Approach to write documentation

[wypwong]

There is about 3 different instances in TM1, and they are all been written by different contractors who no longer worked for the company. All the instances are working fine, and they are maintained by new contractors, but there is not much documentation around. I just joined the company recently as a beginner, and like to understand them better.

What would be the best approach to understand those database, and the relationship between different cubes, processes and applications?

Is there any structural method to do that? apart from going though every single spreadsheets/applications, cubes and processes...

Thanks in advance.
Phyllis

[tomok]

You are in a tough situation. Trying to document something someone else built is a difficult job. That's why getting documentation from your developer after the work is complete is absolutely critical. I've been working with TM1 for 20+ years and I still sometimes struggle when trying to figure out what someone else has done whenever I inherit a messed up model that has no documentation (about 80% of the time). This is not a task for beginners unless you have extreme amounts of fortitude.

That being said, there is no shortcut to figuring it out. Go through the dimensions, cubes, rules, and TIs, as well as talk to as many of the power users as you can and make copious notes. Good luck.

[declanr]

I always start with a flow chart. Put each cube on a page and then go through each process and rule 1 by 1 drawing an arrow between the cubes with a reference mark, then against that reference mark note the general concept of what data is moving etc.
Once your flow chart is fully built you still have a long way to go (detailing in-cube rules and metadata functions etc.) but I always find it to be a good reference point and a grounding to do the rest of the documentation.

[nedcpatm1]

In addition to what other contributors recommended above...try using the Dataflow Diagram feature if you use 10.2 version.

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/ctm1/ ... mming.html

[wypwong]

Thanks all.. It sounds like I will have a lot of "fun" documenting them, anyway it will be good for me to understand those instances.

We are still on 10.1, not sure when we will upgrade to 10.2 yet though.

[Harvey]

There are various documentation generators for TM1 that might help you get a high level understanding before digging into the details.

I just started a new project and found generated documentation invaluable in getting my head around the cubes/dimensions/processes.

PM me if you want a few suggestions.

[hyunjia]

Hi ,

From my experience , it make no sense for me look at the data flow or documentation within the whole model . However , it proves very useful to generate a document targeting a specfic object , such as rule or processe .

[wypwong]

I think the flow chart will be useful to understand all the relationship between cubes and process.

Is there any approach that can speed up my learning curve? I guess I am kind of looking for a short cut, but I know it's impossible. I just want to hear from the experienced people and see how they approach it.

Thanks.
Phyllis