It is possible to embed Cognos in third party applications without an SDK?  The process will require using a parameterized URL, but before we talk technique, there are a few things we must consider. First, is the third party application internal or external? If the application is internal, then you should be ok. However if your application is outside of your firewall, then you are going to need to do some hardware configuration. I am not going to pretend to know what you need to do to your server, but what I will say is that you need to speak with a network administrator for assistance on how to make an external application talk to the appropriate server for specific web traffic.

After you have the servers setup, you are going to need to configure a namespace. If you have an internal application, this does not apply to you. For an external application, there needs to be an authentication process. You can either place your external users within the same namespace as your internal Cognos users or create a separate namespace. Once you have the namespace configured, you will need to determine if you want to use single sign on or make the user login.

Configuring the server and implementing a security structure is the first step to embedding Cognos into third party applications. Next, you are going to need to determine how you are going to display Cognos in Third Party Applications. I recommend using an iframe because it is easy to use and it looks like it is a part of the application.

Now you have the server, security, and display method worked out so you are ready to build the parameterized url. I have linked to a Cognos document that outlines how to build the parameterized string to pass to the iframe. Once you have the sting built, you can test your url in this iframe tool, which I love because it shows you the code and results on the same page.

I suggest testing the url outside of the application because it will help you troubleshoot. If your url validates inside of the iframe tool then you can copy the code and paste it into your application.

To check out more info on this click me.

If you liked this blog on Cognos in Third Party Applications, check out this blog on known issues with Active Reports by clicking here.