TM1 Forum

After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

TM1_Walker wrote:After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

How do I think? Pretty much the same as Dirty Harry thinks when it comes to the subject of opinions, especially when they aren't backed up by specifics.

I am wondering why and how so many large companies manage to use TM1 successfully and to good effect. Perhaps, and this is just a wild guess, but perhaps it's because instead of "playing with it for a while" they actually hire people who take the time to read manuals, work out what needs to be done and how to do it, and have the skill to pull it off, or alternatively hire consultants who can set up the system properly for them. In that way they avoid the ubiquitous pbcak errors. This is not the product that it used to be. Back in version 7 and early version 8 it could be installed, set up and running in a very short space of time by anyone whose knowledge of software was no greater than being able to install and use Office. These days it's a product with a much richer feature set. That comes at the price of more complexity and therefore a greater need to know what you're doing when setting it up so that it does what is expected of it.

Is TM1 without bugs? No. And here's a newsflash for you; neither is any other non-trivial computing code, anywhere on the planet. Does TM1 have some appalling components like Cognos TM1 Configuration and Performance Muddler? Yes it does, but there are plenty of other GUIs that are not up to scratch out there in the wider world too, and at least IBM has acknowledged the problems and is working toward solutions.

I've been one of IBM's harshest critics. Hell, there are almost certainly photos of me on every dartboard in every developer's office in both Armonk and Ottawa. But I have no patience when people clearly don't understand a product (any given product) and have little experience of it, yet feel free to make a declaration of "fact" that it isn't up to commercial standard when the actual facts (in the form of global usage of the product) suggest otherwise.

And if you think that's unduly harsh, I should remind you that a post like that is called "leading with your chin". You're entitled to your own opinion. You aren't entitled to your own facts.

If you want to cite specific bugs, and demonstrate that you've read enough of the documentation for it not to be a user knowledge issue, by all means post away.

TM1_Walker wrote:After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

Interesting comments. May I ask what were your goals, and what defects did you come across? What road blocks did you hit? And have you found another product that's well suited your goal, if so what is it? I am very interested in more details.

May I add that the market for TM1 developers and consultants is confirmatory of its popularity and companies desire to use TM1 as a product.

TM1_Walker wrote:After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

totally right, my goal is to lose 20 kilos and TM1 doesn't help.

stingo wrote:

TM1_Walker wrote:After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

totally right, my goal is to lose 20 kilos and TM1 doesn't help.

If we had a "Post Of The Month" competition...

stingo wrote:

TM1_Walker wrote:After I played with TM1 for a while trying to achieve my goal, I personally think TM1 is just in demo stage, not supposed to be sold as commercial product. Even with 10.2, the fact is still the same. There are too many defects in any steps (problems exist every where from top to bottom). How do you think, TM1 experts?

totally right, my goal is to lose 20 kilos and TM1 doesn't help.

Now I know where I'm going wrong. All this time I was thinking it was the donuts, chocolate, sweets and various other goodies that were responsible for my slightly round figure. Now I know, it's the nearly 20 years (now I feel old and fat) of trying to loose weight with TM1. I shall swap straight away to the Essbase diet and see if that works any better. Thanks guys!!!!

No Jim, it's just way too many feeders for you, that's the additional 20 kg.

Wim Gielis wrote:No Jim, it's just way too many feeders for you, that's the additional 20 kg.

You've nailed it!!! All those years of over feeding. I was told by somebody that it's not a bad thing. I'll stop feeding straight away!!

I'm going to call IBM, they need to create a healthy, low fat alternative for feeders. Any suggestions??

jim wood wrote:

Wim Gielis wrote:I'm going to call IBM, they need to create a healthy, low fat alternative for feeders. Any suggestions??

Sure, it's called TI. Much less feeders than.

TrevorGoss wrote:May I add that the market for TM1 developers and consultants is confirmatory of its popularity and companies desire to use TM1 as a product.

A very good point!

Indeed in addition to a very substantial number of skilled, trained and experienced administrators and consultants out there, we also have an veritable ocean of people who know (more or less) how to spell "TM1" (even if they might not know the subtle distinction between, say, Perspectives and Web), and who therefore feel qualified to try to make a buck from gullible companies by hawking their services as "consultants". After all, when it comes to implementing business intelligence systems, saving a few bucks on EBITDA by hiring the CheepIzUs Cognos Consulting Co Pte Ltd is far more important than getting a system that actually works properly and well. The price is remembered long after you've forgotten about the error popups that appear each day. Or something; I can't quite recall the quote[1] right now but it will come to me.

Still, if the product wasn't popular, you wouldn't have those people trying to grab an unearned share of the market as well.

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[1] As with any quote attributed to Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, this one needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But its accuracy, if not its provenance, is unquestionable.

Alan,

Well said on both posts!

I find it amusing and just a bit hypocritical that the op calls themselves TM1_Walker
I'd be willing to bet they have no idea what TM1 even stands for!

Anyhow, thanks for continuing to fight the fight for all of us old timers

Even with all the additional bloatware that IBM/Cognos has implemented into the product the past few years, it's still a great product

Best regards,

Solanna

Solanna wrote:Alan,

Well said on both posts!

I find it amusing and just a bit hypocritical that the op calls themselves TM1_Walker
I'd be willing to bet they have no idea what TM1 even stands for!

Thank you kindly. It's interesting that our new friend was "last active" on the forum before even the first reply to their post came in. They can't have been too interested in the answer...

I dont normally post on here but to say its just for demo is crazy - unless your goal is really to loose weight. Tm1 has been around for a lot longer than the other planning tools and works well on the whole, all the bugs I have come across can be easily worked around. I agree a lot of people selling themselves as developers when they can not even write a simple TI process or understand multi dimensional modelling.