Cognos provides a simple solution for managing access to corporate content in a web environment via the upfront component. Upfront was not really designed as a complete web site / portal content management solution (a point I find myself making again and again to clients for whom I implement the Cognos BI Suite). Although it serves quite ably to allow you to flexibly customize, personalize, publish and manage content (whether BI-related or not), within the realm of the corporate intranet and elsewhere, it is limited with regard to sophisticated site component management (HTML and other markup languages, text, hyperlinks, graphics, images and so forth). The provision in its design to allow for the publication of, or linking to / from, non-Cognos documents allows for versatility that can be highly useful, and Upfront often meets the business requirements of many organizations right out of the box.
Cognos Upfront remembers your profile information as an established user, so personal settings can be automatically accessed and put into effect with every visit you make to the portal. Upfront can be easily configured to allow for further personalization, letting consumers choose and publish the information that meets their individual business needs, in the format and combinations that they deem most useful. Sharing of information between authorized parties is easy, as well.
A view of Upfront, within which we can see the delivery of a PowerPlay Web report