IBM Cognos and Maximo Reporting
IBM Maximo 7 has provided new Cognos reporting integration facilities to Maximo customers. Maximo provides a facility where a powerful metadata layer used by the Cognos reporting tools can be automatically generated using the underlying Maximo schema information contained within the application.
This facility provides immediate access to the underlying Maximo tables and the ability to use the power of the Cognos tools. Triangle has further enhanced this feature by creating our own framework models that replace those generated automatically by Maximo.
By doing this Triangle has been able to overcome the shortcomings of the generated models by providing a user friendly version of the models that all Maximo users will find familiar. This radically improves the ability of Maximo customers to allow their users to create their own reports, traditionally a job which had to be completed by a report developer and for which the users would have to schedule time.
With Triangles Blueprints the reporting can be completed by the end user reducing the time required to deploy a report to the business and thus providing the business information in a timelier manner.
Straight away the users are able to utilise the power of IBM Cognos 10 to create their reports, or use one of the many pre-built reports that come in the “Blueprint Box”.
Business Workspace
IBM Cognos Business Workspace provides a powerful reporting platform from where a user can build new reports and dashboards. Users have access to existing content or they can build new reports using the comprehensive Framework models provided by Triangles Maximo Blueprints.
Cognos Workspace provides a single user interface allowing both querying and analysis and replaces the previous studios used in earlier versions of Cognos BI. The latest licensing models show that Business Workspace will replace all studios other than Report Studio where complex pixel perfect reporting is required.
Report Studio
With Cognos Report Studio, your developers can create professional enterprise reports in an advanced reporting environment.
A few of the benefits developers will see when developing reports within the Cognos Reporting Product site include
Report developers can create reports containing any number of report objects— charts, cross tabs, and lists, as well as non-BI components such as images, logos, and live embedded applications that can be linked to the information.The report development tools deliver a zero-footprint, browser based interface for all reporting functionality. This eliminates the need for IT to install and manage client desktop software.
Casual or novice users can author and modify their own reports with minimal training or IT involvement. The flexibility of the task based interface reduces the time required to author and modify a report.
Reports can be built with multiple data queries. Each query can draw data from any data source or a combination of sources and be linked together in context or left as independent.
Users can arrange report objects by dragging and dropping them into the report authoring window. Report layout automatically adapts and rearranges as report objects are added or removed.
When used with dimensional data, query and reporting capabilities provide automatic recognition of hierarchies and automatic drill-up and down for both text reports and charts, without the need for authoring by the user. Queries on dimensionally modelled relational data can be enabled for drilling-up and down on each dimensional hierarchy.
Additionally, like Business Workspace, because Report Studio utilises the Cognos packages or metadata layer, developers no longer are required to write SQL. This enables them to very quickly create powerful enterprise reports without having to develop and debug complex SQL statements.
The metadata layer prejoins the database tables together for them – so they can quickly and consistently add fields to their reports without requiring in-depth knowledge of table relationships and joins.
IBM Cognos TM1
Using the powerful in memory modelling capabilities of IBM Cognos TM1, business forecasts and budgets can be modified immediately allowing the business to react to conditions highlighted by the enhanced reporting provided by Cognos.
IBM TM1 can be used to enhance the reporting over Maximo by integrating business plans and models and through the Cognos Portal allow authorised users to amend these plans and immediately report over them.
TM1 is one of the Cognos family of products that completes the Business performance Circle of Plan, Report and Monitor.