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Business Intelligence, Reporting and AdHoc Query Tools
Business Intelligence, Reporting and AdHoc Query Tools
- vjones (Unlicensed)
- Valerie Jones
- Marina Arseniev (Unlicensed)
Owned by vjones (Unlicensed)
The BI/DW team offers the following solutions for reporting, analytical, and data extraction needs:
| Solution | Description |
|---|---|
| Cognos Reports | Centrally developed reports that can be executed on-demand or scheduled. Reports are currently available for the current financial (KFS), security role (KSAMS), Office of Research, Office of Institutional Research, and student success (Compass) data. |
| Cognos Dashboards | Centrally developed interactive tool that provides visualizations such as a graph, chart, plot, table, and maps of key performance indicators, data points, metrics and other insights from aggregated data sets. |
| Cognos Report Studio | Allows technical users the ability to author reports using existing Cognos content. |
| DWQuery | A new OIT-developed tool providing business users with a modernized query by example user interface for extracting data. This tool provides an intuitive user interface with advanced filter options such as auto-filled prompts, filtering on hierarchical attributes, and sorting and filtering of the query output. General ledger data is currently available in this query. Development is in progress for Banner Student, Financial Aid, Student Receivables, PPS Payroll Expense, PPS Employee Snapshots, and PPS Payroll Audit. |
| Tableau | |
*Direct SQL access to the data warehouse databases is not supported, due to security and performance concerns. The team is currently working toward a solution that allows users to connect their own tools to the data warehouse.
Use Cases
| Use Case | Solution | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Infrequent and/or non-technical users that need quick and simple access to predefined reports | Cognos Reports | Simple |
| Users that need frequent or scheduled access to standardized reports or reports with complex business logic, or with complex formatting and graphics | Cognos Reports | Simple |
| Executives and upper management that need high-level aggregate, summarized at a glance data with graphical representation of the numbers. Usually includes key performance indicators or trend analysis. | Cognos Studio | Simple |
| Technically advanced business users that require adhoc and customized reporting using existing Cognos pacakges | Cognos Studio | Moderate |
| Business users that require adhoc or scheduled access to data, using a flexible yet easy to use interface that would allow downloads to Excel or other application | DWQuery | Moderate |
| Technically advanced business users, with Cognos training, that need to build customized reports with complex business logic and/or formatting | Cognos Studio | Difficult |
Cognos Report Delivery Options
| Delivery Option | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| On Demand | User runs the report manually when needed. | Daily operational reporting needs. |
| Scheduled, via email | User schedules the report to run at a certain day/time. | Large reports with longer run times (greater than 2 minutes). Regularly scheduled reports. |
| Bursting to Filenet | Regularly scheduled report runs, where the report is stored on the Filenet server. | High quantity, reports needed for data retention purposes or auditing. |