952 FP3

952 FP3 has now been released.
Details can be found here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27036833&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

TM1Web Skinning

To adjust the banner in tm1web to be visibly different between environments i.e. DEV/UAT/PRD

Go to this location:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\TM1Web\images\banner\

Edit the file banner-background.png in paint and then rename  banner-swoosh.png to be banner-swoosh - Old.png so it doesn’t appear.

TM1 10 and Congos configuration – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

My blog post on the Tridant website about TM1 10 and Congos configuration – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:

http://www.tridant.com.au/blog/tm1-10-and-congos-configuration-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-james-wakefield/

Remove TM1 Portlets

Interesting article here on how to properly remove TM1 portlets from cognos:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21619034&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

TM1 and hyperthreading

Read the IBM stand on TM1 and hyperthreading here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21615143&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

Cognos BI and Salesforce

As of Cognos BI 10.2 you can report of Salesforce direct without the need for Virtual View Manager:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21614133&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSSEP7J&mync=R

IBM Cognos Fix Packs

You can find a list of upcoming Cognos Fix Packs here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/support/fixpacks.html

Note that 952 FP3 is coming out probably before the end of the year

Run-time error '53':File not found: tm1xl.ocx

If you are installing TM1 10.1 or TM1 10.1.1 the you will probably be asking your IT department to make sure they install the pre-requisites on the server.

You will find them here:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/ctm1/v10r1m0/topic/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.10.1.1.doc/c_tm1_inst_requiredsoftwareconfiguration.html

Note how it asks for "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package"

The IT department seeing TM1 is 64 bit will probably only install the 64 bit version of the package. I have even seen them install not the SP1 version. The problem will come that if they don't install the x86 version and TM1 perspectives gets installed you will receive the error Run-time error '53':File not found: tm1xl.ocx when you open perspectives.

Obviously the fix is to install the x86 version of the C++ but hopefully this post will stop many back and forth emails between you and IT

Business Analytics Supportlink

I find the Business Analytics Supportlink a very useful way to keep up to date with things.
Check out the latest version here:

https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/basupportlink/?lang=en_us

It also includes a link to download the very useful looking "System Overview Diagnostic tool" and in fact you can find a bunch of other useul tools at the following url:

https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/basupportlink/tags/diagnostic_tools?lang=en_us

Cognos Insight - Free edition

You can now download a free edition of cognos insight from Analyticszone.com
Previous there was just a 30 day trial but the new free edition is available and allows just for csv file imports and is for personal use rather than commercial.

TM1 10.1.1

TM1 10.1.1 was just released.

See all the documentation here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27021893&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

All the new features here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27032994&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

Check out email notifications:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27035837&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

but rather worrying is the end for tm1top support utility:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27027501

Cognos Insight - Printing

If you want to print  tab on your Cognos Insight dashboard then the best option is to right click on the workspace and select "Copy as Image to Clipboard". This image can then be pasted into any document

Flow Server Manager for TM1

Really liking the Flow Server Manager from http://flowolap.com/
As a consultant supporting many clients, its such a time save to have all the server starts managed and available in one simple place.
Time to try their other tools....

Rebuild a Corrupt Object Crashing FSR

Very useful post about how to recover a corrupt FSR object from the audit trail:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21601189&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSSJSTG&mync=E

FSR Office Conversion Utility

Useful trick here to convert office files on FSR:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21592651&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSSJSTG&mync=E

Cognos Insight Free Trial

Download your 30 day trial copy of Cognos Insight from:

https://www.analyticszone.com/homepage/web/download.action?showchatbuttonavailable

and also download the blueprints for examples

TM1 10 Tip #3

TM1 10 Tip #3

One of the features that people will want to explore first in TM1 10 is the ability to include tm1web sheets within a contributor application.

It may not be obvious but you cannot open these applications within Cognos Insight.

By default your application is set to use the client, tm1web, Cognos Insight - Connected and Cognos Insight - Distributed.

If you try to deploy your application with a websheet and have NOT changed these default client settings then your deploy will fail.

You have to select that application in modeller and on the properties you will need to deselect Cognos Insight - Connected and Cognos Insight - Distributed.

TM1 10 Tip #2

TM1 10 Tip #2

After installation of TM1 10, if you try TM1web and receive an xml error it its likely due to the "IBM Cognos TM1 Excel Service" being set to run under local system and not having the privelages to create documents.
Change this service to run under an administrator account and you should be fine.

TM1 10 Tip #1

I have helped 3 people out so far with exactly the same 3 issues when setting up TM1 10 so I wanted to take time to document them:

Tip #1

You are best adding the following parameters to your TM1 10 cfg file if not there already:


AllowSeparateNandCRules=T
DistributedPlanningOutputDir=tunit  

The first parameters is because of the new wizard functionality in modeller that helps rule creation and it needs this parameter set to help you write C: level rules.
The second parameter is a new one to do with Cognos Insight and the below explains it:

#DistributedPlanningOutputDir
# Type: Optional, Static
# Cognos Insight distributed clients need information called "tunits".
# This data is created when an application is deployed and is updated as the TM1 server runs.
# The location of the directory used for this purpose is set using this parameter.
# In order to deploy Cognos Insight distributed client applications using this database, uncomment or add this parameter as DistributedPlanningOutputDir=<location of the tunit directory>.
# The pathname specified can be absolute, or relative to the TM1 server data directory.
#
# Examples:
# DistributedPlanningOutputDir=tunit   creates a directory "tunit" under the TM1 server data directory
# DistributedPlanningOutputDir=..\tunit   creates a directory "tunit" as a sibling to the TM1 server data directory
# DistributedPlanningOutputDir=C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\tm1\samples\tm1\GO_New_Stores\tunit   creates a directory "tunit"  at the specified location.
#DistributedPlanningOutputDir=.\tunit

IBM Cognos TM1 10.1.0 and 9.5.2 object names cannot contain the following reserved characters

Goes with the best practice guidelines for using underscores in model names:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27024713&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E


Reserved Characters

The following characters are reserved. You cannot use these reserved characters when you name TM1 applications, cubes, views, dimensions, subsets, processes, and chores:

Character​	Description​
’​	apostrophe​
*​	asterisk​
@​	at sign​
\​	back-slash​
:​	colon​
,​	comma​
"​	double-quote​
>​	greater-than​
<​	less-than​
|​	pipe ​
?​	question-mark​
;​	semicolon​
/​	slash​

Note: The right curly brace (}) should not be the first character in any user-created TM1 object name. TM1 and control object names always begin with the right curly brace. If a user-created object name begins with a right curly brace, the object will be hidden to end-users if Display Control Objects is turned off.

The MustGather!

If raising a PMR with IBM the following url outlines the MustGather information that you will need to collect:

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2307&uid=swg21456392