Performance of Slice vs ISB vs Active Form vs Cube Viewer

[fleaster]

Ok, so we're running TM1 9.5.2 Perspectives, and had noticed many users having issues with refreshing slices - when testing the same view via different interfaces we found :

a. Cube Viewer = OK
b. Inspreadsheet Browser = OK
c. Active Form = slightly slower, but still OK
d. Excel Slice = really slow and/or the file hangs/crashes Excel
e. (we don't use TM1 Web)

So my questions are :

1. What is the difference in method for the way Slices extracts data from the server vs other methods above?

2. What are some possible causes/resolutions for the Slice performance issue? (e.g. streamline the user's XL formulas, check for security patches on the PC etc...)

muchas gracias!

Matt

[David Usherwood]

I think there's a good chance that your Excel slice isn't leveraging Stargating. If your cube cell is hardcoded as opposed to holding a (properly configured) VIEW() function then your slice will not leverage the precalculation and data bundling which Stargate supplies.
Stargating is enabled by default in the Cube Viewer and would typically be in place on an Active Form. I must say I haven't tried the ISB for quite a while - I suspect that IBM will desupport it once CAFE 10.2 is bedded in.

[rkaif]

Are you using DBRW() or DBR() formulas in the Excel?

If you are using the DBR() then you may hit performance issues because of the nature of the DBR() function which process each cell individually.

[fleaster]

thanks all for the feedback... the users are using DBRW, but we noticed that the "VIEW" functions had disappeared from most of the large spreadsheets (due to a file conversion for a new cube migration) - after putting them back in, the spreadsheets seemed to calculate better

cheers,

Matt