1. Impromptu Administrator
Goal :
Develop an Impromptu application that is easy to use and simplifies reporting tasks, shielding your users from the complexities of the database.
Role :
Providing a bridge between those who know the data and those who know the business.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

2. COGNOS – Impromptu Administrator
Planning.
The Database and Catalog.
Working with Joins.
Working with Folders.
User Profiles.
Performance.
User-Defined Functions.
Wrap Up
Click on the Links to travel

3. Planning

4. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Planning
1. Focus on your End Users.
2. Develop Clear Requirements.
3. Develop a Logical Design.
4. Follow a Project Life Cycle.
5. Start with a Pilot Project.
6. Build Flexibility in Your System.
7. Plan Infra Structure.
8. Plan Effective Training Strategy.
9. Plan Good Support Strategy.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

5. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
The Planning Process 1
Plan 2
Implement 4
Maintain 3
Deploy
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

6. The Impromptu Project Life Cycle: Designing
Identify Project Participants
Determine Catalog and Folder Structure
Provide Training to
Project Participants
Develop Join Strategy for Tables
Identify Your Users and
Their Data Requirements
Identify Database Tables and Columns
Identify Data Sources
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

7. The Impromptu Project Life Cycle: Creating
Create the Catalog and
Establish Joins
Deploy and Maintain the
Impromptu Application
Modify Folder Structure
and Add Calculations,
Conditions, and Prompts
Provide End Users with
Impromptu Training
and Support
Define and Create User Profiles and User Classes
Improve Performance of
Impromptu Application
Create and Distribute Standard Reports and Templates
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

8. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Staging the Data
If you have more than one database, you can:
- merge separate databases into one central source
- create separate catalogs for independent systems.
PC Database
direct connection
or ODBC gateway
Impromptu
Data Mart /
Warehouse
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

9. Connecting to the Database
Obtain the parameters needed for Impromptu to connect to the database.
for example, gateway type, path, security information, user id, password, network type.
Database
Connect to the database
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

10. Identify Database Tables and Columns
For performance and security, identify the columns in required tables which users will not need to access.
CUSTOMER table X
CREDIT RATING
classified
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

11. Identify the Need for Calculations
Defining common calculations will aid your users.
+ -
Calculations / *
Product Margin = Product Price - Product Cost
Product % Margin = Product Price - Product Cost/Product Price
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

12. Identify Your Table Joins
This is one of the most important Administrator activities.
Poorly designed joins can cause inaccurate report results.
Core table
These tables directly relate to the Core table.
ORDERS ORDER_NO
REP_NO
SITE_NO
CUST_NO
ORDER_DT
CLOSED_DT
STATUS
COMMENTS
ORDRDETL
ORDER_NO
LINE_NO
PROD_NO
PRICE
QTY
DISC_PRCNT
RETURNED
PRODUCT
PROD_NO
PROD_TYPE
PROD_LINE
PROD_COST
PROD_PRICE
STATUS
PICTURE
SALES_94
SALES_95
COMMENTS
REP
REP_NO
REP_NAME
QUOTA_94
QUOTA_95
SALES_94
SALES_95
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

13. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Design the Folders
This is the single most important step in the Impromptu application development process.
Know your users’ business requirements for data before you begin.
Decide which data items need to be placed together.
Determine the structure and naming of the folders and data items.
Always create a Default Folder named Admin having default Folder structures and avoid its access to Users.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

14. The Database and Catalog

15. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
A Catalog Contains...
Folders
Columns
Eg: Product Name
Product Number
Eg: Product Details.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

16. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
A Catalog Contains...
Calculations
Prompts ? + -
Conditions / *
Eg: Country.
Sales Rep Name.
Eg : Profit Margin
Eg:Sale Closed on time
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

17. The Data and the Catalog
Grouped the way the users want to use the data and not the way it is structured in the database.
THE DATABASE
Tables and Columns
THE CATALOG
Folders and Columns
Products
Product No.
Product Type
Product Line
Product
Product Status
Product Picture
Product Note
Price and Cost Sales History
PRODUCT
PROD_NO
PROD_TYPE
PROD_LINE
PROD_COST
PROD_PRICE
STATUS
PICTURE
SALES_92
SALES_93
SALES_94
SALES_95
COMMENTS
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

18. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
The Catalog
Corporate
Data
Inventory
Quality
Accounts
Receivable
As an Administrator, you should organize the folders in your catalog in the way your users view the business.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

19. Creating a Catalog: An Overview
Steps to creating a catalog:
1. Create your database connection.
2. Define the catalog.
3. Identify required database tables and columns.
4. Develop a join strategy for all tables.
5. Determine the folder structure.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

20. Connecting to the Database
The database definition determines how Impromptu will connect to the database.
Database
location?
security?
logical name?
database type?
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

21. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Creating a New Catalog
Creating a new catalog requires:
a catalog name
a description (optional)
a catalog type
the database definition
the required tables.
Database
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

22. Limiting the Tables Retrieved
You can limit the tables retrieved from a database.
You can customize a search to include specific information from a database.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

23. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
The Default Folders
Impromptu automatically creates a folder for each table in the database.
In this case Table Names becomes the default Folder names and the able attributes becomes the column names
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

24. The Content Overview Report
Impromptu can generate a report of your catalog's contents:
Impromptu Version
Catalog Content Report
Catalog Information
Catalog Name: C:\EDCOGNOS\IM5002EB\TRAINING.CAT
Description: Training Centers, world wide
Creation Date: Wednesday, March 11, 1998
Database Information
Logical Name: TrainDb
Physical Name: C:\EDCOGNOS\IM5002EB\DATABASE
Type: DB
Database Structure
Table : Course
Column : COURSE_ID
Column : CAT_ID
Column : COURSE_CD
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

25. Content Overview Report: Benefits
A Content Overview Report can be used for:
hard copy backup
verify contents of catalog
catalog and reports can be reviewed, constructed and manipulated in a programmatic manner
log of changes
analytical tool.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

26. Working with Joins

27. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
What is a Join?
A join:
identifies the column(s) linking two tables
allows reporting on more than one table at a time.
Rep Table
Order Table
Join
Rep No
Rep Name
Quota 96
Sales 96
Order No
Rep No
Site No
Cust No
Order Dt
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

28. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Why Do We Need Joins?
Joins allow the report designer to:
create powerful reports, using columns from different tables
eliminate cross-product queries
optimize performance.
Joins allow the Impromptu Administrator to:
hide the manner in which two tables are related, so the report writers don't need to know these details.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

29. Creating Joins in Impromptu
When you create a catalog with more than one table, Impromptu prompts you for join information.
There are two ways Impromptu creates table joins:
automatically, for all tables at once
manually, one at a time — the default.
You determine the strategy in the Tables dialog. The specifics of the join are handled in the Joins dialog.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

30. Join Strategy - Automatic
assign meaningful keys
keys should be unique.
Here, Impromptu will create a compound join based on Site_No and Cust_No as primary keys in CustSite and like-named columns in Order.
Order
Order_No
Rep_No
Site_No
Cust_No
Order_Dt
Closed_Dt
CustSite
Cust_No
Site_No
Branch_Cd
Address 1
Address 2
City
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

31. Automatic Joins and Keys
An Impromptu key identifies one or more columns which can be used for table joins.
They are generated at the time the catalog is created, based on the primary keys in your database tables.
They can also be manually added to the catalog.
CustSite
Cust_No
Site_No
Branch_Cd
Address 1
Address 2
City
Order
Order_No
Rep_No
Site_No
Cust_No
Order_Dt
Closed_Dt
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

32. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Join Strategy - Manual
Manual:
organize your data into logical groups
plan for “core” tables
join table groupings to the “core”
determine the type of join that will bring the best reporting results.
Branch
Country
CUSTSITE
Customer
Order
ORDRDETL
Rep
Product
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

33. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Join Strategy - Manual
When manually joining the tables, one by one, you have three choices:
explicitly name the columns In both tables to join
Use this when the column names differ In the two tables.
let Impromptu generate a join based on keys
If one table has a key, Impromptu looks for a column of the same name (key or not) in the other table.
Use this when all tables have keys.
let Impromptu generate a join based on keys or matching column names
Use this last, and beware 'false' joins.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

34. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Types of Joins
The join operation joins tables on the basis of column values in a common column.
The different types of joins are:
equi-joins
non-equi-joins
outer joins
self-joins
compound joins
complex joins.
JOINS
Equi Joins - retrieve all the rows from one table that have matching rows in another tables.
Non-equi Joins - retrieve all the rows from one table that meet the criteria in another table.
Outer Joins - retrieve all the rows from one table even if there are no matching rows in another table.
Self Joins - retrieve all rows from one table based on the results of a condition in the same table.
Compound Joins - allow you to link more than one column in a table to a column in another table.
Complex Joins - allow you to create complex expressions to join parts of columns together
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

35. Equi-Joins (Inner Join)
Equi-joins retrieve all the rows from one table that have matching rows in another table, based on equal values.
In this example, for each order, there are order details.
Order No
Rep No
Site No
Cust No
...
Line No
Prod No 1
1085
60401 2
60400 27
1148
60101 3
50101 4
40101 5
40100 6
40302
1030
60301
Equi Joins is the Impromptu default retrieval method. These joins retrieve all the rows from one table that have a matching row in another table.
For example, for each order, there are order details, i.e., one row for each item ordered.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

36. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Non-Equi-Joins
Non-equi-joins connect rows from two tables based on values which are not equal.
Grades
Scores
Grade Min Score Max Score A
B 80 89
C 70 79
D 50 69
F 0 49
Student Score
Jean 83
Sue 76
Bob 92
Ton 67
Luis 74
>=
<=
Using the Expression box on the Joins window, you can use one of the following expressions to create an Non Equi join:
<> Not equal to
< Less Than
> Greater Than
<= Less Than or Equal To
>= Greater Than or Equal To
Student Grade
Jean B
Sue C
Bob A
Ton D
Luis C
Join Definition:
Grades.Min Score <= Scores.Score AND Grades.Max Score >= Scores.Score
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

37. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Outer Joins
Outer joins retrieve rows from one table even if there are no matching rows in the connecting table.
In this example, you can show all orders by Rep and include even those reps who have no orders.
Rep No
Rep Name
...
Order No 15
Chris Cornel
114 16
Bill Gibbons
167
193
258
259 17
Russ Pallomine 18
Lyn Jacobs 8 29 35
101
189
Remember that Marketing wanted to know which products salespeople were not selling.
Note that Rep No 17, Russ Pallomine, had no orders, but he is still included in the report.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

38. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Self-Join
Self-joins allow you to add two copies of the same table in a report so that you can relate values within a single table.
Employee Table 1
EMP-NO
LAST-NAME
FIRST-NAME
MGR-NO
POSITION 01
Davis
Vincent 38
Sales Rep 02
Chung
Sam 04
Clerk 03
Reva
Santos 38
Sales Rep
Employee Table 2 04
Larouche
Nicole 15
Manager
EMP-NO
LAST-NAME
FIRST-NAME
MGR-NO
POSITION 01
Davis
Vincent 38
Sales Rep 02
Chung
Sam 04
Clerk 03
Reva
Santos 38
Sales Rep
EMP-NO and MGR-NO contain the same data type; therefore, you can join the two columns to report employees and their managers in one report.
Does the Marketing department require this type of information? 04
Larouche
Nicole 15
Manager
Report
EMP-NO
LAST-NAME
FIRST-NAME
MGR-NO
LAST-NAME 01
Davis
Vincent 38
... 02
Chung
Sam 04
Larouche 03
Reva
Santos 38 04
Larouche
Nicole 15
...
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

39. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Compound Joins
Compound joins are those where more than one column matches to another column in another table.
In this example, Order_Prefix + Order_Suffix in the first table matches to Order_No in the second table.
Order_Prefix
Order_Suffix
...
Order_ No
... CA
123456
CA123456
...
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

40. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Complex Joins
Complex joins use an expression to join tables.
For example, you may need to join two tables using the first two characters of two columns. The expression could look like this:
substring (Warehouse, 1, 2) = substring (Location, 1, 2)
Warehouse
...
Location
TX7902
TX3
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

41. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Alias Table
A manually-created duplicate table that can be used to:
resolve loop join structures
create self-joins
provide alternate join structures.
Database tables
BRANCH
COUNTRY
PRODUCT
REP
Catalog tables
BRANCH
BRANCH 2
COUNTRY
PRODUCT
REP
Alias table
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

42. Analyze and Test the Join Structure
Once the joins have been created, it is a good idea to analyze the joins for each table.
Problems in the table joins may give unexpected results in reports.
Three potential problems that Impromptu will identify:
No Spanning Tree
Isolated Table
Loop.
You can solve the problem by:
creating an alias table
editing a join
removing a join.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

43. Exceptions: No Spanning Tree
Exception: NO SPANNING TREE
there is no single spanning tree for all tables
Country
Branch
Cust_Site
Customer
Order_Detl
Order
The two groups of tables are not joined. This is a No Spanning Tree exception.
Rep
Product
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

44. To Resolve No Single Spanning Tree
To solve No Single Spanning Tree, do one of the following:
add a join to create a spanning tree
leave the join structure as it is.
Country
Branch
Cust_Site
Add this join
Customer
Order_Detl
Order
Product
Rep
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

45. Exceptions: An Isolated Table
Exception: ISOLATED TABLE
there are no paths defined for this table
Branch
Country
Cust_Site
Customer
Order_Detl
Order
The table Branch is not joined to the other tables. Branch is therefore an isolated table.
Product
Rep
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

46. To Resolve an Isolated Table Join
Country
To solve an Isolated Table Join issue, do one of the following:
join the isolated table(s) with the rest of the join structure
leave the join structure as it is.
Branch
Cust_Site
Customer
Order_Detl
Order
Product
Rep
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

47. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Exceptions: A Loop
Exception: LOOP there is a loop in the join structure.
In this example, an automatic join strategy was done on all tables at once.
This resulted in an incorrect join between Customer and CustOrder (bypassing CustSite).
Now there is more than one way to go from one table to another.
This may decrease performance or give incorrect results.
Customer
Cust-No
CustSite
Cust-No, Site-No
CustOrder
Cust-No, Site-No
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

48. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
To Resolve Loop Joins
To solve loop join problems, do one of the following:
remove a join, forcing a connection through an intermediate table
create an alias table with a separate join
leave the join structure as it is
remove a table from the catalog.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

49. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Testing Joins
The Test tab allows you to:
test join strategies prior to using them
ensure optimal join strategies when a report requires multi-table joins.
TEST
(CUSTSITE.”CUST_NO” = ORDER1.”CUST_NO”
and
CUSTSITE.”SITE_NO” = ORDER1.”SITE_NO”)
and (ORDER1.”ORDERNUM” = ORDRDETL.”ORDER_NO”) and (ORDRDETL.”PROD_NO” = PRODUCT.PROD_NO”)
Order1
Order_No
Rep_No
Site_No
Cust_No
Order_Dt
Closed_Dt
CustSite
Cust_No
Site_No
Branch_Cd
Address 1
Address 2
City
Product
Prod_No
Prod_Type
Prod_Line
Prod_Cost
Prod_Price
CUSTSITE ORDER1
ORDER1 ORDRDETL
ORDRDETL PRODUCT
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

50. Working with Folders

51. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Working with Folders
You can:
change the names of folders to make more sense to users
move folders and columns so they are grouped more logically
add new folders that contain a subset of table columns, or columns from multiple tables
remove unnecessary folders and columns
create copies of tables and columns within different folders
add pre-defined calculations, conditions, and prompts to the catalog.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

52. Design the Folder Structure
Know your users’ business requirements for data before you begin.
Decide which columns need to be placed together.
Determine the structure and naming of the folders and columns. -
Customer
Cust No
Status
Type
Comments -
Customers
Customer Number
Customer Name
Rename
Move -
Customer Details
Remove
Status
Type
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

53. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Tips for Folder Design
Use a dictionary or a collection of business terms from the user community to determine clear column names.
Use existing reports to determine which columns are regularly used together.
Consider the needs of your user community when deciding how to organize your folder structure.
Confirm your design with your Business Analyst before you create the catalog.
Rename folders and their columns as early as possible. That way, when you copy columns to different places, you don’t need to change their names as well.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

54. Additional Tips for Folder Design
Keep folder hierarchies (folders within folders) simple, with the most frequently accessed information near the top.
Put columns that are commonly reported together into the same folder. Put multiple copies in different folders if they are used with other reports.
Consider where to store predefined calculations, conditions, and prompts.
Create a special Administrator’s folder that contains the default folder structure, and deny access to it for other users.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

55. Keeping Track of Folder Columns
Since you can rename a column and place columns from several tables into a folder, you may forget where a given column came from.
To find its original table and column name, check its qualified name.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

56. Generating New Folders
You can generate a folder based on a report or on a database table.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

57. Calculations, Conditions, and Prompts
Calculations are expressions that perform operations on existing columns to create new columns.
Conditions are filters that let you refine or focus users’ access to data. Conditions evaluate to a true/false value.
Prompts are runtime requests to the user for data values. These values are then used as filters.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

58. Why Store Them in the Catalog?
Store predefined calculations, conditions, and prompts in the catalog to:
save time so that users don’t have to re-create them for every report
ensure consistency throughout the business in the way calculations and conditions are created and used
easily modify them, automatically passing the changes to the reports that use them.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

59. User profiles

60. Mapping User Groups to User Classes
Group users according to the information they need and the activities they perform.
Marketing
Executive
Sales
Finance
& Admin
To group users, consider:
the different areas in your organizations
the data required by each
the activities performed by each group
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

61. User Classes are Inheritance-Based
A user class inherits the privileges and the restrictions of its parent class.
Creator
Finance
& Admin.
Marketing
Sales
Executive
To group users, consider:
the different areas in your organizations
the data required by each
the activities performed by each group
Sales
Mgmt -
North
America
Sales
Mgmt -
Europe
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

62. Top-Down User Class Management
Create a top-level class like 'All Users'.
Global changes to all user classes can now be done in one place (without affecting Creator privileges).
Creator
All Users
To group users, consider:
the different areas in your organizations
the data required by each
the activities performed by each group
Finance
& Admin
Marketing
Sales
Executive
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

63. User Classes and Access Control
There are many ways that user classes can help you control access to data in the database. You can:
limit table access
limit folder access and restrict select values
filter values
set Governor values.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

64. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
The Creator User Class
Creator
The Creator user class has special capabilities that other user classes do not. For example:
can set its own password, and set or change passwords for all other user classes
can override its own Governor restrictions for specific reports
can access Distributed catalogs directly (the master copy of the catalog).
People running the User version of Impromptu cannot select the user class Creator.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

65. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Creating User Classes
To create a user class:
From the Catalog menu, select User Profiles.
In the User Profiles dialog box, click the User Classes tab.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

66. Assigning Passwords to User Classes
Passwords are optional, but recommended in a production environment.
Only Creator, and those user classes that can “Add/modify user classes”, can assign passwords. If a user class password is lost, they can assign new ones. Passwords are assigned when the user class is created.
To change or remove a password, the user class definition is edited.
Remember:
If you assign a password to Creator and then lose it,
you must re-create the catalog from scratch!
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

67. Defining User Profiles
the User Profiles dialog box has the following tabs:
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

68. User Profiles: Database
to set database access parameters.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

69. User Profiles: Table Access
to grant or deny access to specific tables or columns.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

70. User Profiles: Folder Access
to grant or deny access to specific folders or columns.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

71. User Profiles: Filters
to set up conditions that will filter out unnecessary or sensitive data.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

72. User Profiles: Governors
to apply privileges and restrictions for a user class.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

73. Governors: User Privileges
You typically modify these options when you create user classes
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

74. Performance

75. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Performance
Sort
Group
Filter
Aggregate
Manipulation
Data Access
Display
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

76. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Catalog Optimization
The catalog can be optimized using the following options:
Database interaction
Client/Server balancing
Database functions
Table weighting and qualification
Governors
HotFiles.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

77. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Database Interaction
Efficiency
Impromptu
SQL Translation
Network Transport
Database
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

78. Client/Server Balancing
Impromptu processing
Query
Merge
Report
Database processing
By restricting use of some or all of the local Impromptu processing, you can balance the work between the client (your PC) and the server (the machine with the database).
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

79. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Database Only
With this setting:
processing occurs on the database server only
only database functions are available
large queries can be executed more efficiently.
Report
QUERY
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

80. Limited Local Processing - The Default
With this setting:
the majority of the processing is done on the database server by creating multiple queries; Impromptu then combines the results on the PC
local sorting is disallowed
summaries in headings are often disallowed
database and local functions are available.
Database PC
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

81. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Flexible Processing
With this setting:
Impromptu determines where processing takes place
both built-in and database functions are available
there is full querying capability
the entire result set can be sent to the PC, where local sorts can be performed.
Report
QUERY
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

82. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Table Weights
Relative weight specifies the order in which tables are retrieved and joined.
Tables with lower numbers are retrieved first.
When filtering on a table, that table should be read first for best performance.
Default is equal weight (5).
Customers 1
Orders 5
Reps 5
Branches 10
Countries 10
Custsites 10
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

83. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Governors
Governor settings are used to set restrictions on queries by user class, such as:
sorting & indexing
outer joins
suppress duplicates
cross-product queries.
Reporting Needs
Performance Issues
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

84. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Governors …
Governors can also limit:
retrieval of large text items to <n> characters
the number of records
the number of tables
query execution time.
Reporting Needs
Performance Issues
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

85. Performance at the Report Level3 2 1
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

86. Reports: Data Source and Retrieval Options
Performance can be improved by accessing a local data source (Local snapshot, Thumbnail, or Cache), or limiting the amount of data read.
'Retrieve only the required rows' retrieves only the data needed for the current screen display.
A Thumbnail is a local cache for a specific number of rows. This is the same as using both 'Cache query results' and 'Limit data to'.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

87. Improving Data Access Time
Performance can be improved by accessing a local data source (Local snapshot, Thumbnail, or Cache), or by limiting the amount of data read.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

88. Alternative Data Sources.
Local Snapshots.
1. Is a saved report (.IMR file) which also contains all the data queried at the time the Snapshot was taken.
2. Is a static data source does not require access to the database, or catalog, once it is created
3. Is suitable for working disconnected from the n/w.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

89. Alternative Data Sources...
Thumb nail :
1. A Thumbnail is a temporary cache on the PC.
2. With the Thumbnail, you only retrieve the remote data once, and then you work locally with your cache.
3. When you exit Impromptu, the cache is deleted
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

90. Alternative Data Sources...
HotFile :
1. Is a flat sequential file (not indexed).
2. Can be added to the catalog, or used in a report as if it were a database table.
HotFiles enable you to:
1. Compare historical data
2. Access subsets of large tables
3. Speed up processing
4. Access data from more than one database.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

91. Query Options for Performance
You may define additional options for handling the query.
avoid unnecessary retrievals
prevent outer joins
limit retrieval of large text strings.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

92. Client/Server Balancing
Client (Your PC)
Server (database)
Database
Recall that whenever your data is on a remote server, you improve performance by shifting the workload to the server (database) side.
Avoid activities which must be done locally, after the data has been returned from the server.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

93. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Balancing: Summaries
SQL summary functions in the database are best:SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX, COUNT
Impromptu can also do summary calculations, after the data has been sent from the database to the client. These non-SQL summary functions include:
running summaries:
you report details, and then add summaries in a footer.
extended summaries
you have a summary in the report heading, or as a column beside the details.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

94. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
External Influences
Evaluate whether the following may be reducing performance:
network issues?
non-indexed tables?
slow on another query tool?
hardware/software limits reached?
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

95. User Defined Functions

96. What is a User-Defined Function?
A User-Defined Function is a custom function created outside of Impromptu.
These UDFs exist in either a database or a library file.
As an Impromptu Administrator, your job is to make the UDFs known to Impromptu, so that the people creating reports can access them.
If you have the programming knowledge, you can also create your own UDFs.
Build UDFs
Store UDFs in a
database or library
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

97. Things You Should Know About Functions
Database functions
take place in the database.
Built-in functions
may be done on your PC or in the database.
Database Only
PC or Database
PC Only
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

98. Categories of Functions
built into Impromptu
in the database
in Impromptu and the database
Database functions tend to offer the highest performance.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

99. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Combining Functions
Functions can be combined so that the output value of one function acts as the input to another function.
Sometimes it is necessary to convert one data type to another when combining functions.
Impromptu supplies many conversion functions to help you do this.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

100. User Defined Functions
A User-Defined Function is a custom function created outside of Impromptu.
These UDFs exist in either a database or a library file.
As an Impromptu Administrator, your job is to make the UDFs known to Impromptu, so that the people creating reports can access them.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

101. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
UDFs (cond…)
Impromptu reports can access three types of functions:
Those built into Impromptu.
Those stored in external library files(e.g.,DLLs).
Those stored in a database.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

102. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Procedure
Place the Declaration of the Function into the COGUDF.SQL File.
Place the Function details (Name and List of its Properties) in IMPFUNCT.INI file.
[Built-in Function List] --> Name.
[Function-name] --> Properties List.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

103. Wrap Up

104. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
What is the Impromptu base product?
Impromptu User
How does Impromptu deliver results?
run routine queries
run ad hoc queries
access standardized calculation and conditions.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

105. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
What are the four general steps in a project?
Plan
Implement
Deploy
Maintain.
Name three ways to connect Impromptu to the database.
a native driver (built into Impromptu)
ODBC
a database vendor's gateway.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

106. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Name two techniques for creating Impromptu joins.
manually--one join at a time.
automatically--let Impromptu create them for you.
Name six types of joins.
equi-join
non-equi join
outer join
self join
compound join
complex join.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

107. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Name four items contained in folders.
calculations
conditions
prompts
columns.
What are conditions?
pre-defined filters.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

108. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Name six things you can do to folders.
rename folders
move folders
add new folders
remove folders
copy folders
add calculation, conditions and prompts.
Name five ways that user classes can help you control access to data in the database.
limit table access
limit folder access
restrict select values
filter values
set Governor values.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

109. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Name four privileges assigned only to the Creator.
set its own password
set or changes passwords for all other user classes
override Governor restrictions
access Distributed catalog directly.
When would you not be able to access the Creator user class (assuming you know the password)?
when you are running the User version of Impromptu.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

110. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Where do the following icons indicate function processing is taking place?
PC or the Databaseabase
PC only
Database only.ly
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

111. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
What are the steps to providing access to an external UDF in a DLL?
Add the function declaration to COGUDF.SQL.
Add the function name and its properties to IMPFUNCT.INI.
How is the process different for providing access to a database UDF?
Use COGUDFxx.SQL and xxFUNCT.INI instead, where xx indicates the specific database system.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

112. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
Name five types of restrictions applied in the Governor tab.
restrictions on queries, e.g., outer join
user privileges such as creating and editing reports
user privileges such as modifying the catalog
limits for data and table retrieval
limits for query execution time.
Name three local data sources.
Snapshot
Thumbnail
Cache.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator

113. COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator
Wrap up
What are the two .INI files necessary to run Impromptu?
COGNOS.INI
IMPROMPTU.INI.
What aspect of Impromptu does the COGNOS.INI file control?
locations of Cognos applications and components.
What aspects of Impromptu does the IMPROMPTU.INI file control?
preference settings
control settings
statistical information.
COGNOS - Impromptu Administrator