IBM Cognos Insight.  What is it? What is all the Hype about?  On March 7^th, IBM Cognos will release a revolutionary product that will allow IBM Cognos BI Enhanced Consumers the ability to leverage the IBM stack by allowing them to create TM1 models at no additional cost.  If you have not heard of IBM Cognos TM1, it is a 64 bit In-Memory OLAP technology that links finance with operations to deliver new Insight into your data.

By leveraging the industry leading technology found in IBM Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos Insight brings the power of TM1 to the business user.  Through an easy to use drag and drop interface, IBM Cognos Insight gives business users the ability to create multi-dimensional TM1 cubes that can either be stored locally or published to a shared environment for enterprise consumption.

Importing data is very easy, you simply drag and drop files (spreadsheets, .csv or text files) into the workspace. The tool will then analyze the data and create a multi-dimensional TM1 cube.

Exploring your data couldn’t be easier.  Once you have imported your data, you can “slice and dice” the cube to reflect the data in whatever manner is meaningful for you.   The views are updated instantly. You can also perform quick calculations on the fly.  Simply highlight two rows, right click and select the appropriate calculation.  IBM Cognos Insight will create an additional column that will show your results.

Where most business users will find IBM Cognos Insight useful is leveraging the write back capability.  In this highly competitive business environment, a company’s flexibility can determine if they survive.  With IBM Cognos Insight, decision makers can plan for the unexpected and react quicker and with greater confidence as market conditions change.

Existing IBM Cognos customers can download Cognos Insight form the IBM support page.