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Why Migrate from IBM Cognos Planning to TM1?

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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

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Migrating from Oracle to Netezza

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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

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Ironside Webinar Series: Overview of IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes

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Dynamic CubesOn 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

Improving Performance by Using TIs vs Rules when Developing TM1 Planning Models

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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

Three Sales Enablement Issues Solved with Sales Performance Management

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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

Top 5 Incentive Compensation Management Pain Points Solved

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compensation management pain points mazeWhether you are a Compensation Administrator, Account Executive, or Sales Manager, the process of paying people commissions and tracking their performance can be frustrating. I spent several years as an Administrator and worked with sales people, sales operations team members, executives, and many others. The following are the top 5 incentive compensation management pain points that I have discovered during those interactions: Read more

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Enhanced Security in IBM Cognos BI 10.2.1 Dynamic Cubes

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The IBM Cognos BI 10.2.1 release made significant enhancements to the Dynamic Cube options available in the product. One major boost to functionality is that you can now add enhanced security within Cube Designer and not have to restart the Dynamic Cube, and there are many other similar benefits included as well. Read more

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IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes for Existing PowerPlay Customers

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You may have heard about the new Dynamic Cubes feature available in IBM Cognos. New technology is great, but if you have a library of existing PowerPlay cubes in your environment, you need to decide if it makes sense to migrate these cubes to Dynamic Cubes. Where does this new technology fit in your environment? What should you use to develop new cube capabilities if you choose to pursue them? This article will lay out the pros and cons of each approach in use case form to help you decide how best to leverage Cognos in your organization. Read more

Ironside Webinar Series: IBM Predictive Maintenance and Quality

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The Next Step towards Predictive Maintenance Excellence

IBM Predictive Maintenance and Quality (PMQ) reduces operational costs, improves asset productivity, and increases process efficiency. IBM PMQ helps monitor, maintain, and optimize assets for better utilization and performance, by predicting asset failure and enhancing product quality and supply chain processes. Read more

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Ironside Tech Tip: Working with IBM Cognos BI and Microsoft Office

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Using Cognos we can generate reports in Excel, Microsoft Word and Power Point. In this article we will see what components we need to produce these reports in Microsoft Office.

Required Components and Installations:

1. You need to have Cognos environment ready and useable for generating reports, as shown below.

Cognos Connection

2. You have to install Microsoft Office in all the destination systems or client machines where we are going to access Cognos reports using Microsoft Office components. Read more