Cognos- Business Intelligence Tool

IBM’s Cognos BI ( Business intelligence) is a web-based reporting and analytic tool. It helps you to perform data aggregation and create user-friendly detailed reports.

Cognos also offers an option to export the report in XML or PDF format. It allows you to view the reports in XML format.

History of Cognos BI

• Cognos software was founded in 1969 by Alan Rushforth and Peter Glenister.
• It began as a consulting firm for the Canadian Government and offered its first software product, QUIZ, in 1979
• Originally Quasar Systems Limited, it adopted the name Cognos in the year 1982.
• Cognos name is derived from a fragment scissor off the Latin word “cognosco. It means “knowledge from personal experience.”
• In 1995, Ron Zambonini was appointed as a CEO of and Cognos.
• IBM formally announced its acquisition of Cognos in November 2007 for the sum of $4.9 billion.
• From January 1, 2009, the software is called “Cognos Bl and Financial Performance Management” or Cognos Bl and FPM.
• In January 2010, Cognos acquired SPSS were brought together to create the Business Analytics division.
• On October 2015, at the IBM Insight conference in Las Vegas, announced a redesigned version 11 and upgraded from Cognos BI software and renamed it Cognos Analytics.
• On 29^th June 2018, Cognos Analytics Released version 12

Features of IBM Cognos

Following are important features of Cognos.

• Offers In-memory streaming analytics
• Provides Real-time events, alerts, and notifications.
• Intuitive, appealing Web 2.0 interface
• Personalized and progressive interaction
• Drag-and-drop, free-form assembly, and search-assisted authoring
• Wizard-driven external data
• Automatic access to SAP BW queries
• Allows features like scenario modeling, real-time monitoring, and predictive analytics
• User can edit existing data.
• Drill-Through Capability.
• Potential Image Documentation Integration.
• It is platform independent, scalable, and reliable.
• Offers secure data as it is guarded by a firewall

Component in Cognos

Here are the important components of Cognos:

Cognos Connection:

Cognos connection is a web portal that allows users to access Cognos 10 and studios. Based on the role that you have been assigned, you can use this component to retrieve, view, publish, manage, and organize companies’ reports, scoreboards, and agents.

The Administrator also using Cognos Connection to establish roles and user permissions and manage the Cognos Connection content.

Cognos Business Insight

Cognos Business Insight offers allows users can create their dashboard using any object. All content which the user is permitted to view will be presented as an object. This can be used in your workspace to create a fully personalized dashboard.

Cognos Query Studio:

Cognos Query Studio helps business users get fast answers to business related queries. It helps an organization to have better understand the product, customer, and organizational needs. Helps them to react quickly and stay ahead of the competition.

Cognos Analysis Studio:

IBM Cognos Analysis Studio helps business users get fast answers to business related queries. This helps the organization to have better understand the product, customer, and organizational needs. Helps them to react quickly and stay ahead of the competition.

Cognos Business Insight Advanced:

Cognos business insight Advanced is a new module included in Cognos 10. It combines Cognos query studio and Cognos Analysis Studio. It offers robust authoring environment for business peoples.

Cognos Report Studio:

Using this Cognos tool, you can create pixel-perfect reports for your organization. It allows you to create charts, maps, lists, or any other available report type using relational or multidimensional data sources.

Cognos Event Studio:

This tool allows you to assign a specific event that sends a notification to the stakeholder in your organization. You can create agents which enables you to your events and thresholds. Therefore, the event occurs or threshold is reached the agent sends the notification.

Cognos Metric Studio:

Cognos Metric Studio allows you to monitor and analyze business metrics of your organization by building a scorecard environment. It also helps you to establish criteria and then monitor your organization to see how it is responding as the changes made in the criteria.