Is there a best practice document anywhere that talks about how to setup a portal where you are going to have a large amount of cubes(20+). As I understand it, each cube has to be published and thus has it's own folder in the portal. Is there a way to place them all under 1 cube/package folder?
I am trying to keep my clutter and mess down.
Yes... you can have many PowerCubes in one package. Just model them all in the same project and include them in one Package, with a generic name, such as "PowerCubes"
Each PowerCube in that package will have its own distinct dimension/measures tree to use in the report authoring.
The reports written off of a package can be saved anywhere in Cognos Connection, but the package folders must remain at the root of Public folders. (Note... In 8.3, the Package folders can indeed be published to, or moved to any level in the Cognos Connection structure).
Thanks. Another reason to migrate to 8.3.
Also in 8.3, you can publish a Package direct from the Cognos Connection DataSource maintenance screens... no need to use FM anymore, unless you NEED multiple cubes in one package.
If you need a package that will host multiple cubes, then the same procedure used in prior version of 8 will still be required.
Keep in mind that putting multiple cubes within the same package will cause the amount of time to load the metadata within the studios to increase.
As mentioned, 8.3 is much improved in this aspect.