IBM Cognos TM1 is well-known as an enterprise planning software platform that can transform your entire planning cycle, from target setting and budgeting to reporting, scorecarding, analysis and forecasting [1], and Perficient is well-known for delivering expertly designed TM1-based solutions. At Perficient, we are excited about solving our customers’ business needs. Every Cognos TM1 implementation begins with the question: what problem does our customer need our help to solve? Here at Perficient, we strive to make sure we truly understand customer needs and future needs to help them succeed within their business.

Now with any type of implementation there are many uncertainties for a customer and two of major uncertainties my clients have conveyed to me are the following:

Does this solution really meet my current and future business needs

Does my IT team understand the business requirements and can it be reflected in the solution

Now at Perficient we understand our customer’s concerns, and with that said, the Perficient’s Business Analytics team has put together unique approach to implementing IBM Cognos TM1.

Before I get into Perficient’s approach in implementing IBM Cognos TM1, I want first elaborate why customers have these two major uncertainties. Recently, I saw an image on Linkedin “Tire-Swing” and said to myself, “Somebody truly gets it!” This image alone hits the nail on the head and what the Perficient’s Business Analytics team did was to find a solution to address these concerns while implementing a IBM Cognos TM1 solution.

With any type implementation, especially with IBM Cognos TM1, there are many moving parts. The Perficient’s Business Analytics team has found a way to integrate the use of Atlassian JIRA with its IBM Cognos TM1 implementations. Now some of you may already know what Atlassian JIRA is, and you’re probably saying to yourself, “How can a issue tracker software help with my TM1 solution needs?” Well Atlassian JIRA software offers more than just an issue tracker solution and the Perficient’s Business Analytics team has utilized this tool to its full potential.

The Perficient’s Business Analytics team significantly reduces the risk of failure on IBM Cognos TM1 implementation projects and empowers the end client to “own” both the solution and the technology at the end of the very first project utilizing Atlassian JIRA. A major advantage in which we empower our customers is by offering them a dashboard to allow them to see the progress of the project and what major shower stoppers need to be addresses. Below is a sample Atlassian JIRA dashboard of a fictitious company, “Acme.”

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Now before anything can be documented in Atlassian JIRA, the business requirements must have been collected by the business users. Once the business requirements have been collected by the business analyst these would than need to be created in JIRA. In addition, use cases would also need to be created in which should back tie to all the business requirements. Below is a sample “User Story Enhancement” or use case in which is created in Atlassian JIRA.

Once the use cases have been created, the next step would be for the TM1 solution architect to start putting together the IBM Cognos TM1 solution. Once the solution has been architected the TM1 solution architect and project manager would document all the components of the build or upgrade to the IBM Cognos TM1 solution within Atlassian JIRA. Now this is the most important piece because all development activities will not only be assigned to developers but also tie back to a use case. This ensures all requirements have been met and developed. Examples of a few Atlassian JIRA “Tasks” would be, “Create Cube, Create TI, Create Web Sheet or etc.”

In addition, to have creating the IBM Cognos TM1 Atlassian JIRA Tasks, users would be able to track the progress of the development and hours spent on a task. This allows the customers to know where things are at, at all times.

Besides from creating the requirements, use cases and development tasks in Atlassian JIRA users also have the ability to create dependencies in which can be assigned to other teams. In addition, future improvements can be created and assigned to the TM1 architect so that estimates can be given, as well as risks and issues.

These are the many benefits utilizing Atlassian JIRA with your next TM1 implementation and Perficient has mastered this approach. Our approach to use Atlassian JIRA with the IBM Cognos TM1 implementation or upgrade solution requires the development and business team to work side by side to achieve a successful project implementation. When clients are empowered to own the IBM Cognos TM1 solution, they also tend to achieve much greater returns on their investment. This is the primary value proposition for selecting Perficient for IBM Cognos TM1 implementation projects.

If you interested in learning more on how Perficient can help with your next IBM Cognos TM1 implementation or IBM Cognos TM1 upgrade utilizing Atlassian JIRA, please visit or Perficient Contact Page and let them know Chris Evans sent you, else you can ping me on Twitter at @XxCLEvansxX

[1] http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/cognostm1