IBM Cognos Analytics Reviews & Ratings 2024

Q: What are IBM Cognos Analytics's top competitors?

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

Starting at $10 per month per user

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.

Recent Reviews

IBM Cognos Analytics, in my opinion, legacy leader modern laggard

6 out of 10

March 29, 2024

Incentivized

Primarily used for Dashboard and Report development with some level of self service capabilities.

Good BI tool for advanced analytics.

7 out of 10

March 29, 2024

Incentivized

We use IBM Cognos Analytics is a business intelligence and analytics platform to gather and aggregate data from multiple parts of our …

It's like a Swiss Army knife for our data

9 out of 10

March 25, 2024

Incentivized

At our marketing agency, we primarily use IBM Cognos Analytics to dive deep into customer and non-customer data for a major financial bank …

IBM Cognos Analytics Review

8 out of 10

March 25, 2024

Incentivized

I work in an industry which is completely data driven, using IBM Cognos Analytics we can easily schedule reports that could be sent out to …

Great Data Visual tool that's let down by lack of integrations & customer support.

7 out of 10

March 23, 2024

Incentivized

We use the tool for data modeling as it helps in predictive data analysis for complex data, which is very much in line with real-life …

IBM Cognos for Automation, Business Performance Insights, and Advanced Learning

4 out of 10

March 22, 2024

Incentivized

This is used by some of the teams for modeling, predictive analysis using historical data, and deep insights on overall Business …

Unlocking Business Insights with IBM Cognos Analytics

9 out of 10

March 22, 2024

Incentivized

It is business intelligence platform which enables organizations to make insights from their data and also provides informed decisions. …

IBM Cognos Analytics: The best blend of PowerBI, Tableau & Qlik

9 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

We use IBM Cognos Analytics suite for developing Analytics solutions and consuming visualization reports and dashboards to get incredible …

Best Business AI Tool

9 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

We use IBM Cognos Analytics extensively in our data research. Our research is primarily based on the data input of demographics of our …

IBM Cognos Analytics

8 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

This technology is a great way for our business to see the scope of the work we are doing in one large dashboard. The data driven insights …

Great for data analysis

9 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

We mostly use it for data analytics and business intelligence. With the data provided IBM Cognos Analytics provide comprehensive reports …

Best translation of AI into Business Analytics

8 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

Being in the video production industry, we have a lot of bulky data relating to audience engagement of a video on a particular digital …

Powerful and reliable BI tool

6 out of 10

March 20, 2024

Incentivized

We use IBM Cognos Analytics as our primary Business Intelligence tool for our risk and business reporting needs. We use it to produce …

IBM Cognos Analytics Review

7 out of 10

February 13, 2024

Incentivized

IBM Cognos Analytics is used in the organization for reporting and analytics trends that come from the financial aspects of the company. …

Data unification capacity, great help to the end user in the creation of the final report.

10 out of 10

December 17, 2023

Incentivized

Throughout the organization, we fully use this tool for the control of administration automation, mainly reports and data models, which …

Read all reviews

How IBM Cognos Analytics Differs From Its Competitors

Self-Service

While there are claims for the AI integration and other aspects, the implementation of these are not easy and I have seen few success stories of the same. Data cleansing in a reporting tool is rather not recommended and should be done at data source or in data quality tools.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Security and access control based on department, role and user types is one of the key requirements for me. This is something IBM Cognos Analytics does quite well and easyly integrates with windows AD.

Incentivized

Self-Service

When used properly, the AI features do provide productivity gains. However, they won't do all the work for you. They alleviate some of the most tedious tasks and help speed things up overall.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Those functionalities are must-haves in any large organization, where you can not allow everybody to access every data set. However, I wish there were more options for user authentication.

Incentivized

Self-Service

Cognos' self-service capabilities have been a game-changer for our team. Before, data analysis felt like you needed a degree in wizardry. Now, with AI-assisted data prep and the AI Assistant, it's like having a data expert by your side, translating our plain English questions into deep insights …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

For us, working with a major financial brand, data security isn't just important—it's everything. Cognos Analytics' security controls are a big deal for us. They let us manage who sees what, ensuring only the right eyes are on sensitive data. This is crucial in a big agency like ours, where …

Incentivized

Self-Service

We have not used the AI assisted data preparation as the amount of the data that we collect is on a larger scale and we are in the very beginning of implementing AI on a broder scope in our organization

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

We are very much concerned about our data as we are a global organisation.
The data we collect is to make sure we make earth a better place to live hence we go a extra mile to make sure the data is secured and only the authorised persons have access the the data.

Incentivized

Self-Service

1. We use the tool for data modeling as it helps in predictive data analysis for complex data, which is very much in line with real-life scenarios. 2. Options of customizing & scheduling reports as per our requirements basis. 3. With limited options, API integration is not up to the mark.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

1. We use the tool for data modeling as it helps in predictive data analysis for complex data, which is very much in line with real-life scenarios. 2. Options of customizing & scheduling reports as per our requirements basis. 3. Has a mobile application that works seamlessly. 4. Laptops gets …

Incentivized

Self-Service

These features have streamlined some manual work and further advanced automation, but validation and further accuracy-checking is still needed as we gain confidence in the platform and want to ensure confidence.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

This is very important to us. We appreciate the controls accessible in IBM Cognos, as with any platform we seek out. This allows access to the data and investigating from team members at any and every level.

Incentivized

Self-Service

AI assisted data cleansing and connecting data have helped in the process of preparing and transforming data for analysis. Automated dashboard creation supports users to quickly generate interactive dashboard without the need of technical support. Self service feature in cognos analytics helped …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

It helps in defining and imposing security policies for different levels, be it groups or individual levels. It implements data governance controls which helps in data quality management and also helps in improving accuracy, and consistency of data. When user know their data is secured and their …

Incentivized

Self-Service

We are getting benefited continuously with the advanced Automation and AI capabilities on IBM Cognos Analytics which enable us to focus more on delivering the strategic business solutions rather than repetitive development tasks like data extraction, modelling (unless specific modelling is needed …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Data security is a critical deal maker or deal breaker for us and IBM Cognos Analytics live to fullest of the expectations in this regard.
It offers tremendously helpful capabilities for row level and role level security on top of already powerful single sign on and multi factor authentication …

Incentivized

Self-Service

I feel the self-service capabilities are the best part about this tool. Big data usually comes with challenges of cleaning and streamlining the data, which is done easily and mostly automatically by IBM Cognos Analytics. Also, plain English commands make the tool extremely user friendly and very …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

The level-wise controls and access management work smoothly. We have a big team using this software, and everyone's access and role rights are efficiently and easily managed through the tool.

Incentivized

Self-Service

These tools have been incredibly impactful in driving our business activities and spending less time on tedious reports and organization/business decisions.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

I feel much more confident about the quality of the data I'm using since there are numerous AI and data mining tools involved in this process that make data organization and optimization easier. These tools are incredibly important to maintaining data and making informed business decisions for …

Incentivized

Self-Service

Its advanced AI capabilities help us immensely in data analysis as its very fast in analyzing large amounts of data in lower time frame. and as its running with the help of ai it means we can deploy our resources somewhere else.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

By data governance IBM Cognos Analytics ensures our data remains safe. It only allow authorized individuals with access of confidential data. with its accurate data analytics capabilities we are ensured that our data received from it is consistent and accurate. and because of that we are really …

Incentivized

Self-Service

We regularly use plain English commands to generate a lot of data report, to categorise those reports and to derive business strategies through it.<br>The self-service capabilities also make the learning curve much smoother.<br>The best feature is its chart creation, which can create really …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

We are a team of about 12 people who use this tool on a regular basis - ranging from management to junior data analyst. Its individual-level security controls help us assign specific roles and access to each user.

Incentivized

Self-Service

They've helped our middle office and back office non technical users to be able to probe data and come up with informed analysis on past trades. This has dramatically reduced the number of support requests for ad-hoc reporting raised with our technical teams. The reporting tool has helped …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

In a bank, these controls are critical as we need row and column level data protection. In addition, we need to prove to compliance on a regular basis that our controls are working correctly and this tool helps us provide the data in accordance with user permissions.

Incentivized

Self-Service

These self-service capabilities have enhanced the company's activities by allowing the creators and users of the information the freedom to take an idea they have and run with it. They can use the AI Assistant to take their ideas and create a visualization that helps get their point across and …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

By allowing the enhanced security controls the company has been able to make sure that all relevant data is limited to the users that need it most and it is locked down appropriately. This gives Management peace of mind that the right people are looking at the right data and the risk of the …

Incentivized

Self-Service

This is always what characterizes this software; it is possible to link tools that help to work with different data sources and AI, and it is also possible to visualize the data in a personalized control panel with a direct or indirect classification to all the obtaining system Automated data …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

There are more than ten groups with central administrative permissions that are working with this software only in my department; in other areas, different permissions have also been established for each job according to each data source; this significantly helps the individual performance of each …

Incentivized

Self-Service

If it is possible for all users to clearly understand the generated reports, the information panels are easy even for non-technical staff; it is not necessary to ask for help to export information to components or modules that are required, and it is also easy to change the location and report …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Documents and reports are shared in all departments only with Latin permissions for password management and encryption when required; there is a person in charge in each department who has the authorization; in the same way, this product has additional security features with advanced verification. …

Incentivized

Self-Service

IBM Cognos Analytics' data modules allow for basic data prep tasks and continue to evolve. They provide a good web-based environment to manage metadata and build out calculations and filters, which help improve self-service analytics for end users. The AI assistant is a nice enhancement in recent …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Data governance and controls are vital when rolling out an enterprise reporting, dashboarding, and analytics platform. IBM Cognos Analytics has always provided good and effective controls in this respect, which continue to be supported in newer releases. Security control also remains a strong …

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

This does increase throughput so that we can deploy content to a wider audience utilizing security to make sure people see only what they are supposed to see. The overall model is flexible and powerful so we can deliver data securely no matter the security need.

Incentivized

Self-Service

Yes it did and if the code was simplified also with integration of multiple UI then it would be a great product that users can use in their businesses

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

In enables better data governance structure by having regulated access to reports and dashboards of who can access the data with better row level security enabled. Quality of data is highly dependent on how we get the data and make relationships with different tables and databases so it is …

Incentivized

Self-Service

Leveraging AI to analyse data and generate interactive dashboards is an incredible powerful and time saving feature.
The AI assistant natural language processing is also a great tool to fill the knowledge gap that is normal for clients using these kind of tools.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

The security controls are a must of using this tool. Beyond important :-) Without security it would not work.
Proper content management and data quality features improved the confidence in the quality of the data.

Incentivized

Self-Service

Such self service features are the reason we stick with Cognos Analytics. There is an active community and support is excellent.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

With Cognos Analytics user data and master copy are nicely differentiated. So a user can come out with different scenarios on his own workspace without modifying the master copy.

Incentivized

Self-Service

We just migrated to CA this year so we are still struggling with switching our model to self service.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Extremely! As we are a healthcare insurance company, we are driven by mandates from the government and have strict policies to follow. CA allows permissions to be set at most of the levels we require.

Incentivized

Self-Service

We provide training on these exact capabilities and offer custom report/dasboard builds on an SOW basis. Along with our standard reports and dashboards this has allowed us to satisfy all of our customer needs.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

Very important. All users are assigned roles and "scope". This scope is enforced in models, allowing us to provide single packages which satisfy 1,000s of needs. Power BI and Tableau can't do that!

Incentivized

Self-Service

We are planning to introduce business user self-service for future release.

Incentivized

Data Security and Quality

IBM Cognos allows governors at system level, model/package level and report level security controls, but it is lacking control by tenants. e.g. many system level governors like high/low affinity processes or max processes cannot have different settings per tenant.

Incentivized

Self-Service

These capabilities were designed to empower business users with the ability to access and analyze data without heavy reliance on IT or technical expertise.

Data Security and Quality

It is essential, and we no need to physically share data with developers and users. All my data is secured and governed.

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

Popular Features

View all 30 features

Formatting capabilities (102)
8.1
81%
Drill-down analysis (101)
8.1
81%
Report Delivery Scheduling (100)
8.0
80%
Customizable dashboards (99)
7.8
78%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons

Role based access controls
Introducing new charts and visuals

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Banking Company, 5001-10,000 employees

Integration with IBM Watson: makes it easy to use Watson AI features (NLP etc.) on your data.
The user interface feels old and not easy to use, especially compared to recent solutions.

Verified User

Program Manager in Product Management

Information Technology & Services Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Pricing

View all pricing

On Demand - Standard

$10.00

Cloud

per month per user

On Demand - Premium

$40.00

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

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.

7.9

Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

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

8.1

Avg 8.1

8.1
Drill-down analysis
(101) Ratings
Drill down analysis is the ability to get to a further level of detail by going deeper into the hierarchy.
8.1
Formatting capabilities
(102) Ratings
Ability to format output e.g. conditional formatting, lines, headers, footers.
7.8
Integration with R or other statistical packages
(71) Ratings
Integration with the open-source R predictive modeling environment.
8.4
Report sharing and collaboration
(99) Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration is the ability to easily share reports with others.

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

8.3

Avg 8.4

8.3
Publish to Web
(27) Ratings
8.7
Publish to PDF
(97) Ratings
8.6
Report Versioning
(26) Ratings
Report versioning is the assignment of version numbers to each version of a report to help in tracking.
8
Report Delivery Scheduling
(100) Ratings
Report Delivery Schedule is the ability to have reports delivered to a destination at a specific data and time.
8.1
Delivery to Remote Servers
(12) Ratings
Ability to deliver reports to remote servers

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.

8.1

Avg 8.1

8
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
(88) Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats are canned visualization types that can be selected to visualize different kinds of data.
8.2
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
(85) Ratings
Location analytics is the visualization of geographical or spatial data.
8.1
Predictive Analytics
(81) Ratings
Predictive Analytics is the ability to build forecasting models based on existing data sets.
8
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
(20) Ratings
Pattern recognition and data mining mean the ability to recognize hidden patterns in large quantities of data.

Access Control and Security

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

8.3

Avg 8.6

8.4
Multi-User Support (named login)
(95) Ratings
Named model access means that users have access based on name and password.
8.3
Role-Based Security Model
(94) Ratings
Role-based access means that access to data is determined by job or position in the corporation.
8.2
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
(94) Ratings
Multiple access permission levels means that different levels of users have different rights.
8.4
Report-Level Access Control
(23) Ratings
Report-level access control means that the type of report determines who has access to it.
8.3
Single Sign-On (SSO)
(76) Ratings
Allows users to use one set of login credentials to access multiple applications

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

7.3

Avg 8.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

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

7.5

Avg 7.9

7.3
REST API
(57) Ratings
REST is an architecture style for designing networked applications
7.5
Javascript API
(56) Ratings
A Javascript API is a type of API
8.3
iFrames
(9) Ratings
An iFrame is an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website
6.9
Java API
(11) Ratings
A Java application programming interface (API) is a list of all classes that are part of the Java development kit (JDK)
7.1
Themeable User Interface (UI)
(10) Ratings
A themeable user interface means that a specific visual them can be applied to it
7.8
Customizable Platform (Open Source)
(7) Ratings
A customizable, open source API Gateway is a fast and scalable type of API

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Product Details

About
Integrations
Competitors
Tech Details
FAQs

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.

https://ibm.biz/Cognos_Analytics_product_page

IBM Cognos Analytics Features

Show Unsupported 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

Additional Features

Supported: AI Forecasting

IBM Cognos Analytics Integrations

IBM Cognos Analytics Competitors

IBM Cognos Analytics Technical Details

Deployment Types	On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating Systems	Windows, Linux, Mac
Mobile Application	Apple iOS, Android
Supported Countries	Global
Supported Languages	English, French, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Hebrew, Urdu, Farsi

Frequently Asked Questions

IBM Cognos Analytics starts at $10.

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

Reviewers rate Publish to PDF highest, with a score of 8.7.

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

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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(579)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)

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March 26, 2023

Versatile platform that facilitates data visualization and analysis

Verified User

Employee in Information Technology

Financial Services Company, 201-500 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Incentivized

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IBM Cognos Analytics offers the ability to drive the productive growth of our company, with its versatile features that optimize decision making that positively impact the performance of the company, allowing to adjust plans and forecasts in real time. We use this platform to optimize future actions to be taken, based on accurate and reliable data. It allows us to create visually pleasing dashboards, presenting data that significantly facilitates its analysis, processed with a high level of security. This platform offers real-time information that allows you to adapt strategies based on accurate and reliable data.

Pros and Cons

Allows you to easily create interactive and intuitive dashboards
Its user interface is visually very pleasant and easy to use
Allows to obtain very complete reports, which improves our planning process
Provides accurate forecasting powered by artificial intelligence

Its cost which is significantly high
It requires training for beginners to handle its full potential

Likelihood to Recommend

This platform has the ability to strengthen decision making and facilitate the creation of strategies based on effective data analysis, allowing to improve the overall performance of the organization. It is suitable for creating customized, attractive and intuitive reports, which can be shared quickly and easily. In addition to generating dynamic visualizations to improve our forecasting. Due to the effective data management it offers, this platform allows to understand more accurately what is happening in the company, revealing hidden problems and facilitating their effective correction.

IBM Cognos Analytics Feature Ratings

BI Platform

N/A

Supported Data Sources

N/A

BI Standard Reporting (3)

93.33333333333334%

9.3

Pixel Perfect reports: 90%
9.0
Customizable dashboards: 100%
10.0
Report Formatting Templates: 90%
9.0

Ad-hoc Reporting (4)

87.5%

8.8

Drill-down analysis: 90%
9.0
Formatting capabilities: 90%
9.0
Integration with R or other statistical packages: 80%
8.0
Report sharing and collaboration: 90%
9.0

Report Output and Scheduling (2)

90%

9.0

Publish to PDF: 90%
9.0
Report Delivery Scheduling: 90%
9.0

Data Discovery and Visualization (3)

86.66666666666666%

8.7

Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.): 90%
9.0
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization: 80%
8.0
Predictive Analytics: 90%
9.0

Access Control and Security (4)

87.5%

8.8

Multi-User Support (named login): 90%
9.0
Role-Based Security Model: 80%
8.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete): 90%
9.0
Single Sign-On (SSO): 90%
9.0

Mobile Capabilities (3)

86.66666666666666%

8.7

Responsive Design for Web Access: 90%
9.0
Mobile Application: 80%
8.0
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile: 90%
9.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding (2)

90%

9.0

REST API: 90%
9.0
Javascript API: 90%
9.0

Return on Investment

Ensures secure and efficient use of data
It is a highly scalable platform and improves decision making
It has the ability to generate a highly collaborative workflow

Alternatives Considered

Tableau Desktop

This is a BI solution that has versatile and robust capabilities, offers a customized experience and a very easy to use interface.

Self-Service

The self-service capabilities of this platform allow users to build their own dashboards, reports and scorecards in a simple, intuitive and secure way. It also provides ease of use for advanced data analysis.

Data Security and Quality

The security features offered by this platform in data management greatly reduce risks and allow reliable access to data.

Reporting

This platform offers excellent collaborative capabilities, which facilitate quick and easy delivery of generated reports. IBM Cognos provides flexibility and fluidity in reporting.

Other Software Used

IBM Robotic Process Automation

Data Modeling

It is very useful, allowing you to efficiently merge data from different sources, generating a lot of versatility and flexibility.

Ease of Integration

The entire process of importing data from CSV files and spreadsheets runs smoothly and securely.

Mobile Accessibility

It is very significant to use the mobile access it offers, allowing access to data anywhere and at any time.

Usability

This platform stands out for its ease of use, among other features. It has a lot of potential and it is easy to manage the whole set of tools.

Scalability

This platform achieves high scalability.

February 14, 2022

IBM Cognos Analytics get reports the way you need them.

Michael O'Riley

Director of Information Technology at Humphrey Companies, LLC.

Humphrey Companies, LLC (Automotive, 201-500 employees)

Score 7 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Incentivized

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cognos is used for reporting analytical data from our ERP system that is hosted on OS400 BMI

Pros and Cons

Reporting
Schedule report delivery
Many different ways and formats for reports.
Users are able to schedule there own reports.
Dashboard for users.

Administration interface needs improvement.
It would be nice f reports had more of a drag and drop for users to create reports.

Likelihood to Recommend

Cognos can be difficult to manage and maintain.

IBM Cognos Analytics Feature Ratings

BI Platform

N/A

Supported Data Sources

N/A

BI Standard Reporting (3)

96.66666666666666%

9.7

Pixel Perfect reports: 90%
9.0
Customizable dashboards: 100%
10.0
Report Formatting Templates: 100%
10.0

Ad-hoc Reporting (4)

92.5%

9.3

Drill-down analysis: 100%
10.0
Formatting capabilities: 100%
10.0
Integration with R or other statistical packages: 70%
7.0
Report sharing and collaboration: 100%
10.0

Report Output and Scheduling (2)

100%

10.0

Publish to PDF: 100%
10.0
Report Delivery Scheduling: 100%
10.0

Data Discovery and Visualization (3)

76.66666666666667%

7.7

Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.): 80%
8.0
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization: 80%
8.0
Predictive Analytics: 70%
7.0

Access Control and Security (4)

92.5%

9.3

Multi-User Support (named login): 100%
10.0
Role-Based Security Model: 100%
10.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete): 100%
10.0
Single Sign-On (SSO): 70%
7.0

Mobile Capabilities (3)

73.33333333333333%

7.3

Responsive Design for Web Access: 80%
8.0
Mobile Application: 70%
7.0
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile: 70%
7.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding (2)

N/A

REST API: N/A
N/A
Javascript API: N/A
N/A

Return on Investment

Department managers are able to get data quickly
Users are able to get reports delivered to their inbox.
At times the system needs attention

Alternatives Considered

SAP Crystal

Crystal report was easier for me to create complex reports. However, crystal report does not have a user dashboard schedule report delivery by itself.

Self-Service

We deliver reports via email to users. Some reports are pdf or excel format. Also, users are able to log in with their own credentials and run reports manually at any time.

Data Security and Quality

Data quality is very important ant to our organization. With reporting, we can quickly identify issues or improvements. There is always a chance someone may enter data incorrectly and by the use of reports, we can identify those incorrect entries quickly. Additionally, reporting business financials to stockholders is important we are receiving precise numbers.

Reporting

The options are endless with the type of reports you can create. There are many types of formats including XLS, XML, DOC, PDF, and others.

Other Software Used

Epicor CMS, Crestron Flex Series, Microsoft Teams, VMware vCenter Server, Veeam Backup & Replication, HPE Nimble Storage, HPE StoreOnce, Specops Password Auditor, OnBase by Hyland, Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Barracuda Essentials, ConnectWise Assist, Freshservice, Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point, PRTG Network Monitor, Prophix, QAD EAM, Snagit

Data Modeling

Modeling your data is very important it helps you create your reports easier.

Ease of Integration

Integrating with IBMi and SQL server is simple. I have not intergraded with any other product.

Mobile Accessibility

We do not deliver report via mobile at the moment.

Usability

THe usibility of Cognos can me difficult for a new users. However, an experience users can get a lot of benefits form Cognos.

Scalability

We are not a very large company, but the scalability it almost endless.

Users and Roles

Analytical data reports from our ERP software.

Support Headcount Required

You must at minimum have experience in report building software.

Business Processes Supported

Daily production reports
Daily scrap reporting
Daily EDI reporting
Daily shipping reports

Innovative Uses

Having the ability to utilize SQL to add database permissions within our ERP software hosted on IBMi.

Future Planned Uses

Expanding our ERP reporting

Likelihood to Renew

Our business relies on our schedule reports on a daily bases.

Products Replaced

Not Sure

Key Differentiators

It was in place before I started with the company

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I was not part of the selection process.

Premium Support

No, we just have IBM Cognos support and maintenance. I do not believe there is a premium support available.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of IBM Cognos Analytics Support

After an upgrade from 9.X to 11.X our scheduler stop working intermittent. With support assistance we discovered there were a number of reports that were not configured correctly. It took several weeks to find the issue because it was intermittent and it was like finding a needle in a hay stack.