IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Administration Page Layout

March 23, 2021 by Dillon Rossman Leave a Comment

Did you know that the administration page layout has changed in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) update 57?

In previous versions of PAW, the administration page used a tabbed approach that separated each component into its own tab. This required administrators to click through each tab to gain insight on a single component.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Administration Page Layout

In PAW version 57 and later the administration page uses a tiled approach. Each tile represents the individual components of PAW administration. IBM has also incorporated some basic insights for several components. This provides a singular place where administrators can see a high-level status of PAW rather than having to click through each tab. If an administrator spots an issue or needs further information for a specific component then he/she can simply click into the tile.

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: Introduction to Apps and Plans

March 16, 2021 by Thanh Chau Leave a Comment

As of version 58 of IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW), IBM introduced new features called Applications and Plans. These are meant to guide business processes by centralizing and organizing required tasks to make sure that all steps are completed in the correct sequence.

To access the area, click on the Applications and Plans pane on the homepage when you first log onto PAW.

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace: Introduction to Apps and Plans

On the next page, you can create a new application or plan by clicking on the “Create” drop down and selecting the appropriate option.

Before you can add to your application or plan, you must enter a name.

For applications, you can add “sections” to your process. Each section corresponds to a step in your business process. You can add assets such as PAW views, websheets, or books for users to access easily. You can also assign PAW groups to each step to show who is responsible for completing that task.

Plans are similar to applications, but they also provide the ability to set due dates and allow for submissions as a form of approval or completion notice.

So when would you use each type?

Applications are designed to be used as a guide for set business processes that do not depend on multiple groups. Examples include CAR requests, monthly forecasting steps, cost center requests, or variance reviews.
Plans are for collaboration in which the steps are dependent upon each other or other groups. This is typically the annual budget process and special projects such as mergers and acquisitions which require steps to be completed in a timely manner.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: The Waterfall Chart

January 19, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (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 and is very helpful in determining which values are beneficial to the total and which values are detrimental.

The image below shows an exploration and its corresponding waterfall chart.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: The Waterfall Diagram

The chart shows information about each region while also defining each region as a positive (green) or negative (red) amount, which makes it easy to determine what is adding to the total and what is reducing the total.
The chart makes it easy to compare regions against each other, which allows you to quickly see that the Northeast gross profit is much larger than the West.
The chart allows users to look at the pieces as a rough percentage of the total, which lets you see that the Northeast accounts for more than half of the total.

PAW also allows you to customize various aspects of the chart, including colors for each bar.

Understanding the waterfall diagram in IBM Planning Analytics

The combination of an exploration and a waterfall chart can be used as the starting point for a user friendly dashboard in PAW.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Asymmetric Axis in PAW

December 1, 2020 by Thanh Chau Leave a Comment

One of the helpful features of IBM Planning Analytics is the ability to create explorations using asymmetric axes. This is useful when you have stacked column or row dimensions, and only want to display certain combinations of elements instead of all combinations of the stacked dimensions.

To do this in Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW), open a workbook in PAW and open an exploration. Click on the icon to make the row dimensions asymmetric or the icon for the column dimensions. Next, hold down the CTRL key and select the rows or columns you want to keep or hide.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Asymmetric axis in PAW

Right-click on one of the selected columns and select “Keep” or “Hide.”

If you need to revert back to the normal view, right-click on any row or column and select “Unhide All.”

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: Merge an Icon and a Button, Part 2

July 7, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

In an earlier post, I showed how to merge a button onto an image in IBM Planning Analytics to create an easy-to-navigate user experience. However, as a developer I may forget which images are just images and which images contain buttons.

To get around this, I sometimes add small reminders to my images to let me know there are two things merged into a single image. In the previous post, I recommended changing the text to a blank value. This result gives you the house image below.

However, if you change the text into something small (such as a period) then you can easily make it fit into part of the image.

To the end user, the house now looks like it has a door. But as a developer, I now know that there are two components … an image and a button.

Hiding “dots” in your image is an easy way for you to remember the components in your PAW pages.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Merge an Icon and a Button, Part 1

June 30, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

User experience is an important factor when designing any system. One of the most important aspects of the experience is the ease in which users can navigate from one page to another.

In situations where an IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) book has multiple sheets, the navigation is as easy as clicking on the applicable sheet at the top of the page (just like you would do in Excel). However, in situations where there are multiple books, the navigation may require the use of a button.

Buttons are easy to create via the icon at the top of the screen.

The resulting button appears as a rectangle and can be formatted to change things such as the text, the color and the border.

But did you know that you can make your own button by merging an image with a button? For example, maybe you want a “home” button that looks like a house. You can do this by using an image from the shapes icon and formatting it to your desired color and size.

You can then drag a button on top of the image.

By changing the text to a blank value, the button becomes “invisible.” Users will then be able to click on the house to navigate back to the home page.

This approach offers an easy way to create an good user experience for navigation throughout your PAW books.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Administration Page Layout

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Introduction to Apps and Plans

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: The Waterfall Chart

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Asymmetric Axis in PAW

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: