Cognos BI or Microstrategy over TM1

[benoit6369]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently searching reporting tools to be used on TM1. I've heard that Cognos BI and Microstrategy could be good solutions but not really reach to have a clear view (especially on compatibility). My mains requirements are to be able to broadcast report by e-mail (I think that both are doing it) and also to have a tool that can be used by business user and not necessary by IT.

Can you help in this comparison? do you know other tools? do you have implement one of this 2 tools in your organisation?

Rgds.
benoit.

[rambo]

Microstrategy is a bit inflexible over TM1, and I found it uses the old OLEDB provider. Nothing particular innovative there. I would def recommend Cognos BI. I would only use MS if is already in place where you are implementing TM1.

[tgaluskapatterson]

I have used Cognos BI in the past and really like the product. Queries and report are easy to design and advances reports take some time to get used to the coding format but its easy once you get a feel for it. Currently my company uses TM1 and Microstrategies. We have been on Microstrategies 7 for a long time and are upgrading to 9.3 right now. The look and feel are harder to get used to in Microstrategies and report design in my opinion is a little more difficult. This is from a end user perspective. Hopefully someone who was on the technical team for an implementation can provide more information.

[PlanningDev]

I would second Cognos BI. You have native connectivity to TM1. Its as simple as adding the cube to a FM package (and selecting the alias to use as the default description for each dimension) and then publishing the package to the Cognos Web Portal. You have Analysis studio which is like using TM1 cube viewer or TM1 Web for slice and dice, query studio which is a simple reporting tool to quickly build a basic list or crosstab report and then theres report studio which is a professional report authoring tool where any kind of report is possible.

Cognos in terms of triggering and scheduling emails is easy. You just click on the schedule icon next to the report and you have all the settings required right there. We run Cognos BI and send out hundreds of reports a day if not thousands. Not all from TM1 but its a mix of datasources under the covers.

[macsir]

Of course Cognos BI as they all belongs to IBM Cognos family. No doubt that you can benefit from seamless integration and latest technogy from IBM's each upgrading. Never use Microstrategy in projects before but I prefer the products that have same blood.

[stephen waters]

I would second Cognos BI. You have native connectivity to TM1. ......

IBM see close integration of their Business Analytics tools as key to their strategy and they are improving and extending the BI\TM1 integration. You are unlikely to see that with Microstrategy!

But, if you are reporting only from TM1 ( ie not relational or other external sources) don't forget the native TM1 reporting via Perspectives or TM1 Web. For many ( but not all) uses it is very adequate and provides fast, flexible, end-user friendly reporting.

[benoit6369]

Hi everyone,

thanks a lot for all of your reply. I'm also convinced that Cognos BI will ever be more integrated with TM1 than Microstrategy. How ever, from your point of view, is Cognos BI is user friendly or does it require IT knowledge. Also, same question for Microstrategy.

Rgrds.
Benoît.

[qml]

Cognos BI as a suite does require expertise and IT support. Within it you have a plethora of different tools for different purposes and some of them are more end-user-friendly than others.

I am very pleased with how Cognos Workspace and Cognos Workspace Advanced work on top of TM1 cubes and I think they are a brilliant front end for TM1. I am seeing good performance with some quite powerful reporting capabilities and the interface is easy to learn, even by non-IT people.

On the other hand, tools like Report Studio will always be more difficult to use and you probably need a good BI developer to produce impressive reports in them (but impressive they can be). Analysis Studio is easy enough to use, but I'm not a fan of it as it's too limiting and it's too far away from TM1's philosophy.

[lotsaram]

Assuming some familiarity and basic training both tools are relatively easy for end users to use effectively without any IT assistance. However for either toolset you would be kidding yourself to think it is possible to administer and develop without involvement from IT regardless whet the vendor sales people may tell you.