TM1 Forum

training material?

I am doing Cognos Planning, and I intend to take the training course for Cognos TM1: Designing and Developing application.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to directly go for this course WITHOUT taking Cognos TM1 Developer Fundamental? Or can anyone give me any study material for Cognos TM1 Developer Fundamental? Thanks very much!

I would strongly recommend against going to the administrators course without doing a fundamental users course first. Admin users must have a good understanding of how all the dimensions and cubes work before they can start building them themselves!

Cognos and independent consultancies will keep their study material and notes fairly close to their chest as this is how they make a living. You can however ask specific questions here in the forum.

A general "how does it all work?" is unlikely to get much back though

You could also start up the sample database that comes with the TM1 install and make your way through the manual. This is an excellent way of learning the basics if it is possible to lock yourself away for a couple of days and avoid interruption.

Cheers,
Martin

Thanks for your reply!

I am just wondering if knowledge of 'cube' and 'dimension' is similar to that of Cognos Planning, so that I could skip some step.
Since it is not recommended, I will have to pay extra $$$

Oh, I see. I haven't done Cognos Planning. Maybe someone else can comment.

I'm about to get a black mark against my name here, but you might find it beneficial to speak to a partner rather than direct to Cognos here as they are likely to be able to tailor a course that's more specific to your needs.

Or Cognos might be able to too, come to think of it - and they'll know how much cross over there is between the two products.

Martin

Though I dont know planning either I have taken the TM1 courses and I honestly found them to not be very beneficial. They are taught through a perfect world mentality. Most of the TI course was based on using their mappings and autogenerated code, which does not work unless your data is perfectly set up to the hierarchy.

If you cannot got the customized course route your best bet (IMO) would be to start with the documentation provided by Cognos and work with the sample data. If you have the cube knowledge you should be able to get a very good start from the product docs and like was mentioned earlier someone around here will be happy to fill in gaps that those leave.

I think that courses are perhaps an unavoidable evil - the best way of doing something not very well perhaps.

In the real world I think people get more from perching on the shoulder of someone who knows what they are doing for a day or two, than they will ever learn in the theoretical environment of a classroom. It does require a hands on, I'll give that a go on my test model type attitude though.

Thanks very much for your reply!

I've just deleted a post soliciting work in this thread. The main Cognos TM1 forum is for technical queries and discussions. Please use the OLAP Jobs forum for discussion of work opportunities.

I'd also recommend people use the Private Message capability of the forum to query individual people about roles.

Martin

Based on my experience with Cognos Planning, I would advise a review of ALL TM1 documentation/consideration of all Developer type classes. Obviously OLAP concepts apply to both products, but object features and behavior can differ greatly.

A colleague attended the standard Dec 2008 TM1 Developer courses, and from what I can tell those classes/any equivalent would be fairly worthwhile. The Dec class content was a huge improvement over May 2008 which I suffered through.

You need the foundations, and then great forum traffic to round out TM1 knowledge. Both are helpful when it comes to hands-on work with the real thing.

- Sarah

On the topic of training, remember that you can find a growing list of partners who offer training and other TM1 services in the following thread in the Commercial forum:
http://forums.olapforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=543