IBM Cognos TM1 Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. What is Cognos TM1?

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IBM Cognos TM1 (formerly Applix TM1, formally Sinper TM1 – Table Manager 1) is enterprise planning software used to implement collaborative planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions, as well as analytical and reporting applications. Data in IBM Cognos TM1 is stored and represented as multidimensional OLAP cubes, with data being stored at the “leaf” level.

Q2. Cognos TM1 Characteristics?

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Q3. What are the basic features of Cognos TM1?

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• Real-time, interactive multidimensional database also with write-back functionality
• 64-bit, in memory OLAP server capable of concentrate huge volumes of data
• Enterprise level planning and analysis capabilities
• Guided modeling environment to facilitate planning, analysis and forecasting
• Rapid development of flexible models, including profitability models, without batch processing
• Integrates with IBM Cognos Business Intelligence, to establish a single view of performance.

Q4. How many types of viewers available in TM1?

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There are 3 types of viewers in TM1.

1. Cube Viewer.
2. Web Sheet Viewer.
3. Navigation Viewer.

Q5. What are different windows in portlet?

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There are 3 type of viewers available in TM1.

• Cube Viewer
• Web Sheet Viewer
• Navigation Viewer.

Q6. Name the data sources which are available with TI?

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Q7. Define TM1 architecture?

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TM1 is based on a client-server architecture and different components that interact with each other in a seamless manner to achieve the desired functionality. The following figure depicts the development process in a broad manner:
As depicted in the preceding figure, multi-dimensional cubes reside on TM1 data servers.

These cubes in turn take their dimensional structure from multi-dimensional models, created by the modeler. Data is fed to these cubes from one of the backend data sources through inbuilt turbo integrator processes. Please note that these ETL processes can be modified as per the user requirements.

Q8. What is Epilog Tab?

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Series of statements that is to be executed after the data source is processed.

Q9. What is Sparse Cube?

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A cube in which number of populated cells as a percentage of total cells is too low

Q10. Name the different procedures within TI?

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1. Defining Data Source
2. Setting Variables
3. Mapping Data
4. Editing Advanced Scripting
5. Scheduling the completed Process.

Q11. What is Chore Commit property?

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1. It allows you to specify if the processes in chores will be committed as a single transaction or either as multiple transactions
2. In a single commit mode all processes are committed as a single transaction. It is a default by nature.
3. In multiple commit modes any processes that need to be committed do so as they are processed.
4. It is possible to change chore property only when the chore is INACTIVE.

Q12. Define TM1 package connector?

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TM1 package connector helps to import data from packages/dimensions and custom queries.

Q13. Define a snapshot?

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Snapshot is nothing it’s only a copy of data, whenever we create any snapshot it only copies the exact data that is related to the particular report. It is used to compare reports.
For ex: we want to compare the report for this month with the previous month.

Q14. Differentiate between view and materialized view?

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1. It contains query whenever execute views it has read from base table materialized View
2. M views loading or replicated takes place only once which gives you better query performance.

Q15. Define the Bulk Load mode?

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1. It enables TM1 to run in a special optimized Single-user mode. This model has the capacity to maximize the performance for dedicated tasks during the time when there is no load on the server or at night time.
2. It doesn’t display a message to end-user to alert them. No new connections can be created.

Q16. Define Drill Through?

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By using Drill-through reporting you can link from one report to another. There is a number of ways to Drill Through:
Drill Through id developed with two reports

• Parent Report
• Child Report

Q17. What is the difference between list and crosstab?

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List:

• List report shows the data in rows and columns (detail information of report).
• List can be converted to Cross tab

Crosstab:

• Crosstab report shows the data in grids, dimensions in row and column, and measures in cells or in the intersection point.
• Crosstab can’t be converted to a list. There is no direct option available in Report Studio to convert the cross tab to a list.

Q18. Define Prolog tab?

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The procedure is executed before the data source for the TI is opened.  TI directly goes to Epilog if the data source for the process is none and if there is no data source then Metadata and data tabs are ignored.

Q19. Define Metadata?

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Series of statements that update or create cubes, dimensions, and other metadata structures during the processing.

Q20. Define FEEDERS?

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It creates a placeholder on the cells so that the cells will not be skipped during the consolidation.

Q21. Define Over Feeding?

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Feeding means defining feeders for consolidated cells. (Feeding a consolidated cell automatically feeds all children of the consolidation.)

Q22. Define Under Feeding?

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Under Feeding means failing to the feed cells that contain rules-derived values. This always results in incorrect values and must be avoided at all costs.

Q23. Define Cognos Connection?

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It is a Web portal for Cognos 8 and a component that interacts with the Content Store. It is a frontend to publish, find, manage, organize, and view an organization’s business intelligence data.

Q24. Define Junk Dimension?

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It is also called a garbage dimension. A junk dimension is a convenient grouping of typically low-cardinality flags and indicators.

Q25. Define is catalog and types of catalogs in Cognos?

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The catalog is a file containing the information (Database tables) that Impromptu users need to create reports. Types of catalogs are:

1. Personal
2. Distributed
3. Shared
4. Secured

Q26. Differentiate between Power play transformer and power play reports?

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• Power play transformer: It is a ‘MOLAP’ tool using which one can create a multi-dimensional structure called “CUBE”.
• Power play reports: Power play for reports is used to generate reports from the cube. Only one report can be generated from one cube. If you want ‘n’ reports you must create ‘n’ cubes.

Q27. Define Sparse Cube?

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It’s a cube in which the number of populated cells as a percentage of total cells is too low.

Q28. Define Query Subject?

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