TM1 Forum

Hi,

We use TM1 for our P&L planning and reporting of actuals. I have recently received a request from accounting to build a TM1 model that can do consolidations and eliminations. Is TM1 a good tool to do that and are other companies using TM1 for this purpose? Our IBM partner is suggesting IBM controller for that but we would rather not add a new tool to our team and do it in TM1 if possible. We use Oracle EBS so accounting is even considering Hyperion HFM for this.

Thanks

TM1 is a great tool for consolidations. The caveat here is that none of the normal things you would expect in a consolidation system like Controller or HFM are present out of the box in TM1. What I am taking about is automatic elimination entry generation, tracking of elimination entries for SOX, minority interest calcs, foreign exchange calcs, etc. If you want those you have to build them yourself. Whether that is something you want to do is up to you to decide. I personally think that Controller and HFM are unbelievably overpriced for what they deliver but that's just my opinion. I have done a number of consolidation systems in TM1 for waaaaayy less than the cost of either of these tools and they so that to client got to do their consolidations EXACTLY how they client wanted. Not alter the way they do business to fit a tool.

tomok wrote:I have done a number of consolidation systems in TM1 for waaaaayy less than the cost of either of these tools and they so that to client got to do their consolidations EXACTLY how they client wanted. Not alter the way they do business to fit a tool.

A very key point Tomok. Something (with all the glitz of HFM etc) that gets lost quickly, especially when discussing this with the grown ups. If you're going to suggest TM1 then you need to make sure you build a sound cost benefit. As Tomok mentioned the others come out of the box, but they are never really a 100% fit. TM1 would cost less and would be built to purpose.

grvbahal wrote:Hi,

We use TM1 for our P&L planning and reporting of actuals. I have recently received a request from accounting to build a TM1 model that can do consolidations and eliminations. Is TM1 a good tool to do that and are other companies using TM1 for this purpose? Our IBM partner is suggesting IBM controller for that but we would rather not add a new tool to our team and do it in TM1 if possible. We use Oracle EBS so accounting is even considering Hyperion HFM for this.

Thanks

Hi grvbahal,

IBM Cognos Controller and Oracle HFM are packaged consolidation applications. Hence they are strict and may have limitations in terms of what you need to achieve. It may also be tricky to trace, understand and explain how they calculate consolidated numbers. On the other hand, TM1 is not a packaged application, we can do what we want in TM1 in the way we want. Using TM1, we can develop our own custom consolidation applications in a more flexible manner in the way we want. I have developed a TM1 based consolidation solution to replace HFM in a client. Then in another client, I further developed this TM1 based solution and replaced Cognos Controller. To do the same in TM1, you would need to have deep understanding of consolidation calculations. In designing your consolidation solution, it may help a lot if you review HFM and Controller to see how they handle different consolidation requirements.