IBM Cognos TM1 and IBM Planning Analytics: history, components and key applications.

IBM Cognos TM1, now known as IBM Planning Analytics, is a powerful, integrated business planning solution that uses a multidimensional OLAP engine and in-memory processing (In-Memory Computing technology). Originally known as Table Manager 1, TM1 is a client-server platform. On the client side, Microsoft Excel and/or various web applications are used, and on the server side, a data warehouse based on in-memory processing. Users typically use TM1 for corporate planning, budgeting, reporting, and analysis. A special feature is the ability to write back data, making it an indispensable tool for corporate planning and reporting.

The history of TM1 began in 1983 when Manny Perez created it at the Sinper Corporation. In 1996, Applix acquired Sinper Corporation and then Cognos acquired Applix in 2007, and subsequently Cognos was acquired by IBM.

IBM’s development has made significant improvements to product performance through multi-threaded queries and other optimizations. New interfaces have also been added and it is now tightly integrated with the IBM Cognos Analytics (formerly IBM Cognos BI) BI system. The most recent change is the integration with IBM Watson artificial intelligence, which provides the ability to use Planning Analytics as an integrated planning solution. Planning Analytics is also being migrated to the cloud, allowing it to be deployed on IBM servers in the cloud (SaaS) or on-premises, as well as hybrid.

Additionally, a new tool was introduced – Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) – for data visualization and creating dashboards with the ability to write back to the source data. IBM has also replaced the original Excel add-on, Perspectives, with Planning Analytics for Excel (PAX), significantly improving the user experience for Excel users.

TM1/Planning Analytics is used by organizations ranging from large corporations and government agencies to small companies for everything from budgeting and planning to consolidation, management reporting and analysis. Pretty much anywhere spreadsheets are used, TM1 / Planning Analytics can be applied, but with much better performance, improved data access security, and no model crashes.

Compared to spreadsheets, TM1 / Planning Analytics provides a lot more options. Questions to ask yourself to determine applicability include:

• Are you using a spreadsheet-based model shared by multiple users?
• Does your model contain multiple files?
• Is more granular data access security required than just file access?
• Can you update the model on demand with real data?
• Is it easy to transfer the model between months?
• Do spreadsheets serve as a source of business intelligence?
• Are there users working in different locations?
• Do you need instant updates for model changes?
• Can you easily change formulas in every spreadsheet?
• Do you need the ability to create and compare new plan versions on the fly?

With TM1/Planning Analytics, you get the ability to turn complex Excel spreadsheets into a manageable, secure, and high-performing model.

The Planning Analytics platform can be deployed on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. You can choose to deploy on internal servers (Planning Analytics Local), cloud deployment through an IBM Cloud Pak subscription, or use a hybrid model with local and cloud resources.

The core components of IBM Planning Analytics include:

• Local server (TM1);
• Working area (PAW);
• Client part for Excel (PAX or PAfE);
• Web client (TM1Web or Contributor).

Core IBM Planning Analytics objects include:

• measurements
• Members (individual members of a dimension, usually grouped in a hierarchy)
• Cubes (combining multiple dimensions into a storage repository called a cube)
• Rules (formulas that determine how items are calculated)
• Processes (specially for loading data and managing the overall environment)
• Household affairs (planned work)
• Security (by cube, dimension, element, or even cell)
• Excel reports and forms
• Panels and Visualizations