1) Improve Performance by Setting Query Processing Type

The query processing property for data sources determines whether SQL processing is performed
by the database server or if it is processed locally. For relational metadata, you can improve
performance by selecting the right type of query processing.

There are two types of query processing:

• limited local
The database server does as much of the SQL processing and execution as possible. However,
some reports or report sections use local SQL processing.
• database only
The database server does all the SQL processing and execution. An error appears if any reports
or report sections require local SQL processing.

Although the database server can usually run the SQL and run reports much faster, local
processing is sometimes necessary. For example, choose limited local processing if you want to
create cross database joins, or if you want your users to use unsupported SQL99 functions.

Some complex queries require limited local processing, such as a query that must generate an At
clause to avoid double-counting. In this case, the query automatically uses limited local
processing even if the package was published with database only processing.

Steps
1. In the Project Viewer, click the data source you want to change.
2. In the Properties pane, in the Query Processing list box, click either Limited Local or
Database Only.

2) Interface type for Data Source

Steps
• In Cognos Connection, select Tools->Directory->Data Sources. Click the data source
name. Open the properties of the connection and check the connection type under
Connection tab.
• In Framework Manager, select the data source and in properties expand Type and check
the Interface.
Below is the list of most common data types and their data source type:
CS = Composite (ODBC)
OD = ODBC
OR = Oracle
IF = Informix
D2 = DB2
OL = SQL Server
CT = Sybase

3) Adding Row Count to a Query Studio Report

Click Change Layout

Click Set Web Page Size
Check the option of “Show row numbers”
4) How to determine the framework manager model version without opening the file in
Framework Manager.

Navigate to the folder where the model is stored on the drive and open the model.xml file with
either notepad or an xml editor.

The first 4 lines show the version.

Cognos 8.1 MR2

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<project xmlns="http://www.developer.cognos.com/schemas/bmt/58/1"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.developer.cognos.com/schemas/bmt/58/1

Cognos 8.2

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<project containsDynamicContent="true"
xmlns="http://www.developer.cognos.com/schemas/bmt/58/2"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.developer.cognos.com/schemas/bmt/58/2

5) Setting Usage Property through Tool

Steps:1. Select the fact(s) that need their auto-aggregation changed.
2. Change the Usage of the fact to Unknown and change the Regular Aggregate to
Unsupported
3. From the Tools menu select Determine Usage
3. Publish the package and test in Query or Report Studio

6)How to remove some entries from the Recent Projects section of Framework Manager?
Solution: In order to remove recent projects from the list, the Framework Manager BMT.ini file
must be modified as follows. Steps:

1. In Windows Explorer, search for the bmt.ini file in the x:\..\crn\configuration folder ensuring
that this is the folder that Framework Manager was installed in.

2. Make a backup of the bmt.ini file.

3. Open the bmt.ini file in an XML Editor of your choice.

4. Search for a section called Recent File List.

5. Below this section, you should see preferences with the path to the *.cpf files. These are your
projects.
6. Select all the text on the line for the project you want to remove and delete it. In the remaining
preference keys, you will have to ensure that the "File#" references are sequential. Meaning if
you deleted "File3" then you will have to renumber the remaining files to incorporate that number
again. The "File#" reference always needs to be sequential.

7. Save the bmt.ini file and open Framework Manager.

The Recent Projects should be updated and the project you removed from the bmt.ini file should
be gone.

7) Does Framework Manager talk directly to the database?

Problem(Abstract)
Information about database requests sent by Framework Manager, and the need to have a
database client to connect to the database when Framework Manager is installed on a different
box than the ReportNet (or Cognos 8) server
Resolving the problem All communications to the database for reporting purposes are handled
by the Dispatcher which in turn uses the datasource connections that are already setup in that
environment. For modelling purposes, Framework Manager uses the database client to
communicate directly with the database.

The following are several common questions, with an Oracle datasource being used for example
purposes:

Why does the Oracle client needs to be installed?

Cognos software attempts to load the Oracle client dynamic libraries when using the Oracle client
to connect to the Oracle database. Framework Manager has many features related directly to the
particular database being used, so theses dynamic libraries provide us with functions to provide
some of those features. As per the documentation, if Framework Manager is installed on a
different machine than the Report Server (Application Tier server in Cognos 8), then the database
client must installed and configured locally.

Is there any direct communication between the Framework Manager machine and the database
server?

Yes, after metadata has been imported, all testing of query subjects, relationships, etc are sent as
requests directly from the Framework Manager server to the database

Is it possible to use Framework Manager if the Oracle database is completely behind a firewall
and not accessible by modelers?

No, direct requests are sent to the database from the Framework Manager machine.

Note: all requests related to the Content Store are handled by the Content Manager

8) Changing the dataSource for a Framework Manager model

Problem(Abstract)

How do you move a IBM Cognos ReportNet or IBM Cognos 8 BI application

(framework/published reports) from a test environment into a development environment when
they do not go against the same databases?

Resolving the problem

Create a connection to your test database, create the model and then publish a package.

If the test and production databases are identical, and the only difference is the server in which
they reside, the only thing to do is edit the data source you created, and since the databases are
identical the only thing you have to edit is the server name.

If, however, the connection information is not the same for the production database then once
again you would have to edit the data source connection and edit the user ID and password, server
name, etc...

If the schema is different then, in Framework Manager change Data Source. (see Steps below)

If you are moving from a test Cognos ReportNet or Cognos 8 BI server to a production server,
you must do a deployment Export from Test to Deployment Import on production.

For more detailed information on the steps to export a Deployment Archive, use the online help
in Cognos Connection.

To reach the information, while on the Cognos Connection Home page, click Help.

From the menu on the left, select Search and then enter the following string "deployment archive"
(without the quotes). From the results scroll down to the entry titled "Export" and select it. This
will bring up a page describing the steps to export a deployment archive and then details on what
can be done with this file once it has been created.

Steps:1. When you change Data Source properties, change the following:

Schema: if necessary.

Content Manager Data Source: This is the name of your data source connection in portal
Cognos. Do not change the Name property as it is used in the Framework Manager model.

2. Republish the package for the changes to take effect.

9) Convert datetime to date in Framework Manager

Problem(Abstract)

How to convert a Datetime to Date data type in Framework Manager?

How to remove the Time portion of the Datetime field in Framework Manager?
Solution 1: Cast the Datetime field to a String and take a substring of the date portion. Then cast
to a date. For example: cast (substring ( cast([ORCLGOSL].[ORDERHEADER].[ORDERDATE]
, varchar(50)), 1, 10),date) Solution 2:Create a calculation and cast the Datetime field to a Date.

For example: cast([ORCLGOSL].[ORDERHEADER].[ORDERDATE], date)

10) Definitions for the 4 types of Rollup Processing in Framework Manager or Report
Studio

Problem(Abstract)

There are four types of Rollup Processing in Framework Manager and Report Studio. These are
not covered in the documentation installed with IBM Cognos ReportNet / Framework Manager.

What does each mean?

Resolving the problem

There are four settings for rollup processing, which can be set in Report Studio or Framework
Manager. The default setting for rollup processing is default in Report Studio and unspecified in
Framework Manager, but can be explicitly set to Extended, Database or Local.

1. Default (RS) or Unspecified (FM): Will decide where summary processing aggregations occur
based on the output type of the report.

2. Extended: Instructs the query engine to always use extended forms of aggregates while
Database and Local allow the query engine to use running aggregates where possible.

3. Database: Pushes the running aggregation to the database using derived tables if the database
vendor supports this feature. If not, the running aggregation is performed locally.

4. Local: Will force the query engine to compute the running aggregates at the ReportNet
application vs. at the database tier. This can offload some of the computation load from the
RDBMS server, which can be beneficial when there is more compute capacity at the application
engine tier than the data tier.

11) What changes need to made to reports after changing query subject name in
Framework Manager model.

Problem(Abstract)
Once an underlying query subject name has been changed in Framework Manager model and
package is published, the original report will fail to validate or execute as the path name to the
query item has been changed.

Take this example, where query subject name was changed from "Query Subject 1" to "Query
Subject 0001". (Project structure looks like following in Framework Manager)

->Project Name
-->Namespace
--->Query Subject 1
----->QueryItem1
----->QueryItem2
--->Query Subject 2
--->Query Subject 3

Changed to and package republished:

->Project
-->Namespace
--->Query Subject 0001 (Query subject name changed)
----->QueryItem1
----->QueryItem2
--->Query Subject 2
--->Query Subject 3

In the above example, "Query Subject 1" has been renamed to "Query Subject 0001". When a
report based on the above package is run, following error message appears:

QE-DEF-0459 CCLException
QE-DEF-0030 Expression parsing error.
QE-DEF-0359 The query contains a reference to at least one object '[PackageName].[Query
Subject 1].[QueryItem1]' that does not exist.

QE-DEF-0459 CCLException
QE-DEF-0030 Expression parsing error.
QE-DEF-0359 The query contains a reference to at least one object '[PackageName].[Query
Subject 1].[QueryItem2]' that does not exist.

RSV-VAL-0004 Unable to find query information for the item QueryItem1.

RSV-VAL-0004 Unable to find query information for the item QueryItem2.

Note that the report that we are using in this example is a simple list report with "QueryItem1"
and "QueryItem2" from "Query Subject 1".

Symptom
QE-DEF-0459 CCLException

QE-DEF-0030 Expression parsing error

QE-DEF-0359 The query contains a reference to at least one object '[PackageName].[Query
Subject
1].[QueryItem1]' that does not exist.
QE-DEF-0459 CCLException
QE-DEF-0030 Expression parsing error
QE-DEF-0359 The query contains a reference to at least one object '[PackageName].[Query
Subject 1].[QueryItem2]' that does not exist.
RSV-VAL-0004 Unable to find query information for the item QueryItem1.
RSV-VAL-0004 Unable to find query information for the item QueryItem2.

Cause
Changing the name of a query subject will change the query item path that was embedded in the
query specifications when the report was created from the original package with original query
subject name.

Resolving the problem

Remap the query items to the new or the renamed query subject manually in each report that is
based of the modified package.
Steps:

1. Open the report in Report Studio

2. Double click the first list item i.e. QueryItem1
3. Change the: [PackageName].[Query Subject 1].[QueryItem1] expression to [PackageName].
[Query Subject 0001].[QueryItem1] and click OK
4. Repeat these steps for QueryItem2.
5. Validate the report, and the QE-DEF-0459 and RSV-VAL-0004 errors should disappear

12) Relationships for Query subjects in Framework Manager are not displayed in Content
Explorer

Problem(Abstract)
Cannot see the relationships between query subjects in a certain Framework Manager model, but
can see them in others.

Cause
The settings to show the detail for the diagram did not include Relationships

Resolving the problem

Change the settings in Framework Manager Steps:1. Open Framework Manager and the model

2. Viewing the Diagram, either right click on an open space

3. From the Diagram menu item, select Level of Detail, Relationships

13) When I run the cognos report and save it as excel , the default date Jan 01, 0001 is
getting saved as Jan 01, 1900.

This is an issue with the Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Excel date formulas can only use dates
entered between 1/1/1900 and 12/31/9999. Pdf version of the report would display proper results.