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IBM Cognos Express review
November 21, 2013

IBM Cognos Express review

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Cognos Express

  • Its an integrated tool with all IBM Cognos components together. E.g. Report Studio, Reporter (Query Studio, Analysis Studio), Xcelerator, Planner (What If analysis) etc.
  • Very easy installation compared to other IBM Cognos BI suite versions.
  • Very easy configuration of data sources to build reports or dashboards.
  • Can easily connect Excel files or Mdb access database to IBM Cognos Express to build customized reports.
  • IBM Cognos Express does not have mobile capabilities (called Go! Mobile) or Go! Search options.
  • Cannot be installed in a distributed environment. Single host only.
  • There is a limitation on number of users. I guess it's around 100.
  • Limited security features compared to IBM Cognos 8/10 versions.
  • Compared to Cognos TM1, the IBM Cognos Express Planner has limited functionality.
  • IBM Cognos Express can be installed on the Windows platform only.
  • Suitable for a small scale business or medium size data warehouse environment.
Since IBM Cognos Express is suitable only for medium data warehouse environment, we are not sure if this tool solves the long term need as the business keeps growing rapidly. So its a 50/50 ratio to renew Express license. But having said that, the components of IBM Cognos Express are also available in other Cognos BI suites like Cognos 10.x version. So we will probably upgrade our environment to IBM Cognos 10.x which comes with more new features.
  • Since its an integrated tool with reporter & planner, it was very user friendly for our customers to do dashboarding and what-if analysis on a single platform.
  • Easy end user training.
  • Our users productivity increased by 50%.
I would recommend to my colleague based on needs of the business. For easy user-friendly usage, with medium data warehouse environment, easy user training, limited users and with all great capabilities, I would recommend IBM Cognos Express. For more advanced features like mobile capabilities, added security, offline dashboarding etc. I would recommend IBM Cognos 10.x.