The benefits of using IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel over TM1 Perspectives

There are benefits to using IBM® Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel over TM1® Perspectives:

  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel is an interactive ad-hoc reporting tool, as opposed to a data export tool.
  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel reports are designed to work even in a wide area network environment, without the need for Citrix.
  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel offers the following improvements to formulas:
    • DBR is equivalent to DBRW and DBS is equivalent to DBSW. DBR, DBRW, DBS, DBSA, and DBRA are optimized to reduce network traffic and improve performance on wide area networks.
    • If a SUBNM formula references a set, a drop-down arrow is displayed when you click the SUBNM cell. You can use the drop-down list to select a different member in the set. You must be logged on to the TM1 server to use this feature.
    • The TM1USER function returns the user name, not the internal CAMID.
  • You can copy and paste values multiple times in Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel. In TM1 Perspectives, you can copy only one time, and then the clipboard is empty. You can also copy and paste values across multiple cells in Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel.
  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel uses named styles, which means you can customize the appearance of your reports easily.
  • Reports that you open from the Application folder on an IBM Cognos® server open with their actual names and not a generated random name.
  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel has advanced reporting with multiple hierarchies.
  • Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel has hierarchy-aware Universal Reports.
  • In Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel, you can snapshot a Report, which converts dynamic data items to static data and allows you to capture a collection of assets at a single point in time.