Comments for BI Professional http://www.biprofessional.com Business Intelligence theory and practice, focusing primarily on Cognos BI solutions Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:36:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by CognosBI http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-965 CognosBI Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:36:10 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-965 CognosUser: I agree that my solution can only be done in FM. But Scott's second option states that you must change the "schema in the data source connection as you go". Not true, as I use the same Content Manager Data Source id, no matter what environment I am in. The key is that in my DEV environment, the "connection string" managed in the portal is pointed to my DEV database. And in production, the connection string of the same datasource points to my production database. The technique allows me to deploy my FM packages to production without changing a thing, which I would submit is the intent of the article. Scott's method using parameter maps is also managing the connections within FM by dynamically building the schema name, so I was providing another approach within FM. CognosUser: I agree that my solution can only be done in FM. But Scott’s second option states that you must change the “schema in the data source connection as you go”. Not true, as I use the same Content Manager Data Source id, no matter what environment I am in. The key is that in my DEV environment, the “connection string” managed in the portal is pointed to my DEV database. And in production, the connection string of the same datasource points to my production database. The technique allows me to deploy my FM packages to production without changing a thing, which I would submit is the intent of the article. Scott’s method using parameter maps is also managing the connections within FM by dynamically building the schema name, so I was providing another approach within FM.

]]> Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by CognosUser http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-951 CognosUser Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:54:36 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-951 CognosBI: You are talking about configuring Datasources in FM not in portal. There is no such attribute 'Schema' in datasource properties on portal. You just said 'I may have 5 data sources which all use the same Content Manager Data Source id'. You can do this only in FM and that is exactly the second option described by Scott. CognosBI: You are talking about configuring Datasources in FM not in portal. There is no such attribute ‘Schema’ in datasource properties on portal. You just said ‘I may have 5 data sources which all use the same Content Manager Data Source id’.
You can do this only in FM and that is exactly the second option described by Scott.

]]> Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by Scott Andrews http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-891 Scott Andrews Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:37:51 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-891 OK, I'll have to try that out sometime. Thanks for your input. OK, I’ll have to try that out sometime. Thanks for your input.

]]> Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by CognosBI http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-890 CognosBI Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:17:40 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-890 On the properties of the datasource, there is a Schema attribute. So under Data Sources, I may have 5 data sources which all use the same Content Manager Data Source id (value = OracleProd), but the Schema attribute would have values of SCHEMA_1, SCHEMA_2, ... SCHEMA_5. And I rename (Name attribute) the data sources to indicate the schema that they point to. Note then the query subject will look like "select * from [OracleProd_Schema_1].table_name". The datasource name within the brackets handles the schemas. On the properties of the datasource, there is a Schema attribute. So under Data Sources, I may have 5 data sources which all use the same Content Manager Data Source id (value = OracleProd), but the Schema attribute would have values of SCHEMA_1, SCHEMA_2, … SCHEMA_5. And I rename (Name attribute) the data sources to indicate the schema that they point to. Note then the query subject will look like “select * from [OracleProd_Schema_1].table_name”. The datasource name within the brackets handles the schemas.

]]> Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by Scott Andrews http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-870 Scott Andrews Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:19:48 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-870 I don't understand how that gets around the schema definition problem. You don't have schema level control on a Cognos Connection data source (that I know of). Can you elaborate on your solution? I don’t understand how that gets around the schema definition problem. You don’t have schema level control on a Cognos Connection data source (that I know of). Can you elaborate on your solution?

]]> Comment on Managing Oracle Schemas in Cognos Framework Manager by CognosBI http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/03/oracle-schemas-in-cognos-fm/#comment-869 CognosBI Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:24:03 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=745#comment-869 Another method is to use the same Content Manager Data Source (property of Data Source in FMgr) across the differing schemas of the same database. Then in your Dev environment, within Cognos Connection Administration, simply set the properties of the data source connection to point to the DEV Oracle db. And in the Prod environment, the same data source connection will then point to the Production Oracle db. This method also allows you to easily change your DEV environment db to point at a QA and/or temp database by changing the data source connection property. Another method is to use the same Content Manager Data Source (property of Data Source in FMgr) across the differing schemas of the same database. Then in your Dev environment, within Cognos Connection Administration, simply set the properties of the data source connection to point to the DEV Oracle db. And in the Prod environment, the same data source connection will then point to the Production Oracle db. This method also allows you to easily change your DEV environment db to point at a QA and/or temp database by changing the data source connection property.

]]> Comment on How to schedule Cognos Reports for Email Delivery by Scott Andrews http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/02/email-cognos-reports/#comment-739 Scott Andrews Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:25:03 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=687#comment-739 Good advice, Peter. Do consult your IBM Cognos rep to ensure compliance with your licensing agreement. Good advice, Peter. Do consult your IBM Cognos rep to ensure compliance with your licensing agreement.

]]> Comment on How to schedule Cognos Reports for Email Delivery by Peter Beck http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/02/email-cognos-reports/#comment-738 Peter Beck Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:37:57 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=687#comment-738 When distributing reports this way, or even writing out burst reports to file and distributing them to users via other means, be sure to take the licensing aspect into consideration. Licensing for this product is already complicated, but using it to generate content that is distributed to unlicensed users is not as simple as it seems - you can't have 1 user generate 1000 reports that are distributed to 1000 other users if those users aren't also covered by some type of license. That said, it is almost impossible to control. Anyone with the power to burst or schedule a report in Cognos can be sending out content to whoever they want. I've worked in (I mean, <i>heard of</i>) organizations that ran this way for years without realizing they were in violation. Your IBM rep can fill you in on the details... When distributing reports this way, or even writing out burst reports to file and distributing them to users via other means, be sure to take the licensing aspect into consideration.

Licensing for this product is already complicated, but using it to generate content that is distributed to unlicensed users is not as simple as it seems – you can’t have 1 user generate 1000 reports that are distributed to 1000 other users if those users aren’t also covered by some type of license.

That said, it is almost impossible to control. Anyone with the power to burst or schedule a report in Cognos can be sending out content to whoever they want. I’ve worked in (I mean, heard of) organizations that ran this way for years without realizing they were in violation. Your IBM rep can fill you in on the details…

]]> Comment on Back to Black by Todd Kinsey http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/02/back-to-black/#comment-712 Todd Kinsey Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:26:19 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=659#comment-712 Thanks for the advice and comment on my site, I will make sure due diligence if I do make the switch. My sister has an HTC that she really likes (she was a BB user too), it has a full keyboard that functions just like a PC keyboard. Thanks for the advice and comment on my site, I will make sure due diligence if I do make the switch. My sister has an HTC that she really likes (she was a BB user too), it has a full keyboard that functions just like a PC keyboard.

]]> Comment on Back to Black by Scott http://www.biprofessional.com/2012/02/back-to-black/#comment-708 Scott Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:48:25 +0000 http://www.biprofessional.com/?p=659#comment-708 The chief complaint that the guy who traded me phones was the battery life on the Blackberry Bold 9900. I can live with it though. The chief complaint that the guy who traded me phones was the battery life on the Blackberry Bold 9900. I can live with it though.

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