DecisionStream no longer a stand-alone product!

[Blue]

DecisionStream has been renamed as Data Manager and bundled as part of Cognos 8 BI.

According to the latest edition of SupportLink DecisionStream has been made an integral part of the Cognos 8 BI package.Ã,  It is now a native Unicode application and is fully integrated with PowerPlay (now Analysis Studio), Metrics Manager (now Metric Studio) and ReportNet (Report Studio).

Does this mean A) that will no longer be sold as a separate product to compete with Data Stage, Informatica, etc? and B) if you upgrade to the new version that it can't be used for purposes other than delivering objects for other parts of the package to subscribe to?

[CoginAustin]

From what I gathered from our rep was that the same functionality exists in the new one that is there today. It does add tighter integration with the rest of the cognos line and Unicode support which is HUGE (for us anyways). They said something about XML support but wasn't sure if it would make the first build.

They basically told me I will have exactly what I have now with some new features and functionality added.

[Blue]

Ah but can you buy it by itself if you are not going to use ReportNet?  For example you have an IWR shop and want to upgrade your current version of DS to the latest and greatest in series 8?

What happens to existing DS licensing?  The SupportLink article indicated that DS would come bundled and therefore you have to buy a series 8 license.  Does that mean your expensive license for DS 7 is a tax write-off?

[MFGF]

Hi Blue,

One other change for Data Manager is that the license check has been moved from the engine to the designer, so that licensing is now on a "per user" rather than "per server" basis.  I believe your original license key will continue to work, though.

I think you will need to ask your Cognos account manager about the options for buying Data Manager bundled or stand-alone.

Best regards,

MF.

[elealos]

Sort of on topic...I was recently playing with the FM package delivered by DS in the latest series 7 release. It looks pretty good and it makes sense. Once you have an FM model the path to any of the other apps would be a lot faster. I imagine additional support in 8. Does anyone have specifics?