Hi Brenda, (and Michael for IBM customers who can't use ICALT or who would like more accurate counts or support during an audit process).
For precise user counts Attain Insight manages most "fringe" cases such as contract workers and workers on leave. This includes temporary leave, long-term leave as well as user provisioning and deprovisioning lifecycle timelines as are defined by the customer (or the customers HR department). Customers often don't permanently delete users from a directory service until some-time after they have left the company. There are a few reasons for this. This has to be factored into license "reuse", which is the point when a person stops active function making their license available for someone else to use. Attain Insight will also reconcile each Cognos / CPD against applicable Directory Service(s) and perform recursive counting for users who are in groups within groups depending on the directory service.
There are some other things to consider as well. For example, usually there are users who can login to Cognos, but have not during the current license period, or because the Cognos instance was recently deployed (these are users that require a license but are not known to Cognos or where Cognos would use outdated information). Attain Insight's solution is a commercial product with UI, and purpose-built for Cognos Analytics and CPD. It comes with expert help and extended hours of support to assist customers who need to meet audit timelines, and who want to minimize pressure on Cognos administrators (who typically have a good deal to look after without trying to manage demands of audit activities).
Because Attain Insight is an IBM partner and not IBM itself, Attain Insight can assist FIS directly during an external audit process (or set you up properly for automated internal reporting). Attain Insight maintains a focus on accurate numbers, as well as helping the customer to plan and forecast license utilization going forward. Attain Insight provides both a product, with all the reports required and audit experience to support a customer's needs. The service options include one-time audit support, setup of automated internal reporting for customer self-service of user counts (not only for license compliance but other counting purposes), or a managed service to take care of tracking and reporting for the customer on an on-going basis.
If you have any questions, or would like more information please send me an email.
Best Paul
paul.hulford@attaininsight.com
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Paul Hulford
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Original Message:
Sent: Tue January 07, 2025 09:28 AM
From: brenda grossnickle
Subject: Best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit
@Michael Haaß - thanks for the info. i will pass it along.
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brenda grossnickle
BI Programmer Analyst
FIS
Original Message:
Sent: Tue January 07, 2025 02:36 AM
From: Michael Haaß
Subject: Best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit
To use ICALT you need a registration key. To test ICALT, you can get a test key (limited time). To use ICALT permanently, the registration key must be purchased once.
I think using external groups within Cognos groups/roles is kind of a standard way to configure security. For authentication providers like AD and LDAP such external references can be read and extracted. The query of the authentication provider is done with Cognos functionality (same as if you browse the AD namespace in Cognos Administration console). To test the extraction of users references by capabilities you can run the pre-check tests (see PreCheck.pdf - optional steps). As result you get a text file with permissions of all capabilities and by using option EXPMEMFILE a list of all users. The pre-check consists of performing basic tests to determine if the SDK part of ICALT will work in your environment.
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Michael Haaß
IBM
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 06, 2025 10:03 AM
From: brenda grossnickle
Subject: Best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit
What is the licensing? Also, found out that we have our users in an Active Directory Group, and only the AD Group Name is listed for Cognos Roles and Groups. I assume that ICALT will not work?
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brenda grossnickle
BI Programmer Analyst
FIS
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 06, 2025 02:40 AM
From: Michael Haaß
Subject: Best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit
Hi Brenda.
I assume that you are asking to check the licenses for authorized users (not PVU).
Maybe the ICALT tool (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker) is what you are looking for.
You find details on https://ibm.ent.box.com/v/ICALT-Public-Information (flyer, software, documentation and some short video files)
If you would like a demo or are interested in a test key to try out the tool in your environment, just send me a message (michael.haass@de.ibm.com)
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Michael Haaß
IBM
Original Message:
Sent: Fri December 20, 2024 12:13 PM
From: brenda grossnickle
Subject: Best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit
How is the best (easiest) way to perform an IBM Cognos License Audit? Has to be performed on multiple (70?) instances of Cognos.
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brenda grossnickle
BI Programmer Analyst
FIS
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