Cognos Data Warehouse Interview Preparation Guide
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Cognos Data Warehouse Interview Questions and Answers will guide us now that Cognos describes itself as the foremost supplier of enterprise business intelligence (EBI) solutions, with over 2.5 million seats in thousands of companies worldwide. So learn about the Cognos and get preparation for job in Cognos with the help of this Cognos Data Warehousing Interview Questions with Answers guide

28 Cognos Data Warehouse Questions and Answers:

1 :: How can we create a dynamic column name in Cognos?

Select Properties, and then click the Headers/Footers tab.

2 :: What is Cognos Powerhouse and what is it used for?

Cognos Powerhouse is High-Productivity Application Development Solutions equips you with high-productivity development environments for creating your data-driven business solutions faster,whether for Web-based, client/server, or traditional terminal-based access. PowerHouse has gained a worldwide reputation for productivity, reliability, performance, and flexibility.

3 :: What is the difference b/w macros and prompt?

Macro-A macro is a set of instructions that can run applications.Example : A macro can open your catalog,select a report(say for instance) convert that to another format and export it to any specified location,provided the code (Program)is such.Prompt-A prompt specifies the manner in which data in the reports are to be displayed.A Prompt can be defined at the catalog level either or during report generation.

4 :: Suppose you run a report with empty data, how will you inform the end user that it has no data while running the report in report studio? is it possible, if so how?

Add a list footer and a text messsage inside "No Data". create a booloean conditional variable "Test" with code "rownum()>0". Select the complete list footer and set Style Variable, if Yes, Box Type of the List footer should be set to "none". This should work...RD

5 :: What is meant by Junk Dimension?

The junk dimension is simply a structure that provides a convenient place to store the junk attributes

7 :: How to crate cubes in transformer?

cubes are created using transformer.cubes can be viewed using powerplay.cubes has impromptu query definition (IQD) files as their sources.IQD files are generated from cognos impromptu.IQD files contain ,how the data has to be retrieved through catalogs and logical databases.

To create a cube..

1) save the impromtu report as IQD file.(.IQD)

2)open transformer,go to file-new-ModelName(user defined)-datasourcename(DWH name),source type(select impromptu query definition)-local data file(browse the IQD file save earlier)-check the auto design check box-clk finish-database logon wizard will be opened-enter userid and pwd to connect to the DB---clk log on---A new model will be generated with Dimensionmap,Datasource,Measures,powercube(still cube is not created) and Logical DB(imported from IQD file).

If you select "Run Autodesign" option duting the NEWMODELWIZARD, transformer automatically creates a dimension map and a list of measures for you.even though transformer analyzes the data before creating a dimension map and list of measures,many a time they may not be totally accurate.

To avoid this we need to create Dimensions manually.

3) Now create new Dimensions in the dimensionmap area as per the requirement.select Dimension Map--insert Dimension--name the dimension--Drag and drop columns one below the other from data source(see that the columns are in a hierarchy,Bcoz cubes will be created on these columns with all the possibilities to facilitate drilling,slicing and dicing operations)..check the diagram ,it is displayed empty..data will be shown once the cube is created..

4) go to "Run" and clk on create powercubes.Cube will be created.check the power cube area in the Model.you will observe a cube in that area.This cube can be viewed in Poweplay.

This is one method of creating cube by using IQD file.

The another method of creating cube is my creating a MODEL from Architect and generating a CUBE from that MODEL.

8 :: What is catalog and types of catalogs in cagonos and which is better?

A catalog is a file containing the information (Database tables) that Impromptu users need to create reports.

► personal
► distributed
► shared
► secured

shared catalog is better

9 :: What Junk Dimension contains?

it contains the miscellaneous attributes such as flags , which does belong to the main dimension table.
for eg; In a sales order fact table ,some informations like,

web-order , whether this is a online order or not
new_cust , Is this person a new customer ?
verification , whether the order has been verified?

10 :: Please explain the different stages in creating a report in cognos report net?

Before creating any report in report net make sure you are have the planning information you need.

Creating a report involves following steps:

Specifying a package
Choose a package through cognos connection>report studio>Select a module from the list.
Choosing a report template
Create a empty report first,click one of the predefined report templates ,click OK.
Adding query items
In the insertable objects plane,select the query item that you want to add to report,drag it to the desired location.
Saving report
Save the report from file menu.
Running the report
Open the report that you want to run.
From the Tools menu, click Validate Report.
A message box appears indicating whether any errors were found in the report.
If you want to enable Design Mode Only filters defined in the package, from the File menu,
click Use Model Design Filters.
Use these filters to limit the amountOpen the report that you want to run.
From the Tools menu, click Validate Report.
A message box appears indicating whether any errors were found in the report.
If you want to enable Design Mode Only filters defined in the package, from the File menu,