Cognos Catalog -Users & Administrator

[ariqe]

How do I create a catalog that is also accessible by users ?
As my powerplay report will have a drill through function, thus i need the catalog to be used by everyone (ie. users).

I saw combo box in the catalog type:
-Personal
-Shared
-Distributed
-Secured

- What are the differences between shared and distributed ?
- personal and secured ? ???
- if i need users to be able to access to the catalog, which catalog type shld i choose so as to ensure that everyone is able to do a drill through without a need to type in a password for the catalog (via connection with AS400) ?

[MFGF]

Hi,

The difference between the catalog types is mainly in how the governors are defined in the User Profiles dialog and is as follows :

Personal - intended for single-developer development of the catalog and reports.  By default all user classes will have all privileges except for 'Direct Entry SQL', which is reserved for Creator.

Secured - intended to be located on the network for use by multiple users.  By default all user classes are locked down and have no privileges - not even 'Create/edit reports' - apart from Creator which has all privileges.

Shared - intended to be located on the network for multiple users.  By default all user classes have 'Create/edit reports' and 'Add/modify user classes' privileges turned on - apart from Creator which has all privileges.

To convert a personal catalog to a secured or shared, simply go to the User Profiles dialog, onto the Governor tab, and modify the governor settings as appropriate (then copy the catalog to a shared network drive to make it accessible by others).  The one drawback with these three catalog types is that  Creator cannot modify the Folders or Tables in the catalog while other people are using it.

The fourth catalog type - Distributed - was designed to beat this drawback.  With a distributed catalog, the initial catalog becomes a master copy, accessible only by Creator, and each other user class is forced to create their own copy of the catalog, which is then automatically updated once the master catalog gets updated by Creator.  In this way nobody but Creator can be using the master catalog, so all administrative functions are always available, and when a change is made it automatically cascades down to the distributed copies of each user class.  To turn a personal/secured/shared catalog into a distributed catalog, go to the Catalog Properties dialog and check the box 'Make this a distributed catalog'.

Hope that helps to clarify things!

Best regards,

MF.

[ariqe]

Thanks !

I have figured out to use "Shared" at that moment .....but your detailed explanation certainly helps !!