IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks

Did you know IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) gives you many options for showing data in charts? Here are some tips and tricks for working with charts in PAW.

Scatter Chart vs Bubble Chart

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 is also great to see patterns. So what is the difference between the two types of charts? 

In this blog post, we explain the difference between the two types of charts. As you’ll learn, the type of chart makes a difference when reviewing your data. How to decide which chart to use? It’s simple – ask yourself how many details you want to see at once. 

The Waterfall Chart

PAW includes various visualizations that can be used to view your data. One of these visualizations entails a chart called a waterfall chart. This type of chart will help you show the components of a summarized number. It is very helpful in determining which values are beneficial to the total and which values are detrimental.

This blog post shows an exploration in PAW and its corresponding waterfall chart. 

Lines vs Area for Multiple Elements

A line chart is typically used to show values over time. This type of chart is great to see trends with your data. An area chart is also used to show values over time and is sometimes referenced as a line chart with the area below the line filled. While this is the case in PAW for a chart that contains a single line, it is not the case for a chart with multiple lines. 

Read this blog post to learn about a line chart versus an area chart. 

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!

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: DefineCalc

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Top 3 Blog Posts of 2022

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: 2022’s Top 3 Tips & Tricks Videos

Have you ever needed to quickly generate a list of numbers? Maybe you need to create a list from 1-100. Maybe you want to create a list of the first 100 even numbers. Maybe you want to create those same lists in descending order. Did you know that Excel has a function called SEQUENCE which allows you to quickly create these lists?

The SEQUENCE function is used to generate an array of sequential numbers.  The syntax of the function is:

=SEQUENCE (rows, [columns], [start], [step])

• Rows (required)
  • This is the number of rows to be filled
• Columns (optional)
  • This is the number of columns to be filled
  • If skipped, this defaults to 1
• Start (optional)
  • This is the starting number in the sequence
  • If skipped, this defaults to 1
• Step (optional)
  • This is the increment for each subsequent value
  • If skipped, this defaults to 1
  • This can be negative to provide a descending list

The following example shows a single column list from 1-10

The same formula doubles the result when the column parameter is defined. Note that the results read from right to left (e.g., the entire row) and then goes down.

Here is the same formula when adding both a starting value and an increment.

Not only can this formula be used to quickly generate lists, but it can also be used as part of a combination:

• With the DATE formula to define a calendar
• With the TIME formula to create a daily schedule
• With data from another column to create unique IDs for items like products or employees

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Creating Control Objects from the Modeling Workbench

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts in PAW Models

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Customizing Background Colors for Data and Header Cells

Sometimes your TurboIntegrator scripts can become very long. While it’s nice to be able to scroll up and down throughout your code, there are times that you may want to go directly to a specific line. IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) version 79 allows this via the “Go to Line” button.

Once clicked, you are prompted to select a section and a line within the section.  

When defining a line, note that the line numbers restart within each section. In the example below, each set of generated statement lines begin at line 2 (since I like to skip a line for easy reading) and the first line of code in the Data section begins at line 5.

This approach will help you speed up your navigation as you write code in TurboIntegrator.

Revelwood has worked with IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 for more than 27 years. We’ve partnered with hundreds of companies on the design, development, maintenance and updates of IBM Planning Analytics applications, across every industry. Have a challenge with Planning Analytics / TM1? We can help you!

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace Borders in Preview

IBM Planning Analytics Tips &Tricks: Rounded Buttons in Planning Analytics Workspace

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: MDX Syntax Explained

Do you know how to define your global settings in the overview area of an IBM Planning Analytics Exploration? Revelwood’s FP&A Technology Director, Lee Lazarow, demonstrates how to manage and define these settings. 

Watch our latest IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks video to learn:

• Locate the gear icon in the overview area of your Exploration
• Identify the four different global settings you can define
  • Hierarchy name – shows details about each dimension
  • Iconography – gives details about each one of the dimensions, similar to the legacy version of Subset Editor
  • Context information – provides details about the database, which database it is references, which cube it is referencing
  • Section headers – shows within the area what is the context, or what was previously called titles or picks.

When you define your global settings in IBM Planning Analytics, you create a better experience for your end users. It enables end users to determine what they are looking at and what they are navigating through.

Revelwood has worked with IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 for more than 27 years. We’ve partnered with hundreds of companies on the design, development, maintenance and updates of IBM Planning Analytics applications, across every industry. Have a challenge with Planning Analytics / TM1? We can help you!

Watch more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Videos:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Add Color to Multidimensional PAW Charts

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts in PAW Models

Did you know you can use MDX to create dynamic subsets based on cube values in IBM Planning Analytics? In our example we will only show companies with net sales greater than 30,000,000 in the selected year. 

An MDX statement that can provide this result may look something like this:

{FILTER({TM1SUBSETALL([bpmCompany])},[bpmFinance].([bpmScenario].CurrentMember, [bpmDepartment].CurrentMember,[bpmAccount].[Net Sales],[bpmCurrency].CurrentMember,[bpmPeriod].CurrentMember,[bpmFinance_Msr].[Balance Post-Alloc]) > 30000000 )}

The components of this statement are:

• FILTER({abc}),[Cube].([Dim1].[Value],[Dim2].[Value]…) > 30000000 )
  • Filter set ABC to only show members with a value greater than 30,000,000 for the intersection defined in the section after the comma
• TM1SUBSETALL([bpmCompany])
  • Grab all members within the bpmCompany dimension
• [bpmFinance]
  • The cube being used for the data
• ([bpmScenario].CurrentMember, [bpmDepartment].CurrentMember,[bpmAccount].[Net Sales],[bpmCurrency].CurrentMember,[bpmPeriod].CurrentMember,[bpmFinance_Msr].[Balance Post-Alloc])
  • The intersection used to get the cube value
  • This is like a DBRW formula in the sense that we are defining a view by listing every dimension and providing a member within that dimension
    • CurrentMember will grab whatever element is selected in the cube view for that dimension
    • The other dimensions are using a specific member that we always want to filter by

Below you will see only companies with net sales greater than 30,000,000 for the “Balance Post-Alloc” measure remain in the bpmCompany subset. This will dynamically update as selections for other dimensions are changed.

Revelwood has worked with IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 for more than 27 years. We’ve partnered with hundreds of companies on the design, development, maintenance and updates of IBM Planning Analytics applications, across every industry. Have a challenge with Planning Analytics / TM1? We can help you!

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: NumberToStringEx

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: WildcardFileSearch

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