Administer Metrics

Administer metrics in Connections by modifying configuration settings, backing up data, and running commands to perform maintenance tasks.

IBM Connections provides vital metrics about the deployment. Metrics are presented simply, using charts that provide clear business value to users, executives, and administrators. IBM Connections metrics are supported by IBM Cognos Business Intelligence, which you install as part of the Connections deployment. Connections application events, such as reading or creating objects, generate metrics stored in a database, which synchronizes with a Cognos PowerCube to store data so it can be accessed along different dimensions. When a Connections user runs a Metrics report, the Cognos server sends the data to the Connections metrics interface.

Authorized users can work with the charts interactively, filtering data by parameters such as geography and time period, and drilling down into data points for more detail. The Connections administrator can customize reports using a suite of Cognos tools. Refer to the Cognos documentation for detailed information on customizing reports as well as administering the PowerCube as well as the Cognos server.

• What are metrics?
  The new Metrics application in Connections provides a comprehensive set of quantitative (measures) and qualitative (descriptions) metrics that help measure the business value of Connections in the organization. Connections uses IBM Cognos Business Intelligence to collect and maintain metrics, and to generate reports that users can view directly in Connections. Metrics reports can be presented as tables or charts that you refine by selecting options such as the time period to report on, a particular application to focus on, and how to group users in the results.

• Manage the Metrics environment
  We can manage the Metrics environment by modifying configuration settings and running administrative commands that determine how Metrics data is collected and reported.

• Update a Cognos deployment
  If refresh an IBM Cognos deployment with the latest fixes, we can use either scripts or an update wizard.

• Back up and restore Metrics data
  We can back up the PowerCube’s data on a monthly basis, or we can back up the entire Metrics database history. It is easier to back up a single month’s worth of PowerCube data than to back up the entire Metrics database history, but backing up the database allows you to rebuild the entire PowerCube if needed.

Parent topic:
Administering