Interview questions asked today

[udaychow99]

Hi All,
I was asked the following questions by an interviewer today.I do not know answers for them
Please provide answers for them.

1)How many types of folders are present in cognos?
2)What is linked reports?
3)What is meant by drill across?
4)What is slicing and dicing?
5)What are the advantages of cognos compared to other report tools?

Thanks in advance.:)

[MFGF]

Hi,

It sounds like this was in interview for a job as a Cognos developer? I have to ask... If you don't know Cognos why did you apply for the job? Wouldn't it be a better approach to attend some classes in Cognos and get a grasp of the basics before trying to get a job as a developer? I don't mean to be rude, but if you had asked this question here before your interview and given them the correct answers and got the job, what then? Would you turn up to your new job and hope you would be lucky enough to guess how to do these things? Interview questions are designed to gauge your skill level and allow prospective employers to decide whether you have the relevant skills and experience for the role in question. Even if you had been told the answers and were able to answer correctly to the Drill Across question, for example, how would you implement this if you had been employed? It's really not enough just to be able to recite set answers in an interview - you need the supporting knowledge of the tool and the concepts. You can only get this via training and/or via taking a role where you are employed as a trainee and given on-the-job enablement.

Notwithstanding, I would have answered as follows:

1) I would have asked the interviewer whether they were referring to Public Folders and My Folders (and described the difference) or whether they were referring to Package folders and Normal folders (and again I would have described the difference). The question is ambiguous and probably designed to trigger a response for clarification between these two.
2) The last time I used the term Linked Reports was in Cognos 7 PowerPlay, where two reports shared the same dimension line. I would mention this and describe what it meant, then ask if the interviewer was referring to drill-through in Cognos 10, and elaborate on authored drills vs package drillthrough.
3) I'm beginning to think your interview was Cognos 7. Drill across was the term used when navigating between reports in PowerPlay. We call it Drill Through in Cognos 10 - see 2 above.
4) Another PowerPlay term. Bringing in alternate levels and/or dimensions into the rows/columns of your analysis.
5) I would spend probably an hour discussing the advantages of Cognos 10 - single architecture, all time horizons, freedom to think, graduated interface, lower reliance on IT, etc etc.

Without the relevant experience and knowledge, these answers are really not of much use to you. I really do think your best option is to attend some training classes and improve your skills and knowledge.

MF.

[udaychow99]

Hi MF,

Thanks for the answers provided. I have already attended cognos training sessions and am aware of many cognos concepts.
Infact, i answered many questions as well except the above mentioned ones.

If i take the question, what are different types of folders in cognos?, i answered public and myfolders. But the interviewer contradicted with me and specified 4 or 5 types of folders(i never heard those names).

I seriously do not know about cognos 7 version. So couldn't answers some questions like, what is drill across(but i know what is drill through in latest versions),what is linked reports?,what is catalogue? etc..

It is not like i don't know cognos, but not entire cognos. As a matter of fact, no one knows everything.

Anyways thank you once again for all the advises and answers. :)

Cheers!!