IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Best Practices for Hierarchies

June 25, 2019

Did you know IBM Planning Analytics hierarchies are used to see alternative data rollups in the same view? By default, all dimensions include a single hierarchy based on the original definition.

Creating multiple hierarchies in a dimension is initially disabled in Planning Analytics Workspace. The EnableNewHierarchyCreation parameter must be set to true in the server’s tm1s.cfg file to enable hierarchy creation. This is a static parameter, which means you will need to restart the server once you change the parameter value.

Hierarchies should be maintained via TurboIntegrator (TI) processes whenever possible. For example, when changes are made to the attribute that was originally used to create an attribute-based hierarchy, the associated hierarchy is not automatically updated. The user must delete and recreate the hierarchy to see the changes reflected in the model.

Hierarchies that have been created manually or via TI process can have any structure, while attribute-based hierarchies always have three levels: a total, the attribute values, and the leaves. A hierarchy must be maintained manually or via TI process if it is asymmetric, its elements belong to more than one parent, or it requires more than three levels.

IBM Planning Analytics, which TM1 is the engine for, is full of new features and functionality. Not sure where to start? Our team here at Revelwood can help. Contact us for more information at info@revelwood.com. And stay tuned for more Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks weekly in our Knowledge Center and in upcoming newsletters!