Upgrading Flexera Analytics

Once you have upgraded FlexNet Manager Suite to 2024 R1, you can upgrade Flexera Analytics. Flexera Analytics relies on IBM Cognos Analytics, and from the 2024 R1 release of FlexNet Manager Suite, the supported IBM Cognos Analytics version is 11.2.4 FP3.
Tip: At the same time as the 2024 R1 release, backward compatible packages for Flexera Analytics were released that provided updated dashboards for any release of FlexNet Manager Suite from 2018 R2 forward (that is, relying on IBM Cognos Analytics version 11.0.11). This made it optional to upgrade the IBM Cognos Analytics product at that time, since you could choose to use the backward-compatible packages instead.
From the 2024 R1 release of FlexNet Manager Suite, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade the underlying IBM Cognos Analytics version to take advantage of current and future functionality. Which process you should follow depends on your starting point – that is, from what version of FlexNet Manager Suite you are upgrading.
Tip: You can validate which version of IBM Cognos Analytics is currently installed on your system in either of these ways:
  • Navigate to Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Programs and Features, find IBM Cognos Analytics in the listing and note the contents of the Version column
  • Navigate to the installation location for IBM Cognos Analytics (the default location is C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics), open the file cmplst.txt in your preferred text editor (such as Notepad), and near the top of the file, find the value for kit_version.
Choose the appropriate topic based on your existing release of FlexNet Manager Suite that you are upgrading:
  • If you currently use FlexNet Manager Suite 2024 R1, and you updated IBM Cognos Analytics when you installed/upgraded to that version, there is no further update of Flexera Analytics required. You have already upgraded to IBM Cognos Analytics release 11.2.4 FP3.
  • If either:
    • You currently use FlexNet Manager Suite 2024 R1, but you have not yet upgraded your installation of IBM Cognos Analytics; or
    • You currently use any other release of FlexNet Manager Suite from 2017 R3 forward,
    then please refer to Upgrading Recent Flexera Analytics and use the process documented there.
  • If you currently use FlexNet Manager Suite release 2017 R2 or earlier, please use Upgrading Flexera Analytics from FlexNet Report Designer.
  • If you do not have Flexera Analytics or FlexNet Report Designer previously installed, but you are planning to add Flexera Analytics as part of this upgrade, please refer to Installing Flexera Analytics in Installing FlexNet Manager Suite On-Premises.

In any of the above cases, your new version of Flexera Analytics supports the use of the HTTPS protocol (with your preferred certificates), as well as the Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 protocol. To take advantage of either of these security features, see Configuring IIS to Use SSL/TLS Encryption and Reconfigure Cognos Analytics to Use Third-Party SSL Certificates below.

Note: Your license does not include usage of IBM Cognos for purposes unrelated to FlexNet Manager Suite. If you are using data from external data sources (that is, a database not related to FlexNet Manager Suite ), you need a separate full license for IBM Cognos.