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IBM Cognos Analytics

IBM Cognos Analytics

Overview

What is IBM Cognos Analytics?

IBM Cognos is a full-featured business intelligence suite by IBM, designed for larger deployments. It comprises Query Studio, Reporting Studio, Analysis Studio and Event Studio, and Cognos Administration along with tools for Microsoft Office integration, full-text search, and dashboards.

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Learn from top reviewers

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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On Demand - Standard

$10.00

Cloud
per month per user

On Demand - Standard

$10.60

On Premise
per month per user

On Demand - Premium

$42.40

On Premise
per month per user

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.ibm.com/products/cognos…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $10 per month per user
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Product Demos

How to get started with IBM Cognos Analytics

cognos-education.17f48735.public.multi-containers.ibm.com

IBM Cognos Analytics Product Tour

Walnut.io
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

7.3
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

7.6
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

7.9
Avg 8.3

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

7.4
Avg 8.0

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

7.7
Avg 8.5

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

7.2
Avg 7.9

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

7.4
Avg 7.8
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Product Details

What is IBM Cognos Analytics?

Cognos Analytics is an AI-fueled business intelligence platform that supports the entire analytics cycle, from discovery to operationalization. Cognos Analytics gives users — whether data scientist, business analyst or non-specialist — more power to perform relevant analysis in a way that ties back to organizational objectives. It aims to shorten each user’s journey from simple to sophisticated analytics, allowing them to harness data to explore the unknown, identify new relationships, get a deeper understanding of outcomes and challenge the status quo. Users can visualize, analyze and share actionable insights about data with anyone in the organization.


IBM Cognos Analytics Features

BI Platform Features

  • Supported: Administration via Web Interface
  • Supported: Live Connection to External Data
  • Supported: Snapshot of External Data
  • Supported: In-memory data model
  • Supported: OLAP (Pre-processed cube representation)
  • Supported: Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
  • Supported: ETL Capability
  • Supported: ETL Scheduler

Supported Data Sources Features

  • Supported: MS Excel Workbooks
  • Supported: Text Files (CSV, etc)
  • Supported: Oracle
  • Supported: MS SQL Server
  • Supported: IBM DB2
  • Supported: MySQL
  • Supported: ODBC
  • Supported: Cloudera Hadoop
  • Supported: IBM Netezza
  • Supported: SAP Hana
  • Supported: Salesforce
  • Supported: SAP

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Pixel Perfect reports
  • Supported: Customizable dashboards
  • Supported: Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Predictive modeling
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages
  • Supported: Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

  • Supported: Publish to PDF
  • Supported: Output Raw Supporting Data
  • Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

  • Supported: Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
  • Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
  • Supported: Predictive Analytics
  • Supported: Support for Machine Learning models
  • Supported: Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages

Access Control and Security Features

  • Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
  • Supported: Role-Based Security Model
  • Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
  • Supported: Report-Level Access Control
  • Supported: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Single Sign-On (SSO)

Mobile Capabilities Features

  • Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
  • Supported: Mobile Application
  • Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding Features

  • Supported: REST API
  • Supported: Javascript API

IBM Cognos Analytics Screenshots

Screenshot of a natural language query, used in IBM Cognos Analytics to get AI-powered insights from data.Screenshot of AI-generated insights and forecasts that can be added with just a click of a button.Screenshot of a dashboard that can be generated automatically using IBM Cognos Analytics by uploading or selecting data.Screenshot of an AI-generated dashboard from a spreadsheet that was just uploaded. This offers a great starting point for the creative process.Screenshot of where to import data to IBM Cognos Analytics from CSV files and spreadsheets. Users can connect to cloud or on-premises data sources, including SQL databases, Google BigQuery, Amazon, and Redshift.Screenshot of a sample operational dashboard of a coffee shop created using IBM Cognos Analytics.

IBM Cognos Analytics Video

IBM Cognos Analytics Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android
Supported CountriesGlobal
Supported LanguagesEnglish, French, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Hebrew, Urdu, Farsi

Frequently Asked Questions

IBM Cognos is a full-featured business intelligence suite by IBM, designed for larger deployments. It comprises Query Studio, Reporting Studio, Analysis Studio and Event Studio, and Cognos Administration along with tools for Microsoft Office integration, full-text search, and dashboards.

IBM Cognos Analytics starts at $10.

Tableau Public, Tableau Server, and Microsoft Power BI are common alternatives for IBM Cognos Analytics.

Reviewers rate Report Versioning highest, with a score of 8.6.

The most common users of IBM Cognos Analytics are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

(1-5 of 111)

Experienced Cognos User's Review

Rating: 10 out of 10
February 01, 2017
OS
Vetted Review
Verified User
IBM Cognos Analytics
5 years of experience
It used across the university and provides easy access to prospective and current student data.
  • Intuitive interface
  • Dashboards
  • Reporting, analysis and scorecarding
Cons
  • Cognos Data Manager
  • Visualizations
  • Performance
While IBM Cognos comes in various shapes and sizes depending on the needs and size of the organization, in reality the BI and analytics platform is best suited to large corporations.

First time User, Career Builder!

Rating: 8 out of 10
May 30, 2014
MC
Vetted Review
Verified User
IBM Cognos Analytics
1 year of experience
Here at Performance Food Group (PFG), IBM Cognos is being used very often to reduce the amount of time spent running reports and queries. It is being used by the whole organization, but mainly by those individuals who are in an analytical or business development role within their respective departments. We use the tool primarily at the corporate level in Richmond, VA. While it doesn't necessarily address "business problems", it certainly enables efficiency and a seamless integration between our Foodstar and Gemini hubs that our Operating companies use to conduct their business every single day.
  • Real time Processing. Every parameter you include in the report begins processing it right away--there is virtually no wait time.
  • Ability to download it in various formats, such as PDF, Excel Data format, Excel 2003/2007 Format. This helps if you need to import the data into another sysem such as SQL or Access to further enhance the value of the report.
  • How well it integrates our operating company level systems, which can be much older depending on how much each company has invested into their technologyn development--Cognos has been able to successfully integrate our 35 Operating Companies systems into one hub in Cognos.
Cons
  • Perhaps a more modern interface, with some more animation. There is a lot of white space on the page.
  • If one tries to include a lot of parameters, often times just what is needed to successfully carry out the report, sometimes the system will "freeze" or crash. You then have to utilize a package program within your reporting system, which is an interface that helps reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to run a larger report.
  • This may be objective, but if the internet or server is slow, if its on the user side or provider side, Cognos simply will not work or it will spend hours "processing" a report that really isn't being processed.
I think some key questions are: How will this truly help me? Will this reduce the amount of time spent doing research, processing, and formatting the report? How long does it take to set up the Cognos system to merge with our other internal or external corporate systems? Is there a risk for losing or having affected data by attempting to sync everything? What is Cognos support system like? Do we have to dedicate an on site support staff or is there a dedicated 24/7 or immediate call center that we can rely upon?

IBM Cognos 8.4.1 - A user review

Rating: 8 out of 10
August 27, 2013
TM
Vetted Review
Verified User
IBM Cognos Analytics
6 years of experience
  • There are a variety of formats available for producing data (HTML, PDF, Excel (several versions), .csv, XML.
  • They have a very good method of report scheduling and email delivery. You can set a report up on a schedule to be delivered, then forget about it. It takes care of itself.
  • You can access SQL views and queries within Cognos Report Studio to report on fields that may or may not be available in the provided packages.
Cons
  • There are some ineffeciencies when creating reports, such data grouping. You have to click and group each data column separately.
  • The security features tend to slow processing times down significantly. However these features may only be an issue due to our SAS provider controlling them. May not be an issue if you own the Cognos software.
I have worked with several reporting software products, and Cognos has a lot of flexibility and is very usable. It will perform most any task that you would need. I think it is a great product.

IBM Cognos Analytics for Business Users

Rating: 10 out of 10
January 28, 2022
We help customers make the best use of IBM Cognos to help them understand their business in key areas of the organization. From areas of Orders, Invoices, and Inventory. In addition, we cover areas in finance such as AP, AR, and GL. The other areas are also in purchasing and service. All of this is against a data source coming from SAP Business One.
  • Analyze data
  • Reporting
  • Dashboarding
  • Self service
  • Adhoc capability
Cons
  • Improve Excel integration
  • Improve dashboard experience
  • Better online training videos
It is best suited in an organization that has a vast amount of information. Whether it be a lot of different products or a lot of different customers. Also, important that reporting is currently manual and needs better improvement in the overall process of getting things done to executive management.

Cognos of the Titan IBM for superb users

Rating: 8 out of 10
April 06, 2018
We provide BI modules for our clients. Sometimes we create the module (if the requirement is not very demanding). Sometimes we leave the work to the experts in the field. And the pioneer and high visionary in the field is without a doubt IBM with IBM Cognos. IBM Cognos provide an immersion to BI for technical users (query studio, report studio) and managers (analysis studio, event studio).
  • All in one Platform, with IBM integration capacities
  • Easy to use for directors and managers
  • Large user base
  • Relativity lower prices than the competition
Cons
  • The limited complexity of data analysis
  • Lower customer experience
  • Slow upgrades compared to competitors
For non-technical users like managers or directors, IBM Cognos is beautiful, easy to learn and use. But if you want complex cubes or data analysis outside the box, you could prefer Tableau or Microsoft Power BI. QlikView is also good for non-technical users but the decision can be made according to the experience and use of IBM products. In general, if your client is familiar with the IBM ecosystem, Cognos will be very well seen for directors and managers.
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