Jim Miller

This post is a continuation to my previous post on changes to the Information Architecture in recent times with the advances in Big Data management. This post discusses the 2 common approaches to implementing Big Data in organizations which accommodate Big Data in existing Information Management framework. The two approaches are Knowledge pooling and Knowledge […]

As a seasoned Cognos TM1 architect, it is exciting to see the possibilities delivered with IBM Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler! With this tool, you can perform TM1 model prototyping with little or no programming experience. With performance modeler you can: Create applications – based on the objects contained in your model for use in Cognos […]

So just how easy is it to perform simple forecast modeling using Cognos Insight? Let see. First, I took an MS Excel file and did a “Get Data” and “Import Data…” On the “way in”, Insight let me examine my file and exclude fields I didn’t care about and also (most importantly) tell it which […]

If you have been reading any of my earlier posts, you’ll know that I am always happy to evangelize the concept of a practice or organization “Center of Excellence” – or “CoE”. I believe that the establishment of and commitment to a practice CoE shows that an organization is committed to continuous improvement and ultimately, […]

Here are several general considerations for testing functional areas of a new release of IBM Cognos TM1; (keep in mind that it is not intended to be an exhaustive or “end to end” testing plan. It also does not intend to offer remediation options should testing uncover issues). Functional areas of emphasis covered are: Server […]

The last in the series about Data Discovery tools discusses the current product offerings.Links to previous posts in the series. (Visual) Data Discovery ( Beauty or a Beast ? ) Data Discovery – Part 2 – Use Cases Lets look at the features that are most useful for a data discovery platform and then identify […]

Start Early!  Another important design best practice that should be established early in the development process is establishing naming conventions for your cubes. In fact, it is highly recommended that you introduce your entire project user community – Architects, Modelers, Contributors, Analysts and Consumers – to all of your naming conventions, as part of a […]

  “Either positive or negative comments are good because it shows I am still relevant” – Justin Guarini In all of my years of coding and testing TurboIntegrator scripts, my biggest pet peeve has to be opening a TI script and seeing lines and lines of unstructured, un-commented code. I’ve heard all the excuses: “self-documenting”, […]

“An Architect is the drawer of dreams”…Grace McGarvie  IBM Cognos TM1 gives us the ability to quickly and effectively prototype a business solution demonstrating to users proposed functionalities and capabilities of a system design rather than relying on only discussions and theory.  In some cases, it may seem like a good idea for your prototype […]

Second in the 3 part series. The first post  covered a brief overview of search technology and the need for data discovery. This article covers some use cases and problems that DD would help solve. Data Discovery would be a useful in. Data discovery would be useful whenever an analyst wants to perform adhoc analysis without […]

Architectural Best Practices and adequate Performance Testing will help insure that (at least) acceptable performance levels are met when a TM1 model is deployed. But as time passes, overall application performance may change -reducing effectiveness as well as user satisfaction.  This can be caused by a variety of events, such as:  A Changing User Community […]

The Tm1s.cfg Server Configuration File The Tm1s.cfg file is an ASCII file that specifies environment information for a TM1 server. A default Tm1s.cfg file is created in the TM1 server data directory when you install a copy of the TM1 server. You can edit the Tm1s.cfg file to reflect the environment of the associated remote […]