Cognos Analytics offerings
IBM® Cognos® Analytics is available through multiple offerings. Each offering might support different components, features, data sources, documentation, and other aspects of the product.
The following Cognos Analytics offerings are available in version 12.0 and later.
- IBM Cognos Analytics
- Deployment type: Software (stand-alone)
- Cognos Analytics on Cloud Pak for Data
- Deployment type: Cloud Pak for Data cartridge
- Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted
- Deployment type: SaaS (single-tenant)
- Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand
- Deployment type: SaaS (multitenant)
The following sections provide information about functionality that is supported by different offerings of Cognos Analytics.
Key capabilities
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium (1) |
| Dashboarding | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stories | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exploration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium (1) |
| AI Assistant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cognos Portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cognos Admin Portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (2) |
- For more information about Cognos Analytics on Cloud on-Demand user types, see On-Demand subscription roles.
- For more information about securing content in Cognos Analytics on Cloud on-Demand, see Securing your content (for On-Demand License users).
User capabilities
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create or edit reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium |
| Run reports with prompts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium |
| Schedule reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium (1) |
| Save report output in Cognos Analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium |
| Save report output to cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium |
| Save report output to file system | Yes | Yes (5) | No | No |
| Set report bursting | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Receive burst reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| View saved report output (2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Receive reports by email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View or interact with active reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create scheduled jobs | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Import or export Cognos deployment | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (3) |
| Upload data files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Upload fonts | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Upload images | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Customization (themes, extensions, palettes) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium (4) |
| Customization (roles) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium (6) |
| Customization (user profiles) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Only daily, weekly, and monthly schedule frequency is allowed.
- Viewing the saved report output is not the same as running a report. Standard users can view a report output file (html,csv, and so on) if it was saved by a Premium user in Team content.
- Customers can do a one-time migration from the on-premises or on-cloud hosted offering to the On-Demand offering. For more information, see Migrating to Cognos Analytics on Demand.
- Only Premium users can use this functionality. However, Standard users can use custom visualizations that were published by Premium users.
- This feature is available if saving output to AWS S3 bucket.
- Only Premium users can use this functionality. Standard users cannot customize roles.
Administration capabilities
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audit reporting | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Configure and manage system | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Manage data server connections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage distribution lists and contacts | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Manage visualizations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes - Premium |
| Manage users, groups, and roles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage tenants | Yes | N/A | No (1) | No |
- Future roadmap item.
Authentication and identity providers (IDP)
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connect on-premises authentication provider | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes | No |
| Connect cloud authentication provider | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes | Yes - IBMid |
| Single sign-on (1) | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes | Yes - IBMid |
| LDAP (v3 compatible) | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Active Directory (AD) | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes (2) | No |
| OpenID Connect | Yes | N/A (3) | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Java authentication | Yes | N/A (3) | No | No |
- Single sign-on (SSO) is available with OIDC authentication providers that support this feature.
- For Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted, this provider is available only through an LDAP connector, and only LDAP v3-compatible features are available. Kerberos SSO is not supported.
- Cloud Pak for Data has an authentication service that handles all supported authentication providers. For more information, see the Cloud Pak for Data documentation.
Metadata modeling
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data modules (web-based modeling) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Compatible with Framework Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (1) |
| Compatible with Cube Designer | Yes | No | No | No |
| Compatible with PowerPlay Transformer | Yes | Yes (2) | Yes (2) | No |
| Compatible with PowerPlay cubes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Supports compatible query mode (CQM) queries | Yes | No | No | No |
| Supports dynamic query mode (DQM) queries | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Supports OLAP dimensional packages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Supports dynamic cubes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Supports PowerCubes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Framework Manager can be used with Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand only if the customer has an existing support and subscription (S&S) for the on-premises offering, and only as a means to move the on-premises metadata models to the On-Demand offering. The expectation is that new metadata models will be created in Data Modules. Otherwise, Framework Manager is not provided with the On-Demand offering.
- Transformer use is allowed, but the tool must be run locally, and not on the Cloud or CPD platform.
Data sources
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data modules (web-based modeling) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data servers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data servers: connect to data servers on cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (1) |
| Data servers: connect to data servers on premises | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (1) (2) |
| Data servers: JDBC connections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (1) |
| Data servers: ODBC connections | Yes | No | No | No |
| Data sets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Framework Manager packages | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Uploaded data files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cognos PowerPlay Transformer cubes | Yes | Yes | Yes (3) | No |
| Planning Analytics (TM1) as a data source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (4) |
- For information about the supported data servers for Cognos Analytics On Cloud On-Demand, see IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand: Supported Software Environments (https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/737555).
- There is a limit of 10 data server connections per account. IBM Secure Gateway is required, with maximum of 2 Secure Gateway instances per account (5 connections per instance).
- Can be enabled upon request.
- Planning Analytics must be configured to use mode 1 security. For more information, see IntegratedSecurityMode.
Tools, apps, integration
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes (2) | No |
| PowerPlay Studio (1) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Analytics Content Hub | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Audit Extensions | Yes | No | No | No |
| Cognos for Microsoft Office | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cognos Analytics (mobile app) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cognos Analytics reports (mobile app) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cognos software development kit (SDK) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Dynamic Query Analyzer | Yes | No | No | No |
| Planning Analytics SSO namespace | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Rest API with IBMid | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Watson Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Watson Knowledge Catalog | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Event Studio and PowerPlay Studio are legacy components. These studios can be explicitly enabled in Cognos Analytics on-premises.
- Event Studio and PowerPlay Studio can be enabled in Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted upon request.
Third-party and partner tools
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSP MetaManager | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Jupyter Notebooks | Yes | Yes | See (1) | No |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes | No | No | No |
| MotioCI | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Slack | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Jupyter Notebooks are available with the subscription to Watson Studio. For more information, see this article (https://medium.com/ibm-watson/ibm-cognos-analytics-watson-studio-cloud-better-together-ac011059878f).
Licensing, deployment, and support
| Functionality | Cognos Analytics on-premises software | Cognos Analytics cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data | Cognos Analytics on Cloud Hosted | Cognos Analytics on Cloud On-Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access to innovation stream (latest GA) | Yes | See (1) | Yes | Yes |
| Access to Long-term Support Release (LTSR) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| IBM support for technical issues | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Licensing model: authorized user | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Licensing model: capacity instance | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
|
Data centers |
Managed by the customer |
Managed by the customer |
Managed by IBM Australia: Sydney Canada: Montreal, Toronto Germany: Frankfurt Netherlands: Amsterdam United States: Dallas, San Jose, Washington D.C. |
Managed by IBM Australia: Sydney Brazil: Sao Paulo Germany: Frankfurt Japan: Tokyo Netherlands: Amsterdam United States: Washington D.C. |
- For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-data/4.5.x?topic=services-cognos-analytics