Cognos 8 Analysis Studio versus Cognos Series 7 PowerPlay
Cognos 8 Analysis Studio is a web-based OLAP reporting tool which is probably intended by Cognos to be a successor of Cognos PowerPlay.
However, Cognos recently launched version 8.3 and it is still bundled with PowerPlay Transformer.
This is because there are still many features missing is Analysis Studio compared to PowerPlay Client. That is why Analysis Studio may be considered as a complementary application for PowerPlay, not as a replacement.
Please take a look at the table attached below to see what are the major differences between the capabilities of PowerPlay and Analysis Studio. Also, the table may be helpful in outlining and understanding potential issues you may face when migrating from Cognos 7 to Cognos8.
| Criteria | Observations | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency |
Working with large cubes may be significantly faster and more user-friendly when using offline PowerPlay cubes and analyzing them with a PP client. Cognos 8 Analysis Studio is a web-based system and the response times are much higher. It also depends heavily on network connections in an organization. This becomes an issue especially when considering global corportations, where usually Cognos 8 server is in one place and the clients accessing it are spread all over the world. |
PowerPlay client wins |
| Security | Cognos 8 is an integrated architecture and implements a common security model which makes it easy to manage and support authorizations. Applying security to offline Cognos PowerPlay cubes is possible however once the cube is distributed, the data may not be fully secure. | Cognos 8 Analysis Studio is ahead |
| Multidimensional data analysis | All features regarding additional calculations, ranking, sorting, generating charts, calculating subtotals, summarizing, filtering are fully supported. | Equally implemented in both applications: Analysis Studio and PowerPlay |
| Distribution | Distribution of the refreshed cubes in Analysis Studio is easier and more efficient. It requires less IT involvement and is automated. | Point for Analysis Studio |
| Being Online | Users need to be connected to the company's network to use Cognos 8 platform (usually via rather slow VPN connection). Cognos Powerplay client gives a possibility to analyze the cubes offline which may be a benefit for business users who travel very often (sales people, finance directors, managers) and are able to access the data in a plane for example. | PowerPlay client wins |
| Support and maintenance | As Cognos 8 is an integrated platform it is a lot easier to maintain metadata, data and report designs. All settings are stored centrally, while in PowerPlay each cube has its own metadata and database connections in a PowerPlay Transformer model. | Less support effort needed in Analysis Studio. |
| Exploring and reporting |
Cognos PowerPlay comes with two data exploration modes - Explorer and Reporter - with can be easily switched in a dynamic way. It is a widely used feature by business users which implements dynamic data analysis and static reporting in Cognos PowerPlay. Cognos 8 users need to utilize both Analysis Studio and ReportStudio to meet the same expectations. |
From the end-users standpoint Cognos PowerPlay is an application which combines most of the features of Analysis Studio and ReportStudio. |