Overview of IBM Cognos
- Discuss IBM Cognos and Performance Management
- Describe IBM Cognos components
- Describe IBM Cognos architecture at a high level
- Define IBM Cognos groups and roles
- Explain how to extend IBM Cognos
Identify Common Data Structures
- Examine the characteristics of operational databases and databases designed for reporting
- Examine relationships and cardinality
- Identify different data traps
- Examine OLAP data sources
Gather Requirements
- Examine key modeling recommendations
- Define reporting requirements
- Explore data sources to identify data access strategies
Create a Baseline Project
- Examine the IBM Cognos BI 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
Prepare Reusable Metadata
- Verify relationships and query item properties
- Ensure efficient filters by configuring prompt properties
Model for Predictable Results: Identify Reporting Issues
- Describe multi-fact queries and when full outer joins are appropriate
- Describe how IBM Cognos BI uses cardinality
- Identify reporting traps
- Use tools to analyze the model
Model for Predictable Results: Virtual Star Schemas
- Identify the advantages of modeling metadata as a star schema
- Model in layers
- Create aliases to avoid ambiguous joins
- Merge query subjects to create as view behavior
Model for Predictable Results: Consolidate Metadata
- Create virtual facts to simplify writing queries
- 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
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
Implement 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
Specify Determinants
- Use determinants to specify multiple levels of granularity and prevent double-counting
Create 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
Work with Different Query Subject Types
- Identify key differences and recommendations for using data source, model, and stored procedure query subjects
- Identify the effects on generated SQL when modifying query subjects, SQL settings and relationships
Set Security in Framework Manager
- Examine the IBM Cognos BI security environment
- Restrict access to packages
- Create and apply security filters
- Restrict access to objects in the model
Create Analysis Objects
- Apply dimensional information to relational Metadata to enable OLAP-style queries
- Sort members for presentation and predictability
Manage MUNs in Framework Manager
- Describe model types and data entities
- Define members and member unique names
- Identify changes that impact a MUN
Model for Drill Through in Framework Manager
- Identify conformed values between data sources
- Define a report drill through
- Define a package-based drill through
- Identify drill-through values
Advanced Generated SQL Concepts and Complex Queries
- Governors that affect SQL generation
- Stitch query SQL
- Conformed and non-conformed dimensions in generated SQL
- Multi-fact/multi-grain stitch query SQL
- Variances in Report Studio generated SQL
- Dimensionally modeled relational SQL generation
- Cross join SQL
- Various results sets for multi-fact queries
Use Advanced Parameterization Techniques in Framework Manger
- Identify session and model parameters
- Leverage session, model, and custom parameters
- Create prompt macros
- Leverage macro functions associated with security
Model Maintenance and Extensibility
- Perform basic maintenance and management on a model
- Remap metadata to another source
- Import and link a second data source
- Run scripts to automate or update a model
- View lineage
- Create a model report
Optimize and Tune Framework Manager Models
- Identify and implement techniques to optimize and tune your Framework Manager models
Work in a Multi-Modeler Environment
- Implement repository control
- Segment and link a project
- Branch a project and merge results
Manage OLAP Data Sources
- Connect to an OLAP data source (cube) in a Framework Manager project
- Publish an OLAP model
- Publish a model with multiple OLAP data sources
- Publish a model with an OLAP data source and a relational data source
Manage Framework Manager Packages
- Specify package languages and function sets
- Control model versioning
- Nest packages
