New to COGNOS: How to use cognos powerplay transformer

[ariqe]

Hello

i am new to cognos

can anyone explain the concepts behind cognos powerplay, impromptu and transformer ?

what's their relationship and how do i load the raw data and stuff ?

Thanks !!!

[Blue]

Impromptu = report writer (client server)
Transformer = OLAP cube modeler and builder (client)
PowerPlay = OLAP cube reader/viewer/report writer (client server)

Transformer can use many different types of data sources as input to a cube model.  One of these data source types is IQD (for Impromptu Query Definition).  Even though this can be created in a text editor the most common method is to create a report in Impromptu and save it as an IQD file type.

PowerPlay is used to view the OLAP cube build by Transformer and to allow the user do analysis on the data or create reports.  PowerPlay can also read cubes built by other tools including MS Analysis Services.

The web version of Impromptu is IWR.  This was superceded by ReportNet (CRN) just over 2 years ago.  ReportNet itself has now been superceded by Cognos 8 BI (Report Studio) last November.

The web version of PowerPlay is PowerPlay Web.  This was superceded by Cognos 8 BI (Analysis Studio) last November.

Transformer 7.3 is still used to build OLAP cubes but maybe replaced by Cognos 8 BI version 2 sometime next year.