This document discusses various approaches for integrating SAS and Cognos for business intelligence and analytics purposes. It describes typical current states with disconnected tools and data hoarding. The target outcome is an integrated information delivery framework. It then provides details on 9 different integration approaches including using SAS data and reports as sources for Cognos reports, dashboards, and analytics.
2. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
Typical current
state:
Execu&ves
mostly
ge0ng
Excel/Word
reports
via
Excel
Not
easy
for
users
to
get
what
they
want
or
see
what
reports
available
Not
clear
where
to
start
(mul&ple
tools/entry
points)
Big
need
for
contextual
informa&on
Complex
Data
Warehouse
design
(more
like
an
ODS)
Inflexible
BI
metadata
layer
(doesn’t
sa&sfy
many
user
requests)
Lack
of
‘predic&ve’
repor&ng
capabili&es
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3. Typical Scenario: A ‘Hoarding’ Culture…
Data
Prepara)on
Layer
Access
SAP
PSFT
Web
Services
ORCL
Cubes
Transformations
High
Volume
Batch
Reports
Cognos
Warehouse
SAS
HR
Web
SAS
-‐
Analy)cal
Structures
Real
Time
Modeling
Base
Tables
Analy)cal
Mart
UnStructured
Exploita)on
layer
Cognos
-‐
BI
Data
Integra)on
MSFT
Data
Management
Layer
Message
Queues
Scoring
Base
Tables
Analy)cs
Other
Sources
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4. Target Outcome:
An
Integrated
Informa&on
Delivery
Mechanism
to:
1. Provide
a
‘health’
view
of
the
business
(sharing
common
measures/dimensions)
2. Allow
for
summarised
iden&fica&on
of
issues
related
to
‘health’
of
business
3. Enable
access
to
detailed
informa&on
to
facilitate
understanding
4. Enable
targe&ng
and
tracking
for
remedies/interven&ons
(measuring
effec3veness)
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5. SAS/Cognos Integration Approaches
1. SAS
‘Historical
Snapshot’
Data
-‐>
Transformer
-‐>
Cognos
Workspace
Advanced
2. SAS
Stored
Processes
-‐>
Cognos
Connec&on
3. SAS
Report
-‐>
Business
Insight
Advanced/Report
Studio
4. SAS
Report
-‐>
Transformer
-‐>
Cognos
Workspace
Advanced
5. SAS
Report
-‐>
Cognos
Workspace
Advanced
(External
Data)
6. SAS
Report
-‐>
Sharepoint
-‐>
Cognos
Connec&on
(Document
output)
7. SAS
Data
-‐>
Cognos
Datasource
(via
ODBC)
-‐>
Framework
Manager
-‐>
Cognos
Studios
8. SAS
Data
-‐>
Cognos
Datasource
(via
SAS
OLE-‐DB)
-‐>
Excel
-‐>
Framework
Manager
or
Transformer
or
Cognos
Workspace
Advanced
(External
Data)
9. SAS
Data
-‐>
Data
Warehouse
-‐>
Framework
Manager
-‐>
Cognos
Studios
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6. Integrated
Information Delivery Framework
Integrated
Informa&on
Delivery
Portal
(Intranet,
Cognos
Connec&on)
(Subscrip&on)
(Ad-‐Hoc)
(On
Demand)
SAS Datasets
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SAS
Reports
7. Example Data Process
Pre-‐integra&on
of
SAS/Cognos:
Post-‐integra&on
of
SAS/Cognos:
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8. 1. SAS Dataset -> Transformer -> Cognos
Workspace Advanced (or Report Studio)
• This
method
uses
a
SAS
dataset
as
a
source
for
Cognos
Transformer.
Complex
business
logic
is
built
into
SAS
(Enterprise
Guide)
process
–
rela&ve
&me
calcula&ons
are
defined
in
Transformer)
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9. 2. SAS Stored Process -> Cognos Connection
• This
method
takes
a
SAS
report
and
enables
it
as
a
SAS
Web
Stored
Process,
which
can
then
be
linked
and
run
within
Cognos
Connec&on
Copyright @ 2012 See-Change Solutions
10. 3. SAS Report -> Cognos Report Studio
• This
method
takes
HTML
formaded
report
output
from
a
SAS
Enterprise
Guide
project
and
embeds
the
resul&ng
HTML
code
into
a
Cognos
Report
Studio
Report
via
use
of
the
HTML
object
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11. 4. SAS Report -> Transformer -> Cognos
Workspace Advanced (or Report Studio)
• This
method
takes
the
output
of
a
SAS
report
(eg
Enterprise
Guide
report)
and
‘pivots’
the
data
in
such
a
way
as
to
provide
a
data
input
into
the
Cognos
Transformer
OLAP
modelling
tool.
Copyright @ 2014 See-Change Solutions
12. •
5. SAS Report -> Cognos Workspace
Advanced (External Data)
This
method
takes
the
(crosstab)
output
of
a
SAS
report
(eg
Enterprise
Guide
report)
and
saves
it
into
Excel
or
CSV
format.
Then,
within
Cognos
Workspace
Advanced
or
Cognos
Report
Studio,
the
output
can
be
brought
into
Cognos
via
the
‘Manage
External
Data’
op&on
Copyright @ 2014 See-Change Solutions
13. 6. SAS Report -> Sharepoint -> Cognos
Connection (Document output)
SAS
report
(eg
Enterprise
Guide
report)
• This
method
takes
the
output
of
a
and
saves
it
into
PDF,
Excel
or
Word
format.
Then,
within
Sharepoint,
the
document
can
be
added
to
a
loca&on
from
where
it
can
be
linked
within
Cognos
Connec&on
via
an
External
URL
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14. 7. SAS Data -> ODBC -> Framework
Manager -> Cognos Studios
• This
method
can
use
an
ODBC
Connec&on
to
allow
any
SAS
dataset
to
be
a
source
for
Cognos.
The
SAS
ODBC
driver
can
be
used
to
create
an
ODBC
connec&on,
from
which
a
data
source
connec&on
can
be
defined
within
Cognos
to
point
to
the
SAS
data
set.
Alterna&vely,
the
SAS
‘PROC
SQL’
method
can
be
used
to
output
SAS
results
directly
to
a
rela&onal
table
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15. 8. SAS Data -> Cognos Datasource (via
SAS OLE-DB) -> Excel -> Cognos
• This
method
connects
to
a
SAS
dataset
via
the
SAS
OLE-‐DB
provider.
Since
Cognos
does
not
na&vely
support
the
OLE-‐DB
provider,
a
connec&on
can
be
defined
in
Excel,
and
Cognos
can
then
be
pointed
to
the
Excel
file.
Copyright @ 2014 See-Change Solutions
16. 9. SAS Data -> Data Warehouse -> Cognos
Studios
• The
most
common
approach
is
s&ll
to
load
SAS
datasets
directly
into
the
Data
Warehouse,
from
where
Cognos
Framework
Manager
can
create
Query
Subjects
and
Packages
for
consump&on
by
Cognos
Transformer
and
the
Cognos
Studios.
However,
this
approach
creates
a
long
lead
&me
for
business
users
with
constantly
changing
repor&ng
requirements
and
ad-‐
hoc
requests.
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