TUG Statistics and Reports Group Meeting

Minutes

May 17, 2004 – 2:00-3:10 p.m. – UG, McLaughlin Library, room 200B

Present: Bill Halahan, Ron Mackinnon, Joanne Oud, Gail Sperling, Linda Teather

Minutes of March 9, 2004
The minutes of March 9, 2004 were approved. They will be added to the TUG Statistics and Reports (TSR) area on the TUG staff web.

Business arising

PowerPlay Overview

Gail’s introductory PowerPlay presentation and a Word document outlining the scenarios used are available on the Cognos web server in the Training Reports and Cubes area. Sessions have been arranged at each TUG library for TUG managers and librarians in May-June. The overview will also be offered as an introduction for other PowerPlay trainees in the Fall.

Presentation at EndUser
Gail’s PowerPlay presentation at EndUser went well, with 30-40 people attending. Attendees included some Endeavor staff who indicated that they want to investigate using the Cognos software as their reporting tool. Gail was subsequently contacted for permission to share information about our Cognos site at a Hawaii Users’ Group meeting.

Cognos Technical Forum
Bill has registered for the Cognos Forum 2004, June 27-30, in Orlando .

Reports servers
The operating system upgrade on the Cognos reports servers was successful and, at the same time, the Cognos software was upgraded to version MR2. A serious bug related to deleting files has been identified. This should be fixed in MR3. Gail and Bill will plan the upgrade after MR3 is in general release.

Listserv
The listserv introductory message was reviewed and approved with minor changes. The message will be mounted and the listserv will be populated with the TUGmanagers-l subscriber list, as well as Cognos training attendees. The tugreports-l listserv will be implemented as soon as possible.

To do: Gail will ask the Training Team for a list of staff who attended training sessions. Linda and Gail will coordinate tugreports-l implementation with Charles Woods .

Request form, Status database
The only outstanding item related to the reports request form and status database is the addition of pop-up field definitions. Bill noted that UG is moving away from using this mouse-over effect on websites. TSR members recognized that this could introduce sustainability concerns and agreed that the minimum requirement would be adding a link to the definitions page.

The question of offering demos of the request form and status database was discussed. Since this would be a very brief demo, it might be best combined with another activity in the Fall. In the meantime, a message will be sent to implement the request form, status database and reports request procedures.

To do: Bill will discuss the pop-up issue with George. Joanne will draft a message to implement the request form, status database and request procedures.

ThoughtCorp training plan
Joanne contacted ThoughtCorp to confirm the Impromptu training dates and other arrangements. Training was initially booked for Oct. 6-7 at the UG McLaughlin Library. Since the concept is for one full day of training and a half-day follow-up session, it was suggested that separating these days by a week or so would enable trainees to gain some practice in preparation for the second session.

[Joanne subsequently contacted ThoughtCorp and changed the training dates to Oct. 6 (full day) and Oct. 13 (half day).]

Attendance is limited to twelve people, six of which will be the Training Team members. Gail and Bill should also attend as resource people to help interpret TUG data, etc. The remaining six places will be assigned to TUG staff who already have some experience with Impromptu and would benefit from the additional training.

A question was raised about ThoughtCorp’s PowerPlay training and whether or not our agreement included refresher training. Joanne confirmed that there was a provision for optional follow-up assistance at an additional cost of $1,000 per day.

To do: Joanne, Ron and Linda will discuss the value of attending ThoughtCorp’s Impromptu training and compile a list of potential “extra” attendees for discussion at the next TSR meeting. Bill will book the computer training lab and arrange for software installation. Gail and Bill will prepare catalogues for ThoughtCorp to use in preparing the training program. Gail and Bill will review the Cognos Impromptu manual and identify areas the ThoughtCorp trainer should concentrate on during the sessions.

Report for TUG staff
When Joanne met with them, the Steering Committee suggested that TSR prepare a two-year update for TUG staff. TSR members discussed content, audience and tone for such a report. The goal is for something general and light. For those wanting more detail, the report prepared for the Steering Committee will be added to TSR’s web site.

To do: Ron will draft a report for other TSR members to review and revise. Linda will have the Steering Committee update added to TSR’s web site.

Other business
The next Cognos release (series 7, version 3) will be a major upgrade and will include some significant new functionality. Bill will learn more about it at the Orlando Forum. TSR should plan to implement it soon after its MR1 release.

Bill and Gail noted that Cognos campus site licences were being reviewed and they had been contacted for information about number of users, etc.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be scheduled for August at UW.