Import the Sample Reporting Package

This section is only for those using Flexera Analytics (powered by Cognos).

Important: Before attempting this process, be sure that you have imported the latest license for FlexNet Manager Suite, which includes new license terms for Flexera Analytics. You should have completed this license import in the topic Product Activation.

If you wish to continue with custom reporting through Flexera Analytics, use the following process to update your reports package for the new release. In overview, you need to:

Authorize the service account to complete the import
Perform the import itself
Restore normal operational permissions to appropriate accounts.

To import the sample reporting package:

In the web interface for FlexNet Manager Suite 2024 R1, add your service account (suggested: svc-flexnet) as an Analytics Administrator for the business reporting portal as follows:

Tip: You need to have administrator privileges within FlexNet Manager Suite to make these changes.
1. Navigate through the system menu ( in the top right corner) > Accounts.
  The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Roles tab, and check for the existence of the Business Reporting Portal Admin role.
  If the role does not already exist, you can create it.
3. Click the edit (pencil) icon at the right-hand end of the card for this role.
  The properties page for this role appears.
4. Expand the Business reporting portal tab of the accordion, and from the Privileges drop-down list, ensure the Analytics Administrator feature has Allow permissions.
5. Switch to the All Accounts tab, locate your service account (suggested: svc-flexnet) in the list, and click the account name hyperlink.
  The page switches to show Account Properties for your account.
6. Under the Permissions section, check whether your Business Reporting Portal Admin role is already listed against the service account. If so, you are set for upload permissions, and should continue with the next step.
7. Click the + button to the right of the current Role to add this account to another role.
  A duplicate line appears with another drop-down list of all the roles defines so far.
  Tip: Each enterprise is licensed for only a single operator in the Analytics Administrator role. If one has already been assigned this privilege, you need to move that account out before you can add the service account.
8. From the duplicate drop-down list, select your Business Reporting Portal Admin role.
  The Business reporting portal tab of your resulting list of privileges is updated. If you expand this tab of the accordion, you see that Analytics Administrator now displays Allowed access.
9. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and click Save.
  Your services account is now the (only) Analytics Administrator for use of the Flexera Analytics.
  Tip: Flexera Analytics also requires that this account is valid in Active Directory.
  This privilege level allows the account to complete the import of the sample reports package. Keep this web page available for further use shortly.
Using the service account (suggested: svc-flexnet), log into your batch server directly.
Refer to your block diagram of servers to identify this machine. If you have combined servers, this may be your processing server, or your application server.
Note: The following 6 steps can be completed using a package import utility as described here, or using a command-line interface (for which see the note at the end of the process).

Navigate in Windows Explorer to installation-folder\Cognos\BusinessReportingAuthenticationService\bin.

Example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Flexera Software\FlexNet Manager Platform\Cognos
\BusinessReportingAuthenticationService\bin

Right-click CognosPackageImport.exe and click Run as Administrator.
A window appears for the Flexera Report Designer Package Import Utility.
Click Update....
An Update Value dialog appears.
In the Value field, enter the value for Report Designer's Dispatch URL.
In a typical installation, this value has the form:
```
http://RD-Server:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch
```
where you should replace RD-Server with the name of your server hosting Report Designer (powered by Cognos).
Tip: If your Flexera Analytics server is using encrypted communication over the HTTPS protocol, specify https: as part of this value.
Click Update.
The value entered is written into the registry on this server, and the additional dialog disappears.
Tip: If you run this import utility on the same machine in future, it displays the value stored in the registry in its read-only Dispatch URL field.
Click Install Reports Package.
Progress is logged in the text window of this dialog as the package is imported into the Cognos database. When successfully completed, the last line displays Finished publishing the Report Designer package.
Important: Do not close the utility until it has finished the import! This process may take several minutes.
Restore the Analytics Administrator privilege to an appropriate interactive operator account.
1. Back in the web interface for FlexNet Manager Suite 2024 R1 (in the Accounts tab of the same page), remove your service account (suggested: svc-flexnet) from the Business Reporting Portal Admin role that includes the sole Analytics Administrator privilege (do this in the account properties, by deleting the appropriate line in the Roles group). Save the account properties that you have changed.
2. Switch to the appropriate administrator account (suggestion: fnms-admin), and for this account add the Business Reporting Portal Admin role. Save the changed account properties.
To update the Analytics welcome portal:
1. On the Analytics UI, click on the menu icon > Manage > Customization.
2. Click on Extensions and click on Upload extension icon (upper arrow button).
3. Select the Exclude_welcome.zip file from the analytics install directory > ibm > cognos > analytics > extensions folder.
4. Once uploaded, refresh the page.

Flexera Analytics dashboards and reports are now available as baselines for your own customization and extension as required. The dashboards and reports can be accessed in a web browser through the web interface for FlexNet Manager Suite: select Reports in the modal bar at the very top, then select Analytics in the menu bar. Selecting Analytics will provide you with three options:

Software Asset Management — This dashboard, provided by Flexera, displays information about applications, installations, and licenses
Hardware Asset Management — This dashboard, provided by Flexera, displays information about assets, discovered devices, and inventory
My Analytics home — This is a personal dashboard enabling the creation of a customized dashboard, populated using a variety of supplied widgets, for each operator’s specific needs.

As well, the appropriate administrator's account is configured to manage Cognos rights for other users.

Remember that Flexera Analytics requires that you allow pop-ups, and that the URL for your reports (where this is separate from the URL for your web interface) must be a trusted site for your web browser. See step 6 in Installing Flexera Analytics for more details.

Note: Rather than using the Flexera Report Designer Package Import Utility as described above, you can use the following command-line interface:

Open a command line as Administrator.
Navigate to installation-folder\Cognos\BusinessReportingAuthenticationService\bin.
Run the following commands, replacing the RD-Server placeholder with the name of your server hosting Cognos Analytics:
```
CognosPackageImportConsole.exe set -d "http://RD-Server:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch"
CognosPackageImportConsole.exe import
```
Note: If you are using single sign-on using either a SAML-compliant identity provider or Google OAuth, change the second command by adding the --saml (or -s) switch:
```
CognosPackageImportConsole.exe import -s
```

Important: If you choose to use the command-line interface, please be advised that the following options are not supported for an on-premises installation, and will not work if they are specified as part of the install:

add — Add system administrator login
remove — Remove system administrator login
sync — Synchronize tenants.