ESSENTIALS FOR IBM COGNOS ANALYTICS V11.0 (B6070)

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About this Course

This accelerated offering is intended for core project team members wanting to acquire a broad understanding of IBM Cognos Analytic platform implementation. During the ILT segments, participants will perform hands-on demonstrations and exercises that cover three essential topic areas: modeling, report authoring, and administration of IBM Cognos Analytics. During the WBT portion of the course, students will be required to complete 17.5 hours of eLearning (7 WBTs and 1 recording).

Audience Profile

  • Core Project Team members
  • Project Managers
  • Technical Analysts
  • Developers

Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of common industry-standard data structures and design.
  • Experience with SQL
  • Experience gathering requirements and analyzing data.
  • Knowledge of Web application server architectures
  • Security systems administration
  • Knowledge of your business requirements
  • Experience using the Windows operating system
  • Experience using a web browser

Course Outline

1: Introduction to IBM Cognos Analytics

  • Describe IBM Cognos Analytics and its position within an analytics solution
  • Describe IBM Cognos Analytics components
  • Describe IBM Cognos Analytics at a high level
  • Explain how to extend IBM Cognos Analytics

2: Identifying common data structures

  • Define the role of a metadata model in Cognos Analytics
  • Distinguish the characteristics of common data structures
  • Understand the relative merits of each model type
  • Examine relationships and cardinality
  • Identify different data traps
  • Identify data access strategies

3: Defining requirements

  • Examine key modeling recommendations
  • Define reporting requirements
  • Explore data sources to identify data access strategies
  • Identify the advantages of modeling metadata as a star schema
  • Model in layers

4: Creating a baseline project

  • Follow the IBM Cognos and Framework Manager workflow processes
  • Define a project and its structure
  • Describe the Framework Manager environment
  • Create a baseline project
  • Enhance the model with additional metadata

5: Preparing reusable metadata

  • Verify relationships and query item properties
  • Create efficient filters by configuring prompt properties

6: Modeling for predictable results: Identifying reporting Issues

  • Describe multi-fact queries and when full outer joins are appropriate
  • Describe how IBM Cognos uses cardinality
  • Identify reporting traps
  • Use tools to analyze the model

7: Modeling for predictable results: Virtual star schemas

  • Understand the benefits of using model query subjects
  • Use aliases to avoid ambiguous joins
  • Merge query subjects to create as view behavior
  • Resolve a recursive relationship
  • Create a complex relationship expression

8: Modeling for predictable results: consolidate metadata

  • Create virtual dimensions to resolve fact-to-fact joins
  • Create a consolidated modeling layer for presentation purposes
  • Consolidate snowflake dimensions with model query subjects
  • Simplify facts by hiding unnecessary codes

9: Creating calculations and filters

  • Use calculations to create commonly-needed query items for authors
  • Use static filters to reduce the data returned
  • Use macros and parameters in calculations and filters to dynamically control the data returned

10: Implementing a time dimension

  • Make time-based queries simple to author by implementing a time dimension
  • Resolve confusion caused by multiple relationships between a time dimension and another table

11: Specifying determinants

  • Use determinants to specify multiple levels of granularity and prevent double-counting

12: Creating the presentation view

  • Identify the dimensions associated with a fact table
  • Identify conformed vs. non-conformed dimensions
  • Create star schema groupings to provide authors with logical groupings of query subjects

13: Creating Analysis objects

  • Apply dimensional information to relational metadata to enable OLAP-style queries
  • Sort members for presentation and predictability
  • Define members and member unique names
  • Identify changes that impact a MUN

14: Introduction to IBM Cognos Analytics - Reporting

  • Examine IBM Cognos Analytics - Reporting and its interface
  • Explore different report types
  • Create reports in preview or design mode
  • Create a simple, sorted, and formatted report
  • Examine dimensionally modelled and dimensional data sources
  • Explore how data items are added queries
  • Examine personal data sources and data modules

15: Creating list reports

  • Group, format, and sort list reports
  • Describe options for aggregating data
  • Create a multi-fact query
  • Create a report with repeated data

16: Focusing reports using filters

  • Create filters to narrow the focus of reports
  • Examine detail filters and summary filters
  • Determine when to apply filters on aggregate data

17: Creating crosstab reports

  • Format and sort crosstab reports
  • Create complex crosstabs using drag and drop functionality
  • Create crosstabs using unrelated data items

18: Present data graphically

  • Create charts containing peer and nested columns
  • Present data using different chart type options
  • Add context to charts
  • Create and reuse custom chart palettes
  • Introduce visualization
  • Present key data in a single dashboard report

19: Focusing Reports Using Prompts

  • Identify various prompt types
  • Use parameters and prompts to focus data
  • Search for prompt types
  • Navigate between pages

20: Extend reports using calculations

  • Create calculations based on data in the data source
  • Add run-time information to the reports
  • Create expressions using functions

21: Customizing reports with conditional formatting

  • Create multi-lingual reports
  • Highlight exceptional data
  • Show and hide data
  • Conditionally render objects in reports
  • Conditionally format one crosstab measure based on another

22: Drill-through definitions

  • Discuss parameter-driven drill through
  • Discuss dynamic drill through
  • Set up package-based drill-through definitions
  • Set scope
  • Use the Drill Through Assistant

23: Introduction to IBM Cognos BI Administration

  • IBM Cognos Analytics enterprise components
  • Role of the Administrator in relation to the IBM Cognos Analytics administration workflow process
  • Role of IBM Cognos Administration and IBM Cognos Configuration

24: Identifying IBM Cognos architecture

  • The features of the IBM Cognos Analytics architecture
  • The three architectural tiers
  • IBM Cognos Analytics servlets and services
  • The default servlet container and alternatives to its use
  • An example of IBM Cognos Analytics request processing
  • Installation options
  • Load balancing mechanisms
  • Configuration options
  • The IBM Cognos Application Firewall

25: Securing the IBM Cognos Analytics environment

  • Identify the IBM Cognos Analytics security model
  • Define authentication in IBM Cognos Analytics
  • Define authorization in IBM Cognos Analytics
  • Identify security policies
  • Secure the IBM Cognos Analytics environment

26: Managing run activities

  • Manage current, upcoming and past activities
  • Manage schedules
  • Enable and disable schedules
  • Set queue priority for schedules
  • Suspend a schedule until a later time

27: Managing content in IBM Cognos Administration

  • Add a data source
  • Distribute data and create a distribution list
  • Add visualizations to the Library
  • Plan and perform a deployment
  • Identify how to maintain the IBM Cognos Analytics content store
  • Configure saving content outside of the content store
  • Customize the appearance of IBM Cognos Analytics using styles
  • Use portlets to display custom Web content