Most important Cognos Interview Questions and Answers

Here is a list of 60 important and commonly asked interview questions for Cognos ( A reporting tool developed by IBM ). Download Complete Cognos Interview Questions PDF file.Cognos is one of the great tools to analyze the data from data warehouse. If you looking for the resources to learn online refer our Cognos Tutorials and PDF guides.Now let us look into those questions.


Cognos (Cognos Incorporated) was a company based in Ontario, Canada.  Its main areas of focus include performance management (PM) and making business intelligence (BI) software. The company was founded in 1969 and employed close to 3,500 people, serving over 23,000 customers in over 135 countries at its peak before it was acquired by NBM on 31st January   2008. Though the company is independent, the Cognos name is still applied to IBM’s line of business intelligence and performance management products.

Cognos Interview Questions and Answers

Below are some possible Cognos interview questions and answers in case you are planning to attend a Cognos interview soon.

  1. What is the difference between ‘macro’ and ‘prompt?


Macro is used in running set of instructions in order to execute the report, while prompt gives you a way of changing the report dynamically.

  1. What is a Transformer?


Transformer is used for making Cubes which is for the multidimensional structure in OLAP processing.

  1. What is Cognos Impromptu?


A Cognos Impromptu is set to be a tool that can be used to generate business intelligence reports

  1. What is a Datastore in Cognos?


It is a query database or a relational database or files which you can access through IBM Cognos.

  1. What is a dimension?


Dimension is defined as structure of a cube. A dimension should have at least one key attribute and hierarchies can be defined by the remaining attribute.

  1. What is Cognos Reporting tool?


Cognos is an IBM reporting tool which is used to report and analyze various data from different datawarehouse.

  1. What is Metrics designer?


Metrics Designer is a tool which is used modeling, deploying score cards and data loading procedures.

  1. What is the use of Cognos scenario?


Cognos scenario is used for finding the hidden trends and data patterns.

  1. What is a Pivot?


Pivot aids in the rotating the axis of the cube to offer a different presentation on the data

  1. What is the use of Cognos decision stream?


Cognos decision stream is a tool that is used to extract and transform the data from data sources to target source of data

  1. What is Query studio?


Query studio is one of the studios in Cognos which is used in carrying out Adhoc queries

  1. What are the two types of framework manager?


The two types of framework manager include:

  • Presentation layer
  • Physical layer
  1. What is a folder?


A folder consists of repository objects such as sources, transformation, targets and mapping that assist in organizing data warehouse

  1. What are the advantages of Cognos?


The advantages of Cognos include:

  • Planning
  • Analysis
  • Forecasting
  • Scorecard
  1. Is it possible to join multiple Databases in a Catalog?


No, it is impossible to join multiple databases in a catalog and it is achievable by Hotfile.

  1. What is Bitmap Index?


A bitmap index is used replacing list of rowids for each key value. This index is largely well-organized for data warehousing as it has low cardinality and low updates.

  1. Prepare for the first interview question anout the Cognos Tool. They will ask what is that tools or tell the tool in a few words like that
    2_What is Cognos Reporting tool
  2. What is called a Cognos Connection
    3_What is Cognos Connection
  3. What is called a report item in Cognos
    4_What is Report item
  4. What is called a filter. For which purpose you are going to use that
    5_Define filter
  5. What is meant by a query subject.
    6_What is query subject
  6. Tell me about different types of prompt
    7_What are the types of prompt in Cognos
  7. Have you header about Drill Through? What is that?
    8_What is Drill Through
  8. Name the Report Net components
    9_What are the components of Report Net
  9. Difference between Content store and content manager
    10_What is difference between content store and content manager
  10. What is Embedded filter and stand alone filter. What are the differences ?
    11_What is the difference between Stand–alone and Embedded filter
  11. Have you header about Cognos 8 BI
    12_Define Cognos 8 BI
  12. Tell me about folfer types in Cognos
    13_What are the different types of folders
  13. What is a standalone folder
    14_Explain standard folders
  14. What is a package folder
    15_Explain package folders
  15. What is a metrics folder
    16_Explain metrics folders
  16. What is macros and promot? what are the difference between them?
    17_What is the difference between macros and prompt
  17. What is called a transformer in Cognos?
    18_What is transformer
  18. Tell me about catalog and various types of catalogs
    19_What is catalog and types of catalogs in cagonos
  19. Expect a question about Cardinality
    20_What is Cardinality
  20. Question about Security Module
    21_What is the security module used in cognos
  21. Generating cubers procedure
    22_How to generate cubes in cognos
  22. Snapshot in Cognos
    23_What is snapshot
  23. Expect questions about Datastores
    24_Define datastores in Cognos
  24. Question about Metric store database
    25_What is metric store database
  25. 26_What is Report item
  26. Tell me about View and materialized view.
    27_What is difference between view and materialized view
  27. Question about Data Mart and Data warehouse ( One of the important question )
    28_What is difference between data mart and data warehouse
  28. DTM
    29_What is DTM
  29. Have you used repository manager in Cognos ? What are the uses ?
    30_What are the different uses of a repository manager
  30. Cascading Prompts
    31_What are cascading prompts