An organization’s BI needs grow as business strategies adjust to a new business landscape. Acquisitions and mergers, regulatory requirements, and the user community can drive changes in BI requirements. To support the key decision makers with a 360-degree view of the business, data from existing sources needs to be integrated with new data sources, such as from SAP B1, that may arise from such changes. Data integration strategies...

If you are in the market for a business intelligence (BI) solution these days, you have surely come across, and perhaps have even shortlisted, Microsoft Power BI.  Microsoft seems to have adapted a similar marketing strategy to that used to flood the market with Microsoft Word back in the early 80’s.  Bundling MS Word with other Microsoft software to overtake the competition was indeed successful with MS Word (who uses WordPerfect or...

Accurate and timely inventory information is key to customer satisfaction and a driver for increased productivity and profitability.  Getting a visual and real-time (or near real-time) analytics snapshot of your warehouse could prove an invaluable tool from an operations standpoint. A well implemented and integrated warehouse inventory control system enables you to capture accurate product quantities and locations and gives you...

Unless you’re a member of the underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who rule the earth, the sheer concept of business intelligence can make you feel like a mere mortal navigating your way through The Matrix. It’s ironic, actually. BI, complex as it is, will make certain aspects of your business a whole lot simpler. Fortunately, there are resources like Business Intelligence for Dummies to help guide you – or,...

What’s New & What Stays in the new release? Cognos Analytics, released at the end of December 2015, offers the same functionality available in Cognos 10, but with a new and improved interface and user experience mirrored after the same self-service design principles as Watson Analytics. When you upgrade, users will still be able to access and navigate to all of the current studios within Cognos Analytics just as they were in...

In summer 2014, IBM announced changes in the IBM Cognos User Roles and Definitions.  This new licensing model has made it easier for users to access Cognos 10 capabilities, such as Cognos Workspace, Active Report and Mobile. Cognos customers had their user roles automatically migrated to one of three simplified roles with increased functionality, with the exception of the Consumer license role, which remains unchanged. You can give...