Posts Tagged ‘Perficient’

A session parameter is a variable that IBM Cognos Framework Manager associates with a particular session. Examples include (current user name, current active language, current date and time, and others). Parameter maps are a method for substituting different values with different keys. A parameter map can be thought of as simple data “look-up table”. Each […]

One of the goals of the Cognos Framework Manager modeler is to build a model that makes report authoring easier. To accomplish that, you “build in” business logic” (a loosely defined term here) into your meta model. This business logic can be simple (like simply renaming or hiding a database table column) or quite complex […]

During a recent project of mine, I jumped “head first” into IBM Cognos Framework Manager. Yes, it is an awesome tool, but where exactly does it “fit” into the Cognos environment? Are there similar or alternate tools that can be used? I just had to have a quick look! The Cognos Components       […]

A proven practice for Framework Manager Meta Modeling is to divide your model into a series of layers, each layer having a specific purpose. (Originally IBM recommended the use of two layers (data and modeling), but later added a presentation layer, and (optionally) a separate dimensional layer). The layers should be: The top layer – […]

A metadata model is “a gathering of Meta information that includes both physical information and business information for one or more datasources and is the foundation for both future modelling and report development within an organization”. Meta-model flexibility can be defined as the ability of a (Meta) model to: Easily expand and grow (to support […]

Consider the scenario where you have to convert information held in a “categorical field” into a “collection of flag fields” – found in a transactional source. For example, suppose you have a file of transactions that includes (among other fields) a customer identifier (“who”) and a product identifier (“what”).  This file of transactional data indicates […]

Transactional datasets (especially those originating from databases) may contain duplicate records that must be removed before any modeling can begin.  There are simply two situations where duplicate records occur are: Datasets ARE erroneous (causing the same record to multiple times) Datasets ARE NOT erroneous (but records appear multiple times because information is collected different moments […]

In TM1, missing data usually means that there is a defect in the logic of your ETL script or you need to check your SQL. In SPSS Modeler, missing values arise for a variety of reasons and they must be considered carefully. You might expect that missing values imply errors or should those records be […]

Data loaded into a TM1 or SPSS model will, in most cases, include files consisting of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of records. It is not reasonable, given the number of fields and records in files of this size, for you to visually inspect all fields in every record (of every file) for missing or […]

SPSS Data Audit Node       Once data is imported into SPSS Modeler, the next step is to explore the data and to become “thoroughly acquainted” with its characteristics. Most (if not all) data will contain problems or errors such as missing information and/or invalid values. Before any real work can be done using […]

If you have a TM1 background it is a quick step to using SPSS Modeler -if you look for similarities in how the tools handle certain tasks like, for example, importing data. With TM1, source data is transformed and loaded into cube structures for consolidation, modeling and reporting using its ETL tool TurboIntegrator. In SPSS […]

So what is TM1 TOP? Definition and Access The TM1 Top utility empowers you to dynamically monitor “threads” running in an instance of a Cognos TM1 server. TM1 Threads are of three possible “types”: User Threads – Name of an actual user that is logged into TM1 Chore Threads – A chore running on the […]