IBM Business Analytics

Hello,

We have some Cognos Analytics reports that we can access through a web browser. 

We are considering some automations using their contents.

I found Cognos for Microsoft Office, and TM1py.

Cognos for Microsoft Office:

We do not have the installation media for Cognos for Microsoft Office. 

Since we have Cognos Analytics license, are we by default able to use Cognos for Microsoft Office?  As a regular user, is there a way I can download it?

Also, any idea whether Cognos for Microsoft Office will be available in future versions of Cognos beyond the version 12?

TM1py:

Can we use TM1py to access the Cognos Analytics reports and return their contents within a Python program?

Thanks

Hi Quin,

WRT Cognos for Microsoft Office, your users are entitled to use it, as long as they have the appropriate Cognos license. Last time I was involved in this space, this was a Cognos Analytics user (or above) license. However, I think the Cognos licenses have been redone since I've been involved, so a Cognos PM can probably give us the better position on the license needed ( @GREG MCDONALD ?) I believe this Cognos for Microsoft Office is still considered an important part of Cognos Analytics, with no plans to drop it (but again, I'll defer to a Cognos Product Manager for an official statement). This IBM support page talks to how to download it: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/cognos-microsoft-office-110x 

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For the general question of how to programmatically use the contents of reports for automation, I would strong recommend looking at the Cognos Mashup Service (CMS) API (that is built into CA). https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cognos-analytics/11.1.0?topic=guide-overview-mashup-service

CMS provides a simple REST API for programmatically using the contents of a report, in different formats (e.g. visually, or in formats to access the structured report data inside a report). (In fact, the Cognos for Microsoft Office plugin uses CMS to programmatically access CA report content. :-) )

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For the more specific question of using CA content in a Python environment, I would also take a look at IBM Cognos Analytics for Jupyter Notebook. (Like Cognos for Microsoft Office, IBM Cognos Analytics for Jupyter Notebook is also already included in the Cognos Analytics licenses, and not a separate product). While the CADataConnector class included in IBM Cognos Analytics for Jupyter Notebook is not published as a separate entity, there are discussions how to use it in other Python contexts as well in some of my other TechXchange theads (e.g this thread).

Hello,

We have some Cognos Analytics reports that we can access through a web browser. 

We are considering some automations using their contents.

I found Cognos for Microsoft Office, and TM1py.

Cognos for Microsoft Office:

We do not have the installation media for Cognos for Microsoft Office. 

Since we have Cognos Analytics license, are we by default able to use Cognos for Microsoft Office?  As a regular user, is there a way I can download it?

Also, any idea whether Cognos for Microsoft Office will be available in future versions of Cognos beyond the version 12?

TM1py:

Can we use TM1py to access the Cognos Analytics reports and return their contents within a Python program?

Thanks