The Cloud as a Data Source

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:05:00 -0600

Not a week goes by anymore where we are not talking to a customer about needs based on a Cloud paradigm. The term Cloud, like Dashboard, has found a rather ambiguous definition and can mean different things to different people. If you dig deeper into IBM's definition of cloud for example, you will find additional terms like Managed Private Cloud and Hosted Private Cloud and Shared Cloud Services.

We have found the placement of Performance Applications, particularly BI applications and Data Assets, to be slow to move out beyond an internally managed network and set of resources. That certainly doesn't mean the Cloud does not apply to Performance Management.

From a data architecture perspective, we deal with the Cloud every day. We have successfully integrated Cloud-based data sources such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite's OpenAir with companies' other internal data assets. In these cases, we are bringing Cloud-based data back inside the organization and combining it with other data assets to give Business Leaders a more complete view of their businesses, regardless where the source data may resides. Connecting and integrating cloud-based data often presents additional challenges, not dissimilar, from existing challenges:

Master Data Management and Data Quality - Unless a lot of work went into the implementation of the cloud-based application to ensure it aligned with enterprise data assets, bringing data together after the fact will be much harder and require rigor to ensure accuracy and confidence in the user community. At worst, bad data will drive bad decisions.
Connecting ETL and other data integration mechanisms to Web Services is not the traditional ODBC/Native connection the traditional RDBMS Database Administrator or Database developer is used to. If a direct connection to a web service is not made, then there will be middleware.
Timing and performance will continue to be must-haves but when the source of the data is outside of the internal company network, sometimes certain levels of control are just not possible.

The Cloud is certainly not going away and follows other outsourcing trends of the last half century.

Cognos 10 Beta Test

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:52:00 -0600

IBM-Cognos Business Intelligence products have undergone sustained research & development for roughly 10-12 years leading to enhancements in the current platform. The Congos 10 platform has matured initially from reporting and ad-hoc query on relational data using Report Studio and Query Studio, to added capabilities such as, event management and data analysis, including the use of Multidimensional data sources in Cognos 8, via Event Studio, Analysis Studio and PowerPlay Studio. Cognos 8 also introduced the integration of the IBM-Cognos Planning, IBM-Cognos Controller, and IBM-Cognos TM1 products which were previously not integrated.

The recent release of Cognos 10 includes some of the most impactful new features in a decade of product development. After our Beta testing with Cognos 10 JCB sees the most powerful new features are the Interactive and Offline Dashboarding and the integration of Statistical functions leveraging the SPSS Predictive Analytics capabilities:

Business Insight and Insight Advanced are some of the new and compelling Dashboarding capabilities delivered as new Studios in Cognos 10 Business Intelligence. They enable rapid dashboard development and allow users to take data offline while maintaining the interactive and graphical nature of best-practice Dashboards. For those upgrading, these dashboards can consume content from other, various Cognos 8 outputs such as Report Studio.

Cognos 10 Business Intelligence Statistics provides advanced functions inside of Report Studio. The SPSS statistical engine is embedded in the product and can quickly leverage existing data sources and queries.

Considering Upgrading?

If you are thinking about upgrading from Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, there are some factors to consider:

Although not confirmed, given our past experiences and our Beta testing results, we perceive Statistics in IBM-Cognos 10 Business Intelligence as a net new cost to upgrade. In other words, if you don't license it as part of your upgrade, you most likely will not have access to them. Since the software has been released, we understand Business Insight requires Enhanced Consumer rights, something that not all customers have purchased.
The charting capabilities in Cognos 10 Business Intelligence are completely re-vamped over version 8. Existing chart types are richer visually and in functionality. New chart types are also available.
Improvements have been made to query performance through the introduction of Dynamic Query mode which seeks to leverage 64-bit based technology. Since the software has been released, the release to C10 is known to have Dynamic Query ability to OLAP sources: TM1, SAP BW and Oracle Essbase.
From a user perspective the Statistical functions now available via the SPSS application is a totally new capability and not one that traditional BI administrators, developers or business users are always familiar with.
JCB has experienced a few clients that wanted to load local user spreadsheets to compare or use as an input file to filter a Cognos report. Cognos 10 now provides that ability. While this could technically have been done in the past, it was not as easy or scalable as Cognos 10 Business Intelligence now makes it.

While upgrades are not to be taken lightly and should be tested in a proof of concept like setting, the platform itself is largely intact and should not require a very different skill set from what was needed in Cognos 8 with the exception of Statistics. If you are changing piece-parts, like adding a TM1 server (servers) to the architecture or adding/removing studios, be prepared for new and different challenges.

JCB Partners is an award winning IBM Premier partner. Prior to the IBM acquisition of Cognos, JCB was a Platinum partner with Cognos. It is our unique experience with both IBM and Cognos that led to JCB being selected as a pre-release Beta Tester for Cognos 10 Business Intelligence Platform. JCB Partners performed various functionality test and team training during our Beta Period. We also migrated our vertical solutions, such as Retail Pathways analytics application to help us better understand the intricacies and enhancements of upgrading to Cognos 10. As a Beta release partner JCB Partners offers unique insights and valuable information for clients seeking to learn more about Cognos 10.

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The Cloud as a Data Source

Cognos 10 Beta Test

Considering Upgrading?