Suggestions for Cognos 7 to Cognos 10 Migration

[abhisheksrivastava85]

Hi All,

Can you please share some pros or cons or points to be consider while migrating cognos 7 to cognos 10. I have never worked on cognos 7 but i have good experience in Cognos 8.4 and Cognos 10. Also if you have faced any issues while migration in past please share.

Thanks in Advance
Regards
Abhishek

[MFGF]

Hi,

It's a little too generic to specify "Cognos 7". Unlike Cognos 8/10, the Cognos 7 release is a suite of loosely coupled products, each with a different architecture. You have Impromptu Client, PowerPlay Client, Impromptu Web Reports, PowerPlay Enterprise Server, NoticeCast, Cognos Query, Visualizer client and web, Upfront portal etc. There are different strategies for migrating different parts of the C7 suite (or not migrating, as the case may be).

Regards,

MF.

[abhisheksrivastava85]

Thank you so much MF.

Let me reframe the question like "Are there any compatibility issue while migrating reports from cognos Impromptu to Cognos 10"?

If yes can you please share some, where i specifically needs to pay attention while migration.

Thanks in Advance
Abhishek

[MFGF]

For Impromptu, it's quite a difficult decision on whether to migrate existing content or to start again in Cognos 10 ( or 8 ). The architectures of Impromptu and C10 are entirely different, and the way the data is modelled in Cognos 10 is critically important in generating accurate, predictable results in reports. This is because it is designed to be an enterprise-wide reporting solution, and to be able to span multiple star schemas at different levels of granularity while returning correct results. Impromptu will not do this - spanning multiple star schemas is nigh on impossible. As a result, while your Impromptu catalogs will migrate across, you will most likely have to revise their structure extensively in Cognos 10 Framework Manager. This will probably break all of your migrated Impromptu reports. The big question is whether it is less work to do this and fix things, or to start from scratch and redesign the reports in Cognos 10.

Regards,

MF.

[abhisheksrivastava85]

I feel this approach (building from scratch) is good when your report count is less but what if you have to migrate let say 400 reports from Impromptu to cognos 10 then it is really not possible to develop each report from scratch. I mean it will require lot of time and efforts.

[Lynn]

If your place is anything like the clients I've visited over the years you may find that there really aren't 400 reports that need to be re-written.

Some preliminary analysis may show that you have multiple flavors or versions of essentially the same report. I've seen report authors create a report and then publish it multiple times with slightly different selection criteria or displayed columns. It is a better idea to re-write the report with multiple run options and streamline your code base. If there are 4 different flavors on average you are facing 100 reports, not 400.

Further analysis may show that a decent percentage of those reports aren't used or needed anymore.

A well constructed data warehouse and Framework Manager model should mean that most reports are fall-off-a-log easy to produce. Even a large number of distinct reports may not be so terribly daunting.

Lastly, if the effort is made to discuss requirements with users you may find that the existing reports are not fully meeting their needs anymore or that they need to do further manipulation with the data once they get it. Therefore, re-assessing their requirements may offer the chance to re-design reports to take advantage of features, functions, or data that was not previously available when the original reports were produced.

I am always wary of status quo migrations such as you describe. Most businesses don't remain entirely static over time and certainly the technology has evolved to offer more than what users are currently getting via Impromptu. The effort to migrate should be viewed as an opportunity to re-think and clean house.

All of the above doesn't even touch on the concept of user self-service reporting which is certainly possible and a way to empower business users without putting IT squarely in the bottleneck.

[nanzmercado]

Hi,

I just want to ask if it is possible to re-use or just recompile the Models (PYI under Transformer) that i have made under Cognos 7.3 to Cognos 10?

Also, how much is the amount of work?

Thank You

[MFGF]

PYI models are binary Transformer models. The binary format has moved along since PYI, so you will need to save the models as MDL then open the MDL files in Transformer 10. You can then re-save as the new binary format.

MF.

[Markus]

Hi,

the internal structure of a Cognos 10 Transformermodel has changed. So if you migrate you models from 7.x to 10.x some methods maybe obsoleted. Also, some keyword has changed and security is used in another way (separated from the cube, can be reused).

Kind regards

Markus

[nanzmercado]

Thanks a lot for the information :D

[srikanth85753]

Hi Team,

Could you please provide details Steps for Migrating Catalog and Impromptu Reports from Cognos7.5 to Cognos10.2.

Let me know what are all the challenges to be taken into consideration while migrating from Cognos7.5 to Cognos10.2.

Looking for earlier reply

Regards,
Srikanth

[stan.parker]

Hi Team,

Could you please provide details Steps for Migrating Catalog and Impromptu Reports from Cognos7.5 to Cognos10.2.

Let me know what are all the challenges to be taken into consideration while migrating from Cognos7.5 to Cognos10.2.

Looking for earlier reply

Regards,
Srikanth

The challenge is you'll have to start from scratch. There isn't an easy way to migrate an Impromptu catalog to a Framework Manager package. And just merely replicating a catalog wouldn't take advantage of the feature of Framework Manager.

If you want it quickly lift and shift the data from an Impromptu report to Report Studio you could save the Impromptu report as an IQD, open the IQD in an editor like Notepad and copy and paste the SQL into a new Report Studio report. The you'll have to layout the report using the original Impromptu report as your guide.

[MFGF]

If you want it quickly lift and shift the data from an Impromptu report to Report Studio you could save the Impromptu report as an IQD, open the IQD in an editor like Notepad and copy and paste the SQL into a new Report Studio report. The you'll have to layout the report using the original Impromptu report as your guide.

While the above might seem to be a good idea on the surface, I can't stress strongly enough what a bad idea it is long-term. You will end up with a suite of reports that are inconsistent, often break and are nigh on impossible to adapt as the business changes. My advice is to walk away if you are asked to take this approach. If you go down this route, what you leave behind will become a testament to how badly Cognos is implemented by people who take shortcuts and go for a quick-and-disgustingly-dirty approach. If your name is linked with this, it might follow you throughout your career...

Just my opinion - feel free to ignore or adopt as you see fit :)

MF.

[stan.parker]

While the above might seem to be a good idea on the surface, I can't stress strongly enough what a bad idea it is long-term. You will end up with a suite of reports that are inconsistent, often break and are nigh on impossible to adapt as the business changes. My advice is to walk away if you are asked to take this approach. If you go down this route, what you leave behind will become a testament to how badly Cognos is implemented by people who take shortcuts and go for a quick-and-disgustingly-dirty approach. If your name is linked with this, it might follow you throughout your career...

Just my opinion - feel free to ignore or adopt as you see fit :)

MF.

I agree it's not a long term solution. It's a lift and shift to move from one version to another which is especially useful if you're paying support for both versions. After you move then you can work toward a long term solution.

[Lynn]

I agree it's not a long term solution. It's a lift and shift to move from one version to another which is especially useful if you're paying support for both versions. After you move then you can work toward a long term solution.

Ah, the scourge of the interim solution! I find that once the pain is eased on the surface there is little appetite to go back and re-do things properly. There are always new problems to tackle that have a higher priority. Often business sponsors have little desire to spend money again on (what appears to them) as an issue that no longer exists. Sadly, this can evolve into a culture of quick and dirty results with good intentions of cleaning up the mess later that fail to materialize.

I would advise agreement up front and strict timelines for replacement in an environment where strong managers exist to ensure that best practices are not just lip service.

No shortage of opinions around here  ;D

[stan.parker]

You are are correct. Some managers will say: "If it ain't broke don't fix it", after an interim solution is completed. The best we can do is offer both interim and long term solutions and allow management to decide for themselves.


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