IBM Cognos 8 v4 is an enterprise-class performance management platform delivering complete capabilities on a single, service-oriented architecture:

	Report annotations, new charting options, and expanded data access let you inform your users with greater context for better decisions. Communicate up to three levels of data (such as Sales, by Competitor, by Market Segment) in a single two-dimensional graph.
	Dynamic new Flash-based dashboards engage your users with their performance management experience and make it easier to find the information they need. Personalize your BI with a Flash-based interface.
	New dimension management capability lets you align operations with strategy by applying consistent viewpoints and hierarchies to your financial and operational data. Manage dimensions and hierarchies across Finance and IT.

Plus, new data lineage features, proven practices, and improved conformance for SAP NetWeaver make IBM Cognos 8 v4 easier to deploy and manage than ever before.

New Features

Business intelligence on business terms

New features in IBM Cognos 8 v4 lets business users define and assemble their own views of their performance information and explore it when and how it suits them best. For example:

• Interactive, Flash-based dashboards and search-driven report generation make it easier for everyday users, managers, and executives to access, share, and act on trusted information.
• Expanded data access and new master dimension management capabilities enable professional authors to build reports with additional context and insights.

Performance management excellence in the Office of Finance

IBM Cognos 8 v4 delivers the complete set of capabilities that finance professionals need to improve accuracy and increase efficiency in their core processes. For example:

• New interface for IBM Cognos 8 Planning provides greater flexibility and personalization to encourage wider adoption of driver-based planning.
• New integration of IBM Cognos TM1 with IBM Cognos 8 BI provides wide-ranging distribution of performance reporting.
• New IBM Cognos 8 Financial Performance Analytics provides adaptable, pre-packaged, best-practice reports from diverse ledger systems.
• New master dimension management capability helps financial analysts apply a commonly shared viewpoint across all performance management processes.

Build to high IT standards

IBM Cognos 8 v4 provides the complete set of performance management capabilities your organization needs to drive better decisions that improve corporate performance. For example:

• Open, Service-based architecture meets IT standards for performance, conformance, and compliance.
• Deliver reports, dashboards, scorecards, analysis, alerts, plans, and forecasts with a single product.
• Proven cost-effective scalability up and out to meet changing user demands.
• Frameworks and proven practices guide you through to successful deployments and ongoing modifications.

Empower your business users

New features in IBM Cognos 8 v4 help you drive business intelligence and performance management content and best practices further into your organization, while expanded data access and improvements to the underlying platform strengthen your foundation for performance management.

Informed

Drive more effective decisions and faster collaboration cycles through more relevant information and more detailed context. IBM Cognos 8 v4 increases your users’ confidence in their information with new features including:

• Report annotations: Add observations and comments directly to the body of your reports.
• Expanded charting options: Sparkline, Marimekko, Stepline, Sparkbar, and Spark Win/Loss.
• Location-aware reports: Deliver reports to your users’ mobile devices based on their geographic location.
• Data lineage: See the history, calculations, and definitions.
• Business Glossary: See definitions of key report terms with a single mouse click.

Engaged

Boost business user adoption rates with a more dynamic and interactive performance management environment. IBM Cognos 8 v4 makes it easier for business users to find existing information or generate new information with enhancements including:

• Flash-based dashboards: Users can build personalized dashboards using existing BI content, report elements, third-party widgets, and RSS feeds.
• Search-driven report generation: Users can run ad hoc queries using simple keywords in an easy-to-use interface.

Aligned

Close the gap between strategy and execution throughout your organization with complete visibility into targets, plans, forecasts, and actual results. IBM Cognos 8 v4 helps you respond to changing business conditions more quickly and more effectively with new features including:

• Master dimension management: Apply consistent viewpoints, dimensions, and hierarchies to your financial and operational data.
• Updated user planning interface: Hierarchy support, sort & hide, freeze panes, end-user tab management, zoom, and word wrap features allow for increased personalization.
• Expanded data access: Integrate data from IBM Cognos TM1 and IBM Cognos Now! into your broader IBM Cognos 8 BI deployment.

Accelerate your success

Cognos is also introducing new and improved solutions that accelerate customer success for IBM Cognos 8 v4 including:

• New analytic applications for Finance and HR provide pre-built, best-practice reports for better decisions made more quickly.
• System Management Methodology: Accelerate your deployment with our Proven System Administration Practices, sample reports and data models, and auditing and system metrics.
• Peer networking & collaboration at the Cognos Innovation Center for Performance Management™.
• Migration, Conversion, and Project Management help from Cognos Software Services
• Deeper integration with IBM Information On Demand: Build your Information Agenda with our combined offerings for IBM InfoSphere Information Server, InfoSphere DB2 Warehouse, WebSphere Portal, and Linux on System z.