The Dashboard | Issue 04 - September by The Dashboard

The

Planning Analytics Issue

Planning

An interview with Dave Corbett Planning Analytics Workspace Cognos Analysis for Excel (CAFE) Cognos Command Centre Cognos Integration Centre IBM Bluemix Secure Gateway Analytics with Decision Optimisation

• • • • • • •

Tridant’s Quarterly Magazine | Issue 04 September

THE

DASHBOARD

Editor’s Note James Wakefield

t’s unusual for The Dashboard from Tridant to dedicate an issue to a single product but there is just so much information to get out there around IBM Planning Analytics, that we thought it was worth a one off. In this edition you will find us covering off many aspects of, and considerations for, cloud. The movement to the cloud via ‘Software as a Service’, ‘Infrastructure as a Service’ or even ‘Platform as a Service’ is like a tidal wave at the moment. Organisations are looking to the cloud for reasons including:

premise usage, for a transition period. This offer is currently available and hopefully will be around for a bit longer. We know many of our clients and organisations around the world have invested years and years in on-premise deployments of TM1 to hundreds or thousands of users but you will see by reading on that you don’t have to go to the cloud to enjoy benefits of thinking like the cloud. The architecture of Planning Analytics means you can glide from on-premise, to cloud and even back again to on-premise if you wish. Not many other products can say that today.

• Shifting costs to a subscription basis per user per month • Ecosystem connectivity as the world embraces APIs • Scalability via limitless, cost effective computing capacity • Faster time to market • Save resource allocation overhead • Upgrades and new features added on a regular basis

It also worth remembering that older versions of TM1 are now out of support from IBM. If you are on version 9.4 or 9.5 of TM1 then you should immediately think about upgrading (click here). Of course if you are on cloud technology then you never have to worry about being out of support since the software is always upgraded for you as part of the subscription.

IBM offers flexible dual-use licensing options to allow you to operate Planning Analytics in parallel with your on-premise TM1, as you phase out the on-

James Wakefield

Issue 04

We hope you enjoy this edition and please encourage others to subscribe as we continue to inform.

Director of Solutions and Marketing, Tridant Editor’s Note

IBM Bluemix Secure Gateway Page 27

Planning Analytics with Decision Optimisation

An interview with Dave Corbett

Page 32

Page 2

An overview of Planning Analytics Workspace Page 7

Cognos Analysis for Excel Page 13

Training Courses Page 20

Cognos Command Centre & Cognos Integration Server Page 21

Issue 4. Issue 04

Page 1 | Menu

An interview with

Dave Corbett

Senior Offering Manager, IBM Planning Analytics at IBM The following interview took place between James Wakefield (Tridant Director of Solutions & Marketing) and Dave Corbett on 16th June 2016. JW: Thank you for your time today Dave. Can you give us an overview of your involvement in TM1 over the years and explain your current role in IBM? DC: Its been 10 years of TM1 involvement, half with pure Applix (the company that created TM1), and the rest with Cognos and IBM. Best working days were with Applix, a fantastic company, great vibe, spirit, and a great product which grew over those years with the vision of Michael Morrison who was the CEO. I was a Product manager at Applix. My first job was actually for McCormack & Dodge straight out of school and operated in the field of ERPs which gave me a great software foundation. I worked initially in my career within support and training but now specialize in product management. I have always liked the interaction of connecting the end user community with the product team with the communication back and forth. As the TM1 industry emerged under Applix it was great to be on that ride and TM1 has such a passionate user base. It was kind of funny when Sinper (original owners of TM1) were acquired by Applix the vision was for TM1 to be the reporting tool for their CRM system. It was Michael Morrison who changed the

Issue 04

focus back to Applix concentrating on TM1 as a Performance Management solution. In the Applix days there was just myself and Rebecca Hansen as product managers but there was a very strong team around us in the field and engineering. The number of product managers has grown to eight now, as the product has grown. TM1 has always had a unique capability with its Excel design environment which can be magical for finance teams. JW: Can you describe your current role with Planning Analytics? DC: First, Planning Analytics is our new name for IBMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s planning and analysis solution â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which includes TM1 technology, Cognos BI (Cognos Analytics), Watson Analytics, plus Cognos Command Center and Cognos Integration Server. While Planning Analytics is the name for our Cloud offering, we are looking to consolidate our Cloud and On-Premises naming in the near future. I work with the product managers of these offerings but my responsibility is over the TM1 Server, TM1 API and integration with other solutions, Perspectives, CAFE, TM1Web, Scorecarding, and our new component - Workspace. Page 2 | An interview with Dave Corbett

JW: How has the uptake of Planning Analytics been worldwide? DC: We made the announcement at the IBM Vision conference that there is now over 200 customers worldwide of Planning Analytics. The uptake has been very good and we are starting to see the transition of original TM1 Cloud into Planning Analytics. Its been an interesting journey of setup and hosting with a change to DevOps management of code. We now have to manage fix packs in the cloud plus fix packs on-premise. A lot of the development roles have had to shift to DevOps. JW: Has it been an advantage being able to use IBM Softlayer for deploying Planning Analytics? DC: Softlayer provided the IBM Planning Analytics team with an established, proven world wide provider of datacenters and allowed us to move quickly with our deployments. The performance of Softlayer has been outstanding as they have very strong pipes in place. The availability of hardware has also been excellent. Softlayer is effectively an internal business partner, so we do face internal charges and one of our present goals is to improve our operational efficiency. As an interesting note, Amazon Web Service actually manages the planning for its datacenter costings and what-ifs through TM1 modelling and recently presented at our conference. JW: What features of planning analytics have customers been most excited about? DC: The Planning Analytics offering is a richer and deeper offering than our competitors based on the depth, maturity, power, and configurability of TM1. With the subscription to Planning Analytics, you now have access to the predictive and smart data analytics of Watson Analytics plus the professional reporting and business intelligence of Cognos Analytics. Introducing Planning Analytics Workspace as a front end for TM1 really gives some sex appeal and provides strong benefits for self service web-based report, Issue 04

input template, and application process design. Our modelling environment may still be client based for the moment but offers a superior environment for allowing our customers to meet their business requirements compared to our competitors. You will continue to see our innovation focus on Planning Analytics Workspace as the front end for all roles of TM1 users – including browser based model building. JW: There are some new exciting ways to interact with TM1 data like Snap commands and natural language search. Its no longer just cube views and dbrw formulas. What’s the reaction been like to these new features? DC: The reaction has been great, people love the ability to quickly build something visually appealing, rich and interactive. It is a canvas, you can add to it, views, websheets, buttons and text. We’re introducing new updateable cells that accentuate its form-building capability. You can build something very engaging that can be easily disseminated to targeted audiences of users. At the core of the product is a new viewer which is MDX based with features like asymmetrical nested dimensions, ad hoc row and column calculations, ‘the bench’ for hiding dimensions, natural language snap commands, and is ready to support the analytical features for Hierarchies and Sandbox comparison which are coming soon. In addition to powerful slice/dice/ pivot analytical analysis and writeback, the Viewer is also our connection to visualizations by going from a cube view straight into over 15 visualizations. Another powerful part of Workspace is the rich parametrization and synchronization capabilities. There are a host of easy-to-use parameter and synchronization capabilities that orchestrate data views and charts on a single sheet, across sheets in a book, and with a soon to be delivered navigation button feature – across books. Our customers absolutely love it!

Page 3 | An interview with Dave Corbett

JW: Being on the cloud means users expect new features on a regular basis. What’s the release cycle like for Planning Analytics? DC: Its important to know there are single tenant parts of the product and multi tenant parts of the product, which means different release schedules. Multi tenant sides of the product get quicker releases due to its single code base. With everyone being on the same code base it allows us to release quicker and has been a significant achievement for our team. For the last 12 weeks we have been able to deliver a new release every three weeks like clock work. There is a huge focus on quality assurance in delivery but DevOps strategy has allowed us to achieve this. There has been a lot of innovation in Planning Analytics workspace that has been immediately available to customers. There is now a feature flag that can be enabled targeted features for

support has been released since this interview was conducted). Currently we support IBM ID but we’ll have support for local authentication. I have been involved in the Digital Analytics integration allowing us to record user activity for analysis. We’d love to provide this level of tracking to our customers. JW: How have TM1 on-premise customers embraced a move to TM1 in the cloud? DC: Yes there has been a big uptake on the bridge to cloud program. There is a mix of customers who are expanding their footprints and choosing cloud as their next step and other customers using cloud in a dual capacity. There are a number of sizeable Planning Analytics customers now, an example being a major health care provider with over 1,000 users in the cloud.

“Introducing Planning Analytics Workspace as a front end for TM1 really gives some sex appeal and provides strong benefits for self service web-based report, input template, and application process design” QC or product management to test. In the future this ‘feature on/off ’ capability may be available for customers soon to provide them a controlled environment for designated feature releases. Currently the single tenant release schedule is about every 10-12 weeks. JW: It’s exciting to see other IBM products included in the IBM Planning Analytics portfolio. Can you give us an overview of some of the exciting ones? DC: IBM Secure Gateway has been a big step forward in our cloud operations and Federated Authentication Services support will be released this month (Note: Federated Authentication Services

Issue 04

JW: There is of course a large number of TM1 Perspectives users. With the focus now being on TM1 CAFE for Excel integration, how have customers found the move to CAFE? DC: The biggest benefit of CAFE is performance as a result of the TM1 REST API - which is the foundation for all our new development. Using the REST API has allowed clients to remove the requirement for Citrix or other screen scraping technology for lesser performing network connections. Customers love Excel and we have done a good job to date on the migration from Perspectives to CAFE. The support of Active Forms

Page 4 | An interview with Dave Corbett

is something our customers and business partners have been waiting for in CAFE and will be a major focus of the beta program this summer. A number of existing customers are also looking for a replacement to the existing cube viewer before moving to the cloud. We are incorporating Workspace shared services in CAFE - providing a consistent pop up Viewer, Set Editor, and Object Navigator in CAFE. A lot of customers have also liked Flex views with the ability to quickly design Reports and Input Templates in Excel using features like type in element names and formulas. JW: Will Planning Analytics be available onpremise in the future? DC: Planning Analytics on-premise is part of the beta program this Summer and a release will be scheduled after the beta . TM1 on-premise will effectively become named ‘Planning Analytics 11 powered by TM1’. Workspace as on-premise component will be part of the program and facilitated by the use of Docker containers to allow for continuous updates. Customers using Workspace on-premise will need to adhere to a cloud cadence of updates. Customers can reach out to be included in the summer beta program. Customers have flexibility to choose any direction, either on-premise, in the cloud or hosted. It’s a big differentiator in the marketplace that customers can choose to be on-premise or cloud and have a glide path between them. JW: Can you share any insights on the roadmap for planning analytics? DC: The introduction of the new Hierarchies capability in TM1 has been an 18 month journey so far in the labs and represents a vision for TM1 established a number of years ago by Manny Perez. The change to Hierarchies in TM1 will represent a foundational change to TM1 technology. TM1 over the years has supported alternate rollups really well but there are some inherent constraints

Issue 04

in a single dimension structure. We are creating a new entity called Hierarchies that sits in between the definition of a Dimension and a Member. A dimension will now be a container of hierarchies and a Hierarchy will be a container of members. Sets and levels will all be unique to a Hierarchy and what that affords structurally is MDX to work in a contained environment. Consolidations having the same names can be introduced into different hierarchies to support Re-Orgs and What Ifing on meta data structures. From an analysis perspective you will be able to use these Hierarchies as virtual dimensions. Essentially you can take attribute based data, convert to a hierarchy and use so your analysis is not bound to your dimensional definition. You can have multiple Hierarchies shown in the same front end i.e. customer by age and customer by region. Its going to allow our customers to reduce their cube footprint as they can have information as attributes instead of dimensions. Workspace views and CAFE explorations will be the first front ends to support, the next phase will be CAFE Flex views and then formulas. Not only do hierarchies afford deeper analysis but they also facilitate spread-based data entry and can be used in Business Rule calculations through rules. This will be included in the beta summer release. Workspace modelling, coming soon, will include Hierarchy maintenance. JW: So the future of our beloved TM1 still looks bright? DC: Absolutely. IBM’s investment in Planning Analytics is ushering in a new and exciting era of Planning and Analysis that provides customers with a host of features for enhanced speed, agility, and foresight. Our solution will enable companies of all sizes and industries to improve the performance of their business for many years to come.

Page 5 | An interview with Dave Corbett

Do you want sexy Cognos BI Dashbaords like these on your TM1 cubes?

overview of

Planning Analytics Workspace by Jie li

Workspace (PAW). In order to see how Planning Analytics adds true value to the business, let’s step through a typical business scenario.

“Planning Analytics is a complete game-changer.”

ften the key to a successful system is measured by how well it is adopted among its user base, system utilization, and most importantly the invaluable business insights produced by the system to assist with the decision making process. While most software applications have these intentions well and truly set, not many of them provide a complete package. That was until now; Planning Analytics is a complete game changer. Those that are familiar with TM1 will know that it is the most powerful modeling, planning and analytical tool in the market place. With its versatility and flexibility, it is able to construct all forms of complex business models, a powerful 64-bit in-memory algorithm for fast access to datasets and write back from all of its user interfaces, it is very hard to fault that TM1 has a very powerful and impressive engine under the hood. However, even with numerous iterations of improvements to the several different front-end options - TM1 Web, Cognos Insight, Applications Web, Perspectives - TM1 lacked a cohesive interface that brought these together which would deliver a seamless integrated enterprise planning, analysis, reporting and insight tool that it deserved. All of this changed with Planning Analytics – it is now a complete solution. Planning Analytics Workspace through business scenario In a nutshell, Planning Analytics is an integrated planning, analysis, workflow, reporting, dashboarding, scorecarding and collaboration tool, brought together in an easy to use web workspace: Planning Analytics Issue 04

CFO Imagine a CFO logging in and reviewing a personalised workspace that contains high-level dashboards, highlighting key business performance metrics. Subsequently, this also contains strategic plans, value scorecards, KPIs, financial and sales plans. The CFO spots a decline in profits for the current quarter and that sales targets are not being met. The CFO assigns Brian, our Sales Analyst, to investigate further. Sales Analyst Brian opens up the Sales Forecast workbook in PAW and works through the various reports and analysis sheets to gain a better insight. On the sales forecast variance report, Brian notices that the Personal Computer (PC) line of products has not met its sales targets for the last two months. Product Line Manager Brian calls Jess who is responsible for the PC line of product and they both work through the Revenue Forecast workbook. Jess confirms that they are working on bringing a new line of products into the market in the coming quarter. Brian adds these new products directly into PAW and adjusts the sales forecast for the remaining quarters to reflect this change. Brian submits the updated sales forecast using the integrated planning workflow process and hands the forecast back to Jess to be consolidated. Management Accountant Jess opens the planning workbook in PAW and checks the sales forecast for the remaining quarters and assess their impact to the overall plan. Jess runs the consolidation process and runs the full set of financial reports: Income Statement, Balance sheet and Cashflow. Jess sets up a meeting with the CFO to walk through the revised forecast to get his approval. As you can see from this scenario, Planning Analytics provides an integrated platform where business planning and critical business analysis takes place. Page 8 | Planning Analytics Workspace

A look at PAW Functionality 1: Integrated Platform Planning Analytics Workspace utilises proven existing technology from Cognos Business Intelligence and has advanced this technology to enable it to be scalable. In this single interface, users can easily bring together Cognos BI Dashboards, TM1 Websheets, TM1 Cube Views, TM1 Scorecards, TM1 Applications Web (workflow) and CAFE workbooks.

2: Watson Analytics Planning Analytics and Watson Analytics have been integrated to provide a seamless user experience. Users can perform business planning, reporting and analysis in PAW and then switch over to Watson Analytics for a guided experience in advanced data exploration, visualisation and insights. Watson Analytics also has predictive functionality to further provide insight to advance the analysis of your data.

3: User-friendly workspace (drag and drop) Planning Analytics is a user-friendly and interactive workspace that requires very little training where users can build visually advanced dashboards in a matter of minutes. Users can choose a blank canvas or a template and just drag TM1 objects into the workspace. These objects include TM1 pre-saved cube views or Excel-based websheet reports. 4: Advanced charting options Users can also take advantage of the advanced charting options available. Converting a grid view to a chart is simply done via selecting options from the charting dropdown menu. One additional charting feature that is revolutionary to Planning Analytics is the map feature. Provided that the dataset is classified by locality, the mapping feature brings a whole new dimension to advanced visualisation. At this stage, the mapping feature only goes down to a State and Territory level within Australia.

Issue 04

Page 9 | Planning Analytics Workspace

5: Natural Language Discovery and Manipulation One of the ways in which PAW enhances the user experience is via its integrated Natural Language features. When assembling a dashboard or a workbook in PAW, users can bring a particular view or a websheet into the workspace canvas by simply typing in a view name. The system will naturally work out the command and bring back options to the user. Another feature that is part of the Natural Language feature set is Snap Commands. Users can use simple natural language to further the analysis such as keeping certain members in the view or drill down on a node level for further insight. 6: Bookmarks and Sharing made easy Objects such as views, websheets and collections of workbooks can be bookmarked in Planning Analytics so that you can easily bring them into any dashboard later on. If you are also building dashboards across applications and datasets, the bookmarking feature is extremely useful as they are also great for sharing with other users throughout the organisation.

Issue 04

Page 10 | Planning Analytics Workspace

7: Integrated Score carding Planning Analytics Workspace brings the Scorecarding capability to life. The Scorecarding feature has been built into TM1 for over a couple of years now, but uptake has been relatively low and dormant due to lack of visualiaations in previous versions. The Scorecarding feature is really easy to bring into Planning Analytics Workspace and takes strategic planning to the next level for any organisation.

Conclusion Planning Analytics Workspace is the new face of TM1. It is an easy to use, interactive and vibrant web interface that puts itself well ahead of its competitors. TM1 traditionally has had a strong following, especially in the office of finance and planning. However, with the introduction of Planning Analytics Workspace, it is definitely a game changer and opens the door for greater value-add across the organisation. Planning Analytics Workspace is designed with users in mind and hence it is extremely easy to use. It utilises simple drag and drop functionality to produce very professional dashboards and visualisations. There is no coding or programing required and the user can make use of the advanced charting engine that now includes mapping technology. Scorecarding and strategy maps are easy to integrate into planning analytics and takes planning to a whole new level. Whether you are a new organisation looking at a system that is capable of adding value throughout the organisation in one cohesive interface, or you are an existing TM1 client looking to upgrade, Planning Analytics delivers and is well ahead of its competitors.

Jie Li

Managing Consultant Tridant Issue 04

Page 11 | Planning Analytics Workspace

An overview of

Tridantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Support Capabilities Certified, ongoing support services for your solution, post-implementation. As one of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest specialist consulting firms focused on the design and implementation of Business Analytics and Information Management products and solutions, Tridant can provide certified ongoing support services for your solution, post implementation. Tridant provides a continuum of support services designed to maximise application uptime and user adoption. The full value of Tridantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Support Services can be realised through a comprehensive engagement assisting your organisation to operate, transform and mitigate the risks of application downtime and evolution.

The Features & Benefits of Tridant Support Services

Protect your long-term investment

Flexible Support Models

Access local support resources and skills.

Overcome internal resource challenges & constraints.

Maximise solution adoption.

More predictable ownership costs.

Reduce risk.

Focus on your core business - not on IT maintenance.

Reactive Our support team is a single point of contact for defects encountered in the application or software.

Tridant provides a continuum of services designed to maximise application uptime,

Operational Application administration, application optimisation, staff augmentation and end user support that will allow you to concentrate on your core business instead of running your IT solution. We provide the services that you need as a full application management service engagement or out-task of routine activities.

The Tridant Support Services Continuum

user adoption

Proactive Identifying and taking proactive steps to address issues before they arise to minimise system down-time and improve general stability of the application.

and improved

Enhancement ROI.

Identifying and taking proactive steps to address issues before they arise to minimise system down-time and improve general stability of the application.

Cognos Analysis for Excel

(CAFE)

By David Meadway & Jie Li

the planning process via write back functionality and update their plans within these templates.

Keeping Cognos Planning Analytics ahead of the pack for Excel integration.

AFE is not a new product in the Cognos stable, it has been around for many years, first as a capability for Cognos BI, and more recently as a TM1 reporting and analysis tool. It has however recently gained more relevance for TM1 users with IBM’s cloud offering. So whether you are an existing customer and familiar with the Cognos tools, or you are a new customer wanting to learn more, this article takes an in-depth look at CAFE from both of these perspectives.

Beginner’s guide to CAFE CAFE is a user-friendly analysis tool deployed in the form of an Excel add-in to provide users with a seamless integration to Cognos datasources (Cognos BI and Cognos TM1). The key thing about CAFE is that it’s fast - very fast - as it utilises the latest web technologies (REST API) which allows for it to communicate efficiently across the WAN (Wide Area Network). Both Cognos BI, and Cognos TM1, have browser-based interfaces, while CAFE provides the complementary Excel interface that provides users with the ability to perform analysis and reporting.

Some of the key features of CAFE include: Write Back: Existing TM1 customers will know that being able to write back to the system is a critical piece of functionality with any planning system. Financial and business plan templates can be built in CAFE and then subsequently distributed to end users for contribution to the planning process. Utilising realtime write back functionality, users can contribute to Issue 04

What-if Analysis: CAFE has integrated the personal workspace and Sandbox functionality to provide a more seamless user experience with other interfaces. This means that users can perform Whatif Analysis utilising this functionality in a personal “Sandpit” environment, without affecting the overall consolidated plan. Once the user is ready to submit the plan, it is then only a matter of clicking the submit button to consolidate the plan to the system. Crosstab Exploration View: For those that have used Pivot tables in the past, Exploration views or Crosstabs will be a familiar concept. In this view, users can drag and drop dimensions between the various drop zones (row, column and context axis) and perform real-time analysis. Any pre-configured views saved in the system can be readily accessed in this format. Flex Views: While Crosstabs enable users to explore and “slice-and-dice” with the dataset, Flex views enable users to create templates, reports, dashboards and utilise the full set of Excel based formatting and formula based functionality. In this view, users can combine multiple Flex views, from multiple data sources, into a single worksheet and add in graphs and charts to create savvy dashboards. Flex views are easy to construct which makes reporting intuitive and helps adoption amongst your user base. List Views: List views enable users to create simple list reports along columns and rows axis. The dataset can be summarised, but slicing and dicing functionality is not present in this reporting type. Working Offline: CAFE workbooks are very versatile and give users the freedom to save a copy and share them offline (like any normal Excel file) to the recipients of these reports. The bonus is that users receiving these reports do not need CAFE to access them. Moreover, once you connect back online, the data in these workbooks is then refreshed to bring back the latest data from the system.

Page 14 | CAFE

No Coding or Complicated Formulas: CAFE has been designed with ease-of-use in mind, and as such there are no coding requirements or the need to deal with complicated system formulas. Users have the ability to simply navigate through the system objects and views, and use drag-and-drop functionality to bring data and views into the worksheet canvas.

“The key thing about CAFE is that it’s fast - very fast.”

Web Sharing: CAFE workbooks can be uploaded and shared across the system with other users. Users have the option to share CAFE content publically or keep it private for personal analysis only. Once these workbooks have been uploaded, Planning Analytics - the browser-based medium - can incorporate these CAFE templates into the web interface. Whether it is a budgeting and planning template, or a polished and professional looking dashboard, these can easily be incorporated into Planning Analytics again using drag and drop functionality.

CAFE for Existing Customers and Migration Roadmap For users who are new to the Cognos family, it is very easy to be excited about all of the features and functionality that CAFE brings to the mix. However, for existing customers who are currently using TM1 Perspectives as their incumbent Excel analysis medium, the reoccurring question we have been inundated with from our customers of late is: “What are the functionality differences and gaps between Perspectives and CAFE and when should I take the plunge and use CAFE?”. The best way to answer this question is to refer to the table of comparison below for functionality between the two Excel add-in clients.

Functionality

CAFE

Perspectives Client

Comment

1. Write Back

Write back exists in both tools and is a key piece of functionality that differentiates TM1 from alterative tools.

2. Copy and paste data write back

In CAFE, users can copy and paste large sections of data in conjunction with write back functionality. Therefore, you can easily copy numbers from other Excel sheets and paste them into the CAFE planning templates. This enhances the data entry process during planning time.

3. Performance over the WAN

Using superior REST API technology, CAFE is the ideal Excel interface over the WAN and eliminates the need for Citrix and other thin client implementations to speed it up.

4. Drag and drop functionality

CAFE is much easier to use and requires very little training.

5. Crosstab exploration view

CAFE is a lot more flexible in allowing users to move dimensions around the different axis, making it a pure analysis interface. Perspectives allows you to do this only in the TM1 server explorer window and not in the Excel interface.

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Page 15 | CAFE

Functionality

CAFE

Perspectives Client

Comment

6. Accessing both Cognos TM1 and Cognos BI datasources

TM1 Perspectives client can only access TM1 data and not Cognos BI data. So for those customers that have both datasets in their system, CAFE can really take analysis and reporting to a more advanced level through the ability to bring these together in one interface.

7. Web publishing

Both interfaces can be used to publish workbooks to the web. In order for CAFE workbooks to operate in TM1 Web, users need to convert the Flex Views to Formula mode.

8. Active Form Integration

Active forms are not yet integrated into CAFE within the latest version, whereas Active Forms are an essential function within Perspectives. IBM has indicated this functionality will be released in the next quarter for CAFE.

9. Development and Modeling

Developers and system modelers use Perspectives currently as a one-stop shop for reporting, analysis and also developing and maintaining TM1 models. This functionality will be gradually phased into Planning Analytics in the coming releases.

As evident from the comparison table above, CAFE at this point does not match each component of functionality that TM1 Perspective offers. With that being said, there is a lot of new and exciting functionality that CAFE offers which is lacking from the TM1 Perspectives client.

simpler due to the ease-of-use; and building savvy, professional looking reports and dashboards is far simpler. For these reasons combined, it should increase adoption in your organisation.

The two key pieces of functionality that are not available in CAFE are Active Forms and Modeling. With regards to Active Forms, we believe the functionality that is provided in Flex views and Crosstabs will enable users to produce reports and templates in CAFE without the need of Active Forms. However, in terms of modeling and access to Server Explorer/ Architect, this will still be conducted in Perspectives.

In recent months, Tridant have implemented a number of TM1 solutions in the cloud with CAFE and provided comprehensive CAFE training to existing clients making the shift from TM1 Perspectives. For organisations new to the Cognos family, CAFE is a great tool and a market leader in analysis and reporting. It is a proven technology that has been around for several years - formerly in the Cognos BI stable, but now expanded to include TM1 connectivity. With the abundance of features, most notably the “write back” capability, CAFE is definitely a powerful addition to the TM1 stack.

Our advice to existing customers is to embrace both technologies – by combining the functionality, the usability of the system should be greatly enhanced. Continue to use Perspectives to manage your TM1 cubes and models, run jobs, develop new models and maintain existing ones. However, for end users in your organisation, encourage a move to CAFE: the enduser interface is superior; self-service is significantly

Issue 04

Summary

For existing customers that already have an investment in TM1 and are considering adopting CAFE, our advice is to “take the plunge” and use it together with Perspectives. That way, you can utilise all of the new

Page 16 | CAFE

and exciting features to enhance the end user experience, not to mention the performance gains over large networks. For those that have implemented Citrix just for this purpose, CAFE may eliminate this need altogether. On the other hand, you can still use Perspectives for modelling and system maintenance purposes so you can keep this tool among your power users and analysts. Definitely a win-win and no compromise decision! If you wish to learn more about CAFE or want to get up to speed with all of the exciting functionality that CAFE has to offer, Tridant holds half-day training courses. Contact us today if you want to learn more about this fantastic analysis tool and how it can enhance and uplift your TM1 solution.

Figure 1: Crosstab Exploration View

Figure 2: a series of Flex views in one worksheet to create an informative dashboard in minutes

Issue 04

Page 17 | CAFE

Figure 3: Elegant drag-and-drop interface easy to understand and use.

Figure 4: to convert to formula mode

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Page 18 | CAFE

Figure 5: Web publishing directly from CAFE to Planning Analytics and TM1 Web

Figure 6: Drag and drop CAFE created reports directly onto Planning Analytics canvas as per the figure above.

David Meadway

Practice Area Lead Tridant

Issue 04

Jie Li

Managing Consultant Tridant

Page 19 | CAFE

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Issue 04

Page 20 | Training

By Shreyak Garg & James Wakefield

IBM

Cognos Command Centre & Cognos Integration Server

“Cognos Command Centre is an intuitive and user friendly interface”

he Planning Analytics subscription includes Cognos Command Centre (CCC) and Cognos Integration Server (CIS). Both of these products have been hidden in IBM’s Cognos suite for quite some time and originally came from an IBM acquisition of a company called Star Analytics. At Tridant, we have always been excited about these products and the automation options they offer to SAP and Oracle clients. However, Planning Analytics brings them to the forefront of IBM’s strategy for Planning Analytics and because they are included for free in the subscription, customers now have the opportunity to realise the potential these tools offer. Cognos Command Centre is an intuitive and user friendly interface that gives business users the ability to automate processes and tasks across a wide range of various Performance Management and Business Intelligence Applications. Through a single interface, users are able to accomplish an impressive number of tasks that would otherwise have required them to contact their IT departments.

Cognos Command Centre interface This ‘Point and Click’ wizard allows users to manage, schedule, and automate workflow processes, and eliminates the need to perform manual operations or track tasks performed by different individuals. It minimises maintenance costs and provides benefits including a secure interface, event history log of all activities, single repository of artefacts (including different versions), scheduling and monitoring of tasks across servers and applications, and access using a web browser (including smartphones). Issue 04

Page 22 | Cognos Command Centre/Integration Server

Process overview As a user logs into Command Centre, an informative dashboard called ‘Process Overview’ appears. The ‘Process Overview’ tab allows users to review what processes have been executed by ‘who/where/when’. Users can see and filter processes based on environments, ecosystems, scheduled status, user records and many more. CCC timestamps all the processes run and gives the option of drilling down and identifying issues with unsuccessful attempts. It also provides a clear visual of tasks batched together in a process and running in parallel.

Set of options inside Automation tasks Over the years a number of TM1 environments have been allowed to be overly customised with batch scripts to run email sends, Turbo Integrator scripts, and so on. A much better way will be to use a wizard driven, vendor supported tool. This means CCC allows TM1 users to conveniently run TI processes from within the Process Overview tab and input parameters if needed. CCC can do a ‘Wait On Processes’ so that you can create workflows that map to availability of certain data sources, avoid conflicts with other activities running, perform error handling and send email notifications with ease. All these tasks can be consolidated within a single process or environment and managed efficiently.

Issue 04

Page 23 | Cognos Command Centre/Integration Server

The screenshot to the left shows a nightly set of TI processes grouped together in a Parallel run. Instead of using complex batch processes it means that CCC can run everything intelligently, thus reducing your overnight data load times. One of the most common business processes that CCC is utilised for is the movement of on-premise text files to Planning Analytics in the cloud via FTP. CCC can be used to monitor the underlying data source, issue the extract command, wait for the text file, securely transfer the file via FTP and then issue the command for TM1 to load the file. CCC keeps administrators and users informed with status reports and can provide an orchestrated workflow sequence displaying items to be actioned for each user. Perhaps the most significant and valuable feature that CCC provides its customers is the email integration capability to email all affected parties of a workflow process and include details regarding its success or failure. CCC connects to popular email clients using SMTP thereby allowing the user to track all emails sent through the client. The custom emails contain URLs that take the user to the Command Centre webpage and detail the status and run history of the process.

The above shows both the desktop admin console and the web console giving administrators a live view of TM1 processes running. Another key feature of CCC encompasses the security aspect. CCC provides a safeguard control mechanism that is fully auditable. Users can add roles and assign privileges to these role-based categories. Privileges can include access to certain ecosystems, processes, or file resources. Individual users are then added to one or more of these groups to allow limited access capabilities.

Issue 04

Page 24 | Cognos Command Centre/Integration Server

Cognos Integration Server (CIS) is a business friendly data bridge supporting automated, high speed, data extraction of a number of datasources. CIS already had extraction capabilities for Oracle customers against HFM and Essbase, but CIS has a major release this year and will be especially exciting for SAP customers. If you use SAP BW then you can now extract data from SAP Info Cubes and Info Queries and build TM1 cubes, dimensions and hierarchies directly off them.

Cognos Integration Server Overview Another capability not many people realise is that CIS can be used to synchronise metadata and data between two TM1 servers. This capability uses the REST API and is therefore very fast. If you ever used replication within TM1 then you may find this to be a better performing option. Of course CIS has been historically very popular with Oracle customers who have struggled with the business pain of: “we can’t access our Oracle Hyperion data, it’s just too hard”. Even if there is an ability to do extractions from Oracle Hyperion, they prove to be slow and cumbersome. CIS has proven performance in extracting data, metadata and security from Oracle Essbase, Oracle Hyperion Financial Management and Oracle Hyperion Planning applications, while also keeping the existing Hyperion hierarchy “drill-paths”. One of the most interesting case studies is actually how IBM themselves used CIS internally to replace Oracle Essbase with TM1. Over 3,000 end users (500 concurrent) access one single worldwide application run on one IBM Cognos TM1 cube rather than 16 disparate Oracle Essbase cubes. If you would like to learn more about CCC or CIS, then please contact Tridant.

Shreyak Garg

Associate Consultant Tridant Issue 04

James Wakefield

Director of Solutions and Marketing, Tridant

Page 25 | Cognos Command Centre/Integration Server

Tridant Industry Solutions Leverage your data to become more responsive to market conditions and achieve your organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objectives. Tridantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Industry Solutions can unlock new value and sustainable performance improvement across industry sectors. Our unique solutions are the result of years of industry and functional expertise, coupled with a deep understanding of data and its importance in lifting performance.

Learn more today at https://tridant.com.au/solutions/tridant-solutions-industry/

IBM

Bluemix Secure Gateway Centre

Connecting your On-Premise Database and Planning Analytics

By Michael Moore & James Wakefield

Connecting your On-Premise Database and IBM Planning Analytics

hen considering a cloud based performance management capability, a client will ask “How do I connect to my on-premise databases and load them securely?”. A client already using TM1 on-premise and considering Planning Analytics will ask “How can I continue to use my Turbo Integrator scripts in the cloud without having to rewrite everything”. It is very likely that your organisation lives in a hybrid cloud environment where you need to integrate onpremise data with your cloud based systems. The on-premise data may be your metadata such as chart of accounts, hierarchies or employee information, while your data may be actuals, daily sales or KPIs.

Planning Analytics

? On-Premise Data Source

You may think that getting your On-premise Database directly referenced by an On Cloud Planning Analytics ETL Tool will be difficult and require a lot of technical expertise. But the reality is that with the “Secure Gateway” component that is included with Planning Analytics (that’s right, its included within your subscription for free), there is no limit to the number of connections or the amount of data transferred. Of course this is also IBM Technology supporting IBM Technology, so you don’t need third party products to get the job done.

The Bluemix Secure Gateway facilitates the following in your environment: Import and sync of data and metadata Drill through to source transaction Write back to source system Private and secure link with all data encrypted

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Page 28 | Bluemix Secure Gateway

A number of databases are supported out of the box but additional database drivers can be added via Cloud Ops. The ODBC connections will then be visible to Architect or Performance Modeller. To give a bit more information on Bluemix, its worth understanding it is an open standards, cloud platform for building, running, and managing apps and services and will be used to accomplish the secure connection. Bluemix is offered as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Platform as a Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; architecture and more information can be found here: https:// console.ng.bluemix.net/ The Bluemix Secure Gateway Client is downloaded from Bluemix and is available for Windows, Linux, Mac and Docker. The Secure Gateway Service works by connecting the Secure Gateway Client to the Secure Gateway Service on IBM Bluemix cloud platform. Once the connection is established an IBM Planning Analytics cloud instance can access the onsite data via the gateway hosted on Bluemix.

IBM Planning Analytics Control includes the IBM Secure Gateway that can easily be configured and linked to the Bluemix Secure Gateway Client created above. Once the tunnel is in place the last step will be to add a connection to the On-premise Data Source (ODBC Connection).

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Page 29 | Bluemix Secure Gateway

User

Planning Analytics

ODBC Secure Gateway

Secure Gateway Client

On-Premise Data Source

Another option for connectivity to consider is that of IBM Cast Iron. If you utilise Software as a Service provider solutions such as Salesforce, SugarCRM, Workday or NetSuite then IBM Cast Iron has pre built connectivity options to extract their data.

Websphere Cast Iron Live

Workday Netsuite Salesforce & more...

Optional Add-On

IBM Planning Analytics

Saas Applications

The above gives an abbreviated outline of the options and benefits the Bluemix Secure Gateway in Planning Analytics offers. If you would like any further details on Bluemix Secure Gateway or IBM Cast Iron then please reach out.

Michael Moore

Principal Consultant Tridant Issue 04

James Wakefield

Director of Solutions and Marketing, Tridant

Page 30 | Bluemix Secure Gateway

Use our

TSIM methodology

for your TM1 projects Operate

Discovery

Analysis

Build

Design

Initiate

Test

Execute

Deploy

Tridant has developed its own proprietary project management methodology based on a number of proven methodologies and combined with a wealth of experience in delivering successful performance and information management solutions. Tridant Solution Implementation Methodology (TSIM) is a common sense approach that has taken into account all of the lessons learned over multiple implementations to ensure our customers have a successful outcome. The methodology consists of a mix of waterfall and agile methodologies to ensure the project delivers on time and on budget but is flexible and adjusts to the business needs quickly.

30+

Custom Templates

20+

Proven Processes

Planning Analytics with Decision Optimisation By James Wakefield

Connecting TM1 cubes with IBM DO Cloud

lients and users who work with TM1 on a regular basis are typically using the solution for either Descriptive Analytics (What did happen?) or Predictive Analytics (What will happen?). In this everchanging world where disruption of traditional business models is almost common place, there is increasingly a focus now on Prescriptive Analytics (How can I achieve the best outcome?).

In the world of IBM tools, you will often find Cognos BI and TM1 answering the Descriptive Analytics of what happened, when and where. Cognos TM1 has traditionally been used in the area of forecasting for answering what might happen or â&#x20AC;&#x153;what-if â&#x20AC;?, and SPSS has been the tool of choice for what will happen next.

Issue 04

Page 33 | Planning Analytics with Decision Optimisation

Prescriptive Analytics is often described as Optimisation because you are using a solution to tell you ‘What is the best decision’ based upon inputs. There are many use cases for Optimisation across almost every industry because Optimisation helps businesses: - Create the best possible plans - Explore alternatives and understand trade-offs - Respond to changes in business operations A lot of the time organisations will find themselves saying they can’t afford to be looking at opimisation because they are too busy with their other decision support applications. Although it is ideal to have these applications all working harmoniously together, there is nothing stopping organisations using Prescriptive right now for decision making.

Prescriptive Analytics by Industry

Communications

Distribution

Media - Ad scheduling - Ad sales proposal generation

Consumer Products - Production planning & scheduling - Network, Production sourcing, & Inventory optimisation

Energy & Utilities - Smart Grid - Water network design

Retail - Network, inventory, and flow optimisation - Warehouse replenishment Travel & Transportation - Asset Optimisation - Empty container repositioning

Issue 04

Finance

Industrial

Banking Automotive - Cash Management - Sales & operations - Campaign optimisation planning - Portfolio optimisation - Slotting and sequencing Financial Services - Trade settlement

Aerospace & Defense - Master production planning - Complex project scheduling - Line balancing Electronics - Real-time scheduling

Public Healthcare & Lifesciences - Nurse scheduling - Production planning & scheduling - Network & Inventory optimisation Government (Post Office) - Network optimisation - Transportation Planning

Chemical & Petroleum - Network & inventory optimisation

Page 34 | Planning Analytics with Decision Optimisation

The classic use cases we typically see are around inventory and pricing. The graphic below shows a few classic examples of where organisations can move past the traditional ‘What Could Happen?’ questions and start benefitting from the optimisation aspects of ‘What Should Happen?’

Traditionally the implementation of Decision Optimisation has been around the on-premise software of IBM iLog and IBM CPLEX. Both of these solutions are best of breed and extremely powerful but with that comes the complexity of integration and implementation. With Planning Analytics now being a best of breed forecasting engine in the cloud, Tridant is excited to also bring integration of Decision Optimisation into Planning Analytics. Decision optimisation is now available from IBM as a Cloud offering meaning you can now send data between Planning Analytics and Decision Optimization via API. This opens up very exciting possibilities and best of all, it simplifies the implementation and integration options. Tridant would like to offer all our clients and prospects the opportunity to test drive Decision Optimisation for best case scenarios based off your TM1 data.

James Wakefield

Director of Solutions and Marketing, Tridant Issue 04

Page 35 | Planning Analytics with Decision Optimisation

Brisbane

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Canberra

Level 1, The Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 T 1300 737 141

www.tridant.com.au E: info@tridant.com.au 1300 737 141

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