TM1

Introduction

MetaManager^TM for TM1 (MM4TM1) simplifies and automates many of the complexities associated with metadata management, security, documentation and more, at the developer, administrator and consumer level. As an extension to TM1 and IBM Cognos, MM4TM1 provides functionality that automates and streamlines many of the manual processes within a TM1 deployment. In addition, MM4TM1 delivers functionality that does not exist within the out-of-the-box Cognos products. With MM4TM1, administrators can:

Update – MM4TM1’s Update Modules provide you with a suite of tools to perform common tasks more easily and more efficiently within your TM1 environment, cutting down on the manual steps involved and increasing your productivity.

Secure - Maintaining a secure environment over time can become an unwieldy task. MM4TM1s security modules help you audit, edit, replicate, replace, export and import security through one powerful and intuitive interface.

Document - MM4TM1’s Documentation modules record meaningful business and compliance documents in a variety of output types. These flexible documentation capabilities provide you the tools to audit and manage projects as well as satisfy compliance needs.

MetaManagerTM for TM1 Portal Tree

MM4TM1's proprietary view of the TM1 server and if applicable the IBM Cognos Connection environment in a tree view provides powerful navigation and search capabilities for locating content in the TM1 server or the IBM Cognos Content Store.

Enhanced Portal Tree

The enhanced portal tree provides many capabilities to allow users the ability to quickly and easily browse the portal, make selections, search for content, view information and perform actions via a context menu.

The root node will always display the following 6 child nodes:

• Cubes

• Dimensions

• Processes

• Chores

• Clients

• Groups

In addition, if Cognos Integrated Security is being used for authentication, the Cognos Directory and Namespaces will also be included.

Navigating the Portal Tree

TM1 Server will contain all cubes, dimensions, processes, etc. available based on the module the user is working within.

Directory, will contain the default Cognos namespace and any additional namespaces available in the selected environment if Cognos Integrated Security is being used for authentication.

MM4TM1 supports an unlimited number of namespaces based on the number of namespaces established within Cognos Configuration for any given environment.

• Users can pre-establish their authentication credentials for each namespace when setting up the environment in the Tools, Options within MM4TM1. Alternatively, users can authenticate to any namespace within MetaManager^TM's tree view by right clicking on the namespace and selecting Logon.

Portal Tree Functionality

The portal tree is a multi-select tree. Multiple objects can be selected by clicking a node, holding down shift or ctrl and then selecting a second node, etc. Holding shift while clicking on the tree will select everything from the first node to the second node clicked. Holding down ctrl will simply add the second node clicked to the list of selected nodes.

• Users can also use the keyboard to make selections by using the arrow keys and using the shift or ctrl key.

• Users can de-select a selected node by clicking on it again while holding the ctrl key.

The tree is also a virtual tree. When a user expands a branch for the first time, a query will be issued to the server to load the contents of that branch.

• A “Loading….” node may be displayed while this query is executing. When the query completes the results will be displayed in the tree.

• If the query returns only a subset of the children, then a “More…” node will display.

• If the user clicks the More… node or selects it with the keyboard, another query will be issued to the server to load the next batch of results.

• If all of the children are loaded, then the More… node will no longer be displayed.

Objects can be selected in the tree and added to the “grid area” by dragging and dropping them or by right clicking on the object and selecting “Add to grid”.

Context Menus within the Portal Tree

Within the Portal Tree, various right-click or context menus exist depending on the module and the object selected. Below is a listing of the various context menus available.

MetaManagerTM Grid Overview

The proprietary grid provides detailed information on the content to be addressed in the applicable module. Though the grid is slightly different depending on the module, many of the actions and characteristics of the grid are the same in each module.

The grid supports drag and drop from the portal tree. When the grid contains no rows, it displays a drop label and informative text to the user. Depending on the module, objects will then be displayed as either rows or containers.

Object Rows

When dragging objects to the work grid results in Object Rows, the column headings will change depending on the module. However, two columns will be common across all modules: Name and the Delete Icon.
Deleting an object removes the object from the list, it does not remove the object from the TM1 server. An Object Row represents a single cube, dimension, rule, etc. and can be deleted by hitting the delete button on the rightmost column, or by highlighting and hitting the delete key on the keyboard.

Grid Buttons

Most module grids contain:

• A Preview button and / or an Update button

  • Clicking the Preview button will bring all of the object rows to the Previewed State. All objects will be reset to their initial state (i.e. The state stored within the TM1 server) before previewing.

  • Clicking the Update button will bring all of the object rows to the Saved state. Object rows will not be reset to their initial state. If an object row is in its initial state, it will be previewed (processed) then saved. If the row has already been previewed (processed) it will not be reprocessed, instead it will simply be saved.

• A document button.

Containers

When dragging objects to the work grid results in containers, the column headings are module and object specific reflecting the attributes displayed.

Multiple containers can be dragged to the work grid, and each container may have different column headings and options. These will be described in the module chapter. However, they will have:

1. Common column headings, Name and the Delete Icon.

2. 1.      Common buttons or options.

   1. Refresh, Minimize/Maximize, Close

   2. Apply Changes

NOTE. Deleting an object and selecting apply changes removes the object from the TM1 server.

Rule Find/Replace

The Rule Find / Replace module provides a powerful and intuitive interface to search one or more Cubes for Rules, undertake impact analysis of a proposed syntax change in preview mode and then apply the change to all or selected cube rules if required.

NOTE: Entering incorrect or misspelt syntax could result in a broken rule and incorrect data being processed.

Find and Replace Options

The Options tab allows users the ability to specify one or more search and replace criteria to be performed on the selected content.

1. Search Text - This represents the text to search for within the specification(s).

2. Replace Text - This represents the field to replace the text with within the specification(s).

   NOTE: Leaving this field blank is a valid value, for example when undertaking impact analysis.

3. Use RegEx - When selected, the Find and Replace text will be run through the .NET Regular Expression Engine. The RegEx option allows you to specify more complex search strings using regular expressions, which allow searching for patterns rather than static text.

   NOTE: This is an advanced feature. Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression for more information on RegEx. In addition, there are a number of tools available to help author RegEx (i.e. Expresso - http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm a free download that comes with a tutorial and lots of samples).

   NOTE: It is recommended that users copy report specifications and use a utility like Expresso to build and debug the regular expression.

4. Case Sensitive – This specifies whether the Search and Replace syntax should be treated as case sensitive.

Rule Find / Replace supports an unlimited number of entries, and users can add more entries by entering in the desired information into the top row then pressing the enter key. Similarly, users can remove an entry by selecting the delete button in the rightmost column or by selecting the row(s) and pressing delete on the keyboard.

NOTE: The Find / Replace entries are executed in the order that they are listed in the grid. This can be important in many instances and should be reviewed before modifying content. Users can change the order of the entries by using the Up and Down buttons in the columns to the right of any row.

NOTE: Invalid entries will be removed from the grid when the Update or Preview buttons are pressed. Invalid rows are rows that contain blank search text.

Processing

As previews or updates are being executed, the green bar at the bottom will expand from left to right and the status of each Object Row will be updated while an Object Row is being processed.

1. The impacted cell will display Working… to indicate which step the object row is processing.

2. If the Cube is Impacted the Original and New Status will be displayed. If the Cube Rule is Not Impacted the status will remain blank.

Preview

In the preview mode the proposed changes to the syntax are made and validated but not saved to the Rule. The details of the update’s status can be viewed by selecting the cube and choosing the Details tab:

Update

If the Update is selected, then the proposed changes will be saved to the Rule and the Impacted column will display a status of Saved:

Security Integrator

Security Integrator provides the user with the ability to manage the complete end to end security process from a single interface:

Native TM1 Authentication

• Create Clients and Groups

• Assign Clients to Groups with a single drag and drop.

• Review Group Membership

Cognos BI Authentication

• Create Folders and Groups in the Cognos Namespace including batch import from a CSV file

• Assign Members from the security namespace to the Cognos groups either by dragging and dropping in the canvas or batch import from a CSV file

• Single click import of Cognos Groups and Associated Members in to TM1 Groups and Clients

• Review Group Memberships by TM1 Clients and Cognos Users

Object Level Security

• View, add and edit the security settings of any object

Canvas Functionality

Any supported object can be dragged from the Portal Tree and dropped into the canvas area. Some of the more common objects will be explained in more detail below.

Securing: Cubes, Dimension, Processes and Chores

Dragging any of these objects to the canvas area will Load all security associated with that object.

There are various options in changing an object security, using Figure 1.

1. Ability to add groups to the object.

2. Ability to remove groups from the object.

3. Ability to set access levels.

4. Ability to deny access.

NOTE: After making any changes, “Apply Changes” must be selected, in order for the changes to take place within the TM1 Server.

Add / Remove Security Objects

Adding is as simple as dragging and dropping from the Portal Tree to the object in the canvas area. Navigate the Portal Tree to find any Group to add to the object.

There are 2 ways to remove any of the groups from the object. For removing one at a time, simply click the “X” next to the security that is to be removed. For removing multiple users from an object, Ctrl and Shift functionality is allowed to highlight more than one at a time. Then right click and select “Remove” or use the Delete key on the keyboard.

Setting the Security Level

After adding an additional Group to the object to be secured, the security level will default to read. The six columns display the ascending access rights from left to right; None, Read, Write, Reserve, Lock and Admin. Click on the box under these columns and in the row which will grant or deny access.

Setting Groups and Roles Memberships

By using Security Integrator Groups and Roles memberships can be easily defined within seconds. Drag and drop any TM1 Group onto the canvas area will instantly display a list of its members.

With Native TM1 Authentication, this will be a list of clients. Dragging and dropping additional clients will grant them membership of the group.

Where Cognos integration is used, the membership screen is split between the users who are members of the Cognos Group on the right and the TM1 clients who have been assigned access incorrectly from within TM1 on the left.

Since Cognos TM1 cannot permanently assign a Cognos BI user to another Cognos BI Group. Any user assignment you make in Cognos TM1 to a Cognos BI group is not saved back to Cognos BI.

When a Cognos BI user logs in to Cognos TM1, the group assignments in Cognos BI override any Cognos BI group assignments made in Cognos TM1.

If applicable, this can be easily be corrected by dragging the user OpenDJ\Stephen from the TM1 Members to the BI Members and then deleting the entry from the TM1 Members. This will update the Cognos BI Group.

Setting Account Memberships

Client memberships can be audited quickly and easily.

By dragging an account to the grid Security Integrator will display a list of groups and roles that the account is a member of.

Element Security

Element Security enables users to navigate the element hierarchy and view the existing element security assignments for both Native TM1 Authentication and integrated Cognos BI security. Selecting a cell enables assignments to be changed and applied to a single cell, or cascaded to child cells in the hierarchy.

Canvas Functionality

Elements, Dimensions and Subsets can be dragged from the Portal Tree and dropped into the canvas area. This can be directly from the Dimensions folder or from the dimensions held against a cube in the Cubes folder.

Groups – Hide and Display

By default, groups that have the security assignment set to ‘None’ for the hierarchy levels and elements displayed will be hidden.

Expanding the hierarchy will reload the security assignments and display groups with security assignments.

Unchecking the box will display all groups:

Locating Summary Levels or Elements

Hierarchy levels or elements can be easily located using the search option. The levels and elements displayed will be dynamical updated as text is entered in to the field. This text can be located anywhere in the element or summary name.

Selecting Summary Levels or Elements

Any level in the hierarchy can be selected to change the details displayed in the Name column; Elements will always be Level 0 and the top of the hierarchy will be the level with the maximum numerical value, this is dynamic based on the hierarchy:

The ‘No Level Selected’ option resets the hierarchy to the top level.

Re-ordering the Hierarchy

Selecting any column heading will change the order of the elements and the summary based on the cell values in the following order:

• Alphabetically ascending

• Alphabetically descending

• Original hierarchy order

Selecting the ‘Name’ will re-order based on the Element or Summary Name:

Selecting a group name will re-order based on the security assignment:

Changing the Security Assignment

After selecting a cell, a dropdown menu is available to select from:

When the security assignment is changed the text will be displayed in bold, selecting Update will apply the security setting and the cell text will return to a normal font.

Cascade Security

Security assignments can be cascaded in three ways and the correct cascade option should be selected before the security setting:

No cascade – Only the selected cells security assignment will be updated.

Cascade if Same – The new security assignment will be cascaded from the selected cell to the lower levels on a parent / child relationship. This cascade will stop at any branch where the security is different.

Always Cascade – The new security assignment of the selected cells will be cascaded to all levels and elements on a parent / child relationship irrespective of whether the original security assignments matched.

Cube Documenter

The Cube Documenter Module provides detailed record keeping of the contents of your TM1 server by documenting desired content into a variety of formats, including

• XML

• PDF

• Excel

• CSV

• MSSQL Server or Oracle Database

Generate Detailed Documentation

To begin using Content Documenter, you must:

1. Identify the content you wish to document.

2. In the Specify an output file box, click the Browse button to select an output location and output type. Output types include PDF, XML and XLSX.

   NOTE: You do not need to have Adobe Acrobat installed to produce PDF files, however, to open the files after they are generated you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader.

3. Select the Class Types you wish to document.

4. Select the information you wish to document.

5. Document the results.

NOTE: PDF and HTML output formats include indexed table of contents for easy navigation.

Selecting Options

When a container is dragged to the grid area all objects within the container are displayed in the grid. Single objects can also be added to the grid. This provides complete flexibility on the documentation created to meet user and audit requirements.

Information to document

Using this portal tree the user can select the level of information to document.

Cube Documenter Processing

As Cube Documenter is being executed, the area at the bottom will indicate the status of the documentation.

1. The “Rendering content store object list” count will increment until all objects have been retrieved.

2. The document will open in the appropriate application once complete.

NOTE: Since Cube Documenter does not know how many and the complexity of objects are to be processed an accurate percentage of completion cannot be determined. Therefore, the number of objects already processed will be displayed to indicate that the module is still working and to provide insight as to how fast the module is processing.