Download Part1 - Browntown16

Cognos, TM1, and WebFOCUS
Two great examples of commercial products that enable their users to go from data to
information with ease are WebFOCUS by Information Builders and Cognos TM1 by IBM.
While both products have similar core capabilities, each product presents different methods of
processing data. Cognos TM1 is a traditional Business Intelligence (BI) program that proves that
there is more to processing beyond an attractive user interface (IBM, 2014). In IBM’s white
papers for Cognos TM1, they are constantly comparing choosing the right Business Intelligence
and choosing the right partner (IBM, 2014). This is because it is a vital decision that is crucial
not only to success in information processing, but to a company’s success overall, parallel to
how choosing your soul mate will greatly affect the success of one’s life. Information Builders’
white paper also agrees that what’s behind the dashboards, and the information itself is more
important than aesthetics (Information Builders, 2012). However, where the programs diverge is
where IBM promotes the idea of sticking to tradition while improvements on traditional Business
Intelligence systems is what Information Builders is focused on. First, summaries will be
provided for each product, then there will be an analysis for which circumstances each product
would be more suitable for in a business.
Figure 1. User Interface for WebFOCUS
Figure 2. User Interface for Cognos
(Information Builders, 2014).
TM1 (IBM, 2014).
For many years, IBM has been very impactful in the data warehousing, data mining,
Online Analytical Processing as well as Business Intelligence industries. The five reasons IBM
states that choosing the right BI is similar to choosing the right partner are “The right BI is more
than a pretty face”, “The right BI moves you to action”, “The right BI is interchangeable”, “The
right BI won’t make you choose”, and “The right BI is fueled with smarts” (IBM, 2014). A very
1
common error is when choosing a BI platform, customers focus on the look of the dashboard
rather than the program’s capabilities. Cognos TM1 supports all of the basic capabilities such as
HTML, Javascript, the ability to select and browse a variety of fields or objects, and it also
provides advanced functions such as applying predictive algorithms (Dresner Advisory Services,
LLC, 2013). These predictive algorithms are what IBM claims “moves [the customer] to action”
(IBM, 2014). While it seems as though traditional BI platforms only focus on a business’s past,
IBM Cognos TM1 proves otherwise. For their third reason, the program does not allow users to
easily change between platforms which IBM states is a benefit. They argue that this is beneficial
because once someone begins to use the Cognos TM1, there will be no need to change: “Cognos
TM1 is the right partner for you” (IBM, 2014). Another reason suggests that Cognos TM1
permits its users to work the BI interface as well as the desktop, where most BI programs restrict
the user to using only the program’s interface. Lastly, it is “fueled with smarts” (IBM, 2014) as it
many features including “reporting, analysis, scorecards and dashboards and then real-time
monitoring, mobile, collaboration, and predictive and advanced analytics capabilities” (IBM
2014).
WebFOCUS puts forth that “Information Builders ranked first in scalability,
performance, quality, support, agility, and goal achievement among BI Giants, and Enterprise BI
vendors in 2011’s The BARC BI Survey 10, the world’s largest independent survey of BI users”
(Information Builders, 2012). The BI product offers users a platform whereby they can access
valuable information through Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) at a lower cost and more
intuitively than its competitors (Information Builders, 2012). In the WebFOCUS white paper,
they outline the benefits they have over its competitors.
WebFOCUS’s Guided Ad Hoc
combines easy accessibility with making it as intuitive for the user as possible and requires no
additional installation (Information Builders, 2012). When compared to competitors, Active
technologies gives WebFOCUS a strong advantage because it gives users the ability to securely
access confidential business information across all of their mobile devices. InfoAssist is another
wonderful feature of WebFOCUS as it gives “a single, thin-client tool for query, analysis, report
and dashboard development, and cube browsing” (Information Builders, 2012). However, the
feature is really only used by advanced users. The Data Quality Profiler acts as a quality control
which is one of the crucial features of WebFOCUS: it permits the user to create information
2
using any data source (Information Builders, 2012). Both WebFOCUS and Cognos TM1 give its
users both basic and advanced functions. WebFOCUS has the ability to give analytics,
dashboards and scorecards across mobile devices, and it also integrates with other programs like
Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF (Information Builders, 2012). In addition, it helps users to
integrate enterprise data. InfoApps allows the user to manipulate information with simplicity
which is consistent with the principal advantage of intuition in using WebFOCUS (Information
Builders, 2012).
For low-budget businesses, WebFOCUS is ideal. It enables users to create and maintain
sophisticated technologies in an inexpensive and efficient way which is extremely useful. It has
dynamic dashboards which are very intuitive, makng it very appealing to users with minimal
experience since it is simple to set up for use as a data warehouse and for data mining. Although
the Information Builders’ white paper is biased, it is portrayed as being very easily scalable
(Information Builders, 2012). Since the data is stored in OLAP cubes, it can be pre-set and
represented in an organized way. Therefore it would prove useful for a business in a period of
high growth since it would be simple in comparison with other products to adapt to the growth of
an organization.
For a firm that is not as concerned with cost and has more advanced users, Cognos TM1
would be a better choice. Users that already have experience with the Aplix product would be
more suited for IBM’s product. While it presents data attractively, it also makes data
warehousing and data mining easy, should the user be familiar with the product. Multidimensional OLAP cubes are used to store and represent data in terms of OLAP formatting. This
is favorable since businesses search for a Business Intelligence system that provides an
organized layout.
The Cognos TM1 is recommended for more experienced users and already established
businesses, and WebFOCUS would be best for businesses with a smaller budget.
3
Works Cited
Dresner Advisory Services, LLC. (2013, August 7). Wisdom of Crowds Embedded Business
Intelligence Market Study. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from Pentaho:
http://www.pentaho.com/sites/default/files/uploads/resources/2013_wisdom_of_crowds_embedd
ed_bi_market_study_.pdf
IBM. (2014, June 6). Cognos TM1. Retrieved April 5, 2015, from IBM:
https://www.ibm.com/software/analytics/images/OPP/tm1_datasheet/image3_YTD03050.jpg
IBM. (2014, March). Five reasons why the right BI is like the right partner. Retrieved April 4,
2015, from Cognos Business Intelligence:
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/ytw03250caen/YTW03250CAEN.PDF
Information Builders. (2014, January 30). Business Intelligence for Everyone. Retrieved April 5,
2015, from Information Builders:
http://www.informationbuilders.com/sites/www.informationbuilders.com/files/imagecache/galler
y_formatter_attempt2/images/galleryformatter/ia_cubes800.jpg
Information Builders. (2012). Business Intelligence - It's Better Here. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from
WebFOCUS IWay Software:
http://www.informationbuilders.com/sites/www.informationbuilders.com/files/pdf/about_us/whit
epapers/wp_bibetterhere_wf_2012_0.pdf
4