Helping Companies Learn From the Past, Manage the Present and Shape the Future

IBM Cognos

Dimensional Dashboarding Techniques

May 5, 2011

Albert Valdez, III

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc.

Today’s Agenda

• Welcome and Introduction

• Dimensional Dashboarding Demonstration

1. Create reports using proper Dimensional authoring techniques

2. Define common parameters in each report to enable synchronized dashboard prompting

3. Allow drill-down and drill-up behavior on reports to enable synchronized dashboard drilling

• Upcoming hands-on training courses

• Overview of Cognos Training Options

• Review and Wrap-up

Today’s Format

• Demonstration will begin shortly

• Please submit questions via the GoToWebinar Question pane in the GoToWebinar control panel

• We will address questions LIVE at the conclusion of the presentation, so if you do not get an immediate response, please HOLD ON!

• We will try to answer EVERY question via email if we do not get a chance to respond while you are attending the Webinar

Welcome and Introduction

• Who am I?– Albert Valdez, Director of Education Services at Senturus– 10 years as a Technical Trainer, focused on Business Intelligence

and Performance Management– 5 years as a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos, Inc.– Lifetime CTT+ Certification from CompTIA– IBM Cognos Certified– Last 5+ Years as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect,

Education Director

• Who is Senturus?– IBM Premier Partner, Cognos Platinum Partner 2002-2008– Full Service Solutions provider– Data Warehouse– Program Management– Performance Management– Platform-Independent

Demonstration Materials

• Standard Cognos 8.4 Samples

• Sales_and_marketing.mdc PowerCube located at: D:\Program Files\cognos\c8\webcontent\samples\datasources\cubes\PowerCubes\EN

• Follow instructions in the Cognos 8 Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide, Chapter 14: Samples

• All Demos in the Webinar are based on this Cube, which is part of every standard Cognos 8.4 B.I. installation

• Authoring techniques are valid for all versions of Cognos 8

• Portlet synchronization is limited to version 8.3 and above

• This deck will be sent to all attendees following the Webinar

Sample Senturus Course Materials

• The next few slides are from our 2-day Dimensional Authoring Course

• The demonstrations will cover the following techniques:

– Create three reports in Report Studio using dynamic dimensional authoring techniques

– Use MDX functions such as topCount(), tuple(), and descendants()

– Use Slicer Member Sets to filter dimensional queries

– Use Parameters in dimensional queries to define prompting

– Create in-report Prompting

– Create a custom Portal Page using Cognos Viewers and Cognos Navigator Portlets

– Synchronize prompting and drill-down using inter-portlet communication

– Deploy Portal Tabs to other users using administrative capabilities

• Report Studio supports all types of Cognos 8 Data sources

• Multi-dimensional (or Dimensional) sources include:– Cognos PowerCubes

– Cognos Framework Manager DMR (Dimensionally Modeled Relational) Packages

– Cognos TM1

– Microsoft Analysis Services Cubes

• Relational sources are based on RDBMS, or relational database management systems, such as SQL Server, Oracle, Informix, DB2

• Relational databases provide “flat”, or 2-dimensional data:– Data is organized into tables and columns

– Data is stored at the lowest level of detail

– Aggregation is typically performed at “run-time”

Multi-Dimensional Data Sources

• Dimensional sources are categorized based on their approach to OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing)– MOLAP, or Multi-Dimensional OLAP refers to cubes, such as

PowerCubes that provide a pre-summarized, consolidated data source that is designed for responsiveness in a high-volume query environment, separate from the source database

– ROLAP, or Relational OLAP refers to a meta-structure, or model, that presents data in dimensional hierarchies, but keeps the data stored in the source database

– HOLAP is a Hybrid approach that seamlessly integrates a summary cube with the relational source, providing fast query response for summary data, while allowing users access to underlying details in the same source

• Cognos PowerCubes are MOLAP• Cognos DMR Models are ROLAP• Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services supports all three

approaches

Multi-Dimensional Data Sources

• Dimensional data is advantageous because it provides users a simple model based on business-defined Dimensions

• Dimensional data is structured with natural hierarchies, allowing for drill-down and drill-up in reports

• Dimensional sources provide access to member data, which is more intuitive for business users

Multi-Dimensional Data Sources

• When working with dimensional data, you can choose whether you want to view the Members folders in the data tree by right clicking on Insertable Objects and choosing Package tree settings

Dimension (Products)

Level (Product line)

Members folder (Product line level)

Members (Product line level)

Level hierarchy (Products)

Multi-Dimensional Data Sources

• The Relational Style lets report authors:– work with metadata only

– create both list reports, crosstabs, and charts

• The Dimensional Style lets report authors:– work with members in addition to metadata

– most effective with crosstabs and charts

– take advantage of dimensional capabilities on DMR and OLAP data sources

– achieve more control and flexibility over how data is retrieved

Report Authoring Styles

IBM Cognos Dimensional Dashboarding Techniques Demonstration

Demo 1 (Design a report against a cube that includes an in-report Prompt and dynamic content )

Purpose:

We have a PowerCube that provides us with sales information for the Great Outdoors Company for the years 2004-2007. The current month for this Cube is July of 2007. We need to analyze the performance of our Top 5 Brands. The first report is going to show us the Revenue performance of the Top 5 Brands for each Month of the current Year. We will use proven authoring techniques and leverage Multi-Dimensional Expressions in order to create dynamic content and parameterize our report by Region. We will also demonstrate some basic report layout techniques.

IBM Cognos Dimensional Dashboarding Techniques Demonstration

Demo 2 (Create a second report for our Dashboard)

Purpose:

The second part of the Dashboard needs to display the contributions of each of the Top 5 Brands to total Year-to-Date Quantity Sold. This report will also need to be parameterized for Regions.

IBM Cognos Dimensional Dashboarding Techniques Demonstration

Demo 3 (Create a third report for our Dashboard)

Purpose:

The final part of the Dashboard needs to display the contributions of each of the Top 5 Brands to total Year-to-Date Gross Profit. This report will also need to be parameterized for Regions.

IBM Cognos Dimensional Dashboarding Techniques Demonstration

Demo 4 (Create a Portal Page to display our Reports)

Purpose:

Cognos 8.4 provides all users with the ability to create custom Portal Pages. A key component of the Portal Pages are the Cognos Viewer components. We will design the page, and then, as an Administrator, we will add this page to another of our users.

Cognos Training Options

• IBM Public Classroom Training

• Training from a Certified Partner, On-site or Public

• Custom On-site Training

• Small group Mentoring/Knowledge Transfer

• Remote/On-line Training

• Computer Based Training

About Senturus Training

• What does Senturus Training offer?

• Why not just go to the IBM/Cognos public classes?

– On-site is more cost-effective when there are more than 3 people to train

– Courses are delivered at your location, on your schedule

– Attendance is limited to your group, minimizing distractions, and allowing our instructors to focus on your group’s pertinent concerns

– Course content and format can be structured specifically to your audience

• As an IBM Partner, we can offer discounts on IBM Public training starting at 10%

• We are your Training Partner!

What does Senturus Training offer:

• Standard On-site Classroom delivery– Based on Great Outdoors sample data– Can be delivered anywhere, anytime– Compressed format (fewer days!!)– $3,4950 per day list price (up to 12 students)

• Customized On-site Classroom delivery– Based on client’s data– Requires longer lead times so we can prepare materials– Higher impact– $3,495 per day of delivery and course prep

• Small Group Mentoring– We work on your data, in your environment– Our experts facilitate the learning process while resolving actual

issues or working toward a concrete deliverable– Small group size allows for personalized knowledge transfer at the

appropriate pace– Rates start at $1,995 per day

Want more???

• Upcoming Senturus Public Training Events, Hosted by Yours Truly:

– Tuesday, May 10, 2011, on-line:

• Self-Service Reporting with Cognos 10 Business Insight

– Thursday, May 24, 2011, on-line:

• Dimensional Authoring with Cognos Report Studio

– Registration information will be sent along with the Webinar Follow-up, or visit

http://www.senturus.com/events.php

• $595 per student, per day

Q & A and Follow-up

• If you have submitted a question via GoToWebinar, we will be responding as quickly as possible