The completed Cube Properties dialog should appear
substantially like that shown in Illustration 42.
12. Click OK to
accept and apply the settings.
The Cube Properties dialog closes, returning us to the PowerPlay
Enterprise - Server Administration window. We see the newly inserted cube,
sporting the new name we assigned earlier in the Cube Properties dialog,
Warehouse Analysis Services Cube, as depicted in Illustration 43.
Illustration 43: The New
Warehouse Analysis Services Cube Appears
Let's perform a test of our new cube by using the Open with
Browser "preview" capability afforded us by PPES Administration.
The icon for access to this feature is shown in Illustration 44.
Illustration 44: The
Open with Browser Icon
13. Click the Open with
Browser icon.
The browser initializes, and we are taken to the cube
presentation, as shown in Illustration 45. (Keep in mind our comments
regarding prompted database / other logons, depending upon the level of
integration of security. An example would be the appearance of a database
login screen at this stage in the simple security scenario. Provide logon
credentials to proceed in cases such as this, if applicable).
Illustration 45: The
Browser Presentation (Compressed View)
A successful
test is thus indicated. Now that we have established connectivity to the
Analysis Services Warehouse cube, we will overview PPWEB reporting from
the PPES cube.
Reporting
via the "zero-footprint" web client that requires only a reasonably
current browser (see the documentation for acceptable versions of standard
browsers) on the client to access and report from our cube. The procedures in
this article are presented using Internet Explorer, but the steps should be
quite similar using Netscape.
1.
Close Internet Explorer
completely.
2.
Open Internet Explorer
again.
3.
Type the following URL into the
address field, substituting your server name for MOTHER (my server name) :
http://MOTHER/cognos/cgi-bin/ppdscgi.exe
4.
Click Go, to the right
of the URL.
The Table of Contents appears as
shown in Illustration 46. We see the new Warehouse Analysis Services
Cube that we have published, along with the sample cubes that are added in
the typical installation of PPES and related applications.
Illustration 46: The
Table of Contents Page in Explorer
5.
Click the Warehouse Analysis
Services Cube.
6.
Provide database logon
credentials, then log on, as applicable,
The data from the newly connected Warehouse Analysis Cube
appears once again, as shown in Illustration 47.
Illustration 47: The
Warehouse Cube Opens in the PowerPlay Web Explorer Window
We can now get into analyzing our data from the browser interface.
We can
perform all the typical reporting capabilities that are available to us for a
proprietary cube in PowerPlay Web, in addition to leveraging several extended
capabilities that become available with the Analysis Services cube.
Let's take a quick look at navigation in the Cognos PowerPlay Web
Explorer interface at this point.
7. Click the Store dimension
label in the bottom left of the display.
8. Click Store in
the cascading menu that appears.
The flyout menu appears, as shown, offering drilldown paths and
other functionality, some of which are depicted in Illustration 48.
Illustration 48: Drilldown
and other Selections Appear in the Flyout Menu
9. Click USA -> WA on the flyout to
drill down to the WA children.
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