I really like a subtle feature of Tableau 5 that should greatly enhance the dashboard viewing experience.  

While navigating a date range may seem simple, it's not.  Dates are an example of how a single universal dimension needs to be sliced many different ways, depending on the context  and data set.  The simplicity of the dialogue in the example viz is what makes the dashboard powerful -- the viewer is presented categorized options for slicing in just a few clicks.

Good stuff.

Query Studio 8.4

The often overlooked Query Studio has been a simple little query tool that hasn't seen much visible change in the last few years. While new studios for Query continue to pop-up (Express Author, PowerPlay Studio, CAFE), Query Studio chugs along as a handy product to quickly build lists and crosstabs. Cognos developers have always replied on Query Studio as a way to verify Framework Manager models -- it's fast and reliable, and seeing the data immediately rather than having to execute is great.

As with every Cognos 8 release, there's not much new to report with Query Studio. Still, a few nuggets have come out of 8.4:

• Filter Usability: Query Studio users rejoice! You can now type in values when filtering a dimension. This means you can easily copy and paste from a list you may keep handy in Excel or a note. This long awaited feature has arrived. And there's more -- you can also now add a filter without adding a column to the query -- just right click on the data item.

• Lineage: Lineage is a new feature in all 8.4 Studios that traces the metadata through the package and datasources. It's really handy when testing a multi-layered model, and is a great advancement in Cognos 8.4. It's there, as you would expect, in Query Studio 8.4.

• Performance: Like all studios, performance has been improved each release. 8.4 is really snappy on my demo data sets, both relational and dimensional.

I've been digging into Cognos 8.4, so I'll recount some of my findings here, and in a bit more detail on my IBM blog.  If you're really interested beyond what you see, please feel free to drop me an email.

Report Studio Positioning

Report Studio was released as  the Cognos production report authoring tool with ReportNet in 2003 .  Report Studio, though, has evolved into a more robust power user tool that can be used by financial analysts, operations, or any line-of-business user who has a good sense for data and design.

Since it's web-based, Report Studio takes end user deployment complications out of play.  That is, of course, except for that annoying IE requirement (more on that later).  While that's not particularly important in my work, it is extremely important, and valuable, for rolling out the tool to a broad user community.  Unlike programming-based report writers, many professionals can benefit from reporting and analysis through Report Studio.

I think Report Studio, when implemented with a few value-added templates and customizations, can be used by the majority of end-users who would otherwise use Cognos query and analysis studios.  It also can, and will, be useful for IT professionals to create reports that are distributed to the masses via the web, email, or filesystem.  Its combination of rich functionality and author productivity is truly unique in the market.

For true "production" reporting, it's still good practice to move complex logic to ETL processing, or the database itself.   While possible, its not a practical tool for replacing reports built in structured programming languages (COBOL, SQR, etc.) that produce massive volumes of static content, such as billing statements or other structured forms.

With that said, on to some deeper thoughts about 8.4...

8.4: What I Like

I'm happy to report there's a lot of good in 8.4.  This isn't an exhaustive list of new features, just the ones I found particularly valuable in my work:

• Microcharts: Three cheers for microcharts!  As an ardent follower of design techniques by Stephen Few, I've found microcharts to be an excellent implementation of dashboard content.  I've already gleefully used micro-column and line charts in my development.  Microcharts are excellent for a variety of decision support, including trending by category and win/loss.  Maximum information in minimum real-estate.
• Conditional Formatting:  This was overhauled in 8.3, but it deserves mention for the interface, which is vastly improved over the conditional variable approach.  The usability of the metrics-style range is fantastic, as is the interface to quickly set the most important properties in a condition.  The whole experience is improved, and saves the author significant time.
• Master/Detail:  This also was improved in earlier releases, but it's easier, and more intuitive, than ever to create master/detail reports.  Master/detail reports are also snappier, which is important, since they a primary feature needed to build more complex logic into Cognos reports.
• Performance:  Report Studio really performs well, even on an underpowered laptop or virtual machine.  Since the interface isn't truly WYSIWYG, the improvements running reports to refine formatting is another great time saver for the author.
• Singletons:  While introduced in 8.3, they seem to perform better in 8.4.  Use them often to highlight certain results that warrant immediate attention in a strategic piece of screen real estate.
• Cognos Mashup Services:  For OEM partners only, CMS is an important enabler of reports to third party applications.  Really important, and really cool.  

Report Studio: Where it Should Go... 

I have a number of ideas, including Express Author, Usability, and Openess.  Questions?  Comments?  Bring 'em!

What kept me going in 2008

When reviewing the Crunchies, it made me think about the tech innovators that I use.  Which ones are so core to my work or life routine that, if they went away tomorrow, my routines and productivity would suffer?

Here's my list of "important stuff" that helped me make it through 2008:

• Twitter: I still love Twitter.  It's concept and simplicity are so refreshing.  More than following just friends, I'm finding it increasing valuable to follow media members, services, or companies I regularly use.  I hope these guys figure out a business model in 2009, because I know one is there, and I can't imagine it going away.
• Facebook: 2008 was a Facebook year.  The surprise: how well it keeps me connected to family (especially Julie's family).   My Facebook wish for 2009: a better UI.  I understand the need for adverstising (hey to Pete!), but the current design is a bit obtuse.
• Meebo: Simply the best innovation to come to IM since ICQ in the mid-90s.  Since I regularly use 3 IM providers (Google, Yahoo, Facebook), and I'm constantly switching computers, meebo has become my one source for IM.  My Meebo wish for 2009, a better mobile interface, and plenty of funding to keep going.
• Remember the Milk: Still the best personal productivity tool I've found on the Internet.  Where should RTM go?  Intelligently incorporating some different sources, like Evernote has done, would be a good start.  List and tag management interfaces could also use a refresher.
• Google Reader:  Google Reader is entrenched in my daily routine.  I start every work day in it, reviewing industry and client news and blogs.  The one thing it lacks is a network for collaboration -- what about a Digg acquisition in 2009?
• Google Docs:  For my personal and community projects, I don't know if I could get by without Google docs.  The ease of multi-user document collaboration and publishing is is outstanding. While I'm sure Google has added some great features in 2008, I really only need the basics in word processing and spreadsheets -- without having to send them around to different people for input.
• Google Calendar:  Because I'm burdened with the least intuitive calendering system imaginable at work, Lotus Notes, Google Calendar saves the day.  Thanks to Google Sync, I can use my Blackberry as an intermediary to sync my work and personal calendars.  Google's design team definitely got this one right.  Can someone at Lotus pay attention?
• StatSheet:  Okay, so maybe this is a productivity drain, but this combines so many of my vices: sports (college basketball), data, visualization, and social networking.  And I have a soft spot for bootstrapped start-ups that are thinking outside the box.  I'm rooting for these guys.