Data Warehouse User Group June 23, 2011

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Migration from Cognos 7 to Cognos 8

What’s Happening?

 Between now and January 2012, we are upgrading our Cognos suite of software from Cognos 7.4 to Cognos 8.4.

 The upgrade is more like a conversion, since Cognos series 7 reports can’t be opened in Cognos series 8  Between now and the first Cognos 8.4 training in August 2011, I will be scheduling meetings with users from each department to review existing reports and discuss individual needs  All Cognos users will need to attend an 8.4 training  All PowerPlay and Impromptu reports will need to be recreated in 8.4.

Why are we Upgrading?

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Sunsetting of Cognos 7 software

 Cognos/IBM will not support this version in the future 

Incompatible with Windows 7

    Current users running the Windows 7 operating system can’t access PowerPlay or Impromptu directly Candice and department IT folks have had to create Virtual Machines (VMs) for these users as a work-around Sometimes the work-arounds create problems of their own Problems will only grow the longer we wait 

To prepare ourselves for the Epic/Apex data

 Epic reporting data will only be available through Cognos 8

Benefits of Upgrading

  Cognos 8 is Web based!

   Easy Deployment compared to our current setup Current Installs   Are done on individual workstations, which are difficult to maintain Have to be scheduled and/or coordinated with your internal IT depts – causing delays  Have to be redone every time a user gets a new computer, or that computer gets reimaged No more Impromptu Catalog!

 Periodic updates requiring you to following instructions necessary!

exactly are no longer Improved Report Management     Your reports will automatically be saved to your Personal Folder on the Cognos server, so no more scouring your drives to find your reports Reports published by the medical group will be saved in a Public Folder, so that all users can access them You’ll have the ability to schedule your reports to run automatically!

You’ll have some ability to save results of previously run reports  Reports files are automatically backed up

Benefits of Upgrading

   Additional functionality        Medical Group will be creating several standard/pre-defined reports, which require the user only to enter desired parameters Pre-defined reports will be based on cubes as well as detailed records from the database (currently Impromptu-level reports) Prompt reporting is much, much simpler to set up and use and will be available through Query Studio (detailed data) as well as Many, many more that we’re not aware of yet Analysis Studio (cubes) Interface for Analysis Studio and Query Studio are similar in 8.4, so knowing how to use one will spill-over into your use of the other…NOT currently true of PowerPlay and Impromptu Report Subjects are defined by packages, so that “Transaction” reporting, in the user’s view, is already separated from “Line Item” reporting…no more worrying about accidentally “crossing folders” Enhanced Output/Save As choices We will be on the same version as Campus Simplified reports can open the warehouse data up to a whole new set of users  Pre-defined reports created using a tool called Report Studio can be opened, viewed and saved by users who don’t consider themselves “reporting” people

What this means for you

 2011 Training Schedule  Trainings will begin in August  We currently have a total of 7 two-day sessions reserved at the Computer Training room at Laurel Heights (room 307) through the end of October. Please try to attend at least one of these         Aug 10, 11 (Wed, Thur) Aug 17, 18 (Wed, Thur) Aug 24, 25 (Wed, Thur) Sept 15, 16 (Thur, Fri) Sept 22, 23 (Thur, Fri) Oct 11, 12 (Tue, Wed) Oct 18, 19 (Tue, Wed) As with our current training, you are always welcome to attend additional sessions (space permitting)  However, with Epic trainers blocking out entire months, future trainings may be hard to secure, so don’t procrastinate!

More about Training

  Trainings will take place over 2 days, and will combine Training and Report-Writing   Day 1 = Training Day 2 = Report-Writing Workshop  Day 2 is intended to offer you a day with the trainer to *recreate* your most essential (or most often used) Cognos reports  In order to prepare for this, I’ll be scheduling meetings with you and the other users in your department between now and August in order to review those reports.

Register Next Week  I’ll be sending out an email to all current license holders late next week. The email will include a link to the training registration page on our website, along with simple instructions. Please don’t register now, as the dates haven’t been posted yet.  Users will likely be enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis while seats are available. Users with a high volume of PowerPlay and Impromptu reports should take the earliest training available to them, as they’ll need more time to convert all their reports

More about Training

 This first round of training sessions will teach very basic concepts     Later trainings teaching more advanced concepts will be offered in 2012 You will be taught what you need to generate the same data you’re currently getting out of 7.4

There is no way to guarantee that formats will remain the same or similar; our immediate goal is to recreate the data outputs you currently receive The time I spend meeting with you prior to training will give me a better sense of what we need to accomplish prior to 2012  Everyone will be Trained in Analysis Studio and Query Studio   Cognos 7 PowerPlay  Impromptu  Cognos 8 Analysis Studio (source: cubes) Query Studio (source: database objects)

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Conversion Timeline

The medical group is aiming to sunset Cognos 7.4 in January 2012  Apart from Prism Producer Dashboard reports, *all other* PowerPlay and Impromptu reports should be recreated in 8.4 by end of January This might seem ambitious, but there are several factors working in our favor:      8.4 cubes look and act so much like 7.4 cubes that the transition from PowerPlay to Analysis Studio shouldn’t be a difficult one Cubes in 8.4 will be built to mimic 7.4 as much as possible, and the folder structure in Query Studio will be built to resemble the current folder structure in Impromptu, so data items should be easy to locate Much of what you already learned about PowerPlay and Impromptu in previous trainings will spill over into Cognos 8.4

One of my goals during our individual meetings leading up to training is to streamline or combine two or more of your reports into one. This will mean recreating fewer reports in 8.4

You’ll have the medical group’s help recreating the more “complex” of your reports   The medical group is still deciding the best way to roll-out 8.4 and disable access to 7.4

   While our main goal is to have everyone converted by January 2011, we are discussing how best to do this in an organized manner We may roll-out by department; i.e. once all Anesthesia users have recreated their essential reports, we would then disable the 7.4 accounts of all Anesthesia users May do an exclusive training for the MGBS folks, as their reports is likely represent the bulk of existing Cognos reports.

Prism Producer Reports, currently built on 7.4 cubes, are exempt from this timeline!

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Cube Similarities and Differences (I’ve noticed so far)

Analysis Studio – Similarities

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Drag and drop remains essentially the same Most actions can be invoked by right-clicking your mouse Insertable Objects pane mimics the current Dimension Viewer Data can be nested into rows or columns Drill-thru ability

Screenshot of the Comb_Utilization cube in Cognos 8.4

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Cube Similarities and Differences (I’ve noticed so far)

Analysis Studio – Differences

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Now accessed through your browser (Internet Explorer) No more Layers; instead, you set up page break between items you want separated *Filter Definitions* are clearly visible in the report output Can filter on multiple items in one dimension without having them displayed on the Report (below) Lots more dialog boxes , but no more shortcut keys

Screenshot of the Comb_Utilization cube in Cognos 8.4

Getting Ready for Epic/Apex

  Our “goal” for Epic: minimal disruption to regular reporting   Currently assume that Pro-Fee Billing (a.k.a. Resolute or Resolute PB) will go live April 2012 We plan on bringing up the new “Epic” cubes and drill-thru detail within a month or two of go- live date Most cubes remain essentially the same in content and structure; only the dimensions will change to reflect Epic constructs; for example IDX Dimension Division PSA Department  Provider Location Billing Area (disappears) FSC Apex Dimension Provider Location (street address) Epic Department** Epic Plan and Payer Epic Department (DEP) table, Grouper #7 A group of Epic Departments (DEP’s) **(not a one-to-one mapping, but essentially serves the same function)

Getting Ready for Epic/Apex

    Combining IDX and Epic reporting data   Just as we currently do to combine IDX and SMS data for reporting, we will find the lowest-common-denominator in both systems and roll up to those dimensions. For example, currently:   IDX billing areas and SMS GL keys both roll up to DBS/Cost Centers We roll SMS Financial Classes up to the IDX FSC Cateogory (RC2) level These give us the ability to report PSA Pro-fee data at the Cost Center and FSC Category level.  We lose some of the IDX detail when we do this (i.e. Comb_Utilization vs. Utilization cube), but we ensure that we are truly comparing apples to apples.

Since we will continue to have run-out claims data trickle into IDX even after go-live in April 2012, Cubes and Tables based on solely IDX data will continue to be populated and made available for query through 8.4

However, as time goes on, more and more of the cubes and tables will likely reflect Epic only data Some of the objects currently being modeled and built for us by PDS only include Epic data (we’ll talk more in future meetings)

Other Things we know about Epic/Apex data

 No “disconnect” between Sched/Reg data and Claims dictionaries  Currently, SCHED and BAR use different dictionaries with no one-to-one correspondence (for example, Billing Areas vs. Sched Departments). This does not seem to be the case in Epic.

 Pro-fee data will continue to be billed out of two systems   Resolute Pro-Fee billing will generate HCFA bills, while Resolute Hospital billing will generate UB’s The same challenges presented by current SMS charges and payments   Payments are not posted to the CPT/Line Item level in SMS Service/Billing provider does not need to be identified for every CPT billed on a UB   Hospital Payment Allocation System remains the same as before These issues will be tackled the same way with respect to reporting when Epic goes live; i.e. “Combined” cubes may have less detail than the Epic cubes built solely off of Professional Billing (PB)