IBM Cognos Analytics lineage configuration

To import lineage metadata from IBM Cognos Analytics, create a connection, data source definition and metadata import job.

Cognos Analytics is an AI-fueled business intelligence platform that supports the entire analytics cycle, from discovery to operationalization.

Supported versions

  • Cognos Analytics 12

Processed metadata

The following Cognos Analytics metadata is processed and displayed on lineage:

  • Reports and interactive reports, including queries with SQL
  • Framework Manager models
  • Dynamic cube projects, including virtual cubes
  • Data modules, data sets, uploaded files
  • Database connections
  • Dashboards

Limitations

The following data is not processed:

  • Dynamic Cubes designed in Framework Manager as part of a DQM package
  • Data sources based on Power Cubes, TM1 Cubes. Cognos Finance, Cognos Now, and Cognos planning data sources are not even supported by Cognos Analytics itself as of 11.0.4.
  • Stories
  • Reports that use a lot of advanced query macros and prompts might not be accurate, as they use run-time information that Automatic Data Lineage can't analyze
  • Framework Manager package relationships (causing missing indirect lineage)
  • Dashboards with complex widgets
  • Multilingual reports and dashboards

Prerequisite configuration

Before you import lineage metadata, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

  • You must have Directory Administrator role with READ permission, to ensure that all reports are available for extraction.

Creating a metadata import asset

Data source connection

To connect to the data source from which you want to import lineage metadata, you need to select a data source definition and a connection. You can create them before you start creating the metadata import, or you can create them when you create and configure the metadata import asset.

Data source definition

If your Cognos Analytics instance is on the same instance as IBM Cloud, use the IBM Cloud data source definition, if it is already created. You can use it for all IBM technologies that are deployed on your IBM Cloud instance. On the lineage graph, the data that you import from such instances of Cognos Analytics and other technologies is displayed under IBM Cloud container.

In other cases, select Cognos Analytics as the data source type.

Connection

When you import lineage metadata, use only the connections for which SSL is configured.

Configure the connection with the following properties:

Gateway URL
Required. Specify a gateway URL to connect to Cognos Analytics.
Deployment type
Required. Specify the type of the environment where the target instance of Cognos Analytics is deployed.
Iam Token Url
Optional. Use this option only if you are connecting to development or test environments, or other environments that are using custom IAM. Specify a full URL to an endpoint that is used for generating IAM tokens. This option is applicable for cloud deployment types.
Authentication method
Required. Specify the authentication method for connection to the Cognos Analytics instance. Anonymous and Cognos Analytics API key methods are not supported.

For connection details, see Cognos Analytics connection.

Connection mode

You can connect to Cognos Analytics by using one of the following connection modes:

Include and exclude lists

You can include or exclude assets up to the report level. Assets which are added later in the data source will also be included or excluded if they match the conditions specified in the lists.

Example values:

  • Sales.*/MyReport: all reports with a name MyReport that are in any folder with a name that starts with Sales. When you paste the path value, a leading slash (/) might be added. Remove the leading slash, as in the example.

External inputs

You can provide exported Cognos project files as external input.

This is an example structure of extracted Cognos project file:

cubeProject - A folder with dynamic cubes.
   searchPathMappingManual.csv
   [dynamic_cube_project_file].fmd
dataSet - A folder with datasets.
    <cognos_namespace>
      <user>
       <exact folder hierarchy under user root folder>
         [dataset_file].xml
    team content
     <exact folder hierarchy under content root folder>
         [dataset_file].xml
dataSourceConnection - A folder with data source connections.
    <datasource_name> - A folder with data source connections for a single data source.
      [datasource_connection_name].txt
model - A folder with models.
   <cognos_namespace>
    <user>
      <exact folder hierarchy under user root folder>
        [model_file].xml
    team content
      <exact folder hierarchy under content root folder>
        [model_file].xml
module - A folder with modules.
    <cognos_namespace>
    <user>
      <exact folder hierarchy under user root folder>
       [module_file].xml
   team content
      <exact folder hierarchy under content root folder>
       [module_file].xml
report - A folder containing reports
    <cognos_namespace>
      <user>
        <exact folder hierarchy under user root folder>
          [report_name].xml
   team content
      <exact folder hierarchy under content root folder>
        [report_name].xml
localeMapping.xml - An XML file with mapping of objects between different locales.

You can also add the following input files:

  • Dynamic cubes - This file contains manually extracted Cognos Analytics Dynamic Cubes.
  • searchPathMappingManual.csv - This CSV file contains mappings between report search paths and dynamic cubes.

Advanced import options

Primary locale identifier
Specify the identifier of the main language locale in which your objects are displayed, for example "en" for English, "de" for German etc. If no value is provided, the user account locale is used.
Identifiers of other locales
Specify a comma-separated list of identifiers of all language locales that are used in your Cognos Analytics environment, except the main locale. If no value is specified, only the main locale is processed.

Learn more