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TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Waterfall Charts

June 20, 2023 by Revelwood

Did you miss our webinar on waterfall charts in IBM Planning Analytics? Here’s our take on best practices and how and why to use waterfall charts.

Waterfall charts, also known as bridge charts, floating column charts, or cascade charts, are a data visualization tool used to represent changes in a value over time. They are particularly useful for showing how a specific value, such as a company’s profit or revenue, has changed from one period to another and the impact of different components on this change.

Waterfall charts are named after their appearance – the bars in the chart resemble a waterfall cascading downward. In a common example, the initial value is displayed as the starting point, and each segment of the waterfall represents the change in value due to certain factors. The length of each bar segment represents the size of the change, with upward bars indicating increases and downward bars representing decreases.

One of the advantages of using a waterfall chart is that it helps users easily identify the contribution of each component to the overall value. For example, a waterfall chart can show the contribution of different revenue streams to a company’s total revenue, thereby highlighting areas of strength and weakness in the company’s income stream.

Another common usage of waterfall charts is to show how an investment or project has affected the financial performance of a company. For instance, a waterfall chart can demonstrate the cost and revenue distribution of a new product development project over time. This can help in identifying areas where costs could be optimized or where revenue could be increased.

In enterprise planning and analytics, waterfall charts are crucial in depicting the impact of different scenarios, period-over-period comparisons, and identifying performance gaps. These charts allow professionals to identify key drivers of revenue or costs and identify areas that require improvement. It is also useful for businesses to use waterfall charts to identify performance trends, forecast trends based on prior data, and determine areas that require resource allocation.

Creating a Waterfall Chart

Creating a waterfall chart is relatively easy. A waterfall chart can include as many segments as required to represent the changes that need to be visualized.

To create a waterfall chart in Excel, start by creating a table that contains the total initial value and the changes in value. The table should represent a timeline that goes from left to right. The first column will contain a description of the different components that make up the initial value. The second column will display the size of the initial value. The subsequent columns will display the changes that occur within each segment. Each column will represent a change in the value of the previous column, either positive or negative. For example, a positive value could represent an increase in sales revenue, while a negative value could represent a rise in production costs.

Once the table has been created in Excel, the next step is to insert a waterfall chart. Select the table contents, including the initial value, then select “Insert” on the top menu bar and choose the “Waterfall Chart” type. The chart will then be created, showing each segment’s component and how it contributes to the overall value.

When using Planning Analytics, the process follows a similar outline. You will first need to create a table that houses the total initial value and the changes in value across time. The processes available with Planning Analytics are more user-friendly and automated than those of Excel, making the analysis of the chart trend even easier.

Waterfall charts are a critical representation tool in enterprise planning and analytics. They play a significant role in identifying the drivers of revenue or performance, identifying gaps in performance, and providing a retrospective review of trends in a business’s performance. Furthermore, the ability to create data-driven visualizations in IBM Planning Analytics and Microsoft Excel (amongst other tools) has allowed businesses to quickly adapt to new data insights. As a result, they are valuable tools in every data-savvy professional’s toolkit.

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: Planning Analytics Workspace (PAx) Zoom Bar

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: HTTPPORTNUMBER

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Popular Posts, Part 2

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, IBM Cognos TM1, IBM Planning Analytics, TM1, waterfall chart

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Planning Analytics Workspace (PAx) Zoom Bar

June 13, 2023 by Lee Lazarow

One of the strengths of OLAP tools like IBM Planning Analytics is that you can create data sets that stack multiple dimensions together. Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) allows you to easily convert those data sets into an easy-to-read visualization. Here is an example of a column chart that shows historical expense data by both time and company.  

These charts can quickly become hard to read as you include more dimensions in your rows. To minimize this issue, PAW includes a feature to add a zoom bar to your line and column visualizations. This zoom bar lets you focus on a smaller area of the visualization.

The zoom option is enabled within the Chart section of the Properties.  

Once enabled, a scroll bar will appear on your chart.  

You can then drag the edges of the scroll bar to zoom into a specific area. Here is an example of the same chart with a focus on Quarter 2.

This approach will make your existing line and column charts more interactive and easier to use as you ask more questions about your existing data.

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: Run TI Processes from PAx Task Pane

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: TI Dimension Functions

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Users and Groups

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: IBM Cognos TM1, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: HTTPPORTNUMBER

June 6, 2023 by Marc Assenza

Did you know that when you create a new TM1 / IBM Planning Analytics instance that the HTTPPORTNUMBER parameter is required?  This setting is placed within the TM1S.cfg file for your model.

Some things to note when defining the HTTPPORTNUMBER parameter:

  1. 1. The valid port values are between 5000 and 49151.
  2. 2. The configuration like will look something like this:

HTTPPORTNUMBER=5005

  1. 3. The port used must be unique on the server for any service, not just TM1 / PA database services.
  1. 4. If you forget to assign a value within the TM1S.cfg file, then Port 5001 is automatically assigned to the model.  This is important for multiple reasons:
  1. a. Port 5001 may already be being utilized by another service which will prevent the TM1 / PA server instance from starting
  1. b. If you have multiple TM1/PA models on the server and none of the TM1S.cfg files have the HTTPPORTNUMBER parameter defined, then the first server instance will start (if port 5001 is not currently being utilized).  Every other TM1 /PA instance will then fail because each will also try to use Port 5001, but the port is already used.

That’s it!  Just something to keep in mind when creating new TM1 / PA models on your server!

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: Popular Posts, Part 2

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Set Editor Remove Duplicates

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Popular Posts, Part 1

Home » TM1 » Page 8

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

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Popular Posts, Part 2

May 30, 2023 by Revelwood

Earlier this month we shared three of our most popular IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks blog posts. Since we publish these tips & tricks posts every Tuesday, we have plenty of tips you might have missed. Here are three more of our most popular posts over the last 12 months. 

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Edit Action Button

Action buttons in IBM Planning Analytics are a great utility that allows users to recalculate a sheet, navigate to another location, or run a TurboIntegrator process. As your models evolve, you may need to periodically revise your templates to maintain their functionality. This sometimes include the action buttons. Read this post to learn how to quickly edit all of your action buttons at the same time instead of having to navigate through your workbook and search for each button. 

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Adding a New Entry to Index Cube via Dynamic Report

If your IBM Planning Analytics model contains a cube that uses an index or slot dimension, you may encounter a situation where you’ll need to create a template that will allow your users to add data to an unused index. Read this post to see how to add a new entry in the index of a staffing cube.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: When to Build Multiple Cubes

We’ve had clients ask about the approach of building one cube for a model versus building multiple cubes for a model. A cube consists of a single table/database of data, whereas a model consists of a series of cubes that are linked together.

Planning Analytics (TM1) is designed to quickly and efficiently link a series of small cubes together. This style of thinking contradicts the approach that you may be used to with Excel. Read this post to learn more about building one cube versus multiple cubes.

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: Approaches in Planning Analytics’ New Set Editor

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Charts in Planning Analytics Workspace, Part 1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: DefineCalc

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: IBM Cognos TM1, IBM Planning Analytics, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Set Editor Remove Duplicates

May 23, 2023 by Lee Lazarow

In a recent blog post, we explained how to use Excel to produce a list of unique values. But what if you wanted to do the same thing in your subset?

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) version 82 introduced an approach into the set editor that will automatically remove duplicate members from the current set via a single click. The button looks at the elements within the current set and ensures that the full list contains only unique elements.  

Here is an example of a set that contains two instances of department 46:

Here is the same set after pressing the button:

This is especially helpful if your set contains a very large number of elements. 

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: Excel EOMONTH

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel TEXTSPLIT

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: How to Make an MDX Statement Dynamic

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: IBM Cognos TM1, IBM Planning Analytics, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: PAW Users and Groups

April 18, 2023 by Lee Lazarow

Do you know how to manage your users and groups in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW)? As of version 84, PAW now allows you to edit this information via a single click.

To open the users and groups editor, right-click on a database within your modeling workbench and select the option for Manage users and groups.

Once selected, a grid showing the users on the rows and the groups on the columns will appear. This layout mimics the approach used in Perspectives.  

The following functions are available to maintain your user security:

  • To assign or remove a user to a group, right-click at the intersection of a user and group name, then click Assign user to group or Remove user from group.
  • To assign all users to a group, right-click the group name, then click Assign group.
  • To remove all users from a group, right-click the group name, then click Remove group.
  • To assign a user to all groups, right-click the user name and then click Assign user.
  • To remove a user from all groups, right-click the user name and then click Assign user.
  • To remove a group from the database, right-click the group name and then click Remove group.
  • To remove a user from the database, right-click the user name and then click Remove user.

You can also use the editor to import users and groups from Planning Analytics Workspace or to create a new group on the Planning Analytics database.

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: Excel TEXTSPLIT

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: How to Make an MDX Statement Dynamic

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Approaches in Planning Analytics’ New Set Editor

Home » TM1 » Page 8

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

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Tips, Part 3

April 11, 2023 by Revelwood

Revelwood’s IBM Planning Analytics team has created numerous tips & tricks focused on helping people use Excel. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting some of the most popular and interesting posts on Excel. If you’ve missed our earlier posts, read part 1 and part 2.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Map Charts

Map charts is a nifty feature in Excel that will help visualize your data. It enables you to compare values and show categories across geographical regions.

Our blog post explains how you can use the Map Charts feature.

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel’s CONCAT and TEXTJOIN Functions

In recent years Microsoft introduced a new version of the CONCATENATE functional called CONCAT. Their purpose is similar in that the new function still combines text from multiple ranges and/or strings. CONCAT will eventually replace CONCATENATE.

The TEXTJOIN function joins text from multiple ranges and/or strings but includes two additional parameters. These parameters allow you to specific the delimiter and determine if empty cells are ignored. 

Learn more about Excel’s CONCAT and TEXTJOIN functions. 

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

Excel’s IF function has been around for quite a while. Back in 2020, Excel introduced the IFS function. This function checks whether one or more conditions are met and then returns the value associated with the first TRUE condition. The main objective of IFS is to simplify an expression that would have previously required multiple nested IF functions.Read our blog post to learn the format of the IFS function.

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: Excel Tips, Part 1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Tips, Part 2

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel EOMONTH

Home » TM1 » Page 8

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

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: UNIQUE Function in Excel

April 4, 2023 by Revelwood

Have you ever needed to produce a list of unique values within a cell range in Excel?  If so, the UNIQUE function can do this.

The example below shows a simple list of countries that includes some duplicates:

Table

Description automatically generated

To produce a unique list, simply pass the cell range of the original list into the UNIQUE function.

Application, table, Excel

Description automatically generated

The unique list of values will “spill” down from the original UNIQUE formula. 

Table

Description automatically generated

This approach will give you a quick and easy way to get unique values from a cell range.

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: On-Demand Webinars, Part 2

IBM Planning Analytics Tips and Tricks: Upgrading to Planning Analytics for Excel 2.0.65 or later

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel YEARFRAC

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks, TM1

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: On-Demand Webinars, Part 2

March 28, 2023 by Revelwood

Did you know we have a wide variety of IBM Planning Analytics webinars on-demand? We showcased two of our most popular webinars – Best Practices when Using Planning Analytics Workspace Charts and Creating PAW Charts Using the New Experience – in a recent blog post. 

Here are two more of our popular IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 on-demand webinars. 

Best Practices for Using TurboIntegrator

This webinar showcases some features of TurboIntegrator that you may not be using. We cover a series of functions and offer best practices for using them. We describe each function, explain how we use the function when creating models, and discuss the benefits you get by using these approaches.

Here are a few of the topics we review:

  • Making calls outside of a process
  • Modifying dimension structures
  • Creating views and subsets

 Best Practices When Using Hierarchies in IBM Planning Analytics

In this webinar, we explain the concepts, the creation and the things to consider when using hierarchies within their existing models. We show examples of hierarchies that Revelwood clients use and how they create new reports and analyses.

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: Excel Tips, Part 2

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel EOMONTH

IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks: Excel Tips, Part 1

Home » TM1 » Page 8

Filed Under: IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Budgeting Planning & Forecasting, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks, Planning Analytics Tips & Tricks, TM1

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