August 13th, 2020

The latest release of Cognos Analytics is here!  Cognos Analytics 11.1.7 is now available for download via your IBM Passport Advantage site.  I have spent a little time on my demo machine playing with 11.1.7 and I must say there are some great additions and a ton of fixes.  A big item of note is that Cognos Analytics 11.1.7 is a long-term release, meaning it is the final release of the 11.1.x version.  It also means that this version will be supported for years to come.  I bet a lot of you are now thinking, “Is 11.2.x or is Cognos Analytics 12 next”?   Guess we will find out soon!  But, enough speculation let’s get to the good stuff!

Dashboards

Besides the new mobile app (which we will get to later), dashboards received a bunch of new and exciting enhancements and additions. 

• Crosstab Visualization – major improvements to the conditional formatting option with the ability for dashboard authors to define rules or thresholds to color cells based on key business metrics. These rules can be created using static numeric values or based on a percentage against an existing field, be it a calculation or coming directly from a source.

• Dashboard Authoring Experience - adding drop zones to visualizations themselves, which should help authors understand the types of visualizations they’d like to build, all using drag and drop gestures.  You can also start to type in the field name you like in the drop zone and Cognos Analytics 11.1.7 will provide selections to choose from.
• Combination Chart (Line and Bar) - add series to both lines and columns with separate palette choices for each, also support for measure groups so that authors could compare actuals to target measures on separate lines for example. It also adds a property to stack the column series.

• Export Visualization Data to CSV - From the data tray, authors can choose to export either summary or detail data.
• Schematics as Custom Visualizations -Dashboard authors can also now leverage schematics as custom visualizations. Schematics are tagged shapes/polygons in an SVG file, which can be a diagram representing a spatial relationship.
• Enhanced Filters - Authors can also create model filters as they would calculations, which can be applied to individual visualizations or the full dashboard if inserted into the filter shelf and resides in the metadata tree so that it can be reused wherever needed.
• Save as Template - Dashboard authors can now save their dashboard layout, visualizations, colors, logos, etc as a template. This means that when authoring new content, authors have a starting point to begin their experience which saves a lot of time.
• Other new properties –

• Smart visualization titles are on by default
• Logarithmic axis scaling
• Custom axis ranges
• Pie chart labels with values
• Bullet chart range coloring
• Show generated SQL/MDX per visualization

Reporting

Reporting also received several enhancements as noted below.

• Combination Chart – Same as above in dashboards
• Waterfall Chart with Subcategories - Waterfall can be used to display cumulative effect of a series of positive or negative values. Report authors can now use sub-categories in addition to display how values are aggregated at different levels.
• Multiple Measures in More Visualizations - Area, Boxplot, Hierarchical packed bubble, Packed bubble, Point, Scatter, Combination chart, Line, Pie, Radar, Tree map, Waterfall, Word Cloud.
• Run Single Page Report - ability to run a single report page in different formats.

Data Modules

• 4-5-4 Retail Calendar – Retail customers have been asking for this calendar for sometime.  Now available for 2020-2022.
• Additional Relative Time Filters

• Current Week
• Prior Week
• Week to Date
• Prior Week to Date
• Same Week Last Year

User Experience

Mobile

New in release 11.1.7, you can use Cognos Analytics for Mobile. Cognos Analytics for Mobile allows you to view dashboards, stories, and explorations on your iOS device. You can quickly see how your business or organization is performing at a bird's eye view, or dive into the details. Monitor important KPIs across the enterprise, share your findings with your colleagues and set alerts to stay on top of changes.

NOTE - Cognos Analytics for Mobile is only available for Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand and Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted in release version 11.1.7.

Summary