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IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: An Approach to Strengthening your MDX Skills

October 20, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Are you new to IBM Planning Analytics and looking for a good way to learn about the various commands associated with MDX? The Planning Analytics subset editor offers a great way to teach you about MDX expressions that can be used to define elements within a dimension.

The example below shows the results of a subset that includes all descendants of Total Department. The subset was created by simply dragging Total Departments into the current set while having the member insertion defined as descendants.

Once created, I can see the MDX expression that is used by clicking the MDX button at the top, right corner of the screen. The resulting expression is:

However, this button is not only used to view your newly created MDX expressions. The button also allows you to edit the expression. In this case, I can change the root element to be Sales and Marketing by simply typing over the existing MDX expression.

After clicking the OK button, the elements in the current set are updated.

This approach can help you to learn the fundamentals of MDX expressions, which are helpful for many different components of Planning Analytics.

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!

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) Version 2.0.57 Release

October 16, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

IBM recently released Version 2.0.57 of Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW). Version 2.0.57 is currently offered as a local-only release and will soon be available on the cloud (as version 2.0.58). This update contains many significant changes, including both new functionality and a different look and feel.

Some of these changes include:

Overall Interface

An updated Planning Analytics Workspace user interface provides a more consistent experience with other IBM products. This includes a new home page that is customized for your role within PAW and new icons that can be used to simplify the user experience.

Predictive Forecasting

The introduction of Predictive forecasting allows you to easily model trends, seasonality, and time dependence in your data. If you are familiar with time series modeling then you can view details associated with the model type, model parameters, and accuracy measures. If you are not familiar with time series modeling, then AI driven model selection and tuning will assist you. The resulting data will provide both forecasted values and confidence boundaries.

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) v2.0.57

New Organizational Approaches

Applications help you easily group together PAW assets such as books, views, and websheets. This approach can be used to help you organize assets in ways related to the structure of your organization. This is like the legacy Applications folder that exists in TM1.

IBM releases Planning Analytics Workspace v2.0.57

New Workflow Approaches

Plans allow an administrator to create a step by step walk through of your business processes. This will help end users better understand and follow the steps within your process. This will also minimize the times for users to find their required reports and templates.

Learn about IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) v2.0.57

Book and Visualization Improvements

New properties and drag-and-drop approaches give you more control over the objects within a book while still offering an easy way to create each component. IBM has also expanded the available set of visualizations, including the addition of waterfall charts and multi-line column charts.

Get info on IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) v2.0.57

Updated Administration

An updated administration page allows you to quickly see an overview of your databases, users, and groups on a single page.

Understanding IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) v2.0.57

The Ability to Enable the New Features

Version 58 will allow administrators and users to preview the new features. Administrators will be able to enable preview mode and users will be able to “Return to Classic Experience.” Books created in the classic experience can be opened in the new experience and users can then use a “Save As” approach to update books with the new features.

Tech Bulletin: IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) v2.0.57

Further details about these new items can be found on IBM’s website.

If you have questions or would like to speak with us about these changes, please contact John Pra Sisto at jprasisto@revelwood.com.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: The Aggregate Function

October 13, 2020 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

Watch our latest IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks video to learn about the aggregate function. Lee Lazarow, Revelwood’s FP&A Technology director, demonstrates this new function that allows you to summarize values that cannot be added up or averaged.

You’ll see Lee create a simple view of net income, examining some of the details associated with opex. He looks at it for multiple companies and for a total. Lee explains how one set of data is from the original numbers that your planners input into Planning Analytics. That data is doing a standard roll-up.

The second set of data is for a calculation of the percentage of net income. Lee demonstrates what you should do if you don’t want to look at the pre-built consolidation, but instead want to look at only some of the companies. He walks you through how to create your own calculation.

You’ll learn how to make sure this calculation is not a sum calculation, but instead how to leverage the aggregate function to summarize values such as percentages or ratios.

Watch more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks videos:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Drag & Drop Functionality

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Formatting Views in Planning Analytics Workspace

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Creating Multi-Level Dimensions

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Sort Elements within a Subset

October 6, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Did you know that there are two different ways to sort elements within a subset in IBM Planning Analytics?

Below is an example of a subset which shows a standard time dimension:

Subset sort options in IBM Planning Analytics

One approach sorts all elements either ascending or descending, regardless of level. These are done via the following icons:

The result of this type of ascending sort will put all elements in alphabetical order, regardless of level:

Understanding subset sort options in IBM Planning Analytics

The other approach also sorts elements either ascending or descending, but this approach takes levels into consideration. These are done via the following icons:

The result of this type of ascending sort will put all elements in alphabetical order while keeping the levels intact:

Learn subset sort options in IBM Planning Analytics

This approach will allow you to sort your list of elements in various ways, which offers different opportunities based on the elements within the dimension.

IBM Planning Analytics Scores 13 Top Rankings and 21 Leading Positions in BARC’s The Planning Survey 20

October 5, 2020 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

IBM Planning Analytics, which is built on the well-known and proven TM1 engine, received numerous high marks in this year’s annual Planning Survey from BARC. The survey provides a “detailed quantitative analysis of why customers buy planning tools, what they use them for, they everyday problems that users experience with the tools and how successful they are.”

The survey findings include:

954% of surveyed users rate IBM Planning Analytics’ coverage of planning-specific requirements as excellent or good, compared to 89% for the average planning tool
50% of surveyed users chose IBM Planning Analytics because of its flexibility, compared to 48% for the average planning tool
43% of surveyed users chose IBM Planning Analytics because of its convincing performance, compared to 31% for the average planning tool.

“Besides planning, customers mainly use IBM Planning Analytics for ad hoc query and reporting (91 percent), standard/enterprise reporting (77 percent) and basic data analysis (72 percent). 51 percent of respondents plan to use it for advanced analysis in the future … 67 percent of Planning Analytics users are planning users – just above the survey average of 65 percent – reflecting the fact that Planning Analytics is essentially a planning tool with complementary BI and analytics functionality.” – BARC Comment

Download the highlights to learn details on IBM Planning Analytics’ rankings, read customer quotes, and more.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Editing Chores While Active

September 29, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Did you know that IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) allows you to edit chores while they are active? Perspectives required you to de-activate a chore, make your modifications, and then re-activate it. However, the two “bookend” steps of this approach have been eliminated in the PAW environment.

To edit a chore, right click on the name of the chore and select the option to “Edit Chore.”

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Editing Chores

The chore will open to show you information about the chore. You will then be able to edit the details associated with the schedule and the specific processes to run.

You have the option to disable the schedule at any time, but this is no longer a requirement.

Editing chores in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

This approach allows you to quickly modify your chores without having to perform the mundane steps of de-activating it and then re-activating it. This also means that you no longer need to remember to turn the chore back on after making your changes!

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Creating Groups in PAW

September 22, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Did you know that you can create new groups and delete groups directly in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW)? This is done within the dimension editor via the same screen that you use to edit dimensions and attributes.

Step 1: Select the dimension to be edited. This is done by either right clicking on a dimension and selecting the option to “Edit Dimension” or by dragging the dimension onto a sheet.

Step 2: Switch to member security mode. This is done by clicking the Member Security Mode icon:

Step 3: You can now modify groups by selecting the icon to either create or delete a group:

If you choose the option to create a group then you will be prompted for the group name.

How to create groups in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

Once created, you can then set security by right clicking on the applicable areas:

Right click on the group name to define security for all elements within the group
Right click on a specific element to define security only for that element

This approach will save you time by allowing you to perform all aspects of dimension maintenance within a single area.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Using Drag & Drop to Change Selector Elements in PAx Reports

September 15, 2020 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

In our latest IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks video, Lee Lazarow, Revelwood’s FP&A technology director demonstrates how to change selector elements within IBM Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx) using drag and drop functionality. This new feature enables you to do this without having to open the set editor.

Watch this video and you’ll learn how to:

Select the element you want and drag it
Drag an existing set of elements to a selector

This approach enables Planning Analytics administrators the ability to change the values in a subset without having to train your users or learn anything about the subset editor.

Watch more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks videos:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Formatting Views in Planning Analytics Workspace

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: Creating Multi-Level Dimensions

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video: The Hold Feature

Best-in-Class Companies Regularly Select Integrated Planning and Reporting Solutions

September 14, 2020 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

According to the recent BARC Score report, best-in-class companies regularly select integrated planning and reporting solutions, such as IBM Planning Analytics, over Excel or home-grown systems. This report gives an overview of the planning and analytics market and provides strengths and weaknesses of leading vendors in the space.

The BARC Score report states, “Today, the reality in many companies is that integrated planning and analytics is an often proclaimed, but seldom achieved goal … So Excel, as the lowest common denominator, is often the default first choice for integrating planning with analytics. However, the lack of coherence of data and functionality resulting from using Excel instead of specialized software tools, are frequently cited reasons for user dissatisfaction, inconsistencies or error susceptibility with planning and analytics in companies today.

The report continues, “companies that use integrated software platforms for planning and analytics experience far fewer problems than those that address both topics separately with different software tools.”

IBM Ranked a Market Leader in Report

This report covers “all of the leading vendors as well as many smaller vendors that often have less visibility, but equally offer outstanding value to their customers. The vendors included are: Anaplan, Board International, IBM, Infor, Jedox, Longview, OneStream Software, Oracle, Prophix, SAP, Unit4 Prevero, Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik, and Workday (Adaptive Insights.)

BARC’s assessment of IBM includes its portfolio of planning and analytics products – IBM Planning Analytics, powered by TM1, IBM Cognos Analytics, IBM Watson Studio and IBM SPSS. BARC lists IBM’s strengths, including:

IBM Planning Analytics offers comprehensive flexibility for business power users to create planning and analytics applications based on a high performance in-memory database
Comprehensive Excel-based functionality for preparing individual planning and analytics content in IBM Planning Analytics (modeling, custom planning forms, etc.) and publishing it to the web
Well-established and expansive partner community with global product support and knowledge

The BARC Score report is based on data points from The Planning Survey, The BI Survey and numerous analyst interactions. Download your copy of the report today.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: An Approach to Strengthening your MDX Skills

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