CX 10.2.1 FP2

CX 10.2.1 FP2 now available which includes Office 2013 support

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24038542

The download is on Fix Central now at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/quickorder?parent=Cognos&product=ibm/Information+Management/Cognos+Express&release=10.2.1&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=10.2.1-BA-CX-Win64-FP002

IBM Cognos Command Centre Overview

Link to my video showing Cognos Command Centre and its integration with TM1 http://youtu.be/Age5lEMRJ3M

Cognos TM1, Insight and Analysis for Microsoft Excel 10.2.2 Fix Pack 1 now available

Grab the fix pack now and get all the details from here: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21686239

How to read IBM Cognos TM1 Version Numbers

Breaking this one down:
10.1.00100.24600

"10.1.0" = TM1 10.1.0

"00100" = FP1

"24600" = Build number, useful for IBM Support.

The important numbers are the middle ones (00100).

The first is part of the major release (aka 10.1.10000 = TM1 10.1.1)

The next 2 numbers are for the FP.

The last 2 numbers are for the IF (aka Hotfix).


Examples:

10.1.00100.24600 = TM1 10.1.0 FP1

10.1.10000.26473 = TM1 10.1.1 Base Release

10.1.10100.31864 = TM1 10.1.1 FP1    (For 10.1.1 FP2 this would be 10.1.10200.xxxxx)

10.1.10104.34644 = TM1 10.1.1 FP1 IF4

IBM CDM User group

Check out the IBM CDM User Group and the useful videos they have:

https://ibm.biz/CDMUserGroup

TM1/CDM Best Practices from IBM Supportlink

Check out some new TM1 and CDM best practices on IBM Supportlink:

https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/basupportlink/entry/new_documents_of_interest_for_ibm_cognos_tm1_and_fpm_users?lang=en_us

Upgrading Cognos Express 10.1 to 10.2

I recently completed a Cognos Express upgrade to version 10.2 and thought I would document some tips:

• The download for Cognos Express is now 7.6gb! Leave plenty of time for download from the site and then transfer to your server.
• You will find the install now switches from \Program Files (X86)\
  to \Program Files\ as it moves fully 64 bit. Make sure you update any scripts or TI's to the new path
• The restores of CX you will have taken before the un-install of previous version will be sitting in the Backup directory of X86
• IE is not great to work with Express Manager so make sure you have Chrome/Firefox handy.
• The Performance Modeler Rich Client would not un-install at the start. I switched off UAC to get the un-install to work
• Performance Modeler had lots of upgrades and changes in 10.2. Some of these changes may affect any contributor application you have. I had one application where there was a conflict and PM just deleted the Application. You will need to check your application in Performance Modeler and adjust to 10.2 
• Make sure you remember to upgrade your tm1web .xls to .xlsx
• Windows 8 is supported for Xcelerator client but Excel 2013 is not. You might consider using Excel 2010 (instead of or alongside) or using loose files
• Also remember Excel 64 bit is not supported
• If you want any changes to show in your workflow after updating the subset then you will need to go into Performance modeler and re-save the security rights
• Check your Office Fix Packs and apply if needed
• Your old web.config now changes to be tm1web_config.xml found in
  C:\Program Files\IBM\Cognos Express\webapps\tm1web\WEB-INF\configuration\tm1web_config.xml
  I changed the following values to be true to ensure websheets worked as per 10.1
  <add key="RecalcOnDataValidationChange" value="true"/>  
  <add key="RecalcOnPicklistChange" value="true"/>
  http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21653590

Power Saving and TM1 Performance

I was given this tip recently by a friend from Applix days.

If you are on Windows 2008 R2 then go into your Power Options via Control Panel and make sure the setting is "High Performance".

Do NOT select "Balanced".

It appears as if the processor scales down 50% when in balanced mode.

TM1 and JMeter

If you dont have LoadRunner available to you, yet you want to stress test your TM1 Application then its worth having a look at Apache JMeter.
JMeter you can download for free and then follow the instructions on IBM DeveloperWorks here:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ba-pp-infrastructure-cognos_specific-page675/ba-pp-infrastructure-cognos_specific-page675-pdf.pdf

Cognos TM1 10.2 Multi-threaded Query calculation fix

There looks to be an issue with MTQ in 10.2.
Looks like its best to ensure FP1 is applied then add MTQ.SingleCellConsolidation=false to your cfg

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21664467&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSS9RXT&mync=E

Webinar with Quebit

I will be hosting a webinar with Quebit around their ReportWorq solution for bursting TM1 excel based reports via email and sharepoint.

If interested you can register here: http://www.tridant.com.au/broadentm1capabilities/

CDM - Advanced Scripting with Query Variables

When setting up data queries within CDM you have the full power of MDX available to you.
You can then create the right syntax to return any element within TM1.
As an example lets assume we have a Scenario dimension in TM1 and we take a static snapshot of the Budget every year e.g. Budget2014. We now in CDM want our queries to be dynamic and we have setup a query variable YYYY which is currently set to 2014.
When creating my queries i can use the Advanced Scripting option and then use the following syntax

[Scenario].[Budget{YYYY}]

This should resolve to:

Budget2014

No Servers displaying in TM1Web in TM1 10.2 FP1

If you are applying 10.2 FP1 then make sure you read the following article:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24036618

Especially these bits:

a. Delete the config.ini file which can be found <TM1 install>\tomcat\work\Catalina\localhost\pmhub\eclipse\configuration.
This is required when using TM1 Operations Console, Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel® or Cognos TM1 Mobile Contributor.
b. Open Cognos Configuration.
c. When you first open Cognos Configuration after applying FP1 a message displays that the configuration files have been upgraded. Click OK to continue.

Otherwise you will end up with tm1web displaying no servers

Deprecated and discontinued functionality in IBM Cognos TM1

Its worth being aware of this link
The two bigs ones that people should be aware of as they plan there upgrade are:

• The Advanced Rule Editor no longer being supported in 10.2. This is a trend you will continue to see of a movement towards performance modeller for creation and maintenance. 
• 10.2 being the last release to support CQM. If your BI reports on TM1 are not using DQM then you need to start converting them

TM1 10.2 FP1

As an early christmas present there was a release of TM1 10.2 FP1 on Dec 24th.
For more information see this link

TM1Web 10.2 url api

Worth noting that if you are looking to upgrade to TM1 10.2 and you use the tm1web url api then the syntax has chnaged. See here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27039576