Disabling filler members in a Planning Analytics package

Applies to version 11.1.2 and subsequent versions unless specifically overridden. You can disable automatic generation of filler members so that a Planning Analytics package imported to Cognos Analytics shows the same characteristics as it does in the TM1 client.

In Cognos Analytics, by default, filler members are generated to fill gaps due to restricted access from the root of the hierarchy down to members whose data are visible to the user. In IBM Cognos TM1 however, the default behavior is that filler members are not generated.

Example 1: Filler members enabled

When filler members are enabled, the caption of a filler member in the data tree is the caption of the parent member with a caret character (^ ) appended. If access to a root member is not granted to the user, the root member's caption is a caret character (^ ) only.

A metadata tree with filler members enabled is shown in the following image:

A chart for the same cube appears as follows:

Example 2: Filler members disabled

Note: Since access to the root member is restricted for the cube in example 1, if filler members are disabled, the user cannot see any members at all in the data tree.

A chart from the same cube appears as follows:

metadata tree with filler members disabled

Procedure

To ensure that a data source displays the same characteristics in both TM1 client and Planning Analytics, follow these steps:

Stop the IBM Cognos Analytics service.
Go to installation_location\configuration
If the file xqe.config.custom.xml does not yet exist, copy the file xqe.config.xml and rename it xqe.config.custom.xml

Edit xqe.config.custom.xml:

Immediately after the <queryExecution> line, add the following line:

<!-- Set the paUseFillerMember enabled attribute value to false to turn the Filler Member OFF -->
<paUseFillerMember enabled="false"/>

Save xqe.config.custom.xml.

Start the IBM Cognos Analytics service.