Cognos Interview Questions And Answers Pdf
1. What is Cognos Connection?
Answer: It is a Web portal for Cognos 8 and a component that interacts with the Content Store. It is a frontend to publish, find, manage, organize, and view an organization’s business intelligence data.
2. How to generate cubes in Cognos?
Answer: Power Play Transformer contains dimension, measure, model and cube. we can generate a cube differently. Just right click on cube name and build. we can write a script in UNIX. using that we can generate cube.
3. What are the types of catalogs in Cognos?
Answer:
There are four types of catalogs in Cognos. They are:
- Personal
- Distributed
- Shared
- Secured
4. Which Lifecycle We Will Use For Reporting?
Answer: There is no specific reporting lifecycle. We can generate the reports from data warehouse/data marts or we can generate the reports directly from OLTP systems. What I mean generating reports from OLTP systems is loading data into one system and generating the reports. But this is not recommended. This will depend on the business.
5. Define datastores in Cognos?
Answer: Data sources, also known as query databases, are relational databases, dimensional cubes, files, or other physical data stores that can be accessed through IBM Cognos8. Application Tier Components use data source connections to access data sources
6. What is the difference between view and materialized view?
Answer: Views contain query whenever execute views it has read from the base table Whereas M views loading or replicated takes place only once which gives you better query performance.
7. How You Provide Security To Reports? How You Provide Security To Packages?
Answer: For framework manager packages, before you head away with creating a new package it asks whether or not you want to have security set up for the package in use. Even if you haven’t defined any security at this stage, you can always go to the actions >> package >> Edit package settings and there you can define the security settings for the package. (e Learning)
8. What are Slice and Dice?
Answer: An operation that allows one to select a portion of the data of a fact-based on specified values in one or several dimensions.
9. What are the types of hierarchies?
Answer: In Analysis Services, there are two types of hierarchies are :
Attribute hierarchies
User-defined hierarchies.
10. What is an OLAP designer?
Answer: OLAP Designer is a development tool used to model and creates multidimensional databases. A multidimensional database often referred to as a cube, is a highly compressed database and contains summarized information that is optimized for analysis.
11. What is meant by drill down?
Answer: The drill-down operation performs the operation opposite to the roll-up operation, i.e., it moves from a more general level to a detailed level in a hierarchy, thus presenting more detailed measures.
12. How To Create Cubes In Transformer?
Answer: The cube can be created by using different data sources.
Data sources: iqd, tex file Cube creation by using iqd data sources.
These find sources are coming from impromptu.
13. What is the difference between a cascading report and drill through the report?
Answer:
Cascading prompt means to extract the data from one prompt to using values from another prompt.
Drill through report means to extract the data by selecting a column in a report, means to get the detailed information by clicking that column data.
14. What are the components of the report studio?
Answer:
There are four components of the report studio are:
Insertable Objects pane
Properties pane
Explorer bar
Report Viewer
15. What are the types of security?
Answer:
There are three different types of Security are :
Data security: Create a security filter and apply it to a specific query subject.
Object security: Secure an object directly by allowing users access to the object, denying users access to the object, or keeping it hidden for all users.
Package security: Apply security to a package and identify who has access to that package.
16. What is the report studio?
Answer:
Report Studio is the professional report authoring tool. The tool allows for the development of pixel-perfect reports, such as invoices and statements, as well as very complex layouts, such as those required for enterprise dashboards. company
17. What are Cognos connection initial page components?
Answer:
The page can be broken down into three major sections :
The Studio Toolbar
The Utilities Toolbar
The Tab Navigator
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18. Suppose You Run A Report With Empty Data, How Will You Inform The End User That It Has No Data While Running The Report In Report Studio? Is It Possible, If So How?
Answer: Add a list footer and a text message inside “No Data”. create a boolean conditional variable “Test” with code “rownum()>0”. Select the complete list footer and set Style Variable, if Yes, Box Type of the List footer should be set to “none”.
19. What is the difference between a data mart and a data warehouse?
Answer: A data mart designed for a particular line of business, such as sales, marketing, or finance. Whereas data warehouse is enterprise-wide/ organizational The data flow of data warehouse depending on the approach.
20. What do you mean by Drill Through report?
Answer:
Drill through reporting is used to link from one report to another report. It has a parent and child relationship between the reports.
21. What Is Model And How To Create Model And How To Test Model?
Answer: Create a Model In framework Manager and then publish it, make sure that Model meets the requirements, don’t overload the model with unwanted query items.
The model is nothing but a project. And the project will be created by the framework manager in which we can extract the metadata from the various operational sources… we will test the model by using the TOAD.
The model contains metadata which is related to business reporting Information. We import this data from the database. Using this metadata we are creating Packages, Publishing packages, This metadata contains query subjects and namespaces.
22. What is the Difference between PowerPlay transformer and power play reports?
Answer: Powerplay transformer’ is a ‘MOLAP’ tool using which one can create a multi-dimensional structure called “CUBE”. Powerplay for reports is used to generate a report from the cube. Only one report can be generated from one cube. If u want ‘n’ reports u must create ‘n’ cubes.
23. What is the difference between the content store and content manager?
Answer: A content store is a database that stores the metadata of the reports. But whereas a content manager is a service that is available in the dispatcher. which it manages the security.
24. What Is The Difference B/w Macros And Prompt?
Answer: Macro-A macro is a set of instructions that can run applications.
Example: A macro can open your catalog, select a report(say for instance) convert that to another format and export it to any specified location, provided the code (Program)is such.
Prompt-A prompt specifies how data in the reports are to be displayed.
A Prompt can be defined at the catalog level either or during report generation.
25. What is the Model Filter?
Answer:
It is used to restrict the data displayed on the Report. The model filter is reusable.
26. What Is Cognos Visualizer And Cognos Scripting?
Answer: Visualizer is a representation of data cubes in a dashboard format. We can drill through to the ground level of a hierarchy like in the power-play report but cannot add or remove fields dynamically.
Cognos script editor: We can write Cognos macros or programs in this tool and can fine-tune or process some execution.
27. What is DTM?
Answer: DTM transform data received from reader buffer and its moves transformation to transformation on row by row basis and it uses transformation caches when necessary.
28. Define the Slice and Dice?
Answer:
An operation that allows one to select a portion of the data of a fact-based on specified values in one or several dimensions.
29. What are the advantages of using Cognos SQL?
Answer:
It can contain metadata from multiple data sources.
It has fewer database restrictions
Provide the facility to interact more effectively with Cognos applications.
30. What is the transformer?
Answer: how do you call a stored procedure within a transformation? The transformer is used for building the Cubes (Multidimensional Structure used for OLAP processing). In the expression, transformation creates new outport write: sp.stored procedure name(arguments)
31. What is the difference between the Standard and Metrics folder?
Answer:
Standard Folder – This is a container of all folders and it is used for Organizational purposes. It acts as a local computer folder. It is yellow.
Metrics Folder – This folder is used by the Metrics studio to store metrics related information. The metrics folder will open up directly in the Metrics studio and it is dark blue.
32. What Junk Dimension Contains?
Answer:
It contains miscellaneous attributes such as flags, which do belong to the main dimension table.
for eg; In a sales order fact table, some information like web-order, whether this is an online order or not new_cust-Is this person a new customer, verification- whether the order has been verified.
33. What Is The Difference Between Group And Association?
Answer: Group: used to eliminate duplicate values in the report.
Association: used with a grouped item that displays data only when the values are changed.
34. What is slowly changing dimension?
Answer: Dimension attribute values may change constantly over time. (Say for example customer dimension has customer_id, name, and address) customer address may change over time.
35. What is the difference between ‘macro’ and ‘prompt?
Answer: Macro is used in running a set of instructions to execute the report, while prompt gives you a way of changing the report dynamically.
36. How Create Measures And Dimensions?
Answer: You can create a measure once you import all the data into the data source. You can create measures and dimensions by dragging the required source from the data source into the dimension map and measure tab. (need to find the scope of measures for all the dimensions)
37. What Is Drill Down And Slicing And Dicing What’s The Difference Between Them?
Answer:
Drilling let s you quickly move from one level of detail to another to explore different aspects of your business.
Drilling down moves you down in the hierarchy.
drilling up moves you up in the hierarchy.
Slicing and Dicing While you can drill to look at the information at any level, you can slice and dice to select the exact information you want in your report.
38. What Is The Difference Between A Cascading Report And Drillthru Report? why Do We Go For Drill Thru Report?
Answer: Cascading report works based on the condition but drills through work based on the data item that we select as a drill thru options.
39. What is the difference between static and dynamic conditions?
Answer:
Static Condition
Whenever you run the report the condition will not change.
Dynamic Condition
A condition that keeps on change whenever you run the report.
40. What Is The Difference Between Enterprise Data Warehouse And Data Warehouse?
Answer: Big Organizations have a lot of diversified sources of data. There might be a Dataware house exclusively for transport and others for data related to the project the company runs. In such a case, the complete enterprise’s(company’s) data warehouse is a big combination of all and is known as the Enterprise Data warehouse(EDW).
41. Give Me Any Example Of Semi And Non-Additive Measures?
Answer:
Semi-Additive: Semi-additive facts are facts that can be summed up for some of the dimensions in the fact table, but not the others.
Non-Additive: Non-additive facts are facts that cannot be summed up for any of the dimensions present in the fact table. Current Balance and Profit Margin are the facts. Current Balance is a semi-additive fact, as it makes sense to add them up for all accounts, but it does not make sense to add them up through time (adding up all current balances for a given account for each day of the month does not give us any useful information). Profit Margin is a non-additive fact, for it does not make sense to add them up for the account level or the day level.
42. What is a snapshot?
Answer: A Snapshot is a copy of data, when we create a snapshot it copies the exact data that related to the at the particular report, we use snapshots whenever we want to compare reports. (Example: we want to compare this months report with previous months).
43. Define the Cognos Reporting tool?
Answer: It’s a reporting tool of IBM which help us in reporting and analysis of different data from a data warehouse. Read this blog to find out why Business Intelligence tools are critical to today’s enterprises.
44. What is the metric store database?
Answer: A metric store database is a special case of a query database. A metric store database is used to store the information associated with metrics that appear scorecards, including targets performance metrics, thresholds, membership in scorecards links to related reports.
45. Explain the Difference between PowerPlay transformer and power play reports?
Answer: Powerplay transformer’ is a ‘MOLAP’ tool using which one can create a multi-dimensional structure called “CUBE”.
Powerplay for reports is used to generate a report from the cube. Only one report can be generated from one cube. If u want ‘n’ reports u must create ‘n’ cubes.
46. What Is Model And Say About Process How To Create Model And How To Test Model?
Answer: Model in PowerPlay Transformer is a combination of five windows- Dimension Map, Data Source, Measures, Power cube, Sign-On. Models specify the data sources and then defining the dimensions, levels, and measures. They may also contain dimension views, user classes, user class views, and other authentication-related information. The information for a model is stored in a model file, with the extension .pyi (binary, means platform dependent) or .mdl (text,platform-independent).
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