If so, how steep is the learning curve? ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

You mean Cognos "business intelligence software"?.. I've used it, but never programmed for it. Have no idea what language they actually use now.. "The exciting news from Cognos is that PowerHouse 4GL is expanding its reach to the Web. Using the enhancements made to the language in version 8.4, together with a new deployment suite known as PowerHouse Web, developers can create Web applications in a fraction of the time it takes with other tools." I guess its PowerHouses'own language... But it seems its also possible to program the web applications in C or Basic, although not recommended.

I used Cognos "Scenario" back probably five years ago for a large analysis of several tens of thousands of sales and resales of houses. I imported a few hundred "characteristics" on the property from county records and from my own observations, and it spit out a very nice and detailed analysis. It served me well, and wasn't difficult to understand. I haven't had the need for a major analytical software package in years, but if I did, I'd look back into cognos' latest offerings.

I've been thinking about this question since I first saw it. Here is what I know. My company has a habit of pointing at you and saying: go to class XYZ. Knowing that you will never use knowledge gained. Ah well. So about 3 months ago I am going to: Cognos 8 BI Report Authoring Part 1 Cognos 8 BI Report Authoring Part 2 A total of 5 days in class. Much time was expended learning how to use supplied Cognos tools (see below) to paint reports with input from DBRMs, Data Cubes, OLAP, ..... yada yada Report output in: text, HTML, PDF, yada ...yada, then e-mail the world. At the beginning of the class, the instructor (who was really pretty good) drew a picture of the system architecture. Took him about 5 minutes, and it was the best part of the class. I'll describe it. Draw an isosceles triangle. Upside down: the point of the spear is down. There are four horizontal layers in the triangle. I number layers from 1 starting at the top. Layer 1: One (horizontal) component. Connection/Viewer product. Client: Consumers Layer 2: Two components. Query Studio product. Analysis Studio product. Client: Report authors. Layer 3: One components. Report Studio product. Client: Report authors. Layer 4: One component. Framework Manager product. Client: Modelers. There was a lot that was not touched on in these classes: installation, details of data integration, internals, or customization/modification possibilities. Interesting system. Could be powerful in the right organizational hands. Could be useless in other contexts. Hope you get something from this. Guy

Thanks for all of the info. The fog is beginning to lift. Cognos came up a few days ago when a friend said he needed Cognos programming done. Maybe instead of learning it myself I should just find some one who can do it and put the two together. ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2