Cognos Build Data Marts Reports and Dashboards

Getting Started

• Identify the purpose of IBM Cognos Data Manager
• Define data warehousing and its key underlying concepts
• Identify how Data Manager creates data warehouses
• Examine the Data Manager architecture and user interface

Create Derivations

• Examine derivations
• Apply operators and functions to derivations
• Examine the derivation timing model
• Add derivations to a fact build

Process Dimensional History and Late Arriving Facts

• Examine slowly changing dimensions (SCDs)
• Use surrogate keys in SCDs
• Manage type 1 and type 2 changes to dimensional data
• Load historical data for a dimension
• Examine late arriving facts
• Process late arriving facts in a fact build

Customize Fact Data Processing

• Filter fact data
• Merge duplicate fact data
• Examine fact data integrity checking
• Reject fact data

Automate Functionality Using Commands

• Differentiate between the Command Line Interface (CLI) and Data Manager Designer
• Identify common commands
• Use commands in a batch file
• Examine variables

Pivot Fact Data

• Examine pivoting
• Use the single pivot technique
• Use the advanced pivot technique

Create List Reports

• Format, group, and sort list reports
• Describe options for aggregating data
• Create a multi-fact query
• Create a report with repeated data

Present Data Graphically

• Create charts containing peer and nested items
• Add context to charts
• Present key data in a single dashboard report

Present Data Using Maps

• Present data using map reports
• Navigate to another level within a map

Create Query Reports Based on Relationships

• Create reports by merging query results
• Create reports by joining queries
• Combine data containers based on relationships from different queries

Enhance UserInteraction with HTML

• Create tooltips that clarify report data
• Send emails using links in a report

Create a Catalog

• Examine the purpose and contents of Data Manager catalogs
• Create a catalog
• Define connections to source and target data
• Access data using SQLTerm
• Configure flat data source files using SQLTXT

Create Conformed Dimensions

• Examine conformed dimensions and their advantages
• Design conformed dimensions
• Create conformed dimensions
• Create data integrity lookups that use conformed dimensions

Transform Data Using Lookups and Derived Dimensions

• Identify when to use lookups
• Identify the requirements for a lookup
• Create a translation lookup
• Create an optional lookup
• Add derived dimensions to fact builds

Aggregate, Filter, and Partition Fact Data

• Aggregate fact data
• Examine aggregate rules
• Vertically restrict fact data
• Horizontally restrict fact data
• Partition fact data

Customize Functionality with User-Defined Functions and Variables

• Examine user defined functions (UDFs)
• Create an internal UDF
• Create a user-defined variable

Resolve Data Quality Issues

• Identify data quality and cleansing issues
• Handle fostered and unmatched members
• Perform debugging using SQLTerm and functions
• Assess the quality of output data

Focus Reports Using Filters

• Create filters to narrow the focus of reports
• Examine detail and summary filters
• Determine when to apply filters on aggregate data

Focus Reports Using Prompts

• Identify various prompt types
• Use parameters and prompts to focus data
• Customize prompts to facilitate users' choices
• Display users' prompt selections in the report

Customize Reports with Conditional Formatting

• Create multi-lingual reports
• Highlight exceptional data
• Conditionally render objects in reports

Design Effective Prompts

• Control report displays using prompts
• Specify conditional formatting values using prompts
• Specify conditional rendering of objects based on prompt selection
• Create sorted and filtered reports based on prompt selection

End-to-End Workshop (Optional)

Create Hierarchies

• Examine the role of the dimensional framework in Data Manager
• Examine hierarchies and their data sources
• Identify how to create hierarchies from the columns of one table, the rows of one table, and from multiple tables
• Test and view hierarchies
• Create a hierarchy of static date values
• Handle weeks in a date hierarchy

Customize Reference Structures

• Create hierarchies manually using different approaches
• Examine the features of a hierarchy
• Examine literals
• Set data access for hierarchy levels
• Examine static and dynamic members
• Examine fostering

Customize Data Delivery

• Configure fact and dimension delivery modules
• Create indexes on fact and dimension tables
• Update fact data using keys

Implement Job Control

• Examine where job control fits into the data warehouse lifecycle
• Create a JobStream
• Add, link, and reposition nodes
• Execute a JobStream and view the results

Process Unbalanced Hierarchical Data

• Examine balanced, unbalanced, and ragged hierarchies
• Add a recursive level to a hierarchy
• Identify ways to balance a hierarchy and delivered flattened data
• Examine circular references

Organize and Package Data Manager Components

• Export and import components using packages
• Search for components in a catalog using Navigator

Create Crosstab Reports

• Format and sort crosstab reports
• Convert a list to a crosstab
• Create crosstabs using unrelated data items
• Create complex crosstabs using drag and drop functionality

Extend Reports Using Calculations

• Create calculations based on data in the data source
• Add run-time information to the reports
• Create expressions using functions

Drill-through Definitions

• Enable users to navigate to related data in IBM Cognos BI
• Parameter-driven drill through vs. dynamic drill through
• Steps to enable drill-through access for a package
• Limit the items that users can drill through from (set scope)

Create Additional Advanced Reports

• Create a report that displays summarized data before detailed data
• Highlight alternate rows in a list report
• Create a report using an external data file
• Use single data items to summarize report information