Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

I looked at the ICALT link, but some quick questions. we have 300+ cognos instances over many servers. typically, we do not use 3rd party tools due to cost and setup. 

++ is there a cost for ICALT 

++ is it licensed by IBM

++ is the data in a cognos package?

++ the backend data can be stored in a MS SQL database?

++ how does the SDK get executed? Is there a screen, command line, from within cognos, etc?

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

I looked at the ICALT link, but some quick questions. we have 300+ cognos instances over many servers. typically, we do not use 3rd party tools due to cost and setup. 

++ is there a cost for ICALT 

++ is it licensed by IBM

++ is the data in a cognos package?

++ the backend data can be stored in a MS SQL database?

++ how does the SDK get executed? Is there a screen, command line, from within cognos, etc?

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Hi Brenda,

ICALT is an as-is service offering where you have to pay only once for a "lifetime" registration key. SDK is used to extract data from Cognos environments and write the result in a database (DB2/SQL/ORA). There is a deployment package which you have to import in (at least) one of your environments and a connection to the ICALT-database. The package include reports for licence tracking and administration. The SDK needs to be executed by a scheduler (command line) on a regular base (e.g. once a day).

Do you really have 300+ environments (means 300+ separate Content Store databases)? How many users are configured for one environment or in total for all? With so many hardware I would assume that you have authorized user license and not PVU?

If you would like to test ICALT, I can provide you with a test key (time-limited).

I looked at the ICALT link, but some quick questions. we have 300+ cognos instances over many servers. typically, we do not use 3rd party tools due to cost and setup. 

++ is there a cost for ICALT 

++ is it licensed by IBM

++ is the data in a cognos package?

++ the backend data can be stored in a MS SQL database?

++ how does the SDK get executed? Is there a screen, command line, from within cognos, etc?

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Michael, thank you so much for responding. When a user leaves our company I am asked to delete their account. We have at least 20-30 groups that a user can be a member of. When I click on 'Cognos' in the Accounts screen & use the Search function on the user's name, it doesn't ever return a name (I tried my non-admin account to test). If I tried the same on the AD namespace, I can easily retrieve a name. I find myself manually browsing each of the 20 groups for the user. Does the Search function only search the directory you are currently viewing? On the AD side, I just have to type the name and the name is retrieved without traversing groups. The entire off-boarding process from a Cognos perspective is not as risk-averse as we would wish.

Hello Dennis,

unfortunately such questions cannot be answered with the standard functionality of Cognos.

The search function just search for a object with given name, but does not look "into" a group/role or search the objects recursive.

With 3rd Party tools you can get answers to your questions.

One tool is ICALT (IBM Cognos Analytics License Tracker). 
The main purpose is to track the authorized user license, but there are also a bunch of reports for administration included.
Regarding to user information for example:
- which users were logged in last time (since x day / last logon more than x days)
- which users have access to Cognos but have never accessed it
- path from user-id to all groups/roles (nested)
- which users had authorization and a user profile, but now no longer have authorization, meaning they can no longer log in and should be removed

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

------------------------------
Dennis McClure
------------------------------

Hello Dennis,

Manual deletion

To manually delete a single user's profile and content:

1. Navigate to Manage > People > Accounts in IBM Cognos Administration.
2. Click the namespace that contains the user.
3. Locate the user you want to delete. 
4. In the Actions column, click the More icon and then select Delete this user's profile.
5. Confirm the deletion.

Automated deletion

For bulk cleanup of orphaned user profiles, use the Consistency Check tool in Cognos.

1. Go to IBM Cognos Administration > Configuration > Content Administration.
2. Click the New Content Maintenance icon and choose New Consistency Check.
3. Select References to external namespaces and choose the namespace you wish to check.
4. Run the check in Find only mode first to preview what will be deleted
5. After reviewing, run it again in Find and fix mode to delete the orphaned user profiles.

Deleting a user with MotioPI

MotioPI is a third-party tool that can simplify many Cognos administration tasks, including deleting user content. For example, if a user has left the company, MotioPI can help you recover their personal content from the content store. The free version of MotioPI includes a "Content" panel that lets you

• Search for content by owner.
• Reassign or delete content owned by former employees.
• Delete a user's entire profile from the Cognos content store.

------------------------------
[Abbas] [Alnamar]
[Data Management and Analytics System Administrator]
[Emporia State University]
[Kansas, USA]

Original Message:
Sent: Tue October 14, 2025 03:52 PM
From: Dennis McClure
Subject: Locating active users

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

------------------------------
Dennis McClure
------------------------------

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

Hi @Dennis McClure and @Brenda Grossnickle,

https://github.com/AMVARA-CONSULTING/cocoma/ can export ("dump") accounts and roles. There is a undocumented option "--dumpSecurityAndAccounts" and "--dumpaccounts" (see: https://github.com/AMVARA-CONSULTING/cocoma/blob/master/src/com/dai/mif/cocoma/CoCoMa.java around line 961).

Love open source :-)

------------------------------
Ralf Roeber
https://linkedin.com/in/ralf-roeber/

Original Message:
Sent: Tue October 14, 2025 03:52 PM
From: Dennis McClure
Subject: Locating active users

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.

------------------------------
Dennis McClure
------------------------------

Is there an easier way to manage users? Does the search function not work in the Cognos directory like it does searching for an employee in the AD directory?

I am frequently asked if an employee has access, to enable/disable users, determine what groups/roles a user is a member, etc...normal admin duties, right?

The search function does not work in the Cognos side of the Accounts screen no matter how I type a user's name including my own. It works great if you are searching AD for an employee. This causes me to have to manually traverse each and every role/group for a user. Not even sure how I can determine all the groups/roles a user is a member, either. I am new admin with 17 years exp. as a certified Cognos Developer. TIA for any advice given.