Demystifying the myths around IBM Planning Analytics

According to Greg Adams, Vice President Developer, and Distinguished Engineer, IBM Business Analytics, a number of IBM competitors are trying to sow doubt about IBM’s commitment to IBM TM1 and IBM Planning Analytics.

Being one of the longest-serving IBM consultancies in the UK, it was surprising for us to hear the irrational noise, surrounding IBM Planning Analytics reaching its end of life. This fake news seems to be spreading like wildfire and is simply not true. IBM, in fact, are increasing their investment into IBM Planning Analytics and will continue to do so.

IBM Planning Analytics is the latest release of planning and analytics software. Powered by TM1, with a new workspace for self-service analysis capabilities and can be actively used to plan for business success. It spans Finance and Operations to help uncover new business potential, increase profits, and manage capital effectively. With an innovative planning workspace discovering insights in your data, you can easily stay agile.

Three myths around IBM Planning Analytics:

Myth 1:
End-of-support for IBM TM1 10.2.2 means the end-of-life for IBM TM1.

False. In September 2017, IBM announced that effective September 30, 2019, it would end support for IBM TM1 10.2.2. IBM TM1 was rebranded to IBM Planning Analytics in 2016, but IBM has not discontinued the use of the IBM TM1 technology. In fact, it is quite the opposite—IBM TM1 continues to be the server that powers the analytical capabilities of IBM Planning Analytics. This robust, in-memory calculation engine can enable IBM Planning Analytics users to build sophisticated, multidimensional models for data analysis on virtually any combination of data hierarchies and dimensions. IBM Planning Analytics is simply the next generation of IBM TM1…just with a new name!

Myth 2:
End of support for IBM TM1 10.2.2 means a costly migration to a new product, IBM Planning Analytics.

False. IBM has announced end-of-support for IBM TM1 10.2.2; however, as with all IBM TM1 releases, customers with current S&S entitlements can migrate to the latest version (now called IBM Planning Analytics) at no additional cost. Despite the name change, the process has remained the same—customers simply install and go, using their current model.
Similarly, as with all IBM TM1 releases, for customers who are unable to migrate or wish to remain on an older version, service extensions providing on-going support and critical defect fixes will be available for up to 3 years beyond the end-of-support date, September 30, 2019.

Myth 3:
My existing IBM TM1 models will not work if I migrate to IBM Planning Analytics.

False. Existing IBM TM1 models will continue to work when customers migrate to IBM Planning Analytics. Migration provides all of the capabilities of IBM TM1, plus all of the new components that have been introduced into the solution, including IBM Planning Analytics Workspace, IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel, Hierarchies and more; however, you are not required to adopt the new components for IBM Planning Analytics to function properly. Modeler licenses provide entitlements to IBM Planning Analytics Workspace, so users can test and explore the new capabilities before deploying broadly or pushing to a production environment.

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This post has been adapted from content by Greg Adams, Vice President Developer, and Distinguished Engineer, IBM Business Analytics.

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