Cognos Content Store

Questions You Should Ask When Planning to Migrate Off Cognos Analytics (BI) – Part 1

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Questions You Should Ask When Planning to Migrate off Cognos Analytics (BI) - Part 1
Questions You Should Ask When Planning to Migrate off Cognos Analytics (BI) - Part 1
September 3rd, 2020

As clients look to drastically cut cost, it’s natural for IT departments to look at all their business intelligence solutions to evaluate if they have redundancy.  The initial thought is to reduce costs by standardizing on one business intelligence solution.  One solution could mean lower support costs… fewer resources to support the tools.  I completely understand the logic and if I was the CIO, I would have the same line of thinking.  However, most clients do not do their due diligence to determine the true costs of migrating off tools like Cognos nor do they create an ROI evaluation.  So, I thought over the next two weeks I would share the questions you should ask when planning to migrate off Cognos Analytics onto another platform.

1. If we do not renew our IBM Cognos Support can I still use Cognos BI while we migrate?

The first question everyone asks as they consider migrating off Cognos BI is, can I still use Cognos BI if I do not renew the support?  The answer is, it depends. 

Perpetual License: If you have the traditional on-premise licensing for Cognos Analytics (BI) then you have a perpetual right to use Cognos and you can still use it even if you do not renew.  Lodestar Solutions does not recommend discontinuing support until you are fully migrated to the new solutions.  If you have questions on your renewal we are here to help.  Email renewals@lodestarsolutions.com.

Here are some additional resources:

IBM Support and Subscription Site

Lodestar Blog:  Consequences of Not Renewing IBM Cognos Support  

The real question you should be asking is, what are the risk factors of not renewing support as I migrate off Cognos BI?

SAAS or Subscription:  If you have Cognos Analytics on SaaS or a subscription-based model, then when you let your subscription lapse by not renewing you will no longer have access to the software.  So, plan your migration wisely.

Note: It is important to note in 15 years of working with Cognos products, I have yet to hear of a client who decided to migrate off Cognos BI that has completed the migration within their original planned timeline.  In fact, many clients plan to migrate and years later they are still working on it.

2. What reports must be migrated to the new tool and will the new tool deliver comparable results?

Planning a migration of Cognos to a new business intelligence platform is like planning a major upgrade to the latest version of Cognos Analytics.  You must do an inventory of what is in your content store and determine how many reports need to be migrated, how complex the reports are, how often they are utilized, etc… If you have been using Cognos for a long time your content store may be suffering from bloat. 

Lodestar Solutions’ recommends that you evaluate the size or your content store.  

Try this, in your Cognos Product Environment run a query to find the number per object type. The objects can be found here:

<cognos_dir>\configuration\schemas\content\<database_type>\CSsize_profiling_<database_type>.sql

Here’s the query:

select c.NAME as "class name", count(*) as "number of objects"
from CMOBJECTS o, CMCLASSES c
group by o.CLASSID, c.CLASSID, C.NAME
having c.CLASSID=o.CLASSID
order by c.NAME;

Lodestar also recommends investing in Motio Inventory Software.  Motio is a 3rd party software company that has some of the best tools for administration of Cognos BI.  Motio’s new inventory component is perfect for determining how many Cognos reports you have and their complexity.

You would not move your family without taking an inventory of your household belongings and determining what to leave behind.   So, do not forget to take a detailed inventory of Cognos reports.   For more information check out Motio
and make sure you tell them you work with Lodestar Solutions.  You can find additional information in our blog Don’t Upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio! 

3. Are we comparing the latest version of Cognos Analytics to the new solutions as we do our evaluation?

I am always amazed when I hear clients tell me they might be migrating off Cognos to Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik because it has better visualization or it’s easier to use.  I ask them what version of Cognos they are using, and they say 10.2.  Then I ask if they have seen all the amazing functionality in Cognos Analytics’ latest version?  And they say,  “I saw a demo a few years ago.”

People do not tell me you are migrating off Cognos for better functionality if you haven’t even seen the latest functionality of what you already own! You need to take the new Cognos Analytics for a test drive.  Lodestar Solutions can help you.  Just email us at services@lodestarsolutions.com.

You owe it to your company to complete your due diligence and compare the latest functionality of Cognos to the solution you are evaluating.  IBM has added amazing new functionality to Cognos Analytics and cool stuff just keeps coming.  I challenge you to find a solution that can better meet your enterprise needs. Now that you know you need to do a detailed comparison,  I decided to help you out a little and provide our evaluation.

Cognos Comparison

If you or your company are struggling with Cognos today, I would bet you either have not been properly trained on the functionality or you have a data problem. By the way, migrating off Cognos will not solve your data issues.

Lodestar Solutions can help you get the training you need or just discover all the fabulous features included in the latest version of Cognos Analytics. Let’s plan a chat, email us at services@lodestarsolutions.com.

Not Sure How to Get Started?

You don’t have to go this alone!  Lodestar Solutions can help you answer the questions you should ask when planning to migrate off Cognos Analytics and complete the steps above to ensure you are making the right decision for your organization.   Stay tuned for the second part of this blog,  Questions You Should Ask When Planning to Migrate Off Cognos Analytics (BI) - Part 2 coming on Thursday, September 10th! Contact us today and schedule a chat. Email services@lodestarsolutions.com.

Is Your Cognos Analytics Content Store Causing Performance Issues?

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Is Your Cognos Analytics Content Store Causing Performance Issues
Is Your Cognos Analytics Content Store Causing Performance Issues
October 8, 2019

As you are planning your IBM Cognos Analytics upgrade you need to ask yourself, “Is Your Cognos Analytics Content Store Causing Performance Issues?”

What’s in the Cognos Analytics Content Store?

Your Cognos Content Store holds a lot of information.  It contains Cognos report specifications, scheduling, packages, data source connections, report outputs, etc. Over time your Cognos Content Store is like your garage, it accumulates a lot of clutter. 

Cause of Content Store Bloat

One big contributor to Content Store bloat is when the end users’ MyFolders content gets out of control.   Years ago, self-service was just a dream. Most end users didn’t really create their own content they just ran reports. But over the years IBM Cognos has become more self-service friendly. Unfortunately, as end users create their own content, they often have multiple versions of the same thing. This can cause Content Store bloat. If too large, the size of your Cognos Analytics Content Store can slow performance and create instability. So yes, size does matter.

Declutter Your Cognos Content Store

There are a few steps all Cognos Administrators should do to help prevent their Cognos Analytics Content Store from causing performance issues.

  1. Turn on Cognos Analytics Auditing to understand what’s being used and what is not. Check out this ​IBM Video for turning auditing on. 
  2. Identify Orphaned content with consistency checks. Orphaned content typically happens when an end user who has created content and stored it in their MyFolders leaves the organization.  The user is removed from security but their content stays and becomes orphaned. This content should either be removed or assigned to someone else. 
  3. Create guidelines for the number of versions retained. Saved report output is stored in the content store database, so it’s recommended you retain the least number of copies. This is possible by modifying the report output versions settings in a report's properties.
  4. IBM Cognos Content Archival allows you to store archived content in an external repository, this helps reduce the size of the content store and could help performance. See IBM Cognos Analytics Administration and Security Guide for more details. 
  5. As a Cognos Administrator you can leverage the Content Removal option to remove output versions in the Public Folder or MyFolders.
Content Removal Option

For more ideas on how you can declutter your Cognos Analytics Content Store so it doesn’t cause performance issues, click here to join our Lodestar Solutions’ Cognos Analytics Club. 

Once you join you will have access to our latest video on this topic as well as many other informative videos for Cognos Analytics Administrators looking to get the most out of their Cognos Analytics Upgrade.

Motio Tools to Improve the Content Store

Cognos Administrators should evaluate Motio Tools when planning their upgrades. Motio has tools that can help you declutter your content store.  Please refer to our previous blog on this topic. IBM and Motio have created an agreement that benefits you! You can leverage MotioCI for 30 days. For more information on Motio products check out their feature Matrix. 

Lodestar Solutions, Inc. is a reseller of Motio products so we are available to answer any questions you have. Just email us at services@lodestarsolutions.com.

Don’t Upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio!

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Don't Upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio
October 4, 2019

WARNING! If you are planning your Cognos Analytics upgrade and you haven’t heard of Motio, your upgrade will take more time and cost you more than it needs to. Don’t upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio!

Use the Right Tools for the Job

Let’s say you had a 5-acre yard to mow and you have two tools you can use. You have a push mower or a large green John Deere tractor.  Which tool would you pick?  The tractor of course!  But clients that aren’t planning to use Motio to streamline their upgrade are choosing the push mower when they don’t have to! Motio provides tools that help IBM Cognos BI administrators succeed with their upgrade.  IBM believes so much in Motio tools they use them internally and they have an agreement to give clients like you access to the Motio tools for 30 days for free. They call it, “Motio in the box.” Check out Motio’s blog for more information.

Don’t upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio!

Motio Benefits for Cognos Clients

Benefits of Motio tools for your upgrade to Cognos Analytics

  • Reduce the clutter of old, unused reports and objects before you upgrade or after
  • Complete regression testing
  • Control versioning so production changes can be promoted to sandboxes for testing
  • When you identify issues, you can update in mass
  • Stress test below going live to ensure success
  • Retrieve content from orphaned/deleted users

Motio recently came out with an amazing new MotioCI module called Inventory. This tool has helped clients understand what’s really in their content store and what report objects are being used. For some clients this has helped them reduce the number of reports to upgrade in half! 

Do you really know what’s in your content store? 

Try this, in your Cognos Product Environment run a query to find the number per object type. The objects can be found here:

<cognos_dir>\configuration\schemas\content\<database_type>\CSsize_profiling_<database_type>.sql


Here’s the query:

select c.NAME as "class name", count(*) as "number of objects"
from CMOBJECTS o, CMCLASSES c
group by o.CLASSID, c.CLASSID, C.NAME
having c.CLASSID=o.CLASSID
order by c.NAME;

Did the size of your Cognos Content Store shock you?

I like to say the content store is like my garage. It’s amazing how quickly it gets cluttered.  Keep an eye out for my next blog where I’ll cover how to declutter your content store. There are ways to declutter it but Motio tools will help you do it faster! Don’t upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio.

Motio Tools for Every Step

Motio Tools will help you reduce the clutter before you upgrade. They will help you with the upgrade, and MotioPI Pro will help you quickly repair issues in mass. MotioCI Versioning will help you bring changes to Prod that happened while you were testing over so you can control the versions. Finally, Motio Report Card will ensure your system has top performance.

Motio Tools
Check out the MotioCI and MotioPI on the Motio website.  

Lodestar Solutions is a value added reseller of Motio products. So as you are planning your upgrade connect with Services@lodestarsolutions.com and we can help you upgrade faster and cheaper. Again, don’t upgrade to Cognos Analytics without Motio!

To learn more about upgrading to Cognos Analytics and to view our videos on Motio, join our new and improved Lodestar Solutions’ Cognos Analytics Club for free. Club members will gain access to videos, tools and special training offers. Click here to join the club. 

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