Cognos Retirement Announcement

** This announcement was sent to IT Partners on October 10, 2024 and to all Cognos user not registered with IT Partners on October 11, 2024 **

Since 2021, Pitt Information Technology has been working with campus data professionals to develop new dashboards and data sources in Tableau, modernizing reporting for financial, student, and employee data. The success of these efforts has advanced analytics and reporting across the University and positioned us to begin phasing out the legacy Cognos reporting system. Our goal is to fully decommission Cognos by June 30, 2025.

Modernized infrastructure will provide many benefits, including:

Faster access to more robust data

Operational efficiency through the elimination of duplication
Cost effective, cloud-based technology
Complex data combined into single views
Ability to create custom reporting
Easy-to-understand data sources — no coding needed

Active Student and Class Schedule Migration

We will start with the Active Student and Class Schedule data packages, which are already available in Tableau. These packages will be decommissioned from Cognos on Friday, November 8, 2024. Developed collaboratively by Pitt IT and a focus group of student data users from across the University, these resources are available to individuals with student data mart access.

Watch for Announcements About Future Migrations

Throughout this fiscal year, we will announce and schedule additional reporting workload migrations from Cognos to Tableau. You will be notified via email before additional Cognos assets are turned off. For example, monthly GL-level summary reports will be available in Tableau by early 2025 with ample time before legacy reports are retired.

Please note that while the Cognos application will be decommissioned, the University Data Warehouse will remain available to support existing queries, integrations, and Tableau dashboards.

Discover New Tableau Dashboards and Resources

We encourage all Cognos users to visit analytics.pitt.edu to explore the modernized dashboards and data sources developed in Tableau.

Fiscal Panther: Financial data tools, including grant administration, labor distribution, operating funds, purpose-based, and transaction review.

HR Analytics: Headcounts, rosters, employee profiles, and hiring/termination information.

Student Tools: Dashboards for active students, class schedules, enrollment, and graduation data.

Visit the Pitt IT Analytics Wiki for a complete list of data and dashboards, training links, and other resources. Also, consider signing up for Analytics Doctor office hours held every Wednesday from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.

Pitt IT is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for the University community and minimizing disruption to your work. Please contact your Pitt IT Customer Success representative, submit a request to the Technology Help Desk, or call +1-412-624-HELP (4357) with questions or concerns about any scenarios that might require special attention.

Thank you for your attention and support as we continue to advance analytics across Pitt!

Regards,

Pitt Information Technology
technology.pitt.edu