Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group 2006 Integrate Your Decision Support with Cognos 8

General Announcements: Please turn off all cell phones/pagers If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversations during the session Questions will be answered at the end of the session Thank you for your cooperation

Session Outline Why Cognos 8? Implementation Steps Current Status Example screen shots Q&A

Why implement a third-party solution? The need for fact-based decisions based on enterprise-wide information Timely and consistent data Ease of use Features Robustness

Why Cognos 8BI? Meets the requirements listed on previous slide. They are the industry leaders in business intelligence software. Meshes well with Oracle Provides for a single version of the metadata Relatively seamless integration between queries, reports, charts, powercubes, and scorecards User-oriented interface

Implementation Stages Create operational data store (ODS) Install Cognos 8BI on dedicated server Create packages Build reports using out-of-the-box ODS tables Create custom reporting views in ODS

Resources Three servers Three ODS instances Three analysts Oracle DBA support

Upgrade experiences What has worked well: – Upgrade/deployment of Cognos ReportNet (series 7) content store to Cognos 8 was relatively smooth and straight forward – Automated, scheduled reporting – Financial statements used for fiscal year-end audit prepared in Cognos – Security of data and control over user functions utilizing the Cognos infrastructure.

Implementation (cont) What has worked well (cont): – Integration of existing security architecture within Cognos framework. – Flexibility of report package deployment via Framework Manager. – Report writer very flexible – tabular SQLs allow the development of specifications in a SQL editor and then import the code directly into the Cognos report.

Implementation (cont) What has worked well (cont): – Robust, dynamic, and user-defined self service reporting is available for a large % of our consumers. Benefits: 1) Data is available anytime, anywhere; 2) Reduces administrative burden on limited IT resources; 3) Promotes an environment of financial responsibility and accountability across the campus; and 4) Ensures data integrity which helps enable administrators and managers to tell one story.

Implementation (cont) What has not worked well: – Some initial problems with ing reports to users – all issues have since been resolved - not 100% positive that the problem was even with the Cognos product. – Documentation tends to be technically oriented (i.e. written by a programmer), which makes it non user friendly.

Implementation (cont) Our favorite undocumented trick - Report specifications can be copied / pasted into Notepad for modification or moving from one server to another (i.e. from Test to Production).

Screen shot examples of user interface Finance Reporting Package Numerous Reporting Capabilities, Including: 1) Financial Statements; 2) Auxiliary P&Ls; 3) Self Service Reports; 4) Dashboards; and 5) Treasurers Reports

Screen shot examples of user interface Schedule Manager We currently have ~ 30 reports scheduled for automatic distribution

Screen shot examples of user interface Funds Inquiry Report With User Defined Prompts User defined prompts allow flexibility in report creation

Screen shot examples of user interface Funds Inquiry Report Output Conditional formatting based on user defined thresholds quickly allows the user to identify areas of opportunity Optional drill-down capability allows the user to view more details

Screen shot examples of user interface Funds Inquiry Drill Down Example Level #1 FOAPAL details are displayed in separate browser window

Screen shot examples of user interface Funds Inquiry Drill Down Example Level #2 Descriptive transactional level details are displayed in separate browser window

Screen shot examples of user interface Operating Ledger Inquiry With Report Layout Options Multiple user defined prompts including report design

Outcome and Current Status Where we are in the implementation User satisfaction Maintainability

Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group 2006 Open Floor for Other Questions?

Pennsylvania BANNER Users Group 2006 Have a great day!