Alternate Solutions to TM1

Not related to a specific OLAP tool. (Includes forum policies and rules).
Post Reply
xam2iks
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:02 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: 10.2.2.5
Excel Version: 2010

Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by xam2iks »

Hello,
We have been using TM1 for quite a while, but are now interested in looking at alternative solutions.
Looking for suggestions based upon experience.
Thanks !
Adam
Posts: 94
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:10 am
OLAP Product: IBM PA
Version: 2.0.9.x
Excel Version: Microsoft 365 x64

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by Adam »

xam2iks wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 5:33 pm Hello,
We have been using TM1 for quite a while, but are now interested in looking at alternative solutions.
Looking for suggestions based upon experience.
Thanks !
You might have trouble finding what you're looking for considering it's TM1Forum.com. Pardon my jest. :D

Perhaps check the Other OLAP Tools forum for some ideas but I think you'll have to then do independent research.

I would be interested to learn for what reason you're considering switching from TM1 to another solution.
Take care.
Adam
Wim Gielis
MVP
Posts: 3105
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:26 pm
OLAP Product: TM1, Jedox
Version: PAL 2.0.9.18
Excel Version: Microsoft 365
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Contact:

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by Wim Gielis »

xam2iks wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 5:33 pm Hello,
We have been using TM1 for quite a while, but are now interested in looking at alternative solutions.
Looking for suggestions based upon experience.
Thanks !
What part(s) are you not happy with ? Here are a few of them, not in any particular order and not all equally important:

User (absence of) excitement about the interface ?
Performance ?
Company policy, e.g. away from IBM ?
Is it price related ?
Are you looking for ready-made templates ?
Easier access to other sources in Turbo Integrator ?

Etc. With that info you might get more and better suggestions.
Best regards,

Wim Gielis

IBM Champion 2024
Excel Most Valuable Professional, 2011-2014
https://www.wimgielis.com ==> 121 TM1 articles and a lot of custom code
Newest blog article: Deleting elements quickly
MarenC
Regular Participant
Posts: 346
Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:55 am
OLAP Product: Planning Analytics
Version: Planning Analytics 2.0
Excel Version: Excel 2016

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by MarenC »

Another one might be maintainability.

Over time TM1 models can be difficult to maintain, if people leave etc and the model is complex.

Add into this that TM1 is more and more IT centric and less finance centric ( in the skill set) then finance may turn round and say, over to you IT to provide some solutions, and they turn round and say SSRS or something daft like that! And before long the spreadsheets begin to return, which while we are on the subject is one alternative to TM1 I can think of :lol: .
User avatar
Alan Kirk
Site Admin
Posts: 6606
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 2:30 am
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: PA2.0.9.18 Classic NO PAW!
Excel Version: 2013 and Office 365
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by Alan Kirk »

It's disappointing that xam2iks didn't do a follow up on this because I think it had - has, in fact - the potential to be a most interesting conversation.

MarenC makes a good point; if one did not know better - and one does not - one MIGHT feel that part of the reason that IBM is trying to overcomplicate the living h3ll out of the product is to make it all but impossible to run - for practical purposes - on premises. Presumably they would then assume that this will generate no ill will, resentment or lack of trust on the part of their on prem customers, and that everyone will follow like a herd of sheep into their cloud offering. Of course if they do think that, then IMHO they have their collective head shoved so far into different types of "clouds" that they are unlikely to see 787s full of departing customers vectoring straight for that head. But hey, this is purely speculation on my part. I make no claim that I have correctly read their intentions.

On the other hand, being an on prem customer I have extensive first hand experience of the level of "concern" that IBM shows us. As my smile shall now show. :x

(Aside: I really haven't used SQL Server Reporting Services enough to pass comment on it, but IMHO SSAS (Analysis Services) just keeps getting better and better.)

But this leads to my key point; I think the question is being looked at bass-ackward. What can replace TM1? On the server side, not much yet. Its in memory advantage is being eroded; for example a lot of things in the "Big Data" space in Google Cloud Services are mostly if not entirely running in memory. Ragged dimension consolidations are something that we take for granted in TM1 but in reality it's not guaranteed that you'll get that everywhere. Implementing business rules by rule calculations isn't unique, but they're (overall) extremely well implemented in TM1. The ability to collaborate on budgets or forecasts in real time is not unique, but also far better than average. Alternative hierarchies are an inspired idea, but we don't yet have decent front end software to make use of them. Overall, however, there really isn't a server tool that can be "anything you want or need it to be" the way the TM1 server is.

What could replace PA on the client side? A lump of charcoal, a roll of toilet paper, a smoke signal fire and a set of tom toms. Oh wait, tom toms don't fail when you upgrade your antivirus software and are easy to install. Scratch that, the IBM client software has no parallel. No, really, I mean that. Just not in a complementary fashion.

So what could replace TM1 or, more generally, PA2? Probably nothing if you compare it feature for feature, the same as most software. Every program is unique, more or less.

But - key point - nobody is looking to buy software. They are looking to solve a business problem. And in THAT regard the question to be asking isn't "what can replace TM1" but rather "What could be used to do the following business functions?" There may be alternatives, or it may be that for the moment at least TM1 is the only one that will cover the bases. It may be that one other product can do it and do it cheaper. (Like that last part would be hard.) It may be that several products would be a better solution. The only way we can discuss that is to know what it is that you need to do. From there, we walk backwards to find the right solution.
"To them, equipment failure is terrifying. To me, it’s 'Tuesday.' "
-----------
Before posting, please check the documentation, the FAQ, the Search function and FOR THE LOVE OF GLUB the Request Guidelines.
xam2iks
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:02 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: 10.2.2.5
Excel Version: 2010

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by xam2iks »

Good morning everybody,
I was out of communications for a while - apologies for the absence. I appreciate all the responses.

The main reason we are looking to replace TM1 is TCO.

We are an on-prem customer and are really pretty happy with the tool, it's power and versatility. We are not running PAW or PAX at this point. A fair amount of our user base does have a tough time comprehending the multi-dimensional universe, but the power users that do get it - love it. The more basic users just open up their views or custom spreadsheets and are happy with that. We mostly use it for FP&A. We also use it as a reporting tool (ETL from our EBS).

Unfortunately the IBM renewal and pricing model (non-negotiable 10% increase per year) is becoming too much to want to keep funding. Alan is correct, this IS a bass-ackward approach, but we have so much invested in dynamically built dimensions/hierarchies and many heavily rules based cubes that my first thought was to look for something that had similar functionality. It is pretty close to: "I don't want to pay for all of the features I have, but I'm not willing to give up any functionality".
User avatar
scrumthing
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:18 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: 11.x
Excel Version: MS365

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by scrumthing »

Maybe you should look for an alternative frontend for TM1 to avoid the PAW hustle and try renegotiating your price with either IBM or a partner can do some wonders... Just saying ;-)
There is no OLAP database besides TM1!
User avatar
gtonkin
MVP
Posts: 1192
Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 3:03 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: Latest and greatest
Excel Version: Office 365 64-bit
Location: JHB, South Africa
Contact:

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by gtonkin »

The PAW hustle is not going to go away. Based on the last AMA and the intention of having one security framework for both the TM1 server and PAW, PAW will be the place to manage security.
User avatar
scrumthing
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:18 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: 11.x
Excel Version: MS365

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by scrumthing »

gtonkin wrote: Mon Aug 09, 2021 5:47 pm the intention of having one security framework for both the TM1 server and PAW
The will (and should and kind of already have on the cloud) move to OpenID. TM1 server already allows for OpenID connections today (Secret security mode 6 anyone). So I am pretty sure it will not change backend-wise dramatically with v12. So instead of PAW you can use either other tools or programming languages like Python (TM1py!) to automate that stuff.
I wouldn't worry to much about that gtonkin. :-)
There is no OLAP database besides TM1!
Wim Gielis
MVP
Posts: 3105
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:26 pm
OLAP Product: TM1, Jedox
Version: PAL 2.0.9.18
Excel Version: Microsoft 365
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Contact:

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by Wim Gielis »

scrumthing wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:02 am The will (and should and kind of already have on the cloud) move to OpenID. TM1 server already allows for OpenID connections today (Secret security mode 6 anyone). So I am pretty sure it will not change backend-wise dramatically with v12. So instead of PAW you can use either other tools or programming languages like Python (TM1py!) to automate that stuff.
I wouldn't worry to much about that gtonkin. :-)
That must be very secret because I have never heard of it :o
Best regards,

Wim Gielis

IBM Champion 2024
Excel Most Valuable Professional, 2011-2014
https://www.wimgielis.com ==> 121 TM1 articles and a lot of custom code
Newest blog article: Deleting elements quickly
User avatar
Alan Kirk
Site Admin
Posts: 6606
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 2:30 am
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: PA2.0.9.18 Classic NO PAW!
Excel Version: 2013 and Office 365
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Alternate Solutions to TM1

Post by Alan Kirk »

Wim Gielis wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:39 pm
scrumthing wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:02 am The will (and should and kind of already have on the cloud) move to OpenID. TM1 server already allows for OpenID connections today (Secret security mode 6 anyone). So I am pretty sure it will not change backend-wise dramatically with v12. So instead of PAW you can use either other tools or programming languages like Python (TM1py!) to automate that stuff.
I wouldn't worry to much about that gtonkin. :-)
That must be very secret because I have never heard of it :o
It puts the response to Steve Rowe's request into context though:
IBM wrote:Our strategy is to detach authentication and password management from TM1 and Planning Analytics. No enhancements are planned for TM1 security modes 1-5.
Leaving aside that this was not so much an "enhancement" as "do your gorram job as software developers properly for once", I did think at the time "What else IS there aside from modes 1 to 5"? That would be an explanation.

It's not the first time that IBM has treated paying customers like mushrooms, however.

Still, I think we're drifting off topic a tad. I've formulated some ideas about what tools could be used as a replacement because I can see this drifting into a non-theoretical realm at some point, but I'm not yet at the point of being able to propose them yet. I'm not yet prepared to put someone else's money on the line. I know some customers that IBM has already lost. I can see them losing more in the future, and they seem to me to care less about that than Captain E.J. Smith did about the presence of icebergs. I'm hoping that there are some in those categories who are reading this thread.
"To them, equipment failure is terrifying. To me, it’s 'Tuesday.' "
-----------
Before posting, please check the documentation, the FAQ, the Search function and FOR THE LOVE OF GLUB the Request Guidelines.
Post Reply