Feedback on your migration from reportnet 1.1. to Cognos 8.

[tbt103]

Hi all,

Has anyone migrated from report net 1.1. to Cognos 8?Ã,  I would really appreciate any feedback.

Also,

1) were there a migration script provide by Cognos?

2) are there known issues with the migration?

3) how was your custom code and objects affected?

Thanks in advance for any help

[MrO]

My overal experience with the migration is positive. Some nice new features and components are included. Also the much desired Drill Down works great now.

1) were there a migration script provide by Cognos?

Just install ReportNet 8, point it to your CRN 1.1 ContentStore, and it will upgrade everything automaticly.

However, you can not run CRN 1.1 and 8 on the same machine (ofcourse with different contentstores), your 1.1 will not function properly (or at least it didn't with me).

[MFGF]

Hi,

There are no scripts to run per se.  Your options to migrate from CRN1.1 to Cognos 8 are either:

a) As MrO suggested, point your Cognos 8 install at the existing CRN1.1 content store.  When you save your configuration, Cognos 8 will detect that an upgrade is required, and will perform the upgrade when you start the Cognos 8 service.  You get the option to upgrade the reports to Cognos 8 spec or leave them in CRN spec - unless you have SDK applications expecting to work with the CRN report specs, choose to upgrade the reports too.

b) Create a deployment export from CRN1.1, use a new content store for Cognos 8, and import the CRN deployment once Cognos 8 is up and running.  Again, you will get the choice of whether or not to upgrade the reports during the import - unless you have good reason not to, upgrade them at this time.  In using this approach, you will be able to run CRN1.1 and Cognos 8 in parallel on the same machine (as long as you use different port numbers in the configuration).

If you do have SDK applications which are written against CRN1.1, and they are (for example) modifying or creating report specs, they will not work if you upgrade your reports as the report specs have changed between CRN and Cognos 8.  In this situation, your SDK applications will continue to work if you choose not to upgrade the reports, but the tradeoff is that each report will need to be upgraded in memory by the Cognos 8 application tier before it can be run, so there will be a performance overhead.  The idea of this is to provide some breathing space to update your SDK applications to work with the Cognos 8 report specs, then you can upgrade the reports later once this has been done and tested.

Hope that makes thinks a little clearer.

Best regards,

MF.

[tbt103]

Thank you MrO and MFGF.

MFGF this does help.Ã,  I am new to Cognos and this seems to make sense.Ã,  Based on what you wrote, it looks like we can get the SDK apps going right away.Ã,  Then put together a schedule to upgrade the apps one at a time.

[MFGF]

You're welcome!  Once you have updated your SDK application(s), in Cognos Connection go to Tools/Content Administration, and use the 'New Content Maintenance' button on the toolbar.  This will allow you to define a new Report Upgrade task to upgrade your reports to Cognos 8 spec.

Best regards,

MF.