Area Architecure

Feature Architecture

Cognos 8.2 OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) The IBM Cognos architecture OBIEE 10g is based on N Tier delivers the capabilities to architecture. Major manage business intelligence components are as below applications with centralized, Oracle BI server web-based administration Oracle Presentation Server that provides a complete view Oracle Business Intelligence of system activity as well as Scheduler system metrics and thresholds Oracle Business Intelligence so that organizations can Publisher resolve potential issues before Oracle Business Intelligence there is a business impact. Java Host The IBM Cognos architecture Oracle Business Intelligence is built on a web-based service- Presentation Services Plug-in oriented-architecture (SOA) can be deployed on OC4j or that is designed for scalability, IIS. availability, and openness. Oracle Business Intelligence Cognos BI made up by 3for Microsoft Office tiered architecture Web tier, Application Tier Database tier

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) OBIEE 11g is based on N tier architecure. Two main component types the OBIEE 11g: System Components: These are non-J2EE components, such as processes and services written in C++ and java. BI Server BI Presentation Services BI Scheduler BI JavaHost BI Cluster Controller Java Components Web Logic Admin Server Web Logic Managed Server BI Plugin BI Security BI Action Services BI Office BI Publisher (Reporting System) OBIEE 11g System uses a set of metadata tables stored in a relational database Schema which is required at time of installation of OBIEE 11g.

Architecure

Hardware platforms / OS supported

Platform Independent (Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP etc..) Supports ( Java ,. Net and Lotus Connections etc..)

Can be installed on Major HW/OS. RPD Administration tool and Catalog Manager required Windows Box

Can be installed on Major HW/OS. RPD Administration tool and Catalog Manager required Windows Box

Architecure

Integration between different application components? (Integrated solution vs. nonintegrated) Integration with the data modeling tool (important to track changes in the data) Provision for distribution of BI content to a mass audience

Can be integrated with External Application (Oracle ERP, Sieble etc) No Yes(Ibots)

Architecure Architecure

No Yes

Can be integrated with External Application( (Oracle ERP, Sieble etc). Extensive support for Application integration using Action framework, Webservice and SOA architecture No Yes(Agent Framework)

Area Architecure

Feature Scalability

Cognos 8.2 Server scalabilty supported

Architecure

Zero-footprint definer

Support

Architecure Architecure

Design are resubale across BI applications Supports In-Memory or Caching

Yes No

OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) Support Cluster based high Support Cluster based high availablity and Load availablity and Load Balancing Balancing(in 11g Enterprise Managed based UI for Clustering configuration is available which has made this process easy) Need desktop based admin Need desktop based admin tool(client) for tool(client) for Repository Repository development and Catalog Managment. development and Catalog Rest of development plus management activities Managment. are using web interface. Reports/Dashbaord and Reports/Dashbaord and accessblity and system management is using Web accessblity is using Web UI. UI. Yes Yes Caching is supported, In Memory not avaialble

Architecure Architecure

Memory footprint requirement for Development Machine Support Single Repository

Security

Single sign-on support

Security

LDAP Integration

Security Security Collabration

Support for Data authorization(Rows/Columns) Object Level Security Flexibility to share report via email

Caching is supported, In Memory not avaialble in base product. Exalytics BI Machine provide In memory and advance visualization and data discovery and performance capablity Not very high Not very high At least 6 GB machine is required for development activities Supports single repository as a Single repository for BI OBIEE, BIP and OLAP have their own repository cognos content manager Reporting Development. BI but they can be access as part of single interface Publisher has own repository. for report development(OBIEE RPD/OBIEE Web Interface) supports (IBM Cognos Yes Yes provides for single signon authentication ) Supports all major LDAP Supports all major LDAP Supports all major LDAP systems. . In OBIEE11g is systems systems users and groups are no longer held primarily in the repository; instead, these details are stored by default in the WebLogic Server LDAP server, which gets installed alongside OBIEE when you install the product. RPD is encrypted and password protected Supports datalevel security in Very well supported using Very well supported using multiple approaches frameworkmanger multiple approaches Supports datalevel security in Supported Supported frameworkmanger Yes ,Microsoft outlook can Yes(Using Ibot) Yes(Using Agents) supports

Area Collabration

Feature Publish reports on the web(Portal)

Cognos 8.2 OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) yes, Cognos Connection is a Yes(portal Integration) Web portal provided with Cognos 8 BI, providing a single access point to the corporate Reports available. Yes

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) Yes(Portal Intgeration)

Reporting

Dashboard

Reporting

Reporting Reporting

Reporting Reporting Reporting

Dashboards are done in report studio and implemented in cognos conection Ability to combine multiple sources in a Yes(Ability combine single report. externalize sources .xls, .txt, .csv, .xml file into Cognos and create reports ) Ability to reuse calculations on multiple reports Yes (should be done in modeling level) Ability to schedule reports Yes , Cognos can support scheduling reports/ entries to run at a time that is convenient for users Add subtotals and grand totals Yes Basic Sorting Yes Can whole templates for reports or graphs Yes ,Report templete can rebe saved for further usage? used

Yes(OBIEE 11g has lots of new features , New capabilities in Oracle Answers,Updated dashboard, catalog, search and home page) Yes

Yes

Yes(Logical Modeling in semantic layer) Yes

Yes(Logical Modeling in semantic layer) Yes

Reporting

Combine tables, graphics, text, and data in a Supported single report.

Yes Yes Limited(create sample reports and user can change columns at runtime to create their own report) Supported

Yes Yes Limited(create sample reports and user can change columns at runtime to create their own report) Supported

Area Reporting

Feature Enterprise reporting.

Cognos 8.2 Yes. Using Cognos report studio reports can created

OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) OBIEE as BI reporting solution and Business Intelligence Publisher for Pixel Perfect reproting

Reporting

Filtering data in the report

Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting

Flexibility to change text attributes (font size, style, color) Mobile Support Provides graphing capabilities Search capabilities. Meta data search Supports Role-based dash boards and Report Hierarchies stored in repository

Yes ( Data can be filtered by Yes(Filter, prompts) dynamically (prompts) and static (detailed and summary) in the report) Yes Yes Limited(no Iphone support) Yes No Yes(using Audit Data) Yes No Yes No No Yes

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) OBIEE as BI reporting solution and Business Intelligence Publisher for Pixel Perfect reproting. Several new features has been added to Business Intelligence Publisher in 11g some of them as follow New Online Template Builder Interactive Viewer Updated Data Model editor ADF DVT visualizations Report templates can now be defined online Ability to add charts, tables, crosstabs, gauges and other items Interactive Viewer allows manipulation, drilling, filtering of data Event framework allows wiring together of charts, reports for filtering Yes(Filter, prompts)

Yes Limited(Android not supported) Yes Yes Yes Yes Major enhancement in hierarchies.OBIEE 11g also support OLAP style hierarchies Ragged, Skip Level. Support for values based hierarchy as well. Support presentation based hierachy which is used report for OLAP style reporting Yes Yes Yes Yes Supported Yes(Answer)

Yes, Hierarchies can be stored Yes(Level Based hierarchies) in repository (Content store)

Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting

Support for Export to multiple formats Write-back facilities Support for Balanced scorecarding Support for self-service support for Publish and subscribe Adhoc reporting

Yes yes Yes (Metric studio) NA Supported Yes(Query Studio)

Yes yes No Yes Supported Yes(Answer)

Area Reporting Reporting

Feature Ability to access and view all reports through a single portal interface Does the product / tool provide integrated graphing and charting?

Cognos 8.2 Yes

OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) Yes

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) Yes Yes(Major enhacement in charting engine versus OBIEE 10g . Graphing engine in OBIEE 11g has been moved to ADF DVT Easy access to graph types from main Results tab New layout controls to determine X, Y axis, measures graphed etc Ability to define time-based animations, and opening animations Graph Prompts Chart zoom

yes, Cognos has various kinds Yes(various Graphs and charts and graphs Charts)

Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting

MS Office Integration Pivot / Drill Down Time Series Analysis Addition of Group Members/Calculated Members Provision to integrate BI products with application programs(Actionable intelligence) Map Integration

Supports Office (Go-office ) yes

Yes(BI office Plugin) Yes Yes

yes(DMR models) yes (through cognos SDK)

Yes(BI office Plugin) Yes Yes(Couple of new functions has been added in 11g for Time series) Limited support in Pivot table OBIEE 11g support OLAP style reporting which Limited Seamless using Action framework

Visualization

Yes

Limited and complex integration

OBIEE 11g ships with Oracle MapViewer 11g Use in conjunction with Oracle RDBMS and spatial datasets to add map views Google Maps and Bing Maps can be used for background maps

Area Visualization

Feature OLAP style reporting

Cognos 8.2 yes (DMR)

OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) No

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) OBIEE 11g supports concept of hierarchical columns In-column drilling up and down a hierarchy Supports level-based and ragged (parent-child) hierarchies Flexible totalling and ability to determine leaflevels,ancestors, parents etc Works with both relational and OLAP (Essbase,Oracle OLAP etc) data sources Hierarchical columns can be used in pivot tables Incremental (status-aware) filter steps can be defined for hierarchical columns Add member conditions referencing measures

Visualization

Conditional Formatting of values/ Traffic lighitng KPI, Scorecards and Strategy Maps

Visualization

Visualization Visualization Visualization

Gauges and Controls Graphs Animation, Zooming, Sliders Master/Detail linking between reports in Dashboards Query and Analysis OLAP Cube Support Advance Analytics Performance Performance Data Mining, Statistical Analysis Aggregate awareness Aggregate stores (ROLAP/MOLAP)

Yes, Advanced conditional formatting and Traffic lighitng supported Metric designer and metric studio is avialble for scorecarding yes No yes only virtual cube creation is done in 8.2 No Yes ( It can be performed in the FM and report studio) NA

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes No No Limited support for Essbase and Oracle OLAP Very minimum Yes(RPD layer Modeling) Not available in Base product(Essbase can be integrated as MOLAP store) Yes(RPD layer Modeling) Yes supported Yes

Yes(Some new control has been added in 11g) Yes New in 11g Seamless intgeration with Essbase Cube, Oracle OLAP Cube and MS SSAS Cube Very Minimum Yes(RPD layer Modeling) Not available in Base product(Essbase, SSAS, Oracle OLAP can be integrated as MOLAP store) Yes(RPD layer Modeling) Yes supported Yes

Performance Performance Performance Performance

Automatic selection of best aggregate Role based workload management Connection Pooling Result Caching

NA yes No

Area Database Connectivity Database Connectivity Database Connectivity Administration Administration Administration Administration Misc Misc Misc Misc

Feature Supports ODBC and OLEDB etc.. Smart Push-Down architecture DB features/Functions usage in BI layer Single Point Administration Usage Tracking Out-of-the-Box System-wide Monitoring Installation/configuration Error log, debugging capabilities Data lineage and Impact Analysis support Save reports and queries for reuse Availability of tool training

Cognos 8.2 Supports ODBC and OLEDB etc.. No yes supports Single Point of Administration yes (cognos audit) Supports server and Reports Monitoring easy no No Yes Yes

OBIEE 10g(10.1.3.4) Yes Yes Yes NA Yes Limited Easy Yes BI Layer only Yes Yes

OBIEE 11g(11.1.1.5) Yes Yes Yes Most of the admin tasks can be done using FMW Enterprise Manager and admin console Yes Yes Complex Yes If ODI 11g is ETL tool then OBIEE and ODI Data Linegae is available else BI Layer only Yes Yes

COGNOS VS OBIEE
Asis Mohanty CBIP, CDMP asismohanty@gmail.com