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Welcome to this month's BSP Newsletter. As we continue down the Business Performance Management (BPM) journey with our customers, we have continued our discussion on Cognos FPM ( IBM Cognos Planning / IBM Cognos TM1) in addition to content covering Cognos PM ( IBM Cognos BI) this month.
As always, we always enjoy hearing your suggestions regarding the content you'd like to see. Please e-mail us if you have a topic you'd like to see discussed in future newsletters. |
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BSP and IBM Cognos Collaborate on PowerPlay Validation Utility to Assist with Upgrades to Cognos 8.4
With the upcoming release of IBM Cognos 8 PowerPlay Studio , Cognos customers running Series 7 can migrate their PowerPlay deployments to the new Cognos 8 BI architecture without giving up the power and ease of use that Series 7 PowerPlay provided. In preparation for this release, Cognos has recommended that customers who are migrating from Series 7 to IBM Cognos BI 8.4 PowerPlay follow a set of proven practices to ensure success. More information can be found here.
In order to assist with the migration to Cognos 8 PowerPlay Studio, BSP was selected to build a validation utility for Series 7 PowerPlay content. The Validator for Series 7 PowerPlay, designed by BSP Software, will validate all existing Series 7 Version 4 PowerPlay content stored on disk, in Upfront, PowerPlay Enterprise server or Cognos Connection and generate a resulting report indicating the location, validation results, and detailed information.
This free utility is available to all Cognos customers on our website.
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BSP Proudly Announces the Release of MetaManager 2 MR3
- New Release Adds Support for Cognos 8.4 and Much More! -
Many enhancements have been made in our newest version to the already unprecedented list of existing functionality including:
- Impact Analysis on search and replacements within report specifications
- PowerPlay Cube category code issue resolution
- JavaScript issue identification and aid in resolution
- Content Store documentation in XML format
- Documentation of scheduled reports in Content Store Documenter
- Support for Cognos 8.4
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Improve Cube Build Times by Enabling Multi-Processing
- Contributed by Mike Vilhauer, Senior Consultant -
There is a setting in Transformer that you may not be utilizing which can help reduce cube build times. The "enable multi-processing" setting is available for several data sources (iqds and flat files). The setting utilizes multiple (2) processors during various stages of the cube build. Note that the machine on which the cube is being built must have multiple processors available; building the cube on a machine with a single processor can result in a decrease in performance.
The following steps highlight how to enable multi-processing:
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Open the .pyi or .mdl model in transformer.
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Right-click the data source for which you want to enable multi-processing.
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Select the General tab and click the check box for "Enable multi-processing" at the bottom of the dialogue box.
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Click OK to save your changes.
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Repeat the steps above for each query you want enable multi-processing
Keep in mind that not all data sources beneift from multi-processing, and therefore like with other performance tuning techniques, you should try this in a non-production environment to determine the best combination of its use. As a rule of thumb, large result set data sources (i.e. fact queries) are ideal candidates for multi-processing. |
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IBM Cognos Articles of Interest
Looking to upgrade to Cognos 8.3 / 8.4. Have a look at this new publication from Cognos entitled "Upgrading JavaScript Applications from Cognos ReportNet 1.x and Cognos 8.1/8.2 BI to Cognos 8.3/8.4 BI" to understand the potential challenges with JavaScript in the new Cognos 8 release (and don't forget, check out how MetaManager can help identify and resolve the issues).
Read about the Full Promise of Business Intelligence. Business intelligence is the number one investment priority among CIOs. Organizations worldwide demonstrate that BI improves the decision making process and directly improves the bottom line. These organizations also show that the value of business intelligence increases as more decision makers access complete, consistent, and trustworthy information. Find out more. |
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Transform Your Organization Through Proper Planning
- Contributed by Courtney Kurtz, FPM Practice Lead -
Planning is the journey data takes to transform itself into strategic resource allocation decisions, otherwise known as developing the strat plan, budget and / or forecast. There are three high level approaches organizations can take:
- Bottoms up is a realistic projection of what is likely to be, based on historical trends.
- Top down is an aspirational view of what could be based on vision and strategy.
- An integrated approach attempts to balance future strategic direction with constraints of current capabilities and structure.
No matter what method is used, the planning process itself is often viewed as a necessary evil and not the value-add it could be. Unfortunately, this couldn't be further from the truth. Stay tuned for future newsletter content digging deeper into dispelling this perception.
Regardless of approach taken, always remember planning is a process that is supported by technology (and not a technology that drives the process). The underlying technology-based solution supports the process of transforming data into information to help make decisions more timely and effective. | |
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Did You Know...
In Transformer 8.3...
- Contributed by Gayatri Kalluri, Senior Consultant -
- You can access Packages & Reports published on Cognos Connection directly from Transformer.
- Cubes can be published as Data Sources / Packages to Cognos Connection directly from Transformer.
- Unlike previous versions of PowerPlay, Transformer 8.3 can leverage any type of security specified in Cognos Connection (including Active Directory) without the need for Access Manager.
- You must install the Series 7 IQD Bridge in order to continue utilizing Impromptu IQDs as data sources within a model. This is a required component while upgrading Transformer models from older versions to 8.3.
- The Series 7 IQD Bridge is installed into "CS7Gateways" under the Cognos Install directory.
- Database signons must be entered into "CS7Gateways\bin\cs7g.ini" for iqds to work.
- "trnsfrmr.exe" must be replaced with "cogtr.exe" in cube build scripts.
- With its immaculate design and impeccable decorations, Taj Mahal is regarded as the best specimen of Saracenian architecture.
- The Taj Mahal was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in memory of his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal.
- From 1631, when work on the Taj was started, it took 22 years of tireless effort of 20,000 workers to accomplish the task.
- Though there are claims of the Italian Geronimo Veroneo to the French silversmith Austin de Bordeaux being the architects of the Taj, a seventeenth century manuscript called the Diwan-i-Muhandis, recovered in the 1930s, ascribes this position to one Ustad Ahmad from Lahore.
- The Taj Complex
- Is a fabulous combination of tomb, mosque, gardens, gateways and fountains.
- The main mausoleum is set on a raised platform, 6.6 meters in height, and covers an area of 93.9 sq. meters.
- There are four corner minarets, each 41.1 meters high.
- The minarets lean 2 degrees to the outside so that, in the event of a disaster, they will not fall on the main structure.
- While the mausoleum is made of gleaming white marble, the pair of buildings flanking the tomb to the west and to the east is made of red sandstone.
- The western building is a mosque, the other is the guest house cum museum.
The calligraphy of the quotes from the Q'uran on the mausoleum is done in a kind of trompe l'oeil style to create a decorative illusion- the letters gradually increase in size as they go up the side of the structure, so that from the ground all letters appear perfectly uniform.
The materials used for building this monument of love was transported from places far and wide.
- Marble was dug from the hills of far-off Makrana, in Rajasthan.
- Chinese Turkestan in Central Asia supplied Nephrite jade and crystal.
- From Tibet came the turquoise.
- From upper Burma came yellow amber.
- From Egypt, chrysolite et al.
The Taj is bejewelled with 43 types of gems including topazes, onyxes, garnets, sapphires and bloodstone. |
BrightStar Partners is committed to bringing you quality content month after month. If you have ideas for topics or if there is something you'd like to learn more about, please contact us and we'll do our best to address your request! We hope you enjoy this newsletter as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. |
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