You'll likely be asked difficult questions during the interview. Preparing the list of likely questions in advance will help you easily transition from question to question.
Top cognos interview questions and answers job interview tips
1. Top 20 cognos interview questions and
answers
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• Free ebook: 75 interview questions and answers
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• Top 7 cover letter samples
• Top 8 resume samples
• Top 15 ways to search new jobs
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 1 of 30
2. Tell me about yourself?
This is probably the most asked
question in cognos interview. It breaks
the ice and gets you to talk about
something you should be fairly
comfortable with. Have something
prepared that doesn't sound rehearsed.
It's not about you telling your life story
and quite frankly, the interviewer just
isn't interested. Unless asked to do so,
stick to your education, career and
current situation. Work through it
chronologically from the furthest back
to the present.
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3. What is Cardinality?
Relationships exist between two query
subjects. The cardinality of a
relationship is the number of related
rows for each of the two query
subjects. The rows are related by the
expression of the relationship; this
expression usually refers to the
primary and foreign keys of the
underlying tables
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4. What Can You Do for Us That Other Candidates
Can't?
What makes you unique? This
will take an assessment of
your experiences, skills and
traits. Summarize concisely:
"I have a unique combination
of strong technical skills, and
the ability to build strong
customer relationships. This
allows me to use my
knowledge and break down
information to be more user-friendly."
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 4 of 30
5. What are shortcuts? Where it can be used? What
are the advantages?
There are 2 shortcuts(Local and global)
Local used in local repository and
global used in global repository. The
advantage is reuse an object without
creating multiple objects. Say for
example a source definition want to use
in 10 mappings in 10 different folder
without creating 10 multiple source
you create 10 shotcuts.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 5 of 30
6. What are the different uses of a repository
manager?
Repository manager used to create
repository which contains metadata
the informatica uses to transform
data from source to target. And also
it use to create informatica user’s
and folders and copy, backup and
restore the repository.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 6 of 30
7. What is the Difference between PowerPlay
transformer and power play reports?
Powerplay transformer' is an
‘MOLAP’ tool using which one can
create multi dimensional structure
called “CUBE”.
Powerplay for reports is used to
generate report from the cube.Only
one report can be generated from one
cube.If u want ‘n’ reports u must
create ‘n’ cubes.
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8. What is Cognos Connection? What are the types
of prompt in Cognos?
It is a Web portal for Cognos 8 and a
component which interracts with the
Content Store. It is a frontend to
publish, find, manage, organize, and
view organization’s business
intelligence data.
Value prompt
Text Prompt
Date prompt
Time prompt
Date and time prompt
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9. What is difference between content store and
content manager?
A content store is a data base which
stores the meta data of the reports.
But where as a content manager is a
service which is available in
dispatcher. which it manages the
security.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 9 of 30
10. How do you define a cube? What is cube size?
Its a multidimensional view of
dimension and measures. It is used to
analyze the data in various aspects,
which is called slicing and dicing.
GBIt depends on ur project
requirements.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 10 of 30
11. What is meant by Junk Dimension?
The Junk Dimension also called as
garbage dimension.
A junk dimension is a convenient
grouping of typically low-cardinality
flags and indicators.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 11 of 30
12. What is snapshot?
A Snapshot is the copy of data, when
we create a snapshot it copies the exact
data that'srelated to the at perticular
report, we use snapshot when ever we
want to compare reports.(Example :we
want to compare this months report
with previous months).
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13. How to generate cubes in cognos?
Power Play Transformer contain
dimension,measure,model and
cube. we can generate cube
different way.
Just right click on cube name and
build.
we can write script in unix. using
that we can generate cube.
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14. Define datastores in Cognos?
Data sources, also known as query
databases, are relational databases,
dimensionalcubes, files, or other physical
data stores that can be accessed through
IBM Cognos8. Application Tier
Components use data source connections
to access data sources.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 14 of 30
15. What is metric store database?
A metric store database is a special case of a
query database. A metric storedatabase is
used to store the information associated with
metrics that appear inscorecards, including
targets
performance metrics
thresholds
membership in sorecards
links to related reports.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 15 of 30
16. What is difference between data mart and data
warehouse?
A data mart designed for a particular
line of business, such as sales,
marketing, or finance.
Where as data warehouse is enterprise-wide/
organizational
The data flow of data warehouse
depending on the approach.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 16 of 30
17. What is difference between Informatica power
mart and power center?
Using power center we can create
global repository
Power mart used to create local
repository
Global repository configure multiple
server to balance session load
Local repository configure only single
server
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 17 of 30
18. Explain Informatica Architecture?
Informatica consist of client and server.
Client tools such as Repository
manager, Designer, Server manager.
Repository data base contains metadata
it read by informatica server used read
data from source, transforming and
loading into target.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 18 of 30
19. What are the different uses of a repository
manager?
Repository manager used to create
repository which contains metadata the
informatica uses to transform data from
source to target. And also it use to
create informatica user’s and folders
and copy, backup and restore the
repository.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 19 of 30
20. What is transformer? How do you call a store
procedure within a transformation?
Transformer is used for building the
Cubes (Multidimensional Structure
used for OLAP processing).
In the expression transformation create
new out port in the expression write
:sp.stored procedure name(arguments).
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 20 of 30
21. What is bitmap index?
A bitmap for each key value replaces a
list of rowids. Bitmap index more
efficient for data warehousing because
low cardinality, low updates, very
efficient for where class.
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 21 of 30
22. Useful job interview materials:
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• Free ebook: 75 interview questions and answers
• Top 12 secrets to win every job interviews
• Top 36 situational interview questions
• 440 behavioral interview questions
• 95 management interview questions and answers
• 30 phone interview questions
• Top 8 interview thank you letter samples
• 290 competency based interview questions
• 45 internship interview questions
• Top 7 cover letter samples
• Top 8 resume samples
• Top 15 ways to search new jobs
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 22 of 30
23. Top 6 tips for job interview
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 23 of 30
24. Tip 1: Do your homework
You'll likely be asked difficult questions
during the interview. Preparing the list of
likely questions in advance will help you
easily transition from question to question.
Spend time researching the company. Look
at its site to understand its mission statement,
product offerings, and management team. A
few hours spent researching before your
interview can impress the hiring manager
greatly. Read the company's annual report
(often posted on the site), review the
employee's LinkedIn profiles, and search the
company on Google News, to see if they've
been mentioned in the media lately. The
more you know about a company, the more
you'll know how you'll fit in to it.
Ref material: 4career.net/job-interview-checklist-
40-points
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 24 of 30
25. Tip 2: First impressions
When meeting someone for the first time, we
instantaneously make our minds about various aspects of
their personality.
Prepare and plan that first impression long before you
walk in the door. Continue that excellent impression in
the days following, and that job could be yours.
Therefore:
· Never arrive late.
· Use positive body language and turn on your
charm right from the start.
· Switch off your mobile before you step into the
room.
· Look fabulous; dress sharp and make sure you look
your best.
· Start the interview with a handshake; give a nice
firm press and then some up and down movement.
· Determine to establish a rapport with the
interviewer right from the start.
· Always let the interviewer finish speaking before
giving your response.
· Express yourself fluently with clarity and
precision.
Useful material: 4career.net/top-10-elements-to-make-a-
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 25 of 30
26. good-first-impression-at-a-job-interview
Tip 3: The “Hidden” Job Market
Many of us don’t recognize that hidden job
market is a huge one and accounts for 2/3
of total job demand from enterprises. This
means that if you know how to exploit a
hidden job market, you can increase your
chance of getting the job up to 300%.
In this section, the author shares his
experience and useful tips to exploit hidden
job market.
Here are some sources to get penetrating
into a hidden job market: Friends; Family;
Ex-coworkers; Referral; HR communities;
Field communities; Social networks such
as Facebook, Twitter…; Last recruitment
ads from recruiters; HR emails of potential
recruiters…
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 26 of 30
27. Tip 4: Do-It-Yourself Interviewing Practice
There are a number of ways to prepare
for an interview at home without the
help of a professional career counselor
or coach or a fee-based service.
You can practice interviews all by
yourself or recruit friends and family to
assist you.
Useful material: 4career.net/free-ebook-
75-interview-questions-and-answers
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 27 of 30
28. Tip 5: Ask questions
Do not leave the interview without
ensuring that you know all that you
want to know about the position. Once
the interview is over, your chance to
have important questions answered has
ended. Asking questions also can show
that you are interested in the job. Be
specific with your questions. Ask about
the company and the industry. Avoid
asking personal questions of the
interviewer and avoid asking questions
pertaining to politics, religion and the
like.
Ref material: 4career.net/25-questions-to-
ask-employers-during-your-job-interview
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 28 of 30
29. Tip 6: Follow up and send a thank-you note
Following up after an interview can
help you make a lasting impression and
set you apart from the crowd.
Philip Farina, CPP, a security career
expert at Manta Security Management
Recruiters, says: "Send both an email as
well as a hard-copy thank-you note,
expressing excitement, qualifications
and further interest in the position.
Invite the hiring manager to contact you
for additional information. This is also
an excellent time to send a strategic
follow-up letter of interest."
Ref material: 4career.net/top-8-
interview-thank-you-letter-samples
Interview questions and answers – free pdf download Page 29 of 30