Cognos Analytics  Release 7 (R7) was released on August 24, 2017, with many changes to the solution.  It features a new UI for Portal, Dashboard and Modules, filter enhancements in dashboards and reporting, additional visualizations, a new logging framework and now supports an updated version of PowerPlay 11.

Home Page

• Redesigned Welcome page
• Quick reference links – easier to get started
• Recent items tiles

Content Navigation

• Redesigned navigation pane
• Single panel – now stretches (you can resize window)
• Names automatically adjust to best fit available width

Dashboard – General

Create navigation paths on the fly (prior versions required navigation path creation in the Data Module)

Dashboard – Filter Enhancements

• Filter dock above canvas
  • Frees up canvas
  • Widgets not affected by highlighting
  • Checkbox, sliders, hierarchy tree
• Conditions-based filters (begins with, ends with, contains…)
• Top/bottom on n values or percentile

Dashboards – Advanced Calculations

• Invoked from single or multiple values
• Simple and advanced calculations
• Expression editor for more complex calculations

Dashboards – Visualization Enhancements

• Measures as attributes on axis
• Values on charts
• Multiple attributes per label
• Others
  • Additional nested edges on crosstabs
  • New visualizations (Network, 100% stacked charts)
  • Better label placement

Storytelling

• Animated Path – Allow transitions to keep items on screen while directing focus to another area
• Image upload extension – Administrator controlled library of images uploaded via extensions that can be used across dashboard and stories

Reporting

• Maps in standard reports
  • Supports two independent or joined layers
  • Pan & Zoom, Tooltips, maps styles
  • Warning dialog show all unmatched locations
• Navigation groups from data modules
  • Navigation groups visible under Data items tab of metadata panel
  • Supports navigate to any levels defined in a data module
• Interactive filtering panel in viewer
  • Overview of all filters applied to the current report
  • Allows direct editing
  • Dynamically highlight report objects with each filter
• Users can download an Active Report directly within viewer
• My parameters
  • Can filter multiple reports using the same parameter values
    • Administrator sets default values at Role level
    • Supports importing parameters from existing reports
    • Users can override default parameter values
  • Package based drill-through
    • Directly available in Interactive viewer
    • Detailed selection context information
    • Supports upgraded package based drill-through reports running with full interactivity set to yes
    • Supports C10 dynamic filtering
  • View tabular data in all supported formats
  • Ability to group repeating cells when export to Excel
  • Interactive performance assistant
    • Shows querying and rendering performance on report objects
    • Available in HTML format in both viewer and preview mode within authoring
    • Also includes detailed information on Host machine name, Process ID, Session ID, Request ID and Hop count
    • Find performance issue earlier – Discover the performance issue right at the beginning of the report design process
    • Find performance right at the moment – Ideal to trouble shooting random production issue
    • Live data view – Experience performance during live view report authoring process
    • No Cost, or little Cost – No configuration, no additional resource required

Text measures in crosstabs (common in TM1 cubes)

Planning Analytics connections within Manage area

• No need for legacy Cognos Administration interface
• Ability to create data modules on selected cubes

Logging Framework

• Advantages:
  • No more naming files: ipfaaaclientconfig.xml.sample
  • No more restarting of services
• Types of Logging
  • Session Logging – User session for reproducible problems
  • Diagnostic Logging browser-based administration – use for intermittent or service-specific problems
  • Interactive Performance Assistant Logging
  • IPA customers self diagnose performance or tuning related issues before logging a PMR
  • Report Performance Challenges in a Distributed Environment

Installation options

• No requirement to install, configure and start the content manager
  • All tiers available
  • Connect and install available

Security update

• Everyone Role removed from everywhere but System Administrator
• New Cognos Roles map directly to new CA11 Licence feature
• Customers upgrading don’t lose anything
• New customers get new model
• Recommend customers start using new roles

Multi tenancy updates – improvements & capabilities

PowerPlay 11

• Updated versions of PowerPlay Windows client, PowerPlay Studio, and Transformer
  • Updated O/S conformance, including Windows 10
  • Updated browser conformance for Chrome, IE, and FireFox
  • Functionally the same as 10.2.2 products
• PowerPlay reports and report views integrated into Cognos Analytics portal
  • Reports/studio run in separate browser tab(s)
• Separate installation for PowerPlay products, uses CA portal
• On PowerPlay Server startup, PowerPlay Studio immediately available in Cognos Analytics

Not on the latest version of IBM Cognos Analytics yet?  Need some help with your migration?  Read more about NewIntelligence’s migration expertise in our Migration Services section.