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Email to recipients without a Cognos license

  • 1.  Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Wed July 15, 2020 02:20 PM
    Hello,

    I want to schedule a report delivery to multiple people, but some do not have a Cognos license. The report has prompts that are preset in the schedule configuration. From my understanding of the Cognos licensing model, this would not be permitted, but would still work?

    It would be for a PDF attachment with the report.

    Thanks

    ------------------------------
    Guy-Philippe Arseneault
    ------------------------------

    #CognosAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 04:30 AM
    Hi, 

    If you are sending a pdf attachment as part of the schedule with the delivery method as an email, the recipients do not need to have a cognos license and they do not need to be users of your cognos system. License is needed only if you are including link and they have to come to cognos to view the report. 

    Regards


    ------------------------------
    Kiran Passumarthi
    www.linkedin.com/in/kiranpassumarthi
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 04:52 AM
    Hi Kiran, 
    I think this will only apply in a non named user licence model. If its a named user environment they will need a licence to receive the file direct.

    Jonathan

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    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
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  • 4.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 05:02 AM
    Aah, okay. Thanks for clarifying. 

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    Kiran Passumarthi
    www.linkedin.com/in/kiranpassumarthi
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 04:45 AM
    Hi,
    you have now hit the horrendous old and painful Cognos licence issue that has existed for as long as I know it and certainly goes back to to at least Cognos 8. Why IBM have not changed this continues to be a bug bear and doesn't help it when competing with other products.

    My understanding from a named user licence model( and i've asked many a Cognos account manager, support staff) is that if a user receives content 'DIRECT!' from a cognos dispatcher and that content is tailored for them. Such as its been prompted or filtered to provide specific detail. Then that person will at least require the lowest possible licence, 'Information distribution'.

    I've seen many attempts over time that people  have tried to bypass this licence issue and I've seen, saving content to file servers, mail rules etc..... but in the end the safest option is to speak to IBM or your business partner and get written confirmation so you dont find yourself in trouble.

    If you are not using a named user licence model then it may be different and you may be covered but again I would check.

    Jonathan

    ------------------------------
    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 07:51 AM
    Jonathan, my understanding is the same as yours. If you have an information distribution license (PVU), then you can email reports to anyone. There's no limit to the number of users for the information distribution license, but it is based on the number of cores on the CA server(s). I would check with your IBM account rep to be sure.

    And I completely agree that this is a huge drawback for IBM as far as Cognos adoption.

    ------------------------------
    Jonathan McKnight
    4x IBM Champion, Data and Analytics
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  • 7.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 08:01 AM
    ​I think the aggregate of the responses is the correct one.

    PVU licenses are unlimited user licenses, and you can send Cognos output to whomever you wish.

    Named user licenses do work differently, and the rule has been explained to me as follows:

    • •If the report you are distributing is NOT specific to the recipient... ex: the same report goes to everyone in the company... then you do not need a license for those recipients
    • •If the report is specific to an individual or group of individuals... ex: specific prompt or filters for those recipients... then they must have at least a Cognos Viewer license (this license used to be called Information Distribution but that recently changed).

    The most recent license document I could find describes the Cognos Viewer license this way:

    Licensee is not authorized to use any of the following components or functions of the Program:
    - Administration
    - Run reports
    - Report
    - Story
    - Create/Edit Dashboard
    - Data module
    - Exploration
    - Upload files
    - IBM Cognos Analysis Studio
    - IBM Cognos Event Studio
    - IBM Cognos Query Studio
    - IBM Cognos Workspace
    - Notebook (of IBM Cognos Analytics for Jupyter Notebook)

    This license exists for the exact use case you're describing.

    Rich

    ------------------------------
    Richard Chester
    Director of Business Intelligence
    LPA Software Solutions
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  • 8.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 08:28 AM
    I just wish IBM would do away with this daft scenario once and for all.

    ------------------------------
    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 08:48 AM
    Hello everyone,

    Hope this clarifies.


    Thanks

    ------------------------------
    Dinesh K. Dhiman
    BI Architect,
    IBM Data and AI Experts Labs | India Software Lab Services
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 09:02 AM
    Thanks Dinesh,
    but why not remove all of the ambiguity around this by just allowing it? The fact that most reports that are emailed are scheduled ultimately means that most then fall into the bucket of needing a licence of some type.
    For those that are emailed through subscription, they would already have to have a licence to log in and subscribe. 

    I think it shows from the number of similar questions across other Cognos forums on the web that its still causing confusion.
    Thanks

    ------------------------------
    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 09:58 AM
    Edited by System Fri January 20, 2023 04:15 PM
    I understand and value your feedback @jonathan chesterton.

    Will channel your feedback to concerned team.

    Thanks


    ------------------------------
    Dinesh K. Dhiman
    BI Architect,
    IBM Data and AI Experts Labs | India Software Lab Services
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu July 16, 2020 10:04 AM
    Thanks @Dinesh K. Dhiman​,
    appreciate your reply.



    ------------------------------
    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Mon February 15, 2021 03:41 PM
     @Dinesh K. Dhiman​, do you perhaps have some feedback from concerned team about loseing the licensing need for schedulleing emails to nonlicensed users?
    Thanks


    ------------------------------
    en krut
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  • 14.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Mon February 15, 2021 04:19 PM
    This licensing issue/question has for me plagued the product for years. In this day and age it seems unreal that it still applies and causes so much confusion.

    Come on IBM can we get this sorted!


    ------------------------------
    jonathan chesterton
    NHS Supply Chain
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Mon October 19, 2020 07:19 AM
    Thanks Dinesh - this image really helps to clarify.  Do you have the link where this information comes from - customer is facing audit and wants confirmation of the statements in this image

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    MATTHEW ROBINSON
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  • 16.  RE: Email to recipients without a Cognos license

    Posted Thu February 18, 2021 10:00 AM
    hello Dinesh, Do you have link to this section on ibm.com?

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    Oleg Nevedrov
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