Cognos 7 to 8

Cognos Series 7 to IBM Cognos 8 BI products comparison

The table below shows the comparison of Cognos 7 and Cognos 8 BI tools and applications. The conclusion is simple: Cognos 8 is a completely different product than Cognos 7. 

Products comparison: Cognos Series 7 to IBM Cognos 8 BI

Cognos series 7	IBM Cognos 8 BI	Comments
Cognos PowerPlay	BI Mobile Analysis (PowerPlay)	Desktop Query and Analysis tool
Cognos PowerPlay Web	Analysis Studio	Web-based multidimensional analysis
PowerPlay Excel	IBM Cognos 8 BI Analysis for Microsoft Excel	MS Office / Spredsheet integration
Impromptu	ReportNet (Report Studio + Query Studio)	Reporting
Cognos WebPortal	Cognos Connection	Web Portal
Visualizer	GO! Dashboard / Report Studio	Visual dashboards
DecisionStream	Data Manager	ETL & Data integration tool
PowerPlay Transformer / Impromptu Administrator	Framework Manager	Modeling framework
Metrics Manager	Metrics Studio	Scorecarding
Notice cast	Event Studio	Business activity monitoring
Planning	Planning	Planning, budgeting, forecasting

In order to prepare for a successful migration, it is necessary to realize how the Cognos 8 applications relate to Cognos 7 and earlier products:

Query Studio and Report Studio are close to the idea of Cognos Impromptu

Analysis Studio is a web based OLAP reporting tool which puts it in the same category as Cognos PowerPlay Web. However, there are still many features missing is Analysis Studio compared to PowerPlay Client and Web. This is why Analysis Studio may be considered as a complementary application to PowerPlay, not its replacement.
Please refer to the PowerPlay and Analysis Studio comparison for more details.

Event Studio is an equivalent to Notice Cast

Report Studio in Cognos 8 implements an integrated maps feature which makes it a replacement for Cognos Visualizer

Cognos Metric Studio is a replacement for Cognos 7 Metrics Manager

Framework manager has the features of Impromptu Administrator. Framework Manager can also be considered in many aspects as an equivalent of PowerPlay Transformer (data source connections, dimensions and measures modeling, hierarchies, drill-down paths etc.).

In Cognos 8, the powerplay cubes created with PowerPlay Transformer can be accessed via Query Studio, Report Studio, Analysis Studio and Transformer products. However, each cube needs to be published via Framework Manager first.