorials, examples and best practices

· Our editors are specialists with a strong Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing professional background and broad experience with a number of Cognos implementations.

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The example business scenario is a typical manufacturing company which needs a datawarehouse with sales, planning and costs management.

It is a plants nursery (palms and tropical plants) which is dedicated to the cultivation of plants and trade seeds and other products to individual customers, retailers and wholesalers.


We have made the following assumptions to this business model:

· The complany cultivates palms, cycads and other plants

· The complany is seeds and plants distributor. The plants sold are grouped into age ranges.

· It's open 7 days a week, however most of the sales is performed during weekdays.

· Price of the products depends on its age - the older the more expensive. Seeds are cheaper than plants and sold in the packets of 10.

· Seeds are sold in greater quantities than plants and young plants sell better as well

· We keep three years of sales data, the lowest detail is on the day level

· We also store costs data (variable and fixed cost) which are provided. Fixed cost is provided once a year and variable cost is calculated on the monthly basis

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