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 (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.
What is the difference between ‘macro’ and ‘prompt?
Ans.
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.
What is a Transformer?
Ans.
Transformer is used for making Cubes which is for the multidimensional structure in OLAP processing.
What is Cognos Impromptu?
Ans.
A Cognos Impromptu is set to be a tool that can be used to generate business intelligence reports
What is a Datastore in Cognos?
Ans.
It is a query database or a relational database or files which you can access through IBM Cognos.
What is a dimension?
Ans.
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.
What is Cognos Reporting tool?
Ans.
Cognos is an IBM reporting tool which is used to report and analyze various data from different datawarehouse.
What is Metrics designer?
Ans.
Metrics Designer is a tool which is used modeling, deploying score cards and data loading procedures.
What is the use of Cognos scenario?
Ans.
Cognos scenario is used for finding the hidden trends and data patterns.
What is a Pivot?
Ans.
Pivot aids in the rotating the axis of the cube to offer a different presentation on the data
What is the use of Cognos decision stream?
Ans.
Cognos decision stream is a tool that is used to extract and transform the data from data sources to target source of data
What is Query studio?
Ans.
Query studio is one of the studios in Cognos which is used in carrying out Adhoc queries
What are the two types of framework manager?
Ans.
The two types of framework manager include:
Presentation layer
Physical layer
What is a folder?
Ans.
A folder consists of repository objects such as sources, transformation, targets and mapping that assist in organizing data warehouse
What are the advantages of Cognos?
Ans.
The advantages of Cognos include:
Planning
Analysis
Forecasting
Scorecard
Is it possible to join multiple Databases in a Catalog?
Ans.
No, it is impossible to join multiple databases in a catalog and it is achievable by Hotfile.
What is Bitmap Index?
Ans.
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.
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
What is called a Cognos Connection
What is called a report item in Cognos
What is called a filter. For which purpose you are going to use that
What is meant by a query subject.
Tell me about different types of prompt
Have you header about Drill Through? What is that?
Name the Report Net components
Difference between Content store and content manager
What is Embedded filter and stand alone filter. What are the differences ?
Have you header about Cognos 8 BI
Tell me about folfer types in Cognos
What is a standalone folder
What is a package folder
What is a metrics folder
What is macros and promot? what are the difference between them?
What is called a transformer in Cognos?
Tell me about catalog and various types of catalogs
Expect a question about Cardinality
Question about Security Module
Generating cubers procedure
Snapshot in Cognos
Expect questions about Datastores
Question about Metric store database
Tell me about View and materialized view.
Question about Data Mart and Data warehouse ( One of the important question )
DTM
Have you used repository manager in Cognos ? What are the uses ?
A data structure is the method of arrangement of data in the computer for ease of storage and retrieval. It provides an efficient way to manage a large amount of data.
Here is a list of important interview questions about Data structures ( with answers ).Download Complete PDF file.Data Structures are the main basics of computer programming like C++ . It is one the important theory part for programming related courses. And every programmer needs be very thorough about the data structures. In most of interviews related programming, they will ask questions regarding various data structures. Now let us look into the questions.
Data Structure interview questions and answer
In case you are planning to attend a data Structure interview, here are a few questions you might be asked, and their answers as well.
What are some areas of application of data structure?
Ans
Some uses of a good data structure include:
In designing algorithms that are highly efficient.
For managing large internet indexing services and databases with huge information.
What are the types of data structure?
Ans
The major types of data structure include the following:
An array: This is the number of identical elements arranged in a certain order.
A record: This contains some elements that are called fields.
A tagged union: This contains some extra files that indicate the type of the data structure. It is also called disjoint union, variant record, variant, or discriminated union.
A linked list: A linked list can simply be referred to as a list. Any type of data elements is linearly collected in a linked list. The data elements are called nodes and each node has a value pointing to the next node in the same linked list.
A class: A data structure with data fields such as a record is known as a class.
Stack: This works on the principle of first in, last out. This implies that the element that is stored in a stack last will be retrieved first, and vice versa.
Queue: A queue works directly opposite a stack. It works on first in, first out. The element that is inserted first will be removed first.
Linked list: Data are stored in a linked list linearly.
Trees: Non-linear data storage is used.
What are linear and non-linear data structures?
Ans
A linear data structure involves the arrangement of values in a linearly. Some typical examples of a linear data structure are lists, queues, stacks, and arrays.
In a non-linear data structure, the elements are not stored in a sequence. Graphs and tree are some examples of a non-linear data structure.
What factors determine the choice of data structure for a program?
Ans
If you are a programmer and want to choose a data structure for your program, consider these factors:
The size of the data.
The size of the storage.
The data dynamics, such as changing or editing the data.
The speed of data use
What is the difference between a data type and data structure?
Ans
In computing, a data type is a group of data values with characteristics that are already defined. Some data types are floats, characters, integer, and string. These are called primitive data types. A data structure, on the other hand, is a grouping of data for easy organization and accessibility. Tables, Array stacks, structs, queues, classes, files, and lists are some data structure.
What are data structure operations?
Ans
There are four operations that can be performed on a data structure. They are:
Traversing
Insertion
Searching
Deletion
Each of these operations can be performed with ease if you have a good knowledge of data structures.
You need to know about the basic definition and introduction about Data structure. They will ask like what is Data structure like that.
Next prepare the answer for question about Linked List
Now let us expect a question about Binary Tree
One of the most important structure ‘Queue’. Surely there will be a question regarding queue and stack for your interview
Introduction about Spanning Tree
What is mean by precision in Data structures.
Why you are using data structures and what are the goals?
Important difference between a queue and array ( Another Important question )
Question about Sequential search
What are the main disadvantages of Array implementation of linked list
Here I have collected some qood interview questions with answers about Informatica that is generally asked. Download Complete Questions in PDF. It will be helpful for freshers and experienced people in Data warehousing field using Informatica software. You can also treat this as a Informatica tutorial for learning purpose. For getting more resources to learn check this Informatica introduction and PDF training guides.
Informatica is one of the most powerful and widely used toold for ETL ( Extract , Transform, Load ) data from source to a different target.
This is an ETL or data integration tool. It is used for gathering data from a good number of sources and loading the data into specific targets without saving the data in a specific place. It also delivers the right data that will meet the needs of the user as well as produce excellent results because it is designed to promote resources and services over different machines.
Informatica Interview questions and answers
Informatica has some questions which you may be asked when attending an interview. Some of those questions and their answers include:
What are the advantages of Informatica?
Ans.
Informatica has some advantages over other data integration systems. A couple of the advantages are:
It is faster than the available platforms.
You can easily monitor your jobs with Informatica Workflow Monitor.
It has made data validation, iteration and project development to be easier than before.
If you experience failed jobs, it is easy to identify the failure and recover from it. The same applies to jobs that are running slowly.
In what real situations can Informatica be used?
Ans.
Informatica has a wide range of application that covers areas such as:
Data migration.
Application migration.
Data warehousing.
What are some examples of Informatica ETL programs?
Ans.
Some basic Informatica programs are:
Mappings: A mapping is designed in the Designer. It defines all the ETL processes. Data are read from their original sources by mappings before the application of transformation logic to the read data. The transformed data is later written to the targets.
Workflows: The processes of runtime ETL are described by a collection of different tasks are known as workflow. Workflows are designed in the Workflow Manager.
Task: This is a set of actions, commands, or functions that are executable. How an ETL process behaves during runtime can be defined by a sequence of different tasks.
Which development components of Informatica have the highest usage?
Ans.
There are many development components in Informatica. However, these are the most widely used of them:
Expression: This can be used to transform data that have functions.
Lookups: They are extensively used to join data.
Sorter and Aggregator: This is the right tool for sorting data and aggregating them.
Java transformation: Java transformation is the choice of developers if they want to invoke variables, java methods, third-party API’s and java packages that are built-in.
Source qualifiers: Many people use this component to convert source data types to the equivalent Informatica data types.
Transaction control: If you want to create transactions and have absolute control over rollbacks and commits, count on this component to bail you out.
What are the uses of ETL tools?
Ans.
ETL tools are quite different from other tools. They are used for performing some actions such as:
Loading important data into a data warehouse from any source known as Target.
Extracting data from a data warehouse from any sources such as database tables or files.
Transforming the data received from different sources in an organized way. Some of the notable sources where data are received include SAP solutions, Teradata, or web services.
This Questions & answers part contains the questions and answers about
Last week I met one of my old friend. He want to know the job opportunities in PHP. He had done a course in PHP from one local institute. But their training was terrific. My friend had attended 2 interviews and failed to answer those questions. He asked me to prepare some basic questions that generally asked for PHP job interviews.
I asked him a simple questions first. Whats the full form of PHP ? After seeing his endless thinking, I started to answer. Initially it was “Personal Home Page“, but now its “PHP:Hypertext Preprocessor“. Its funny to think that Letter P in PHP stands for “PHP” itself. H stands for Hypertext and P stands for Preprocessor.
Next I told him, you need to remember one name always as like your father. He really surprised and asked what. I told you need to remember “Rasmus Lerdorf” because he is initially created PHP and known as father of PHP. So obviously he should be the real person behind you job. May be your interviewer will ask this also.
What are the different methods to pass data for a form submission? GET method and POST method. But never stop your answer by saying these two names. You should start telling about the difference between them. GET method simply send the data with url as query strings and it will be visible. But POST method will hide the passing data. So POST method will be suitable for submitting secure data like passwords and all. GET method url can be saved for future reference without again form submission. GET method url’s can be added to favorite and can be indexed by search engines. So the proper method will select as per the requirement. Maximum limit for data transfer is also different. POST method can pass more data than GET method. See now you have done a good answer for a simple questions from interviewer.
For an interview for PHP freshers, interviewer will try to grasp his basic knowledge than a wide knowledge. So you should be thorough and should provide a detailed answers for basic questions. Same time if you don’t know the answer, tell him honestly instead of boring & wasting his time. That will increase your chance to face more questions that you know correct answers.
The main 10 topics in PHP that you can expect questions from are
Loops ( For, Do, While )
Arrays ( Creation, Searching , Different types , sorting )
Writing a PHP exam or attending the interview can be a bit tricky. But here are a few questions you are likely to be asked:
How does PHP work?
Ans
As a web design and scripting language, you can embed PHP into HTML or HTML5 code for designing an interactive website.
If you have some web template systems, web frameworks, or web content management systems, you can also combine PHP with them.
The processing of PHP code is done by an interpreter that is handled as a module in the server or as an executable in Common Gateway Interface (CGI). It is not uncommon to see developers execute PHP code using a command-line interface.
What are the common uses of PHP?
Ans.
PHP is commonly used for the following for web pages:
It performs some system functions such as to create and open a file. It can also read a file, write into it, and close it.
It can be used to handle forms which include gathering data from files and saving data to a file.
You can use PHP to modify the contents of your database by adding, deleting, and editing the elements.
If you want to access or set cookies and cookies variables, PHP is handy.
You can set users restrictions to restrict the access of users to some of your website pages with PHP.
Interacting with the database is also possible by using PHP.
What are the areas of application of PHP?
Ans.
Due to the versatility of PHP, you can use it for the following:
Generating PDF files.
Creating WordPress Plugins.
For processing and generating images.
Creating mailing lists.
Designing applications (apps).
Building an online community.
For creating graphs and charts.
For creating dynamic website templates.
It is a good Project Management tool.
For web applications.
What are PHP variables?
Ans.
There are 8 PHP data types for constructing variables. These are:
Integers: For storing whole numbers without decimal numbers, eg. 2698.
Doubles: Doubles are used to store numbers with decimal numbers. Such numbers are called floating-point numbers, eg 3947.987.
Objects: These are defined by the programmer using PHP in a class and can be used according to the specific purposes for which they are defined.
Booleans: This can only hold two values, true or false.
Resources: These are special variables that can be used to gain access to resources that are outside the PHP because these variables hold references to such resources. A typical example of such external resources is database connections.
NULL: NULL is another special variable. It has a single value which is NULL.
Array: An array is a variable that contains other values in an indexed form.
Are you planning to attend a software testing interview soonest? There are several questions you are likely to be asked during the interview. The earlier you know what to anticipate the better the outcome of the interview would be. So, here are the top 30 software testing interview questions you may be asked, as well as their answers.
What is ‘software Testing’?
Software testing is the act of operating a system or application under control and then assessing their results. It is intentionally simulating a problem situation in order to work out a possible remedy in case a situation like that actually happens.
What kind of testing should we consider?
The basic testing to consider include Blackbox testing, Integration testing, Whitebox testing, User acceptance testing, Load testing, Acceptance testing, Performance testing, and Smoke testing.
What is Software ‘quality’?
Quality software is software that is reasonably free from bug, is up to the requirements and/or expectations, delivered on time and according to the budget, and is easy to maintain.
What is ‘Software Quality Assurance’?
Software Quality Assurance also known as Software QA, encompasses the entire process of developing software: observing and improving the process, seeing that the standards and procedures agreed upon are followed, and making sure that problems are discovered and also fixed.
Does every software project need testers?
This solely depends on the context or size of the project, the methodology of development, risks involved, and the experience and skills of the developers. Generally, every project would need testers, except in some cases. A project that is non-trivial sized or with non-trivial risks would need a testing staff. But whereby the project is for a short term, low risk, small, and with programmers that are highly experienced that are making use of test-first development or unit testing, such project may not need a test engineer for it to do well.
What is verification? And what is validation?
Verifications are reviews and meetings which are intended to help evaluate documents, code, specifications, and requirements. It is usually done with checklists, walkthroughs, issues lists, and inspection meetings.
Validation, on the other hand, entails the real testing and it is done after completing the verification.
What is Regression testing?
This is the act of retesting a program that has been tested previously in order to be sure that there has not been any fault following the modification or that no new fault has been introduced.
What is a ‘test plan’? What is a ‘test case’?
A software project test plan is a document that explains the objective, approach, focus, and scope of a software testing. A test case, on the other hand, is a document that explains an action, input, or event, and a response that is expected, to help decide if an application’s feature is functioning properly.
Why does software have bugs?
Software has bugs for the following reasons
Errors in programming
Lack of communication or no communications at all
Requirements changes
Time pressures
What should you do after finding a bug?
You need to report the bug and then assign it to developers that can take care of it. When you have fixed the problem, retest the fixes, decide the requirements for regression testing in order to be sure that no more problems are eventually caused by the fixes.
How can you introduce new Software QA processes to an existing Organization?
This is usually determined by the organization’s size as well as the risks involved. If it is a small project or group, it may be better to use a more ad-hoc process, depending on the customer and project type. It can also be done via incremental self-managed team approaches.
What are 5 common problems in the software development process?
Schedule that is unworkable
Requirements changes
Inadequate communication
Insufficient testing
Poor requirements
What are the 5 common software development problems solutions?
Schedule that is practicable
Clear communication among the project team members
Firm requirements
Clearness of requirements
Sufficient testing
What steps are needed in developing and running software test?
Get the requirements, functional design, and plan for the internal design, and other documents that are relevant.
Get budget and the schedule conditions
Decide project framework
Recognize risks
Decide testing approaches, process, test setting, test data
Carry out test
Carry out reviews and evaluations
Sustain and keep documents up to date
What is the best software test estimation approach?
This is determined by the organization, the type of project, and the experience of the involved personnel. However, here are a few approaches to consider:
Metrics-Based Approach
Implicit Risk Approach
Percentage-of-Development Approach
Test Work Breakdown Approach
Iterative Approach
How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications are sometimes complex as a result of the multiple dependencies among clients, communication of data, server, and hardware, particularly multi-tier systems. Stress/load/performance testing can help to determine the capabilities and limitations of client/server application.
What are the attributes of a good software QA engineer?
They should be able to comprehend the whole process of software development and how it blends with the organization’s goal and the business approach. Diplomacy and patience are highly required in the early phases of QA processes implementation. For inspections and reviews to be successful, ability to identify problems and spot ‘what is missing’ is a must.
What information does a test strategy capture?
It captures the general approach’s explanation to be used as well as the testing styles, specific types, and techniques.
How can we test World Wide Web sites?
Things to consider might include:
Testing the HTML specification, internal and external links
Testing the server’s expected loads
Testing the securities needed to be implemented and verified
The applets, ActiveX components, cgi programs, javascript, etc that you need to track, maintain, and control
Performance that you should anticipate on the side of the client.
What is extreme programming and what has it got to do with testing?
Extreme programming otherwise known as ‘XP’ is a software development step taken by small teams working on projects that are susceptible to risk and also have requirements that are not steady. To carry out extreme testing, it is expected that the programmers should first write unit and functional test codes before the application code is written. It is also important to make the customer an important part of the project team and assist in developing scenarios that would enable you to conduct acceptance/black box testing.
What is ‘good code’? What is ‘good design’?
‘Good code’ is a code that works well, has no bug, can be read, and can be maintained. Good internal design signifies a software code with a clear, understandable, modifiable, and maintainable overall structure. It has to be robust with the capacity for adequate error handling and status logging and works properly when it is executed. Good functional design refers to an application with a functionality that one can trace back to the requirements of the end-user and customers.
How can you know when to stop testing?
The following factors determine when to stop testing:
Deadlines such as testing deadlines, release deadlines, etc are met
Test cases are completed with ‘pass’ in certain percentage
Exhaustion of test budget
Coverage of code/requirements/functionality attains a specified point
A drop in the rate of bug below a certain level
An end of the beta or alpha testing phase
What if there is not enough time for detailed testing?
Decide where to focus the testing with the help of risk analysis
Decide which important functionality is to be tested
Establish the aspects of the project that are high-risk
The kinds of test to be performed have to be prioritized
The tests to have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio have to be decided.
What is the main objective when reviewing a software deliverable?
To discover fault in any software work product
What determines the level of risk?
The level of risk is determined by the likelihood of an adverse event and the impact of the event
What is the benefit of test independence?
It prevents the partiality of the author in defining effective tests.
What is SEI? CMM? CMMI? ISO? Will it help?
They are all standards that decide effectiveness in quality software delivery. They help organizations in identifying best practices that are valuable in assisting them in increasing the maturity of their processes.
What is integration testing?
This is the testing carried out to be sure of the accurate operation of the components in the implementation model when combined to execute a use case.
What is developer testing?
Developer testing refers to the aspect of test design and implementation that the team of developers considers most appropriate to undertake.
What is system testing?
It is the series of tests aimed at making sure that the modified program is able to interact properly with other components of the system.
Here is a list of commonly asked basic level Software Testing Interview Questions.You must prepare about different types of testing and about the commonly used Words in Software Testing before attending the Interview.
What are the importance of Software Testing?
What are the main tools you are used for Software Testing?
What are the different types of Software Testing?
What are the difference between Black Box and White Box testing?
What are the difference between Manual Testing and Automated Testing ?
What is Unit Testing ?
What is Integration Testing ?
What is acceptance testing ?
What is Static testing?
What is System testing?
What is Load Testing?
What is Smoke Testing?
What is Soak Testing?
What is Scalability Testing?
What is Sanity Testing?
What is Ramp Testing?
What is Monkey Testing?
What is Gray Box Testing?
What is Functional Testing?
What is Glass Box Testing?
What is Dynamic Testing?
What is Compatibility Testing?
What is Concurrency Testing?
What is Component Testing?
What is Ad Hoc Testing?
What is Agile Testing?
What are the different phases in Software Testing?
How you define defects and Bugs?
What are the roles of a QA specialist?
What is Test Case and Test Plan ?
Tell me about Top Down and Bottom Up approaches in testing?
Here is a list of commonly asked LoadRunner interview questions.Don’t forget to prepare the answers for these questions before attending your interview.
What is the difference between “Load Testing” and “Performance testing” ?
How long you are using LoadRunner and which version you experienced with ?
Tell me about step by step processes of Load Testing?
What is the use of LoadRunner software and what are the main components of that software?
What is the use of recording a script ? and how you will do that by LoadRunner?
What is the role of Controller component in LoadRunner?
What is the role of Virtual User Generator (VuGen) component?
Describe about rendezvous point?
Describe about scenario?
What is called parameters?
Tell me the difference between Automatic correlation and manual correlation?
Have you set automatic correlation options? and How ?
What is the role of Web_reg_save_param function?
Tell me the main run-time settings changes you have done in LoadRunner?
How do you perform functional testing under load?
How you can increase the amount of Vusers/load on the server ?
What is the purpose of running the Vuser as thread?
What is the role of lr_abort function ?
What is the use of Throughput graph?
How you can detect the performance bottlenecks?
Tell me about overlay graph and Correlate graph?
What is the difference between standard log and extended log?
How many types of goals in a goal oriented scenario ? And what are they ?
