This week I had to advise a customer who has just purchased IBM Cognos 10.1 Business Intelligence on the best way to integrate their existing TM1 9.4 environment with the latest release of BI.
My initial thought was that they were going to require an upgrade of their TM1 servers to 9.5.1, but to be sure I thought I would have a look around the internet and try to find some information to back me up. When I found very little I decided to have a chat with an IBM Cognos support rep, the person who provided the answer was very thorough and more than helpful:
“Q:
Is this integration possible between TM1 9.5.1 and IBM Cognos BI 10.1?
A:
Yes.
Q:
Can earlier versions of TM1 such as 9.4 be integrated with or reported from
IBM Cognos BI 10.1?
A:
From a technical point of view, it is possible for TM1 Version 9.4.1 and
9.5 being integrated or reported from IBM Cognos BI 10.1, see the IBM
website listing the Software Environments supported by Cognos BI 10.1 ->
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27019126
Cognos Business Intelligence 10.1 Software Environments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27019126#olap
which lists TM1 Version 9.4.1 and 9.5 as having status “Compatible” when
used as an OLAP Datasource to BI.
But we do NOT recommend such a configuration / environment as TM1
Development has not tested and will not test TM1 Version 9.4.1 or 9.5
against Cognos BI 10.1. Thus Cognos BI 10.1 is neither a Software
Environment supported by TM1 Version 9.4.1 nor by TM1 Version 9.5.
Thus you must upgrade to TM1 Version 9.5.1 if you intend to use Cognos BI 10.1.
That is the reason why the TM1 Version 9.5.1 is the only version of TM1 for
which interoperability with Cognos BI 10.1 hs been officially announced.
That is also the very reason why only for TM1 Version 9.5.1 the TM1
Portlets for Cognos BI 10.1 have been released.
If you check the IBM website on the Software Enviroments supported by TM1
Version 9.4.1 ->
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27014836
Cognos TM1 9.4 MR1 Software Environments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27014836#tm1_fragments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27014836#tm1_olap_bi
you will notice that Cognos BI 10.1 is NOT listed as a Supported
Environment, neither for the TM1 Fragments aka TM1 Portlets nor for using
TM1 as an OLAP datasource to BI.
If you check the IBM website on the Software Enviroments supported by TM1
Version 9.5 ->
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27017362
Cognos TM1 9.5 Software Environments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27017362#tm1_fragments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27017362#tm1_olap_bi
you will notice that Cognos BI 10.1 is NOT listed as a Supported
Environment, neither for the TM1 Fragments aka TM1 Portlets nor for using
TM1 as an OLAP datasource to BI.
If you check the IBM website on the Software Enviroments supported by TM1
Version 9.5.1 ->
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018895
Cognos TM1 9.5.1 Software Environments
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018895#portlets
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018895#olap
you will notice that Cognos BI 10.1 is listed as a Supported Environment.
A personal recommendation:
To my knowledge, within the next 4 to 8 weeks TM1 Version 9.5.2 will be
released. Shortly after the release of TM1 9.5.2 the Fixpack 1 (FP1) for
Cognos BI 10.1 will be released. The BI integration between TM1 Version
9.5.2 and Cognos 10.1 FP1 has been greatly improved compared to the
previous BI integration between TM1 Version 9.5.1 and Cognos BI 10.1 in
terms of performance, stability and user experience.
Thus I recommend to start now with TM1 Version 9.5.1 and Cognos BI 10.1,
but prepare to perform an upgrade to TM1 Version 9.5.2 and Cognos 10.1 FP1
in the near future.”
So, I believe that this information is very much worth sharing with anyone out there looking for information on how to integrate TM1 with IBM Cognos 10 Business Intelligence 10.1 – sometimes its just nice to have the answers in one place in nice plain english!
