A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Agenda Historical Perspective and the Need for Change Policies & Procedures Group Training Session One-On-One Mentoring Relationships Security Concerns Questions

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Historical Perspective Banner just implemented. Support analysts busy learning base Banner. Data Warehouse was incomplete and in its infancy. Cognos implementation was in its infancy. Immediate need to get information out of Banner resulted in a new Decision Support Team being formed. Recognition that reporting, business intelligence, and data warehousing is a discipline all its own.

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Historical Perspective – 2007 Banner implementation more stable. Support analysts very comfortable with base Banner. Data Warehouse is largely complete and mature. Dependency on information coming out of Data Warehouse. Recognition that our support analysts are ready to broaden their scope to some aspects of reporting and business intelligence. Recognition that it is necessary to shift the focus of the Decision Support Team to higher level business intelligence initiatives.

Dickinsons Architecture Transaction Data Warehouse Reporting Environment Local PC Object Access Views Custom Views Banner PROD Base Tables Advancement Student Finance HR / Payroll Financial Aid PRODODS Materialized Object Access Views Materialized Custom Views Cognos Queries Standard, Managed Reports PowerCubes Scorecards Local PC HTML docs PDFs Spreadsheets CSV files Recruitment Plus Admissions Adirondack Residential Life

The Reporting Pyramid Transactional Tactical Strategic Information Need Delivery Method QueriesReportsCubesScorecards

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Policies & Procedures Document distributed to entire department - History & Background - Required Training - Procedures - Required Documentation - Security - Functionality Out of Scope

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Procedures 1.Support analyst (ASA) completes a Report Request / Change form and submits to Decision Support Team for review. 2.Decision Support determines if request is appropriate in scope for ASA authorship and assigns to a specific person. 3.ASA translates specification into PRODODS objects. Business case is required to source from PROD. 4.ASA develops and tests report on test server. 5.ASA obtains functional sign-off. 6.Decision Support moves the tested report to the production server (restricted location). 7.ASA and Decision Support test the report on production. 8.ASA documents report on production. 9.Decision Support approves final report and moves the report to a production folder and adds Report Request / Change form to documentation folder.

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Functionality Out of Scope Security Scheduling & ing Move to Production Crosstabs Repeaters Drill-throughs Conditional Variables Master-Detail Relationships Bursting

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Group Training Session Guidelines & Procedures document Report Request / Change form Documentation Standards Objects within Report Studio Objects Properties Pane Grouping & Sorting SQL vs Packages PRODODS vs PROD Output Options The Dickinson Way What To Do In What Order

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment One-On-One Mentoring Relationships Decision Support team acts as consultants as needed. A natural outcome of the process. Real learning happens with real-world problems.

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Security Concerns Privileges to all Cognos folders, reports, and functionality are controlled by Decision Support. Database connections in Cognos are controlled by Decision Support and are limited by function. Oracle accounts to which the Cognos database connections point are controlled by the DBA team.

A Managerial Approach to a Decentralized Report Writing Environment Start of Group Training Slides

Reporting Request Form Must be filled out for each report. Submit to a member of the Decision Support Team for review and assignment (either to a DSA or an ASA, depending on scope). The completed form will be placed in the appropriate production folder accessible within Cognos Connection.

Documentation in Connection Properties Link to Report Documentation (Coming) Report Documentation Link

Documentation in Connection Report Name Report Description

Select Pages, Queries, or Variables Objects in Report Studio

Objects in Report Studio - Pages

Insertable Objects Properties

Objects in Report Studio - Pages Insertable Data Items

Objects in Report Studio - Queries

Each report author group will have their own data source signon. Select a data source before pasting in your SQL code!

Objects in Report Studio - Queries

Objects in Report Studio - Variables

Objects in Report Studio - Prompts Value Promp tBased on Query

Objects in Report Studio - Prompts Query2 returns values available in value prompt

Objects in Report Studio - Prompts Value Prompt – Static Choices

Objects in Report Studio - Prompts Text Box Prompt

Objects in Report Studio - Prompts

Objects in Report Studio - Lists

Objects in Report Studio - Tables

Objects in Report Studio – Properties Pane Shows properties associated with whatever object is selected on the PAGE pane Shows parent objects of whatever object is selected on the PAGE pane.

Objects in Report Studio – Grouping & Sorting Basic Grouping & Sorting

Objects in Report Studio – Grouping & Sorting Advanced Grouping & Sorting

Objects in Report Studio – Grouping & Sorting Advanced Grouping & Sorting

Objects in Report Studio – Grouping & Sorting Sorting in a prompt

Objects in Report Studio – SQL vs Packages SQL code is portable. Directly coding SQL allows greater flexibility and complexity. Directly coding SQL allows you to dictate how Oracle will process the query, which is usually more efficient than Cognos-generated SQL. Directly coding SQL usually leads to faster development times. Directly coding SQL allows us to more fully take advantage of the power available in Oracle. Directly coding SQL is usually not appropriate for end users.

Objects in Report Studio – PRODODS vs PROD PRODODS Delivered Metadata: file:///T:/Docs/software/sungardhe/ods_edw/docs/ODS_metadata_3.0/COMP_index.html file:///T:/Docs/software/sungardhe/ods_edw/docs/ODS_metadata_3.0/COMP_index.html PRODODS Custom Metadata: file:///T:/Docs/software/sungardhe/ods_edw/docs/dc_custom/DC_CUSTOM_index.html file:///T:/Docs/software/sungardhe/ods_edw/docs/dc_custom/DC_CUSTOM_index.html

Dickinsons Architecture Transaction Data Warehouse Reporting Environment Local PC Object Access Views Custom Views Banner PROD Base Tables Advancement Student Finance HR / Payroll Financial Aid PRODODS Materialized Object Access Views Materialized Custom Views Cognos Queries Standard, Managed Reports PowerCubes Scorecards Local PC HTML docs PDFs Spreadsheets CSV files Recruitment Plus Admissions Adirondack Residential Life

Objects in Report Studio – Output Options Click Run with Options to specify output format that is different from the default.

Objects in Report Studio – Output Options Select the output type from the drop-down box.

Objects in Report Studio – Output Options Choose another output format after running the report.

The Dickinson Way There is one version of the truth across campus: the data warehouse (regardless of which transactional system the data originally came from). Use Oracle for the heavy lifting. Source from PRODODS (business justification required to source from PROD). Name queries in a way that identifies their purpose. Queries used to populate prompt lists are named ________ Prompt. Name prompt variables Input ________. Align prompts in a table with text labels in first column. Place filters in SQL instead of query object.

What To Do In What Order? Map data elements to PRODODS. Write query in Toad/Golden to generate raw report data. Paste query/queries into a new report in Cognos Report Studio (in your WIP folder). Follow the same query development process for any prompts to be used in the report. Summarize, group, and format report output appropriately. Documentation. Request Decision Support Team to review and move to production folder.

How Do We Proceed From Here? Try out the process. Work with a member of the Decision Support Team one-on-one to help you along as new requests are made.