Connecting to IBM Planning Analytics

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IBM Planning Analytics is an enterprise-scalable software suite that uses AI to automate planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis across an organization. It is built on the TM1 engine, which uses in-memory technology to provide fast, real-time analytics on complex, multidimensional data. The solution is designed to improve collaboration and offer flexible modeling, allowing businesses to test different scenarios and adapt plans as needed.

To integrate IBM Planning Analytics with IBM watsonx Orchestrate, you must establish a secure connection that enables both systems to communicate. For more information on managing connections, refer to Managing connections.

Important:

By default, Single sign-on (SSO) is disabled for your app. To enable it, refer to Configuring single sign-on for applications.

Steps to connect

Use the following steps to connect IBM Planning Analytics to watsonx Orchestrate:

  1. Go to Manage > Connections and search for the corresponding IBM Planning Analytics Connection ID.

  2. Click edit next to the matching connection ID.

  3. Select the authentication method your organization uses (Basic Auth or Key Value Pair).

  4. Enter the IBM Planning Analytics‑specific fields. See Connecting apps for prebuilt agents page for general connection workflow.

  5. Complete the Draft and Live setup steps.

  6. Save and test the connection to confirm successful connection.

Supported authentication methods

IBM Planning Analytics supports the following authentication types in watsonx Orchestrate:

  1. Basic authentication: Uses a username and password or API key.

  2. Key Value Pair: Uses key‑value combinations to configure access.

Connection ID

Use the following Connection ID when locating your IBM Planning Analytics connection in the Connections settings page. To understand how to search for a Connection ID and open a connection for editing, see Connecting apps for prebuilt agents.

Authentication type

Connection ID

Key Value Pair

ibm_planning_analytics_ibm_184bdbd3

Basic authentication (Remote MCP server)

planning_analytics_mcp_ibm_184bdbd3

Basic authentication

ibm_planning_analytics_basic_ibm_184bdbd3 (deprecated)

Key Value Pair

ibm_planning_analytics_key_value_ibm_184bdbd3 (deprecated)

Basic authentication connection details

If your organization uses Basic authentication, set Authentication type to Basic Auth and enter the following field:

Field

Description

Server URL

Base URL of the server that hosts the protected resources.
Important:

When you connect to IBM Planning Analytics SaaS using Basic authentication, use apikey as the username and the actual API key as the password. For details, see Using API key-based authentication for IBM Planning Analytics as a Service with MCSP.

Key Value Pair connection details

If your organization uses API keys, set Authentication type to Key Value Pair and add each of the following fields using Add new field:

Key

Description

tenant_id

The Tenant ID is your unique environment identifier used in API endpoints

model_name

Model Name is the TM1 database name you're connecting to within IBM Planning Analytics. You can find the model name from your IBM Planning Analytics Workspace or by hitting API endpoint

Base URL

The base URL of your IBM Planning Analytics instance

Username

The username to connect to your IBM Planning Analytics instance

Password

The password for the specified username

Note: When using Key Value Pair, only Team credentials are supported.

To get these values, see the IBM Planning Analytics documentation.

IBM Planning Analytics using Remote MCP Servers

You can integrate IBM Planning Analytics with watsonx Orchestrate using remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. It enables you to discover and use IBM Planning Analytics capabilities as tools within your agents and workflows.

To connect, configure the connection using the following connection ID: "planning_analytics_mcp_ibm_184bdbd3".

You authenticate the connection using Basic authentication with your IBM Planning Analytics credentials. After you authenticate, watsonx Orchestrate discovers and loads only the Planning Analytics tools that you are authorized to access.

For more information about how you discover tools from remote MCP servers, see Exploring MCP servers.

What to do next

Now that your app connection is live, you can start using it in watsonx Orchestrate.

  • Run an agent in Orchestrate Chat to complete tasks using natural language.

  • Use relevant tools to perform app-specific actions.