Using the Planning Analytics Modeling Workbench

The Planning Analytics Modeling Workbench is a new modeling tool for developers in Planning Analytics Workspace. It is a dedicated modeling area that has tabs and sections for organizing your modeling tasks and is optimized for all types of modeling activities in PA like:

  • Create, edit, and delete any of these objects: cubes, dimensions, hierarchies, sets, processes, chores, and rules

  • Run processes and chores

  • Create and save cube views

  • Edit settings for cubes, dimensions, processes, and chores

  • Create drill processes, import data, import dimensions, reload/unload cubes

  • Reorder dimensions

  • Refresh security, set cell security

*Originally released in beta as part of Workspace versions 2.0.64 & 2.0.65, it is now out of beta in version 2.0.66. This article was written against version 2.0.66. If you are on one of the beta versions, you can manually launch the Workbench by modifying your PAW URL to look like this:

https://<my_planning_analytics_url>/?perspective=modeling

Opening a New Modeling Workbench

You can launch the new Modeling Workbench from two locations:

1) Open the home menu in Workspace, click on New, then click on Workbench under the Modeling section.

 
Navigating to new workbench model in IBM Planning Analytics Workspace
 

2) From Data and Models

 
Data and Models in Planning Analytics Workspace
 

Touring the New Modeling Workbench

This brings you to an empty Modeling Workbench where you can create new Workbenches, save the existing Workbench, and show/hide the Modeling tools by toggling the up/down arrow. The 4 Modeling buttons allow you to quickly create new objects in your model.

 
4 Modeling options in PA Modeling Workbench
 


Below the Modeling tools section, you can see all of your TM1 databases. I only have one active sample database running named 24Retail. All currently running databases will show up in this list.

 
View the running databases in Modeling Workbench Planning Analytics
 

You can also create objects by right-clicking on each of the asset types in the Databases section then selecting: Create cube, Create dimension, Create process, or Create chore.

The Workbench allows you to edit existing assets by right-clicking on an asset which exposes a context menu enabling you to perform various activities on those specific objects. The context menus are different depending on which asset type you select, such as Cubes, Dimension, Processes, and Chores.

 

Cube Context Menu

Cube Context Menu in Modeling Workbench

Dimension Context Menu

Dimension Context Menu in Modeling Workbench

Process Context Menu

Process Context Menu in Modeling Workbench

Chore Context Menu

Chore Context Menu in Modeling Workbench
 

Using the New Workbench Model

Now that you have seen a tour of what the Workbench looks like, here is how you could go about using it.

Let’s say we want to take a look at the Employee cube and the associated Business Rules for that cube. We can Add a view to the Workbench and organize it the way we want to see the data. Then we can expand the Employee cube on the left navigation window to get to the Business Rules and drag that onto the Workbench underneath the cube view.

 
Modeling Workbench Overview for Planning Analytics
 

This gives us a split view to be able to make changes to the rules and see the impact in the cube view above. You can collapse the left navigation bar by clicking on the Databases icon on the left side.

 
Seeing how cube view dimensions are effected in Modeling Workbench
Collapsing the navigation bar in Modeling Workbench Planning Analytics
 


You can add a dimension editor to the Workbench to allow editing or updating of the dimension, hierarchies, or attributes.

 
Adding a dimension editor to the Modeling Workbench Planning Analytics
 

Now we will save the Workbench out in the Shared Folder.

 
Saving Planning Analytics Workbench
Saving the Planning Analytics Modeling Workbench to a shared folder
 


Note: Once you have Saved the Workbench, it does not show up on the Home page and it does not show up under Reports and Analysis. The only place you will find a saved Workbench in Shared or Personal folders is under Data and Models.

 
Where the Modeling Workbench is saved in Planning Analytics
Picture32.png
 

Conclusion

This should give you a quick look at what the Modeling Workbench is and how it can be used. This is a more organized way to approach modeling in Planning Analytics that gives you flexibility in how you lay out your modeling assets. See the IBM documentation for additional information on how to use this new tool. Let us know in the comments below how you have been using the new Modeling Workbench.

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