TM1 Forum

Guys, I want to start out learning TM1 but have not much idea where to start. I've done a 3hr starter course on DWH. What books/refernce material, I can follow for learning TM1?

shura123 wrote:Guys, I want to start out learning TM1 but have not much idea where to start. I've done a 3hr starter course on DWH. What books/refernce material, I can follow for learning TM1?

There are a couple of e-pulishing books out there at the moment, which generally aren't that well regarded. There's an official book which Amazon is showing as "Ships Within 3 Days" but still has a publication date of March 22. No idea which one is correct or why IBM should be dragging their heels now that 10.1 has been released.

In the FAQ Thread you'll find links to formal training courses.

But to really learn it, all the books/reference material in the world won't help. You need to have access to a copy of it, and be using it.

Alan Kirk wrote:But to really learn it, all the books/reference material in the world won't help. You need to have access to a copy of it, and be using it.

The problem with this suggestion is that it is extremely difficult to get the software. You have to work for a large company that can acquire a demo copy from IBM or you have to work for an IBM partner that has development copies. If you are just a regular person that says, hey, I'd like to learn how to use TM1, then this is not an option.

tomok wrote:

Alan Kirk wrote:But to really learn it, all the books/reference material in the world won't help. You need to have access to a copy of it, and be using it.

The problem with this suggestion is that it is extremely difficult to get the software. You have to work for a large company that can acquire a demo copy from IBM or you have to work for an IBM partner that has development copies. If you are just a regular person that says, hey, I'd like to learn how to use TM1, then this is not an option.

I'm well aware of that and it's not a suggestion, it's a statement of fact. Put simply, if you can't work with the software, you're screwed. These days it's exactly like any other software of any level of sophistication at all; if you try to learn it in theory, all you learn is enough to parrot through a first interview provided that the interviewer isn't particularly clued in on the software.

Doing some of the hands on courses that I pointed to will help. Getting a gig as an assistant developer will help, and may be possible if the applicant has corresponding experience (especially supplemented by the courses) and can be trained up to do some dog's body work. Buying the software won't because you'd never be able to afford it but that wasn't the question asked.

Alan, thanks for the inputs. I wish IBM had a student version for it. A non-commercial version of it.

I think that this might be available in version 10 - a standalone single user version. But I'm not so masochistic as to want to go looking for it on the IBM website. But if you find it, let us know.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downl ... osexpress/

Cognos Express is a good way to get your self familiar with using TM1. It is running on Tm1 9.5.1 platform.

I am hoping that IBM will release an evaluation copy of TM1 10.1. Looking forward to see the new features 10.1 provides compare to 9.5.1.

winsonlee wrote:http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downl ... osexpress/

Cognos Express is a good way to get your self familiar with using TM1. It is running on Tm1 9.5.1 platform.

Unfortunately that comes back to the problem that Tomok mentioned. You can't just download it from that link; if you click on it you'll be asked to log into your IBM account. And to get an account you need to be someone into whose pockets IBM believes that they'll be able to extend their hand (the deeper the better). Some poor student who wants to just learn the software isn't likely to be able to get it that way.

yeah, u re right, an account is required to download the evaluation. But i don't think the registration is only limited to IBM customer or partner.

Just wondering, is license required to run a copy of TM1 10.1 development version ? If it is not, then prob i may be able to contact a vendor which is an IBM partner to get a copy of the Tm1 10.1 dev version.

winsonlee wrote:yeah, u re right, an account is required to download the evaluation. But i don't think the registration is only limited to IBM customer or partner.

You can roll the dice and take your chances, but as noted above I'd be very surprised if they registered an end user, Doubly so if it's one who only wants an evaluation copy. It's not the market that they're in. And I'm guessing that either you aren't the primary contact at your company, or you've managed to memory-supress the trauma of the endless sea of paperwork that rolled in during the Applix -> Cognos -> IBM migration. It's all a high-overhead-cost operation, which means that their interest is limited to those who can meet those overhead costs.

winsonlee wrote:Just wondering, is license required to run a copy of TM1 10.1 development version ? If it is not, then prob i may be able to contact a vendor which is an IBM partner to get a copy of the Tm1 10.1 dev version.

I don't think that there is a development version as such, but with IBM's licencing being so opaque, who the hell knows. You generally have to licence a development server, which is not technically different from any other server. It's a licencing restriction, not a technical one any longer; the technical restriction on servers was dropped after the Cognos takeover. You can get your primary contact to get in touch with your account manager (if you can find them) and ask whether you can have an evaluation version. If they sniff the prospect of a sale in the air, they may well be able to help (after they come in for a chat about where you're heading). But there's a difference between your situation (employed by a company which has already bought a CX licence) and that of the OP (someone who wants to study the software). The only chance in the latter case is that Martin is right, though even if he is I suspect that it'll be a limited version with Client and possibly architect only.

Alan Kirk wrote: The only chance in the latter case is that Martin is right, though even if he is I suspect that it'll be a limited version with Client and possibly architect only.

From what I understand, one of the main pushes of 10 is to get users doing more for themselves including the ability to build their own little models. The idea is that people will start mucking around and will eventually need to share their data with other users. I believe (and I don't claim infallibility on this one) that you will be able to do modelling for yourself for free. It's when you want to start sharing that it'll cost you. The logical conclusion is that only client/architect would be free, as the other tools are for sharing.

I think the idea is to start pushing OLAP to the masses. Spread it around to everyone, and eventually the ones who are clever enough to use it will bubble to the top and want to build department or enterprise wide systems, and IBM will happily charge them for the privilege.

Again this is my summation of various conversations and interpretation of an IBM presentation. Could be that I got the wrong end of the stick.

I have looked for the single standalone version without any luck. It is quite surprising given that I was able to get another OLAP tool: Hyperion quite easily. The reason I wanted to learn TM1 was the market demand and widespread use it has in Australia.

shura123 wrote:I have looked for the single standalone version without any luck. It is quite surprising given that I was able to get another OLAP tool: Hyperion quite easily. The reason I wanted to learn TM1 was the market demand and widespread use it has in Australia.

It's a head scratcher to me why they don't have such a version that people could download for free. It's not like it would be anything other than positive for adoption of TM1. One of the biggest hurdles to a company implementing TM1 is the lack of qualified developers in the marketplace. Anything they could do to alleviate that would actually help their software sales. Go figure.

tomok wrote:

shura123 wrote:I have looked for the single standalone version without any luck. It is quite surprising given that I was able to get another OLAP tool: Hyperion quite easily. The reason I wanted to learn TM1 was the market demand and widespread use it has in Australia.

It's a head scratcher to me why they don't have such a version that people could download for free. It's not like it would be anything other than positive for adoption of TM1. One of the biggest hurdles to a company implementing TM1 is the lack of qualified developers in the marketplace. Anything they could do to alleviate that would actually help their software sales. Go figure.

Well SAP is not that forthcoming too. Before getting Hyperion I tried to search for BPC too, no single user version available. Given that TM1 is now unaccessible to me. What other OLAP/Analytical tool I can check out?

shura123 wrote:Well SAP is not that forthcoming too. Before getting Hyperion I tried to search for BPC too, no single user version available. Given that TM1 is now unaccessible to me. What other OLAP/Analytical tool I can check out?

Try Palo, it's 90% the same as TM1 give or take and there is a free community version. If you learn Palo then certainly close to most of the skills will be transferable.

Absolutely beats me too why there isn't a free or very very low cost stand alone single user version of TM1. I can understand why it wasn't done like that in the past when servers were 32 bit and it TM1 was mainly a small departmental solution, then it would have been like giving away the product for free. But for years now the market has been targeted at the enterprise end of the spectrum with big data. Offering a free version of what was "Perspectives" with local server would only expand the market which I agree would be best for customers, and IBM also. If you don't have a server to connect to then really so what. From the vendor perspective, the licensing is all about the server and users connected to the server so nothing that IBM currently sees as being of value would be given away and surely expanding the market is all blue sky.

shura123 wrote: Well SAP is not that forthcoming too. Before getting Hyperion I tried to search for BPC too, no single user version available. Given that TM1 is now unaccessible to me. What other OLAP/Analytical tool I can check out?

I can understand it with SAP. Back when it was OutlookSoft it ran on MS Analysis Services and it was feasible to run it on a single machine. Now that it is BPC, and needs Netweaver, I don't know if it's feasible to run on a single machine.

lotsaram wrote: Try Palo, it's 90% the same as TM1 give or take and there is a free community version. If you learn Palo then certainly close to most of the skills will be transferable.

Palo is an excellent suggestion. You can get it here http://www.palo.net. I would recommend Palo for Excel only. The full package includes a bunch of stuff that won't be transferrable to TM1. Palo for Excel includes an Excel add-in and the OLAP service. You'll be able to create dimensions, cubes, write rules, etc., all through a pretty nice Excel add-in.

Thanks guys for the suggestion. I hope I will be able to jumpstart my career as olap developer.