SAS/Cognos Integration Approaches

SAS/Cognos Integration Approaches

Patrick Spedding Strategic Advisor, Business Intelligence & Analytics [email protected]

au.linkedin.com/in/spedding @spedding

Wednesday 7th August, 2013

Copyright @ 2014 See-Change Solutions

Typical current state:

•  Execu&ves mostly ge0ng Excel/Word reports via Excel •  Not easy for users to get what they want or see what reports available •  Not clear where to start (mul&ple tools/entry points) •  Big need for contextual informa&on •  Complex Data Warehouse design (more like an ODS) •  Inflexible BI metadata layer (doesn’t sa&sfy many user requests) •  Lack of ‘predic&ve’ repor&ng capabili&es


Typical Scenario: A ‘Hoarding’ Culture…


SAS -‐ Analy)cal Structures Modeling Base Tables

Scoring Base Tables

Analy)cal Mart

Warehouse

Exploita)on layer

Data Integra)on

Transformations

HR

MSFT

SAP

Access

PSFT

Web

ORCL

Other Sources

Un-Structured

Real Time

High Volume Batch

Web Services

Message Queues

Data Management Layer Data Prepara)on Layer

Cognos -‐ BI

Analy)cs

Cognos

Cubes Reports

SAS

Target Outcome:


1.  Provide a ‘health’ view of the business (sharing common measures/dimensions)

2.  Allow for summarised iden&fica&on of issues related to ‘health’ of business

3.  Enable access to detailed informa&on to facilitate understanding

4.  Enable targe&ng and tracking for remedies/interven&ons (measuring effec3veness)

An Integrated Informa&on Delivery Mechanism to:

SAS/Cognos Integration Approaches

1.  SAS ‘Historical Snapshot’ Data -‐> Transformer -‐> Cognos Workspace Advanced

2.  SAS Stored Processes -‐> Cognos Connec&on 3.  SAS Report -‐> Business Insight Advanced/Report Studio 4.  SAS Report -‐> Transformer -‐> Cognos Workspace Advanced 5.  SAS Report -‐> Cognos Workspace Advanced (External Data) 6.  SAS Report -‐> Sharepoint -‐> Cognos Connec&on (Document output) 7.  SAS Data -‐> Cognos Datasource (via ODBC) -‐> Framework Manager -‐>

Cognos Studios 8.  SAS Data -‐> Cognos Datasource (via SAS OLE-‐DB) -‐> Excel -‐> Framework

Manager or Transformer or Cognos Workspace Advanced (External Data) 9.  SAS Data -‐> Data Warehouse -‐> Framework Manager -‐> Cognos Studios


Integrated Information Delivery Framework


(On Demand)

Integrated Informa&on Delivery Portal (Intranet, Cognos Connec&on)

(Subscrip&on)

(Ad-‐Hoc)

SAS Reports SAS Datasets

Example Data Process


Pre-‐integra&on of SAS/Cognos:

Post-‐integra&on of SAS/Cognos:

1. SAS Dataset -> Transformer -> Cognos Workspace Advanced (or Report Studio)

•  This method uses a SAS dataset as a source for Cognos Transformer. Complex business logic is built into SAS (Enterprise Guide) process – rela&ve &me calcula&ons are defined in Transformer)


2. SAS Stored Process -> Cognos Connection

•  This method takes a SAS report and enables it as a SAS Web Stored Process, which can then be linked and run within Cognos Connec&on


3. SAS Report -> Cognos Report Studio

•  This method takes HTML formaded report output from a SAS Enterprise Guide project and embeds the resul&ng HTML code into a Cognos Report Studio Report via use of the HTML object


4. SAS Report -> Transformer -> Cognos Workspace Advanced (or Report Studio)

•  This method takes the output of a SAS report (eg Enterprise Guide report) and ‘pivots’ the data in such a way as to provide a data input into the Cognos Transformer OLAP modelling tool.


5. SAS Report -> Cognos Workspace Advanced (External Data)

•  This method takes the (crosstab) output of a SAS report (eg Enterprise Guide report) and saves it into Excel or CSV format. Then, within Cognos Workspace Advanced or Cognos Report Studio, the output can be brought into Cognos via the ‘Manage External Data’ op&on


6. SAS Report -> Sharepoint -> Cognos Connection (Document output)

•  This method takes the output of a SAS report (eg Enterprise Guide report)

and saves it into PDF, Excel or Word format. Then, within Sharepoint, the document can be added to a loca&on from where it can be linked within Cognos Connec&on via an External URL


7. SAS Data -> ODBC -> Framework Manager -> Cognos Studios

•  This method can use an ODBC Connec&on to allow any SAS dataset to be a

source for Cognos. The SAS ODBC driver can be used to create an ODBC connec&on, from which a data source connec&on can be defined within Cognos to point to the SAS data set. Alterna&vely, the SAS ‘PROC SQL’ method can be used to output SAS results directly to a rela&onal table


8. SAS Data -> Cognos Datasource (via SAS OLE-DB) -> Excel -> Cognos

•  This method connects to a SAS dataset via the SAS OLE-‐DB provider. Since Cognos does not na&vely support the OLE-‐DB provider, a connec&on can be defined in Excel, and Cognos can then be pointed to the Excel file.


9. SAS Data -> Data Warehouse -> Cognos Studios

•  The most common approach is s&ll to load SAS datasets directly into the

Data Warehouse, from where Cognos Framework Manager can create Query Subjects and Packages for consump&on by Cognos Transformer and the Cognos Studios. However, this approach creates a long lead &me for business users with constantly changing repor&ng requirements and ad-‐hoc requests.


THANK YOU.

See-Change Solutions [email protected]

www.see-change.com.au Copyright @ 2014 See-Change Solutions

au.linkedin.com/in/spedding

@spedding