Update November 14, 2019
A few updates/additions since the last overhaul in October.
Update October 21, 2019
Long overdue, I have provided an update to the matrix highlighting the differences between the various offerings of IBM Cognos Analytics.
Original Introduction
There are three different offerings of IBM Cognos Analytics available today, as well as a trial version of the product. This is a big change from only a few years ago when we only sold an on-premises version of the product, or couple of years ago when we added our initial cloud offering.
What I hear a lot now as the offering manager for our cloud offerings is a request for an explanation of the difference between our different cloud offerings, as well as our on-premises offering. So, to coincide with the 11.1.1 release of IBM Cognos Analytics, (Oct/2019 - the latest version is now 11.1.4) I thought it was about time I wrote this up.
With the release of the 11.1.3 version of IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud, (Oct/2019 - again, latest version is 11.1.4) I thought the matrix of release functionality was due for an update, especially with the introduction of user tiers, a new trial, and support for accessing on-premises databases.
Below is a quick summary of our product offerings as of July 12, 2019 October 21, 2019.
|
Product
|
Descripton
|
Version
|
Notes
|
|
Cognos Analytics
|
On-premises offering
|
11.1.4
|
Long-term support release (LSR) version (2 years)
|
|
Cognos Analytics Trial
|
Cloud-based offering
|
11.1.4
|
Updated to latest cloud version upon availability
|
|
Cognos Analtyics on Cloud
|
Multi-tenanted hosted in the cloud
|
11.1.4
|
Updated to latest cloud version upon availability
|
|
Cognos Analytics on Cloud Dedicated
|
Dedicated version hosted in the cloud
|
11.1.4
|
Updates applied in consultation with the customer
|
Version 11.1.4 should be available for the Dedicated offering very soon.
Hopefully this will help you decide which version of IBM Cognos Analytics is right for your department or organization. And be sure to visit the IBM Cognos Analytics community to learn about updates to our various offerings.
IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud now supports three different user tiers that can be assigned to different users within a single subscription. In the matrix below, features specific to a particular tier are identified as follows:
- S - Standard
- + - Plus
- P - Premium
Yes with no further qualification means the feature is applicable to all tiers.
|
Offerings
|
|
Features
|
On-Premises
|
CA Trial
|
CA on Cloud
|
CA on Cloud Dedicated
|
|
Portal
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Self-service modeling (data modules)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Dashboards
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Stories
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Exploration
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes (+, P)
|
Yes
|
|
Reporting
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes (P)
|
Yes
|
|
Scheduling
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes (P)
|
Yes
|
|
Access to client tools (license dependent)9
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
PowerPlay Studio1 (with existing license)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Analysis Studio1
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Query Studio1
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Event Studio1
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Cognos Workspace
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Uploading files
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Uploading of fonts and images
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Customization (themes, extensions, palettes, views, parameters, custom visualizations)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes7
|
Yes
|
|
Customization (user profiles)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
IBM Support
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Access to on-premises data sources
|
Yes
|
Yes5
|
Yes6
|
Yes
|
|
Access to cloud data sources
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Access to PowerCubes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Compatible Query Mode data sources
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Dynamic Query Mode data sources
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
SDK
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Execution of triggers
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
IBM ID authentication
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
On-premises or cloud-based authentication providers
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Single Sign On
|
Yes2
|
No
|
No
|
Yes2
|
|
Report output to file system
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No3
|
|
Report bursting
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Access to the underlying file system
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
GO Sales database samples
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Samples based on uploaded files
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Multiple users per license
|
Yes
|
Yes4
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Per user pricing
|
Yes
|
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
PVU/capacity pricing
|
Yes
|
n/a
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Multiple environments (dev, prod)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Long Term Support (LTS) release (11.0.13)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Multi-dispatcher environments
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes3
|
|
Minimum number of users
|
n/a
|
1
|
1
|
100
|
|
Maximum number of users
|
n/a
|
5
|
n/a
|
n/a |
|
Digital purchase
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
Jupyter Notebooks
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Print from within Cognos Analytics
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Support for IBM Cognos Mobile
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Works with Motio CI
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
See footnote8
|
|
Import/export of deployments
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Legacy studios can only be explicitly enabled on-premises.
- Single sign on available via OIDC authentication providers which support this feature.
- Multi-dispatcher environments for IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud Dedicated is limited to PROD environments.
- Burst to file system is currently available to 11.0.13 Dedicated customers only.
- The IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud trial supports up to 5 users.
- IBM Cognos Analytics Trial is limited to accessing 1 on-premises data source.
- IBM Cognos Analtyics on Cloud is limited to accessing 10 on-premises data sources.
- Standard tier users can use custom visualizations published by other users. Plus tier users can do the same as Standard users and can also develop custom visualizations. Premium tier users can do the same as Plus users and can also upload visualizations for user by other users.
- Though IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud Dedicated may work with Motio CI, IBM does not claim support for this configuration and it does not support the plug in that enables "Active Versioning" and "Authoring Integration."
- Client tools currently available for download are: Framework Manager and Transformer.
IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud is hosted in the following locations:
- Washington, DC
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Tokyo, Japan
- Sydney, Australia
IBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud Dedicated is hosted in the following locations:
- Montreal, Canada
- Washington, DC
- Dallas, TX
- San Diego, CA
- London, England
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Tokyo, Japan
- Melbourne, Australia