Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group

2006

Integrate Your Decision Support with Cognos 8

General Announcements:

Please turn off all cell phones/pagers If you must leave the session early, please

do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversations during the

session Questions will be answered at the end of

the session

Thank you for your cooperation

Session Outline

Why Cognos 8? Implementation Steps Current Status Example screen shots Q&A

Why implement a third-party solution?

The need for fact-based decisions based on enterprise-wide information

Timely and consistent data Ease of use Features Robustness

Why Cognos 8BI?

Meets the requirements listed on previous slide. They are the industry leaders in business intelligence software.

Meshes well with Oracle Provides for a single version of the metadata Relatively seamless integration between queries,

reports, charts, powercubes, and scorecards User-oriented interface

Implementation Stages

Create operational data store (ODS) Install Cognos 8BI on dedicated server Create packages Build reports using out-of-the-box ODS

tables Create custom reporting views in ODS

Resources

Three servers Three ODS instances Three analysts Oracle DBA support

Upgrade experiences

What has worked well:– Upgrade/deployment of Cognos ReportNet

(series 7) content store to Cognos 8 was relatively smooth and straight forward

– Automated, scheduled reporting– Financial statements used for fiscal year-end

audit prepared in Cognos– Security of data and control over user functions

utilizing the Cognos infrastructure.

Implementation (cont)

What has worked well (cont):– Integration of existing security architecture within

Cognos framework.– Flexibility of report package deployment via

Framework Manager.– Report writer very flexible – “tabular SQL’s” allow

the development of specifications in a SQL editor and then import the code directly into the Cognos report.

Implementation (cont)

What has worked well (cont):– Robust, dynamic, and user-defined self service

reporting is available for a large % of our consumers.

Benefits: 1) Data is available anytime, anywhere; 2) Reduces administrative burden on limited IT resources; 3) Promotes an environment of financial responsibility and accountability across the campus; and 4) Ensures data integrity which helps enable administrators and managers to tell “one story”.

Implementation (cont)

What has not worked well:– Some initial problems with emailing reports to

users – all issues have since been resolved - not 100% positive that the problem was even with the Cognos product.

– Documentation tends to be technically oriented (i.e. written by a programmer), which makes it non user friendly.

Implementation (cont)

Our favorite undocumented trick- Report specifications can be copied / pasted into Notepad for modification or moving from one server to another (i.e. from Test to Production).

Screen shot examples of user interfaceFinance Reporting Package

Numerous Reporting Capabilities, Including: 1) Financial Statements; 2)

Auxiliary P&L’s; 3) Self Service Reports; 4) Dashboards; and 5) Treasurer’s

Reports

Screen shot examples of user interfaceSchedule Manager

We currently

have ~ 30 reports

scheduled for

automatic distribution

Screen shot examples of user interfaceFunds Inquiry Report With User Defined Prompts

User defined prompts allow flexibility in report creation

Screen shot examples of user interfaceFunds Inquiry Report Output

Conditional formatting based on user defined

thresholds quickly allows the user to identify areas of

opportunity

Optional drill-down capability allows the user to view more details

Screen shot examples of user interfaceFunds Inquiry Drill Down Example Level #1

FOAPAL details are displayed in separate browser window

Screen shot examples of user interfaceFunds Inquiry Drill Down Example Level #2

Descriptive transactional level details are displayed in separate browser window

Screen shot examples of user interfaceOperating Ledger Inquiry With Report Layout Options

Multiple user defined prompts including report

design

Outcome and Current Status

Where we are in the implementation User satisfaction Maintainability

Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group

2006

Open Floor for Other Questions?

Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group

2006

Have a great day!