Fixing "Get Data" extension is Unavailable

I had a problem earlier this week with the Get Data extension being unavailable in the Contributor Web Grid. Even after checking the users who had access to this and running the configuration again, and doing a GTP etc it still showed greyed out. How frustrating.

The solution as it seems is a very straight forward one, it is to do with problems in the validation of users in the User classes section of the Admin console.

To resolve the problem, simply go to the Development section of your Contributor application, expand the User Classes section and click the Validate Users button, this will return an indication of the number of problem user classes, once you have clicked the OK button run a GTP and presto... your Get Data extension returns!

Citrix and Cognos Planning Analyst

Cognos Planning Analyst is a powerful software package, if you are here reading this then the chances are that you already know this. The amount of RAM that is required to run Analyst is quite high and the data volumes processed are also larger than the average application. And certainly larger than the average application that is deployed on Citrix.

There are a few reasons to run Analyst on Citrix despite the fact that Analyst is by far not an application designed to run on this platform. Cognos, it is important to point out will support the use of Analyst on Citrix, and this in its self is an important fact.

Reasons to run Analyst on Citrix

• Analyst is not supported for use over a Wide Area Network
• You cannot use Analyst over VPN (not at acceptable speeds anyhow)
• There are multiple environments (development / test / production) at your company and some users need access to all three when using Analyst.

Whatever your reason, there are certain considerations that need to be made when thinking of running Analyst on your Citrix platform.

A typical desktop PC installation of Analyst will be configured to use around half the physical RAM amount in the computer, these days this can be anything from 512mb to 1024mb, this can have a severe impact on the performance of your Citrix server if you do not size correctly.

Some Analyst processes will also run for extended periods of time whilst consuming a considerable amount of CPU power, and though Analyst is a single-threaded application by nature, having four users running similar processes on the same quad-processor Citrix box can quickly lead to a maxed out server.

But do not worry, it is not common for all users to run long processor-intensive macro jobs all at the same time or even all day long. This is simply a recommendation that the Citrix server that is used for Analyst users should likely be a dedicated box, specifically for the use of this application.

There are other benefits to running a dedicated Citrix server for Analyst however, by doing this we are able to eliminate network bottlenecks by locating the Analyst server installation (a windows file-share repository of data and configuration files) directly on the Citrix server, this has been shown to provide vastly superior performance in many cases for clients running Analyst in this way.

Configuration

Excel Add-in

It is very important to remember that a manual configuration step needs to be made in the Cognos Configuration Manager program to enable "Terminal Server" use, this should be done at the time of install.
To do this, open "Configuration Manager", then open "Current Configuration" and navigate through the tree to find the entry for "Cognos Planning" / "Cognos Planning - Analyst Excel Add-in" and after clicking "General" change the drop-down menu to "Yes" for "Enable Terminal Services Support".
Always remember to apply the configuration before exiting the Configuration Manager program.

This alters the configuration to avoid problems when using the Excel Add-in on a multi-user system.

Workspace Sizing

So I guess it is fairly obvious that nobody is going to want to provide half the total RAM of their Citrix Server to an Analyst user, infact due to other factors you would not be able to allow more than 2GB anyway. Current versions of Analyst can only use 1GB as a maximum.

Assuming you have a large enough server you could indeed provide a default workspace size of 1GB, though it is more usual to limit this to somewhere between 256mb and 512mb, power users can either increase their workspace manually during each session, or occasionally even be provided with a dedicated "Power User" Citrix Server, though this is mostly common in large scale deployments where there are in excess of 20 Analyst users.

The table below shows you the differences in sizing the Workspace for each user on a Citrix Server from that of a desktop PC user.

Packaging Cognos Planning Analyst for remote deployment

This is a topic that comes up on a regular basis, clients, particularly larger ones or those with outsourced I.T support have a requirement to package their software using SMS, Installshield, EDM or some other tool so that it can be installed remotely on users desktops, rather than having an I.T support person visit individual desktop users to perform the installation.

Packaging applications is a fairly standard practice in I.T terms and the complexity of the packaging process inevitably varies between software products. For the un-initiated, Cognos Planning Analyst can be considered a "Complex Application" to package.
It is not that this product is particularly difficult to install, but the installation does not flow in a manner typically expected by the I.T support professional.
There are no Windows Installer MSI packages provided with the software, and the installation process its self is little more than a file transfer between the installation disk and the appropriate file locations on the computers hard disk. This means that a standard "next ... next ... next" style installation will mean the software will not function, and even if you manage to get it working, its unlikely that it will be configured with the settings that you want it to have.

Application packaging considerations

The following actions should be completed before the package is "sealed": -

1. Installation of the software should be completed
2. Manual configuration using Configuration Manager should be completed to ensure that the: -
1. location of the Filesys.ini is set to that of your Analyst Server installation
2. the default workspace size is set correctly as this should in most cases be higher than the default 64MB
3. the details for your Directory Server are all configured
3. The software is tested by a person competent in the user processes involved with the day to day running of Cognos Planning Analyst

When these steps are completed the application package can be completed and then testing is able to take place of the deployment of the package.

Conclusion

Obviously it would be difficult to go into the exact details of packaging as there are many software products available to provide this functionality and it is for this reason that many Consultancy firms will not provide direct support for packaging, though as the theory of installing Analyst is the same in most cases we can ensure that the packager understands the installation methodology of the product before beginning the process.

There are many companies successfully running packaged installations of Analyst and without any real problems, so comfort should be taken that this can be done and that it works just fine.

I am a Cognos Technie

WELCOME

This is my Cognos Technical Consultancy Blog, I have worked with the Cognos product suite for almost six years at the time of writing this, mostly I have worked in the Technical Consultancy side of the business with responsibility for planning and designing the technical architecture on which many businesses will run their Cognos software.

Here I will discuss typical issues and findings that I come across in my day to day work as a Technical Consultant working with the Cognos tools.