In what format is the data stored in Cognos TM1 and how the data is extracted from Database?

Question

How is the data stored(format) in Cognos TM1 and in which format it is extracted?

Answer 1

It's been a while since I checked this tag because there hadn't been any activity on it for months. This question has probably "lapsed" as well but just in case it hasn't:

The data is stored on disk in binary files. You cannot access it directly from those. Operationally it is stored in the server's memory. As for the second part of the question, if you're extracting a raw data dump the export is typically in text, either ASCII or Unicode. (Both are supported.)

More typically it will be pulled out through a front end client application, most commonly:

• Perspectives, which is an add-in to Microsoft Excel and allows grids of data ("slices") to be embedded in Excel worksheets, either as hard coded extracts ("snapshots") or through formulas which read/write directly from/to the server. (That is, the slice worksheets can be saved as normal Excel workbooks, loaded later, and if the user is connected to the server, updated with the current live numbers just by recalculating the sheet.)

• Architect, which looks the same as Perspectives but lacks Excel integration.

• Cognos BI. (Cognos bought the TM1 engine and are using it as a back end to their reporting tools.)

• TM1 Web, which allows the data to be displayed in a browser (from which you can copy/paste it) or exported to an Excel sheet or an Acrobat .pdf.

• Custom built applications which are created in VB6, C, Java or one of the .Net languages using the TM1 API. (Though the .Net API is notoriously weak on features.) In this case the values just come to the client as a digital feed and what the application does with them is up to it.

There are a few other front ends as well such as Executive Viewer, although that's not a specific TM1 front end.