Planning Analytics as a Service is available as a new data source connection within both the on-premise and cloud versions of IBM Cognos Analytics. This integration enables IBM Cognos Analytics users to seamlessly connect to PAaaS cubes, whether they are hosted on Cloud Pak for Data or on AWS, bridging the gap between these two platforms.
To establish a connection to PAaaS, users need to provide the Planning Analytics Workspace host and the Server name. In cases where both IBM Cognos Analytics and Planning Analytics reside on Cloud Pak for Data, integrated security is ensured as they share the same namespace. Alternatively, API keys can also be used to establish the connection. For detailed steps required to create the PAaaS connection, please refer to the following link:
This new data server connection type, IBM Planning Analytics as a Service, leverages MDX capabilities within the Planning Analytics Engine (PAE). These functionalities enable IBM Cognos Analytics to send MDX queries directly to PAE, rather than processing the MDX internally. This change reduces memory requirements for the query service, decreases the number of caches used and the number of queries sent to Planning Analytics as a Service, hence improving the performance.
Report Authors or Data Modellers can generate data modules based on OLAP cubes that can be used to create reports, dashboards, stories and other Cognos Analytics content much like FM packages that contain OLAP cubes. For the details steps required to create a data module, please refer to this documentation page.
The users can choose to upgrade their Planning Analytics connection to a Planning Analytics as a Service connection. To do so, users can simply modify the existing connection by changing the URL for the database host and select a different authentication method. The existing packages and modules will continue to work and there will be no need to modify reports or dashboards. The users need to be aware of additional upgrade considerations and they can be viewed via the following link:
Refer to our Supported Software Environments page to see list of data source connections supported in Cognos Analytics 12.0.x releases.
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