Cognos Data Warehouse Interview Questions And Answers

Cognos 6.6 7.0,7.3(PowerPlay, Impromptu)--ReportNet1.0,1.1mr1, 1.1mr22---ReportNet 8.0(latest)IWR is use by Impromptu to publish reports, PPES is used by PP, Cognos Connection is used by repornet. there are many other tools but these are the main.

In cognos report net by the validate report option a report can be tested. If there will be any error, it will specify the the error, unless it will give message -'report specification is valid'.

After creating the report we will connect to the oracle and we will write the sql query and we will compare this 2 reports .

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 distributed to recipients by using mail applications.

Compiled Cognos MACROs can be scheduled using Cognos Schedular.

n impromptu menu go to Catlog->User profiles -> userclass tab -> click on Creator ->u can give there folder access,table access,filters,Governor etc

you can crate users by using USERS PROFILE option......and you can give permissions using ROLE IN C8 and GOVERNERS in C7

Visualizer is a representation of data cubes in a dashboard format. We can drill through to the ground level of a hierarchy as like in power play report but cannot add or remove fields dynamically.

Cognos script editor : We can write cognos macros or programs in this tool and can fine tune or process some execution

Group: used to eliminate duplicate values in the report.

Association: used with grouped item that displays data only when the values are changed.

ProctLine ProductName Quantity Revenue

--------------------------------------------------------

Soaps LUX 100 1000

200 2000

300 3000

TIDE 100 1500

SHAMPOO GARNIER 100 4000

200 8000

SUNSILK 100 5000

--> Here, ProductLine is a grouped column and ProductName is an Associated column.

PowerplayFrom format menu-->title, header & footer-->title-->insert report filename

Drill across means when you are moving from one report to another report like country in one report and States in another Report whereas if the report is using same report from moving from country to state. In other when you are moving details level if you are using the different report it is drill across and if you are using same report it is drill through.

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 tables 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 Table T1.

No Loop: T1 ---> T2 ---> T3 ---> Alias (or) Shortcut of T1

You can create measure once you import all the data into the data source.You can create measures and dimensions by draging the required source from datasource into dimension map and measure tab.(need to find scope of measures for all the dimensions)

Alternate drill down path means there will be two path to opt.For example- We will have time dimension now the client requirement is they want two type of year -one is calender year(Jan-Dec) and another is fiscal year(Apr-Mar).

Big Organizations have a lot of diversified sources of data.There might be a dataware house exclusively for transport and others for data related to the project the company runs.In such case the complete enterprise's(company's) date ware house is a big combination of all and is known the Enterprise data Warehouse(EDW)

go to tran former,

build the cube

right click on the cube and open properties

go to drill through tab and select your report from that browse option

Cognos offers Portal Services that allow organizations to easily manage and display Cognos business intelligence, planning, and scorecarding in your existing enterprise information portals. Including Cognos reports, analysis, dashboards, scorecards, and other capabilities drives higher returns in your information and portal investments.

Cognos portals offer:

Zero Footprint: Cognos portals have no footprint on the user's desktop. Anyone inside or outside the organization with a Web browser can access and interact with content.

Intuitive User Interface: No special training is required to use the portal. Standard browser interface actions-such as following hypertext links, copying, and pasting-allow users to access and organize business intelligence content quickly and easily

Section-section is eliminate the duplicate recod.but report looking separate bluck.
setpagebreak means to display the reports in onepage. eg. suppose u create a list report ordermethod,orderyear,revenu
when u create section on ordermethod.it will eliminate the duplicate record.but when u apply the set pagebreakc.report display in onepage.like fax reports in onepage,email reports in another page.this in cognos 8 querystudio.

Semi-Additive: Semi-additive facts are facts that can be summed up for some of the dimensions in the fact table, but not the others. Non-Additive: Non-additive facts are facts that cannot be summed up for any of the dimensions present in the fact table. Current Balance and Profit Margin are the facts.Current Balance is a semi-additive fact, as it makes sense to add them up for all accounts (what's the total current balance for all accounts in the bank?), but it does not make sense to add them up through time (adding up all current balances for a given account for each day of the month does not give us any useful information). Profit Margin is a non-additive fact, for it does not make sense to add them up for the account level or the day level.

Drilling lets you quickly move from one level of detail to another to explore different 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.

Cascading report works based on the condition but drill thru work based on the data item what we select as a drill thru options

Before creating any report in report net make sure you are have the planning information you need.

Creating a report involves following steps:

Specifying a package
Choose a package through cognos connection>report studio>Select a module from the list.
Choosing a report template
Create a empty report first,click one of the predefined report templates ,click OK.
Adding query items
In the insertable objects plane,select the query item that you want to add to report,drag it to the desired location.
Saving report
Save the report from file menu.
Running the report
Open the report that you want to run.
From the Tools menu, click Validate Report.
A message box appears indicating whether any errors were found in the report.
If you want to enable Design Mode Only filters defined in the package, from the File menu,
click Use Model Design Filters.
Use these filters to limit the amountOpen the report that you want to run.
From the Tools menu, click Validate Report.
A message box appears indicating whether any errors were found in the report.
If you want to enable Design Mode Only filters defined in the package, from the File menu,

it contains the miscellaneous attributes such as flags , which does belong to the main dimension table.
for eg; In a sales order fact table ,some informations like,

web-order , whether this is a online order or not
new_cust , Is this person a new customer ?
verification , whether the order has been verified?

A catalog is a file containing the information (Database tables) that Impromptu users need to create reports.

► personal
► distributed
► shared
► secured

shared catalog is better

cubes are created using transformer.cubes can be viewed using powerplay.cubes has impromptu query definition (IQD) files as their sources.IQD files are generated from cognos impromptu.IQD files contain ,how the data has to be retrieved through catalogs and logical databases.

To create a cube..

1) save the impromtu report as IQD file.(.IQD)

2)open transformer,go to file-new-ModelName(user defined)-datasourcename(DWH name),source type(select impromptu query definition)-local data file(browse the IQD file save earlier)-check the auto design check box-clk finish-database logon wizard will be opened-enter userid and pwd to connect to the DB---clk log on---A new model will be generated with Dimensionmap,Datasource,Measures,powercube(still cube is not created) and Logical DB(imported from IQD file).

If you select "Run Autodesign" option duting the NEWMODELWIZARD, transformer automatically creates a dimension map and a list of measures for you.even though transformer analyzes the data before creating a dimension map and list of measures,many a time they may not be totally accurate.

To avoid this we need to create Dimensions manually.

3) Now create new Dimensions in the dimensionmap area as per the requirement.select Dimension Map--insert Dimension--name the dimension--Drag and drop columns one below the other from data source(see that the columns are in a hierarchy,Bcoz cubes will be created on these columns with all the possibilities to facilitate drilling,slicing and dicing operations)..check the diagram ,it is displayed empty..data will be shown once the cube is created..

4) go to "Run" and clk on create powercubes.Cube will be created.check the power cube area in the Model.you will observe a cube in that area.This cube can be viewed in Poweplay.

This is one method of creating cube by using IQD file.

The another method of creating cube is my creating a MODEL from Architect and generating a CUBE from that MODEL.

Based on country column find out the territory.create territory column in model level. In my expectation we should hard code using case condition.
If u find any best answers please give me solution.

The junk dimension is simply a structure that provides a convenient place to store the junk attributes

Add a list footer and a text messsage inside "No Data". create a booloean conditional variable "Test" with code "rownum()>0". Select the complete list footer and set Style Variable, if Yes, Box Type of the List footer should be set to "none". This should work...RD