User Interfaces

IBM Cognos 8 is configured using IBM Cognos Configuration. You also use IBM Cognos Configuration to start and stop IBM Cognos 8 services.

In addition to IBM Cognos Configuration, IBM Cognos 8 has Web-based and Windows-based user interfaces.

Web-based User Interfaces

The zero footprint, Web-based interfaces include

• IBM Cognos Connection

• IBM Cognos Administration

• Query Studio

• Report Studio

• Analysis Studio

• Event Studio

• Metric Studio

The interfaces that are available to users depend on user permissions and on the IBM Cognos 8 packages that your organization purchased.

IBM Cognos Connection

IBM Cognos Connection is a Web portal provided with IBM Cognos 8, providing a single access point to the corporate data available for its products. It provides a single point of entry for querying, analyzing, and organizing data, and for creating reports, scorecards, and events. Users can run all their Web-based IBM Cognos 8 applications through IBM Cognos Connection. Other business intelligence applications, and URLs to other applications, can be integrated with IBM Cognos Connection.

Like the other Web browser interfaces in IBM Cognos 8, IBM Cognos Connection uses the default configurations of your browser. It does not require the use of Java, ActiveX, or plug-ins, and does not install them.

In addition to selections for viewing data and creating objects, IBM Cognos Connection includes

• portal pages

  The new page button  opens a wizard where users can create a customizable page that uses portlets to show different types of content at the same time.

• Public Folders

  Public Folders store shared IBM Cognos 8 content, such as packages , reports, agents, shortcuts, and jobs.

• My Folders

  My Folders store personal IBM Cognos 8 content, such as reports, shortcuts, and jobs.

• User preferences

  The my area button  includes links to My Watch Items, alert lists and watch rules that help you monitor business events; My Preferences, settings for format, language, time zone, contact information, and portal content; and My Activities and Schedules, status windows where you can set priorities for and monitor your IBM Cognos 8 activities.

• Link to tools and applications

  The Launch button provides links to the IBM Cognos 8 studios, Drill-through Definitions, which are used to navigate through related data when querying or analyzing data, and IBM Cognos Administration.

For information about using IBM Cognos Connection, see the IBM Cognos Connection User Guide or the online Quick Tour.

The open IBM Cognos 8 architecture means that you can choose to integrate IBM Cognos 8 into your organization’s existing Web portal. You can use Portal Services, provided with IBM Cognos 8, to integrate IBM Cognos 8 with a number of portals, including

• SAP Enterprise

• IBM WebSphere

• Plumtree

For more information, see the Administration and Security Guide.

IBM Cognos Administration

IBM Cognos Administration is a central management interface that contains the administrative tasks for IBM Cognos 8. It provides easy access to the overall management of the IBM Cognos environment and is accessible through IBM Cognos Connection.

IBM Cognos Administration is organized into three sections:

• Status

  Use the links in this section to monitor activities, server status, and system metrics, and change some system settings.

• Security

  Use the links in this section to define users, groups, and roles for security purposes, configure capabilities for the interfaces and studios, and set properties for the user interface profiles (professional and express) that are used in Report Studio.

• Configuration

  Use the links in this section to set up data source connections, deploy IBM Cognos 8 content from one content store to another, create distribution and contact lists, add printers, set styles, manage portlets and portal layout, start or stop dispatchers and services, and change system settings.

For information about using IBM Cognos Administration, see the Administration and Security Guide.

Query Studio

Using Query Studio, users with little or no training can quickly design, create and save reports to meet reporting needs not covered by the standard, professional reports created in Report Studio.

For information about using Query Studio, see the Query Studio User Guide or the online Quick Tour.

Report Studio

Using Report Studio, report authors create, edit, and distribute a wide range of professional reports. They can also define corporate-standard report templates for use in Query Studio, and edit and modify reports created in Query Studio or Analysis Studio.

For information about using Report Studio, see the Report Studio User Guide or the online Quick Tour.

Analysis Studio

In Analysis Studio, users can explore, analyze, and compare dimensional data. Analysis Studio provides access to dimensional, OLAP (online analytical processing), and dimensionally modeled relational data sources. Analyses created in Analysis Studio can be opened in Report Studio and used to build professional reports.

For information about using Analysis Studio, see the Analysis Studio User Guide or the online Quick Tour.

Event Studio

In Event Studio, you set up agents to monitor your data and perform tasks when business events or exceptional conditions occur in your data that must be dealt with. When an event occurs, people are alerted to take action. Agents can publish details to the portal, deliver alerts by email, run and distribute reports based on events, and monitor the status of events. For example, a support call from a key customer or the cancellation of a large order may trigger an event, sending an email to the appropriate people.

For information about using Event Studio, see the Event Studio User Guide or the online Quick Tour.

Metric Studio

In Metric Studio, you can create and deliver a customized scorecarding environment for monitoring and analyzing metrics throughout your organization. Users can monitor, analyze, and report on time-critical information by using scorecards based on cross-functional metrics.

For information about using Metric Studio, see the Metric Studio User Guide for Authors.

Windows-based User Interfaces

The Windows-based IBM Cognos 8 interfaces are the modeling components: Framework Manager, Metric Designer, Transformer, and Map Manager.

Framework Manager

Framework Manager is the IBM Cognos 8 modeling tool for creating and managing business-related metadata for use in IBM Cognos 8 analysis and reporting. Metadata is published for use by reporting tools as a package, providing a single, integrated business view of any number of heterogeneous data sources.

OLAP cubes are designed to contain sufficient metadata for business intelligence reporting and analysis. Because cube metadata may change as a cube is developed, Framework Manager models the minimum amount of information needed to connect to a cube. Cube dimensions, hierarchies, and levels are loaded at run time.

For information about using Framework Manager, see the Framework Manager User Guide.

Metric Designer

Metric Designer is the IBM Cognos 8 modeling tool used to create extracts for use in IBM Cognos 8 scorecarding applications. Extracts are used to map and transfer information from existing metadata sources such as Framework Manager and Impromptu Query Definition (.iqd) files.

For information about using Metric Designer, see the Metric Designer User Guide.

IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office

IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office allows users to access IBM Cognos reporting data directly within Microsoft Office applications.

IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office makes use of the Microsoft .NET Framework to allow clients to interact with server-based components. IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office provide two types of clients:

• The smart client provides a zero-administration client with a zero-deployment impact. Product updates are automatically captures though the smart client.

• The COM add-in client requires a client installation. Product updates are delivered by uninstalling and reinstalling the COM add-in client.

For more information about using IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office, see the IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office User Guide. For more information about configuring and deploying IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office clients, see the Installation and Configuration Guide.

Transformer

IBM Cognos 8 Transformer is the IBM Cognos 8 modeling tool used to create PowerCubes for use in IBM Cognos 8. Secured IBM Cognos 8 PowerCubes are not compatible with IBM Cognos Series 7.

For information about installing and configuring versions of Transformer that are earlier than 8.4, see the documentation provided with your edition of Transformer.

Map Manager

Administrators and modelers use a Windows utility named Map Manager to import maps and update labels for maps in Report Studio. For map features such as country and city names, administrators and modelers can define alternative names to provide multilingual versions of text that appears on the map.

For information about using Map Manager, see the Map Manager Installation and User Guide.