We need to make a choice between using MS AS or Cognos PowerPlay. PowerPlay
has a much better interface and some advantages.
Can anyone comment on this? Also, does anyone know of good fron-end products
to create MS AS cubes rather than using the Microsoft UI?
Thanks
Alex
alexdinu1 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

Alex
It is my suggestion you write down all your user based requirements and
ensure you have all your needs to hand. It seems you are evaluting a couple
of products that are distinctly unique and diverse in nature. AS is an OLAP
and Analytical Server product while Powerplay is a client analytical tool.
Often, these two products are used in conjunction rather than evaluated as
competing products. Powerplay could be evaluated with Excel for instance or
OWC, Proclarity etc. Powerplay needs* an OLAP server for Multi-Dimension
Analysis which is where AS comes into play.

Warning though - I am not sure if Powerplay fairs well with calculated
members in AS.

(*or other data provider)

-mark

"AlexD" wrote:

"Mark A Morris" <MarkAMorris (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:03CD264A-BF07-4EE0-A026-AE2A6B840E36 (AT) microsoft (DOT) com
PowerPlay isn't just a client tool -- it also has its own OLAP server,
which isn't as sophisticated or scalable as Microsoft AS, but PowerPlay
Transformer is easier for server cube building than the Microsoft
equivalent in Analysis Manager. For read-only apps, PowerPlay
Enterprise Server is quite capable and usable (and of course runs on
both Windows and Unix, if that's relevant). But in terms of straight
OLAP server functionality, flexibility, performance and scalability,
Analysis Services is significantly superior to PowerPlay Enterprise
Server.

There's a trade-off between the functionality of the OLAP Server
functionality and the client tools that come along with it. Whereas Mr.
Pendse is correct in dubbing AS as superior to Enterprise Server, the client
tools that usually come along with AS (ProClarity, for instance) aren't as
robust and user-friendly as Cognos.

It really depends and what your requirements are.

"Nigel Pendse" <nigelp.nospam (AT) olapreport (DOT) com> wrote

Yes, PowerPlay benefits from being a simple, single-vendor, integrated
solution, which does make it easier to deploy, and makes it good at the
tasks it's most often used for. Of course, end-user human factors are a
matter of opinion, and different people like different products. Many do
prefer PowerPlay, but others prefer tools such as ProClarity or Excel
add-ins -- it all depends on what you want to do with it.

But PowerPlay's integration has a downside as well -- you can't use any
other vendor's front-end tools to access powercubes, and PowerPlay is
not well optimized to access other vendors' cubes. So using PowerPlay
does mean committing to a single vendor's front-end tools and ideally to
that same vendor's back-end.

The Microsoft approach is more open -- you have a choice of dozens of
front-end tools and apps, and if some users don't like any one of them,
such as ProClarity, there are plenty of others to choose from. For
those people who do prefer to use an Excel add-in, PowerPlay is quite
weak, whereas there are several excellent third-party add-ins available
for Analysis Services. But going this route does usually mean accepting
a multi-vendor solution, as Microsoft's own OLAP front-end tools are
quite weak.


"Charlie" <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) nospam> wrote

Nicely put.

"Nigel Pendse" <nigelp.nospam (AT) olapreport (DOT) com> wrote

Thanks. I know that both PP and AS are "tools" used to build cubes. PP has a
better UI and is easier to build cubes. I was wondering, is there another UI
that will allow you to build AS cubes other than MS AS?

BI Accellerator is a tool that can help you structure your dimensions/cubes,
however, I am not sure if there is a robust management tool to
maintain/administer cubes. There are some disparate tools to help document,
process etc. Check www.mosha.com, Mosha has quite a concise list of
documents, tools, utilities etc.

"AlexD" wrote:

Sorry for my poor english.
Personal opinion: Microsoft much simpler solution with all
At our company (Uniplace) we implement both solutions for our customers.

If you have a good contract with Microsoft stick with it.

If you have a good budget and you're planning on having user's that have
small knowledge of computers go for cognos(very easy to use). User's won't
beleive that you can use cubes with Excel they simple can't admit that they
already had the proper tools.

I recomend a small first project using Microsoft. Whenever you have a small
but good result call cognos and look at their solution (we are used to
convert cognos -> Microsoft and vice-versa as part of a pilot project)

If I could do it from Brasil I'd love the opportunity!

Cognos framework:
Cognos Impromptu: Required (Creates the IQD (query definition) files to use
in tranformer)
Cognos Powerplay Transformer: Required (creates cubes, local cube only)
Cognos PowerPlay/ Enterprise Server: Required (one of them) Front end
observation: ReportNet is worth a look at it

Microsoft framework
Microsoft SQL server with AS: Required
Microsoft Excel/Data analyser/third party products: Required
observation: Reporting Services is also worth a look at it

That is a very bizarre requirement, why would you like to do this? Sure it's
possible to develop applications through DSO, but AS is free of cost and
most people are happy with it. Don't try to use it as an interface though.
The cube builder can be separeted from the thin client.
"AlexD" <AlexD (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> escreveu na mensagem
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