Consolidation in an intercube rule? Express 10.1

[mr j]

Hey,

A newbie question probably sent to the forum in a wrong way to make it even worse.. It's Cognos Express 10.1. I'm using, so not strictly TM1.

So, I'm transporting data from one cube to another with a set of rules. I'd need to consolidate the data from a set of cost centers in the source cube to one cost center in the target. It's not an option to create a dimension consolidation for these as there already is two parallel hierarchies. It's this one set of cost centers that's a special case.

I don't want to try and build links as they appear to make a mess of the rules and there's plenty of other rules needed to bring all the required data to the target cube.

How to consolidate the data in a rule? There's an attribute grouping these cost centers (dimension elements), could that be used? What's the syntax?

[tomok]

If you can't/won't build a consolidation in the source to add those elements together and don't want to muck up the rules in the target by adding these cost centers together while they are coming in then you are out of luck. Your only other option that I can think of is to use TI to move the balances. It's probably the best idea anyway unless the cubes HAVE to be real time.

[mr j]

Ito muck up the rules in the target by adding these cost centers together while they are coming in

Sorry for maybe being slow here, but like said, I'm a newbie...
What I meant is that I could try building links with Performance Modeler which would create a bunch of rules and this is not a preference since there's other data which can be handled with rules easily. Rules created by links seem to make the total set of rules a complete mess both in the target and in the source. This will be difficult for maintenance later.

Therefore I'd type the rules in the target if I'd only knew the syntax, but you're saying it's not possible to add these cost centers together at all..?

[tomok]

Like I said, there are only two ways to do it via a rule: 1) create a hierarchy in the cost center dimension in the source cube to add whatever centers need to be added to together or 2) write specific one-off rules to add those centers together in the formula to override the center for center matching in the generic rule. Option 2 would look like:

Code: Select all

['CostCenterX',Measure(s)] = N:DB(Source,'CostCenterA',Dim2,Dim3,....,Measure(s))+DB(Source,Dim1,Dim2,Dim3,....,Measure(s));
[Measure(s)] = N:DB(Source,Dim1,Dim2,Dim3,....,Measure(s));

Your syntax will vary depending on what it is your bringing over and your specific dimensionality. If you don't understand this then a training class would be in order, or at least a deep dive into the manuals.

[mr j]

Right, got it.

'Grouping', summing up, consolidating, whatever you want to call it with an attribute common to the needed cost centers is not an option in any case?

Regarding your comment about attending training or deep dive into manuals... I've attended a 5 day TM1 training a couple of years ago, but no experience with it since. If you'd think there's much about rules during the course, go check yourself and find out the truth. Based on that experience, why attend another expensive course which possibly does not help you any further. I got the training materials. Got also Express training materials from a colleague. Searched around IBM documentation & whatever you come across googling. Take a guess if any of these gave even the simple syntax DB(... + DB(... ? Express 10 with it's links creating hundreds of lines of rules does not really help either to figure out the most efficient and in the future the maintenance friendliest way.

I wouldn't be asking here if I hadn't seen the trouble already to find the answer and there comes a time when it's not reasonable to spend any more time. Any real advice where to find manuals worth deep diving is appreciated.

[stephen waters]

Mr J
From a technical viewpoint I suggest you accept what tomok is saying. He is a very (very, very....) experienced TM1 consultant. Summarising by attribute is a feature I have used in another tool (Express,no not the IBM one) and it was very useful. I have heard rumours that it may be coming in future releases but no idea if correct or when

In terms of deep dive you could try the "IBM Cognos TM1 The official guide" http://www.amazon.co.uk/IBM-Cognos-TM1- ... 0071765697 Written by Applix\IBM technical team gives you a lot of useful info. Wont be up to date with latest 10.2 though and I think it does classic rules rather than Perf Mod approach.

Finally, just to clarify, ignoring the cut down BI in the Reporter module, Cognos Express is effectively cheap TM1 with very little functional difference. If you look at the Xcelerator manuals for matching versions you can see that the title page is different and they have done a search and replace for TM1, but otherwise the same.

[mr j]

stephen,

Yes, I'm starting to accept it Probably the same rumours about attributes made me wish they're an option, but...

I'm about to discuss the consolidations with the client to see if there's anything we could do about that, as tomok's "1)" points out.

Thanks for the guide tip, will have a look. It would definitely be better to look at classic rules even if 10.2. had improved rule writing by links in Performance Modeler.. Having built several Cognos Planning applications the links of course are tempting.

And yes, I'm aware of the TM1/Express relation and I think I came across something that really looked like a manual edited with find/replace.

Thank you very much for the input so far, both tomok and stephen!