IBM Cognos Reviews

• I love the new user interface! Finally, Cognos BI has a new face.
• New handling of JavaScript.
• Story board.
• Dashboarding with combined shared and local data.
• Backwards compatibility.

Our client was very unhappy with the v10 and earlier UX. They wanted something "sexy". Our UX team came up with a very pleasing design mock-up of the dashboards using Marvel (www.marvelapp.com/1c19h7d). I despaired that it couldn't be done in v10.2.2. However, we got v11.0.4 installed, and amazingly I was able to get very close to the "sexy" UX the client wanted! This is being done using the reports functionality of Cognos Analytics (Report Studio + Workspace Advanced + Analytics Studio + Query Studio all in one, but with a better UX).

Also, the tool UX is more more easily customised in this version.

I have many use cases. Now, we are not using building a queue, but we are using Cognos Analytics for dashboarding, operational dashboarding, and all. We are using normal standard reports and tabular reports. I think I don’t know the exact version of Cognos, but we use studios to build those operation reports.

OBIE and Cognos, now our business users are not using much because it takes a lot of time to run. We need infrastructure. We need a lot of resources. Whatever we developed a couple of years back, that is the only thing running by the business users, by the control jobs.

We don't do major development in both the tools now. Our main development is now in Power BI and Tableau.

We’re creating reports and modelling them for managers. We use IBM Cognos to clear log reports and address performance issues. If performance issues arise, we can access the production environment, login, and check server-side capacities. If we encounter any difficulties, we can directly connect with the support team to obtain necessary information and address issues on the server side. For example, we recently encountered an issue. We generate a large number of reports. During the first week of the month, each user runs approximately 2000 reports. However, we faced network latency issues in the PAM system. After analysis, we identified the issue in the capacity configuration within the administration console. We adjust values for services during peak times based on server specifications such as CPU and number of users. These configurations are managed through the administration console. Currently, we work in the HVAC sector, handling requirements from development to production using a single instance of IBM Cognos and a single database.

We use the account statement report. When you use an account in HSBC, you receive various types of accounts, such as the stock market, fixed accounts, credit cards, and business accounts. We can create one consolidated report called CCS support, which includes all these accounts. In that statement, we are consolidating all those accounts. What we have created involves around 160 queries and approximately 110 variables. We use options such as tab, cross-tab, and various graphics, including charts and blocks.

Cognos is easy to use.

I have used IBM Cognos for 15 years as a business user, but for most of this time I only used the basic functionality of Cognos with Analysis Studio. However, two years ago we started using the new version of Cognos (11) and it was then that we began using more functionality overall. Notably, there are more features for reporting, so we can simply create modules and explore them with dashboarding.

Our deployment is situated on-premises, although we do use external databases connected to Excel, for instance. The packages that we use are all made inside the Cognos 11 environment. 

IBM Cognos has helped improve the quality of our KPIs because we can now deliver data and reports without human intervention.

We are using the self-service capabilities for business users in the new version and it is a blessing to us because now we don't feel any pain with regards to the IT department. We can use the full functionality and develop dashboards without the help of the IT people and without having to start up a whole new project. This is very important because we can multiply the results. With no bottleneck coming from the IT department, we reduce the cost of improving our KPIs.

I use the solution in my company for standard reports, audit reports, and dashboards. The tool helps develop good dashboards for management.

The new features in the tool are good. The tool needs to improve the connectivity since I see that, at times, there is a need to increase the memory in the database. The SMTP part of the tool is connected to the Cognos Analytics content store, so whenever there are a lot of reports running, .mdp files will be full and sometimes fail. People need to be able to free some space, and I believe that this needs to be checked by IBM before sending out a notification to its users.

Cognos is a MOLAP BI tool which covers cubes, dimensional and relational reports, along with different types of complex functions across all databases available in the market. It is a complete analytical solution including all BI combinations. Within it, Report Studio is one single powerful tool which works across all concepts like slicing and dicing, drill through, drill up and down, advanced filtering/prompts, master-detail, report bursting, and conditional formatting/rendering. Also, the advanced visualizations from versions 10.2.2 and 11 are valuable. The Report Studio feature supports all types of complex and analytical reporting, making it a useful tool.

Cognos is the best application with dashboards,batch reporting, jobs, events and ad-hoc reporting for business users.

Risk analytical reporting has become easy as there is more compatibility. Also, in the future, a Cognos analytic version will be launched that works well with advanced features like cloud, big data and machine learning (Watson analytics).

• Ability to produce reporting solutions which are accessible on other devices (iPads, iPhones and Android).
• Ability to distribute interactive reports (Active Reports) to over 1400 recipients. It became too difficult to create reports on a portal page and have people access the portal to download their report, especially on devices like iPads and iPhones. Getting a consensus on the data that these “portal reports” had to display was also difficult for security reasons. The active reports allowed easier access to data (email distribution) and the ability to display more data without security concerns. Each report was tailored to its audience.
• Ability to produce self-service models and utilize self-service tools is a big advantage. I’ve successfully converted report-only data models into dual purpose, reporting, and self-service models without too many headaches. I’ve had success in training managers to use Workspace Advanced to generate their own reports. Some of the less computer savvy users had some difficulty at first.

• Active Reports: More detailed data is available to sales reps and management. The reports are configured for the rep/manager role with a focus on their own territory/market data. The reports are delivered to email, so there is no difficult and lengthy navigation to get the data to the recipient. The ease of use and access meant that more of the audience was utilizing the reports. The amount of inquiries, issues, and complaints was greatly reduced. We received a great response from everyone involved.
• Self Service: The demand for reports was much greater than our resources could provide. Being able to produce self-service models and deliver tools such as Workspace and Workspace Advanced was a huge benefit to my team and to the company as a whole. The fact that we could modify the current models with self-service style packages helped us to provide consistent, dependable solutions without having to “reinvent the wheel”.

Our clients utilize IBM Cognos mainly for static reporting, board packs, business reporting, and insights.

IBM Cognos is a robust governed platform with significant security features and provides excellent graphics and reporting. One of our customers can get a full company update on a Monday morning from all of this data via Cognos Analytics.