Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Dimension Attribute Types

February 9, 2021 by Marc Assenza Leave a Comment

Did you know that IBM Planning Analytics dimensions can have defined types and that these defined types are necessary for certain Planning Analytics features to operate correctly? For example, the new predictive forecasting functionality within Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) requires the use of a designated Time dimension.

To view your dimension definitions in Planning Analytics Workspace, right-click on Dimensions and click “Edit settings” from the context menu.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips: Dimension Attribute Types

The dimensions view will open in Dimensions Security Mode. To see the dimension types, switch to Dimensions Attributes Mode.

IBM Planning Analytics Tricks: Dimension Attribute Types

Attributes for each dimension are then presented. Not every dimension needs to have a defined dimension type, but some dimensions need to be defined to use specific functionality. The following types can be defined:

GEOGRAPHY – Used in Planning Analytics Workspace to allow the visualization of your data using geographic maps.
TIME – Contains specified and recognized intervals of time utilized within a budgeting, planning, forecasting, and reporting structure.
CALCULATION – Contains formulas used to perform intended operations against your data.
METRIC – Contains a group or groups of elements that will be used to measure a business’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).
METRIC INDICATORS – Provides further information in relation to Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), an example of this is trend.
VERSIONS – Contains data from multiple uses of an element, such as current budget for a department for this year compared against the department’s budgets for prior years.
GENERIC – Used when there is no precise type of dimension type required. These general members can include things like products and customers. Please note this can be changed at any point if you determine the dimension should have had or needs to be a defined type.
HIERARCHY – This type of dimension is representative of the business reporting structure and can be used in tandem with workflow within an application.

This approach can be used with functionality associated with visualizations, predictive modeling, and other uses 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 Tips & Tricks: Manipulating Text in Excel

February 2, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to manipulate text within Excel? Excel has a series of functions that allow you to parse text strings based on whether you want to reference the left, the right, or the middle of the cell contents.

For example, assume cell A2 contains the text “Planning Analytics”. The functions LEFT and RIGHT will allow you to view characters at the start of the string or at the end of the string.

=LEFT(A2,3) will give a result of “Pla”

=RIGHT(A2,3) will give a result of “ics”

The function MID will allow you to look within the string by defining both a starting point and the number of characters in the result.

=MID(A2,3,3) will give a result of “ann”

But what if you didn’t know the number of characters? You can use functions to find a specific set of characters and to determine the overall length of the string.

=FIND(“A”,A2)-1 will give a result of “9”, which signifies that the string begins at the 9^th character

=LEN(A2) will give a result of “18”, which signifies that the string contains 18 total characters

You can then put these pieces together to find a specific set of data, such as the second word in the string. Assuming that D6 contains the LEN function and D5 contains the FIND function:

=RIGHT(A2,D6-D5) will give a result of “Analytics”

These Excel functions will allow you to quickly parse out pieces of a text string which can then be used in your spreadsheets.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel’s NETWORKDAYS Function

January 26, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to define the number of working days between two calendar dates? Do you define “working days” simply as non-weekend days or do you also include holidays? Did you know that you can calculate this information using Excel’s NETWORKDAYS function?

The NETWORKDAYS function is used to determine the number of whole working days between start_date and end_date. Working days are defined as the exclusion of weekends, which in essence computes the number of Mondays through Fridays. The function also includes an optional parameter to exclude holidays and any other specific non-working days.

The syntax of the function is:

NETWORKDAYS (start_date, end_date, [holidays])

Start_date: This is required
End_date: This is required
Holidays: This is optional
- This consists of a range of one or more dates to be excluded from the calendar. The list entails a range of cells that contains the dates.

Note: All dates are entered in date format or in serial number format

This information can be used to help calculate any/all of the following pieces of your model:

Benefit accruals and eligibility
Ratios such as “Revenue per day” or “Units per day”
Days remaining for end-of-service dates
Anything else that requires the number of days within the formula

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: Excel TYPE Function

January 12, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever referenced a list in Excel and needed to know whether each value was a number or a string? This may be required when another function depends on the type of value in each cell.

Excel has a function called TYPE that will give you this information. The function contains a single parameter, which is simply the cell you want to check. The formula will output a number that defines the type of value such as number, text, logical value or an error.

Here are results from four iterations of the TYPE formula:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Type

You can then use the type result within an IF statement to perform various functions.

The TYPE function will not determine whether a cell contains a formula. TYPE only determines the type of the resulting, or displayed, value. If value is a cell reference to a cell that contains a formula, TYPE returns the type of the formula’s resulting value.

This approach will help you when determining the use of IBM Planning Analytics formulas such as DBS vs. DBSS.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Keyboard Navigation

January 5, 2021 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to quickly go to the last used cell within a spreadsheet but did not know how? Have you ever wanted to determine where the next available row or column resides? Have you ever wondered why a spreadsheet with only a few cells of data may appear as a large file? All these answers can be provided with a single keystroke combination.

Pressing Ctrl and End at the same time will bring you to the last cell within a spreadsheet that Excel is referencing. The definition of “last” entails the rightmost column and the lowest used row on the worksheet. The last cell may not always contain data, but it will always be registered by Excel as something that is utilizing memory.

Here are some other keystroke combinations that will help you quickly navigate around your spreadsheet:

Ctrl and Home at the same time: this will bring you to the first cell (A1) in the worksheet.
End then an arrow key: this will bring you to the next empty value in any direction. For example, pressing End and then the down arrow will bring you to next empty cell in the column where your cursor currently resides.
Ctrl and PageUp : this will bring you to the previous sheet in the workbook.
Ctrl and PageDn: this will bring you to the next sheet in the workbook.

Keyboard shortcuts can easily help you navigate your Excel files and help you determine the “ending” cell within a spreadsheet. This will be useful in situations such as dynamic reports where rows and columns are automatically generated via automation.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Change Element Type in PAW

December 22, 2020 by Thanh Chau Leave a Comment

Most users of IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) are familiar with the dashboarding and reporting capabilities for front-end users. However, IBM has built-in features that allow administrators to manage their models from PAW as well. Managing the dimension structure is one such feature. Though most of it is intuitive, updating the element type is a bit hidden.

To access the dimension editor, first open a workbook in PAW. Then in the left navigation pane, expand the “Dimensions” node to find the dimension that you would like to edit.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Change Element in PAW

Drag the dimension to the work area pane on the right. You’ll see a warning stating that any changes will apply instantly unless you have reserved the dimension. Reserving the dimension locks the dimension so that no one else can make changes.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips: Change Element Type in PAW

In the PAW dimension editor, click on the icon to show the properties window. Select a member to show or change its properties. Please note that PAW doesn’t have “Consolidated” as a selectable type in the dropdown. PAW will automatically convert an element to a consolidation when you add children to it. Conversely, it will change a consolidation to a simple element when you remove all children.

IBM Planning Analytics Tricks: Change Element Type in PAW

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Rule Editor Keyboard Shortcuts

December 15, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Are you an “old school” keyboard person that still presses Ctrl-S to save your Excel workbooks? Do you flip through windows by pressing Alt-Tab? Do you remember Lotus backslash macros that used commands such as /FS for File, Save? If so, did you know that you can still do things like this within the new IBM Planning Analytics rules editor?

The easiest way to get started with keyboard commands is to press Ctrl-K within a rules window. This will open an area that shows a list of keys that can be used within the rule.

Here are some of the combinations that I use regularly when writing rules:

Ctrl-F then Ctrl-G: Ctrl-F will find a specific word or phrase and Ctrl-G will then allow you to scroll through the rule to find the next instance of that phase. This is helpful when you have a long rule and want to go directly to a section (example: quickly go to the FICA calcs in a comp model).

Ctrl-Shift-R: Ctrl-Shift-F will allow you to find and replace a single instance of text, but Ctrl-Shift-R allows you to do a find and replace within the entire rule (example: I have ‘Plan’ in the left side of many rules, but I want to replace it with ‘Plan2’).

Ctrl-Home and Ctrl-End: These combinations allow you quickly navigate to the start or the end of the rule. It’s an easy way to look for your SKIPCHECK command or go directly to your feeders section.

Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y: Ctrl-Z is the equivalent of the undo button and Ctrl-Y is the undo of the undo (or a redo). I sometimes get careless with Ctrl-Z and undo too much. This is where Ctrl-Y comes into play.

Ctrl-A: This will select the entire rule. I used this a lot with Perspectives since I often had to bring my rule into another text editor, but PA’s new formatting and line numbering has minimized the amount of times I use this combination.

If you are a keyboard person then it is good to know that Planning Analytics’ rule editor still allows you to use these combinations. And if you are not a keyboard person then maybe some of these will help improve your efficiency.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Log Lock Notification

December 8, 2020 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Have you ever tried to move or download log files and then realize that some of the files cannot be modified since they are in use? IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) recognizes this and now offers notifications to let you know which files are locked.

You can download log files by first selecting the PA Administration button at the top of your screen.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Log Lock Notification

One inside the administration area, you can view the logs by clicking on the three dots at the top, right corner of your server and selecting the option called “Download logs.”

From there, you can simply select the logs that you want to download and then select the “download” button at the bottom of the screen. Any locked log files will show the word “locked” on the screen and will also prevent you from selecting that log. The example below shows the tm1server.log file checked and shows the tm1s.log file as locked.

IBM Planning Analytics Tricks: Log Lock Notification

This approach will help you easily remember which files are accessible and which are not.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Dimension Attribute Types

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Manipulating Text in Excel

Read more Excel tips in our IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks series:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel’s NETWORKDAYS Function

Read more Excel tips in our IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks series:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: The Waterfall Chart

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel TYPE Function

Read more Excel tips & tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Keyboard Navigation

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IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Change Element Type in PAW

Read more IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Rule Editor Keyboard Shortcuts

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IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Log Lock Notification

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