Wondering if there is an easy way to tell just by looking at Metric Store tables(maybe a specific table strores the Cognos to version somewhere..) to determine Cognos Version
The best place to determine the Cognos Version is in the cmplst.txt file located in the #:\Program Files\cognos\c8 - Assuming of course you accepted the defaults during install.
This text file contains all the versions in intimate detail for all tools you have installed.