Cognos 8 BI for Consumers [Paperback]

Juan A. Padilla (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Cognos 8 BI Book Series is composed of step-by-step guides that focus on user and power user functionality. The guides start with the basics required by all Cognos 8 BI users and steadily expand to the advanced options available to power users who are developing complex reports and dashboards.

The initial guide concentrates on Cognos Connection.

• Cognos Connection is the Cognos 8 BI standard portal that provides a single point of access to all Business Intelligence objects. The user can access public and personal folders where he or she can execute reports, access queries, view analyses, monitor scorecards, and execute monitoring agents. From Cognos Connection, the user is able to access and browse content, see properties, assign permissions, and schedule objects, among other tasks.

Additional guides are being developed for the major Cognos 8 BI authoring modules. The modules, called Studios, are used by authors to develop content for consumers. Four guides are in the pipeline, focusing on the following modules with their respective roles:

• Query Studio is a very user-friendly ad hoc query tool that allows users to easily access information. With Query Studio, the user drags and drops fields to execute queries. With multiple options available at a touch of the mouse, Query Studio can group data, create summaries, display charts, filter information, and export data. An author who has access to Query Studio is referred to as a Business Author.

• Metrics Studio is a powerful scorecard tool that allows an organization to create and monitor goals. An author who has access to Metrics Studio is a Business Manager.

• Analysis Studio is the user-friendly tool used to quickly analyze summarized information with powerful dimension and variable crossing for complex analysis, discovery of trends, and forecasting. An author who has access to Analysis Studio is a Business Analyst.

• Report Studio is the professional report-authoring tool. The tool allows for the development of pixel-perfect reports, such as invoices and statements, as well as very complex layouts, such as those required for enterprise dashboards. An author who has access to Report Studio is a Professional Author.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Technology Partners Books (July 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979692008
• ISBN-13: 978-0979692000
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Baic Information, December 7, 2007

By 

Software Developer (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cognos 8 BI for Consumers (Paperback)

In all honesty, the information provided in this book is provided in more detail in the user guides delivered with the product. If you have worked at all with Cognos BI, this book probably provides nothing you don't already know. The book goes through the Cognos Connection interface which can be considered the "Home Page" for the Cognos product. It tells you how to access the various components of the Cognos product, but tells you nothing that would help you build queries and reports. It does list the various sample reports delivered with the product, but you can figure that out from the user guides.

If the the intent of the book is to tell you how to access the various components of the system it does a great job of doing that. If you are a developer interested in learning about the using the product and how to build queries, reports, etc. you are better off taking a look at the user guides delivered with the product. They are very indepth, thorough, and use the sample data delivered with the product.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for Developers, November 6, 2008

By 

Michael Hayes Music "michaelhayesmusic.com" (Nashville) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cognos 8 BI for Consumers (Paperback)

This book is okay but not very helpful if you are going to be a Cognos developer.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A resonable good overview of Cognos Connection, October 11, 2007

By 

Paul T. Gilbo (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cognos 8 BI for Consumers (Paperback)

The title of the book is a little misleading in that it describes the details of Cognos Connection and is pretty good at that. The term "BI" in the title seems to indicate that the reader may obtain more in-depth understanding of the Cognos product that is the focus on business intelligence. The focus is really on how to publish reports through the interface.

The sample Cognos project that comes with the product is used for the examples of the BI reports that can be published through Cognos Connection. Upon reviewing these reports, the reader will want to use the products that generate those reports.

Hopefully those parts of the Cognos product line will be reviewed in depth in future publications.

I found the book useful for those who are not familiar with the new Cognos interface and I recommend it.