How to improve Report performance in ReportNet? By aggregation. Try to use less filters in the report.

Use star schema grouping, check the joins. Also drill through functionality increases performance as well . Always try to use appropriate functionality which can save time in this way yo u can improve performance of a report. What is object security in framework manager? Object security restrict access to specific objects in a project, for example if you have a user or group of users who you don t want access to a particular Namespa ce then you can remove access to that Namespace for that user or group of users. Objects which can have security applied include namespaces, query subjects, qu ery items, filters and folders. You can either Allow (make visible) or Deny (not visible) access to these objects. What is catalog and types of catalogs in cagonos? A catalog is a file containing the information (Database tables) that Impromptu users need to create reports. personal distributed shared secured

What is the difference between a cascading report and drillthru report?why do we go for drill thru report? Cascading prompt means to extract the data from one prompt to using values from another prompt. Drill through report means to extract the data by selecting a column in a report , means to get the detailed information by clicking that column data. How to join multiple db in catalog? Mutiple database could not be connected in a single catalog. So that we use hotf ile for this purpose. How can i schedule reports in cognos? By using Cognos Schedular, one can schedule the running reports in Impromptu to execute and save it in desired format. By using Cognos MACRO script language the reports can be executed and distribute d to recipients by using mail applications. Compiled Cognos MACROs can be scheduled using Cognos Schedular. What is Cognos Visualizer and Cognos Scripting? Cognos Visualizer:Cognos Visualizer provides powerful visual analysis to communi cate complex business dataquickly and intuitively. By going beyond simple pie or bar graphs, you can view and combinedata in a way that lets you immediately see areas of concern, trends, and other indicators.Cognos scripting:You can use the Cognos Script editor, or any other OLE compliant editor to create, modify,compi le, and run macros.A macro is a set of commands that automates the running of an application. You can automatemost Cognos Business Intelligence applications by using the Cognos Script language (a BASIC-like language) the Cognos Script Edito r, and OLE automation What is the difference between group and associare? When you group data, Impromptu sorts the data item you are grouping and removes duplicatevalues. You can organize your report by grouping on one or more data it ems.By associating a grouped data item to another data item, you can eliminate d uplicateinformation from your report.You can associate one or more data items wi th a grouped data item. An associated data itemshould have a one-to-one relation

ship with the grouped data item. For example, Order No. is agrouped data item. F or each order number, there is an Order Date. Order No. and Order Datehave a one -to-one relationship. What is drill down and slicing and dicing whats the difference between them? Drilling lets you quickly move from one level of detail to another to explore di fferent aspects of your business. Drilling down moves you down in the hierarchy; drilling up moves you up in the hierarchy. Slicing and Dicing: While you can drill to look at information at any level, you can slice and dice to select the exact information you want in your report. How to generate cubes in cognos? Power Play Transformer contain dimension,measure,model and cube. we can generate cube different way. 1. Just right click on cube name and build 2. we can write script in unix. using that we can generate cube. What is snapshot? A Snapshot is the copy of data, when we create a snapshot it copies the exact da ta that's related to the at perticular report, we use snapshot when ever we want to compare reports(ex we want to compare this months report with previous month s) What is meant by Junk Dimension? The junk dimension is simply a structure that provides a convenient place to sto re the junk attributes What is IQD?What is contained in IQD? How you create IQD In ReportNet FrameWork? 1. Create a new namespace.<give it a name, say, IQDReportNet> 2. Create a new query subject inside IQDReportNet. 3.In the query subject definition window, pull in all the data you need. 4. after creating, click on the new query subject, from the properties pane, sel ect "IQD" from the drop down menu of externalizeMethod. DONE. to Publish. u need to create a package. 1. create a new package. a WIZARD will open. 2. Name the new Package; select the IQDReportNet object from the project. 3. add security, select language, select the funtion list(DB), select the locati on from the WIZARD 4. Publish the package. When You Import data into catalog You have complex columns names. How do you cha nge the Name of those columns? Open Impromptu Administrator -> Catalog -> Folders option Select the column you want to Click the Edit button, From Left Pane Select Particular Column which you wants to Rename Drag that into Right Pane then Select that Column and Click on Rename Button then Change the name.

What is loop in frameworkmanager ? Loop: loop is a closed path (relation) that exists among 3 (or) more tables. For example, if we have '3' tables T1, T2, T3 then, a loop exists among these table s only when we create joins in the following fashion: Loop: T1 ---> T2 ---> T3 ---> T1

To resolve the above problem, we have to create a shortcut (or) Alias to the Tab le T1. No Loop: T1 ---> T2 ---> T3 ---> Alias (or) Shortcut of T1

What is the security module used in cognos? Cognos uses KERBORES security model. It was the model which was found in 1980. How can i test reports in cagonos? In cognos report net by the validate report option a report can be tested. If th ere will be any error, it will specify the the error, unless it will give messag e -'report specification is valid'. ******************************************************************************** ****************************************** Cognos 8 Business Intelligence applications: Query Studio - a tool to create basic ad-hoc reports and a lighter version of Re port Studio. It allows users to create one 1-page report at a time. Application used by Query Authors and Report Authors. Report Studio - used to create and manage more advanced reports, which are very often standarized and recreated periodically and distributed to people in variou s departments in an organization. Reports designs created in Query Studio can be read and edited in Report Studio (not the opposite way). Report Studio is used by Report Authors. Analysis Studio - an application to analyze cubes and explore business data in a multidimensional manner. Mainly used by business analysts. Metrics Studio - used for the scorecarding. The idea behind it is to put perform ance indicators next to the organization's key performance measures (red, orange , green status notation). Event Studio - a process (an agent) which runs in the background and monitors th e data and reacts when ocurrs something which may be cause a problem in the futu re in the business. For instance, if quantity of product X on stock is less than a given value, event manager can send an email to the responsible person which will contain a warning with problem description and a cognos report attached. Cognos Connection - it is a Web portal for Cognos 8 and a component which interr acts with the Content Store. It is a frontend to publish, find, manage, organize , and view organization s business intelligence data.

 PowerPlay Transformer and PowerPlay Client - the default cognos 8 installation c omes with the PowerPlay Transformer 7.3. By including PowerPlay in Cognos 8 suit e, Cognos shows that they still have no complete replacement for this strategic product. Content Store is a database where the metadata for all the Cognos 8 component is stored and managed centrally.

Content store can be accessed directly from the Framework Manager. Framework Man ager is the Cognos 8 modeling tool for creating and managing business-related me tadata for use in Cognos 8 analysis and reporting.

The main users of Framework manager are data warehouse developers and data model ers. Report authors base on the metadata information set up using Framework mana ger when creating new reports. ******************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************** **** 1. What is stiched Query Stitch query is a way in cognos to avoid full outer joins. If you are trying to model a full outer join involving two fact tables related through a common dimension table, note that Cognos 8 will handle such situations using a stitch query, which does not require that you model any of the relationships as an outer join. If you have a forecast for a new backpack called the Day Hiker 3, you may not have any sales yet for that product. You might have some sales for an older backpack, say the Day Hiker 1, though you might not have forecast any sales for it because it is no longer being promoted. The Day Hiker 2 backpack might have both sales and forecast information. If you create a report for products, sales, and forecast, and if you have properly modeled the situation, the report will produce a stitch query. That stitch query will first retrieve the sales data for the Day Hiker 1 and the Day Hiker 2 backpacks, as well as the forecast information for the Day Hiker 2 and Day Hiker 3 backpacks. Stitching those two results sets together, Cognos 8 will display that you have only sales for the Day Hiker 1, sales and forecast for the Day Hiker 2, and only forecast for the Day Hiker 3. This is effectively a full outer join without having to model explicit outer joins in the relationships among these tables. You will notice a coalesce statement if you look at the generated SQL in a report that uses a stitch query. (Unserstand the example) 2. What is loop in FM?

A Loop is a closed path (relation) that exists among 3 (or) more tables. For example, if we have '3' tables P1, P2, P3 then, a loop exists among these tables only when we create joins in the following fashion: Loop: P1 -> P2 -> P3 ---> P1 (hence, forming a loop) To resolve the above problem, we have to create a shortcut (or) Alias to the Table P1. No Loop: P1 -> P2 -> P3 -> Alias (or) Shortcut of P1 (Remember. Interviewer will ask you abt how to create short cuts or alias and hw many of them are there; Prepare for that also:)) 3. Best practices in modeling in FM? There are many best practices that you can use when modelling your data. And, you have to go through some of the web sites to get this info. I have collated a few of them and they are project specific: Login as Read Only user and check out the model as local copy, once the Model is ready and developed use the licensed user to merge your changes Once the Model is updated please validate your Model by generating report Add Description for the new version which is created by you. Helps in tracking the changes. Re-Check the default value of a column once the Model is updated. Provide Latin as character set if Unicode is not applicable. Provide the Owner Name for all objects, example EDW_DATA (not development Owner Name: FIN3_ETL_TARGET) Specify the relationship among the objects, try not to hang any objects. Tell gthe interview that this were the giude lines in youer modelling. 4. Three types of SQL There are there types of SQL in Cognos especially working with FM. They are: a) Native SQL: Native SQL is something that is generated as per the terms of the SQL language. Here, all the iformation are retrieved when going for select statement and hence somtimes works as similar to Select * statement. b) Cognos SQL: This SQL is generated by Cognos with some modifications and have improved performance over Native SQl since, it ensures that it is only going to retrieve trhe values that are requested by you and not all. c) Pass Through SQL: This tyoe of SQL is not at all modified and sent to your DB for querying and hence, should not be used as this degrades the performance when compared to the Cognos SQL. 8. Performance tuning in reports:

1. Don t use the Not in function in the query. 2. Check the Governor Settings. 3. Check the table qualifying and weighting. 4. Check the client/server balancing. 5. Avoid using complex calculations avoid complex reportcheck filter condition, use less filter, avoid unwanted calculation ******************************************************************************** *******************************************