TM1 automated process

[vish]

Hi,

can anyone tell me how to build the TM1 cube from scripts (shell or batch). I just got into tm1 from essbase. trying to figurng out how I can I automate the build process.
Thanks in advance.

-V

[Alan Kirk]

can anyone tell me how to build the TM1 cube from scripts (shell or batch). I just got into tm1 from essbase. trying to figurng out how I can I automate the build process.
Thanks in advance.

You use TM1's ETL application TurboIntegrator, also known as TI.

http://wiki.olapforums.com/index.php?ti ... Integrator

There will be a manual for TI with your TM1 installation.

[vish]

I am playing w/ the TI and created Dim's / Cubes / loaded data / chores ect. But need to save the Prolog code in a file and then run it thru a wrapper. That's what I am looking an example for. From the Wizard it's easy, now to productionize it is the hard part.

Please thorw me some sample scripts/code if anyone have. Any help is greatly apprecited.

-V

[David Usherwood]

I did some Essbase not so long ago and I don't think you'll get to what exactly you are after with TM1.

You can run a TI from within a COM (OLE) wrapper. Applix/Cognos/IBM don't provide it (only a nasty, low level API) but there are routines floating around to do this (we have one). But there is no way (that I know of) to update the TI script. TI is powerful and very, very fast, but very much its own master.
If you want to automate building a TM1 cube etc, you have to do it in TI scripting. We have a module which builds TM1 cubes from Cognos EP, drawing on the structures in their published (warehouse-ey) SQL database metadata.

The normal approach to building a TM1 app is to look at your content, work out the cube design, then build (and rebuild - RAD works well and is in my view more or less essential in a serious project). Since a cube is built in a few seconds, this isn't a big deal. Yes, there are TI commands to do it, but it's not often done.

You ought not to need to 'productionise' building the cube. Build it, create the dimension and data loads, put the scripts in a chore, abracadabra you have a system.

Good luck!

[vish]

Yep, I build a simple cube using chore, it works fine. But other issue is how to tackle the error handling in chore. as in Prod we don't have access (not even to logs). So if process fails , support people try to troubleshoot and if they won't figure it out. then we jumps in (using temp id's). Now we want to handle errors / kickouts in special way. Like if they are dim build error for specific dim do this / send email / jump to error handling step...... and so on.

Any ideas / samples ?

Thanks

-V

[David Usherwood]

Are you trying to look after a TM1 server without (TM1) admin access? Don't. I can't see how anybody would ever find that workable. If you can logon to the TM1 server you can (normally) view the error logs (I have seen that not working occasionally).

[vish]

The data we are dealing is very sensitive. no one have access other then supprot people. So if there are kickouts you can see in the logs, client don't want that.

That's why the emphasize is on automated build and recovery.

-V

[David Usherwood]

You're using the wrong tool then (I don't often say that). MSAS is probably more suitable for black boxing. Your organization won't have a usable system unless a knowledgeable TM1 admin can look at it and fix problems.

[vish]

You gotta do wht you gotta do .. it's all about u r JOB

Just need some help in automation w/o manual intervention....

-V

[Steve Vincent]

Vish, i'm afraid you're not grasping this. TM1 cannot be adminstrated "automatically" and any such attempts are going to fail dismally. You cannot look after and maintain a TM1 installation without TM1 administrators having full access to the data. If your company are asking you to do that then you are going to have to tell them NO and their only option is to train people that are allowed access to the data to be TM1 administrators themselves.

TM1 doesn't have the kind of functionality to do what you are asking anyway, if it did my job would be so much easier!

[paulsimon]

Vish

I used to work with Essbase too, so I think I have some idea where you are coming from.

We sell a tool called the TM1EasyAPI. This is an ActiveX Control, which provides a Wrapper over the raw TM1 API. It is probably the closest that you are going to get to something that will allow you to automate loads, down to the level of tools like ESSCMD. It is available with a front end called the TM1EasyAPI-UpdateManager. If you are interested, drop me a private Email and I will send you some Fact Sheets.

However, although I may be arguing myself out of a sale, I think that the best approach for you will be to use TI with the ExecuteProcess function.

TI is a much more functional tool than Essbase Load Rules. If you just use the wizard then it is similar to Load Rules. However, if you use the Advanced Scripting, TI gives you the ability to do most of the things that you would want to do in a full blown programming language, pretty much like EssCmd.

Most TM1 developers use Chores to run one Process after another. As you point out the down side of this is that it does not allow for error handling and branching. In most cases that isn't a problem. Eg if your dimension updates fail, there is no point in loading data.

Note that version 9.1 onwards, if a Chore fails, TM1 does an automatic rollback.

In most cases these days, I only use a Chore to provide the scheduling side. The Chore then executes a single top level process. The Prolog of this process, then executes a series of other processes via the ExecuteProcess function. You can test the return codes and put in all the conditional logic you want with the IF statement and WHILE statement. Parameters can be passed to the TI functions that you call. There are Global Variables called 'Session Variables'. You can use cubes to store numbers and text indicating progress and success or failure.

If you want to send an email, you can do this with ExecuteCommand and a bit of VBS script. Someone posted an example on the forum recently.

I use a half way house between a simple Chore and a full blown TI control process.

I have developed a framework, which is similar to a Chore. It takes the form of a Process Control Cube in which you list processes to be executed. It allows you to put in switches to indicate whether it should stop running processes if there is an error or not. It allows you to put in parameter values for each process. As it is a cube it is possible for one process to retrieve a value and put it in to the process control cube to be used as a parameter for a later process.

The key advantage of TM1 is that if something does go wrong, you can rebuild dimensions, and load data, etc, all without having to lock out users. By comparison a recalc in Essbase or MSAS will tie up the server for a long time.

I would however share the other users concerns about trying to maintain a system where you have no access the system. I have worked with MSAS for a while, and I don't think it would be any easier.

By the way, I also have some tools to help with moving dimension structures, etc, from development environments to production environments.

Regards


Paul Simon