Cognos is a business intelligence, financial performance and strategy management, analytics software designed to help business organizations make decisions that for better business outcomes. It was originally known as the Quasar Systems Limited, it was changed into the name Cognos in 1982. In 2008, Cognos was officially acquired by IBM. Cognos may be integrated with the Microsoft environment. It can be integrated with the Windows Operating System by deploying the Cognos software on Windows XP & 2000, Windows Server 2008, 2003, 2000 and in clustered environments. It can be integrated with Microsoft Office by importing pre-authored reports and data through Cognos for Microsoft Office. Users may utilize Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel in exploring and analyzing multidimensional data using a spreadsheet environment. Deliver alerts in PDF or HTML through Microsoft Outlook, Import, manipulate, and publish Cognos content in Microsoft Office files. The software can also build reports, analysis, scorecards and financial plans using the data coming from SQL Server and Analysis Services.