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Case Study
Reducing Unnecessary Cognos Complexity for Better Reporting
Industry:
Distribution
Focus:
Cognos Consolidation
Senturus helped this established Cognos shop consolidate their Cognos environment for more efficient reporting. Deploying the Migration Assistant, Senturus provided to the client details that allowed them to efficiently and accurately remove irrelevant columns and tables in their Framework Manager models and source database.
Challenge
The client is an established Cognos shop, with a significant number of large, complex Framework Manager (FM) models. Over years, the models had become overly complicated and the source database contained unnecessary columns, resulting in a cluttered reporting environment. IT wanted to simplify their FM models, reduce the complexity of the source database, and provide report writers a streamlined reporting environment.
They needed to be able to identify what columns could safely be removed from the database and what reports could be archived. Most report development knowledge was long gone as was access to sufficient documentation. The IT staff was looking at a long, time-consuming battle to parse through years of accumulated content. They turned to Senturus to speed up the consolidation process and acquire the insights they needed to streamline their Cognos environment.
Solution
Senturus deployed the Migration Assistant and developed custom reports to allow the client to dig further into their FM models and source database. Among the insightful reports generated by Migration Assistant, the client relied on two in particular:
- Framework Manager Details Report. The report provides detailed insight into all elements of an FM model, including which database tables and columns are referenced by the FM model.
- Reverse Lineage Report. This report utilizes data from the FM Details Report to identify all Cognos content that depends on specific fields in the database. Understanding these dependencies allowed the client to determine which fields could be safely removed from the database and FM model without breaking existing reports.
Benefits
With insights into extraneous, irrelevant columns and tables in their FM models and source database, IT was able to efficiently streamline their Cognos environment.
- Reduced model complexity and trimmed database size without breaking reports.
- Could easily forecast the impact on reports if source tables change or data sources are changed.
- Provided report writers a cleaner report writing environment.
- Reduced the admin overhead.
- Saved time by eliminating manual audit work.
- Inoculated themselves from the loss of institutional knowledge or lack of sufficient documentation.
About our client
The client is a provider of alternative and specialty parts to repair and accessorize automobiles and other vehicles. They have more than 50,000 employees and offices around the world, in North America, Europe and Taiwan.