IBM PAW

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Attributes Types

June 17, 2025 by Marc Assenza

Do you know how to see attributes and attribute types in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW)?

While in the dimension editor, click on the tab that says Attributes.

The attributes will be presented to the right of the elements. But how do you know what type of attribute it is?

To see the attribute type click on the “gear” icon. A context menu will present itself that allows you to click an option called “Attribute Type.”

A screenshot of a computer

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Once enabled, you will now see icons that tell you what type of attribute it is:

123 means the attribute is numeric
abc means the attribute is text
The “person” icon means the attribute is an alias

This approach will help you easily define types when populating and using attributes.

Revelwood is an IBM Gold Business Partner with 25+ years of experience designing, developing, implementing and maintaining IBM Planning Analytics environments. Revelwood has helped clients in all sizes across all industries optimize and grow their use of Planning Analytics. Revelwood’s Planning Analytics team consists of experienced PA experts, including a multi-year IBM Champion.

Stay up to date with PA – sign up for our weekly Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and join our IBM Planning Analytics All-Stars group on LinkedIn.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Rule Auto Complete Display

June 3, 2025 by Lee Lazarow

There are various ways to use the IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) rules auto-complete feature to help you create rules in your environment. For example: when referencing a specific element, you can simply type a left bracket and a single quote to see a list of selectable components. You can then click on an element to have it automatically populate into your rule.

When populated, the result will appear as a fully qualified member reference. The phrase “fully qualified” means that three parts will be defined:

Dimension
Hierarchy
Member Name

For example, if I have a hierarchy in the Account dimension called “GAAP_Reporting” then a fully qualified reference to account 100100 will appear as:

[‘Account’:‘GAAP_Account’:‘100100’]

In a situation where no hierarchies are defined, the dimension name will be repeated. For example, the same account with no hierarchies would appear as:

[‘Account’:‘Account’:‘100100’]

In situations where you are not using hierarchies, this may appear redundant … and potentially confusing to new developers. You can change the appearance of the account within your rule by modifying your settings.

If the full expression is not selected, the same account will appear as:

[‘Account’:‘100100’]

Stay up to date with PA – sign up for our weekly Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and join our IBM Planning Analytics All-Stars group on LinkedIn.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace Visualization Axis

May 24, 2022 by Revelwood Leave a Comment

Did you know you are able to create custom axis labels for IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) visualizations? Below is a column visualization that shows periods on the x-axis and a net income amount on the y-axis. As you can see, a generic description appears for both titles.

While this generic wording does properly define the axis, you may to change the wording of the titles to something more user friendly.

While in “Edit” mode for your PAW book, click on your visualization then click “Properties” in the top right corner.

Within the “Properties” menu, click on the “Visualization” tab then expand the “Axis” section.

Scroll down until you see “Item axis title” and “Value axis title”.

The “Item axis title” corresponds with the x-axis, and the “Value axis title” corresponds with the y-axis. This may change based on the visualization selected. We can use this approach to create a more user friendly description on each axis such as to “Month” and “Net Income $”.

We now have custom axis labels. You are also able to customize the font, color, and orientation of these labels.

IBM Planning Analytics, powered by TM1, is full of new features and functionality. Need advice? Our team here at Revelwood can help. Contact us for more information at info@revelwood.com. We post new Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks weekly in our Knowledge Center and in newsletters!

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Defining a Process Within Existing Chores

September 14, 2021 by Revelwood Leave a Comment

There are times when you need to change a process within an existing chore in IBM Planning Analytics. The challenge is to understand what chores will be impacted by a change in a process. You could edit or remove and process and then manually look at each chore to determine if it will be impacted. But who has the time for that?

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) offers an easier way to check which chores are affected by a specific process.

Watch this IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks video and our FP&A Technology Director, Lee Lazarow, will show you how easy it is to use PAW to see all the chores that can be impacted by a change.

You will learn how to:

Select a process
See an option to show all the chores where the process is used
Determine if you want to edit the chore or remove the process from the chore

Check back soon for new videos in our IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks series. Want to be notified of new videos? Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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 Tips & Tricks: PAW Explorations – Row & Column Headers

September 7, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Visualizations are used to provide an easy understanding of large data sets. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, what happens when you want to see the intricate details of your numbers? This is where IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) explorations come into the picture.

There are many formatting options for your numbers, but what about the headers? Do you want to simply see a set of rows and columns or do you want the ability to expand into the details? Do you want to differentiate values at different levels or do you want to use consistent formatting? Do you want your row headers to be defined differently than your column headers?

PAW makes it easy to create your preferred approach via some simple settings. The settings are found within the Exploration features of the Custom area. Within the area, settings exist for each of the four settings.

IBM Planning Analytics - PAW Explorations

Here is an example of an exploration that differentiates accounts levels and allows for drilling down to the base level accounts but does not allow for any differentiation or drilling into the time periods.

This flexibility allows you to define both the look and usage of your explorations, thereby enhancing (and hopefully simplifying) the end user experience.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Scatter Chart vs Bubble Chart

July 20, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

A scatter chart is used to show relationships within your data. This type of chart is great to see patterns and groupings over a large set of values. A bubble chart is also used to show relationships and it also great to see patterns. So what is the difference between the two types of charts?

A scatter chart is used to show the correlation of two data sets that have different ranges of values. The IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) example below shows the correlation of revenue and gross profit.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Scatter vs Bubble

The values associated with gross profit range from approx. 50,000 to 250,000. The values associated with revenue range from approx. 350,000 to 850,000. The scatter chart allows you to put these two different data sets onto the same chart and therefore see patterns. In this case, we see a positive correlation between larger revenue and larger profit … thereby telling us that our indirect costs are somewhat symmetrical to our direct costs.

But what if we also want to know how the number of units impacts these numbers? This cannot be done on a simple two dimensional chart, but it can be done by adjusting the size of the dots within the chart. This adjustment approach is the purpose of a PAW bubble chart.

Here is the same set of data with the inclusion of units:

In both situations you can see the correlation in the data by looking at the patterns. However, the bubble chart also gives you information on the units by adjusting the size of the dots. This gives us another positive correlation between larger unit sales and larger revenue … thereby telling us that we may have the opportunity to introduce regional pricing.

As you can see, the type of chart makes a difference when reviewing your data. So how do you decide which chart to use? The simple answer is to ask yourself how many details do you want to see at once? Are you looking for two correlations or more? As long as your picture answers that question, you can never go wrong!

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) Marker Shape

July 13, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

A line chart can either be a simple line or it can include markers for each data point. Most people associate a marker as a simple dot, but did you know that IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) allows you to configure the shape of the markers?

This is done by enabling the property called “Show markers’ and then defining a value for the property called “Marker Shape.” Both of these settings are found within the Chart settings of the Visualization area.

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace Marker Space

In addition to a circle, PAW offers a variety of shapes that you can use on your chart.

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace Marker Shape

This flexibility allows you to customize your line charts and enhance your end user experience.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Pie Chart Sizing

June 22, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Did you know that IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) allows you to “split” your pie chart widget to define how much of the space is allocated to the legend and how much of the space is allocated to the chart?

While in edit mode, you can view and modify the split by moving your mouse over the widget. You will then see a bar appear that can be used to resize the split.

Here is an example of a chart with a legend:

Pie Chart Sizing in IBM Planning Analytics

Here is the same chart with my mouse hovering in the legend area of the widget:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips: Pie Chart Sizing

And here is the result of dragging the bar up:

IBM Planning Analytics Tricks: Pie Chart Sizing

You can see that the chart is now larger since less area was allocated to the legend.

Interested in learning more about charts and graphs in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace? Watch our webinar, “Best Practices When Using IBM Planning Analytics Workspace Charts.”

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace Tab Icons

June 15, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever created an IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) book and wanted to include images within each tab? PAW version 57 introduced settings that allow you to control details about the tabs. Some of these settings allow you to insert icons into the tab name. This is done via two steps.

The first step is to define the icon you want to use. This setting is found within the Individual Tab Properties and is defined independently for each tab.

An icon can be used in addition to the text or it can be used as a replacement. Here are examples of tabs that show text-only, text-with-icon, and icon-only:

The second setting defines where the icons will be positioned in relation to the text. This setting is found within the Dashboard Properties and is defined once for the entire book.

Here is an example of a tab which uses red text, includes the light bulb icon (called “idea”) and has the icon located above the title:

These new settings give you more control of the tab details within your PAW books and can be used to further optimize your user experience.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Attributes Types

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Rule Auto Complete Display

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace Visualization Axis

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Defining a Process Within Existing Chores

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Explorations – Row & Column Headers

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Scatter Chart vs Bubble Chart

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) Marker Shape

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Pie Chart Sizing

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace Tab Icons

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

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