Upgrading to Cognos Analytics 11.1.1

[briancole]

Hi all,

Has anyone actually taken the leap to upgrading to 11.1.1 on-premise yet? We're currently using 10.2.2 and are looking to upgrade to Analytics this year. The new functionality in 11.1.x is extremely appealing (Watson\predictive analytics, AI, pattern recognition) so we really want to adopt this sooner rather than later, especially as this will be a big piece of work to upgrade from 10.2.2, so really we just want to do it once rather than go to 11.0.13 and then 11.1.x later, but I want to understand how big a risk it really is to go straight to 11.1.1 and has anyone done this?

Thanks,
Brian

[CognosPaul]

11.1.1 is a very different experience. While I absolutely recommend upgrading, I also urge caution. The portal system is very different. Cognos connection is gone by default, along with portal tabs. By default new reports use interactive mode, which completely changes the way reports are consumed.

What are you looking for in the upgrade? Are there new features you want to use? Do you have a plan for replacing the portal tabs?

[briancole]

Thanks for the response.

We've already installed 11.0.12 in a test environment to understand how it'll work for us. Thankfully, we don't really use portal tabs in 10.2.2, we just have a single tab for all users that contains a menu that allows users to access reports. This uses javascript but we're in the process of updating this to work in 11.0.12.

All of our existing content works as long as we turn full interactivity off (which is done by default when the content is migrated).

The predictive analytics that Watson brings and AI (ability to "chat" with Cognos to find data for self service) are the big\exciting features for us.

[Skykit]

We're in the process of doing just this - 10.2.2 to 11.1.1
I have taken a slightly different approach to the traditional upgrade path taking advantage of having both environments running in a parallel state which means the mess that is 10.2.2 can be cleaned up otherwise what is in 10.2.2 simply becomes 11.1.1's problem.

By this I mean reports are cleaned up/archived (where not used) and then individual deployments are being shunted from 10 to 11.
It has been a bit of a task re-doing security, schedules, capabilities but those too were in a mess.

So far not much has broken - we have templates with javascript and these work fine in non-interactive mode - the initial state will be like-for-like in functionality so non-interactive is fine.

Biggest issue so far has been with package permissions - it seems there is a known "feature" whereby the properties screen for packages appear blank/white window (https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?crawler=1&uid=swg1PH08831)
There is a workaround by enabling the legacy portal view but a little frustrating something so simple can even exist in a version this late into the 11 world.

[sreddy]

Hello Skykit,

This issue (properties screen for packages appear blank/white window) is fixed in Cognos Analytics 11.1.1 Fix pack2.

Thanks!!
R

[dougp]

briancole:  Look at the last digit of the version number you are considering.  Consider the risk.  11.1.x has many shiny new features, but what lurks just below the surface.

I upgraded from 10.2.1 to 11.0.4.  Worst decision I ever made.  Cognos 11.0.x wasn't really ready for production until at least release 10.  IBM focuses on new features that attract managers who control the purse strings.  Fixing bugs is a pretty low priority.