IBM Cognos 10 Business Intelligence is a reporting and analytics solution. In simple terms, it is software that aggregates raw data into user friendly reports that can be distributed to a wide audience. The reports can be as complex as required, with graphs, multiple pages, tabs and interactive prompts. Users can view the reports using a web browser, tablet or smartphone. There is also the functionality to export the data to Excel, for further manipulation, or to save the report as a pdf file for printing or archiving. There is a robust self-service interface to allow power users to create and save their own queries.

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IBM Cognos has the depth of features to be considered enterprise software, meaning that it is a comprehensive solution with sufficient flexibility to meet all the requirements of a very large business or organization. For example, executives and managers require dashboard style reports that provide a lot of summarized data at a glance. Analysts and power users need self-service options to create multiple views of the same data, with interactive features for data manipulation and access to details down to the transaction level. Cognos makes both options possible with the same data.

There are many reasons why a company will use Cognos but it usually comes down to some combination of the following:

• To have the ability to bring together data from multiple databases into a single set of reports
• The reporting tools of their key applications have limited features
• To automate the creation and delivery of complicated reports that are being done manually in Excel
• To open up the data warehouse to a broader audience of business users
• To fully leverage the business value of the increasing volume of data that is captured and stored by the business

The IBM Cognos 10 BI suite of products provide far more functionality than most organizations need. The following core components are what almost everyone will use:

Framework Manager – This application is used by BI developers to create the metadata layer. It connects to the data sources, imports the metadata so that the developers can model and organize the data. The work is done in layers of increasing complexity, from a layer that mimics the database, to layers that apply business rules and establish the relationships, finishing with a presentation layer that is exposed to users and report developers. Framework Manager can bridge many of the gaps in the data warehouse, or if a data warehouse does not exist, Framework Manager has the functionality to apply data transformations to prepare the data for reporting.

At least one but usually at least a couple of the following “Studios” are in use in any organization:

Report Studio – A developer tool for creating reports that require calculations, filters, graphics and complicated layouts. It also creates Active Reports which are for off-line use on any device (phone, tablet or web browser).

Query Studio – A self-service reporting tool for business users.

Analysis Studio – A front-end for OLAP data sources such as Microsoft SQL Server Analayis Services, SAP Business Warehouse or Cognos DMR (Dimensionally Modeled Relational) packages.

A side note about Query Studio and Analysis Studio:  Version 10.2.2 is the last version of Query Studio and Analysis Studio. IBM will support these applications until at least October 2018 but no new versions will be released. Cognos Workspace Advanced is the replacement for these two studios.

PowerPlay Studio – A tool for exploring and reporting from Cognos PowerPlay cubes (mdc files), which are created in Transformer.

Event Studio – A notification engine to send alerts when data values go beyond predefined thresholds.

Cognos Workspace (previously named Business Insight) – A container for reports accessed through the web browser. Business users can drag and drop report components to create their own dashboards. Charts and tables can be linked together so that filters are applied to multiple views of the data. Adoption of Cognos Workspace hinges on the data being staged correctly (in the data warehouse and Framework Manager) and giving the users a good starting point with reports created in report studio.

Cognos Workspace Advanced (previously named Business Insight Advanced) – A self-service BI tool with more functionality than Query Studio. Like Cognos Workspace, staging the data well is the key to driving user adoption of this tool. It is possible to configure Workspace Advanced with multiple user profiles to offer different levels of functionality to different user groups. Workspace Advanced also serves as the front end for Cognos Dynamic Cubes.

Cognos Connection – The web portal to access reports, workspaces and other content. It is divided into a Public Folders area, which contains shared content (access permission is role or user based), and My Folders, which is a private area for each user. The portal can be embedded in another web page (in whole or in part) and skins can be created to create a customized the look and feel. In the upper right hand side there is a Launch menu which links to the aforementioned studios and the administrator can access the admin console.

Aside from the above key components that most IBM Cognos clients use, there are a number of supporting pieces of software that fulfill some niche requirements:

• Cognos for Microsoft Office (also known as Analysis for Excel)
• Cognos Mobile
• Collaboration
• Virtual View Manager
• SDK
• Metric Studio / Metric Designer
• Data Manager (replaced in 2014 by IBM InfoSphere DataStage Workgroup Edition)
• Lifecycle Manager
• Map Manager
• Dynamic Cube Designer
• Dynamic Query Analyzer
• RAVE (Rapidly Adaptive Visualization Engine), known also as Many Eyes

There are also a handful of BI related applications developed and marketed under the Cognos brand:

• Cognos Controller
• Cognos TM1
• Cognos Planning
• Cognos Disclosure Management

Cognos Insight and Cognos Express are editions of IBM Cognos BI for smaller organizations that do not require as much of the functionality of the entire suite of products.

The main IBM Cognos page is here with links to all of the Cognos branded software. IBM also offers a cloud version.

IBM Cognos BI can be a huge investment for a business and it usually becomes the cornerstone of  a data management strategy. The suite of applications has solid core functionality for pulling together data from disparate data sources and publishing it in a format easily consumable by business users.  There are a few downsides, including architectural complexity, a dated looking user interface, high  maintenance costs, and the software must be run on powerful servers. Provided that these challenges are addressed, Cognos is well suited to be the front end for business intelligence and analytics projects of all sizes. As current Cognos customers embark on big data projects, they will be able to effectively leverage their investment.