TUG Statistics and Reports Group Meeting

Minutes

September 20, 2004 – 2:15-3:45 p.m. – UW, Porter Library, room 407

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

Absent: Ron Mackinnon

Minutes of May 17, 2004

The minutes of May 17, 2004 were approved. They will be added to the TUG Statistics and Reports (TSR) area on the TUG staff web.
Business arising
1. Reports servers
  Gail completed the upgrade to Cognos MR3. As a result of the successful bug fix related to deleting files, she has initiated a file clean-up project with TUG Cognos users. So far this has resulted in a decrease from over 30,000 files (more than 4 GB) to fewer than 7,000 files (less than 1 GB).
2. Listserv
  The tugreports-l listserv has been implemented.
3. Request form, Status database
  The pop-up issue has been resolved and users can now click on a “definition” link beside each field title on the report request form. The email notification generated by a report request still requires adjustment to include TSR, the requester and the authorizer. When this change is completed, we will be ready to implement the request form. Joanne has a message in process to implement the request form, status database and request procedures.
  
  To do: Bill will follow up with George on the report request email change.
4. Report for TUG staff
  The TSR two-year update to TUG staff recommended by the Steering Committee has not yet been drafted. Joanne’s February 2004 report to the Steering Committee has been added to TSR’s web site.
  
  To do: Ron will draft a report for other TSR members to review and revise.
ThoughtCorp training
Gail and Bill prepared an outline of topics for ThoughtCorp to cover at the Impromptu Report Writing training session. David Bercovitch has been in touch with Gail and plans to prepare the program later this week. Gail will be his TUG contact for this.

Bill has booked the UG training room for Oct. 6 and 13 and will look after the Cognos software installation on the workstations. Bill noted that there is a move underway to tighten ODBC security for TRELLIS by restricting access by IP.

The limit for training is 12, with Bill and Gail also present as resource people. The six members of the Training Team will attend. TSR members discussed other potential candidates and approved the following additional attendees:

     WLU: Don Hamilton, Joanne Oud [subsequently replaced by Caroline Houle]
     UW: Charles Woods, Alex McCulloch
     UG: to be determined

To do: Bill will consult with Charles to ensure that there are no problems related to IP restrictions for access to the TRELLIS database on the training days and will ensure the required software installations.

Ron and Bill will identify the attendees from Guelph .

Joanne will send a reminder about Impromptu training to the Training Team.
Cognos Conference in Orlando
Bill reported on his attendance at the Cognos Technical Forum in Orlando . He found it a valuable conference, especially for the contacts made and the useful ‘nuts & bolts’ discussions at breakout sessions. Bill’s comments included:
- Future developments to enable handling multiple data sources at the same time.
- New features available in Cognos 7.3, including the ability to create custom subsets in a report, add layers in PowerPlay, create a title for a report, make greater use of drag & drop.
- ReportNet features and conversion programs Cognos is developing to assist users to migrate from 7.x to ReportNet.
- A new reporting tool called ReportStudio will replace Impromptu. It looks quite different from Impromptu. Cognos will support Impromptu for another 5-7 years so there will be no rush for TUG to migrate.
- FrameworkManager will replace Architect.
- The focus of the Technical Forums will shift to ReportNet in coming years.
- Session presentations are available on the Cognos web site at http://www.cognos.com/cognosforum/presentations/
Cube build automation software
Gail downloaded an evaluation copy of Cuberunner software and tested it to automatically build, archive and publish cubes. Cost is approximately $4,000 US, plus 18% annual maintenance.

Bill and Gail saw a demonstration of AutoVisn from Envisn. This is much more sophisticated software with a wider range of functionality. There is also a product called UniVisn which collects statistics on Impromptu Web Reports and PowerPlay cube usage. While Envisn’s products are expensive, they have offered us a large discount: $19,000 US for both AutoVisn and UniVisn (regular price is $45,000), plus 25% of purchase price annually for maintenance after the first year.

TSR members discussed both software options and TUG’s needs. While recognizing that the Envisn products have attractive additional functionality, TSR agreed that Cuberunner would meet our immediate needs and take a significant load off Gail by automating the cube builds. TSR’s 2004/05 budget for hardware & software maintenance will cover the Cuberunner expenditure.

TSR approved the purchase of Cuberunner. After Cuberunner is implemented, the cube archiving schedule will be revisited to determine if specialized requests can be accommodated.

To do: Gail willforward Cuberunner information to Carl Nagel with TSR’s request that it be purchased for TUG.
Upgrade test server to new 7.3 release
TSR members discussed the advantages and risks of upgrading the test server to Cognos 7.3, approved upgrading the test server as soon as convenient, and asked Gail and Bill to plan the upgrade as early as late October. If testing goes well, the production server might be upgraded after the first maintenance release which is expected in late 2004 or early 2005.

To do: Gail and Bill will plan and coordinate the upgrade of the test server to version 7.3.
Consideration of new server for next year’s budget
Gail has reported problems replicating the production server environment on the test server and these problems appear to be related to a lack of disk space and memory on the test server. Since the production server is now 2 ½ years old and its use is increasing as more TUG staff are trained, TSR should begin planning and budgeting for a new server to replace the production server. The current production server would then be used as the test server.

To do: In preparation for TSR’s 2005/06 budget request, Gail and Bill will prepare server specs and we will obtain quotes from our usual hardware suppliers.
ERM database/electronic resource use statistics
Joanne and Gail noted that the new TUG Electronic Resource Management (ERM) system will change the way we gather usage statistics for the ejournals PowerPlay cube.

To do: Gail will contact the ERM group to obtain the specifications require to gather usage statistics from the new ERM system.
Annual rotation of chair/recorder
The annual rotation of chair and recorder will occur with the next meeting. Linda will be TSR chair for 2004/05 and Joanne will be the group’s recorder.
Next Meeting
Linda will schedule the next meeting for early November, unless the Training Team wishes to meet with TSR sooner.

To do: Joanne will ask Vera if there are issues the Training Team wants to discuss with TSR.