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IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence: Discover the practical approach to BI with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

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IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

Chapter 2. Introducing IBM Cognos Workspace

Cognos Workspace is a self-service dashboard tool that was developed and first released with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence v10.2. Cognos Workspace is web-based and can be accessed through IBM Cognos Connection. It is designed to allow the end users to build their own dashboards without the help of IT.

In this chapter, we will discuss how to add content to the dashboard, filter the content, change the formatting of the content, add comments to the content, and share the content. We will also look at the types of end users that are most likely to use Cognos Workspace and what the business benefits of this tool include.

The topics covered in this chapter include:

  • The Self-service dashboard

  • Adding content and content types

  • Filtering

  • Changing the formatting

  • Sharing the dashboard

  • The business case for Cognos Workspace

The self-service dashboard


A self-service dashboard is a tool that puts the power into the hands of the end users and allows them to bring data, which is most important for their business needs, into one centralized location. To fully understand what a self-service dashboard is, we need to start with the understanding of what a dashboard is.

A standard dashboard is a collection of graphical and numeric information all brought together on one screen or page. With IBM Cognos Business Intelligence, the idea has always been that it needs to be interactive data, or otherwise a dashboard loses some of its power. You may be asking yourself, how to interact with data? There are a few typically used ways of making a dashboard interactive. Drill-down, drill-through, links to the metrics, links to the other systems, hover-over, or comment capabilities are a few of the most commonly used techniques. The following is a brief overview of each:

  • Drill-down is a mechanism of clicking on a piece of information...

Adding content and content types


The first thing to consider when creating a new dashboard is what data you want to have represented. At the end of the day, a dashboard is only as valuable as the information that it provides. So the first step is to determine what data is most relevant to the business question I am trying to answer. For the purposes of this book, I will be using the sample data of IBM Cognos, and I will be creating a sales dashboard.

When you first click on Create New, you will see a blank canvas that will show Drag objects from the content pane to the canvas to create a dashboard. You can also right-click an object to insert it at the center, as shown in the following screenshot:

The right-hand side of this screen contains the insertable content. There are a few areas to consider. The search area will allow you to search for content that may be relevant for your dashboard. You can also navigate the content. If you choose the drop-down arrow next to All Content, you will...

Filtering


Filtering is a mechanism for limiting the data that is rendered in a report or a dashboard. A filter is going to remove the information that we do not need on our reports and only leave the information that is most relevant to us. Creating filters in Cognos Workspace is a straightforward process. The first step is to toggle from our Content pane to our Toolbox.

The Cognos Workspace toolbox contains additional objects that can be added to a dashboard besides the content. They are:

  • Web Page: This object will allow you to embed a web page directly into your dashboard.

  • Image: This object will add an image to your dashboard (that is, a company logo).

  • My Inbox: This object will insert your IBM Cognos Inbox onto your dashboard so that you can manage Cognos Inbox tasks from within Cognos Workspace.

  • Text: This object will allow you to add text to the dashboard. This is most often used for titles or instructions on the dashboard.

  • RSS Feed: This object will allow you to add an RSS feed...

Changing the formatting


Next, we will look at changing the formatting of our content. There are two common formatting changes that we can make: color schemes and chart types. Each of our charts have similar color schemes, but these might not be the color schemes that we want to use. If we hover over one of our charts, we will see the following toolbar appear above it:

As you will notice, some of the options are grayed out for charts. These options are available when working with lists. The following are the options that you will have for working with your content:

  • Options: This section has a list of widget actions that can be performed on your content widget. They include removing the widget, printing the widget to PDF, exporting to a number of formats, viewing different versions of the widget, refreshing the widget, reprompting the widget, resetting the widget to its original state, listening options (what filters the widget listens to), automatic resizing, moving behind other objects, doing...

Sharing the dashboard


The first and most important step for sharing a dashboard is creating it and making it fit a common business need. So far, we have looked at creating the content and customizing our dashboard. Now we can look at adding comments and saving our dashboard to a shared location for others to access it. We can finish a dashboard by saving it to a public location and adding comments to any of the objects that we think need an explanation. I will save our report and put a comment on the edited chart to explain why I changed it. This comment can contain whatever information we think is pertinent for sharing with the other users.

The comment is shown in the following screenshot:

Then, when a future user opens this dashboard, they can hover over the chart and see my note. By saving the dashboard in public folders, you are able to allow others to access it and share the information that you created.

In addition to having the ability of being saved, the dashboard can be e-mailed...

The business case for Cognos Workspace


This section sounds like a catchy name of a webinar or a clever marketing campaign. However, there really is a strong business case for Cognos Workspace. This product was purpose-built for the business users and relies on the business users to drive the acceptance of it.

As we have discussed, Cognos Workspace is all about empowering the business user. The simplest business case for this product is the ability of someone in the business to now design and build their own dashboard without IT support. This alone is a pretty powerful capability. What I would like to do though is move beyond the business case to how you and I can drive user adoption.

The easiest way to drive user adoption is from the top down, and with Cognos Workspace it is easy to gain attention from the top. When you think of dashboards, the most common type of dashboard in businesses is the executive dashboard. What I would propose as the best way to drive user adoption through an organization...

Summary


Cognos Workspace is a new tool for Cognos Business Intelligence that allows the end users to develop and share their dashboards. The product is designed to make it easy for the end users to choose the data that is most important to them and to consolidate it in one location. In Cognos Workspace, you can customize the color schemes of your objects and change the chart type of your charts. You can also add comments and share the reports. Cognos Workspace makes it easy for the users to access the information on their own without having to create their own queries. In short, it is the perfect tool for power-end users that know the information they want but do not have an understanding of the underlying data.

In the next chapter, we will look at another end-user interface called IBM Cognos Active Reports for interacting with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence data.

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Key benefits

  • Learn how to better administer your IBM Cognos 10 environment in order to improve productivity and efficiency.
  • Empower your business with the latest Business Intelligence (BI) tools.
  • Discover advanced tools and knowledge that can greatly improve daily tasks and analysis.
  • Explore the new interfaces of IBM Cognos 10.

Description

IBM Cognos is Business Intelligence software that enables businesses to fully utilize their maximum potential. It connects people with information from virtually any data source whenever and wherever they need it so that they can make better decisions, faster.Take the practical, hands-on approach to managing your reporting environment with "IBM Cognos Business Intelligence" - packed with coverage of all the latest features to truly help you maximize your potential.With this in-depth practical guide you will learn how to fully utilize IBM Cognos 10 so that your business can make smarter decisions, achieve better results and gain a deeper understanding of your company's data. You will learn about critical topics like Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Security and Administration as well as in-depth coverage of other features like Business Insight, Business Insight Advanced, and Active Reports, which were introduced with IBM Cognos 10.

Who is this book for?

If you are an IBM Cognos or Business Intelligence developer or consultant, have a basic knowledge of Cognos 10 BI and a good level of understanding of Cognos 8 then this book is for you.

What you will learn

  • Learn comprehensive query and reporting capabilities that will help you to make smarter decisions based on your data.
  • Get to grips with analysis in order to help you fully exploit the data that is available to you.
  • Discover how to successfully link strategy to your business operations and utilize the latest modern tools for collaboration, building stronger teams and stimulating better decisions.
  • Produce real-time, relevant information and discover how statistical analysis can be incorporated into your business reporting.
  • Learn convenient methods for delivering Business Intelligence to a wider audience and master the art of high-impact presentation.
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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 07, 2013
Length: 318 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849683562
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Publication date : May 07, 2013
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ISBN-13 : 9781849683562
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Frequently bought together


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IBM Cognos 10 Framework Manager
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IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
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IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook, Second Edition
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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
IBM Cognos Connection Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Introducing IBM Cognos Workspace Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Active Reports Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Mobile Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Query Studio Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Analysis Studio Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Report Studio Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
IBM Cognos Framework Manager Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Administration and Performance Tuning Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Streamlining Common Administrator Tasks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
User Adoption Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.7
(3 Ratings)
5 star 66.7%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Mohankumar Saraswatipura Jan 27, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Cognos developers really love it! Dustin has explained Query Studio, Mobile and Framework Manager in a real nice easy way which you can expertize in just over a week.For Cognos administrators, a good book to have it in your shelves. Here you can learn performance tuning within Cognos and what I see a missing links are the troubleshooting steps and IBM support coverage part of it. But this can easily be got in IBM product manual.
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Mona Sep 11, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book gives great information about the IBM Cognos tool. It also explains business intelligence concepts,reporting,advance data mining details very well. It is a must for anyone who work on any BI tool and specifically IBM Cognos.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amar Sep 11, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
IBM Cognos BI product is great but to really extract the power of Cognos, this book is worth having a read. Chapters on Security and Administration is very very helpful. Sure recommend...
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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