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Planning & Reporting

IBM TM1 Tips & Tricks: When to Build Multiple Cubes

July 31, 2018 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

When working with clients to design a TM1 system, I sometimes have clients ask about an approach of building one cube for a model vs. building multiple cubes for a model. What do I mean by that? A cube consists of a single table/database of data whereas a model consists of a series of cubes that are linked together.

TM1 is designed to quickly and efficiently link a series of small cubes together, but this style of thinking contradicts the approach that you may be used to within Excel. An Excel spreadsheet is a single table of data that offers the ability to link together more data via multiple tabs and multiple workbooks. This approach easily gives you the ability to start with a single set of data and then expand it.

What happens though, when you take this approach, is that you end up with your TM1 cube looking like your attic might if you just toss all your stuff in it. You might have old skis, camping gear, baby keepsakes, and more all together in one room. It makes it hard to find what you need and, in some cases, hard to know what you even have up there.

When you build multiple cubes, it’s like having an organized system to store all your stuff. You might have a closet dedicated to your sporting equipment. Camping gear may live elsewhere in a storage unit. Your family heirlooms and keepsakes are kept in water-proof containers in the garage. It’s much easier for you to find what you are looking for.

Revelwood’s approach to building TM1 models is to build small, efficient cubes that each have a separate role and purpose. These cubes link together to make a model. For example, say we are going to build a TM1 model to calculate compensation costs for a mid-sized national technology business. That model has three main components:

  • Data that gets entered by the planning team
  • Lookup tables for various rates and dates
  • Calculated results

Each cube stores only the data that is needed for its specific function and task. For example, there may be one rate cube for Federal tax rates and another cube for state tax rates. Everyone in the company has the same Federal tax rate for a single year whereas each state has a different rate.  If you were to have one large cube for all tax rates – Federal and individual states – it would be hard to navigate and may require workarounds to make the data fit (for example, creating a “federal” state).

Building smaller cubes versus one large cube has benefits beyond those that are just about organizing your data. In fact, the organization part is really just a side benefit. When you have a model that consists of smaller cubes, you have a system that is not wasting space and provides you with a flexible foundation for your TM1 applications. Because your cubes are smaller, the entire system also performs faster.

Chances are you bought TM1 because you weren’t happy with Excel. Many Excel “systems” grow into multiple workbooks with many linked spreadsheets, which turns into a messy behemoth. Why would you want your TM1 environment to look like that?

Read more blog posts with TM1 tips & tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Video Demo: Creating a Cube

Creating TM1 Picklist Cubes

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

Excel Users Embrace IBM Planning Analytics

July 16, 2018 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

News & Events

Microsoft Excel is the tool CFOs and finance professionals love to hate. The problem is often a result of trying to use Excel  for complex financial planning and analysis. Excel is simply the wrong tool for that job. In fact, a BARC survey found that specialized planning solutions offer users the following over Excel:

  • 57% improved integration of planning with reporting and analysis
  • 57% increased transparency of planning
  • 53% better quality of planning results
  • 51% more precise/detailed planning
  • 43% increased planning frequency or faster planning
  • 43% improved integration of different sub-budgets

Why use Excel for the wrong job? With IBM Planning Analytics, you get to keep Excel, but have a much more comprehensive, secure, and purpose-built solution for continuous planning, ad hoc analysis and more. According to a new report from BARC, “The Planning Survey 18,” IBM Planning Analytics delivers business benefits that include “flexible and comprehensive planning functionality with complementary options for Excel-based reporting and OLAP analysis.”

The report, which is the industry’s most comprehensive global survey of planning software users, was conducted from November 2017 to February 2018. In total, the company received responses from 1,465 and had 875 respondents answering a series of detailed questions about their usage of one of 17 named products or product groups. 126 people provided feedback on their use of IBM Planning Analytics.

The BARC research concluded IBM Planning Analytics is “Top-ranked” in 25 key performance indicators (KPIs) and a “Leader” in 13 KPIs. The report found that “better quality of planning results are achieved by an above-average proportion of Planning Analytics users compared to other planning products.” One of the 25 KPIs for which IBM was ranked on top is “project success.” The analysts at BARC state “the flexibility of Planning Analytics as an Excel-based development environment targeted at power users might also contribute to the success of projects because many different planning and OLAP analysis requirements can be addressed with the product.” They also cite the following reasons why users select IBM Planning Analytics:

  • Flexibility, performance and scalability, which led to a high overall product satisfaction rate
  • The ability to manage multiple sub-budgets, consolidating those results, and then running simple-to-highly complex calculations
  • It’s open for all kinds of applications, including planning, analysis, and strategy/management
  • Good coverage of planning-specific requirements
  • Customers can implement both centralized top-down planning and decentralized bottom-up planning
  • It provides functionality for various planning tasks and use cases, including creating random planning models on different aggregation levels.

It turns out that Planning Analytics is not only an ideal solution for those who hit the wall attempting to use Excel for planning, but it is also easy to implement and own. According to the analysts at BARC, “Resources and expertise for Planning Analytics are widespread in the market place. Many partners provide knowledge and consulting services for customers, and they seem to do a great job in their implementation projects… The company [IBM] empowers its implementing partners in a way its large international competitors such as SAP or Oracle cannot match.”

Lastly, the BARC research concludes that “problems encountered with the product are quite rare” and that 33% of customers say they have “no significant problems at all with the product.”

Read more analysts’ assessments of IBM Planning Analytics:

Independent Survey Ranks IBM Planning Analytics Against Competing Products

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting, Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: TM1 Web Writeback Protection

June 26, 2018 by Revelwood Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

This is a guest post from Revelwood’s Shane Bethea.

Did you know that you can prevent data entry to TM1 in TM1 Web websheets? Here are a couple of different ways to do this.

The first approach can be used for input templates. Use this approach when you want your users to be able to enter data for certain cells/columns, but not others. By default, every cell in an Excel worksheet has the ‘Locked’ property set. This property has no effect on the cell unless the sheet or workbook is protected. In this example, we can select certain cells of an input template to be enterable and certain cells to be locked down or protected. To unlock certain cells in the template, right click the cells and select Format Cells. In the Format Cells dialogue box, select the Protection tab, uncheck the Locked checkbox, and select OK.

tm1 web writeback protection

Now, in the ‘Review’ ribbon in Excel, select Protect Sheet, and then click OK.

Learn about TM1 Web writeback protection

Your worksheet is now protected. Any cell with the Locked property checked will prevent data entry to TM1 in TM1 Web. Any cell with the Locked property unchecked will allow data entry to TM1 in TM1 Web.

The second approach to disallow data entry to TM1 in TM1 Web can be used for reports. Use this approach when you don’t want your users to be able to enter data at all. To do this, in TM1 Server Explorer, expand Applications and navigate to the report you want to protect. Right click the report and select Properties.

prevent data entry in TM1 Websheets

In the TM1Web Properties box, there is a checkbox called ‘Allow Cell Write Back from Web’ that is checked by default. Unchecking this box will make the file read only and will prevent writing any data into TM1. Once you’ve made your changes, select OK.

Learn how to prevent data entry in TM1 Websheets

After making any of these changes, you must close the websheet in TM1 Web, refresh the navigation tree and reopen your report.

IBM Planning Analytics 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!

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel (PAx) VBA API Calls

June 19, 2018 by Revelwood Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

This is a guest post from Revelwood’s Shane Bethea.

Did you know IBM Planning Analytics lets you make API calls through VBA in Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel (PAx)? You probably know that action buttons can be used to refresh or rebuild reports in PAx. But what if you want to refresh the data in your report as part of a VBA routine? Maybe there are more tasks you want to perform through VBA and then you want to refresh the data as the last step. IBM offers the ability to make API calls through VBA in PAx with just a few steps.

The first step is to open the Visual Basic editor in Excel and import two files (one module and one class module) that ship with your PAx installation. Do this in the VBA editor by right clicking on your workbook and selecting Import File.

Make VBA API calls through PAx

This opens an Import File dialogue box. Navigate to your PAx install location (either Program Files or Program Files (x86) ) and then navigate to \ibm\cognos\IBM for Microsoft Office\Automation\ .

You can then import two files: ‘CognosOfficeAutomationExample.bas’ and ‘CognosOfficeMessageSuppressor.cls’.

Learn how to make VBA API calls with PAx

Once imported, you can use the public sub routines in the CognosOfficeAutomationExample module. This module includes some useful sub routines, such as:

  • ClearAllData() – Functions the same as the Clear All Data toolbar/ribbon button to clear Explorations and reports from the workbook.
  • RefreshAllData() – Functions the same as the Refresh All Data toolbar/ribbon button to refresh data for Explorations and reports in the workbook.
  • RefreshAllDataAndFormat() – Functions the same as the Refresh All Data toolbar/ribbon button to refresh data and formats for Explorations and reports in the workbook.
  • UnlinkAllData() – Functions the same as the Convert to Static toolbar/ribbon button to unlink all data in the workbook.

If you want to Refresh or Rebuild a Dynamic Report in PAx (formerly Active Forms in TM1 Perspectives), you have to get more creative. To accomplish this, follow the steps to import the two modules discussed earlier and then add the below code to the CognosOfficeAutomationExample module:

How to make VBA API calls with PAx

Now you can call the RebuildDynamicReport() sub routine from a Command Button or other VBA macro to rebuild your Dynamic Report.

IBM Planning Analytics 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!

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Captions

April 17, 2018 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

Did you know TM1 allows users to create alias names for elements within your model? This is a great approach that allows you to give different names to the same element. For example, account 601 can also be displayed in reports as “601 – Comp Expense”.

Many clients have asked me for an easy way to do something similar with dimension and cube names since many of these are often created with some form of prefix (example: a glbProduct dimension or staffEmpInfo cube).

Planning Analytics allows you to create an alias called “Caption” within both the }CubeAttributes cube and the }DimensionAttributes cube. This setting will allow you to display a cube or a dimension using “friendly” names when displayed in your PAW books.

The following example shows a model containing a dimension called bpmCountry. The value within the }DimensionAttributes cube is set to “Country”.

Working with captions in IBM Planning Analytics

As a result of this setting, any references to the dimension will appear in PAW as “Country” instead of “bpmCountry”.

Using captions in IBM Planning Analytics

This simple approach will allow you to make your Planning Analytics components more user friendly and easier to read.

IBM Planning Analytics (built on the TM1 engine) 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 blog posts with tips & tricks on IBM Planning Analytics and TM1:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Displaying Data in Maps

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Visualizing Data into Pie Charts

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Creating Dynamic, Attractive Views and Dashboards

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: TurboIntegrator Logging

April 3, 2018 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

Did you know you can easily control your logs, making them easier to navigate? Your TM1 server tracks data transactions made in the system. When a cube value is changed, TM1 records the change in a transaction log file named Tm1s.log. The values in the log can be used as an audit trail and can also be used as part of a data restoration approach in the event of a server crash.

While logging is a great auditing tool and an excellent point of reference, these logs can quickly become large and hard to navigate. This post shows you various ways to control your logging approach and offers some recommendations on when to disable it.

}CubeProperties

The }CubeProperties control cube includes settings to define how each cube performs within the model. One of these settings is called “LOGGING” and the value determines whether the results of data changes are logged in the tm1s.log file. A value of “YES” states that data changes will be logged and any other value (“NO”, blank, etc.) states that changes will not be logged.

The following example shows logging turned on for the bpmFinance_Metrics cube and turned off for the bpmFinance cube.

TM1 Tips & Tricks - Logging Turbo Integrator

This setting is designed to serve as a default value for the cube.

TurboIntegrator

Although each cube has default values assigned to it, you can temporarily overwrite the setting via the following TurboIntegrator function:

CubeSetLogChanges(Cube, LogChanges);

The “Cube” parameter defines the name of the cube. The LogChanges value can be set to 1 to enable logging and 0 to disable logging.

Recommendation

So now that we know how to enable and disable logging temporarily, the next step is to determine when to use it. Logging is a great approach when you need a mechanism to track user entry, but it is not needed when loading data from an external source system that can easily be tracked and restored.

It is recommended that logging be disabled in the prolog of a TurboIntegrator process and re-enabled in the epilog within the following data processes:

  • Loading Actuals from an external source system such as a database or a file
  • Replicating data in your system (example: making a snapshot of forecast data into another scenario)

Summary

The proper use of logging can help minimize the amount of disk space needed in your environment and may also improve the efficiency of your data load processing.

IBM Planning Analytics 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 blog posts detailing IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks:

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: New Parameters for Turbo Integrator

Working with the TM1 Rest API

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: New Configuration Settings for Dates

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: False options within an IF statement

March 27, 2018 by Lee Lazarow Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

Did you know that there are three different ways to define the false section of an IF statement?  The approach you choose will impact how the cell calculates a result.  In this blog post, we discuss these options and when to use each one.

TM1 uses a standard approach to the concept of an IF statement:

             IF (Argument, True Result, False Result)

This approach is great when you have specific values for both the true result and the false result, but what happens in situations where we only care about the true result?  The required parameters do not allow us to ignore the false result, so what do we do?

TM1 Rules allow for three different options in the False Result section:

CONTINUE: This is designed to tell TM1 to continue reading the rule until the next applicable calculation should be used.

STET: This is designed to tell the rule to stop and leave the cell empty.

A specific value (example: the number 0): This is designed to tell the rule to stop and put a specific value into the cell.

So when should you use each option?

CONTINUE – use this statement when there is another rule that may apply to the cell.  For example, you may have a generic rule that looks at all forecast values but also have a more detailed rule that looks at a specific account within the forecast.  The use of CONTINUE will allow TM1 to check the forecast rule while still giving the option of calculating the specific account.

STET – use this statement when you want the rule to “end” while giving users the ability to enter a value.  For example, you may want to have a cell calculated for ACT months while keeping it write-able for planning months.

A specific value – use this when you want the rule to “end” without giving users the ability to enter a value.  For example, you may want to have a bonus calculated for managers while ensuring that no bonus amounts can be entered for non-managers.

As you can see, each of these options perform a specific function… so be sure to think about which approach is best for your rule.

IBM Planning Analytics 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!

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

TM1 Users Survey Reveals Plans for Migrating to IBM Planning Analytics

March 15, 2018 by Lisa Minneci Leave a Comment

News & Events

Revelwood’s recent survey of TM1 users uncovered when and why many organizations are planning to migrate from IBM Cognos TM1 to IBM Planning Analytics. The survey, which was conducted in Q4 2017, found that more than one quarter of respondents who are migrating to IBM Planning Analytics are planning on doing so this quarter. Slightly less than 10% of respondents plan to migrate sometime between 3-9 months. Only 13% of all respondents are not migrating to Planning Analytics at all.

TM1 Users Survey Reveals Plans for Migrating to IBM Planning Analytics

Interestingly, despite the widespread attention on cloud-based solutions, 50% of respondents plan to migrate to IBM Planning Analytics Local. 18% are migrating to Planning Analytics on the cloud and more than one quarter are still undecided if they will opt for an on-premise strategy, a cloud-based version, or a hybrid approach.

TM1 User Survey on Migrating to IBM Planning Analytics

The survey also showed there is widespread excitement about several new aspects of Planning Analytics:

  • Nearly 85% are very excited or excited about Planning Analytics Workspace
  • 67% are very excited or excited about Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx)
  • 52% are very excited or excited about hierarchies

Many of the TM1 users are still eager for information and resources on IBM Planning Analytics and aspects of migrating to the new platform. When asked what they’d like to learn more about, some responses included:

  • How to create Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx) reports (62%)
  • How to create a Planning Analytics Workspace dashboard (83%)
  • Tips & Tricks for using Planning Analytics (87%)
  • Unique uses of Planning Analytics inside the office of Finance (79%)

Interested in learning more about migrating from TM1 to IBM Planning Analytics? Contact us if you need any help.

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Advisory Services, Analytics, Budgeting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Implementation Services, Planning & Reporting, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Performance Monitoring, Part 1

March 6, 2018 by Revelwood Leave a Comment

Tips & Tricks

Did you know that server resources are vitally important to maintaining a working TM1 system? In this two-part blog series, I’ll review methods for monitoring the resources available on your server and the ways in which you can address most issues that may arise.

The three main resources you’re going to want to monitor are CPU, RAM, and disk:

  • CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Often referred to as the brains of the computer, the CPU is where most calculations and operations take place.
  • RAM (Random Access Memory) – Sometimes compared to a person’s short-term memory, RAM is a type of memory that can be accessed quickly and efficiently.
  • Disk – Sometimes compared to a person’s long-term memory, the disk is where data is stored in your computer permanently (or until it’s deleted).

The first, and easiest, resource you can monitor is a server’s available disk space. To view the available disk space on a server, follow these steps:

  1. Open Windows File Explorer
  2. Select This PC in the left paneIBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Monitoring Server Resources
  3. Check each drive for space available

Note: The free space available on each drive is displayed next to or beneath it.

Learn performance monitoring for IBM Planning Analytics

In addition, the following steps can be taken to monitor the server’s CPU, RAM, and disk usage:

  1. Open Task Manager
  2. View CPU, RAM, and disk usages by processes in the CPU, Memory, and Disk columns, respectivelyLearn how to monitor server resources in IBM Planning Analytics
  3. Select the Performance tab
  4. View total usages under the CPU, Memory, and Disk options
  5. Select the CPU, Memory, and Disk option to view more detailsTips for monitoring server resources in IBM Planning Analytics
  6. Select Open Resource Monitor at the bottom of the window
  7. View details regarding CPU, RAM, and disk usages on the CPU, Memory, and Disk tabs, respectively
Performance monitoring in IBM Planning Analytics

In the next post, I will review some ways to address any resource issues you may see.

IBM Planning Analytics (built on the TM1 engine) 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 the second post in this series, IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Performance Monitoring, Part 2

Home » Planning & Reporting » Page 18

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Analytics, Budgeting, Financial Performance Management, IBM Planning Analytics, Planning & Reporting, TM1

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