Application Usage

Business Intelligence solutions are implemented to ensure that a user community has access to valuable information. A key factor in determining the Return on Investment(ROI) of an application is to monitor the usage of that application. The Genware Audit Processor provides reports and analysis cubes that show valuable information on the usage trends of an application. Some key dimensions for viewing the usage include: Users, Subject Areas, and Timelines. The usage information provided by the Genware Audit Processor can be used to determine application usage trends and identify functionality that can be decommissioned or that may need to be modified.

Application Server Utilization

In an application server environment it is essential to monitor application usage trends and the impact of this on the supporting application server infrastructure. Business intelligence application servers could yield poor performance during peak times when the volume of requests is higher than the typical daily average. Performance is also impacted by requests that run for along time or results in an error condition. The Genware Audit Processor provides valuable application usage information that can be used to plan for these peak times and to identify the long running or error yielding requests. The infrastructure administrator can plan accordingly for the peak times and easily identify the subject areas or users executing the long running requests.

Application Performance Optimization

Application Performance optimization has a direct impact on the end user experience. Reports that run longer than planned or that result in an error condition have a negative impact on the user workflow process. The Genware Audit Processor allows the Project Team to easily identify these reports and to direct attention to these problems shortly after they occur. The Genware Audit Processor includes utilization of PowerPlay cube dimensions and levels. With this information at hand, the cube design can be modified based on actual usage to yield faster build and response times.

Security and Compliance Reporting

Regulations and Security requirements demand that Business Intelligence applications be monitored to track access to information. The Genware Audit Processor facilitates this requirement in two areas: Functional Security and Usage Validation. Functional security refers to identifying which user has access to what data i.e.:report, cube, or other items. Functional Security is catered to through the reports provided in the Genware Audit Processor based on security assigned to items within Cognos Upfront. The Genware Audit Processor provides the information required to determine which items are available to a user class. Usage Validation refers to the ability to determine which user accessed a particular report, cube, metric, or view. The Genware Audit Processor can be used to determine which user accessed which item and when this access took place.

Administration and License Management

Administrators are responsible for managing access to Cognos application servers and ensuring that licenses are correctly assigned. Cognos Access Manager is used to administer the user community and the security class structure stored in the Cognos Series 7 Namespace. The Genware Audit Processor includes valuable reports and analysis cubes providing information of importance to the application administrator. This information reduces the effort required to maintain the user community and security structure.

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Genware Audit Processor Editions

The Genware Audit Processor is available in one of three editions, catering to the Cognos technologies as specified in the table below.

	GenWare Audit Processor
	Enterprise Edition	Enterprise Plus Edition	Metrics Edition
Cognos Access Manager
Cognos Upfront
Cognos Impromptu Web Reports
Cognos PowerPlay Enterprise Server
Cognos ReportNet - Enterprise Studio
Cognos ReportNet - Report Studio
Cognos Metrics Manager

Enterprise Edition

The Enterprise Edition includes:

• An import procedure of IWR and PowerPlay logs and the Access Manager LDAP database.
• The choice to store the audit data in an Oracle or SQL Server database.
• Impromptu reports that can be published to an Impromptu Web Report Server or utilized as Impromptu Client reports.
• PowerPlay models and cubes for in depth analysis.
• A cube-build and web update utility for Cognos PowerPlay that can be fully automated (Windows Environments only).

Enterprise Plus Edition

The Enterprise Plus edition includes a ReportNet module and provides customers that are currently using ReportNet the following added functionality:

• All components of the Enterprise Edition.
• Enterprise Edition Impromptu reports available as ReportNet reports.
• A ReportNet Model for the Series 7 Audit Data including a Package for additional reporting or querying.
• ReportNet reports providing information from the ReportNet audit tables.
• A ReportNet Model for the ReportNet Audit Data including a Package for additional reporting or querying.
• PowerPlay cubes and models providing ReportNet information.

Metrics Edition

The Metrics edition provides customers that are currently using Metrics Manager the following functionality:

• ReportNet reports providing information from the Metrics Manager Audit and Load tables.
• A PowerPlay cube and model providing analysis of Metrics Manager Usage information.
• A ReportNet Model for the Metrics Manager Audit and Load Data including a Package for additional reporting or querying.