IBM Cognos TM1 allows for different preferences and with the release of version 10 and offers the end user yet another way of developing a model. Performance Modeler is even more user friendly than the familiar modeling tools of Architect and the Excel add-in Perspectives. Performance Modeler is an excellent path to take for the beginning modeler. Its many built-in wizards will guide the end user through the building and populating of cubes. Experienced modelers may prefer to stick with the familiar environment of Architect, instead of learning the nuances of a new tool. Many finance folks are married to Excel and want to remain in a formula driven workspace.
Performance Modeler, Architect and Perspectives are each vehicles to the same model data and structure. Therefore, we see two way interactions between each of these vehicles. An ActiveForm provides a good example of the seamless interaction between Performance Modeler and Perspectives.

An ActiveForm can be created in Perspectives from one of the cube views in Performance Modeler. We will create an ActiveForm from the Default view of the Revenue cube. Below is a screen shot of the cube view and the resulting ActiveForm.

Notice that both the cube view and ActiveForm display the Organization, Channel, Revenue, Year and Version dimensions. The data values in each are exactly the same. The above formula tells us we are looking at the Channel Total element of the Channel dimension of the Smartco model. Just as with a normal Excel worksheet, we can change our data points by altering our formula.

Looking at the Channel dimension in Performance Modeler we can see that there are three elements; Retail, Internet, and Distribution that roll up to the Channel Total. Let’s change the ActiveForm formula to look at the Internet element instead of Channel Total. See that the data values have changed with the formula change.

If we then change our budgeted amount for the Spectrum Analyzers product for the month of May from 158 to 800 in Performance Modeler we will see the data values likewise update in the ActiveForm.

By clicking the “Rebuild Current Sheet” button from the ActiveForm dropdown, our entire sheet has updated to now show 800 Spectrum Analyzers for May and 68,092 total products for the year.

IBM Cognos TM1 provides options understanding that, with a department of end users, each may prefer a different interface to the model data.