IBM is encouraging developers to use Performance Modeler as the main tool for creating and maintaining TM1 server objects. Performance Modeler offers many features that Architect simply does not provide. The push toward Performance Modeler is evident in IBM’s documentation, presentations, and rapid update releases for the tool. For now, Architect will still exist and will continue to serve as a development tool. As future releases of Performance Modeler provide more and more functionality, Architect will likely only be used to maintain older TM1 versions going forward. Read more
On April 15th, Ironside hosted a TM1 Performance Modeler vs. Architect Comparison webinar covering the different features of these powerful development tools. This webinar focused on how TM1 Performance Modeler’s tools and wizards help non-technical contributors develop and maintain their own TM1 servers with minimal support from the IT department. Read more
Join us on The Road to IBM Vision as we prepare for IBM’s premier global conference for finance, risk management, and sales compensation professionals coming to Orlando, Florida from May 18-21! In preparation for Vision, we will be hosting two exciting webinars: TM1 Performance Modeler and Architect Comparison and Introduction to IBM Cognos Disclosure Management. Read more
Salesforce.com, most commonly implemented for its customer relationship management (CRM) platform, is a well-known industry leader in client relationship management as well as social performance management, sales performance management, and other areas. The IBM Cognos enterprise combined with Salesforce data can help your organization build a single view of your business and create reports, dashboards, and scorecards for analyzing your sales information. A few quick benefits of integrating Salesforce with Cognos are as follows: Read more
When creating multidimensional models with IBM Cognos Transformer, many different types of data sources can be utilized such as reports, packages, Excel, and comma delimited files to design the model. Also various work environments may be used such as TEST, DEV, and PROD all of which have different server locations. Read more
At first glance, IBM Cognos TM1 and Cognos Planning have similar features. They both leverage a multicube architecture and support complex, cross-cube calculations.
The primary differentiating feature of IBM Cognos TM1 can be found in its efficient calculation engine and its method for storing data. When users enter data into most other planning applications, a read/write procedure is performed to reflect the change in a database stored on a hard disk. In contrast, IBM Cognos TM1 calculations and data storage happens in memory/RAM. This allows entered data to be immediately updated within the cube and retrieved. As a result, data is available real-time, which greatly enhances both the performance of queries and ability to perform what-if analytics. Read more
Many are looking to IBM Puredata System for Analytics (Netezza) but are unsure of the complexity of implementation. Is it a lift and shift? Is there redevelopment involved? The focus of this article is to describe the process for migrating from Oracle. At a high level this process is the same when migrating from other RDBMS but every RDBMS has its own nuances that should be taken into consideration. Read more
On February 18th, 2014, Ironside hosted a Cognos Dynamic Cubes webinar to introduce the capabilities of this new, powerful tool. Led by Ironside’s Michael Vollmer, Senior BI consultant, and Francois Ross, Regional Vice President, we gave attendees insights into how dynamic cube interfaces empower end users to access data at much faster speeds. Read more
Since TM1 is a memory-based OLAP engine, one of the most important considerations in developing efficient planning models is to utilize the least amount of memory that is available on the server. As time goes on the model will likely grow in size and consume more resources. This usually happens when you add additional elements the cube’s dimensions and archive fewer elements . As the cube reaches its memory limit, users may experience issues like poor application performance, longer server start times, crashes, and other similar problems. Also, adding new elements can multiply memory use further because rules may act upon the elements added and take up even more of the server’s available resources. Read more
While working as a Compensation Administrator, I used IBM Cognos ICM, a sales performance management software solution, to empower account executives to understand their compensation plan quickly, so they could get back to selling. The visualizations and rankings available in IBM Cognos ICM are excellent sales enablement tools for motivating individuals at all levels of a business. When leveraged correctly, these resources allow territory and channel managers to speed the production and delivery of scorecards and other reporting deliverables, leading to faster, more strategic decision making. Read more
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