Symptom
Dimension names are displayed with strange/invalid characters in Cognos 8, while in PowerPlay client, the dimension names are correctly
 
Cause 
Transformer embeds a characterset identifier into the generated mdc file. This is based on the locale defined in Configuration Manager->Cognos Shared->Locale. This is used by Cognos 8 to convert the cube characterset to Unicode. If the embedded characterset identifier does not match the actual coding of the data or it does not match the OS locale, mismatches may occur. The data in PowerPlay on the same machine as Transformer may still display fine as there is no chracterset conversion occurring.

Solution 
Make sure that the Operating System locale and the locale defined in Configuration manager on the Transformer machine match the coding of the data used to generate the cube.

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