IBM Cognos, User Manual

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Together, try to develop and maintain a list of follow-up questions, such as the
following:
v
Does each dimension level generate valid data, with measures that are properly
associated or coordinated, for every data source?
Try to spot measures that do not roll up as expected, or that are not additive in
every dimension.
v
Are ranges or qualitative values coded realistically? Are the values for key
performance indicators consistent, or is the integrity of the underlying data
suspect?
In some cases, you may need to add other measures that substitute average
figures, or industry standards, for unavailable or non-continuous values.
v
Is the data at some of the lower drill-down levels too sparse to be useful?
Should the model be redesigned, or should drill-through targets be added?
Consider expressing some values as ranges rather than absolutes, to create
useful groupings such as responsiveness or rates of return, for example, or to
hide sensitive details, such as salaries.
v
Could the data flowing from different databases, models, and reports be better
coordinated, perhaps by using normalized measures, to ensure that computer
resources are not overburdened?
v
Has anyone developed a calculated column or exception dimension that could
be added to the standard reports for the benefit of all?
If you maintain regular contact with your report users, you can incorporate their
feedback into your model enhancements. If you change your model and cubes, use
the label and description fields for each dimension, level, and measure, so that
reports created from your model are clear and intuitive.
Upgrade an IBM Cognos Series 7 Model
To upgrade models created in earlier versions of Cognos Transformer, you must
save them in the Model Definition Language (MDL) format before you can import
them into Cognos Transformer version 8.x and later. This ensures that equivalent
definitions are created for all model objects. You can upgrade models from IBM
Cognos Transformer, versions 7.x.
You can open an IBM Cognos Series 7 model with secured cubes in Cognos
Transformer, and convert the IBM Cognos Series 7 user class views to IBM Cognos
custom views. You can then choose the authentication provider you want to use
with the custom views. For more information, see Chapter 7, “Adding Security,”
on page 147.
During the transition from a Series 7 namespace to an alternate security provider,
you can use the PowerCube property
All applicable namespaces to associate all
applicable namespaces during migration testing. When you associate all the
applicable namespaces to the cube, you can ensure that the group, role, or user
dimensional filtering is consistent with that which had been applied for the IBM
Cognos Series 7 user class. This option is supported only for migration testing, and
cannot be used to deploy cubes in production environments.
You can change the data source association for IBM Cognos Series 7 .iqd files to an
IBM Cognos package or report to take advantage of the enhancements available
when using IBM Cognos data sources. You change the association after the
updated model is saved in Cognos Transformer 8.x. For more information, see
“Change a Data Source Type” on page 33.
Chapter 2. Planning Your Model
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