Senturus experts answer more than 30 questions raised by participants during the webinar, “IBM Cognos TM1 v10.1 Demonstration and Planning Best Practices Overview." See all of our free resources: http://www.senturus.com/resources/
Webinar topics included:
• Overview of changes to TM1 in the version 10.1
• Demos of new functionality, including the graphical user interface, managed workspaces and full integration to the Cognos Business Intelligence environment.
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IBM Cognos TM1 v10.1: Planning Best Practices -- Questions & Answers
1. Q&A from Cognos TM1 v10.1 Webinar
5/17/2012
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2. This Q&A is from a Recorded Webinar
The questions in this log were collected during Senturus’ webinar entitled TM1 v10.1
Demonstration and Planning Best Practices Overview. After the webinar, the Senturus team
answered the questions and distributed the answers shown here.
Original Webinar Recording:
IBM Cognos TM1 v10.1 Demonstration and Planning Best Practices Overview
IBM made significant changes to TM1 in the version 10.1 release. See demonstrations of the
new functionality including
• Graphical user interface which makes modeling more efficient and intuitive
• Managed workspaces - where individuals each have their own dashboard to work with the
data, remotely contribute to an enterprise plan, and share their personal data
• Full integration to the Cognos Business Intelligence environment.
VIEW WEBINAR RECORDING AND DOWNLOAD SLIDE DECK
http://info.senturus.com/2012-05-17-TM1v10-FAQ.html
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3. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 1
Q: Can you discuss the limitations? I know there is a limit of 10 dimensions. Any other?
A: There are no limitations on dimensions in native TM1; limitations will reside on the hardware in which TM1 is
hosted on.
Q: What kind of system requirements is needed to run TM1 for a small installation?
A: System Requirements (disk, memory and processor requirements will vary greatly dependent on data size,
number of users and model. The below is just minimum requirements to run the sample TM1 servers provided.)
• Disk space: Minimum 500 MB
• Memory: Minimum 2GB RAM
• Processors: Pentium 4 or higher
• O/S: Windows 2003 (x86, x64), Windows 2008 (x86, x64), Windows 7, Linux
Q: Is Cognos Insight part of TM1?
A: Cognos Insight is different from Cognos Business Insight. Cognos Insight is part of TM1 but is also part of BI
and is also stand alone.
Q: Does Cognos Insight work with TM1 v10 only or with previous versions too?
A: Only v10.1 and above.
Q: Will Cognos Insight work on a Macintosh?
A: Right now Cognos Insight is only for Windows. If you go to ibm.com you can see supported environments for
TM1 and Cognos Insight.
.
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4. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 2
Q: What is the file size limit to use in Cognos Insight?
A: Don't know specifics, but the current version of Cognos Insight is 32 bit. A 64 bit version will be released
soon via a service pack, so with the 64 bit version, file size should no longer be an issue.
Q: Can you connect Cognos Insight to another TM1 application then publish it back to TM1 and
Cognos BI?
A: No. You need to publish Cognos Insight first to TM1, then you can connect it to another TM1 application. The
publishing process in Cognos Insight can automatically create the TM1/BI link as well as Report Studio reports.
Q: Does Cognos Insight work based on in memory method? If yes, what is the RAM size
recommendation?
A: Cognos Insight in its current version is 32bit only – so 3GB of RAM. The 64bit version is coming soon.
Q: Can Cognos Insight be imbedded into a PowerPoint file?
A: Yes, but only after the Cognos Insight data is published to BI.
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5. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 3
Q: Where does Framework Manager play a role if we are using Cognos Insight distributed to the
project to client?
A: Only after the Cognos Insight data is published to BI.
Q: Are you able to access Insight via Cognos Mobile?
A: Yes, as long as you have published your Cognos Insight information to the Cognos Server. At that point all
the existing Cognos studios and tools -- including Cognos Mobile -- have access to it.
Q: Can 'Attributes' be created (via Cognos Insight) on an end-user desktop and then published to
all, without ADMIN intervention?
A: No. I hear that is future functionality that will be added eventually.
Q: Can users link to external data using pre-built ODBC link in this interface?
A: Users can use an ODBC link to import data
.
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6. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 4
Q: Can you substitute dimensions in these cubes in this version?
A: TM1 Performance Modeler allows you to re-dimension an existing cube, either adding or deleting dimensions
from a cube or changing the order of dimensions in a cube.
Q: TM1 Performance Modular, is there a way to assign orientation of the Model, an option to set
pages, rows and columns?
A: You have the flexibility to arrange the grid and data. You can also modify tab placement, data sorting, and
zero suppression. The next time you open any node in the same application, your settings are retained.
Q: Can I attach an Excel file to a cell?
A: Not yet, coming soon - I think on a service pack of TM1 10.
Q: Besides Excel - what file types can be used as sources for Insight?
A: Simple drag and drop: xls, xlsx, csv. Menu Import: Excel (xls,xlsx,xlsm,xlzb); MSAccess (mdb, accdb); dBase
files (dbf, ndx, mdx); BI (tabular reports via System Gateway URI access); TM1 (cube view via TM1 server
access).
Q: Is there a migration path or tool for moving EP applications from EP to TM1 v10?
A: No, there aren’t any migration utilities to perform this function
Q: How many users can open or connect to one of the TM1 web applications concurrently?
A: Using the distributed approach of TM1 10, they have done testing in the thousands of users.
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7. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 5
Q: In a family of cubes (like a Contributor model) do we rely on all related cubes to self update if
we change data in just one?
A: It will depend if the links are set up as rules (updates in real time) or as processes that are kicked off
manually or scheduled to update the data.
Q: In TM1 Performance Modeler, can it handle conditional formulas and not just multiplication,
division, etc?
A: Yes, TM1 Performance modeler can create conditional formulas.
Q: Do we still need to modify the auto-generated rules to insert SKIPCHECKs and FEEDERS and do
they need to be on the same version
A: It depends on the complexity of the auto-generated rules. If the rules are complex, there will be some
needed "tuning" required of the rules that are auto-generated. And, no, TM1 v10.1 can work with BI v10.1 and
10.1.1
Q: How does a TM1 admin prevent duplicative dimensions from being created? Or dimensions that
have mistakes or omissions?
A: You cannot create objects with the same names in the same TM1 server instance. Dimensions that are
incorrectly created or named, need to be removed and added back in; you cannot rename dimensions.
Q – Does publish equate to creating TM1 Contributor app?
A – Yes. More accurately, it's creating a Cognos Insight app for people to use to contribute to the plan. It's not
the same product as the one called TM1 Contributor.
Q: Does TM1 10.1 have Turbo Integrator tabs with color highlighting?
A: No, color highlighting in Turbo Integrator is not available yet.
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8. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 6
Q: Are end users receiving warnings in TM1 Contributor as they are in Cognos EP Contributor when
they take ownership of the related node and try to edit data that has already been edited by
another user?
A: If you attempt to take ownership of a node that is currently owned by another user, the system can provide
a warning message and offer the opportunity for the user to cancel out of taking ownership.
Q: Is TM1 version 10 prepared for the advanced allocation rules to be applied for indirect cost
distribution?
A: Yes, it’s all in the rule building.
Q: Can you do allocation and lookup D-links, like in Analyst?
A: Yes, TM1 can do all of the three D-link types similar to Analyst.
Q: How would I use existing BI cube data to develop my TM1 budget model?
A: Develop a planning cube in Cognos Insight along these lines: 1) Pull data and dimensions from the BI cube
into a CI workspace. 2) Add elements to the Versions and other dimensions as needed so budget input has a
place in the cube. 3) Share the CI workspace with other planners.
Q: Can you have comments in TM1?
A: Yes, text attributes and data elements can be defined.
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9. TM1 v10.1 Question Log - 7
Q: Is there a limitation to how many items can be in the approval hierarchy (elist)?
A: No, especially not in TM1, but there are practical, performance limits for eLists in EP (depends upon the size
of the rest of the model (number of tabs), calculations, use of Cut-Down lists, etc.)
Q: How do you use TM1 cubes in Framework Manager?
A: TM1 v10.1 must have the interoperability function configured to allow packages to be published from TM1.
Q: You demonstrated how to create dimensions, I was curious about swapping one dimension for
another, also curious about adding additional dimensions into an existing cube.
A: Yes, dimensions can be swapped in cubes. But the application will require it to be re-deployed and any other
dependencies would need to be re-mapped as well.
Q: Do we still have Power Play Transformer?
A: Transformer still exists in Cognos 10.
Q: In TM1 Performance Modeler for the link can you use something like allocation table like in
planning?
A: Yes.
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