IBM IOD 2011: IBM Cognos Framework Manager Unleashed

An Innovative Approach to Modeling Complex BI Projects

October 12, 2011 by Rick Ryan - Envisn, Inc.
With the IBM Information On Demand (IBM IOD 2011) event in Las Vegas less than two weeks away many of you may have already made plans to attend and started to schedule your sessions. For those of you still undecided about which sessions to attend, our blog this week may help make up your mind.

The Boeing Company, an Envisn customer, has one of their people making a presentation on the Business Intelligence track. Larry Bob, BI Architect, will be giving a session titled “IBM Cognos Framework Manager Unleashed: An Innovative Approach to Modeling Complex BI Projects”. Session number is 1724. Boeing is a leader in the use of IBM Cognos BI and Larry has played a major role in organizing large data sets in a manner which minimizes complexity in the modeling process.

The program guide abstract for Larry’s session describes it:

The Boeing Company faced a multitude of challenges managing the many IBM Cognos Framework Manager models it generated to the Finance community. Attend this session to see the solution that meets these primary design principles:

• Everything is modeled once and only once
• Multiple developers can easily develop in Cognos Framework Manager simultaneously
• Model testing and the need for regression testing is minimized
• Design is optimized for maintainability
• All applicable content can be made available to a given user group in a single package.

Beyond that we asked Larry the following four questions. His response is shown below each of the questions:

1. Why should people come to the session?
   LB - If you use Framework Manager and you have more than one developer, more than one subject area, and want to learn the leanest, most efficient way of modeling your data – this is the session for you.
2. What do you plan to cover?
   LB - The journey from simplicity to complexity, the search for delivering consistency in an efficient manner while optimizing the end user experience, and the Framework Manager modeling methodology we deployed. The session will walk thru the architecture in detail and include “musts” for success.
3. What constitutes a ‘complex’ BI project?
   LB - Any BI project with more than one developer and/or more than one subject area where consistent presentation in the Cognos BI suite is desired.
4. What are the key takeaways from this session?
   LB - Step by step instructions for implementing this methodology in your environment and the benefits from using it.

This will be an interesting and informative session. I have seen Larry’s presentation and it’s impressive. It's an excellent example of what a skilled Framework Manager modeler can do in a large environment to advance both simplicity and excellence at the same time. You don't want to miss this.

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UPDATE

Larry has graciously made the slides from his presentation available
and you can find them here:

http://www.slideshare.net/Envisn/iod-2011-1724-bob

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A couple of other sessions you might also want to consider attending at the IOD include:

BBI-1672
Implementing the System Management Methodology (SMM) for IBM Cognos Administration

This session will introduce you to the System Management Methodology (SMM) for IBM Cognos Administration. The SMM is a collection of examples and methods for managing and trending the health and performance of your IBM Cognos BI installation. This session will walk you through the process of implementing the SMM and review sample objects included in the package.

Session Type: Best Practices/Deployment
Speaker: Dean Browne, IBM

BBI – 2723
Streamlining the Lifecycle of your Business Intelligence Solution

Streamlining the lifecycle management of your BI solution is critical to responding quickly while controlling costs. Join this session to hear how IBM Cognos addresses the discipline of lifecycle management, and ensures that you can cost-effectively manage your BI solution when initially deployed and as it changes over time. This session will include demonstrations of IBM Cognos BI capabilities and show you how to handle the lifecycle management of your deployment.

Session Type: Technical Overview
Speaker: Andreas Coucopoulos, IBM

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