Listed below are new features since the last release. Links to directly-related topics are included.
Cognos Series 7 Transformer is now fully integrated with Cognos 8. You can install this optional component in your Cognos 8 environment. It offers all the features of Cognos Series 7 Transformer, and it supports user authentication and logon using supported Cognos 8 security providers. Transformer runs on all supported Cognos 8 platforms, including Linux, HP/UX Itanium, and Windows Vista. For more information, see Install Cognos 8 Transformer.
You can import metadata, which includes the associated filters and prompts, from Cognos 8 packages and reports for use as a data source in Transformer 8.3. For more information, see the topic about creating a new model in the Cognos 8 Transformer User Guide.
Secured cubes created in Transformer 8.3 are intended for the Cognos 8 Business Intelligence Web studios and are not compatible with Cognos Series 7.x PowerPlay products.
Unsecured and password-protected PowerCubes built in Transformer 8.3 can be accessed in Cognos 8.3 Mobile Analysis for local (disconnected) use.
Transformer 8.3 supports UTF-8 encodings. Although you can use UTF-8 as a model setting when building PowerCubes, Transformer 8.3 does not support multilingual PowerCubes. Modelers must also be aware of differences between content locale in saved reports and the locale that Transformer uses when accessing reports to build PowerCubes. For more information about managing languages and locales in Transformer, see the Transformer User Guide.
Transformer can now be made available more easily for business specialists who want to design models and build PowerCubes for their own use. For example, IT departments can provide business specialists or Transformer modelers with a Web-based, downloadable installation program from a corporate or secured portal, allowing for easy distribution of the installation files. For more information, see Create a Network Installation Location for Transformer Modelers and Deploying Cognos 8 Transformer for Modelers.
Cognos 8 Business Intelligence Transformer uses the Cognos 8 query engine to support the features in Cognos 8. The Series 7 IQD Bridge component enables Transformer 8.3 to continue to support Cognos Series 7 .iqd files, whether the files were authored in Cognos Series 7 Impromptu, or in Cognos 8 Framework Manager as externalized queries. To use an .iqd data source with Transformer 8.3, install the Series 7 IQD Bridge on each Transformer computer that requires access to this data source type.
The Series 7 IQDBridge is an optional component and is not supported on new platforms such as Linux or HP-UX Itanium. For more information, see Install Cognos 8 Transformer.
In older versions of Cognos 8, report output was saved by default in the content store. You can now configure two additional save locations, one inside Cognos 8 and one outside Cognos 8. For more information, see Saved Report Output.
Cognos 8 now supports Cognos Portlets inside the Microsoft SharePoint portal. If you want to use this feature, you must configure security after deploying the portlets in the SharePoint portal. For more information, see Configuring Portal Services.
Cognos 8 is supported on Windows Vista. With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced security enhancements to further protect the Program Files directory. This necessitated changes to environment variables and the directories where user profiles are stored. For more information, see Operating Systems and Update File Location Properties.