12/22/2016

I’m all about easy. It is a phrase I say repeatedly to my clients that are new to IBM Cognos TM1 so that it helps them to focus in on what will be the simplest solution and not to recreate a cumbersome process in new software. This is really a guided example showing how to use TM1 websheets to organize TI Processes, be a tool to document TI Processes, and document TM1 tasks.

As a TM1 admin, you are pretty adept at toggling around cubes and understanding your data. Maybe you even built the whole model and it’s all second nature to you, so you skipped documenting procedures. Well… it all seemed second nature to you at the time, but a year has gone by and you need to prep for your upcoming budget cycle and now you are trying to remember what needs to be updated.

In any event, I want to explain how to simplify and manage tasks and documentation in TM1 with websheets. For this, I utilize Perspectives and the Applications folders of Server Explorer to streamline tasks. The Applications folders are great for grouping tasks with the use of links to documentation (ie Word documents), cube views set up for specific needs, and websheets that can take it all to the next level. By next level, I mean that you can create a websheet that provides data pulled from TM1, add-in Excel formulas to do calculations on that data (thus eliminating writing of additional rules in TM1), have an input area to update data points, include Action Buttons to run TI Processes, and insert notations to document the function. This will not only make your life easier, it will help you to remember how the heck you did something last year, allow you to delegate tasks to other team members and documents procedures to give you piece of mind knowing that you did not leave behind an unrewarding treasure hunt for your former co-workers to figure out how you did something after you won the lottery and left the company. You can feel free to relax and have that Pina Colada on a Tuesday while floating in the pool (note, only for lottery winners).

Here, I will run through where you take your cube that houses rates that are used in an annual budget cycle, from just being a cube for input into  streamlined TM1 Websheets that simplifies the procedure.

Step One: Create cube for rate input and save view specific for input in TM1 Websheets.

What’s missing? Well, now you need to remember that your Seasonal_Factor that you must update is in the Rates cube. That’s not really evident when you first open Server Explorer.

Step Two: Use Applications folder area to organize tasks in TM1 Websheets

Getting closer. You dragged your Seasonal_Factor_Input view up to your Admin folder so that you know it is part of your Admin functions.

What’s missing? Working with just this view, I don’t see the average of the last two years to figure out what is trending in my data. Also, I will either need to put a HOLD on the Total Year so that if I make any changes, I still balance to 100% for the year, else I need to use the Data Spreading at the Total Year level to ensure I am at 100%. This is more effort than I want and it can be prone to error of Total Year not equaling 100%.

Step 3: Create a Websheet and put it in the Applications folder area in TM1 Websheets

Using Perspectives and my view I created earlier, I do a slice to Excel so that TM1 can put in most of the formulas that I need into my websheet I create. In another tab of the same websheet I add a different slice that pulls in dollar value data from two other years that I select on the first tab. In the third tab, using just Excel functions, I calculate percentage values. I go back to my first tab that I will use for input and again using just Excel functions, add a section that averages two years of data to give me a trend value. I use the SUBMN function for the Year drivers and layer in formulas to make the defaults for them dynamic, while giving me the ability to still select what years I want. I add two Action Buttons, one to set my values in the input area to my Rates cube and the second to run a TI Process that ensures that the Total Year equals 100% for each property. Last, I upload my websheet to the Server Explorer Applications folder called Admin. This will allow me to update my values and see trending in a simple websheet accessed via TM1 Web.

In TM1 Web, I click on my highlighted websheet.

This opens a websheet that looks like this:

In conclusion, websheets can handle a variety of tasks to make your planning and analysis procedures easier to manage and include more robust functionality. In this example, we went from a cube view used to input Seasonal Factor values, to a websheet that gave insight to trends, ease of data entry and assurance of accuracy. I can customize the formatting to make it as pretty as I want. I can export this out as a snapshot or pdf to send to others that may need this info, but do not have access to TM1. I could even print it out and hang it on my refrigerator if magnets stuck on my doors.

Most Excel formulas and formatting are supported in Perspectives and TM1 Web. TM1 Web does render slightly different from Perspectives, so you may need to make some adjustments to get the results you expect.

To learn more about TM1 Worksheet functions,  click here.