How do I learn Cognos by myself without data to work on?

Question

I have done a course in data warehousing and data mining, and I am interested in going the Cognos business intelligence way. However, I need to practice on data which I cannot find. How do I get myself aquainted better with Cognos? I need sample data to work on. Where do I find it ?

Answer 1

Try http://www.data.gov. They have tons of large datasets of all shapes and sizes.

There's also the Stack Overflow torrent...

Answer 2

Microsoft has a great set of reusable sample data for SQL Server. It's much better than the sample gobbledygook that comes with Cognos.

http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/

You can use one of the free versions of SQL Server with Cognos.