It's really disappointing that you ask 5 IBM sales reps and you still won't get a clear answer, after all this time.
Our previous reseller couldn't get a firm answer and our current reseller is "pretty sure" that:
ANYTHING sent directly from Cognos, be it bursted or just a regular report in html/pdf/xlsx, etc to an individual, list of users, cognos distribution group or even a google distribution group, whether they're an employee or someone outside the company, whether they can log into cognos or not, MUST be counted as a licensed recipient.There are cheaper "distribution" licenses, especially for those who would never be able to log into Cognos, HOWEVER, be aware that IBM charges a non-trivial "conversion fee" when you try to change regular cognos users to the lower cost distribution license.
We have a few reports that were getting sent regularly to much of the company. We were also using Cognos as an invoicing system, sending invoices to customers, and with Events it was working really well (only sent when there was a non-zero balance). However, of course, with the "now assumed" licensing requirements there's no way the company could afford to use Cognos in this manner period.
So for our Invoicing we had to disable all that and used JasperSoft to write an entirely new invoicing system. Cheaper and more flexible in the long run.
For those reports that go to employees who are not Cognos users, we had to change the schedule to only write the output to the filesystem, then I had to write a Python program that picks up the pdf/xlsx, etc and then sends it out to a google dist group based on that specific report.
Fortunately we only have a few report writers so it's easy to keep them "educated" on the licensing issues and they know how to use the Python system for any reports going to non-Cognos licensed users.
Good times!
Wayne
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Wayne Westlake
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Original Message:
Sent: Thu March 17, 2022 08:29 AM
From: Fawad Jamil
Subject: Cognos licencing question reagrding email distribution
I guess you are referring to this thread:
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/businessanalytics/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=1ab6a70f-c26e-4aad-95fb-ca0365befed0&CommunityKey=6b10df83-0b3c-4f92-8b1f-1fd80d0e7e58&tab=digestviewer&bm=1ab6a70f-c26e-4aad-95fb-ca0365befed0#bm1ab6a70f-c26e-4aad-95fb-ca0365befed0
No one from IBM has directly confirmed the verbiage on this grey area.
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Fawad Jamil
Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 16, 2022 05:45 AM
From: Andrew Copeland
Subject: Cognos licencing question reagrding email distribution
Hi Jonathan,
I saw another thread of this recently and Mark Fry who is ex IBM copied the part of the licence agreement into the thread. It intimated that if the content is being specially curated for a user like bursting is then the recipient would need a licence. However, it did say that if you are running content and sending the generic content via email to a number of users when that didn't require a licence.
Its a really grey area and one that we do need IBM to clear up for us. I will send an email to our Partner Manager and see who is best to comment on this.
Regards
Andy
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Andrew Copeland
Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 15, 2022 05:54 PM
From: jonathan chesterton
Subject: Cognos licencing question reagrding email distribution
Apologies but this topic never seems to go away and I still don't believe I've actually seen any clarity around it.
So, i'm hoping that someone from IBM may be able to answer it, whilst also gauging opinions of others around what they believe to be the official position.
The basic question is therefore..
In a named user environment, if i schedule an individual report and send the output (pdf) to a user inside or outside of my organisation via email using the scheduling functionality. Does the recipient of the email require a licence to receive the content?
Previously I have always understood the answer to be yes. Which causes huge problems when recommending Cognos to businesses.
If the answer is yes! how do IBM propose this should be managed from within the product as all users by default have the ability to send emails everywhere. ( I'm aware we can specify specific domains).
Or, is the requirement for a licence for receipt of email content, only required if the report output has been generated through bursting?
I've tried for years to get a full understanding around this and have asked numerous account managers, support staff etc, etc.....
But with more and more competing products allowing the functionality, its a challenge.
Be interesting to read the responses.
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jonathan chesterton
NHS Supply Chain
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#CognosAnalyticswithWatson
