Budgeting

Did you know TM1 allows users to create alias names for elements within your model? This is a great approach that allows you to give different names to the same element. For example, account 601 can also be displayed in reports as “601 – Comp Expense”.

Many clients have asked me for an easy way to do something similar with dimension and cube names since many of these are often created with some form of prefix (example: a glbProduct dimension or staffEmpInfo cube).

Planning Analytics allows you to create an alias called “Caption” within both the }CubeAttributes cube and the }DimensionAttributes cube. This setting will allow you to display a cube or a dimension using “friendly” names when displayed in your PAW books.

The following example shows a model containing a dimension called bpmCountry. The value within the }DimensionAttributes cube is set to “Country”.

As a result of this setting, any references to the dimension will appear in PAW as “Country” instead of “bpmCountry”.

This simple approach will allow you to make your Planning Analytics components more user friendly and easier to read.

IBM Planning Analytics (built on the TM1 engine) 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!

Read more blog posts with tips & tricks on IBM Planning Analytics and TM1:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Displaying Data in Maps

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Visualizing Data into Pie Charts

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Creating Dynamic, Attractive Views and Dashboards

Did you know you can easily control your logs, making them easier to navigate? Your TM1 server tracks data transactions made in the system. When a cube value is changed, TM1 records the change in a transaction log file named Tm1s.log. The values in the log can be used as an audit trail and can also be used as part of a data restoration approach in the event of a server crash.

While logging is a great auditing tool and an excellent point of reference, these logs can quickly become large and hard to navigate. This post shows you various ways to control your logging approach and offers some recommendations on when to disable it.

}CubeProperties

The }CubeProperties control cube includes settings to define how each cube performs within the model. One of these settings is called “LOGGING” and the value determines whether the results of data changes are logged in the tm1s.log file. A value of “YES” states that data changes will be logged and any other value (“NO”, blank, etc.) states that changes will not be logged.

The following example shows logging turned on for the bpmFinance_Metrics cube and turned off for the bpmFinance cube.

This setting is designed to serve as a default value for the cube.

TurboIntegrator

Although each cube has default values assigned to it, you can temporarily overwrite the setting via the following TurboIntegrator function:

CubeSetLogChanges(Cube, LogChanges);

The “Cube” parameter defines the name of the cube. The LogChanges value can be set to 1 to enable logging and 0 to disable logging.

Recommendation

So now that we know how to enable and disable logging temporarily, the next step is to determine when to use it. Logging is a great approach when you need a mechanism to track user entry, but it is not needed when loading data from an external source system that can easily be tracked and restored.

It is recommended that logging be disabled in the prolog of a TurboIntegrator process and re-enabled in the epilog within the following data processes:

• Loading Actuals from an external source system such as a database or a file
• Replicating data in your system (example: making a snapshot of forecast data into another scenario)

Summary

The proper use of logging can help minimize the amount of disk space needed in your environment and may also improve the efficiency of your data load processing.

IBM Planning Analytics 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!

Read more blog posts detailing IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: New Parameters for Turbo Integrator

Working with the TM1 Rest API

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: New Configuration Settings for Dates

Did you know that there are three different ways to define the false section of an IF statement?  The approach you choose will impact how the cell calculates a result.  In this blog post, we discuss these options and when to use each one.

TM1 uses a standard approach to the concept of an IF statement:

             IF (Argument, True Result, False Result)

This approach is great when you have specific values for both the true result and the false result, but what happens in situations where we only care about the true result?  The required parameters do not allow us to ignore the false result, so what do we do?

TM1 Rules allow for three different options in the False Result section:

CONTINUE: This is designed to tell TM1 to continue reading the rule until the next applicable calculation should be used.

STET: This is designed to tell the rule to stop and leave the cell empty.

A specific value (example: the number 0): This is designed to tell the rule to stop and put a specific value into the cell.

So when should you use each option?

CONTINUE – use this statement when there is another rule that may apply to the cell.  For example, you may have a generic rule that looks at all forecast values but also have a more detailed rule that looks at a specific account within the forecast.  The use of CONTINUE will allow TM1 to check the forecast rule while still giving the option of calculating the specific account.

STET – use this statement when you want the rule to “end” while giving users the ability to enter a value.  For example, you may want to have a cell calculated for ACT months while keeping it write-able for planning months.

A specific value – use this when you want the rule to “end” without giving users the ability to enter a value.  For example, you may want to have a bonus calculated for managers while ensuring that no bonus amounts can be entered for non-managers.

As you can see, each of these options perform a specific function… so be sure to think about which approach is best for your rule.

IBM Planning Analytics 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!

Did you know that server resources are vitally important to maintaining a working TM1 system? In this two-part blog series, I’ll review methods for monitoring the resources available on your server and the ways in which you can address most issues that may arise.

The three main resources you’re going to want to monitor are CPU, RAM, and disk:

• CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Often referred to as the brains of the computer, the CPU is where most calculations and operations take place.
• RAM (Random Access Memory) – Sometimes compared to a person’s short-term memory, RAM is a type of memory that can be accessed quickly and efficiently.
• Disk – Sometimes compared to a person’s long-term memory, the disk is where data is stored in your computer permanently (or until it’s deleted).

The first, and easiest, resource you can monitor is a server’s available disk space. To view the available disk space on a server, follow these steps:

1. Open Windows File Explorer
2. Select This PC in the left pane
3. Check each drive for space available

Note: The free space available on each drive is displayed next to or beneath it.

In addition, the following steps can be taken to monitor the server’s CPU, RAM, and disk usage:

1. Open Task Manager
2. View CPU, RAM, and disk usages by processes in the CPU, Memory, and Disk columns, respectively
3. Select the Performance tab
4. View total usages under the CPU, Memory, and Disk options
5. Select the CPU, Memory, and Disk option to view more details
6. Select Open Resource Monitor at the bottom of the window
7. View details regarding CPU, RAM, and disk usages on the CPU, Memory, and Disk tabs, respectively

In the next post, I will review some ways to address any resource issues you may see.

IBM Planning Analytics (built on the TM1 engine) 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!

Read the second post in this series, IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Performance Monitoring, Part 2

This is a guest post from Revelwood’s Shane Bethea.

Did you know IBM Planning Analytics 2.0 has a new feature that makes it easier to manipulate dates?

Previously, when manipulating dates in IBM Planning Analytics / TM1, I always had to reach for a crumpled up, barely legible sticky note I have laying on my desk that has the number 21916 written on it.  This is because TM1 rules and TI functions do not calculate serial date numbers from the same starting point as Microsoft Excel.  The starting point for time in TM1 is 1/1/1960 whereas the starting point for time in Excel is 1/1/1900.  The difference between 1/1/1900 and 1/1/1960 is, you guessed it, 21916 days.  Date functions in TM1 rules and TI have to take this into account by adding or subtracting 21916 when manipulating dates.

Wouldn’t it be nice to eliminate that obscure number every time you work with dates in TM1 / Planning Analytics?  Well, IBM has introduced a configuration setting in Planning Analytics 2.0 called ‘UseExcelSerialDate’ to remove the confusion. When this new configuration setting is set to T (true), TM1 / Planning Analytics rules and TI functions use a starting point of 1/1/1900.  This configuration setting can be turned on by adding the parameter to the tm1s.cfg file for your TM1 database.  The default setting is F (false).

Let’s take a look at an example. In TM1 version 10.2.2 and earlier, the date 5/31/2018 is represented by the number 21335 because 5/31/2018 is 21334 days after 1/1/1960.  However, in Microsoft Excel, the date 5/31/2018 is represented by the number 43251.  This is because 5/31/2018 is 43250 days after 1/1/1900.

Below is a simple cube rule to calculate the serial data number based on user entry of a date.  Because the UseExcelSerialDate configuration setting is false by default, I have to add 21916 to ensure that TM1 / Planning Analytics and Excel dates match.  See below where Index 001 uses only the DAYNO() function and Index 002 uses the DAYNO() function plus 21916.

Now, if I set the UseExcelSerialDate configuration setting to T, I can modify the rule to not include the addition of the 21916 and my Serial Date measure results in the value of 43251, which matches Excel serial dates.

This new configuration setting enables my TM1 functions to calculate on the same scale as Excel and removes any confusion about dates that may have existed in the past.  Best of all, I can get rid of that old sticky note.

IBM Planning Analytics  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!

Read more blog posts with tips & tricks on IBM Planning Analytics and TM1:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: The Ranked Report

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Using MDX to Compare Dimension Hierarchies

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: New Parameters for Turbo Integrator