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Cognos Java Security Vulnerability CVE-2010-4476 Exposure Response

2012-01-25T10:45:00.002-10:00

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AbstractLast updated on April 19, 2011.

This Security Alert addresses a serious security vulnerability (CVE-2010-4476) which can cause the Java Virtual Machine to enter an infinite loop. This issue is described in more detail at http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-4476.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to Cognos Business Intelligence on the Cloud, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21470017.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to Cognos Business Intelligence Special Edition, go to https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21497107.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to the Cognos Now! 4.6.0 appliance, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21473104.

ContentProducts Affected

The issue exists in the Java class libraries and affects all products that use Java. IBM Cognos products that use Java include

Business Intelligence products:

□ Cognos Business Intelligence* versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0

□ Cognos Business Intelligence Developer Edition versions 10.1, 8.4.1

□ Cognos Business Intelligence Starter Edition versions 10.1, 8.4.1

□ Cognos PowerPlay versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 7.5.0, 7.4.x,

□ Cognos Mobile versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.3.1, 8.3.0

□ Cognos Now! versions 4.6

□ Cognos DecisionStream version 7.1.4

□ Cognos Impromptu Web Reports versions 7.5, 7.4.x

□ Cognos NoticeCast versions 7.5, 7.4.x

□ Cognos Web Services versions 7.5, 7.4.x

□ Cognos Visualizer versions 7.5, 7.4.x

□ Cognos Query version 7.4.x

□ Cognos Express versions 9.5.0, 9.0.0

□ IBM Smart Analytics System Business Intelligence Module (all versions)

* Cognos Business Intelligence includes all BI components such as Reporting, Analysis, Data Manager, Virtual View Manager, Go! Search.Financial Performance Management products:

□ Cognos Business Viewpoint versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0

□ Cognos Controller versions 8.5.1, 8.5.0, 8.4.0, 8.3.0

□ Cognos Finance versions 7.5.0, 7.4.x

□ Cognos Metrics versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0

□ Cognos Planning versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0, 8.1.x

□ Cognos TM1 versions 9.5.1, 9.5.0, 9.4.1, 9.4.0

Analytic Applications products:

□ Cognos Banking Risk Performance - Credit Risk versions 8.4.2, 8.4.0

□ Cognos Customer Performance Sales Analytics versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0

□ Cognos Financial Performance Analytics (AP, AR & GL) versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0

□ Cognos Supply Chain Performance Procurement Analytics versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0

□ Cognos Workforce Performance versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.x

□ Cognos Consumer Insight version 1.1.0

Description

This vulnerability can cause the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to hang, enter an infinite loop, or crash when converting "2.2250738585072012e-308" to a binary floating-point number. The result can be a denial of service exposure. This same problem can occur if the number is written without scientific notation (that is, using all of the 324 decimal places). Any Java program that uses the Double.parseDouble method is at risk of this vulnerability.

Solution

To prevent this vulnerability from affecting your product, you must apply a patch to your existing version of Java or install a version of Java that contains the fix.

If you do not require the fix, no action is necessary.

Before you update your JRE on a production system, it is strongly recommended to:

• Apply the patch in a test environment to verify that your product is working correctly

• Make a backup before you apply any changes

Linux or UNIX Installations

On Linux or UNIX, the JRE is not provided by Cognos as part of the product. The JRE used with Cognos is a separately installed component that is available from the operating system, application server or Java vendor.

To resolve the security vulnerability, you will need to patch or upgrade the JRE to a version that is recommended by the Operating System, Application Server or Java vendor. Ensure you stop the Cognos Services before applying the patch and restart the Cognos Services once the patch has been successfully applied.

The following table provides links to vendor-supplied details and solutions to this vulnerability: IBM http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html

HP https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPUXFPUPDATER

Oracle http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alert-cve-2010-4476-305811.html

Windows Installations

Typically, a JRE is packaged with the Windows versions of Cognos products. However, you may also use a version of Java that already existed on your system.

If you are using a JRE that already existed on the system, the solution is to update the JRE to a version that is recommended by the Operating System, Application Server or Java vendor.

If you are using the JRE version that is provided with your Cognos product, interim fixes are now available for several of the Cognos products. To determine if an interim Windows fix is available for your Cognos product as well as download and installation information, please follow the instructions at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24029220.

It is necessary to stop the Cognos services before applying the patch and then restart the Cognos Services once the patch has been successfully applied.

Cognos is continuing to develop interim fixes for the remaining affected products. These fixes will be made available as soon as possible.

If you cannot wait for the patch to become available from Cognos, you can also manually apply the patch to your JRE using the following steps.

Determine which version of JRE you are using

1.In a command window, go to the cognos_location/bin/jre directory.

If you are using a 64-bit installation, go to the cognos_location/bin64/jre directory.

2.Type the following:

java –version

The resulting message will indicate whether you have an IBM or Sun version of JRE.

To apply a patch to an IBM version of JRE, do the following:

Go to the following Web page, and following the instructions provided: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html

1.Download the ParseDoubleTest.jar from the link above to verify if you need to apply the patch.

2.Copy the ParseDoubleTest.jar file to the cognos_location/bin/jre directory.

3.Open a command window in the location where you downloaded the file, and type the following:

java –jar ParseDoubleTest.jar

If the result is “Test Succeeded”, you do not have to apply the patch.

4.If you have to apply the patch, download the appropriate patch file from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html.

For example, for JRE version 1.4 on Windows, download PM31983_FIX_1.jar.

5.Download the Java Update Installer from the following location: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/updateinstaller.html

Unzip the UpdateInstallerforJava.zip.

6.Ensure that you have the patch file and the unzipped Java Update Installer in the same location.

7.In a command window, go to the location where you downloaded the patch file and the Java Update Installer, and enter the following command:

java -jar JavaUpdateInstaller.jar -install [patch JAR file] [JAVA_HOME of target JDK]

For example, for IBM Cognos products, the [JAVA_HOME of target JDK] is cognos_location/bin/jre/.

If you are installing the update for JRE version 1.4 to a default IBM Cognos installation location, the command would look like the following:

java -jar JavaUpdateInstaller.jar -install PM31983_FIX_1.jar C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos//bin/jre//bin

To apply a patch to a SUN version of JRE, do the following:

1.Download the compressed file for Java SE Floating Point Updater Tool:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html#fpupdater

2.Uncompress the file, and then copy fpupdater.jar to cognos_location/bin/jre//bin.

If you are using a 64-bit installation, copy fpupdater.jar to cognos_location/bin64/jre//bin.

3.In a command window, go to the cognos_location/bin/jre//bin directory, and enter the following command:

java -jar fpupdater.jar -u -v

.

Cross Reference information Segment Product Component Platform Version Edition

Business Analytics Cognos Business Intelligence Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX, HP Itanium, Linux, Solaris, Windows 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Mobile Not Applicable Windows 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Series 7 Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX on PA-RISC, Solaris, Windows 7.5, 7.4 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Now! Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows 4.6, 4.5 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Express Not Applicable Windows 9.0, 9.5 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Real-time Monitoring Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows 10.1 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Business Viewpoint Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX on PA-RISC, HP Itanium, Linux, Solaris, Windows 8.4.1, 8.4, 10.1 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos 8 Controller Not Applicable Windows 8.5.1, 8.5, 8.4, 8.3 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Executive Viewer Not Applicable Windows 9.5 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Finance Not Applicable Windows 7.5, 7.4 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Planning Not Applicable Windows 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3, 8.1 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos TM1 Not Applicable AIX, Linux, Solaris, Windows 9.5.1, 9.5, 9.4 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Analytic Applications Not Applicable AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos 8 Workforce Performance Not Applicable AIX, Solaris, Windows, HP-UX 8.3, 8.2 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos Consumer Insight Not Applicable Linux 1.1 All Editions

Business Analytics Cognos 8 Go! Not Applicable Windows, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3 All Editions

How to Make the Case for a BI Center of Excellence

2012-01-20T19:39:00.000-10:00

The phrase "You're only as successful as your last project" is not reserved for business intelligence but feels particularly applicable these days. It's no secret that BI teams are under pressure to engage or re-engage business users. They need to explain why BI isn't like other IT development efforts. They need to remind distracted executives of BI's value. They need to have an answer for the ubiquitous question, "What have you done for me lately?"

The good news is also the bad news. End users are smarter than ever. Many of them have co-opted BI by acquiring their own tools and have funded their own skill development to create specific functionality. As BI is increasingly adopted across organizations, it has become a free-for-all of brand-new silos, unmanaged data, duplicate work efforts and poor data quality, all of which lead to misaligned business decisions. Translation: We're spending too much time and money getting information and not using it cohesively. In response, many BI teams have chosen to launch a center of excellence as a way of refocusing attention on the unique nature of BI projects and the processes that come with them. But such a big project can easily backfire and lead to more chaos. We need to know when the time is right for a BI COE.

Failure to Launch: How Not to Start Your COE

When I asked Craig, the CIO at a regional bank, why he'd decided to launch a BI COE, he explained that, after working for two years as a formal team, the BI developers had practically disappeared. The initial business process management dashboard had been a high-profile success, but users had reverted back to Excel spreadsheets for most of their reporting, enlisting developers only when new query creation proved too complex. Meeting fatigue had become part of the culture, and users didn't want to be proactively engaged in business requirements discussions, however strategic. BI had become commoditized.

Craig's hope was that by announcing a BI COE, his user community would take him and his team more seriously. "I thought the COE concept would give us street cred," he admitted. It had the opposite effect. Immediately, business users began asking why the BI team was getting more funding when they hadn't delivered anything in more than six months.

And it was true. Since the dashboard project's success, BI team members had been focusing their time on infrastructure and platform issues. Data model enhancements and regular data loading activities were absorbing most of the resources. Users weren't seeing value, so Craig's emails advocating a COE seemed self-serving. Craig hoped his COE idea would get attention, but cynical email replies and eye-rolling weren't the kind of attention he wanted.

Craig's users brought their old resentments to the COE discussion. "It's rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic," a segment manager in marketing remarked. "We don't know what these guys are doing - and neither do they. Why should we be the ones to fund a COE when we have no idea what's in their pipeline - and have absolutely no input into it? It's a funding grab if you ask me." Ouch.

I've seen other failed COEs at companies that used high-profile problems - such as an enterprise resource planning system's problems acquiring data or management's desire to standardize on reporting tools - as a pretext for starting a COE. The results have been equally fruitless. In reality, the situations that justify a COE are few and very easy to spot.

When the COE Makes Sense

As real as Craig's problem was, announcing a COE wasn't the answer. Craig needed to re-enlist users in a structured process with clear rules of engagement and begin to quantify the value of work tasks to prove that his team was deserving of continued funding. He needed to deploy BI applications that business users would use and establish structure and BI-specific development processes. Only then would a COE make sense.
And that's the problem with many existing (and increasingly defunct) COEs: They begin prematurely, before stakeholders perceive value. A COE will only become sanctioned if its stakeholders recognize a bona fide need for it. There are three predominant drivers of successful and sustainable COEs:

BI projects often compete for funding with other IT projects that are seen as operationally critical. The executive steering committee at a catalog retailer constantly placed BI at the bottom of the funding list. "When funding came down to either BI or a new merchandise management system, we'd lose," said one director of BI, "and we lost most of the time." The director set out to educate the steering committee about why BI development was different, and how it could enable strategic goals like customer retention and promotions effectiveness. With the caveat that cost recovery was an end goal, the steering committee agreed to fund BI as a separate group with its own organizational structure and governance process.
The data warehouse has become a shared resource across organizations, and the economies of scale justify a central development organization. Alternative, piecemeal and siloed efforts at data management and BI have become not only costly, but also risky, as different versions of data proliferate across the company. A COE not only ensures a deliberate approach to funding and deploying BI, but an ongoing investment in BI-specific tools, skills and data.
Business operations become dependent on BI. When a company relies on its data warehouse or BI infrastructure for business-critical capabilities such as inventory management or financial reporting, the company should invest in a COE. It has become more common to see that certain high-profile business functions or processes can't run without BI, in which case you've established BI as a business-critical platform that justifies its own skill sets and budget.

Without the ability to prove efficiencies, cost savings or revenue generation, the nascent idea of a COE becomes a solution looking for a problem. The risk is that prematurely or casually launching a COE raises stakeholder expectations around delivery and know-how, making the inevitable fall even more painful.

Getting Ready for Your COE

Most BI organizations today are in limbo. They have a vision for a COE, but they're not yet qualified to hang the COE shingle. You can take the following steps to prepare before you make your pitch.
Reconsider your data provisioning model. There's nothing wrong with a data warehouse availing data to various organizations and reports across the company. Indeed, that's part of its value. But if your BI team spends its days modeling and loading data into data marts, you're being marginalized as infrastructure, not as a value driver. Consider helping a high-profile user group to not only get its data, but to use it. Develop expertise in BI applications as well as platforms. It's a truism in BI (and in IT in general) that he who is closest to the end user wins.

Adopt a BI portfolio approach. When companies develop their BI roadmaps the right way, the whole is usually greater than the sum of its parts. A BI portfolio is a collection of business capabilities deployed over time. A portfolio approach guarantees reuse of common data for a range of analytical applications. Defining the initial set of portfolio applications helps establish the short and midterm development pipeline and gets BI team members back in front of key end users to discuss their need for business information in the context in which they use it.

The portfolio diagram in the provided figure illustrates functional applications at the top accessing reusable data in the data warehouse below. After your initial discovery work with business users, the simple act of unveiling the new portfolio can instill confidence that BI planning is rigorous and deliberate, thereby increasing stakeholder support for the BI COE and your chances for success.
Document your development process. Everyone in BI knows that BI development is different than other IT/business projects. As you consider a BI COE, be rigorous about circumscribing and documenting your BI development process. Activities such as user requirements gathering, data modeling, data loading, application and data acceptance testing, and deployment should be well-defined and within the context of an overall BI-specific delivery method with its own artifacts and handoff points. Instituting regular status updates, closed-loop ROI reviews and project postmortems reflects additional rigor and instills goodwill.
Get serious about staffing. A COE that wants to be sanctioned and funded involves more than just a data modeler and a few developers. Roles and responsibilities should be specific to the BI development process, with clear inputs and outputs between functional areas. Depending on the scope of the COE, it may include functions such as business analysis, data stewardship, metadata management, BI application development and more. Discrete job roles should be defined and well-documented, vetted with HR and accompanied by distinct measures of success.

Create a charter and guiding principles. Many IT leaders view organizational charters and mission statements as extraneous fluff. But only by communicating the COE's fundamental purpose and common philosophies can your BI team enforce an effective pitch. The organizational charter includes a purpose statement, a list of recurring problems the COE will address and a value proposition for the organization at large. This can be the glue that secures the buy-in of executive and user stakeholders.
My client Craig retracted his COE pitch and instead invested in some discovery work, pinpointing three key business applications through which his team could prove its newly documented BI development process. Once the applications were deployed, Craig measured and communicated their business value to a handpicked set of business stakeholders, leveraging his newfound prestige to pitch a COE model to executives.

The results are impressive. The BI COE regularly engages stakeholders both formally (through a structured business requirements-gathering process and periodic vendor presentations) and informally (through lunch-and-learn sessions and a corporate portal for BI information and status). As the rules of engagement have become clearer, so has the team's ability to leverage existing technology platforms and drive additional business value through cost savings and strategic enablement. All in all, the BI COE is a celebrated success. After a visible lapse, it took a deliberate plan to get on the right track.

Jill Dyché is a partner and co-founder of Baseline Consulting (www.baseline-consulting.com), a data integration and business analytics delivery firm. Her first book, e-Data (Addison Wesley, 2000) introduced managers to the concept of enterprise data integration and has been published in eight languages. Her second book, The CRM Handbook (Addison Wesley, 2002) is the CRM bestseller. Jill's work has been featured in major publications, and she is a frequent speaker at industry events. Her latest book, Customer Data Integration: Reaching a Single Version of the Truth was co-authored with Evan Levy. You can reach her at jilldyche@baseline-consulting.com.

BI is Giving Back – Coming out of recession, more enterprises noting returns from deployments and growing user base

2012-01-20T19:34:00.001-10:00

BI is Giving Back – Coming out of recession, more enterprises noting returns from deployments and growing user base

Business intelligence is turning in more contributions to enterprises in 2011, with an expanding net of users and maturing set of implementations since the funk of the recession two years ago, according to a new survey from BI Scorecard.

In “2011 Successful BI Survey,” BI Scorecard categorized and assessed answers from more than 600 respondents involved in business intelligence implementations at their respective enterprises. BI Scorecard, a business intelligence tool and strategy advisory, conducts the survey annually.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said BI significantly contributed to their company’s performance in 2011, a 9-percent jump from 2009, with other responses on contributions hovering around the same percentages as two years ago, according to the survey. Much of that business impact is being felt as a result of maturing implementations: impact was “significant” for 69 percent of enterprises with systems in place for at least a decade, while only 23 percent found business impact in their first year.

In a question on how enterprises gauged their BI deployments, 26 percent stated “very successful,” followed by nearly half at “moderately successful,” 22 percent as “slightly successful” and 5 percent as “failure.” Percentages rank nearly the same as responses to those same questions in 2009, including only a 5-percent bump in “very successful” deployments.

BI Scorecard Founder Cindi Howson says the slight bump in “very successful” BI deployments in the last two years comes from a mix of internal enterprise definitions and a recognition that “there is still so much more to do.” Howson says that success and business impact are related but not synonymous, and many organizations noted that they still have governance or data quality issues to work through with deployments.

“Many people associate BI success with technical architecture, program execution, as well as the business contribution. I think this is why business impact is rated higher than BI success,” Howson says. “IT people in particular are hesitant to say their BI initiative is ‘very’ successful because they know there are problems still to solve.”

The BI user segment has expanded greatly since 2009, according to the survey. Business and financial analysts (67 percent) continue to lead users in this year’s study, but gains in BI use were seen across the board, including executive use (50 percent) up 6 percent from 2009, field staff (41 percent), up 8 percent, and customers and suppliers (33 percent), up 17 percent.

Information Management Online, December 1, 2011

Where The IT Dollars Will Go in Banking in 2012

2012-01-20T19:34:00.000-10:00

Where The IT Dollars Will Go in Banking in 2012

1. Regulatory. Rep. Barney Frank is planning to retire after his next term, but the financial reform package that bears his name lives on. Many of the interpretations of the Dodd-Frank and changes to Regulation Z will emerge this year. Tech projects tied to the Durbin amendment will get under way soon. Not only will the new laws require banks to improve their disclosures and reports, but the new rules will affect payments technology, data storage and technology used to develop loyalty rewards programs, which are expected to increase in importance as Durbin squeezes traditional fees. “This is a ‘must’ spend, so when banks look at their investment strategy, this is the first thing they have to satisfy,” says Wayne Busch, a senior executive leading Accenture’s North American banking practice.

2. Security. It may seem like an obvious area of IT spending, but security is one of the few line items getting money without a lot of constraints, and Internet crime and data theft aren’t going away. Banks are likely to spend on software to prevent breaches and control access to data, with a particular focus on multifactor authentication and new encryption techniques such as format-preserving encryption, or a stronger means of protecting cardholder data: by using a replacement number that has the same number of digits as the real data figure, and cross-department integration of previously siloed data loss prevention.

“Anything that’s security-related will get attention,” says Jacob Jegher, a senior analyst at Celent. He says one bank exec told him that “he had an unlimited amount of money” when it came to security and data loss mitigation. “He could get anything he wanted if he could prove that it was protecting the bank’s data.”

3. Governance, risk and compliance. The focus on compliance and security will be a boon for any company that sells solutions in the governance, risk and compliance arena, which is good news for firms like Oracle, SAP and SAS.”Whether it’s a holistic platform, a service company or a point solution, GRC’s going to be in high demand,” says Jim Washburn, global practice leader for core banking for Cap Gemini Financial Services. GRC-related expense can take up to 50% of a bank’s overall IT budget, he says. “And that will come at the expense of flat or slow overall IT growth.”

4. Mobile banking. The days of offering simple information and rudimentary transfers on mobile devices is long gone, and banks will expand mobile capabilities, harnessing the innovative power of the actual devices. For customers, that means lots of new person-to-person applications, mobile remote deposit capture and exposure to GPS-enabled marketing. And for internal staff it means more initiatives to allow remote sales and new account onboarding via connections to their bank’s IT network. But it’s the ability of the mobile phone to deliver on-the-spot personalized messages to users that will be the big score for 2012.

“In interviews with the 10 largest banks, 10 of 10 suggest the most important investment in the mobile platform is in marketing,” says Carl Tsukahara, CMO of ClairMail.

5. Mobile payments. The battle over who controls the gateway to the coming multitrillion-dollar, NFC-driven contactless payments market will rage unabated into the year ahead, with Isis, handset manufacturers, PayPal, Google and other participants jockeying for position. Adoption trends suggest a large market is at stake. A recent study by MasterCard found two-thirds (62%) of Americans who use a mobile phone would be open to using their device to make purchases wherever their errands may take them. And Aite Group Mobile says the pay-by-phone market will tally $22 billion in transactions by 2015.

Card payments may also lead to IT investment as moves by card networks to push chip-and-PIN standards may force US banks and merchants to consider costly upgrades. “Visa’s push on EMV in the U.S. will force some spending in that area,” says Gwenn Bezard, research director at Aite Group.

6. Cloud computing. e Banks have been reluctant to adopt outsourced IT delivery modes such as cloud computing because of concerns over reliability and security. That’s starting to change. Economic pressures are likely to nudge banks further into the cloud.

“Those [security and accessibility] concerns are still there,” says Lisa Kart, a research director for Gartner. She says that cloud computing will still be used primarily for non-customer-data-intense applications, and that encryption techniques have improved and service-level agreements have become more detailed. “Banks are starting to be more influenced by the potential benefits, the cost savings and the ease of deployment.”

7. Data management. Data projects of all sorts abound in the in the financial services industry, which means spending on CRM and middleware will increase as banks link disparate business lines together for single-view purposes. Also to be expected is a dramatic increase in data storage requirements from regulatory requirements, along with the need to improve cross-sales and customer service.

“The retail banking climate in the U.S. is dismal, and it’s a bit of a struggle right now,” Jegher says. “Banks that do have some money set aside are going to be investing in things that will lower the cost of transactions and interaction. Online sales and online account openings, cross-selling, a lot of that is based on data analysis. And these are large projects that won’t be started and completed in 2012 alone.”

8. Social media. e The growth of social media will be less a matter of throwing tons of money at networking sites – social media doesn’t cost a whole lot – than an exploration of how the information that pours into the sites can be mined, learned from and monetized. Consumers express tastes, attitudes and their activities on social networking sites, all information that can be used to better understand what they want to do and when. And, most importantly, they often share how they feel about their bank.

Banks are increasingly using social media as part of marketing, lead generation and contests; U.S. Bank has used it to reach out to business clients.

“Banks are going to move beyond just using social media to managing it,” says Nicole Sturgill, research director for TowerGroup. “That means more use of sentiment monitoring and content management tools.”

9. Treasury software. Corporate cash management is ripe for new technology. Automation for corporate payments and remote deposit capture is less mature than the consumer market and the segment is performing better than retail banking.

In 2012, analysts say, spending will be particularly focused on enhancing mobility for executives looking to approve transaction, T&E apps that connect to accounts payable and tablet apps for sales staff. “It’s the most lucrative portion of the banking market,” Jegher says.

10. Branch technology. Digital signage is making a comeback at banks such as Huntington. But that’s only one advancement taking off in the branch, where innovation such as teller capture will become mainstream in 2012. Mobile devices, particularly tablets like the iPad, will be considered as a way to allow in-branch service and sales reps to engage with consumers without having to turn away to look at paper brochures or a PC monitor.

“There is a strong consumer side to the tablet, which can be brought into the branch,” Sturgill says. “It can be used instead of paper to open new accounts and serve customers while they are with a rep.”

This article first appeared on the Bank Technology News web site.

Analytics in 2012 Backs Big Data, Cloud Trends – Davenport and IIA forecast: predictive and unstructured capabilities taken on by more enterprises

2012-01-20T19:33:00.000-10:00

Analytics in 2012 Backs Big Data, Cloud Trends – Davenport and IIA forecast: predictive and unstructured capabilities taken on by more enterprises

Big data analytics will top all other areas of growth in analytics during 2012 due to the rapid expansion of social, mobile, location and transaction-based data taken in by various industries, according to predictions from the International Institute for Analytics.

In its annual analytics forecast, IIA and its analysts, including analytics expert Thomas Davenport, slated analytics to follow trends of big data and cloud proliferation in 2012, bringing along a spate of new capabilities and applications. Analysis of big data ranked as the biggest issue in analytics in the coming year, and IIA experts stated that it expects big data analytics to become cheaper and more accessible as vendor offerings for unstructured data, in-memory analytics and data appliances mature. In a related prediction, IIA ranked privacy concerns from analytics with big data as its fourth most notable prediction for 2012, with online browsing behavior and the collection and sale of data to third-party brokers expected to come under more scrutiny.

IIA ranked predictive analytics as its second biggest change for 2012, as more and more enterprises seek predictive competitive capabilities, especially in growing SaaS and cloud offerings, according to Davenport’s presentation of the predictions. Davenport noted that the cloud’s general “uninformed optimism” has been replaced by “informed pessimism” by some, though, in the cloud, predictive analytics has already proven its business worth.

“It was clear from a recent study that those who are experimenting with predictive analytics in the cloud – both deploying predictive analytics in the cloud and using cloud data and resources to develop predictive analytics – are getting positive results. These early adopters were much more likely to see cloud-based predictive analytics as important to their companies and much more likely to adopt them more broadly,” said Davenport.

Coming in at third in its 2012 predictions, IIA put the evolution of performance management applications that merge analytics disciplines with business process engineering, workflow orchestration and social collaboration. The fifth biggest change in analytics in the coming year is a slower demand for analytical talent. However, there will be a special focus on analytics professionals with business and communications skills prior to another expected boost in overall analytics hiring from planned enterprise investments in data warehousing and in-memory solutions, according to Davenport.

In its predictions for this past year, IIA pegged the lack of available, business-focused analytic talent at number five in its predictions. The top prediction by IIA last year was the importance of analytics as a defining competitive advantage in certain industries, a trend that IIA analysts wrote has rung true.
Rounding out the top 10, IIA predictions included:

6) A marked shift in power and influence from the IT function to the analyst.
7) The emergence of analytic asset management as a major challenge.
8) A correlation between the companies advancing their analytic maturity and those executing a complete “analytical ecosystem” strategy.
9) Mainstream use of methods for text analysis and social media analytics.
10) Increase in analytics applied toward health care patient safety hazards.

A broadcast of the predictions is available to members at IIA’s website.

Information Management Online, December 20, 2011

Justin Kern

Cognos 8 Diagnostic: Cognos 10 Training

2012-01-20T19:17:00.000-10:00

Cognos 8 Diagnostic: Cognos 10 Training: IBM Training Cognos Training Paths and Curriculum Fact Sheets IBM Cognos BI 10.1 – Consumer Role Use this training path to see the cou...

Cognos 10 Mobile on iPad

2012-01-20T17:42:00.000-10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEUrXuEgi0M

9 tips for Mobile BI succes

2012-01-06T15:40:00.001-10:00

9 tips for Mobile BI success

Full article

http://www.yellowfinbi.com/YFCommunityNews-Mobile-Business-Intelligen...

Brief

The results of the IT Executive Outlook survey indicate that there
remains a significant level of doubt, or even scepticism, surrounding
the implementation and adoption of mobile information sharing
strategies and technologies within the enterprise. In response, we’ve
compiled nine tips for success for those considering Mobile BI:

[1] Get onboard or get left behind:

Respected industry expert, Howard Dresner, stated in the wake of his
most recent Mobile Business Intelligence Market Study that
advancements in technology, shifts in information consumption and the
rapid up-take of mobile data sharing strategies within many
organizations, have led him to conclude that Mobile BI is the new
platform for BI itself.

[2] Choose a vendor that offers browser-based, native MA:

With the continued adoption of HTML 5 to support device-based caching,
the debate between delivering reporting and analytics remotely via a
Web-browser or device-specific application will continue. Select a BI
application that offers both to give you flexibility. Whatever the
choice (and it must be a unified one), ensure that the needs of the
information consumer (rather than the report writer) dictates your
chosen approach.

[3] Secure your data assets:

The prevalence of mobile computing and information sharing at the
enterprise level brings with it a plethora of new security risks.
Ensure your data is secure at the application and device level.
Application: Your BI application and its accompanying mobile platform
should easily integrate with existing security protocols to support
authorization and authentication. It should also be 100 percent Web-
based to ensure no data is stored on the actual device.
Device: A password protection system on the device should guard
against unauthorized access to sensitive business data. Additionally,
an automatic lockout system should log users out from a dashboard or
report after a significant period of inactivity.
Broadcast security: Establish and ensure a clear method and system for
segmenting mobile user groups based on their specific job function and
information needs.

[4] Interactivity on-the-go:

Give users the ability to consume, analyze and interact with business
data on their mobile devices the same as they would from their PC.
Select a Mobile BI platform that offers a range of native applications
for major operating systems to allow users to filter results and
reports, drill-down and through data, as well as comment on and share
reports to make critical business decisions in real-time.

[5] Device independent:

Your chosen MA should support total device independence to ensure
higher rates of productivity and faster ROI. Users should be able to
log into their existing BI account and gain instant access to their
report content remotely, without the need to re-create content for the
mobile platform, or repackage it for mobile distribution.

[6] Take advantage of native mobile device features:

Many popular tablets and smartphones (including the iPhone, iPad and
Android family) have amazing intuitive functionality such as multi-
touch interfaces and generous screen sizes. Select a mobile platform
with native applications that support this highly beneficial
functionality.

[7] Carefully consider who actually needs Mobile BI:

Not everybody in an organization needs Mobile BI. Carefully establish
specific user groups based on their likely need for reporting and
analytics on-the-go. Many departments or job functions will not need
to address problems in real-time or are almost entirely desk-bound –
the point of enabling such user groups with Mobile BI is moot.

[8] Define which information will be useful remotely:

There will be limited or no benefit in consuming certain data types
remotely. Establish the specific benefits of being able to consume
specific types of information from mobile devices. Carefully identify
which alerts, reports and dashboards are capable of driving
performance or mitigating risk by being received on mobile devices.

[9] Establish ROI:

Outline the expected business benefits of Mobile BI pre-rollout
(enhanced productivity of user groups, etc) and match them with both
initial and ongoing costs (mobile devices, software, hardware,
maintenance, etc).

The Cash Free Way to Increase Your Cash Flow -- e-book!

2011-11-26T11:41:00.001-10:00

The Cash Free Way to Increase Your Cash Flow -- e-book!

I am pleased to invite you to my first blog post about my upcoming book called "The Cash Free Way to Increase Your Cash Flow". It will be available as an e-book on this site in December 2011. In my book we will cover revenue generating options that will increase your monthly cash flow. The ideas are easy to implement and I will provide you with a step-by-step example to get you up and running in no time.

So if you need to increase your monthly cash flow then you will benefit from my e-book.

Watch this blog for the "The Cash Free Way to Increase Your Cash Flow" e-book soon.

Cheers

-- WT Paige

More BI Packages Add Collaboration

2011-11-22T14:31:00.001-10:00

Tibco is now squeezing on board, joining the likes of Actuate, Adaptive Planning, Birst, LogiXML, and QlikTech, and others that have added collaborative features in 2011. I'm not saying BI vendors shouldn't be adding these features, but as we learned at last week's Enterprise 2.0 Conference, it's hard enough for enterprises to figure out their general-purpose collaboration strategies, as they try to decide how to mimic the influence of social networks inside companies. SharePoint isn't going to easily operate as a social platform for most companies without help from other software, conclude analysts Tony Byrne of the Real Story Group and Rob Koplowitz at Forrester Research. Facebook and Google are likely to launch business social networks, says tech blogger Robert Scoble, which would confuse the collaboration market more.
If enterprises are wrestling with sort out these choices, are they really ready for another layer of collaborative tools around their BI? And what about collaborative tools proposed by supply chain management vendors, or talent management vendors, or performance management vendors, or customer relationship management vendors? Just how many tools and interfaces are you prepared to support? Continuity, usability, training and licensing efficiencies will surely suffer if you offer too many options.
To its credit, Tibco has tried to avoid a siloed approach by integrating with Microsoft SharePoint, as well as Tibco's own enterprise-focused Tibbr social networking option. The SharePoint part is a smart choice given that more than 100 million people are licensed to use that software, according to Microsoft stats. By letting users post Spotfire dashboards, reports and data visualizations alongside Word documents, spreadsheets and team-collaboration environments in SharePoint, Tibco is promoting what it calls contextual collaboration.
But when it comes to enterprise social networking, Tibco insists the capabilities built into SharePoint and Microsoft Outlook aren't adequate. That's where Tibco's Tibbr social platform comes in. Tibbr is aimed at supporting collaboration across multiple applications and environments, not just BI and analytics. These characteristics also apply to SharePoint and Outlook, in my book, but Tibco Spotfire's Lou Bajuk, senior director of product management, insists Tibbr "brings collaboration into one environment and ties into multiple systems more effectively than you can do with SharePoint."

Tibbr was released in 2009, and Tibco claims it has more than 40,000 individual users. The company couldn't come up with any customers using both Spotfire and Tibbr, but it did refer me to Spotfire customer Wildhorse Resources, a small, Texas-based oil and gas company that's considering using SharePoint and Tibbr together.
With just 70 employees, most of whom are on a single floor in an office building in Houston, Wildhorse doesn't have a big collaboration challenge today. But Steve Habachy, vice president of operations, says the firm is looking at SharePoint to provide a single place -- portal, content repository, he's not hung up on the term -- where all information about particular oil fields and wells can be accessed. That might include documents, spreadsheets, Spotfire analyses and so on. Tibbr, meanwhile, would provide a kind of corporate Facebook, a familiar and user-friendly interface with big advantages over email.
"Tone is hard to get across in e-mail and I think people are more comfortable when they communicate through a Facebook-type interface," Habachy explains. "You see a picture, the person is typically smiling, and people don't assume the worst and think people are being critical as they often do when you're communicating by email."

I'm guessing Wildhorse will soon find a lot of overlapping capabilities between SharePoint, Outlook, and Tibbr. Microsoft builds a lot of collaborative functionality -- including presence awareness, personal profiles, and Facebook-style social networking -- into the combination of SharePoint and Outlook.
Collaboration strategy goes well beyond BI and analytics, and business leaders have a lot of broad choices they're trying to figure out well before going after the niche needs. There may well be a place for BI-specific collaboration options, particularly when it gets down into details that can't be addressed by the general-purpose tools, such as drilling down into root-cause data analysis below the top-layer dashboards and reports. If it's free functionality that vendors are simply adding to their existing BI systems, so much the better. But even then, you have to watch out for collaborative featuress overlaps, and collaboration overload.

DB2 best practices: Implementing DB2 workload management in a data warehouse

2011-11-06T15:22:00.001-10:00

Using a staged approach, this article guides you through the steps needed to implement the best practices workload management configuration on IBM® DB2 ® for Linux®, UNIX®, and Windows® with sufficient controls to help ensure a stable, predictable system for most data warehouse environments. This initial configuration is intended to be a good base for implementing additional tuning and configuration changes as needed, in order for you to achieve your specific workload management objectives.
In this article
This article presents a set of definitions representing the different stages of maturity for a workload management configuration in a DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows database. These stages range from stage 0 through to the advanced stage 3 configuration. A specific configuration template and process is provided as part of these best practices to enable customers to progress from a stage 0 configuration to a stage 2 configuration. General descriptions and advice are also given about common stage 3 scenarios.
The article assumes a novice beginner and describes the individual steps and mechanisms at each point. A more experienced user can condense many of the listed steps to move from stage 1 to stage 2, making the transition in days of elapsed time rather than weeks as the suggested timeline indicates in a later section.
The steps outlined in this document are focused on the efficiency of the system as a whole, regardless of where the work itself comes from. It is important to note that achieving the goal of a stable system might not necessarily also result in the achievement of any individual application service-level agreement (SLA) or specific performance objectives for queries. These more granular objectives might require subsequent changes to the workload management configuration, such as outlined in the section on stage 3 scenarios, which is outside the main scope of this document.
This article is not a tutorial on DB2 workload management capabilities and does not attempt to provide comprehensive guidance in addressing all possible scenarios where DB2 workload management might be employed. It also does not cover all features within the DB2 product that might be of use in controlling resource consumption. The scope of this article is focused on describing the system stabilization approach in some detail and provides some general guidance for common advanced scenarios.

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Information about download methods Get Adobe® Reader®

Resources
Learn

Learn more about DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows in the DB2 Information Center.
Learn more about IBM Smart Analytics System.
"DB2 Workload Management using Performance Optimization Feature" (developerWorks, Jun 2010): In this demo, see how a fictional company uses DB2 Workload Management and Optim Performance Manager Extended Edition to allocate database system resources to help a high priority application achieve its objectives in a data warehousing environment.
"DB2 9.7: Using new Workload Manager features" (developerWorks, Aug 2010): This tutorial provides a series of exercises to help the new user become familiar with Workload Manager.
" DB2 workload management histograms" (developerWorks, Oct 2008): This 3-part article series introduces the concept of histograms and explains how to use them with with DB2 workload management.
"An inside look at DB2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition, Part 3: Workload management" (developerWorks, Sep 2011): This article spotlights the capabilities and benefits offered by DB2 Workload Manager, included in IBM DB2 AESE.
Learn more about DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows at the DB2 page on developerWorks and get the resources you need to grow your skills.
Follow developerWorks on Twitter.
Watch developerWorks on-demand demos advanced functionality for experienced developers.

Get products and technologies

Download a trial version of DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows.

Discuss

Participate in the discussion forum.
Get involved in the My developerWorks community. Connect with other developerWorks users while exploring the developer-driven blogs, forums, groups, and wikis.

Biographies

Paul Bird is a senior technical staff member (STSM) within the IBM Software Group development organization, sharing his time between the Optim and DB2 development organizations. Since 1991, he has worked on the inside of the DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows product as a lead developer and architect with a focus on diverse areas such as workload management, monitoring, security, and general SQL processing. He recently became a member of the Optim development organization to expand his experiences. You can reach him at pbird@ca.ibm.com.

Rimas Kalesnykas is a technical writer for DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows. In the last 5 years, he was the documentation owner for a variety of DB2 subject areas, including the Command and API references, the Partitioning and Clustering Guide, Troubleshooting, and Workload Management. In 2008, he was a co-author of a best practices paper that describes how to improve data server utilization and management through virtualization. You can reach him at rimask@ca.ibm.com.

Transform and model your DB2 data using WebSphere Transformation Extender

2011-11-06T15:21:00.001-10:00

An application takes data as input for business logic processing in a specific format. The format of the data could be text, XML, EDIFACT, X12, flat files, and so on. The database contains the raw data that needs to be modeled and converted into a specific data format so that the application can use it. For example, a web services-based application requires data in XML format for processing. To achieve this business requirement, you can use WebSphere Transformation Extender for data modeling and data transformation.
Figure 1 shows how WebSphere Transformation Extender performs transformation and routing of data in any format from source system to target system in real-time environments.

Figure 1. Working functionality of WebSphere Transformation Extender

The source system can include files and databases. After retrieving the data from its source, WebSphere Transformation Extender transforms the data and routes it to any number of target systems where it is needed, for example, legacy, J2EE, or web services applications, providing the appropriate content and format for each target system.
WebSphere Transformation Extender uses type trees and maps for defining input data, output data, and transformation logic. A type tree describes the hierarchical structure of a data format. There are two type trees, input and output. The input type tree describes input data in a hierarchical structure, while the output type tree describes output data in a hierarchical structure.
A map is a hierarchical structure that contains input and output cards and encapsulates the rules for data transformation from one data format to another. These cards represent data objects. The input card of a map is associated with a single input terminal of a map, and the output card of a map is associated with a single output terminal of a map. Each input type tree is configured with an input card, and each output type tree is configured with an output card with adapter settings. Each input type tree is mapped to an output type tree using transformation rules. The adapter setting contains the information (location, type, platform, and so on) of a source system and a target system. After running a map successfully, data from a source system is transformed and routed to a target system.
WebSphere Transformation Extender uses load, update, and delete operations during data modeling.

In a load operation, WebSphere Transformation Extender exports data from a source system, transforms the data, and writes the data to a target system using transformation rules.
In an update operation, WebSphere Transformation Extender exports data from a source system, transforms the data, and updates the data to a target system using transformation rule.
In a delete operation, WebSphere Transformation Extender exports data from a source system, transforms the data, and deletes the data from a target system using transformation rules.

This article describes the complete process of transforming DB2 data using WebSphere Transformation Extender with the following three scenarios:

Database to file system: WebSphere Transformation Extender performs transformation and routing of data from database tables to files. This article describes transformation from a IBM DB2 database to a file.
Database to database (DB2, ORACLE, Sybase, and so on): WebSphere Transformation Extender performs transformation and routing of data from any database table to any other database table. In this article, we describe transformation from a DB2 database to another DB2 database.
File system to database: WebSphere Transformation Extender performs transformation and routing of data from file to any database. In this article, we describe transformation from a file to a DB2 database.

Software requirements
This article uses the following software.

WebSphere Transformation Extender V8.3
IBM DB2 V9.7

However, these instructions will work with all versions of WebSphere Transformation Extender V8.x and with other databases such as ORACLE, Sybase, and Informix as well.

Database to file system
The following sections demonstrate how to use the WebSphere Transformation Extender framework to export data from a DB2 database, perform data modeling, and route the data to a file system. In this example, the source is EMPLOYEE table and the target is a text file called output.txt.
Creating the database object
Use the following SQL statements to create a database SAMPLE with table EMPLOYEE, as shown in Listing 1.

Listing 1. Creating the database and employee table

CREATE DATABASE SAMPLE AUTOMATIC STORAGE YES  
   ON 'C:\' DBPATH ON 'C:\' USING CODESET IBM-1252 TERRITORY US 
   COLLATE USING SYSTEM PAGESIZE 4096;
CREATE TABLE ADMINISTRATOR.EMPLOYEE 
 (EMPLOYEE_ID CHARACTER (10) NOT NULL, 
   FIRST_NAME VARCHAR (40), 
   LAST_NAME VARCHAR (40),
   MANAGER_ID CHARACTER (10)  NOT NULL, 
   MANAGER VARCHAR (50), 
   CONSTRAINT CC1317720073859 PRIMARY KEY ( EMPLOYEE_ID, MANAGER_ID) ) ;

The Employee table with the data is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. EMPLOYEE table with data

EMPLOYEE_ID	FIRST_NAME	LAST_NAME	MANAGER_ID	MANAGER
071D	F_Name1	L_Name1	072E	Manager1
072D	F_Name2	L_Name3	073E	Manager2
073D	F_Name3	L_Name3	074E	Manager3
074D	F_Name4	L_Name4	074E	Manager3
075D	F_Name5	L_Name5	072E	Manager1

Attaching the database
To attach the database to WebSphere Transformation Extender using Database Interface Designer, perform the following steps.

Open Database Interface Designer by clicking Start > WebSphere Transformation Extender V8.3 > Design Studio > Database Interface Designer, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Database Interface Designer
Right-click Database/Query Files in the Database Interface Designer navigator and select New Database/Query File, as shown in Figure 3. Name it DB2_txt.

Figure 3. New Database/Query File
Right-click Databases and select New as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Select Database
In the Database Definition dialog, type SAMPLE in the Database Name field as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Database Adapter List
In the Adapter field, select DB2 as database type, and Microsoft Windows as platform. WebSphere Transformation Extender offers a number of database adapters, including Oracle, MS SQL Server, Sybase, and Informix. In this article, DB2 is selected as database adapter. The drop-down list for database adapter is shown previously in Figure 5.
Expand Data Source as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Data Source and Security fields
The Database interface Designer option identifies the database you want to access. Select SAMPLE from the drop-down list as shown in Figure 6.
The Runtime option identifies the database to access at runtime from the Map Designer, Command Server or Launcher. The runtime and development data sources are same for this article, so select SAMPLE as shown previously in Figure 6.
Expand the Security options. These options are used to specify the user ID and password to connect to the database instance. Type your user ID and password for DB2. Click OK to save the database connection information as shown previously in Figure 6.

Creating the input type tree for the database table
The input type tree describes the hierarchical structure of input data format. You can create the input type tree manually or automatically using Database Interface Designer. Type trees can be automatically created from databases, queries, stored procedures, or views using Database Interface Designer. Database connections can be established according to the previous section. The following steps are used to create input type tree using tables.

In the Database Interface Designer, right-click Tables in the navigator, and select Generate Tree as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Generate Tree from Tables
Select the EMPLOYEE table from the Tables dialog as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Configuration of Generate Tree from Table
The File Name field specifies the name of the Type tree file to create. Type Emp_Query.mtt in the File Name field as shown in Figure 8.
Also under Type options select the Override type check box, as shown previously in Figure 8.
When the type tree is generated for a database table, a group named Row is automatically defined by the Database Interface Designer. The Row group drop-down list lets you specify the format of the Row group as delimited or fixed format. For this example, keep the default values as shown previously in Figure 8.
Specify Group options such as the delimiter between each field of the record, and the terminator for each record and release character as shown previously in Figure 8.
For this example, keep the Represent date/time columns as text items default values for National and Data Language fields as shown previously in Figure 8.
Click the Generate button. As shown in Figure 9, the Database Interface Designer will produce a type tree that corresponds to the EMPLOYEE table and the “Command file completed successfully” notification message will be displayed.

Figure 9. Create Input Type Tree from Employee table

Generating type trees for queries
In the previous section you established a connection with the database. Now the same connection is used to generate a type tree from a query. The query can be simple, complex or join, which means that type tree can be generated that references multiple tables. In this section, the type tree is created using a simple query referencing the EMPLOYEE table in the database SAMPLE.

In the Database Interface Designer, right-click Queries in the Navigator and select New as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Create new query
The query name uniquely identifies the query. Type Emp_Query in the name field as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. New Query screen
Type select * from EMPLOYEE as the SQL statement in the Query window, which will select all columns in the EMPLOYEE table as shown previously in Figure 11.
Click OK. The query name appears in the Navigator under the Queries subheading, as shown previously in Figure 11.
Select Generate Tree, as shown in Figure 12. The Generate Tree dialog is the same as when generating a type tree from a table.

Figure 12. Generating type tree for a query
Generate the type tree and save it as Emp_Query.mtt. This type tree will be used by map in the next section.
Right-click DB2_txt.mdq and save it. DB2_txt.mdq is an XML file that contains the information from the database. Figure 13 shows the content of the DB2_txt.mdq file.

Figure 13. XML format of Database_QueryFile1.mdq

Output type tree
Output type tree describes a hierarchical structure of output data format. In this example, Emp_Query.mtt is used as output type tree which is created in the previous section.
Transformation logic implementation in WTX Design Studio using map
The following steps are for the map development of this scenario.

Start WebSphere TX Design Studio.
Create an Extender Project by launching WebSphere TX Design Studio for mapping and transformation. Then select Start > IBM WebSphere Transformation Extender > Design Studio. Select a workspace and close the Welcome view.
Create an Extender project as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Create an Extender Project
Enter the name as TestProject, and then click Finish. A project will be added to your workspace.
Develop the map with the following steps. The map source file will be created first. The following is the structure for the executable map node in the map source file. Configure input type tree in input card with the adapter settings. Configure output type tree in output card with the adapter settings. Define the transformation rule, and build and run the map to check the results.
1. Right-click the Map Files folder in your TestProject and select New > Map Source, as shown in Figure 15.
  
  Figure 15. Create new Map Source file
2. Right-click the Map source file and create a new Map source with the name EmpMap.mms in the outline view of the Design Studio. Then click Finish.
  
  Figure 16. Map Node Creation
3. Create a map called DB2Totxt by selecting New Map from the context menu of the Map source.
Add the input card with the following steps.
1. Add an input card called InputDBCard in CardName field as shown in Figure 17.
  
  Figure 17. Input Card Settings
2. Select Emp_Query.mtt in TypeTree and select DBTable in Type field because this group represents the entire table and not a single record as shown previously in Figure 17.
3. Select Emp_Query.mtt in TypeTree and select DBTable in Type field because this group represents the entire table and not a single record as shown previously in Figure 17.
4. Identify the type of data being used as the data source. When you change the Source setting to Database, the DatabaseQueryFile settings appear in the input card as shown previously in Figure 17.
5. The File setting identifies the database/query file (.mdq) that contains the definition for the Table and query. Select DB2_txt.mdq as the File setting which is shown previously in Figure 17.
6. The Database drop-down list is automatically updated to display all databases defined in the selected file. SAMPLE is the only database defined in the file DB2_txt.mdq so that it is automatically selected in the database field as shown previously in Figure 17.
7. The Query setting identifies the query to use as the data source as shown in Figure 17. If more than one query is defined in the selected database, a drop-down list of all queries is displayed.
8. Click OK to save the settings as shown previously in Figure 17.
Add the output card with the following steps.
1. Add an output card named OutputTXTCard as shown in Figure 18.
  
  Figure 18. Output Card Setting
2. Select Emp_Query.mtt in TypeTree and select DBTable in Type field as shown previously in Figure 18.
3. Select Target as the File adapter because the output will be written to a text file. so keep c:/output.txt in the path field as shown previously in Figure 18.
4. Click OK to save.

Building and running the map
After successfully configuring the map input and output cards, drag and drop the group InputDBCard from the input card to the output card group rule column as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19. Mapping between input card and output card

Right-click the map in the outline view and click Build to compile the map, then right-click the map again and click Run. You should get the message map completed successfully as shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20. Run the map

Verifying the result
Right-click the map in the outline view and click Run results. Choose your result file and click OK. As shown in Figure 21, you will be able to see output.txt in the Design Studio with your records from the EMPLOYEE table that have been transformed into a text file.

Figure 21. Output File

In this example, simple mapping is used so that the same data from the EMPLOYEE table is transformed to a text file. However, you can manipulate data using the feature and function of WebSphere Transformation Extender according to your requirements.

Database to database, such as DB2, Informix, Oracle, or Sybase
The following sections demonstrate how to use WebSphere Transformation Extender framework to export data from a DB2 database, perform data modeling, and route the data to another database table. In this example, the source is the EMPLOYEE table and target is the EMP_OUTPUT table in the SAMPLE database.
Creating the database objects
Use the following command to create table EMP_OUTPUT in the SAMPLE database as shown in Listing 2.

Listing 2. Creating the output table in the sample database

CREATE TABLE ADMINISTRATOR.EMP_OUTPUT 
  (EMPLOYEE_ID CHARACTER (10) NOT NULL , 
  FIRST_NAME VARCHAR (40) , 
  LAST_NAME VARCHAR (40) , 
  MANAGER_ID CHARACTER (10)  NOT NULL , 
  MANAGER VARCHAR (50)  ,
  CONSTRAINT CC1317720073860 PRIMARY KEY ( EMPLOYEE_ID, MANAGER_ID)  ) ;

Attach to database
Use the instructions in the previous section to attach database SAMPLE with table EMPLOYEE and EMP_OUTPUT.
Create the input type tree of database table (EMPLOYEE)
The Database Interface Designer will produce a type tree as shown previously using EMPLOYEE table. An alert message will be displayed that employee.mtt is created successfully.
Create the output type tree of database table (EMP_OUTPUT)
The output type tree can be created from database SAMPLE and table EMP_OUTPUT with the steps mentioned previously. In this example, you use employee.mtt for output type tree. The employee.mtt is generated in the previous section.
Transformation logic implementation in WTX Design Studio using map
In this section, a map named DB2ToDB2 is created with the detail steps mentioned in the Transformation Logic Implementation in WTX Design Studio using Map section. You will develop the map, configure input Type Tree in input card with the adapter settings, configure output Type Tree in output card with the adapter settings, define the transformation rule, then build and run the map to check the results.

Add the input card as follows. The input card setting is similar to what is shown in Figure 17 previously.
1. Add an input card named InputDBCard.
2. Select employee.mtt, created previously.
3. Select Type in the DBSelect field.
4. Change the Source setting to database adapter.
5. Change the Source setting to Database, the DatabaseQueryFile settings appear in the input card.
6. The File setting identifies the database/query file (.mdq) that contains the definition for the query. Select db2_db2.mdq as the file setting.
7. The Database drop-down list is automatically updated to display all databases defined in the selected file. SAMPLE is the only database defined in the file db2_db2.mdq so that it is automatically selected as the database.
8. The Query setting identifies the query to use as the data source. If more than one query is defined in the selected database, a drop-down list of all queries is displayed.
9. Click OK to save the settings.
Add the output card as follows.
1. Add an output card named OutputDBCard as shown in Figure 22.
2. Select employee.mtt, as shown in Figure 22.
3. Select Type in DBSelect field as shown in Figure 22.
4. Change the Source setting to the adapter Database as shown in Figure 22.
  
  Figure 22. Output Card Setting
5. The File setting identifies the database/query file (.mdq) that contains the definition for the query. Keep db2_db2.mdq in the File Path as shown previously in Figure 22.
6. The Database drop-down list is automatically updated to display all databases defined in the selected file. SAMPLE is the only database defined in the file db2_db2.mdq so that it is automatically selected as the database.
7. Enter Table name as EMP_OUTPUT which is shown previously in Figure 22.
8. Click OK to save the settings. The output card setting is shown previously in Figure 22.

Building and running the map
After successfully configuring the input card and output card of the map, drag and drop the group InputDBCard from the input card to the output card group rule column. The mapping between input and output card is similar to what is shown in Figure 19.
Right-click the map in the outline view, click Build to compile the map, click Run to execute the map. You should get the message map completed successfully which is similar to Figure 20.
Verifying the result
EMP_OUTPUT table is empty before running the map as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23. EMP_OUTPUT Table is empty

Data in EMP_OUTPUT table after running the map successfully which is shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24. EMP_OUTPUT table with modeled data

In this example, simple mapping is used so that the same data from the EMPLOYEE table is modeled to EMP_OUTPUT table at run time. However, we can manipulate data using the feature and function of WebSphere Transformation Extender according to our requirement.

File system to database
This section describes WebSphere Transformation Extender framework to read data from input file, perform data modeling, and store the data to a database table. In this example, the source is input.txt file and the target is EMP_OUTPUT table of SAMPLE database.
Creating the input file
The input data is read from a text file called input.txt as shown in Listing 3.

Listing 3. input.txt

071D      |F_Name1|L_Name1|072E      |Manager1
072D      |F_Name2|L_Name2|073E      |Manager2
073D      |F_Name3|L_Name3|074E      |Manager3
074D      |F_Name4|L_Name4|074E      |Manager3
075D      |F_Name5|L_Name5|072E      |Manager1

Create the target database and table
The following commands are used to create EMPLOYEE table in SAMPLE database, as shown in Listing 4.

Listing 4. Creating the target database and table

DROP TABLE EMPLOYEE;
CREATE TABLE ADMINISTRATOR.EMPLOYEE 
  ( EMPLOYEE_ID CHARACTER (10) NOT NULL , 
  FIRST_NAME VARCHAR (40) , 
  LAST_NAME VARCHAR (40) , 
  MANAGER_ID CHARACTER (10)  NOT NULL , 
  MANAGER VARCHAR (50) , CONSTRAINT CC1317720073859 PRIMARY KEY 
 ( EMPLOYEE_ID, MANAGER_ID));

Attach to database
Use the details from the first section to attach database SAMPLE with table EMPLOYEE.
Create the output type tree of database table (EMPLOYEE)
The following steps are used to create output type tree which is similar to the steps shown previously in section 1.

In the Database Interface Designer, right-click Tables in the navigator and select Generate Tree.
Select the EMPLOYEE table from the Tables dialog.
The File Name field specifies the name of the type tree file to create. Type employee.mtt in File Name field.
Change the Type option to Override type.
The Database Interface Designer will produce a type tree that corresponds to the EMPLOYEE table, and alert message will be displayed that employee.mtt is created successfully.

Create the input type tree of database table (EMP_OUT)
Use the same type tree generated in the previous section.
Transformation logic implementation in WTX Design Studio using map
In this section, a map named as TxtToDB2 is created with the detailed steps described in the first section. You will develop the map by configuring Input type tree in input card with the adapter settings, configure output type tree in output card with the adapter settings, define the transformation rule, then build and run the map to check the results.

Add the input card. The input card setting is similar to what is previously shown in Figure 17.
1. Add an input card named InputTXTCard.
2. Select employee.mtt, which you created previously.
3. Select Type as DBTable.
4. Change the Source setting to adapter File.
5. Enter the file location, such as input.txt.
6. Click OK to save the settings.
Add the output card. The output card setting is similar to what was previously shown in Figure 18.
1. Add an output card named OutputDBCard.
2. Select employee.mtt.
3. Change the Source setting to the adapter Database.
4. Identify the type of data being used as the data source. When you change the Source setting to Database, the DatabaseQueryFile settings appear in the input card.
5. The File setting identifies the database/query file (.mdq) that contains the definition for the query. Select txtToDB2.mdq.
6. The Database drop-down list is automatically updated to display all databases defined in the selected file. SAMPLE is the only database defined in the file txtToDB2.mdq, so it is automatically selected as the database.
7. The Query setting identifies the query to use as the data source. If more than one query is defined in the selected database, a drop-down list of all queries is displayed. Select Employee as the Query.
8. Click OK to save the settings.

Building and running the map
After successful configuration of input card and output card, drag and drop the group InputTXTCard from the input card to the output card group rule column. The mapping between input and output card is similar to what was previously shown in Figure 19.
Right-click the map in the outline view, click Build to compile the map, then click Run to execute the map. You should get the message "Map completed successfully" which is similar to what was shown in Figure 20.
Verifying the result
Before running the map, EMPLOYEE table contained zero records. After running the map successfully, the data from the text file is routed to EMPLOYEE table as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25. EMPLOYEE table with modeled data

In this example, simple mapping was used so that the same data from the text file was transformed to EMPLOYEE table, but you can manipulate data using the feature and function of WebSphere Transformation Extender according to your requirement.

Conclusion
This article has shown how WebSphere Transformation Extender can be used with DB2 database to generate data in different formats. After reading this article, you should be able to use a database with WebSphere Transformation Extender for data modeling to quickly transform the data in a specific format, and in a simple manner.

Resources
Learn

Read more about WebSphere Transformation Extender product page, including product descriptions, product news, training information, support information, and more.
Visit the DB2 V9.7 Information Center to learn more about IBM DB2 V9.7.
Visit the WebSphere Transformation Extender information center to learn more about WebSphere Transformation Extender.
Find out the WebSphere Transformation Extender requirements.
Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBM products and IT industry topics.
Attend a free developerWorks Live! briefing to get up-to-speed quickly on IBM products and tools as well as IT industry trends.
Follow developerWorks on Twitter.
Watch developerWorks on-demand demos ranging from product installation and setup demos for beginners, to advanced functionality for experienced developers.

Get products and technologies

Visit the WebSphere trial downloads page to see the most popular WebSphere trial downloads.
Download the free IBM DB2 V9.7 Enterprise Edition trial version.
Visit the WebSphere Transformation Extender support page for information on different support options.
Build your next development project with IBM trial software, available for download directly from developerWorks, or spend a few hours in the SOA Sandbox learning how to implement Service Oriented Architecture efficiently.

Discuss

Participate in the discussion forum.
Participate in the DB2 Discussion Forum.
Participate in the WebSphere Transformation Extender Discussion forum.
Check out the developerWorks blogs and get involved in the developerWorks community.

About the author

Anuruddha Kumar Pandey works for IBM India software Labs as a Software Engineer. He has been working on the DB2 Tools Continuing Engineering team. He has completed a Master Of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior.

Integrate InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction with IBM Classification Module

2011-11-06T15:20:00.001-10:00

InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction is a product aimed at achieving a balance between openness and privacy. Often, the same regulations require organizations to share their documents with regulators, business partners, or customers, and at the same time to protect sensitive information which may be buried in these documents. With thousands of document in Enterprise Content Management systems such as IBM FileNet ® and IBM Content Manger®, automation combined with a well-structured workflow is essential for practically controlling access to private information in documents at a fine grain.
For example, in eDiscovery, lawyers must share documents with the opposing lawyer adversaries. But lawyers do not want to release any information they don't need to, and attorney-client privileged information must be carefully protected. Similarly, The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is intended to hold government organizations more accountable for their actions by making information about those actions available on demand. However, individuals are not entitled to access sensitive personal information. But on the other hand, the same regulation requires that those ordering the documents must not see any sensitive personal or national security information embedded in documents that might be made public.
InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction product automatically finds and deletes sensitive text within a document, redacting the document. It then outputs the redacted document in a format such as a PDF. Alternatively, the product includes a web-based Secure Viewer for even more control over the release of private information. Each user sees just what they are allowed to see. In some cases, even if a user is allowed to see some information, it is withheld unless they ask for it, specifying the reason for their need to know.
Within an organization, not all documents contain sensitive data. For the redaction to be effective, it is critical that relevant documents be identified. InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction is capable of identifying and redacting many types of personally identifiable information, but not all occurrences constitute sensitive data. The sensitivity of the entities is often dependent on context. For example, names of medical procedures in administrative documents catalog are not sensitive, but in patient records they are. IBM Classification Module is capable of identifying sensitive documents containing data that requires redaction.
The level of sensitivity varies across documents of different types. A group of documents from one department within the organization may require a customized redaction policy. Other groups of documents may have been created for public consumption, and it can be assumed that these documents contain no sensitive data. These document groupings may or may not be part of a formalized classification system.
Below is an example of a sensitive document, and its redacted version. Personal names, addresses, account and telephone numbers have been removed.

Figure 1. An overview of the redaction process

There are different formats available for the redacted version of the document. In addition to the usual formats (PDF, Microsoft Word document, TIFF, text, and so on), a propriety format is available that can be viewed by the Secure Viewer (an application shipped with InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction).
IBM Classification Module is capable of identifying documents according to a large range of criteria, including statistical classification and rule-based decisions. The implementation involves these stages:

Create a knowledge base and train it using user-defined groups of sample documents.
Create a decision plan that will:
- Categorize new documents based on the knowledge base results.
- Move documents to relevant folders.
Run the Classification Module Classification Center using the created decision plan. Documents are moved to relevant folders.
Run redaction batch processes on the repository folders. Redacted versions of the document are created; original copies are kept.

The implementation described here involves documents stored in a file system. Both Classification Module and InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction are capable of accessing and processing documents on IBM FileNet and IBM Content Manager systems.
The workflow described here uses IBM Classification Module's Classification Center to classify documents into a taxonomy tree.
For information on how to create a knowledge base and decision plan, and to set up Classification Center for classifying documents into folders, see the IBM Classification Module Information Center
Guardium Data Redaction then redacts documents in two different category folders, nested within the Repository Folders, according to two different redaction policies. Guardium Data Redaction uses a specific folder structure (repository folders) which serves as the basis for its data processors.
The workflow described here involves these steps:

Set the configuration for redaction: Configure two processors in InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction.
Start the Data Redaction server in order to create the relevant processors and their repository folders.
Create the Classification Module knowledge base and decision plan.
Run the Classification Module Classification Center to move the documents to the redaction in folders.
Restart the InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction server to redact documents and move them to the appropriate folders for further processing.

Set the configuration for redaction
Before running the Classification Module Classification Center or InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction, the processors should be set up.
Configure two repositories
Two separate processors (Legal and IBM Global Financing) are defined in two processor configuration files found in the IBM\GuardiumDataRedaction\server\conf folder.
Each processor has one configuration file named in the IBM\GuardiumDataRedaction\server\conf\plugins.xml file:

Listing 1. Sample processor setup in plugins.xml


 com.ibm.nex.redaction.docrepository.SimpleFilesDocumentRepository
 
        batchFileSystemProcessorIBM_Legal.xml

 com.ibm.nex.redaction.docrepository.SimpleFilesDocumentRepository
 
 batchFileSystemProcessorIBM_Finance.xml

Each XML configuration file contains the following settings:

The base folder for the repository This folder should match the directory used by Classification Center, for example:
c:/data/IBM Products CC Output Folder
Repository folder name The folder name should match exactly the associated category name in the Classification Module knowledge base.

Setting different data policies
We will set two policies:

Legal role: US dollar amounts are redacted.
Financial role: Organization names are redacted.

These profiles are configured in the XmlPolicyModel.xml file in IBM\GuardiumDataRedaction\server\conf
Each ns21:permission element maps one role with one category. The ns21:redact element sets this as a redacted category. The categories are mapped in the within the same file.
Below, each user has one redacted category. Each mapping maps a single user to a single category. The user role (userRoleID) and category (semanticCategoryId) are configured elsewhere in the same file. Here, each category is set to redacted.

Listing 2. Legal role

Listing 3. Financial role

Start the InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction server
From the IBM InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction Windows menu, choose Start server. This will start the server and create the configured repositories. You can optionally stop the server in order to prevent it from processing the files created by the Classification Center before you have checked them. If the in folder becomes populated while the Data Redaction server is running, these files will be picked up for processing.

Create the Classification Module knowledge base and decision plan
Classification Module Classification Center is capable of copying and/or moving files within a file system and reading/modifying metadata associated with a document within a full content management system. These actions are based on a series of decisions made within a decision plan running on the Classification Module server. Although this decision plan takes actions based on triggers, these rules can consider results from statistic analysis of the document content returned by the knowledge base (also running on the server). The knowledge base typically assigns a category to the document, based on statistical similarities.
For details on how to create a knowledge base and decision plan, see the Classification Module InfoCenter Workbench topic in the Information Center, accessible from the Resources section.
Create the knowledge base
Classification Module Workbench is shipped with a project called IBM Products. This project contains the basis for the knowledge base used here. The following figures shows the list of categories.

Figure 2. The IBM Products knowledge base

The knowledge base structure mimics the target folder structure. The following figure shows the folder structure, each folder named after a category.

Figure 3. The folder structure

Create the decision plan
The decision plan includes a set of rules. Below is an example of a rule that moves documents to the target folders based on the highest category match (for an example of such rules, see the Rules for File System project in Classification Module Workbench).

Figure 4. The decision plan (first rule)

The folders that will be redacted are a special case. The figure below shows an action for moving the document to the in subfolder within a redaction repository:

Figure 5. The decision plan (second rule)

Run Classification Module Classification Center
For details on how to set up Classification Center for classifying documents into folders, see InfoSphere Classification Module InfoCenter Classification Center topic.
Once Classification Center is run, the documents for redaction should be moved to the redaction in folders; non-redacted documents should be moved to the Products subcategories within this structure. The figure below shows the in folder for two repositories and other non-repository folders named after categories.

Figure 6. The redaction repository file structure

Check to see that the above folders were populated by Classification Center.
The following figure shows two folders (Financial and Legal) that will serve also as Data Repository folders:

Figure 7. The Financial and Legal repository folders

Here, Classification Center moves files to the subfolder in of each repository folder.

Restart the InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction server
From the IBM InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction Windows menu, choose Start server. Since the in folder of the two new repositories now contain the documents created by the Classification Center, Redaction will now process these files.
The figure below shows the orig and out folders within each repository structure.

Figure 8. The out folder now contains redacted documents. The orig folder contains the original copies.

Data redaction processes documents from the in folder and creates redacted and non-redacted versions in the respective folders:
orig folders: original documents
out folders: redacted copies
The percentage of files that are sent for review depends on the percentage set in the relevant repository file (such as batchFileSystemProcessorIBM_Legal.xml above):
0
We now have various versions, redacted and non-redacted, of our original documents classified into folders. There are various aspects of this model that can be adapted according to business needs.

Some ideas for varying the model
Finding sensitive documents for redaction without subject classification
In the case where the only goal is to locate sensitive data, there is no need for conventional content classification. In this case a Classification Module knowledge base can be created that recognizes the nature of the sensitive documents, and the decision plan can be used to move only those documents to the Redaction repository folder. There is no need for a folder dedicated to CC output. Because the 2-category knowledge base is often used for finding a few relevant items within a large content set, this method is often called "pinpointing." However, it can be used also for finding a large group of similar documents among non-relevant documents.

Figure 9. The pinpointing knowledge base

To create such a knowledge base, choose a number of sensitive documents and an equal number of non-sensitive documents.
Adding manual review of the Classification Center output before and/or after redaction
The Classification Center can be used to manually review documents before they are sent for redaction.
This method can be used early on when the system is first put into production when knowledge base confidence may be low. In addition feedback can be submitted to improve the knowledge base.
The Redaction Manager can be used to review documents, after they are classified and redacted. The document redaction can be edited or removed and sent to another Repository Folder for redaction according to a different policy.
Using multiple pinpointing knowledge bases
Multiple knowledge bases could be set up for pinpointing specific documents for redaction. One or more processes could be implemented consecutively according to need, until all documents are moved to a folder for redaction. This would be helpful, for example, in the case where new sensitive documents of a different nature need to be located for redaction, or where the nature of new documents changes.

Resources
Learn

Learn more about InfoSphere Classification Module in the InfoSphere Classification Module Information Center.
For details on how to create a knowledge base and decision plan, see the InfoSphere Classification Module InfoCenter Workbench topic..
For details on how to set up Classification Center for classifying documents into folders, see the InfoSphere Classification Module InfoCenter Classification Center topic.
Learn more about Guardium and the redaction process in the article "Integrate a document data redaction process in your business workflow using IBM InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction" (developerWorks, Sep 2011).
Get the resources you need to advance your skills on IBM InfoSphere products in the InfoSphere section on developerWorks.
Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBM products and IT industry topics.
Attend a free developerWorks Live! briefing to get up-to-speed quickly on IBM products and tools as well as IT industry trends.
Follow developerWorks on Twitter.
Learn more about Information Management at the developerWorks Information Management zone. Find technical documentation, how-to articles, education, downloads, product information, and more.
Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts.
Follow developerWorks on Twitter.

Get products and technologies

Build your next development project with IBM trial software, available for download directly from developerWorks.

Discuss

Participate in the discussion forum.
Get involved in the My developerWorks community. Connect with other developerWorks users while exploring the developer-driven blogs, forums, groups, and wikis.
Check out the developerWorks blogs and get involved in the developerWorks community.

About the author

Jane Singer is on the QA teams for both InfoSphere Guardium Data Redaction and InfoSphere Classification Module at the IBM Israel Software Lab. In addition she leads L3 and presales support for InfoSphere Classification Module.

Do you use mobille apps for your business intelligence solutions?

2011-10-19T12:30:00.000-10:00

How To Make Money Selling BlackBerry Apps

The dramatic increased growth of SmartPhones, such as iPhones and BlackBerrys, over the
last three years has created numerous opportunities for independent developers to express
their creativity and talents. Now, the growth trend is expected to continue with the the current success of BlackBerry’s App World storefront, and the anticipated release of RIM's new PlayBook mobile device. RIM has opened the doors for "weekend warrior" developers to
develop mobile apps and best of all --- make money!

I have been personally successfull in developing and selling BlackBerry applications in
RIM's BlackBerry App Store for the last several months. I've had some days where over
500 individual downloads for one of my BlackBerry apps has put a smile on my face. I find it
extremely rewarding to develop an app that is of interest to someone else. Therefore, I'd like to share my experience and my personal strategy that can help you to get started developing and make money selling $0.99 cent BlackBerry apps.

My e-book will give you greater insight into what tools are required to get started, how does
the app submission and payment process work, help in determining what apps to develop,
BlackBerry code samples written in Java, and tips on how to manage and market your
BlackBerry app development services. I will also let you in on my biggest BlackBerry App
development tip --- how I have been making money selling BlackBerry apps with no overhead
charges.

That's right! Everything that I have produced from BlackBerry App World is 100% profit!
I'd like to share this experience and knowledge with and I will even stick to my own $0.99 cents strategy.

If you would like to learn more then please download my e-Book today. It may well be the best
$0.99 cents that you have spent yet!

Oh, and I guess that I should also tell you that the formula that I'm using for BlackBerry App
development sales isn't just a new strategy that I have created. I've been doing the exact same strategy for the last 5 years with other software, and I'm consistently ranked on the 1st page in the top 5 search results.

Gold

2011-09-27T02:35:00.001-10:00

One hundred thirty-three analysts have projected gold will hit $2,500 an ounce - 90 of them say the precious metal will hit $5,000 - including the original gold bug, James Dines. Still others, like analyst Peter Schiff, are calling for $10,000 an ounce gold!

What does that mean for the average investor and should we take out our grandparents and Ludacris' gold fillings???
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Debit cards truth

2011-09-27T02:03:00.001-10:00

Some debit card issuers offer no protection against fraud and theft.

What you may not know is that to reap those benefits, you may have to use the card with a signature instead of a PIN, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action, a national consumer education and advocacy group based in San Francisco.

Federal law limits personal liability for unauthorized transactions to $50 for credit cards, but offers more limited fraud protection for debit cards.

How to protect yourself: Find out if your bank offers theft and fraud protection. Get specific. Under what circumstances is it honored? How do you have to use the card? What's your timetable for reporting the loss?

"Most of these promises have limits and asterisks," says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director with U.S. Public Interest Research Groups.

As for disputed funds, some banks will put them back in your account, provisionally, while they investigate. Others will wait until their inquiries are completed.

"We still like to tell people if they're ordering things online or over the phone, they might want to use a credit card because they have superior charge-back protection," says Sherry. "When something goes wrong with a credit card, you're not out the money."
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Cognos Business Intelligence on the IBM Cloud

2011-09-14T08:32:00.001-10:00

Technote (troubleshooting)

Problem(Abstract)

A serious security vulnerability (CVE-2010-4476) has been identified which can cause the Java Virtual Machine to enter an infinite loop. The issue exists in the Java class libraries and affects all products that use Java. This issue is described in more detail at http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-4476

Environment

Cognos Business Intelligence on the IBM Cloud

Resolving the problem

To resolve this issue, it is necessary to update the JDKs (that are installed with IBM DB2 and IBM WebSphere Application Server) to an interim fix JDK level containing the fix for the issue.
Before you update your JDK on a production system, it is strongly recommended to:
Apply the patch in a test environment to verify that your product is working correctly
Make a backup before you apply any changes

For up-to-date information, please refer to the support website at:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html

The necessary interim fixes can be downloaded at:

JDK: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/preLogin.do?source=swg-sdk6&S_PKG=amd64_6sr9fp1&S_TACT=105AGX05&S_CMP=JDK

UpdateInstaller: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/websphere/appserv/support/tools/UpdateInstaller/7.0.x/LinuxAMD64/7.0.0.15-WS-UPDI-LinuxAMD64.tar.gz

WebSphere: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/websphere/appserv/support/fixes/PM32173/7.0.0.0-WS-WASJavaSDK-LinuxX64-IFPM32173.pak

1) Stop the Cognos Service

Logon as user “baadmin” on a GUI based environment (e.g. VNC via SSH tunnel).Stop the IBM Cognos service using the following command:sudo /sbin/service cognos10 stop2) Upgrade the JRE used for IBM DB2 as follows:

stall JDK 6 SR9

Update database manager configuration

Logon as user “db2inst1” (password is set to the same password as baadmin password selected by user during instance creation):su – db2inst1Verify existing JDK_PATH:db2 get dbm cfg | grep JDK_PATHNote: which should pointing to /home/db2inst1/sqllib/java/jdk64Update JDK_PATH:db2 update dbm cfg using JDK_PATH /opt/ibm/java-x86_64-60Verify existing JDK_PATH:db2 get dbm cfg | grep JDK_PATHNote: which should now pointing to /opt/ibm/java-x86_64-60

3) Upgrade the JRE used for IBM WebSphere and IBM HTTP Server

Install latest version of UpdateInstaller

Install WebSphere Application Server Fixpack

4) Start Cognos 10 Service

Logon as user “baadmin” on a GUI based environment (e.g. VNC via SSH tunnel).Restart the IBM Cognos service using the following command:sudo /sbin/service cognos10 start

security vulnerability

2011-09-14T08:31:00.001-10:00

Flash (Alert)

Abstract

Last updated on April 19, 2011.

This Security Alert addresses a serious security vulnerability (CVE-2010-4476) which can cause the Java Virtual Machine to enter an infinite loop. This issue is described in more detail at http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-4476.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to Cognos Business Intelligence on the Cloud, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21470017.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to Cognos Business Intelligence Special Edition, go to https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21497107.

To find out about applying the JRE patch to the Cognos Now! 4.6.0 appliance, go to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21473104.

Content

Products Affected
The issue exists in the Java class libraries and affects all products that use Java. IBM Cognos products that use Java include

Business Intelligence products:
□ Cognos Business Intelligence* versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0
□ Cognos Business Intelligence Developer Edition versions 10.1, 8.4.1
□ Cognos Business Intelligence Starter Edition versions 10.1, 8.4.1
□ Cognos PowerPlay versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 7.5.0, 7.4.x,
□ Cognos Mobile versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.3.1, 8.3.0
□ Cognos Now! versions 4.6
□ Cognos DecisionStream version 7.1.4
□ Cognos Impromptu Web Reports versions 7.5, 7.4.x
□ Cognos NoticeCast versions 7.5, 7.4.x
□ Cognos Web Services versions 7.5, 7.4.x
□ Cognos Visualizer versions 7.5, 7.4.x
□ Cognos Query version 7.4.x
□ Cognos Express versions 9.5.0, 9.0.0
□ IBM Smart Analytics System Business Intelligence Module (all versions)

* Cognos Business Intelligence includes all BI components such as Reporting, Analysis, Data Manager, Virtual View Manager, Go! Search.

Financial Performance Management products:
□ Cognos Business Viewpoint versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0
□ Cognos Controller versions 8.5.1, 8.5.0, 8.4.0, 8.3.0
□ Cognos Finance versions 7.5.0, 7.4.x
□ Cognos Metrics versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0
□ Cognos Planning versions 10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0, 8.1.x
□ Cognos TM1 versions 9.5.1, 9.5.0, 9.4.1, 9.4.0
Analytic Applications products:
□ Cognos Banking Risk Performance - Credit Risk versions 8.4.2, 8.4.0
□ Cognos Customer Performance Sales Analytics versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0
□ Cognos Financial Performance Analytics (AP, AR & GL) versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0
□ Cognos Supply Chain Performance Procurement Analytics versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0
□ Cognos Workforce Performance versions 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4.0, 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.x
□ Cognos Consumer Insight version 1.1.0

Description
This vulnerability can cause the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to hang, enter an infinite loop, or crash when converting "2.2250738585072012e-308" to a binary floating-point number. The result can be a denial of service exposure. This same problem can occur if the number is written without scientific notation (that is, using all of the 324 decimal places). Any Java program that uses the Double.parseDouble method is at risk of this vulnerability.

Solution
To prevent this vulnerability from affecting your product, you must apply a patch to your existing version of Java or install a version of Java that contains the fix.

If you do not require the fix, no action is necessary.

Before you update your JRE on a production system, it is strongly recommended to:
• Apply the patch in a test environment to verify that your product is working correctly
• Make a backup before you apply any changes

Linux or UNIX Installations
On Linux or UNIX, the JRE is not provided by Cognos as part of the product. The JRE used with Cognos is a separately installed component that is available from the operating system, application server or Java vendor.

To resolve the security vulnerability, you will need to patch or upgrade the JRE to a version that is recommended by the Operating System, Application Server or Java vendor. Ensure you stop the Cognos Services before applying the patch and restart the Cognos Services once the patch has been successfully applied.

The following table provides links to vendor-supplied details and solutions to this vulnerability:

IBM	http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html
HP	https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPUXFPUPDATER
Oracle	http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alert-cve-2010-4476-305811.html

Windows Installations

Typically, a JRE is packaged with the Windows versions of Cognos products. However, you may also use a version of Java that already existed on your system.

If you are using a JRE that already existed on the system, the solution is to update the JRE to a version that is recommended by the Operating System, Application Server or Java vendor.

If you are using the JRE version that is provided with your Cognos product, interim fixes are now available for several of the Cognos products. To determine if an interim Windows fix is available for your Cognos product as well as download and installation information, please follow the instructions at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24029220.

It is necessary to stop the Cognos services before applying the patch and then restart the Cognos Services once the patch has been successfully applied.

Cognos is continuing to develop interim fixes for the remaining affected products. These fixes will be made available as soon as possible.

If you cannot wait for the patch to become available from Cognos, you can also manually apply the patch to your JRE using the following steps.

Determine which version of JRE you are using

In a command window, go to the cognos_location/bin/jre directory.
If you are using a 64-bit installation, go to the cognos_location/bin64/jre directory.
Type the following:
java –version

The resulting message will indicate whether you have an IBM or Sun version of JRE.

To apply a patch to an IBM version of JRE, do the following:
Go to the following Web page, and following the instructions provided: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html

Download the ParseDoubleTest.jar from the link above to verify if you need to apply the patch.
Copy the ParseDoubleTest.jar file to the cognos_location/bin/jre directory.
Open a command window in the location where you downloaded the file, and type the following:
java –jar ParseDoubleTest.jar

If the result is “Test Succeeded”, you do not have to apply the patch.
If you have to apply the patch, download the appropriate patch file from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/cve-2010-4476.html.

For example, for JRE version 1.4 on Windows, download PM31983_FIX_1.jar.
Download the Java Update Installer from the following location: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/alerts/updateinstaller.html

Unzip the UpdateInstallerforJava.zip.
Ensure that you have the patch file and the unzipped Java Update Installer in the same location.
In a command window, go to the location where you downloaded the patch file and the Java Update Installer, and enter the following command:

java -jar JavaUpdateInstaller.jar -install [patch JAR file] [JAVA_HOME of target JDK]

For example, for IBM Cognos products, the [JAVA_HOME of target JDK] is cognos_location/bin/jre/.

If you are installing the update for JRE version 1.4 to a default IBM Cognos installation location, the command would look like the following:

java -jar JavaUpdateInstaller.jar -install PM31983_FIX_1.jar C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos//bin/jre//bin

To apply a patch to a SUN version of JRE, do the following:

Download the compressed file for Java SE Floating Point Updater Tool:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html#fpupdater
Uncompress the file, and then copy fpupdater.jar to cognos_location/bin/jre//bin.

If you are using a 64-bit installation, copy fpupdater.jar to cognos_location/bin64/jre//bin.
In a command window, go to the cognos_location/bin/jre//bin directory, and enter the following command:

java -jar fpupdater.jar -u -v

*Cross Reference information*
Segment	Product	Component	Platform	Version	Edition
Business Analytics	Cognos Business Intelligence	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX, HP Itanium, Linux, Solaris, Windows	10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Mobile	Not Applicable	Windows	10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Series 7	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX on PA-RISC, Solaris, Windows	7.5, 7.4	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Now!	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows	4.6, 4.5	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Express	Not Applicable	Windows	9.0, 9.5	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Real-time Monitoring	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows	10.1	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Business Viewpoint	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX on PA-RISC, HP Itanium, Linux, Solaris, Windows	8.4.1, 8.4, 10.1	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos 8 Controller	Not Applicable	Windows	8.5.1, 8.5, 8.4, 8.3	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Executive Viewer	Not Applicable	Windows	9.5	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Finance	Not Applicable	Windows	7.5, 7.4	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Planning	Not Applicable	Windows	10.1, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3, 8.1	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos TM1	Not Applicable	AIX, Linux, Solaris, Windows	9.5.1, 9.5, 9.4	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Analytic Applications	Not Applicable	AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows	8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos 8 Workforce Performance	Not Applicable	AIX, Solaris, Windows, HP-UX	8.3, 8.2	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos Consumer Insight	Not Applicable	Linux	1.1	All Editions
Business Analytics	Cognos 8 Go!	Not Applicable	Windows, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris	8.4.1, 8.4, 8.3	All Editions

Cognos in the cloud

2011-08-24T07:36:00.000-10:00

Has anyone looked into IBM Cognos being a cloud hosted service?

Read more: search ibm.com for - "cognos cloud best practices: sizing the architecture"
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Cognos 10 Fix Pack List

2011-08-22T09:24:00.001-10:00

Fix Packs are an important part of your maintenance strategy of your IBM Cognos solution and are available to all supported customers.

A Fix Pack is a product update that contains a cumulative collection of code fixes that have been made since the last release of the product. These code fixes may be a result of several interim fixes as well as other code fixes identified to be important to our customers. Unlike individual interim fixes, a Fix Pack will undergo a regression testing cycle to validate the quality and integrity of the combined set of fixes. It is important to note that interim fixes are not made available to all customers because they receive limited testing focused on the original problem that was reported. As a result, there are clear benefits for you to take advantage of a Fix Pack as a means to maintain your solution.

What Do I Need To Know Before Installing a Fix Pack?

Administrators need to take into account several things when deciding to install a Fix Pack:
Review the Fix List for each Fix Pack (see below).
Fix packs within a release are always cumulative; for example, 8.4.0 FP2 includes all the fixes from 8.4.0 FP1. Fix Packs are language independent.
Due to timing, you may have received an interim fix that was not included in the latest Fix Pack before it entered regression testing. Please verify that all of the interim fixes that you are dependent on are included in a Fix Pack before installing it.

How do I obtain a Fix Pack?

Fix packs are available through Fix Central at under Information Management.
We strongly recommend that you plan to upgrade to the latest available Fix Pack as preventative maintenance to help you safely avoid known problems. Below is the target release schedule for upcoming Cognos Fix Packs to help you prepare and plan for your upgrade. Please check this schedule on a regular basis as we will update it with new planned Fix Packs on an ongoing basis.
While we make best efforts to release Fix Packs according to the originally posted date, this schedule is subject to change.

Cognos Fix Pack Release Schedule

Product	Target Release Date
Cognos BI 8.4.1 FP4	December 2011 - January 2012
Cognos Finance 7.5 FP1	January - March 2012

St Sauveur Accomodation | Owner Direct

2011-05-26T08:43:00.000-10:00

St Sauveur Accomodation | Owner Direct

Great specials

Operators

2011-05-23T09:51:00.001-10:00

Operators specify what happens to the values on either side of the operator. Operators are similar to functions, in that they manipulate data items and return a result.

(

Inserts an open parenthesis in your expression.

Syntax

(exp)

)

Inserts a close parenthesis in your expression.

Syntax

(exp)

*

Multiplies two numeric values.

Syntax

value1 * value2

,

Separates expression components.

Syntax

exp(param1, param2)

/

Divides two numeric values.

Syntax

value1 / value2

||

Concatenates strings.

Syntax

string1 || string2

+

Adds two values.

Syntax

value1 + value2

-

Subtracts two numeric values or negates a numeric value.

Syntax

value1 - value2 
or 
- value

<

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are less than the defined value.

Syntax

value1 < value2

<=

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are less than or equal to the defined value.

Syntax

value1 <= value2

<>

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are not equal to the defined value.

Syntax

value1 <> value2

=

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are equal to the defined value.

Syntax

value1 = value2

>

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are greater than the defined value.

Syntax

value1 > value2

->

Separates the components in a literal member expression.

Syntax

[namespace].[dimension].[hierarchy].[level]->[L1]

>=

Compares values against a defined value and retrieves the values that are greater than or equal to the defined value.

Syntax

value1 >= value2

and

Returns TRUE if the conditions on both sides of the expression are true.

Syntax

arg1 AND arg2

auto

Works with summary expressions to define the scope to be adjusted based on the grouping columns in the query. The scope is context dependent.

Syntax

aggregate_function ( expression AUTO )

between

Determines if a value falls in a given range.

Syntax

name BETWEEN value1 and value2

case

Works with When, Then, Else, and End.

Syntax

CASE expression { WHEN expression THEN expression } [
ELSE expression ] END

contains

Determines if a string contains another string.

Syntax

string1 CONTAINS string2

currentMeasure

Keyword that can be used as the first argument of member summary functions.

Syntax

aggregate_function( currentMeasure within set expression
)

default

Works with the LOOKUP construct.

Syntax

lookup(....) in (....) DEFAULT(....)

distinct

A keyword used in an aggregate expression, to include only distinct occurrences of values. See also the function unique.

Syntax

DISTINCT dataItem

Example

count ( DISTINCT [OrderDetailQuantity] )

Result: 1704

else

Works with the If or Case constructs.

Syntax

IF (condition) THEN .... ELSE (expression) , or CASE
.... ELSE expression END

end

Works with the Case or When constructs.

Syntax

CASE .... END

ends with

Determines if a string ends with a given string.

Syntax

string1 ENDS WITH string2

for

Works with summary expressions to define the scope of the aggregation in the query.

Syntax

aggregate_function ( expression FOR expression { , expression
} )

for all

Works with summary expressions to define the scope to be all the specified grouping columns in the query. See also FOR clause.

Syntax

aggregate_function ( expression FOR ALL expression {
, expression } )

for any

Works with summary expressions to define the scope to be adjusted based on a subset of the grouping columns in the query. Equivalent to FOR clause.

Syntax

aggregate_function ( expression FOR ANY expression {
, expression } )

for report

Works with summary expressions to set the scope to be the whole query. See also FOR clause.

Syntax

aggregate_function ( expression FOR REPORT )

if

Works with the Then and Else constructs.

Syntax

IF (condition is true) THEN (action) ELSE (alternate
action)

in

Determines if a value exists in a given list of values.

Syntax

exp1 IN (exp_list)

in_range

Determines if an item exists in a given list of constant values or ranges.

Syntax

expression IN_RANGE { constant : constant [ , constant
: constant ] }

Example 1

[code] IN_RANGE { 5 }

Result: This is equivalent to [code] = 5

Example 2

[code] IN_RANGE { 5: }

Result: This is equivalent to [code] >= 5

Example 3

[code] IN_RANGE { :5 }

Result: This is equivalent to [code] <= 5

Example 4

[code] IN_RANGE { 5:10 }

Result: This is equivalent to ( [code] >= 5 and [code] <= 10 )

Example 5

[code] IN_RANGE { :5,10,20: }

Result: This is equivalent to ( [code] <= 5 or [code] = 10 or [code] >= 20 )

is missing

Determines if a value is undefined in the data.

Syntax

value IS MISSING

is null

Determines if a value is undefined in the data.

Syntax

value IS NULL

is not missing

Determines if a value is defined in the data.

Syntax

value IS NOT MISSING

is not null

Determines if a value is defined in the data.

Syntax

value IS NOT NULL

like

Determines if a string matches the pattern of another string.

Syntax

string1 LIKE string2

lookup

Finds and replaces data with a value you specify. It is preferable to use the CASE construct.

Syntax

LOOKUP (name) in (value1 --> value2) default (expression)

Example

lookup([Country]) in ('Canada'-->([List Price] * 0.60),
'Australia'-->([List Price] * 0.80)) default([List Price])

not

Returns TRUE if the condition is false, otherwise returns FALSE.

Syntax

NOT arg

or

Returns TRUE if either of the two conditions on both sides of the expression are true.

Syntax

arg1 OR arg2

prefilter

Performs a summary calculation before applying the summary filter.

Syntax

summary ([expression] PREFILTER)

rows

Counts the number of rows output by the query. Use with Count().

Syntax

count(ROWS)

starts with

Determines if a string starts with a given string.

Syntax

string1 STARTS WITH string2

then

Works with the If or Case constructs.

Syntax

IF (condition) THEN ...., or CASE expression WHEN expression
THEN .... END

when

Works with the Case construct.

Syntax

CASE [expression] WHEN .... END

Define a Prompt Control

2011-05-23T09:50:00.000-10:00

Define a Prompt Control

Information about prompt controls for relational metadata appears in a different topic .

Prompts help your users quickly find the information they need in a report. Prompts are generally defined in reports. However, you can change the behavior of prompts in the studios by modifying the definition of dimensions or query subjects in the model.

This is useful for query items, such as ProductTypeCode, whose values are not shown in a report but are useful for filtering data. In general, it is better to define type-in prompts in the reports to make use of the additional prompt features. However, your users cannot modify some variables. For these variables, you can use IBM^® Cognos^® Framework Manager instead of the reports to define type-in prompts.

The Prompt Info properties set in Framework Manager give you the ability to control default filtering and prompting. The properties are used by:

Query Studio to create a filter expression and set the use and display items in a prompt and prompt query
the Build Prompt Page tool in Report Studio to create a filter expression and set the use and display items in a prompt and prompt query
generated prompts in Report Studio to set the use and display items in the prompt and prompt query

The syntax for using a prompt as a value is

??

You can use prompts in

parameter maps
session parameters
expressions, including filters and calculations

Steps

Click the query item.
In the Properties pane, click the Properties tab.
Click the plus sign (+) next to the Prompt Info property.
This is a compound query item property.

Modify the following properties to reflect the behavior you require.

Goal	Property
Set the type of prompt control that is generated when the report is run.	Prompt Type
Set the generated prompt as part of a series of generated cascading prompts.	Cascade On Item Reference
Specifies which query item is displayed to the report user in the prompt. The values in the prompt are data values of the query item. Each value in the prompt is associated with a value in the query item specified in the Use Item Reference property.	Display Item Reference
Specifies which query item is passed from the prompt to the filter. Each value is associated with a value in the query item specified in the Display Item Reference property.	Use Item Reference
Specifies which query item is used in the filter expression to retrieve data.	Filter Item Reference

Prompt Type Property

The Prompt Type property sets the type of prompt control that is generated when the report is run, such as an edit box or a pull-down list.

The default value for this property is Server Determined.

Note: Prompt types set on attributes are now processed. The report user will see the prompt that matches the prompt type on the attribute. Because prompt types on attributes were not processed in the previous release, some differences may occur.

Value	Prompt Control
Server Determined	The type of prompt control is based on information in the server, such as the data type of the query item.
Edit Box	A simple text box. If the data type of the column is date or dateTime, this value generates a date or date-time control as well as the text box.
Select Date	A date control with a calendar interface.
Select Date/Time	A date-time control with a calendar interface. For SAP BW metadata, this value is not relevant.
Select Interval	A date-time interval control. For SAP BW metadata, this value is not relevant.
Select Time	A time control that filters data based on the selected time period. For example, if you define a Select Time prompt for Order Time, the user can use the time control to show all orders placed after 1:00, or all the orders placed between 10:00 and 11:00. If you are referring to a time member, you must use the exact values only. If you are using a range, the end points of the range must correspond to values in the data source.
Select Value	A drop-down list.
Select with Search	A list control so that users can search for values. For SAP BW metadata, this value is not relevant.
Select with Tree	A tree prompt control for prompts that are based on a hierarchy node.

Note: If the caption is a different datatype than the business key (MUN) for the level, use the Filter Item Reference in conjunction with setting the Prompt Type for the caption. This ensures that the right datatype is used when filtering in the studios.

Cascade On Item Reference Property

The Cascade On Item Reference property indicates that the generated prompt is part of a series of generated cascading prompts. The query item that you reference in this property is the parent item in the cascade. The system prompts the user for the cascade item before prompting them for the current query item.

For example, if you want to prompt for Product Line and then Product within the selected line, set the Cascade On Item Reference property of the Product query item to Product Line.

Display Item Reference and Use Item Reference Properties

The Display Item Reference property specifies which query item is displayed to the user in the prompt. The Use Item Reference property specifies which query item is passed from the prompt to the filter. Each value in the list of display items is associated with a value of the query item specified in the Use Item Reference property.

For example, you want the prompt to display Country Name while using Country Code to retrieve data. Set the Display Item Reference property to Country Name and the Use Item Reference property to Country Code. The prompt for Country Name makes it easy for the report user to select required values. However, using the Country Code in the filter is more efficient for data retrieval.

These properties are used by

Query Studio to create a filter expression and set the use and display items in a prompt and prompt query
the Build Prompt Page tool in Report Studio to set the use and display items in a prompt and prompt query
generated prompts in Report Studio to set the use and display items in the prompt and prompt query

Note: The values of the Use Item Reference and Filter Item Reference properties must be compatible. Otherwise, the report user may receive unexpected results. For more information, see the Filter Item Reference property .

Default: If no values are set, the properties default to the name of the query item.

These properties are used only for data driven prompt controls whose Prompt Type property is set to either Select Value or Select with Search.

Filter Item Reference Property

The Filter Item Reference property identifies the query item used when Report Studio or Query Studio generates a filter. This property can help create more efficient queries by ensuring that a filter uses an indexed numeric column rather than a non-indexed string column.

For example, a report author wants to create a filter for the Country Name query item. You set the Filter Item Reference property to use Country Code instead of Country Name for any filter that uses the Country Name query item.

In another example, a report author wants to create a filter for the Country Code query item that appears in the Orders table. You want that filter to use the Country Code in the Country table because there are fewer rows to read in the Country table so you set the Filter Item Reference in the model to Country.Country Code.

This property is used by:

Query Studio to create a filter expression
the Build Prompt Page tool in Report Studio to create a filter expression

Default: If no value is set, the property defaults to the name of the query item.

Using the Filter Item Reference and Use Item Reference Properties

The values of the Filter Item Reference and Use Item Reference properties must be compatible. The value of the Use Item Reference property must be a type that is expected by the Filter Item Reference property. Otherwise, the report user may receive unexpected results. This may occur when a report user creates a filter without creating a prompt page.

In an example model, the Use Item Reference property is set to Employee Number and the Filter Item Reference property is Employee Name. In Report Studio, a report author creates the following filter without creating a prompt page:

Reference.EmployeeName in ?parm1?

Report Studio automatically generates prompts when you create a filter without creating a prompt page. Because the prompt is generated, Report Studio uses the Prompt Info properties from the Employee Name query item in the Framework Manager model.

The Use Item Reference indicates that the values being passed to the filter are employee numbers. The Filter Item Reference is filtering data based on Employee Name. The filter is as follows: Reference].[Employee Name] in ("1", "2"). Since there are no Employee Name values of "1" or "2", the report will be blank.

Using Filter Item Reference for Dimensionally Modeled Relational Metadata

For dimensionally modeled relational metadata, Prompt Info is specified on the attribute with the role of _memberCaption, instead of the level. Although set on the attribute, the Prompt Info properties are processed as if they were on the level. By default, when the level is included in a report, users are prompted to enter MUNs in the level’s prompt. To enter caption values instead, set the attribute’s Filter Item Reference property to itself. When the prompted filter is applied, the filtered values will be based on the attribute values.

For example, the level Product Line has an attribute of Product Line with a role of _memberCaption. If the Filter Item Reference property value is set to to Product Line, report users are prompted to enter Product Line values. If the Filter Item Reference property value is left blank, users are prompted to enter MUNs.

Note: Do not use the Filter Item Reference property with the Select with Tree prompt type. Because a Select with Tree prompt can only filter on a level or hierarchy, setting the Filter Item Reference property will cause an error.

Testing a Prompt

When you test a model object that references a prompt, IBM^® Cognos^® Framework Manager asks you to enter the prompt value. Framework Manager uses this value for either the duration of the session, or until you clear the prompt value.

You can change the session value of prompt values through the Options dialog box. This dialog box is available when you modify a dimension or query subject, or define a calculation, filter, query set, or complex relationship. You can change the prompt value at the time that you are testing the expression that references that value.

If you select the Always prompt for values when testing check box in the Prompt dialog box, Framework Manager prompts you for a value every time you test the object. When updating the object or performing a count, Framework Manager uses the existing prompt value, if one exists.

A prompt on a query item in a model query subject is associated only with that query item. A prompt on a query item in a data source query subject is associated with the entire query subject and therefore, the prompt appears when you test any query item in the query subject.

SAP BW Variables

SAP BW variables are parameters of an SAP BW Query that are set up during query definition. When you run the query, the SAP BW variables are filled with values. They function as placeholders and can be processed in different ways. They are automatically exposed as prompts at run time.

SAP BW variable information is included in a composite custom property named SAP BW Variables that exists only if a data source has one or more variables associated with it. The SAP BW Variables property contains one or more composite properties, each of which must be assigned a unique name. Each property represents a description of a single SAP BW variable. Because the variable information is specified in a custom property, Framework Manager does not validate these properties.

Framework Manager supports these types of SAP BW variables:

Variables for hierarchies function as placeholders for the hierarchy of a characteristic. All the values for hierarchy variables are read-only.

The SAP BW variable information is obtained using the SAP BW BAPI MDDataProviderBW::GetVariables.

Name Property

This property is a string value.

SAP BW equivalent: VARIABLE_NAME

Restrictions: Read-only.

Caption Property

The string value for this property is a composite and locale-dependent. Each locale in the model should be represented by a custom property whose value is the locale name. For example, if the locales en-ca and fr-fr exist in the model, define two custom properties named en-ca and fr-fr.

The default value is obtained from SAP BW.

Default Low Caption and Default High Caption Properties

The value for each of these properties is a composite, locale-dependent string value. Each locale in the model should be represented by a custom property whose value is the locale name. For example, if the locales en-ca and fr-fr exist in the model, define two custom properties named en-ca and fr-fr.

The default value is obtained from SAP BW.

Restrictions: The Default High Caption property is applicable only for variables with a Selection Type of interval.

Fixed Value Property

This property is a boolean property that determines whether the value of the variable can be changed. If this property is set to true, your users are not prompted for the associated variable, and the default value is always applied.

The default value is false.

Restrictions: This property is not applicable to hierarchy variables.

Selection Type Property

The possible values are value, interval, complex, multiValued.

Value	SAP BW Equivalent
value	SAP_VAR_SEL_TYPE_VALUE
interval	SAP_VAR_SEL_TYPE_INTERVAL
complex	SAP_VAR_SEL_TYPE_COMPLEX
multiValued	SAP_VAR_SEL_TYPE_COMPLEX

Restrictions: Read-only.

Entry Type Property

The default value is obtained from SAP BW.

Value	SAP BW Equivalent
optional	SAP_VAR_INPUT_TYPE_OPTIONAL
mandatory	SAP_VAR_INPUT_TYPE_MANDATORY
mandatoryNotInitial	SAP_VAR_INPUT_TYPE_MANDATORY_NOT_INITIAL

Restrictions: Read-only.

Data Type

The default value is obtained from SAP BW.

Value	SAP BW Equivalent
xsdString	CHAR
xsdDate	CHAR The VAR_TYPE value is SAP_VAR_TYPE_MEMBER and the reference dimension is based on 0CALDAY.
xsdFloat	FLTP
xsdDatetime	DATS
xsdInt	NUMC, DEC, INT1, INT2, or INT4
xsdLong	NUMC, DEC, INT1, INT2, or INT4
xsdMUN	CHAR

Restrictions: Read-only.

Default Low Value and Default High Value Properties

Each of these properties specifies a range of values.

The default value is obtained from SAP BW.

Restrictions: The Default High Value property is applicable only for variables with a Selection Type of interval.

Description Property

This property is a string value.

SAP BW Variable Type Property

The possible values are numeric, characteristic, hierarchy, or hierarchicalNode.

The default is obtained from SAP BW.

Restrictions: Read-only.

Prompt Type Property

The default value depends on the type of the variable. If the value of this property is not one of the predefined values, it is assumed to be hierarchyPickList.

Value	Restrictions
typeIn	Required for numeric variables and optional for characteristic values
pickList	Optional for characteristic variables
calendar	Only for characteristic variables based on 0CALDAY
hierarchyPickList	Optional for all presentation hierarchies
notApplicable	Required for hierarchy variables

Restrictions: Read-only for some types of variables such as characteristic and formula.

Level Restriction Property

This property is a numeric value.

The default value is 1.

Restrictions: Applicable only for hierarchical node variables with a Prompt Type of hierarchyPickList.

Trim Levels Property

This property is a string value that reduces the number of members in a hierarchical picklist. If the property is set to zero (0), members from all levels of a hierarchy are included in the prompt. You can also specify a range such as 2:4 to include only the members from certain levels. If the starting and ending ranges are the same, such as 3:3, only members from that level will be included.

The default value is zero (0).

Restrictions: Applicable only for characteristic variables with a Prompt Type of hierarchyPickList.

Use Default Values Property

This property is a boolean property that determines whether the default values will be used. If this property is set to true, your users are not prompted for the associated variable, and the default value is always applied.

The default value is false.

Initial Number of Pick List Values Property

A numeric value that specifies the initial number of values used to populate a picklist, hierarchical picklist, or prompt.

The default value is zero (0), which means all.

Show Key and Caption Property

To show keys and captions for SAP BW variables, set this property to true. This property is applicable only for pick list prompts and hierarchy node prompts.

The default value is false.

Numeric Variable Property Values

The following variable properties are applicable to numeric variables:

Property	Default value
Type	numeric
Caption
Selection Type	value
Entry Type
Data Type
Default Low
Default High
Prompt Type	typeIn
Fixed Value	false

You can change the default values for a numeric variable except for the Prompt Type property, which is read-only.

Hierarchy Variable Property Values

The following variable properties are applicable to hierarchy variables:

Property	Default value
Type	hierarchy
Caption
Selection Type	value
Entry Type	obtained from SAP BW
Data Type	xsdString
Default Low
Default High
Prompt Type	not applicable

Because hierarchy variables are resolved entirely at run time, all these properties are read-only.

Characteristic Variable Property Values

There are two kinds of characteristic variables: characteristic value and hierarchy node. Characteristic values variables select characteristic values. Hierarchy node variables select values from any position in a presentation hierarchy.

Characteristic Value Variable Property Values

The following variable properties are applicable to characteristic value variables:

Property	Default value
Type	characteristic
Caption
Selection Type	obtained from SAP BW
Entry Type	obtained from SAP BW
Data Type	xsdString
Default Low	If the entry type is value or complex, the default property is shown. If the entry type is interval, the default low property is shown. This value is obtained from SAP BW.
Default High	If the entry type is value or complex, the default property is shown. If the entry type is interval, the default high property is shown. This value is obtained from SAP BW.
Prompt Type	typeIn or pickList This depends on the number of members in the referenced dimension. If the value is invalid, typeIn is used.
Fixed Value	false

A characteristic value variable for the 0CALDAY dimension is shown in the model as a date. The Data Type property is set to xsdDate and the Prompt Type property is set to calendar. The Prompt Type property is read-only for the 0CALDAY dimension.

Hierarchy Node Variable Property Values

The following variable properties are applicable to hierarchy node variables:

Property	Default value
Type	characteristic
Caption
Selection Type	value
Entry Type	obtained from SAP BW
Data Type	xsdString
Dimension	obtained from SAP BW
Hierarchy	obtained from SAP BW
Default Low
Default High
Prompt Type	hierarchy PickList You can change the Prompt Type property to typeIn or pickList.
Trim Levels	zero (0)
Fixed Value	false
Maximum Number of Values	100

Picklist Prompts

Each picklist prompt contains a pre-defined number of values. These values are determined by the Maximum Number of Values property.

If the number of actual values is less than or equal to the default number of values, the prompt is generated as a single picklist prompt. If the number of actual values exceeds the default number, two prompts are generated in this order:

a bound range parameter with a starting value of 1 and an ending value determined by the Maximum Number of Values property
This parameter is of the type xsdUnsignedLong and is optional. The name of the parameter is the name of the original prompt followed by _range_prompt. The caption is locale-specific. If this is a multilingual model, you must store the template for the caption in a message file.
a picklist prompt containing the default number of values

SAP Cookbook For IBM Cognos 8 BI

2011-04-16T02:35:00.000-10:00

IBM Cognos 8 leverages the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse investment withinyour organization by providing access to the Business Warehouse metadata andbusiness content. The integration with SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouseprovides access to existing SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse structures withinthe SAP BW environment:

InfoQueries
InfoCubes
MultiProviders
Virtual Cubes
Remote Cubes
DSO or ODS
InfoSets
InfoObjects
Master data and attributes

Business Analytics

When modelling against SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse, there are somegeneral guidelines that you should follow to ensure optimal performance withinyour IBM Cognos 8 environment with SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse.

1.It is strongly recommended to use an InfoQuery as the source forthe IBM Cognos Framework Manager metadata model. TheInfoQuery acts as a database view which can help reduce thevolume of data for better performance. The use of the InfoQuerywill provide additional access to query objects such as:

SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Variables
Filters, Restrictions
Calculated Key Figures
Restricted Key Figures
Characteristic and Key Figure Structures
Currency Conversions
Global Filters
Navigational Attributes

2.When using a SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse InfoQuery,utilize SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse variables, filters, andrestrictions where appropriate. This will force data processing to beperformed by the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse serverdatabase and will often provide better performance. It will also bebeneficial to use Calculated Key Figures and Restricted Key Figureswhere possible to leverage the processing power of the SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse server.

3.Carefully consider how many IBM Cognos 8 reports you decide tobuild from a SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse InfoQuery. Thereshould not be a 1-to-1, IBM Cognos 8 report-to-SAP NetWeaverBusiness Warehouse query ratio.

Consider having a SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse querythat sources several IBM Cognos 8 reports.
But do not create one master SAP NetWeaver BusinessWarehouse query that sources all of your IBM Cognos 8 reports.
Start by addressing a particular subject area, and then extendwhat you have learned in your environment to other subjectareas. Apply this approach rather than starting big byimplementing several SAP NetWeaver Business Warehousequeries (or one master SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse query) for all subject areas, and potentially having to pull backdue to poor performance.
4.Review the overall design of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehousestructures and data volumes to identify potential bottlenecks. A SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse design that is inefficient in SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse will filter up and deliver unsatisfactoryperformance to IBM Cognos 8 users. For example, it is commonlyknown that an InfoCube typically performs faster than a Data StoreObject (DSO). In that case, it is suggested to use a SAP NetWeaverBusiness Warehouse query against a cube rather than against objectssuch as DSO’s or InfoSets.
5.Use of a BEx InfoQuery is required to gain access to Data Store Objects(DSO), InfoSets, and Master Data as an InfoProvider within SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse. Use this method sparingly if you aredealing with large data sets as you are likely to experience data latencyfrom SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse. Reading data from theseproviders is typically slower than reading data from an InfoCube, and isconsidered normal SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse performanceamongst SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse administrators. Thesame rule holds true when referencing these providers indirectly via aMultiProvider.
6.Furthermore, when utilizing a SAP NetWeaver Business Warehousequery against a MultiProvider, consider carefully the underlyingInfoProviders in which data is read. Data that is read from a DSO,InfoSet, or InfoCube via a MultiProvider, with high volumes of data mayinhibit SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse performance, therebypassing this slow performance to IBM Cognos 8. Ensure that properfilters, variables, restrictions, and calculations are used within the SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse query to force SAP NetWeaverBusiness Warehouse to pass only a subset of the data, instead ofpassing much more data with no filters and restrictions.
7.The use of the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator®appliance, BWA (formerly BIA), may be used in conjunction with IBMCognos 8 for improved SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouseperformance. These performance benefits can be realized from withinthe IBM Cognos 8 environment as the hardware appliance is completelytransparent to IBM Cognos 8 and the user. However it is stronglyadvised to follow all the proven practices as noted within this documentto ensure optimal performance for the overall IBM Cognos 8 and SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse solution.
In some instances, you may find that you are creating an IBM Cognos 8report that is reading high volumes of data from SAP NetWeaverBusiness Warehouse, which may overstep the limitations of the SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse temp space. In the event SAPNetWeaver Business Warehouse cannot handle a data request fromIBM Cognos 8, and all of these SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse guidelines have already been applied, then consider adding more tempspace to the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse server.

Cognos 10 Training

2011-04-16T02:24:00.001-10:00

http://cognos8diagnostic.blogspot.com/2011/04/cognos-10-training.html

Where can the SDK Developer Guide be found in Cognos 8?

2011-04-01T15:05:00.001-10:00

Where can the SDK Developer Guide be found in Cognos 8?

You can go to http://bicentresdkguide.blogspot.com.

New Cognos BI resource 050311-001

2011-03-05T05:37:00.001-10:00

http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-cognos-bi-resource-050311-001.html

Modeling a Virtual View Manager data source

2011-03-02T03:45:00.003-10:00

Modeling a Virtual View Manager data source

Use ODBC to access the Virtual View Manager data source from IBM Cognos 8 using the command-line utility named driverConfig to add an ODBC DSN. The data source associates a particular ODBC driver with the data you want to access through that driver. In order to be able to create an ODBC DSN, the user publishing the views must have the appropriate permissions for the Virtual View Manager configuration files and libraries. The ODBC DSN could be configured this way:

[SQLServer_TERADATA]

host = localhost

port = 9401

uid = admin

password = ********

domain = cognos

datasource = SQLServer_TERADATA

catalog = Cognos

Security considerations

2011-03-02T03:45:00.001-10:00

Security considerations

When working with IBM Cognos 8 and Virtual View Manager, it is possible to specify security at different levels. By default, Virtual View Manager provides a domain named "cognos" to secure the application. An administrator can add other users and set their access permissions. It is also possible to specify metadata and data security in Framework Manager.

You can also limit access by using IBM Cognos 8 to secure a DSN that was created using the administrator user ID and password. By using pass-through logins, you ensure that Virtual View Manager users have user IDs and passwords that are valid on the underlying data source(s).

An ODBC DSN must be created to provide all users connectivity to the Virtual View Manager data source through an ODBC driver. These data sources are local to a computer. All users with the appropriate privileges can access the ODBC data source. The data source name must use fewer than 32 characters.

Basic concepts of Virtual View Manager

2011-03-02T03:44:00.001-10:00

Basic concepts of Virtual View Manager

The workflow for using Virtual View Manager is separated into three processes:

Setting up the environment by installing and configuring the appropriate software and drivers. The installation also installs IBM Informix® and creates a repository to contain your Virtual View Manager content.

Creating a data source using Virtual View Manager Studio, which includes accessing and simplifying the metadata using Virtual View Manager Server.

Accessing Virtual View Manager views using IBM Cognos 8 and preparing metadata for reporting in IBM Cognos 8.

Virtual View Manager Server can be installed in the same environment as Cognos 8, but an installation on a separate computer gives better performance and availability. The installation creates a Virtual View Manager repository and starts both the Virtual View Manager process and the Virtual View Manager Server.

Because IBM Cognos 8 uses the Virtual View Manager ODBC driver to access Virtual View Manager data sources, the ODBC driver and driver manager must be installed on each instance of the IBM Cognos 8 report server and the Framework Manager. The driver manager routes all IBM Cognos 8 requests to the appropriate ODBC driver to access the data sources. When you add an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) using the ODBC Data Source Administrator, you identify an ODBC driver for the driver manager. The driver manager then knows that the data source associated with this DSN is accessed through a particular ODBC driver.

five axis jars in the IBM Cognos 8 SDK java lib

2011-02-27T10:01:00.001-10:00

http://cognos8help.blogspot.com/2011/02/five-axis-jars-in-ibm-cognos-8-sdk-java.html

Powerplay Transformer Model checklist

2011-01-31T16:57:00.000-10:00

This guide gives a check list when quality reviewing a Transformer model. The check list is a suggested proven practice. By comparing your models against the items within this check list you will be able to go a fair way in stating that you have a good Transformer model that follows a number of proven practices.
These rules are not set in stone. Users may have valid reasons to deviate from these rules. Any deviations should be documented so that those following in your footsteps understand why standard proven practices have not been followed.
The guide does not state if a Transformer model is good or bad from a business perspective, nor if the resulting powercube will be efficient. Such judgement needs business knowledge. When performance tuning, knowing the business goal and designing a solution that better achieves these often gives a greater performance increase.
Applicability
The guide is applicable to all versions of IBM Cognos PowerPlay Transformer.

General Checks for the Transformer Model
These checks relate to the entire Transformer model.

Use the Tools > Check Model menu item to easily identify any errors or warnings.
This tool is often overlooked yet it gives a good summary of any issues found with the Transformer model and you can easily identify whether any errors or warnings are acceptable.
The model file is in MDL format.
The PY? format should only be used if model load time forms a significant part of the cube build times.
- An MDL version of the model ensures the model does not bloat or fragment over time when categories are deleted.
- Ensures forward compatibility that the model can be loaded into later versions of Transformer.
- N.B. For datasources that require passwords, MDL does not store these.

Data Sources
This section deals with the data sources used within Transformer.

Figure 1 Data Sources Window

General Data Sources Checks

Verify queries are split into dimension and fact queries.
An exception to this may be when a dimension is populated from a fact query. In this circumstance it may be foolish to read the fact table twice –once to get the dimension and again to get the facts. However if the query to get the distinct dimension list is of a low cost then two queries should be used.
Verify whether a naming convention is in place to easily identify fact and dimensional queries.
Verify dimensional queries appear before all fact queries.
In Cognos 8 Transformer the help documentation states that this is not necessary anymore however the way Transformer decides what is dimensional vs. fact has not been documented. This best practice should still be followed.

Individual Data Sources Checks

Use the 'Show Scope' tool.
You can use this tool on all Data Sources to ensure queries are only impacting expected dimensions. This tool can be found by right-clicking the data source and selecting 'Show Scope'.
Make sure no unreferenced columns are used.
If a column is not used by model then we should not bring that data into Transformer. Right-click the data source and select the ‘Show Reference’ tool to verify this.

Figure 2 Column References Dialog

If the data source is not a Framework Manager or a Cognos 8 report then remove unused columns from the underlying data source itself, not just from the Transformer query. For example if an IQD is used, it contains 10 columns but only 2 of those columns are used by Transformer then edit the IQD to remove the 8 unused columns.
Check Timing attributes.
For dimensional queries only use Generate Categories or/and PowerCube creation Generate Categories only.

Figure 3 Datasources Properties Timing attributes

For Fact queries, which do not populate dimensions, set the attributes to Create the PowerCubes.
If you are using a data warehouse where surrogates keys are guaranteed to be unique then consider Maximise data access speed.

Figure 4 Datasource Uniqueness verification attributes
Set the current period attribute only set on appropriate queries.
Consider having a query that does nothing but set the current period.
Auto Summarize property is checked /unchecked.
This setting depends upon the source data being read. If the source data is being used at the same granularity as the underlying table this should remain unchecked. If the source data is not consolidated then this should be checked. Consider the effect this setting has upon the generated SQL of the data source.
– introducing summary functions.
- Ensure that the query has appropriate identifier and fact usage attributes set for this setting to be effective. These will need to be set in the source – either Framework Manager or the report. Again review the SQL to ensure appropriate grouping and summary functions are being applied.
Fact Data is consolidated.
If the auto summarize option is not available then ensure the fact query is consolidated. That is it only brings in one row of data for a unique key combination.
For example if an IQD is used you may have to edit the IQD to introduce appropriate Grouping and Summary functions.
Compare Native and Cognos SQL.
Ensure that the Cognos SQL is being turned into efficient Native SQL. For example use native sql functions where available.

Dimensions
This section deals with the dimensions used within Transformer.

Category Codes are unique.
Use the Find Category option to search for category codes that contain a ‘~’character. Ensure this test is performed on a populated model.

Figure 5 Find Category Dialog

The only category codes where this is acceptable is blank where blanks are suppressed. Having unpredictable category codes can impact MUNs and reports based upon them.
Calculated Categories / Special Categories do not use categories that themselves use Surrogate Keys / Unpredictable keys for their category codes.
There is no guarantee that such keys will be the same between Development, Test and Production systems. If these keys /codes change between environments or over time then and Calculated Categories and Special Categories will become invalid.
Dimensions with alternate drill paths excluded from auto-partitioning.
Partitioning on the primary drill path could cause poor performance on the other hierarchy.
Flat dimensions excluded from auto-partitioning as they will not be useful for partitioning.
Dimension levels that are 1:1.
If a category always drills to one and only one category then the two levels should be merged. A quick way to see if this is the case is to populate the model and check the category counts on the levels of the dimensions.
This is commonly seen when a data warehouse is used as a source and a level is created for the lowest level of the dimension and another level is created for the surrogate key level. The surrogate key level is often suppressed.
Either bring the fact in with the key of the dimension, or merge the two levels, making the SKey the source and the appropriate field the name etc. Beware of the impact that this may have on previous points.
Lowest level of a dimension is unused.
If the lowest level of a dimension is suppressed then is it really needed? This is a last resort.
If it has to be in the model and it is suppressed consider using the summarizing function on the level above. This will reduce cube sizes.
Scenario dimensions have a default category set.

Figure 6 Dimension Properties Dialog
Alternate Hierarchy root categories are given meaningful category labels and codes.

Figure 7 Category view
Dimensions which have the same or similar categories can be distinguished by the user. Consider if a sales cube has Ordered Date and Shipped Date as dimensions. These two dimensions contain identical years, months and dates. If a user places either of these dimensions on a report how would they know what month they are looking at?
All dimension levels are given meaningful names. In the latest reporting studios level names are very visible to users.
If all categories within a level have the same category action applied. If all categories within a level have a category action applies (for example exclude) then consider applying that action to the dimension level rather than the individual categories. If the majority of categories have this applied then again consider applying to the dimension level and then un-actioning the other categories. This statement is also applicable to custom views.
Category Uniqueness is only ticked on levels that are appropriate –not all levels.
Refresh options are only ticked when using a populated model. If part of the build process is to generate all categories within the model then there is usually no need to refresh labels etc.

Measures
This section deals with the measures used within Transformer.

Set an appropriate measure storage type. If you are using a small set of the overall data when developing then beware of using a 32 bit measure – whilst this may be fine for development the total data volume may be too large for this data type.
64 bit measures require more storage so will result in larger powercube files. Only use a 64 bit measure if you are sure your data set requires it. When using 64 bit measures ensure appropriate scale and precision values are set.
This ensures the model can cope with large amounts of data. Ensure appropriate scale and precision values are set.
Appropriate Missing Value is set. Consider the impact 'NA' may have on any calculated measures that may use this measure. Customers with prior versions of Transformer may prefer to set this to zero rather than the new default of NA.
Time state roll up of non-additive measures is set. For example Closing Balance or Stock Level measures may be more appropriate to roll up using Current Period for actuals but Last Period for budgets.
Format is set.
Consider using an internal model name for the measure name and a user friendly Measure Label and Short Name. This give better maintainability of the model and any reports should the measure name need to change in the future.
Show Scope. Use the 'Show Scope' tool on all measures to ensure scope is as expected.

PowerCubes
This section deals with the PowerCubes used within Transformer.

PowerCube Partition status.
Check that the summary partition size is smaller than the desired partition size to ensure partitioning was successful.
Auto Partition.
On modern server architecture a desired partition size of 2.5m is a good starting point. Ensure the Estimated number of records reflects the environment the PowerCube will be eventually built. Increase the Maximum number of passes to create smaller partitions should the build be unable to hit the desired partition size.
Remove the file path from the PowerCube filename and use the preference options to build in the appropriate location.
Enable Crosstab Caching on the cube Processing options.

Running Reports On Your Research in Motion BlackBerry

2010-11-05T05:33:00.001-10:00

Running Reports On Your Research in Motion BlackBerry

You can have reports appear on your mobile device under Recently run reports by doing any of the following:

· browsing to a report and then running it

· setting criteria to search for a report, choosing a report from the resulting list, and then running that report

· running a report to see a newer version

Tips:

· Reports that you have not viewed have a dark border around them.

· The circled number on the recently run reports tab is the number of unread reports.

Logging On To IBM Cognos Mobile (BlackBerry)

You must log on to IBM^® Cognos^® Mobile to access IBM Cognos reports that are not already on your device.

1. On your device, navigate to the IBM Cognos Mobile icon.

2. Select Log On.

3. Type your user ID and password, and select Log On.

Browsing (BlackBerry)

1. From your device, log on to IBM^® Cognos^® Mobile.

2. On the tab bar, click the browse tab.

3. Select Public Folders or My Folders.

4. Navigate to the report that you want and select it.

5. If the report contains prompts, select or enter the values that you want.

You must provide values for all mandatory prompts and send them to the server to receive the report.

Due to the small size of devices, prompts may appear differently on your screen than they do in IBM Cognos Connection.

6. After the report starts running, you can wait for it to finish or, when you are prompted to wait or close to view the report later, click Close to run the report in the background. After it runs, you can view it online or offline.

If you wait for the report to finish running, it opens automatically. All reports appear on the Recently run reports screen.

You can repeat this process of choosing reports multiple times.

Searching (BlackBerry)

1. From your device, log on to IBM^® Cognos^® Mobile.

2. On the tab bar, select the search tab.

3. Enter the search criteria, and select Search.

4. From the list that appears, select the report that you want.

Note that you may see only a subset of the reports that would be available if you searched from your desktop computer. For example, reports, queries, and IBM Cognos Business Insight dashboards appear, but PowerPlay^® reports and agents do not.

5. If the report contains prompts, select or enter the values that you want.

You must provide values for all mandatory prompts and send them to the server to receive the report on your device.

6. From the menu, click Run report.

When the report finishes running, it appears automatically on your screen and also on the Recently run reports screen.

Rerunning a Report (BlackBerry)

1. Navigate to the Recently run reports screen, and select a report.

2. From the menu, select Run report.

The latest version of the report appears.

3. From the menu, select Re-run report. To return to the Recently run reports window, from the menu, select Close.

The latest version of the report appears at the top of the list.

Tip: To rerun a report while you are viewing it, from the menu, select Re-run report.

Logging Off From IBM Cognos Mobile (BlackBerry)

· On any IBM^® Cognos^® Mobile screen on your device, from the menu, select Log Off.

IBM Cognos BI Reports on a Mobile Device

2010-11-05T05:31:00.001-10:00

IBM^® Cognos^® Mobile enables you to run IBM Cognos Business Intelligence reports on your mobile device. Each report on the device is identical to the report that you would see on your desktop but formatted specifically for a device. The formatting is handled automatically.

Reports are run and delivered to your device. After you log on to IBM Cognos Mobile from your device, the reports that you run, or that are scheduled to run by your administrator, appear on your device. Each report presents the data that is current at the time that the report is run.

You can access a report in any of the following ways:

· From your desktop computer, in IBM Cognos Connection, you can use Run with options to run a report once.

· From your desktop computer, in IBM Cognos Connection, you can create a schedule or job to run a report periodically.

· From your device, you can browse and navigate to a report and then run it.

· From your device, you can search for a report, choose the one you want from the list of search results, and then run that report.

Reports can also be delivered in other ways:

· Your administrator can schedule reports to be delivered at specified intervals to your device.

· Your administrator can send a bursted report.

· Your administrator can run a number of different reports as a job and have them sent to your device.

· Defined events can trigger a report to run and then be delivered to your device.

If the report contains prompts, you can choose the specific data that you want.

If you are using a Research in Motion BlackBerry, Symbian, or Microsoft^® Windows^® Mobile device, you can work offline using the reports that are on your device. However, you must log on for a report to be synchronized to the latest version.

If your organization provides reports based on your current location, you can turn on the GPS capability on your phone and have these customized reports delivered to your device. For more information, see your Mobile administrator.

You can delete a report from your device. If you do this, you delete only the copy on your device, not the actual report.

You can view reports on your device and perform a number of actions on them, including

· focusing on one area of a report

· marking table cells for further analysis

· drilling through

· drilling up and drilling down

For more information about using IBM Cognos Connection, see the IBM Cognos Connection User Guide.

Connecting to the Server

The way you connect to the server from your mobile device depends on the device you are using:

· If you are using an iPhone, navigate to the server URL, and then bookmark it on your home screen.

· If you are using a BlackBerry, Symbian, or Microsoft Windows Mobile device, type the server URL on your device. Your Mobile administrator provides the URL.

Configuring IBM Cognos 8 for Oracle Portal

2010-11-05T05:28:00.000-10:00

Oracle Portal uses a version of the Apache web server to serve Oracle web content. One feature of this web server provides the ability to “protect” external (non-Oracle) web resources by intercepting calls to these resources and forcing users to provide valid Oracle Portal authentication information in order to proceed. By including the IBM Cognos 8 gateways among these protected resources, attempts to access IBM Cognos 8 pages will be intercepted and unauthenticated users will be prompted with the Oracle Portal login page.

Upon successfully logging in via the Oracle Portal login page, the Oracle/Apache server will populate the REMOTE_USER CGI variable and pass the user directly to the requested IBM Cognos resource. IBM Cognos 8 can use the REMOTE_USER variable to determine the users’ identity, thereby negating the need for an IBM Cognos-specific login. Similarly, any user who has successfully logged directly into the Oracle portal will not be presented with an IBM Cognos login page when accessing an IBM Cognos 8 resource.

In order to force Oracle to protect the IBM Cognos resources, the IBM Cognos gateways must be installed on the Oracle Portal Server (Apache) machine. On this machine (and any others that may contain distributed components of the IBM Cognos 8 installation) you must set the gateway port to 7777 (the default Oracle Portal port) as below. Change localhost to match the gateway and dispatcher server names as needed.

In order to secure IBM Cognos roles, groups, and content to OID users and groups, you must create an LDAP authentication source in Cognos Configuration that references the Oracle Portal OID. To connect to your OID server, enter a logical ID for your OID directory, the host and port of the OID server, and the Base DN of the OID directory. These settings will vary between installations, so check with your Directory Administrator to verify the settings, or to create a bind user if no suitable user exists. To enable SSO, set the User Lookup, Use External Identity, and External Identity Mapping

properties. Use parentheses and brackets as shown. To enable user and group lookups, set the Folder and Group Mappings as below. Again, these settings may change between installations, so verify all changes with your directory administrator.

In order to serve IBM Cognos pages from the Apache web server, you must create Aliases within Apache. Per the IBM Cognos documentation, add the IBM Cognos Gateway directory locations to the Apache httpd.conf file by inserting the following lines to the “Aliases:” section (about row 774). This file should reside at ORACLE_HOME\Apache\Apache\conf\httpd.conf. This document assumes the use of the CGI gateways. See the IBM Cognos documentation for information on using the Apache Mod gateways.

The mod_osso file provides information about which resources are “protected” by Oracle Portal Security. It also configures Oracle Portal to pass the REMOTE_USER variable to these resources for authentication. To Configure Oracle to protect IBM Cognos 8, add these lines to the mod_osso.conf file in the section labeled “Insert Protected Resources:” (about line 10). This file should be at

ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_osso.conf. This syntax tells Oracle to intercept any requests for Cognos resources and invokes the Oracle SSO process. Authenticated users will be passed transparently to the requested Cognos resource. Unauthenticated users will be prompted with the Oracle portal login screen and, upon successfully entering OID credentials, be passed to the requested Cognos resource.

Restart the Apache instance and the IBM Cognos 8 services.

Configure 3rd Party CA for IBM Cognos 8 BI

2010-11-05T05:23:00.001-10:00

The process of configuring IBM Cognos 8 for a 3rd party CA involves the

following steps:

Generate certificate signing requests (CSR) for the signing keypair and the ecryption keypair
Sign the CSRs with your 3rd party CA
Import the signed certificates into IBM Cognos 8 keystores
Import the CA root certificate into IBM Cognos 8 truststore
Adjust IBM Cognos 8 configuration

Cognos 8 Security PKI CA

2010-11-05T05:22:00.001-10:00

IBM Cognos 8 BI makes use of public key infrastructure (PKI) technique. This concept for symmetric encryption implies the use of a large key which is broken in half to form a key pair. Whatever one of them encodes, the other can decode and vice versa. One key of each pair becomes public the other remains private. Those which get public need to get “signed” by some higher (more trustworthy) entity, which for PKI is called Certifying Authority (CA).

The process of signing involves submitting a special request, the certificate signing requests (CSR) to a CA. The response to such a request will be a certificate, which is basically nothing else but the public key “rubber stamped“ by the CA.

IBM Cognos 8 uses certificates for various purposes including internal SSL communication.

IBM Cognos 8 incorporates a service for signing certificates out of the box. The “AutoCA” service implements a scaled down Certifying Authority (CA). This service is part of the Content Manager component and is sufficiently complete to service all the functionality needed by IBM Cognos 8 in context of certificates. It is not possible to use this service to sign non-cognos certificates.

In a default install of IBM Cognos 8 the CSRs for keys will be created automatically and sent to the AutoCA service which will sign them with the AutoCA’s CA certificate. The certificate is then saved in a file called keystore next to the keys it was issued for. However in some enterprises there may be a company CA or some external CA provider already, which an IBM Cognos 8 administrator would like to Leverage

IBM Cognos 8 supports using those 3rd party CAs for signing IBM Cognos 8 internal certificates but several additional configuration steps are required.

IBM Cognos 8 incorporates a java based command line tool called “ThirdPartyCertificateTool” which is used for all operations around the IBM Cognos 8 keystores. It’s located in the /bin subfolder and is called through a script file called ThirdPartyCertificateTool.sh on UNIX/LINUX and ThirdPartyCertificateTool.bat on Windows.

The tool will pick up the configured JAVA_HOME so if you didn’t specify it before just set it before calling this tool.

OLAP

2010-11-03T10:45:00.001-10:00

Today's business term is: online analytical processing (OLAP)

Software that allows a user to interact with a very large online database (data warehouse) and request and receive practically any report in the desired format.

New Cognos Job

2010-11-01T13:39:00.001-10:00

http://c8jobs.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-cognos-job.html

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BI Centre October Newsletter

2010-10-23T15:06:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone,

The October 2010 edition of the BI Centre newsletter is available now. Click here.

Thank you.
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BI Centre October 2010 Newsletter

2010-10-23T15:02:00.001-10:00

Hello everyone,

The October 2010 edition of the BI Centre newsletter is available now. Click here.

Thank you.
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BI_Centre_October_2010_Newsletter_send.htm

Tivoli and System Z

2010-10-22T09:30:00.001-10:00

As business cycles speed up, many customers gain significant competitive advantage from quicker and more accurate business decision-making by using real data. For many customers, choosing the path to co-locate their transactional and analytical workloads on System z® better leverages their existing investment in hardware, software, and skills. We created a project to address a number of best practice questions on how to manage these newer, analytical type workloads, especially when co-located with traditional transactional workloads.

The goal of this IBM® Redbooks® publication is to provide technical guidance and performance trade-offs associated with resource management and potentially DB2® data-sharing in a variety of mixed transactional / data warehouse System z topologies. The term co-location used here and in the rest of the book is specifically defined as the practice of housing both transactional (OLTP) and data warehouse (analytical) workloads within the same System z configuration. We also assumed that key portions of the transactional and data warehouse databases would reside on DB2 for z/OS®. The databases may or may not reside in a DB2 data-sharing environment; we discuss those pros and cons in this book.

The intended audience includes DB2 data warehouse architects and practitioners who are facing choices in resource management and system topologies in the data warehouse arena. This specifically includes Business Intelligence (BI) administrators, DB2 database administrators (DBAs) and z/OS performance administrators / systems programmers. In addition, decision makers and architects can utilize this book to assist in making platform and database topology decisions.

The book is divided into four parts.

Part I, "Introducing the co-location project" covers the System z value proposition and why one should consider System z as the central platform for their data warehousing / business analytics needs. Some topics are risk avoidance via data consolidation, continuous availability, simplified disaster recovery, IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer, reduced network bandwidth requirements, and the unique virtualization and resource management capabilities of System z LPAR, z/VM® and WLM. Part I also provides some of the common System z co-location topologies along with an explanation of the general pros and cons of each. This would be useful input for an architect to understand where a customer is today and where they might consider moving to.

Part II, "Project environment" covers the environment, products, workloads, workload drivers, and data models implemented for this study.
The environment consisted of a logically partitioned z10™ 32way, running z/VM, Linux®, and z/OS operating system instances.
On those instances we ran products such as z/OS DB2 V9, IBM Cognos® Business Intelligence Version 8.4 for Linux on System z, InfoSphere™ Warehouse for System z, InfoSphere Change Data Capture, z/OS WebSphere® V7, Tivoli® Omegamon for DB2 Performance expert.
Utilizing these products we created transactional (OLTP), data warehouse query, and data warehouse refresh workloads.
All the workloads were based on an existing web-based transactional Bookstore workload, that's currently utilized for internal testing within the System p® and z labs.
While some IBM Cognos BI and ISWz product usage and experiences information is covered in this book, we do not go into the depth typically found in IBM Redbooks publications, since there's another book focused specifically on that.
One exception to this is the InfoSphere Change Data Capture product, in which we did include some step-by-step implementation details, as this information was less readily available at the time of this project.

Part III, "Implementation considerations" is the core of the book and covers the resource allocation, management and monitoring co-location implementation considerations for z/OS and DB2 for data warehousing. This includes both single z/OS system implementation as well as DB2 data-sharing between the transactional and data warehouse DB2s. It starts out with an overview to help bridge perspectives of the various administrators. It then covers DB2, WLM, and I/O resource considerations, then provides guidance on bridging the DB2 and WLM views of resource usage. Finally, it provides experimental data covering several resource management facets in two of the key co-location topologies (Single LPAR / separate DB2 sub-systems, Multi-LPAR DB2 data-sharing).

Part IV, "Project experiment results" describes the results of our experiments and provides guidance for others to be able to co-locate their own workloads in a System z environment.

BI Centre October 2010 Newsletter

2010-10-03T07:52:00.000-10:00

Get the latest BI Centre Newsletter now.

http://www.box.net/shared/5tubkfy02g

Cognos Jump-Start Deployment options and best practices for Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z

2010-10-01T05:43:00.001-10:00

IBM Cognos* 8 BI for Linux* on System z* delivers a broad range of business-intelligence (BI) capabilities on an open, enterprise-class platform. All capabilities-including viewing, creating and administering reports, analysis, scorecards, dashboards and events-are available through the Web.

The IBM Cognos 8 platform delivers the right capabilities to manage the solution with centralized and Web-based administration that provides a complete view of Cognos activity as well as metrics and thresholds to resolve potential issues before they impact business. The IBM Cognos 8 platform is built on Web-based service oriented architecture (SOA), designed for scalability, availability and openness. This n-tiered solution has three tiers: Web, application and data. The tiers, based on business function, are typically separated by network firewalls.

When considering deployment options, reliability and scalability should be key considerations. Services in the application tier operate on a peer-to-peer basis. That means, in effect, that no service is more important; there is no "master" service. Any service of the same type, on any machine in an IBM Cognos 8 platform configuration, is capable of servicing an incoming request. The result is complete fault tolerance: any server in the system can route and handle any request. Request dispatching is done in an optimal way: with automatic load balancing built into the system.

The IBM Cognos 8 platform provides optimized access to all data sources, including relational data sources and online analytical processing (OLAP) with a single query service. In addition, this query service understands and leverages the data-source strength by using a combination of open standards such as SQL99, native SQL and native MDX to optimize data retrieval for all of these different data providers. The IBM Cognos 8 BI user interfaces are accessed via the Web tier.

http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe/julyaugust10/administrator/33288p1.aspx
Satish P

Island Home For Sale

2010-09-22T15:07:00.001-10:00

http://islandhomeforsale.blogspot.com

Island Home for Sale

Receiving Value From Your Data Warehouse Investment

2010-09-22T08:01:00.001-10:00

Receiving Value From Your Data Warehouse Investment

A Data Warehouse can be defined as a centralized container for all of your corporate data assets. Essentially, it is the place where people can access their data. The existence of a Data Warehouse within an organization is not a true indicator of a successful BI environment. The Data Warehouse can quickly become a quagmire of meaningless and unrelated data; and also a bottleneck in obtaining meaningful analysis on your organization’s activities.

Planning, implementing and maintaining a Data Warehouse and/or Business Intelligence solution represents both a major financial and technical investment for your organization.

What are some of the elements that your organization can focus on in order to obtain true value from a Data Warehouse implementation?

Establish Data Governance

The Data Warehouse could drive the development of a data governance standard for Your organization. This would promote a common understanding and definition of data elements that are used within Your organization applications.

This could also increase the success rate of integrating future projects, such as integrating a SAP HR/Payroll module with a planned web solution that requires the ability to identify Your organization employee ids.

Reliable Results

A report consumer must have confidence that their report data is correct if they are expected to promote or act upon the data. If the consumer does not have confidence in the data then the Data Warehouse will quickly become a vast repository of meaningless data, and not an effective tool for implementing and realizing business change. The Data Warehouse should strive toward delivering one version of the truth.

A higher confidence rate in the report results will also permit greater leverage for reporting on historical trends for Your organization business lines.

BI Vendor Selection

Your organization should look at implementing one BI solution in order to report against a Data Warehouse. Choosing one specific BI tool will provide the following financial benefits:

§ Repeatable reporting solutions through a pattern of proven practices will reduce development costs

§ Centralized license management

§ Identify architecture requirements for reporting solutions

§ Reduced BI project risk; increased BI project success rate

§ Targeted employee training

§ Opportunity to join a cluster group related to the BI tool

§ Participate in shared services initiatives from PWGSC

§ Manageable upgrades for future releases

§ One BI tool will help to develop a specialized service for delivering business value to Your organization. This will also help to streamline the service delivery to report consumers.

BICC (Business Intelligence Competency Centre)

The objective of the BICC is to lead the development of a centralized reporting environment. This requires a shared vision amongst business, technical, and management within Your organization. Creating an open channel of communication for BI initiatives amongst all parties will help to identify project risks or constraints in the initial planning stages of the project planning cycle. This will help to reduce wasted spending on idle resources and unnecessary software services or hardware.

The BICC Committee will provide guidance and support to the Data Warehouse group as they steward the following four responsibility centres:

§ People – provide BI reporting services to clients, and support human resource training and learning objectives

§ Process – provide business value to Your organization, and establish a defined process for BI Warehouse service delivery

§ Technology – implement and support Data Warehouse and a chosen BI technology

§ Performance – the key metric that combines the successful management of technology, process and technology

Human capital

Your organization’s data is contained in two main entities – the application repositories and its human resources. The creation of a Data Warehouse must also include a review session with the key stakeholders that have a responsibility as: end users, DBAs, Business, and IT. The Your organization resources would also be able to provide history on the lessons learned within the organization.

The release of the Data Warehouse will have a higher acceptance rate if all stakeholders have been able to provide input toward the creation of a warehouse that addresses their real reporting requirements and not a generic or canned approach that provides no true value.

Application Inventory

In order for the Data Warehouse to be considered a true corporate asset then it must contain the data from the applications that are in use within Your organization. This would require a review of all of the applications that are currently and planned to be deployed within the organization.

This exercise will also encourage the approach of identifying common Data Marts that could provide more in-depth reporting analysis. For example: if Data Mart A contains information of cancer rates amongst German cites, while Data Mart B contains data on corporations that have been fined for pollution controls then Your organization would now be able to identify the relationship between cancer rates and pollution in German cities.

New BI Resource Available 20100919-001

2010-09-19T14:29:00.001-10:00

http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-bi-resource-available-20100919-001.html

Content Store clean up scripts

2010-09-18T01:19:00.001-10:00

Before execution of clean up scripts, back up Cognos Content (packages/reports) or the entireContent Store as required, as all content will be deleted after clean up.

The clean scripts need to be executed from the server node on which Content Manager is installed.Following are the steps to clean up the content stores on the various supported databases as ContentStore.

Content Store clean up scripts are located at:

${cognosInstallLocation}\configuration\schemas\content\
E.g. C:\Program Files\cognos8\configuration\schemas\content\db2

IBM Cognos 8 job in San Diego

2010-08-30T16:24:00.001-10:00

http://c8jobs.blogspot.com/2010/08/c8-job-in-san-diego.html

Cognos8 Help : Part 2 -- “IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence: The Official Gu...

2010-08-29T05:58:00.001-10:00

Karl Malone has sent you a link to a blog:

Hey Dave, had you had a chance to review this book yet? I'm on Chapter 5 and it's helping me on my latest BI project. I have a few questions that might be better asked for IBM Cognos instead of the author.

Blog: Cognos8 Help
Post: Part 2 -- “IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence: The Official Guide” Introduction to Performance Management and IBM Cognos 8 BI
Link: http://cognos8help.blogspot.com/2010/08/part-2-ibm-cognos-8-business.html

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Distributing Framework Manager Components

2010-08-28T07:30:00.001-10:00

Distributing Framework Manager Components

Framework Manager can be installed on a computer that contains other IBM Cognos 8 reporting components or on a computer that is separate from other IBM Cognos 8 reporting components.

To publish packages so that they are available to users, you must configure the modeling tools to use a dispatcher, either directly or through a gateway. If IBM Cognos Connection is secured, you must have privileges to create data sources and publish packages in IBM Cognos Connection.The modeling tools communicate with server components using one of two methods:

connect to the Application Tier Components dispatcher using the internal dispatcher URI. This route is the recommended route.
connect to an additional, dedicated gateway that is configured to connect to the dispatcher using the internal dispatcher URI. You must configure appropriate security for this gateway, such as SSL . This method is useful when the modeling tool is outside a network firewall.
Note: Do not change your main gateway to use the internal dispatcher URI. Doing so reduces the security of the IBM Cognos 8 portal and studios.

Where you install Framework Manager, and how you configure it, can depend on how large your metadata models are and on which Web server you use.

Web Servers Other Than Microsoft IIS

For Web servers other than Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), no functional difference exists between the two communication routes between the modeling tool and the Application Tier Components dispatcher. For either route, the modeling tool uses the BI Bus SOAP API. If you use the Web server route, and you have medium- and large-sized packages (approaching 1 MB), the models are broken into smaller pieces (chunked) for transmission.

If you use a Web server other than Microsoft IIS, we recommend that you configure the modeling tool to communicate through your Web server gateway (using the first route). This eliminates the need to set up additional communications channels if you use firewalls to separate the modeling tool, Web server, and Application Tier Components.

Firewall Considerations

When the modeling tool is outside a network firewall that protects the Application Tier Components, communication issues with the dispatcher can occur. For security reasons, the default IBM Cognos 8 configuration prevents the dispatcher from accepting requests from the modeling tool when it is outside the network firewall.

Configuration Requirements

Framework Manager communicates with the Application Tier Components, which can be installed on one or more application servers. To publish packages, you must configure Framework Manager to communicate with the dispatcher, either directly or through a dedicated gateway.

You must ensure that Framework Manager can communicate with IBM Cognos 8 server components. On the computer where Framework Manager is installed, configure the following environment properties:

Gateway URI
Dispatcher URI for external applications

If the modeling tool is using a dedicated gateway instead of communicating directly with the dispatcher, you must also configure the Dispatcher URIs for gateway property on the dedicated gateway computer.

Cognos 8 on mobile devices such as blackberrys or iphones

2010-08-25T05:41:00.001-10:00

Does anyone have any experience with developing Cognos 8 dashboards or reports for mobile devices such as Blackberrys or iPhones? Email us at businessintelligencecentre@gmail.com in order to discuss futher.

New Cognos job

2010-08-23T08:00:00.001-10:00

http://c8jobs.blogspot.com/2010/08/cognos-report-developer.html

Cognos 8 BI forLinux on System z

2010-08-18T10:35:00.001-10:00

You can gain a lot of synergy by incorporating InfoSphere components with Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z.

For example, you can define your business terms in InfoSphere Information Server Business

Glossary on Linux on System z, so that you can provide common terminology for both

business users and Cognos report developers. Once the terminology is defined, it is

extremely easy for any Cognos user to discover the definition of the term. The big benefit for

organizations is that it leads to trusted information by providing a means for everyone to use

common terminology when accessing or displaying the same piece of information. This

reduces complexity and misunderstanding.

If you use the InfoSphere Business Glossary from within Cognos 8 BI, you can access the

glossary from any of the following data objects in Report Studio:

_ Query subject

_ Query item

_ Measure

_ Dimension

_ Hierarchy

_ Level

_ Property/attribute

_ Top node member

_ Member

_ Level item

There is also synergy between the InfoSphere Warehouse on System z and Cognos 8 BI for

Linux on System z because you can have your Cognos reporting functions in close proximity

to the data that is being reported. This is really apparent when a report needs a large amount

of data because of the ability to use HiperSockets on the System z machine. HiperSockets

allows a 6 MBps connection between Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z and the InfoSphere

Warehouse on System z.

In addition, by combining Cognos with WebSphere Portal, you can easily provide trusted

information through easy to create Web pages.

Other synergies between Cognos and InfoSphere include:

_ The IBM Smart Analytics System is a preconfigured and optimized system that provides

Business Intelligence Capabilities with Cognos 8 BI, Advanced Analytics with InfoSphere

Data Mining, and a scalable Data Warehouse platform with InfoSphere Warehouse.

_ InfoSphere Information Server can generate data lineage data based on DataStage jobs

that allow the analysis of data lineage using Metadata Workbench from source to target.

Cognos 8 BI has data lineage capabilities from report to data warehouse table/views. With

the integration, Cognos data lineage data can be imported into Information Server, which

allows data lineage from source to report.

_ InfoSphere Warehouse Cubing Services provides large scale OLAP capabilities inside the

data warehouse. Cognos can provide powerful analysis capabilities.