IBM Planning Analytics

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, 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: 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: Accessing Books

June 8, 2021 by Dillon Rossman Leave a Comment

Did you know that there are now two ways to access books in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW)?

Previously, you could access books via the “Shared”, “Personal”, and “Users” folders in the bottom section of the home page.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Accessing Books

This option still exists but it looks a little different. As of PAW update 57, these folders are now located within the toolbar on the left of the home page. Simply select the folder you would like to access and a new pane containing its contents will be displayed.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips: Accessing Books

IBM Planning Analytics Tricks: Accessing Books

The new option is via the “Reports and Analysis” tile. Click on the tile and it will launch the new “Reports and Analysis” page. From here you can see any shared or personal books, as well as anything favorited or recently used.

Accessing Books in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

Learn How To Access Books in IBM Planning Analytics

This new approach gives users multiple ways to quickly access books: via the new toolbar or via “Reports and Analysis” (where more detailed information and options are available).

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Tab Colors

June 1, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever created an IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) book and wanted to have more control over the look of the tabs? PAW version 57 introduced many settings that allow you to control formatting details about the tabs. These details include settings that define where the tabs appear on the screen and settings that define the colors associated with the tabs. These settings are found within the general area of the dashboard properties settings.

One setting defines where the tabs will be located on the page. Moving the tabs to the bottom will make your PAW book appear like a default excel workbook.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Tab Colors

Another group of settings define the colors associated with the tabs. There are three different settings to define the colors. Title color will define the color of the text within each tab, selected bar color will define the color of the line under the active tab, and fill color will define the background color of the tabs.

In addition, there are settings which allow you to override the “all tab” settings. These settings allow you to make a single tab use different coloring.

These new settings give you more control of the appearance of your PAW books and can be used to further customize your user experience.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Making Assets Accessible to Applications and Plans

May 25, 2021 by Thanh Chau Leave a Comment

When creating Applications and Plans in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW), PAW views, PAW books, and websheets can be assigned to guide each step of the business process. These objects are collectively called “Assets.”

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Making Assets Accessible to Applications and Plans

Although these objects are available from PAW books, they are not automatically available for use as assets in Applications and Plans. Only assets that are saved in the Shared folder are accessible by Applications and Plans. This is because Applications and Plans are designed to be collaborative, so the assets must be shared to be viewed by others.

This design ensures that only components which should be shared are included in collaborations and will ensure that any privately created assets are not accidentally shared.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Axis Labels

May 18, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever created a chart in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) and wanted to change the angle which the labels appear? PAW version 57 has introduced a setting which allows you to control the labels in much greater detail.

This is done by using the Item Axis Label Orientation setting within the chart properties.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Axis Labels

The results of each setting will look as follows:

Horizontal

Vertical

Rotate

Stagger

This new setting gives you more control of the appearance of your chart and can be used to further improve your user experience.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Feeding Using Cube Values

May 11, 2021 by Nina Inverso Leave a Comment

Feeders are one of the best ways to maximize the performance of rules. Essentially, feeders define where to perform calculations to better handle sparsity in a cube.

There are many ways to reference feeder elements. One of these ways is by using DB statements within the feeder. When creating feeders that use DB statements, be sure that all pointers to the elements within the DB statement reference a string value.

The following example states that the Forecast Year, defined in the Controls cube, is fed by Actuals.

[‘Actuals’] =>

DB(‘Finance’,

!Scenario,
!Company,
!Department,
!Account,
DB(‘Controls’, ‘Forecast Year’, ‘Value’),
!Measure);

If the inner DB statement (the one referencing the Controls cube) pulls a number instead of a string, then the Feeder will not work. We can avoid this issue by ensuring that the element called “Value” has been set to a String.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Feeding Using Cube Values

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Home Page Refresh

April 27, 2021 by Dillon Rossman Leave a Comment

Did you know that the home page has received a major refresh in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) update 57?

Previous versions of PAW contained a lot of unused space and the look and feel changed as you moved from the home page to various pages. In PAW update 57 and beyond, the home page has been redesigned to contain a more consistent and screen friendly layout.

The top of the page entails a “Quick Launch” section, which includes a button for the new feature called “Applications and Plans.”
The bottom section of the page allows users to view any existing applications, with additional navigation for any recently used or favorited PAW items.
The left side of the screen contains a new toolbar which replaces the old PAW home navigation to any shared, personal, or user specific books.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Home Page Refresh

This new layout is consistent throughout the PAW environment as you navigate from the home page to the various other pages, which results in a home page that utilizes space more effectively and provides a much cleaner user experience.

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:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Accessing Books

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Tab Colors

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks posts:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Making Assets Accessible to Applications and Plans

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Axis Labels

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Feeding Using Cube Values

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Filter in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Home Page Refresh

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Revelwood Overview

EXPERTISE

ABOUT

CONNECT

IBM Planning Analytics

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks posts:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

Footer

Revelwood Overview

EXPERTISE

ABOUT

CONNECT