Book Image

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

Book Image

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence

Overview of this book

IBM Cognos is Business Intelligence software that enables businesses to fully utilize their maximum potential. It connects people with information from virtually any data source whenever and wherever they need it so that they can make better decisions, faster.Take the practical, hands-on approach to managing your reporting environment with "IBM Cognos Business Intelligence" - packed with coverage of all the latest features to truly help you maximize your potential.With this in-depth practical guide you will learn how to fully utilize IBM Cognos 10 so that your business can make smarter decisions, achieve better results and gain a deeper understanding of your company's data. You will learn about critical topics like Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Security and Administration as well as in-depth coverage of other features like Business Insight, Business Insight Advanced, and Active Reports, which were introduced with IBM Cognos 10.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction to metadata


We looked at metadata from an end user perspective when we were first introduced to our studios. In this chapter, we will look at it from the design side.

To recap, metadata is the data that tells you about your other data. Metadata can include descriptions of your data, information on how to transform your data, or formatting information for your data. There are three basic types of metadata, namely, technical, business, and process.

  • Technical metadata: Metadata of this type is used to describe the technical aspects of the data or data containers. Examples of this type of metadata would include things such as the original data formatting, database expression, or data type.

  • Business metadata: Metadata of this type is used to describe the business aspects of the data or data containers. Examples of this type of metadata would include things such as the logical name of a data item, a description of the data item, or a screen tip that could be displayed while interacting...