Thursday, April 25, 2013

Creating a Cognos Transformer cube from DMR

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Creating a Cognos Transformer cube from DMR.
Often in our projects, due to slow performance of the DMR, at times we face a situation to convert the DMR into a physical Transformer cube. Here is a simple method to achieve this functionality.
STEPS:
1- Open a Cognos Powerplay Transformer model.
2- Right click the Dimension Map and Insert Dimension from a Package.
3- Browse to already published DMR Package.
4- Select all the Regular Dimensions and Measure Dimension and bring it in the Cube.
5- You can see a datasource is created for Each Regular and Measure Dimension.
6- Now we need to create cube.
7- Right click Cube Tab Area. Insert Powercube; Give a name DMR-2-Cube. It is stored as .mdc. Set a path.
8- Right click again the powercube and create powercube.
9- The cube is generated successfully. Publish this cube onto Cognos Portal.


SO THATS IT.....

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Cognos Powerplay Transformer - Automate cubes generation refresh script - P-16-of-30


Cognos Powerplay Transformer - Automate cubes generation refresh script - Part-16-of-30


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http://bharatidwconsultancy.blogspot.com 


Automating a Cognos Transformer cube generation process.

Often in our projects, we want to automate the cube to refresh process.
Let's understand the cube automation script.

STEPS:
1- Open a Cognos Powerplay Transformer model.
2- Validate the model.
3- Goto the the transformer installation location and locate the bin directory. 
4- Launch the command prompt and execute the following command
cogtr -n "C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\Transformer\Models\bdcs_cube.pyj"
syntax: cogtr -n <model name>

5- You can see the cube getting generated.
6- Now we need to create a windows batch file to schedule / automate  the cube refresh process.

7- Open the notepad and create a batch file with the following commands.

cd "C:\Program Files\cognos\c8 Trnsfmr\bin"
cogtr -n "C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\Transformer\Models\bdcs_cube.pyj"

8- Now to automate it, you can use windows scheduler. 
9- You can see at the pre-set time the cube gets refreshed.

Please note that this will work only for Window server based Cognos Installation. For Unix / Linux the process is a bit different.

SO THATS IT..... 


Monday, April 22, 2013

Creating Calculations Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes

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   http://bharatidwconsultancy.blogspot.com
P7- Creating Calculations Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes
Creating Calculated Measures and Category Counts.

STEPS:
1- Open the Cognos Powerplay Transformer
2- Right click the Measures Area, and click on New Measure
3- Set a name as Sales Cost
4- Click on the Type Tab and select Calculation.
5- Sales cost = Sales Quantity * Sales Amount
6- Click on OK. Sales Cost appears in the measure list.
7- Again Create a new Measure
8- Set a name as Product Count. Click on the Type Tabe and Click on Category Count.
9- Select the dimension and Level for which you need the count.
10- Now we need to create cube.
11- Right click Cube Tab Area. Insert Powercube; Give a name. It is stored as .mdc. Set a path.
12- Right click again the powercube and create powercube.
13- The cube is generated successfully.

SO THATS IT....

Friday, April 19, 2013

Creating a Cognos Partition / Cube Group

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Creating a Cognos Partition / Cube Group:
How often we find that the cubes get bigger and we need to find some way to get the cubes to trim down for performance.
This can be done through Partition / cube groups.

Let's see how to partition the cube. It can be time based partition or the cube groups.

STEPS:
1- Open a Cognos Powerplay Transformer model.

2- Right click the Powercubes area, click on Insert Powercube.
3- Mention PowerCube name as MyCubeGroup. Click on Cube Group tab.

4- You can enable time based partitioning or select any other dimension.
5- Let's enable time based partioning.
6- You can set the levels of partition.
7- You can notice mulitple cubes for Year.

8- Now, lets partition the cubes based on Country. This can also be used to secure the cube data based on various country users.
9- From the cube group select the country dimension.
10- Generate the cube and you will notice multiple mdc files, one for each country.

SO THATS IT.....

Monday, April 15, 2013

Creating a Cognos Time Dimension - Date and Week Level

For Details: Visit:  http://www.bharaticonsultancy.in
   
http://bharatidwconsultancy.blogspot.com

Creating a Cognos Time Dimension - Date and Week Level:
This is second part of creating Time Dimensions. Please watch the previous video to create a Time Dimension.

1- Open a Cognos Powerplay Transformer model.
2- Right click the Time Dimension and click on Insert Level.
3- Set Name as Week. Select the source as Date and Check the Unique Level selection box.
4- Click on the "Time" Tab. Select the Date Function as Week. You can see the Time Level Ranking automatically Set to 40.
By Default Cognos sets Time Level Ranking for
Year --> 10,
Quarter -->20
Month -->30
Week --> 40 and
Date --> 50


5- Click on OK and you can see the week level getting created.
6- Similarly Create another level for Date
7- Generate Categories and see Time Heirarchy.
8- Clicking on Show Diagram, now you will find the Year --> Quarter --> Month --> Week-->
Date Levels.

SO THATS IT.....






Thursday, April 11, 2013

Creating a Cognos Time Dimension

For Details: Visit:  http://www.bharaticonsultancy.in
   http://bharatidwconsultancy.blogspot.com

Creating a Cognos Time Dimension:
1- Open a Cognos Powerplay Transformer model.
2- Right click the Dimension Map- area, and click on Insert Dimension.
3- Give a name to this Dimension and then select the Dimension type as Time.
4- Click on the "Time" Tab. Select the date column, on which this dimension will be based on.
5- Click on OK and You can see a Time Dimension getting created.
6- Generate Categories and see Time Heirarchy.
7- Clicking on Show Diagram, you will find the Year --> Quarter --> Month Levels.
8- Watch out in the Next video - steps to create Week and Date levels.

SO THATS IT.....



Monday, April 8, 2013

Creating Dimensions Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes (using Flat File)

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Creating Dimensions Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes (using Flat File):
Using Single Flat File:
1- Open the Cognos Powerplay Transformer. Create a New Model.
2- Right click the datasource tab- area, and click on New Datasource.
3- Select source as flat file SalesData.csv
4- Now, create the dimensions & levels. There are multiple ways to create a dimension.
5- Lets create Customer Geo Dimension: Right click the dimension map. Insert Dimension.
6- Give a name to the dimension: Customer Geo Dimension: Drag and drop Country & City
7- Right click the Dimension area and Insert Level. Set source as Cust_id.
8- Next we need to set Label.
9- Click : select label as Customer Name. Source as Customer Code.
10- Now create Product Dimension --> Product Category -- Product Type -- Product
11- Set Product Code as Source and Product Name as Label for PRODUCT LEVEL.
12- Drag Sales Amount and Sales Quantity in the Measures Section.
13- Now we need to create cube.
14- Right click Cube Tab Area. Insert Powercube; Give a name. It is stored as .mdc. Set a path.
15- Right click again the powercube and create powercube.
16- The cube is generated successfully.

SO THATS IT....

Friday, April 5, 2013

Create First Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Tutorial

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Create First Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Tutorial:

Cognos Transformer is a tool to create Cognos Multidimensional cubes (MOLAP) model; Also, known as Cognos powerplay cubes.
This tool creates a metadata model file with .mdl extension, which generates a physical cube with .mdc extension.


Transformer cubes store data in .mdc file.

Lets create our first Cognos Powerplay Transformer cube.

High level Steps:
Create a Datasource.
Create Dimensions.
Add Levels to Dimensions.
Add Facts.
Inserting a PowerCube.
Create the Powercube: (Inserting data in the cube)
Publishing the cube on Cognos Server.
Accessing the Cube on Cognos Server.


Pre-requisite: You should have Cognos Transformer client installed on your machine and connected to the Cognos server.
We will create our first cube using a .csv file. Keep this file handy.

Detailed Steps:Create a Datasource:
1- Open the Cognos Transformer Client.
2- Click on Create a new model.
3- Give a name of model, MyModel. Click Next.
4- Give a name for the datasource. From the datasource type, select Delimited field text with column titles.
5- Click Next; click Browse and navigate to the .csv file and click next.
6- Uncheck Run Autodesign and click finish.
7- You have successfuly created a datsource.


Create Dimensions:
8- A Dimension consists of one or multiple Hierarchy and a Hierarchy comprises of one or more Levels.
9- Lets create a dimension. Right Click on Dimension Map on top and select Insert Dimension.
10- Give a name to the dimension, Customer Geography Dimension.
11- Keep everything default for now and click on Ok.
12- Similarly, Insert Product Dimension.


Add Levels to Dimensions:
13- Open the datasource and drag and drop Country, City and Customer Name in the Customer Geography Dimension.
14- In the Product Dimension, drag and drop Product Category, Product Type and Product Name.

Please note: This is basic cube, please see further videos; we will use Customer Code and Name both in the Customer level; similarly for Product.

Add Facts.
15- A cube contains atleast a Fact.
16- From the datasource, drag and drop Sales Amount and Sales Quantity into the Facts Area, next to the Datasource.


Inserting a PowerCube:
17- Right click the Powercubes area, click on Insert Powercube.
18- Mention PowerCube name as MyCube.
19- Keep everything default for now and click on Ok.


Create the Powercube: (Inserting data in the cube)
20- Right click on the powercube.
21- Click on Create Selected PowerCube.
22- Cube is successfuly created.


Publishing the cube on Cognos Server:
23- Right the cube and select Publish Powercube as datasource and package.
Keep all default values. We will see the details in the later videos.
Please note, there are other methods of creating a Cube datasource and package; Look at video: Publishing a Cognos Transformer cube / Cognos Powercube.

24- Enter your credentials to connect to the Cognos Server.
25- Click on Ok.


Accessing the Cube on Cognos Server:
26- Logon to the Cognos Portal.
27- Goto Launch and select Analysis Studio.
28- Click on the Package for MyCube.
29- Click on Blank Analysis.
30- Drag and Drop Customer Geography Dimension on the Rows and Product Dimension on the Columns.
31- Drag and Drop Sales Amount in the Intersection of Crosstab.
32- Check the drill up and drill functionality.


So thats it....


Monday, April 1, 2013

Cognos Transformer Self Paced Free Tutorial

1 Basic Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Tutorial 1-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_rUNLJAUTU

2 Creating Dimensions Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Tutorial 2-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOZT-IVWjf4

3 Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Time Dimension - Fundamental Tutorial - P3-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex82pQ6Mqic

4 Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Time Dimension - Date - Week - Fundamental Tutorial - P4-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZDEFKLbQME

5 Cognos Transformer Performance Tuning - Time Based Partition - Cube Groups Security - P5-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXdVWBYD1vU

15 Cognos Powerplay Transformer Cubes - Converting DMR Package to Cubes - Tutorial 15-of-30
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvuFv-p9rg


16 Cognos Powerplay Transformer - Automate cubes generation refresh script - P-16-of-30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpeavbzxAc