May 7, 2008

OnePurdue moving to Cognos as new reporting tool 

Purdue has adopted Cognos as a common reporting tool for the new Banner student systems going into production this year, the SAP human resources and financial software that went online in 2007, and Advancement databases. While the initial emphasis will be on using Cognos to report against these systems' data, the Cognos tools also can be used to generate reports against departmental databases.

This transition will occur over time, said Jeff Whitten, associate vice president of ITaP's Enterprise Applications unit and OnePurdue's chief architect.

"We know the shift to the new financial and HR systems last year was not without some reporting bumps and curves in the road," he said. "so we are doing everything we can to make the change to Cognos a smooth one.

"We're going to take as much time as we need to do this right."

West Lafayette information technology leaders, departmental computing managers, and representatives from the Calumet, North Central and IPFW campuses will meet in West Lafayette today (May 7) to discuss the future of reporting at Purdue. They will address several topics, including:
 
* The reason Cognos was chosen
* What will happen to Purdue's current reporting tools
* The OnePurdue Enrollment and Student Affairs team's experience using Cognos
* How additional Cognos licenses will be purchased
* The next steps in implementing Cognos

Participants also will see a demonstration of Cognos during this session.

"This will be a good opportunity to begin familiarizing the University community about Cognos," Whitten said, "and the feedback and ideas we'll hear during this meeting will be key to this process."

More information about the transition to Cognos, in addition to a Breeze recording, will be available following the May 7 presentation.

www.purdue.edu/onepurdue