There’s been a lot of discussion on why client would consider moving from Cognos Planning to TM1.  So, I thought I would do a little brain dump on my experience with clients moving from Cognos Planning to TM1. For the first of two blog submissions, I’ll start with the End User.

IBM Cognos Planning – TM1 End User Benefits:

End users can choose from a couple different user interfaces.  I will focus on the TM1 Contributor user interface for TM1 as it closely resembles Planning Contributor.  It includes some functionality we have been requesting for years.

• DRILL THROUGH!  -Yes, end users can drill into contributor to see the details.
• SANDBOXES/PERSONAL SCENARIOS.  I love this feature.   End users can create their own versions on the fly.  This eliminates the need for them to call the admin requesting another version and waiting for a sync, GTP and reconciliation.
• CHARTING-  End users can click a button and see the data graphically.
• MODEL SIZE- Because TM1’s architecture is built on a 64 bit in-memory, server based cube structure, TM1 can handle huge cube sizes.  Many of you may have broken down your Planning models into multiple applications over the years, well now you can put them back together again.  End users will be able to see all the data in one place without running links.   A TM1 cube can have up to 256 dimensions in one cube.  Try doing that in IBM Cognos Planning!
• CONDITIONALLY FORMATED DROP DOWNS- If the model requires users to select from a drop down list (similar to IBM Cognos Planning dlist formatted items) the list can be conditionally formatted so they only see accounts that are applicable to their department or applicable to the other data they have entered.
• CHANGES CAN BE PUSHED OUT RAPIDLY –  Every now and then, an end user will want new items added to the model.  Because TM1 does not require administrators to sync the model , execute a GTP and wait for the reconciliation to finish after adding the item to the list, last minute additions can be pushed out in seconds.
• REAL TIME REPORTING WITH COGNOS BI- Are you tired of waiting for the publish process to finish to update your BI reports?  TM1 provides real-time reporting with Cognos BI.  Publishing is not required!
• ALIASES – End users may not know all the GL Account numbers, Customer numbers or  Project codes.  TM1 allows end users to view the data as it was originally loaded like account number or with an alias which is another descriptive identifier, like rental expense.  A list can have a number of Alias if you need them.

IBM continues to add improvements to the End User interface with TM1.  As I described there are a lot of end user benefits with TM1.  Keep an eye out for my next blogs on benefits to the power users and benefits to the business. For more information feel free to call us at  813-415-2910 or Sales@LodestarSolutions.com. You can now also see Part 2 of Lodestar's Cognos Planning to TM1 blog HERE.