Powerplay Manager Tools Llc
When we talk about Cognos PowerPlay, things can get confusing with the different components. PowerPlay itself is a reporting (in Reporter mode) and browsing (in Explorer mode) application.
Transformer is the cube factory, where we model the Cognos cubes, as well as generate them. Unsurprisingly, SQL queries provide linkage to the relational data source(s). Cognos Impromptu, the relational report writer, was always integrated with Transformer, so as to provide easy SQL query design for feeding the cube build process, together with the tandem advantage of providing integrated drillthrough to underlying detail, but other SQL generators - even hand-created files (styled as '.iqd's') would provide the data entrainment capability (although drillthrough would have to be custom designed / implemented). PowerPlay in the browser mode (Explorer) might be compared, to some extent, to the cube browser in MSAS (although the former is for the general audience, of course, while the latter is only available to those who can access the appropriate AS environment / structures).
Transformer might be likened to the dimensional, measure, and cube editor components of Analysis Services. Cognos 8 combines many of these logical components, integrates them more fully - along with others - and provides design and development 'studio' interfaces whereby many of the pieces previously handled within the individual components can be created / managed from a central, graphically- oriented interface.
(Similar to BI Development Studio and SQL Server Management Studio, to a large extent, within the context of Analysis Services, etc.) I don't think I can agree with the 'Microsoft equivalent to PowerPlay' being Excel. There have been Excel add-ons offered for each of the applications, to allow for what amounts to exporting data for reporting, manipulation, analysis etc., but Excel as an application used in conjunction with AS would really only resemble (to a conceivable extent.) Reporter mode of PowerPlay for a PowerPlay cube - and that's only conceptually, in the capacity in which Excel is being used as a 'report.' ' (The PivotTable element could also be argued to be a 'browser' for AS, but I would suspect only those with relatively minimal browser requirements.) Cognos PowerPlay can act as the browser / reporter for Cognos cubes (which are proprietary), and, with the connector, for Analysis Services (and other) cubes. I often provide strategy sessions for clients and prospective clients who are re-examining enterprise implementations of Cognos, et. Al., and who are seeking to convert to the Microsoft solution (I have worked with all the major Cognos products for over 12 years and Analysis Services, as well as the other components of the Microsoft integrated BI solution, since inception of each. For more information, see my bio at ). One of the common questions I hear with regard to Cognos 8 is 'Does it work with Analysis Services 2005?'
' As I'm sure we can all imagine this is / will be a priority with Cognos, both to support current customers using Analysis Services / Cognos cube combinations and, perhaps to address more market-driven considerations: especially to shore up (to an extent) the exodus of much of its customer base (particularly clients using SQL Server already) to the Microsoft BI solution - a trend that will continue as the business population realizes the potentially huge savings that can be realized by making the jump. (Regardless of the 'confidence' infobytes released by Cognos, BO / Crystal, MicroStrategy, etc., loss of significant market share is inevitable - I'm seeing and enabling it every day. This a large part of the driver behind what will no doubt be ongoing consolidation within the BI sector, continuing diversification of the vendors' offerings into 'complementary,' and other, applications, etc.).
To the point re: Cognos support of AS 2005: the AS 2005 UDM / cube structure is exponentially more complex than the once-advanced Cognos cube model. It is hard to imagine that Cognos will expose / make available features from such a data source - features that their own cubes cannot support - in the reporting layer - so the conclusion one has to reach is that only a limited set of the UDM attributes will be available to the Cognos reporting environment.
This factor alone would seem like a pretty strong motivator to an enterprise using AS (especially for these features) to look elsewhere for a report writer. Coupled with six-plus figure savings for many of these enterprises - well, as I'm told that the prophet once said, 'Do the math.' ' The statement 'MSAS has some financial functions that Transformer does not' is true, but perhaps a tiny bit misleading, taken in isolation. Transformer, for that matter, provides a large set of predefined structure, members, etc., examples of which include predesigned support for relative time periods (see my article at the links below), allocations, and many other commonly used elements.
All of these can be built within Analysis Services (I have yet to find anything we could do in PowerPlay that I cannot replicate - and often enhance - within Analysis Services - especially AS 2005), but much of design is often left to the implementer. Many prefer it this way, rather than being given predefined masters that make numerous assumptions, some of which may not be appropriate to the environment, and may have to be modified / re-created anyway. Suffice it to say that a far more flexible environment exists within Analysis Services (and the rest of the integrated MS solution) for customization / rapid development of precisely defined means for meeting specific business requirements.
The recent acquisition of ProClarity, and its impended pairing with Analysis Services, Reporting Services, etc., represents the addition of the final 'missing' piece for Analysis Services, in that this will result in support for an easily customized and deployed OLAP browser. This will leave no stone unturned with regard to the MS solution's capability to duplicate or surpass anything else on the market. If you have any specific questions about Cognos versus the MS BI solution components (for example, how you might accomplish a specific action within AS that others say can only be done in a Cognos, and the like), please post your question to this group, as I'm sure others will share the same or similar questions. And whatever your decision with regard to final application choice, it's certainly not too late to short Cognos stock. Good luck in your selection process! Bill William E. Pearson III CPA, CMA, CIA, MCSE, MCDBA Island Technologies Inc.
931 Monroe Drive Suite 102-321 Atlanta, GA 30308 404.872.5972 Office - - - - - Publisher Sites: 6f -Original Message- From: bounce-27134@groups.ittoolbox.com mailto:bounce-27134@groups.ittoolbox.com On Behalf Of Bluey9 via bi-select Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:45 PM To: WEP3 - Architect Subject: RE: bi-select BI Tool Comparison - Microsoft Analysis Services vs. Cognos PowerPlay These two tools are not the same thing! MSAS is a cube (ROLAP) builder whilst PowerPlay is a cube reporter/viewer. You can use the latter with cubes built by the former. The Cognos equivalent to MSAS is Transformer which builds OLAP cubes in a proprietary format thus theoretically giving better performance.
The Microsoft equivalent to PowerPlay (to my current knowledge) is Excel! PowerPlay is the client server (Windows) tool. The web browser version is Analysis Studio which is part of the Cognos 8 BI suite.
Cognos 8 BI server will run on Windows and Unix machines; MSAS is Windows only. PowerPlay/Analysis Studio can read many types of cubes - MSAS, Transformer, Hyperion, etc.; Excel can read only MSAS cubes. MSAS has some financial functions that Transformer does not.
The Transformer cube modeling interface is superior to that is MSAS. RJM Edis Principal Consultant Robert Edis Consulting P.O. BOX 676 Deerfield IL 60015 USA robeconsult@sbcglobal.net 1-847-612-3863 -Original Message- From: crockern via bi-select mailto:bi-select@Groups.ITtoolbox.com Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:12 AM To: Bluey9 Subject: RE:bi-select BI Tool Comparison - Microsoft Analysis Services vs.
Cognos PowerPlay Hi There, Did you get any responses If so please contact me as I am also looking for a comparison. These two tools are not the same thing! MSAS is a cube (ROLAP) builder whilst PowerPlay is a cube reporter/viewer. You can use the latter with cubes built by the former. The Cognos equivalent to MSAS is Transformer which builds OLAP cubes in a proprietary format thus theoretically giving better performance. The Microsoft equivalent to PowerPlay (to my current knowledge) is Excel! PowerPlay is the client server (Windows) tool.
The web browser version is Analysis Studio which is part of the Cognos 8 BI suite. Cognos 8 BI server will run on Windows and Unix machines; MSAS is Windows only. PowerPlay/Analysis Studio can read many types of cubes - MSAS, Transformer, Hyperion, etc.; Excel can read only MSAS cubes. MSAS has some financial functions that Transformer does not. The Transformer cube modeling interface is superior to that is MSAS. RJM Edis Principal Consultant Robert Edis Consulting P.O.
BOX 676 Deerfield IL 60015 USA robeconsult@sbcglobal.net 1-847-612-3863 -Original Message- From: crockern via bi-select mailto:bi-select@Groups.ITtoolbox.com Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:12 AM To: Bluey9 Subject: RE:bi-select BI Tool Comparison - Microsoft Analysis Services vs. Cognos PowerPlay Hi There, Did you get any responses If so please contact me as I am also looking for a comparison.
Hi=20 =20 I second HP's comments regarding SQL Server 2000 and Analysis Services = and would highly recommend the easy to use end user tool, o2olap for = Excel, for analysing and reporting from SQL Server. For more details, = go to =20 Kind Regards Angela Taylor International Manager, o2olap Limited tel: + 4811 web: www.o2olap.com =20 The information contained in this email is confidential. It may also be = legally privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure by law.
It is = intended only for the stated addressee(s) and access to it by any other = person is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, you must not = disclose, copy, circulate, disseminate or in any other way use or rely = on the information contained in this email. Such unauthorized use may be = unlawful. If you have received this email in error, please inform me = immediately by emailing me at AngelaTaylor@o2olap.com and delete it and = all copies from your system. Any opinion or advice to clients contained = in this email is to be read subject to O2OLAP Limited terms and = conditions of engagement.
Copyright =A9 2002. All Rights Reserved. All = trademarks are acknowledged and are the property of their respective = owners. O2OLAP is a registered trademark of O2OLAP Limited. =20 If you want to not receive updates relating to O2OLAP, then kindly = e-mail AngelaTaylor@o2olap.com. From: hpalagum via bi-select mailto:bi-select@Groups.ITtoolbox.com Sent: Wed 14:29 To: Angela Taylor Subject: bi-select RE: BI Tool Comparison - Microsoft Analysis = Services vs.
Cognos PowerPlay Hi, Just a couple of things to be aware of when weighing out the options = between these two. If you already have SQL Server 2000 or intending to get that setup. = Analysis Services and Reporting Services are packaged with it.
So first = of all its a cost-effective deal that you will be getting and (people = you may agree or disagree) you get a very powerful tool. Cognos, just generally it is quite complex. Can be very powerful as = well, with a great front end GUI, but very costly and is made up with = too many required add-ons. Analysis Services(A/S) cube building process is simplistic. Very = seamless movement of data into A/S with Microsoft DTS. There are a range = of front end tools to choose from to assist you in analysing and = reporting from SQL Server - ProClarity, IntelligentApps etc.
Which again = are quite cost-effective and are quite reliable depending on what you = are trying to get out of the system. I shall try to dig up some more information that you can assist in what = you are trying to do soon. Regards HP.Archives:.Manage Subscriptions:.Leave Group: mailto:leave-bi-select@Groups.ITtoolbox.com.Need Subscription Help? Mailto:Listmaster@ITtoolbox.com.Terms of Use:.Copyright (c) ITtoolbox and message author.
No redistribution. I agree about the cost-effective, If you alredy have SQL Server= 2000, try Analysis Services before you decide=2E Even if you want= to go for Cognos later on, you cant still use your Microsoft= OLAP Databases and Data Marts=2E Think of AS as a back-end that= you can exploit with many client tools=2E I would also advise you= to look at the new SQL Server 2005 features=2E And yes, there are a number of front end tools for Analysis= Services=2E I've worked with Panorama and Analysis Services with= very good results=2E Ricardo Sada.
Manager Tools Llc
This week will unveil business intelligence software that integrates five products and is designed to work against any data source and simplify deployment. The new Cognos 8 includes query and reporting tools, dashboards, and analysis and event management capabilities that can be accessed via a single Web-based interface, according to company officials. The tool also adds the ability to report against multidimensional online analytical processing (OLAP) data, said Leah MacMillan, vice president of product marketing.
Powerplay Manager Sk
The tool integrates Cognos' ReportNet, Metrics Manager, PowerPlay, DecisionStream and NoticeCast products. Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc.
In San Antonio plans to have Cognos 8—which the company tested earlier this year—in production by the first quarter of 2006, said Louis Barton, director of data warehousing. OLAP Advantage Cullen/Frost now runs earlier versions of the Cognos reporting, scorecarding and OLAP tools for various types of financial reporting. The Web-based footprint in the new version will let 500 of the company's users run the software, compared with 300 using the older tools. Barton said the support for multidimensional data 'is really big for us because we have a lot of our senior management looking at the business through the OLAP viewpoint. The next natural thing to do is to create a report from what you are looking at,' which will help the decision-making process. Regent Medical Americas LLC, a medical supply company in Norcross, Ga., plans to upgrade to Cognos 8 after an upcoming company merger, said BI manager Susan Dean.
Regent's parent, investment firm Apax Partners Inc., has acquired Goteborg, Sweden-based Molnlycke Health Care AB, which will be merged with Regent, Dean said. She also said the support for reporting against OLAP data is the biggest advantage of Cognos 8. More than 200 Regent users have been using the Cognos ReportNet tool since December for sales and financial reporting. Because Cognos 8 blends OLAP and relational data sources, it can help companies move BI to more employees, said Eric Rogge, an analyst at Ventana Research Inc.
In San Mateo, Calif. 'The primary engine of growth for BI is operational BI—deploying BI information to front-line workers in applications,' he said.