The TUG Statistics and Reports Group (TSR) last reported to the TUG Executive Committee in March 2006. Since that time, TSR’s work has concentrated on several areas, including:
TSR Renewal
For the second year, TSR membership changed. In the Fall of 2006, Ron Ward replaced Alan Gale who had been serving in an interim capacity as Guelph ’s member. With Ron’s appointment, TSR has returned to a stable membership state with coordinators: Vera Fesnak, Ron Ward and Linda Teather , and technical support: Bill Halahan and Gail Sperling . Once again the annual rotation of the Chair was deferred. Linda continued as Chair and Vera assumed the Recorder responsibility.
Maintaining the Cognos production and development servers
At this time last year, we reported that the planned deployment of Cognos 7.3 could not be completed until after the next TRELLIS upgrade because of incompatibilities with TRELLIS/Oracle 8. The production server had been upgraded to Cognos 7.3 MR1 but the test server was held back at version 7.1 in order to continue to build PowerPlay cubes and run reports that use the LC call number. After the TRELLIS upgrade in August 2006, we planned to upgrade to 7.3 MR3 but testing revealed a major bug and we decided to skip this release and proceed to version 7.4 MR1. The development server was upgraded to 7.4 in late October 2006 and, after an emergency replacement of some bad memory components, the system was released to TSR, the Cognos Training Team and a few other TUG staff members to assess the software functionality. A new testing checklist for new releases was used, the results have been received and TSR will use them to plan the 7.4 MR1 upgrade when the software is available.
Monitoring Cognos 8 developments
Cognos 8 issues were monitored on several fronts, including new functionality, the development of migration tools, and planning by each TUG campus IT department. One area of particular interest is Endeavor’s new Analyzer product since it might be a way to realize the benefits of some features of Cognos 8. TSR discussed with the TRELLIS Operating Management Group the possibility of including an Analyzer demo if an Endeavor site visit were being planned.
Expanding use of Cognos software to include data from other sources
Work continued to refine and expand the Cognos data and reports base. For example, Guelph data is now being automatically extracted weekly for the ERM data cube and efforts to add similar data for WLU continue. ILL data was added to the TUG Circ transactions cube, refinements were made to the ejournals cube, an OPAC searches cube was implemented.
Creating a Library location table
UW’s IST Department responded positively to our request to create a table in the Oracle tablespace that can be used in Impromptu reports and PowerPlay cube building to group locations by library building. Prior to the creation of this table a very long calculation had to be maintained in Cognos Architect. Each time a location was added the calculation had to be updated, Impromptu catalogues had to be exported from Architect, and copied to servers and workstations with client software. Now a simple change to the table is automatically reflected in Impromptu reports and PowerPlay cubes.
Implementing a web-accessible reports request form and status database
Work continued on the reports request form and database but technical difficulties remain. A work-around has been developed and a report request procedure is ready for implementation.
Training Team
TSR supported the Training Team’s recommendation that membership rotation should be deferred. Work currently underway by the Training Team includes reviewing and revising training documentation created to date, considering the use of brief 1-2 page quick guides, identifying areas in which they could use further training and recommending ways to address these needs, and identifying areas where TUG staff would benefit from further training.
Technical Training
Training to upgrade the knowledge and skills of the Cognos system administrators was addressed in two ways:
Issues and activities that should have TSR’s attention in the coming year include:
Cognos version 8
TUG’s creation and implementation of its effective reports and statistics infrastructure is based on the fact that all three sites had campus Cognos licenses that enabled our operation at very low cost to the libraries. Cognos 8 is the next major release and is accompanied by a different licensing structure which could significantly affect pricing. The decision about whether or not to purchase Cognos 8 is at a different stage at each campus. At WLU, a campus committee is active and includes a Library member. At Guelph , it is being evaluated by the “ Enterprise ” University Systems group. At UW, since Cognos will support version 7.x until 2010, the campus evaluation is on hold; IST has indicated that the Library should have input to the evaluation. The issue for TSR is that, if all three campuses do not stay with Cognos and ultimately upgrade to Cognos 8, our TUG environment could change considerably. In the meantime, some functionality we use (e.g. “Architect” to create catalogues) will not be supported after 7.4 and support for Cognos Architect will end January 1, 2009 .
TSR should be planning for the migration to Cognos 8, or some other alternative, but uncertainties about the intention of our three campuses to move to Cognos 8 are a roadblock. Another complicating factor, given the large commitment of resources to convert to Cognos 8, is the uncertainty about the future of TUG’s ILS. Cognos 8 is a major redesign of the system and will require an extensive conversion process for both catalogues and reports, as well as training. If we are moving to Cognos 8, the earlier we can begin training our system administrators and trainers the better.
Hardware renewal
The production server was purchased in April 2005 and the development server in March 2002. Given the age of the development server, we should be planning for a new server in 2007/08 as part of a normal replacement cycle. In addition to the stand-alone server configuration we currently use, we would also want to investigate the option of moving to the UW Library’s new IBM Blade server configuration. This might offer us improved supportability and redundancy at a lower cost.
Software upgrade
TSR will plan a software upgrade to version 7.4 MR1 on the servers and staff workstations with client software.
Terms of reference
A review of TSR’s 2002 terms of reference, as well as the Training Team’s mandate and relationship with TSR was deferred in 2006. This should be revisited in the coming year.
Work with the Training Team
Training Team membership renewal is required. One of the Guelph positions has been vacant for some time and other vacancies are anticipated. The Training Team’s goal is to ensure continuity with training before upcoming retirements at both WLU and UW. The TSR member at each institution will pursue the appropriate route to address these membership issues.
TSR will work with the Training Team to assist in enhancing trainers’ knowledge and in identifying training needs of TUG staff. For example, seeking input from TUG Managers about how managers and their staff are using the Cognos web environment and how TSR and the Training Team might expand its content and /or use could help us realize even greater benefits from Cognos.
Continued expansion of use of the Cognos software
TSR will continue to investigate the integration of statistical data from additional sources and proceed to development work where appropriate. One area we would particularly like to explore is the use of Voyager BLOB functions within Cognos reports. We have enabled the Cognos software to use these functions but errors are generated when a query hits extremely large records. Endeavor is not willing to help us with this problem. We have been seeking someone to work with us to create versions of the Oracle BLOB functions to handle the large records and will continue to pursue options in this area.
Exploring server “audit” log files
Data cubes and reports were developed from server “audit” log files that are created when an Impromptu report is run or viewed on the server. TSR will continue to explore how this data might be used to better manage the TUG Cognos system and whether it could be used to create a meaningful TSR cost-sharing formula. In the meantime, TSR continues to apply the TRELLIS cost-sharing formula.
TSR’s budget proposal for 2007/08 accompanies this report and includes support for the following initiatives: upgrading the production server, ongoing training for the system administrators especially as related to Cognos 8 planning, and training for the Training Team to assist with the development of new members appointed to the team.
Linda Teather
Chair, TUG Statistics & Reports Group
February 9, 2007