IBM SPSS

Latest versions – IBM Cognos TM1, BI and SPSS

by

Latest versions
IBM Cognos TM1, BI and SPSS

Cognos latest versions

If you are not a frequent visitor of user forums, belong to a user community that sends out information blasts, or just simply cannot find a quick answer on IBM’s website, please join the Lodestar Solutions Community and you can find out things like the latest versions of IBM Cognos TM1, BI and SPSS.

Due to vendor email spam compliance policy, you have to “Opt-in” for Lodestar Solutions to email you on updates like what the latest version is. Since you are already reading this, you’re halfway there. Just fill out the “Join for Free Updates” section (or go to our home page if not showing). You will then receive an email, where you need to click on the link to confirm that you are opting in.

We continually add new, informative content that can help you with your IBM products and more!

IBM Cognos Planning: 10.1.1 Fix Pack 2

IBM Cognos TM1 Enterprise: 10.2.2

IBM Cognos TM1 Express: 10.2.1 (due out Oct 15, 2014)

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence: 10.2.1 Fix Pack 4

IBM SPSS: 22.0

And if you need more specific questions answered about IBM Cognos TM1, BI, SPSS or maybe you just have a need to discuss your licensing mix to make sure it’s the best fit for you, do not hesitate to contact us at  Sales@LodestarSolutions.com.

Updated: July 13, 2016

SPSS Statistical Survey Software – Data Collection

by

Did you know that IBM has a Statistical Survey Software platform?  They do!  It came along with the SPSS acquisition in 2010! If you’re feeling like you’ve matured beyond playing around with Survey Monkey, IBM SPSS Data Collection is likely a good step for you!

The IBM SPSS Data Collection survey platform includes an easy to use Survey Authoring tool that allows you to quickly import your existing Microsoft Word survey, and it will even help you automatically select the correct question type!  Data Collection understands complicated skip and fill logistics, and you can author a survey once and deploy it to all of the modes:

  • Paper & Scan
  • Web/Cloud
  • Kiosk/Tablet
  • Phone (CATI)

You can also start in one mode and finish in another (for example: start on phone call, and email a link to finish on the web).  It is possible to administer a survey while disconnected from the system and have the results upload automatically as your device comes into a web serviceable area – and there are also options to report on the survey’s progress all along the way, as well as handle other survey administration tasks without skipping a beat.

Results can be funneled into IBM SPSS products (like Statistics or Modeler) for analysis and data mining or text mining (if you’ve gotten open ended responses), or you can also export them into Microsoft products as needed (Excel, Power Point, etc.).

One of the most interesting things about this Survey capability is that if you’re looking into working on a Big Data project but find yourself coming up short on particular data (needed for a valuable prediction), a survey is an excellent way to supplement your existing data and may present an opportunity to gather what you’re missing.

If you’d like to delve a little deeper into this topic, feel free to reach out to us!

IBM Released New Version of SPSS Statistics

by

For the past several years, IBM has released a new version of SPSS Statistics V22 in the fall, and Version 22 is now available (as of 8/13/13).

What does that mean for you and SPSS statistics V22? Well stay tuned, there’s a little something for everyone:

New to SPSS Statistics: SPSS is hands-down the easiest statistical tool to learn, with a point & click interface and no need to learn programming language (it is a favorite of colleges & universities around the world), while giving the user more powerful and accurate control over data than what you’d get from Excel. This particular version boosts productivity and shrinks the learning curve from the moment you open it:

​

SPSS statistics

​

The opening dialogue includes New Files, What’s New, Recent Files, a listing of the modules and extensions you’ve purchased, and Tutorials.*

(*SPSS Statistics is modular; so you can get one of the prepackaged bundles, or just the Base + Modules you require, without having to buy the whole kit and caboodle.)

This version also makes it super easy to turn SPSS’s drab output/charts into colorful, appealing, and interesting visual aids. Additionally, these outputs can finally be published to the web AND go mobile. Output can now be made accessible by desktop (win, mac, linux) smartphone and tablet (ipad, ipod, iphone, android 2.1 and newer, and Windows 8), where your consumers can interact with the object without any kind of special reader. This is in addition to the traditional Microsoft and Adobe publication formats, and now includes the ability to export to Cognos Active Reports (.mht). You can also now add notations to your output objects (automatically add your name, date, the data source, etc., or your own text).

Intermediate SPSS Statistics User: Monte Carlo Simulation – the FUTURE is NOW! Monte Carlo Simulation came out in v21 for SPSS Statistics and if you’re not already familiar with it, this means that SPSS Statistics can use existing similar data you have to fit and correct the inputs automatically, saving you time and effort. This makes it much easier to make a prediction even when you don’t have all the data! The updates in v22 for Monte Carlo Simulation include:

  • Generating data without a model
  • Association between categorical inputs
  • Heat maps (and they look good too – see below)
  • Support for ALM (Auto Linear Models)
  • Simulating string inputs
  • New correlation & contingency table
  • Option to include or exclude missing values re: categorical inputs
  • Unmatched categories table

SPSS Statistics

SPSS Statistics Power User: For the SPSS super user, you might like to know that the Python plug-in that you used to have to download and install from the internet (and the manual process of going to IBM’s Developer Works website to obtain algorithms) is gone! The Python extension is directly in the UI and comes as a part of the SPSS download! You can now search for and download extensions and updates from right within the tool! IBM has also upgraded the speed of case processing, so you can read and write data faster to and from the active data set. There is also improved functionality within SPSS Statistics Server relative to performance and scalability with SQL Pushback. In total, this is good for statisticians and IT folks alike, as it makes the best use of IT resources (conserving resources, delivering faster results, and reducing overall IT costs). Additionally, working with large data sets is faster and more scalable, such as improved resilience in the event of network failures (if connection between server and client is lost, system will wait for a pre-specified time to reconnect), and asynchronous reading of data for improved performance on certain procedures (preliminary results show 4 to 47% improvement).

If you’re on an active service contract for SPSS Statistics with IBM, the new version should be available in your download portal TODAY. Feel free to contact us if you’re not on an active service contract. We can help!

There are various other updates to IBM SPSS Statistics v22. If you’d like to see more, please see this prerecorded presentation/demo that IBM published today: “What’s New in IBM SPSS Statistics v22?”.

Finally, IBM makes a 14 day trial version available on their website, so you can kick the tires here: IBM SPSS Statistics v22 Trial Download.

SPSS Statistics

X