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Custom Workflow

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:50 am
by tm123
Hi guys,

I am in the process of designing a Custom Workflow for a TM1 Planning model.

I have been searching in this board and I've read all the threads that talk about workflow, but I wan not able to find much, so if someone can post a link to any useful site or any kind of help regarding a TM1 Workflow Sample, would be much appreciated.

In my case, I have a Dimension Business Unit with following Hierarchy:

All Business Units
--- Branch
------ Directorate
---------Business Unit

Some planners will be responsible only for a single Business Unit and some planners will be responsible for A directorate and also some planners will be responsible for the whole branch.

Also I will have a Version Dimension and also Fiscal Year dimension

We are using Planning Analytics (TM1Web with Active Forms and Action Buttons)

Thank you

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:41 am
by Elessar
So, what's the question? You need a multidimensional workflow with BU, Year and Version dimensions? If so, you can make independent BU workflows using Years as control dimension: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece ... nsion.html

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 11:55 am
by tm123
Elessar wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:41 am So, what's the question? You need a multidimensional workflow with BU, Year and Version dimensions? If so, you can make independent BU workflows using Years as control dimension: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece ... nsion.html
Thank you Elessar, we don't use Performance Modeller and also we don't have TM1 Application Web. I also have checked the Approval Hierarchy and Workflow Control dimension and I have done lots of research regarding Workflow implementation in TM1, so we have decided to design our own custom workflow, so what I am looking for is some help, with the Cube structure, what measures do I need, and also how to present it in TM1Web.

SO any screenshot or help regarding Custom Workflow would be much appreciated

Thanks

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:03 pm
by jim wood
This is food and drink for most experienced consultants. One issue is they'd need to have more information. Most custom workflow builds are just that, custom, and can change depending on the circumstances. Also keep in mind, this is the day job for most consultants, and while we understand that you may have no choice, it would be like giving our products away for free.

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:54 pm
by tm123
jim wood wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:03 pm This is food and rink for most experienced consultants. One issue is they'd need to have more information. Most custom workflow builds are just that, custom, and can change depending on the circumstances. Also keep in mind, this is the day job for most consultants, and while we understand that you may have no choice, it would be like giving our products away for free.
Thank you Jim,
I completely understand, I am not looking for the whole solution but just an Idea on how to manage the different Stages of Planning process. I consider myself an experienced TM1 Consultant and I am not looking for help on how to write the code. In my prior TM1 implementations, I have implemented let's minimum workflows where A Planning Round goes through the following stages:
1-Being_Initialized (During this Time only super-user has access to the Plan, the other user cannot even see it
2-Initialized (This is after the Super user is done with initialization and then he opens it for submission )
3-Work_In_Progress, the user has started to enter Planning Data
3-Submitted (After the user has entered the required data, and there is no issue with data, the user submits the Plan, after this Point the User has Read-Only Access, super-user has Write_Access, so he can either reject and send the stage back to 3-Work_In_Progress, or 4-Final. If only minor changes are required, the Super-User can make the changes himself, so he does not reject it but just make some adjustments)
4-Final (The Super-User approves the submission, the Plan is read-only for Both, planner and Super-User). After this point, the Plan is ready for Reporting

For each user, depending on user's role, in the User's landing Page (Websheet), I have implemented a little dashboard to show the status and to allow the user to submit the plan. ( look at attached screenshot)

This was done with a 3 dimensional cube ( Sector, Month and Measures ), which one of the measures elements being submission stage
Screen2.gif
Screen2.gif (72.62 KiB) Viewed 6283 times
ALso I used PowerShell script to send email notifications and trigger them from TI Process execution



Now what I need help is, with a workflow that uses a hierarchy of approving, only some idea, not the solution

Thanks again

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:22 pm
by tomok
Sounds like you are trying to recreate what TM1 Applications already does. When you say you "don't have it" you realize it is part of your license, you don't pay separately for it. Curious as to why you would spend time doing a custom workflow when Applications already does what you want.

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:06 pm
by tm123
tomok wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:22 pm Sounds like you are trying to recreate what TM1 Applications already does. When you say you "don't have it" you realize it is part of your license, you don't pay separately for it. Curious as to why you would spend time doing a custom workflow when Applications already does what you want.
Thank you Tom, but my problem is that this is an existing TM1 model, and i dont have a single Business Unit dimension but different “versions” of the dimension are used in different cubes. Also the BU dimension has multiple hierarchies. We have attributes and mapping cubes to link BU elements in different cubes. There are other reasons also, and I have seen an TM1 Application implemented by IBM at another and honestly, it was not working properly. TI processes used for Pre-Action and Post-action were not getting fired, and there was not much flexibility in there.

Thanks again

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:14 pm
by tm123
If I decide to use the Out of the Box Approval Hierarchy, do I have to use Performance Modeler/and TM1 Application Web?

In my case, I do have an existing TM1 Model, I am using TM1Web Websheets with Action Buttons to allow users to calculate data and move data around, and I need to implement an Workflow op top of it, so I don't want to use Performance Modeler ( we tried using PM once, and it created some problems for us)

Any ideas would be much appreciated

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:39 pm
by jim wood
You only need to use PM to setup the hierarchy, security and which forms are used for data entry etc. It shouldn't screw anything up as it won't deploy any rules or anything like that.

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:48 pm
by tm123
jim wood wrote: Wed Dec 06, 2017 12:39 pm You only need to use PM to setup the hierarchy, security and which forms are used for data entry etc. It shouldn't screw anything up as it won't deploy any rules or anything like that.
Thank you Jim, but do I need to deploy my websheets in TM1 Application Web?

So you think this is a better approach than building a custom workflow (with Websheets/Action Buttons/TI Processes?) I am trying to come up with the best approach.

Thanks again

Re: Custom Workflow

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 2:56 pm
by jim wood
I would:

1) Create a test service (Containing copy of production)
2) Connect Application web to the test service
3) Open PM and create an application using whatever hierarchy option you want
4) See how the web forms come through from the application folders etc
5) Decide if this is a good fit

Jim.