Your "Spot On" the Cognos Edge

In a long-winded post on the IBM Cognos Forum a couple of weeks ago, I made mention of "hardware".  Here is a photo of Darren and I procuring said hardware:

Yep, the burly guy on the left is holding the award for the 2009 IBM Cognos Global ISV Technology Partner of the Year.  This award was in recognition of the ESRI integration capabilites delivered through our SpotOn Vantage solution.

It is a tremendous honor and we are very thankful.  This year is cueing up to be a very exciting, insanely hectic, journey into the domain of location intelligence for IBM Cognos customers.  Hope to have you all aboard!

Quick note to point our a couple of recent articles in IBM Cognos newsletters highlighting SpotOn Vantage:

Location, location, location...Intelligence - published in the May 2009 edition of IBM Cognos Performance Perspectives

Integrating Interactive GIS Maps - a technical discussion published in the April 2009 edition of IBM Cognos Support Link.

You can find PDF versions of these articles here and here.

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Hi all - we're now two weeks removed from what might be referred to as the last "old school" Cognos Forum in Orlando, FL.  We won't lie, there was much trepidation going in.  Having decided to invest as a Gold Sponsor in the Performance World for the second year in a row, there was much hand-wringing over the ability to recoup this year's investment going into the event.  News was that registration was hovering at less than a 1/3 of the last year's numbers going in.  A molasses-like economy and swine flu rage - which I believe was a news epidemic more than anything else, but what do I know - had folks anticipating disaster going in.

Guess what, it was a fantastic event!  I'm confident that this will end up being SpotOn's most profitable Forum in the four we've attended as partners.  When they started throwing IBM Cognos staff out of the fancy hotel, it was a positive sign that there was a rush on last minute registrations.  And when you think about it, when times are tough and dollars are tight, if companies send people to a conference you know that they are looking for tangible information and likely have budget and a buying agenda.  This was reflected in the nature of the conversations we had with Cognos customers. 

I've also become a firm believer that you can only "be" one thing at a conference like this - unless you are a household name.  Yes, SpotOn can do many things (some would say "anything" with our SDK prowess) but at this event we were the people that put ESRI map into Cognos reports.  How do you know?  Because it is on the 42 inch monitor at our booth, in your face when you walked through the door.

We also had tremendous access to senior Cognos and IBM personal this year.  I met, and had tremendous conversations, with executives from Services, Worldwide Cognos Sales, Cognos Partners and Alliances, and leaders of the IBM Software Group.  Already these meetings are proving very fruitful with several ongoing dialogs.

Also it didn't hurt to have some major "hardware" sitting on our booth.  And I'm not talking about servers and storage here, my friends.  But we'll save that story for next week.

Great to see old friends - and make some new ones.  I'm interested to see how the Cognos Forum we know and love gets folded into the Information On Demand event in October 2010.  I just hope we don't lose that Forum Magic.

Hi All,

During a recent client engagement, we came across an issue that some of you may have encountered: trying to access prompt controls at runtime.

In the past a Report Studio author could write something like this:

var x = getFormWarpRequest();
var y = x.elements["my control name"];

Of course, this is no longer the case in Cognos 8.4. Instead, the prompt control IDs are system-generated and obfuscated at runtime. In order to access the prompt controls now, you have to first obtain the obfuscated value, and then locate the control.

I've written a piece of code that seems to let me find the prompt control. I hope it helps your efforts!

In brief:

var y = searchPrompts("My prompt name");

<SCRIPT> function searchPrompts(promptName) { var SpotOnTargetControl = G_PM_THIS_.getControlByName(promptName); var SpotOnPCType=SpotOnTargetControl._type_; var SpotOnPCID = SpotOnTargetControl._id_; var SpotOnPCPrefix = ""; switch(SpotOnPCType) { case "cognos.Prompt.Control.SelectValue": SpotOnPCPrefix="PRMT_SV_"; break; case "cognos.Prompt.Control.Text": SpotOnPCPrefix="PRMT_"; break; case "cognos.Prompt.Control.DateTime": SpotOnPCPrefix="PRMT_"; break; case "cognos.Prompt.Control.Date": SpotOnPCPrefix="PRMT_"; break; } var SpotOnFW = getFormWarpRequest(); var SpotOnEL = SpotOnPCPrefix+SpotOnPCID; var SpotOnTargetElement = document.getElementById(SpotOnEL); return SpotOnTargetElement; } </SCRIPT> <A onclick='searchPrompts("TEST_LIST")' href="#">Get List named:TEST_LIST</A><BR> <A onclick='searchPrompts("TEST_TEXT")' href="#" mce_href="#">Get Text named:TEST_TEXT</A><BR> <A onclick='searchPrompts("TEST_CALENDAR")' href="#" mce_href="#">Get CALENDAR named:TEST_CALENDAR</A>

I just wrapped up attending a two-day commercial summit that ESRI hosted for its current and potential business partners.  The objective of the summit was to arm partners with the knowledge and capabilities to go after the for profit business sector.  Makes perfect sense.  The event was well put together and provided the attendees with ample potential opportunities in a myriad of directions. 

As a "lowly BI guy" in the room, I had my head spinning as incredible geo-spatial capabilities were showcased that would provide invaluable information business insight across various industries.  I think I'm starting to understand why GIS folks are so passionate about their solutions.  However something was gnawing in the back of my mind; why would companies utilizing these capabilities need BI?  Demo after demo, we were shown staggeringly powerful capabilities that delivered all the information anybody could ask for.  Why was I in the room?  Who in their right mind would want my crosstab - let alone my simple list...

But then in started to don on me; almost every demonstration started with the desktop power-tools.  Jokes were made during presentations about "chained up GIS developer in the dungeon".  Even when presenting the web-based server tools, the thrust of the presentation was on the analytical capabilities.  There are a ton of potential buttons to press and levers to pull.  I was starting to formulate a theory...

And then were uttered, in the final session of the final day of the summit, words that reinforced my growing suspicion; "it's all about getting this information beyond the analysts....".  The thrust of point was not about leveraging BI solutions like IBM Cognos, but about building web application to present mapping capabilities. 

Aha!!!  I'll do you one better than your custom web apps.  How about we deliver the spatial capabilities with the same vehicle used to disseminate the rest of your business information.  What if we use the enterprise BI security model to control access to your maps.  Maybe we augment the map with a layer or two based on the BI data.  Heck, let's get the whole thing working together with interactive capabilities allowing the user to click on the map and affect the tabular view - or use the map or a report prompt control.

It's not the sexy side of the information game, but the key "so what?" about BI solutions for GIS capabilities could very well be the administration and dissemination capabilities.  On the flip side, even a simple interactive map in a report gets your average BI guy into a tizzy - very sexy!  This simple map also seems to cause disdain and scorn from GIS folks, "that's just dots on a map". 

Fine by me, will focus on mapping capabilities for the "low brow" BI masses.  We'll leave you to your power-tooled enable dungeons!  

I thought that would catch your attention, bling always catches mine.   Lately our team has been heads down focusing on the ability to visualize corporate data in new and unique ways.   The SpotOn team has been talking to users from around the globe who are looking for ways  to simplify the end user experience, empower users to interact with their data through visual building blocks rather than massive amounts of textual data and users who are simply looking for a better way to showcase their corporate data assets and keep employees interested.   What is causing a little controversy is the data bling.  Data Bling is a term I thought I coined until I went searching for it and found others feel the same way. Other data blingers exist!  Visualize THIS!  A world full of data bling.  Very little text, lots of colour, animation, things spinning, getting bigger, smaller, changing shapes over time, moving  high and low,  high interaction through voice, touch and more…well you get the picture. 

But when is data bling too much?  Stephen Few (http://www.perceptualedge.com/) has some theories about eye candy in data visualization, one of which is that animation and gratuitous colors really shouldn’t be used unles the feature itself is conveying information.  For example, a line draws upwards to show a trend, a tail of data fades as it draws so you can retain the context and view the past, present and maybe even the future of your data, red means bad, green means good , users roaming a map or map layers to find data points and so on.  What we cannot ignore is that we all seem to be attracted to the eye candy, the data bling!  

Pierre, our virtualization guy here at SpotOn, turned me on to the work of Hans Rosling and his team which is just magical when it comes to data visualization.  To me, data visualization is cool, but this example will make data visualization cool for everyone!  Partly because the technology is so great but also the passion that drove the technology to market and to eventually be acquired by Google.   Take a look at this video, definitely an inspiring visualization experience!

Spinning funnels, exploding pie wedges, and the animated build of a bar graph are all very interesting, but the bling doesn’t really convey value, it simply entertains.  At the end of the day, I’m not a purest when it comes to data visualization.  I want my bling and data too.  I am of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with data bling unless it overshadows, prevents or hinders the interpretation of data.  Employers are always trying new ways to get their employees interested in data. Employers hear this, consider giving your employees some data bling.  Keep them interested, focused and attracted to their data.   Everything in moderation and finding that balance of bling and the beauty of data analysis through visual constructs appears to be a comfortable happy medium to me.

Stay tuned to the team at SpotOn over the next few months as we show you some examples of Cognos customers who are leveraging our technology, SpotOn Vantage, to put a little bling in their data step as we augment out of the box functionality and embed third party visualization technologies into their traditional Cognos Business Intelligence reporting applications!

Wow, two blogs in one night! I'm wrapping up an engagement where a client was effectively looking for Framework Manager functionality on the web. That is to say, the ability to augment a model without using the FM application.

THe solution? Its been around since the beginning of Report Net: Report Studio. That's right, we're using Report Studio to modify models. Here's the scenario the client was looking at:

• Dynamically publish a model based on an ever-changing database schema (no problem, we do Metadata Automation all the time)
• Client wanted to add new query items to specific query subjects frequently

We showed the client a project from our past where we performed similar actions using Report Studio. The end result for the client: A report author can create calculations and data items, and have them automatically added to the model!

Ingredients: a little Report Studio, a dash of SDK, a mouse click, and stand back for about 2 seconds while the process completes!

Next time they go into a studio, the new data items are there! Oh yeah, did I mention that we also allowed the client to implement security on those new items?

Would like to hear from anyone who thinks this might be useful for their Cognos deployments.

Kudos to Ling T. and Chris T. on this project!

- Darren

Every organization supports their clients. Few organizations succeed with their clients. That's the "ah-hah!" moment I had recently while Chris and I were discussing how to handle client issues. As a former Cognoid, I know how large organizations manage calls from customers. There are several key metrics used in call centers such as AHT (average handle time) or call cost per minute, to measure the efficiency of an operation. I think these are very beneficial tools to use when dealing with huge numbers of calls on many different products.

In a small organization like ours, we deal with client calls regarding product issues as well. The difference is that we know our clients much better than someone staffing a 24 hour terminal. That's why we no longer want to reactively support our clients but rather, proactively succeed with them. How did we pinpoint this? In a recent revenue opportunity with one of our trusted partners, an issue arose around a particularity with their client's environment. I'm sure we've all encountered this before. So, the partner followed our support process, our staff responded exactly the way they should have responded - if we were a large call center. That is to say, SpotOn assessed the issue, requested the required information, and delivered the solution. The problem with that was, the solution didn't solve the problem and an entire day went by.

So here it is: The line in the sand. SpotOn clients and partners, we're going to succeed together, rather than solving individual issues as they pop up!

- Darren

You Win Some, you Lose Some...but why?

As software companies we are very familiar with the competitive nature of our business. As a startup company, winning a deal is very significant on many levels. Unfortunately losing a deal is equally significant. So what do you do when you win? You celebrate! High fives, kudos all around and you start planning for the work ahead. Seems logical enough. What do most people do when they lose?

Well...most companies walk away and chalk it up to the nature of the software beast and take an attitude of you win some, you lose some. The truth is, you DO win some and you DO lose some. The little known truth is that losing a deal well...it not only builds character...but it can also be a valuable tool in understanding, improving process, identifying and discontinuing bad habits and most importantly building strong customer relationships. Yes, even if you lose a deal and a customer has chosen not to go with your firm, you can continue the relationship and if you do it right, you can make it stronger than ever.

Ok so you lost the deal, now what? You need to find out some key things:

• How did the customer reached the decision they did, what was the evaluation process?
  
• What didn't work for them and in what way did our organizations not meet the customers' needs?
  
• Was this a competitive situation? If so, what are we lacking that our competitors have?
  
• How can you work better with this customer moving forward? 

Yes all very interesting things to find out after the fact but this could be an uncomfortable situation. So suck it up, get rid of the discomfort and proceed without fear to your win/loss analysis! Odds are customers may also feel a level of discomfort discussing their decision with you. Some organizations outsource these conversations to ensure that there is not a direct connection between the customer and organization which encourages the customer to speak freely. If you are a large organization I would strongly consider this approach. If you are a smaller organization like us, it's just a matter of handling it delicately, gracefully, not taking it personally and understanding the decision so that your organization can do better next time.

Ask the customer if they wish to participate in a short and confidential discussion to help you understand their decision and to improve your organization. If the answer is no, accept it. If the answer is yes, stay positive and most importantly, remember you are no longer selling but rather gathering information for improvement and continuing the relationship with your customer. You may hear some things you weren't expecting and you may be told some things you don't want to hear. All of this is important to the growth of the organization and your relationship with the customer. Did I mention stay positive, keep it light and look at the process as a learning experience. Don't let the conversation deteriorate even if you are getting bad news. Don't forget to thank the customer for their time and valuable feedback and tell them you look forward to working with them at some point in the future. Most customers will be impressed that you took the time at all to gain an understanding of what is important to them. It may (this is not the objective btw) even get them to reconsider their decision or consider your organization in the future.

At the same time, don't end your win celebration with a high five and a beverage at the pub either. Ask your customer the SAME questions as you would in a loss scenario. It's equally important to understand how you were able to win the deal so you can repeat the process next time!

I recommend the follwoing resource if you are interested in additional information about performing a win/loss analysis. Pragmatic Marketing offer a plethora of courses, webinars and resources including coverage of win/loss analysis techniques, interviews and more.  They even offer certification in a number of key areas related to product management and marketing!

Stay tuned to our blog for some new and exciting conversations from the SpotOn Team!!

Anastasia

• >1 million Twitter Users
• 21 million FaceBook Users
• 200 million iTunes Users

And thousands more users signing up for their technology flavor of social networking every single day!

With the ability to reach these many potential customers, why isn't everyone doing it? Not to be the perpetuator of technology peer pressure here but there really are no excuses! We have technology galore available at our disposal and that organizations simply don't use despite its existence. I'm talking about leveraging technology to get your word out to the MASSES, and to create a buzz about what you do! May I also add, that many of these technologies are FREE...for now...

The first way I make sure I am kept up to date on what's going on in the world of technology and even the world outside it with podcasts from iTunes. I'm an audiophile and I listen to my various sound devices religiously! My Nano is perfect for me on the go. On the bus, on a plane, on a train, and even on the road I listen to my favorite music, learn new languages, get updated on current events and technology. Some of my favorite technology related podcasts are; This Week in Tech - TWIT and gdgt weekly. Outside of the fact that I go through ear buds like tissues (I've always been tough on my technology). This method is a great way to optimize time that would otherwise be spent in a non productive way. 200 Million iTunes users can't be wrong!

SpotOn Systems has just launched their regular podcast to send you the latest information about SpotOn products, services and at times spirited banter containing our opinion on the Business Intelligence and Performance Management world around us! Subscribe to the free SpotOn Systems Podcast now and stay tuned for our next podcast about our Cognos Performance 2008 events and latest presentation at the North American Cognos OEM User Group meeting!

Another great way to keep in touch with valued customers and business associates is FaceBook. Yes, you know FaceBook where we share photos, information, thoughts and more. Businesses should be using FaceBook to create their own virtual community to network and keep in touch. SpotOn sees the potential here, as have 21 million FaceBook users worldwide. I tell you, 21 million users can't be wrong! Are you seeing a trend here?

Click here and join our FaceBook Group now to get to know the SpotOn team, receive invites to the our upcoming events, and be part of the SpotOn inner circle to get the latest and greatest in SpotOn news!

While we are talking about news, let's talk about Twitter! What is Twitter you ask? It's a micro-blogging forum that allows users to issue status updates to the world! Each status update is called a ‘Tweet ‘ and you can follow and be followed by users to create a cohesive virtual network. A neat way to view the worldwide status updates of Twitter users around the world is on www.twittervision.com. Come out and follow SpotOn Systems on Twitter and find out where we are in the world and what's going on at SpotOn!