How to Upgrade Planning Analytics from Cognos TM1. Planning Analytics (PA) is the next step to provide a complete planning solution on the powerful, multi-dimensional technology of TM1. With PA available in the cloud and on-premise, including various new front ends – the upgrade could seem daunting. In reality the upgrade process is similar to how in installation/upgrade was done previously.
In addition, there are a few considerations to be made with regards to the user interfaces and additional functionality.
Key Decisions:
Install PA On-Premise (rather than SaaS?)
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud computing offering that provides users with access to a vendor’s cloud-based software. No installations required from the client, instead the applications reside on a remote cloud network accessed through the web or an API. Through the application, users can store and analyse data and collaborate on projects.
If your business needs require on-premises to meet in-house policies then the on-premise route will be best. In this instance, you would own the software instead of leasing it.
Move from Perspectives to PAx?
Perspectives serve as an Excel add-in that allows the user to create reports and view data from Cognos database while in the Excel environment. All reports created pre-upgrade will be functional after the upgrade.
Planning Analytics 2.0.4 is the last release that will include a separate 32 bit client installation program. Any release after 2.0.4 will not include a 32 bit installation program. However, the 32 bit version of Architect and Perspectives will continue to be include with the 64 bit client installation kit. This change will not deprecate support for 32 bit Microsoft Excel.
Planning Analytics for Excel (PAx) will give you access from Microsoft Excel to the Cognos database with superior performance over wide-area networks, which results in no need or use of Citrix. PAx has an interactive drag-and-drop interface within the familiar Excel environment.
Create reports in PAx and publish it easily to TM1Web. It is recommended to recreate Perspective reports in the PAx environment to fully make use of the updated interface. Great improvements aside from the move away from Citrix is that shortcuts like copy and paste can be used straight onto the report/input template which was not previously available.
Use Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW)?
Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) is a web-based interface. It provides a front-end for TM1 data, with ways to plan, create, and analyse your content.
Using PAW, you can identify and understand patterns and relationships in data. PA is the biggest change and the installation is different compared to the previous versions of TM1. PAW requires a few additional components to be installed and configured. The initial versions posed a few challenges, but with newer releases the installation has become much easier.
Additionally, most clients would have to revisit their licenses and could possibly have to pay for a dedicated upgrade license to enable PAW. However, this fee applies if you use PAW and is not required for an upgrade of the server, Perspectives or TM1Web.
Use Hierarchies?
The new hierarchies will change the way you model your business as it is a fundamental shift in standard TM1 architecture. Alternate hierarchies are built manually or with a process from attributes or text values in any cube. These hierarchies act as virtual dimensions to allow us to view data in the many “characteristics” that might be associated with our dimensions (may it be products, customers etc.). Making use of alternate hierarchies will enable you to potentially reduce the number of dimensions in your cube. Therefore using hierarchies improve cube size and performance, while giving you more insight into your data.
If you have any questions please contact our support team who would be more than happy to offer some free advice.
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