Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (C8 BI)

Framework Manager

What is C8 BI Framework Manager?

C8 BI Framework Manager is a Windows client based application for importing

data and modeling it in such a way that it provides increased simplified access to
data. Common calculations, multilingual capabilities and security can be added
to increase business value. Framework Manager models may be published as
Packages and deployed to Cognos 8 where reports can then be created from
them.
Getting Started

We will start our Framework Manager workshop by opening an existing model

and enhancing it.

1. On the Start page, double-click C8 Framework Manager icon

• Once the application is finished resetting, Framework Manager will

launch

2. From the File menu, select Open…

• The Open Project dialog box is presented

3. Select Cognos8 FM Forum2006.cpf and click Open

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 4. When prompted to login use Administrator leave the password blank,
and click OK

You are now placed into the Framework Manager application. The tree structure
in the Project Viewer pane (to the left) shows the Objects in your model

• Expand the go_sales namespace b y clicking the + symbol to see what

database tables were imported and what Query Sub jects are available.

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Defining Quality of Service

In Cognos 8 it is possible to control and document the functions that will be made
available to an end user. This is defined by a feature called ‘Quality of Service’.
If there are functions that are never used, perform poorly or simply not
understood properly, ‘Qua lity of Service’ can assist in enhancing the user
experience.

1. From the Project menu, select Project Function List …

2. Check the radio button for Set function list based on the data source
type

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3. To set both data sources to use SQLServer, click under the Function set
column for both gosales and goretailers, and select SQLServer from the
drop-down

4. Click the Define Quality of Service button

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 5. Expand Operators and left-click on the down arrow beside the f(x) +

You have the option to make the function unavailable, and to provide a visual cue
as to possible issues and to add further documentation

6. Let’s change this by selecting Poor Performance and add the following
text to the Additional information pane: I did this at Cognos Forum2006

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7. Click OK

• A Writing overrides to model message will quickly flash on the

screen

8. Click OK to exit the Project Function List window

9. In the Project Viewer pane, expand the namespace Database view, and
then expand the namespace gosales

10. Right-click on Inventory levels and select Edit Definition …

11. Click on the Calculations tab

12. Click Add at the bottom right-hand side

13. Click on the Functions tab at the bottom of the Available Components
pane

14. Expand Operators and select the plus sign +

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Note the exclamation mark ( ! ) beside the + providing a visual cue and the
description for the operator contains our additional information:

15. Click Cancel and then click OK

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Model Reporting

Being able to document your model and understand what is in it has never been
easier. With the model open do the following steps:

1. In the Project Viewer pane, select the root go_sales namespace

2. From the Tools menu, select the Model Report … option

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 3. In the Model Report window, click on XML in the top-right corner - this will
take a minute to convert the report to XML

You now have the model report (relationships, Query Subjects, etc.) in XML
format

4. On the Model Report window, click the to close it

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Adding a Cognos PowerCube as a data source

In order to be able to report off an OLAP and Relational data source in the same
report, both data sources need to be in the same model. Query Studio and
Report Studio can access metadata that is relationally or dimensionally modeled.
Analysis Studio can only work with dimensionally modeled metadata.

1. From the Project Viewer pane, right-click on the Database view

namespace and select Run Metadata Wizard …

2. Select Data Sources and click Next

3. Select great_outdoors_company and click Next

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4. In the Create Package – Provide Name dialog, for the Name type in: GO
Cube Forum2006

• Since there is no additional modeling possible, you automatically

create a package when adding an OLAP datasource to a Framework
Manager model

5. Click Next

6. Click Finish on the Create Package Wizard – Add Security dialog

7. Click No to close the dialog (if you would like to publish the package, feel
free to do so)

• You have successfully added a Cognos Powercube to the model and

created a package with just that Powercube available in it

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You now see great_outdoors_company under the namespace Database view

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Dimensionally Modelled Relational metadata

It may be required to dimensionally model relational metadata in order to fulfill

certain business analysis requirements. There are several steps required to add
this kind of value to any FM model. To illustrate how to do this, we’re going to
recreate the Product dimension within the FM model

1. Right-click on the Dimension view namespace, and from the Create

menu, select Regular Dimension ( )

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2. Select the Add Hierarchy link located in the center of the dialog box as
shown

3. To rename the New Hierarchy to My Product, right-click New Hierarchy

in the Hierarchies frame, select Rename, type in: My Product, and hit
Enter

4. To rename New Hierarchy(All) to My Product(All), right-click New

Hierarchy(All) in the Hierarchies frame, select Rename, type in: My
Product(All), and hit Enter

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5. In the Available items window, navigate to the Product namespace by
following the path shown in the screen shot shown, and expand the
namespace to display its query subjects

6. Expand the Product line query subject to display query items

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7. Left-click and drag the Product line query item to beneath My
Product(All)

8. Now drag Product line code into the box beneath Select a level in the
hierarchy control to see the query items, and make sure to select
_businessKey when the drop-down appears so that its role is properly
identified

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9. From the Available items pane, expand the Product type query subject
and drag the Product type query item to beneath Product line in the
Hierarchies pane

10. Now drag and drop the Product type code query item into the bottom
right pane, ensuring that its Role is set to _businessKey when the drop-
down appears

11. From the Available items pane, expand the Product lookup query
subject and drag the Product name query item to beneath Product type
in the Hierarchies pane, ensuring that its Role is set to _memberCaption

12. Rename the Product name level to Product

13. Now drag and drop the Product number query item into the bottom right
pane, ensuring that its Role is set to _businessKey when the drop-down
appears

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14. From the expanded Product lookup query subject, drag and drop the
Description query item into the bottom right pane, ensuring that its Role
is set to _memberDescription

15. Expand the Product query subject drag and drop the Introduction date
query item into the bottom right pane, ensuring that No Role is selected
with the drop-down appears

16. From the expanded Product query subject, drag and drop the Product
image query item into the bottom right pane, again ensuring that No Role
is selected with the drop-down appears

17. Click OK

18. In the Properties pane in the middle, rename New Dimension to My

Product Dimension

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The next step is to check Scope or make sure there are measure values that can
be applied to this dimension (similar to Transformer and scope)

1. Click on Dimension Map

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2. In the Dimensions pane scroll over to the right until you find My Product
dimension and click the Show Scope button

3. Click on each of the different Measure dimensions to the right of the

Dimension Map

• All le vels that show as dark yellow (which the y do in our case) have
measure values naturally applied to them and will work properly in the
different studios

• In a case where it doesn’t have scope, it may be necessary to go back

and verify that the regular dimension was set up correctly in relation to
the measure dimension (corresponding business keys that relate the
information)

4. Click Save to save the model

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Creating and using a Cognos 8 Package
We have already created a Framework Manager model and imported metadata
in from our database using a simple wizard in just a few clicks. We are now
going to see how simple it is to publish this package to Cognos 8.

1. In the Project Viewer pane, right-click on Packages (this is at the bottom

of the tree) and select Create, Package

2. When the new dialog box appears and prompts you for the name, enter
GO Sales Forum2006 and click Next

3. Ensure that all the Query Subjects are selected on the next screen and
click Next again

4. In the Create Package Wizard - Add Security screen, leave the defaults
as they are and click Next

5. In the Create Package – Select Languages, ensure that only English is

in the Selected Languages box (by selecting all the others and moving
them to the left-hand pane), and click Next

6. In the Create Package - Select Functions Lists screen, leave the

defaults as they are and click Finish

7. When asked whether you wish to open the Publish Wizard, click Yes and
click Next

8. Deselect the Enable model versioning check box and click the Publish
button

• Ignore any warnings that may occur

9. Ensure that the Exit this Wizard radio button is checked and click Finish,
and again, ignore any warnings that may occur

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We have now published a package to Cognos ReportNet. Now we need to verify
that the published package is useable:

1. From the Start menu select All Programs\Internet Explorer to open

Internet Explorer, and browse to http://localhost/cognos8

2. Use Administrator with no password to log in, and select Cognos

Connection and select the Cognos Connection link from the Welcome
screen.

3. When you are presented with the Cognos Connection screen, click on the
Public Folders tab to verify that the GO Sales Forum2006 package has
been created

4. Click the GO Sales Forum2006 link and select the Report Studio link at
the top right of the browser window to open Report Studio

5. When prompted, select Create a new report, select List, and click OK

• Notice that the top left pane, entitled Insertable Objects now shows
the Query Subjects in our Framework Manager Model

6. Expand Dimension view to Product line (as shown) and drag and drop
Product line into the list box

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7. Add Closing inventory from the Inventory measure dimension by
navigating as per the screen shot

8. From the Data menu, chose Drill Behavior … and check the checkbox for
Allow drill-up and drill-down

9. Click OK

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10. To run this simple report, from the Run menu, select Run Report - HTML

• You will be presented with a list of Product Lines. This means that
we have successfully created a Framework Manager model and
published it to Cognos ReportNet

• Each Product line can be drilled down on (clicked) to navigate to its

child members.

11. From the File menu, Close any browser windows you currently have open

12. If prompted with: Are you sure you want to navigate away from this
pane?, click OK

13. Close down all screens

Congratulations … you have completed this workshop!

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