cognos tm1 executive viewer what'snew v9.3 build...

Cognos TM1 Executive Viewer

What's New v9.3 build 1

Released: December 2007

De-licensing

Executive Viewer has been completely de-licensed. All references in the User Interface, Registry, Setup, APImethods en enums, et cetera have been removed or reworked. The documentation also has been adapted to reflectall these changes.

Cognos rebranding

Executive Viewer has been fully rebranded as a Cognos product. This involves, amongst others, new logos, namesand color schemes. Internal code namespaces and names, registry keys, installation directories, configuration fileswhich referred to the period before Cognos, have been changed.

64-bit version

Executive Viewer is released with a 64-bit version of Executive Viewer Server. A separate setup is available toinstall the 64-bit version. This version will be able to connect to:

TM1•SSAS 2005•Essbase (version 9.3 or higher, as no 64-bit runtime clients are available in earlier versions of Essbase)•

Text in cells for TM1

Executive Viewer Client shows text in cells when it is provided as the data for a cell by TM1. You can also useData Entry to enter text in cells, and use additional formatting for the text, when it is supported by the TM1database.

Vista support

Executive Viewer Client and Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer are be able to run on Windows Vista. ExecutiveViewer Client will be protected mode aware and will disable features that are simply not allowed by Vista in thatmode, or will make sure they are handled differently in order to work properly within the protected modeenvironment.

In order for Executive Viewer Client to work and communicate properly with Executive Viewer Server the proxy hasbeen removed as a separate process. Now the proxy has been integrated into Executive Viewer Client.

Office 2007

Executive Viewer works with Office 2007. When exporting to Excel, Executive Viewer still uses Biff8 (instead of theBiff12 supported by Office 2007) to have the lowest possible common denominator. This ensures that people usingOffice 97 will also be able to export to Excel from Executive Viewer.

Copyright © Cognos 2007 of 5

Multi Member Offspread Selection

You can now select multiple members in the offspread instead of just one. When multiple members are selected,the data is automatically aggregated. This feature is only supported when you use MSAS databases.

Remove IIS Dependency for Server

In order for Executive Viewer to run in environments where IIS is not allowed, we have added support for ExecutiveViewer Desktop Explorer (and the regular ASP.NET Executive Viewer Explorer) to connect to Executive ViewerServer by using remoting. This allows you to run Executive Viewer Server without IIS being installed on the samemachine and still be able to use all of the Executive Viewer functionality.

Process Distribution

Process Distribution allows you to spread loading and processing of cubes over multiple processes instead of justone server process. This means that each process is able to get its on process memory space, allowing multiple 2or 3GB memory spaces to load the cubes.

As of Executive Viewer 9.3.1.0, in addition to distributing over multiple processes on one machine, you can alsoassign processes to run on Executive Viewer Servers on other machines. These Slave Servers can be installedwith the Executive Viewer Server setup. After installation of an Executive Viewer Slave Server, the ExecutiveViewer Master Server can push cubes to Executive Viewer Slave Servers.

The configuration of the distribution has been moved from configuration files to the user interface. You can useeither Executive Viewer Explorer Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer to do this.

Stacked Actions

Stacked actions is an umbrella name for several changes in the Executive Viewer Client regarding how actions arehandled. This includes actions triggered from the user interface or the API. The list of changes includes:

Multiple individual actions now also appear as one Undo or Redo action in the user interface.•Undo and Redo now has better control over all changes, allowing for a better way to re-apply or roll backchanges.

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Triggering of events has been improved. Changes to the data now trigger an event just once and at theadequate moment.

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When an event is triggered, the API now allows you to find out in what context the event was triggered,being User, API, Undo or Redo.

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Events can now be filtered depending on context within which they are triggered.•Multiple API calls can now be grouped as one action. StartAction, AbortAction and CommitAction methodshave been added to the API for this purpose.

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Compatibility with IIS 64-bit

It is now possible to install and run Executive Viewer on machines that run with IIS in 64-bit mode. PreviouslyExecutive Viewer would only run on IIS in 32-bit mode. As IIS can only be set to one mode in the past, this couldprevent Executive Viewer from being installed and run on machines with IIS in 64-bit mode.


Full Management Functionality for Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer

Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer has been extended with full management capabilities. It can now do the samethings as the ASP.NET Executive Viewer Explorer and therefore is a full substitute. This is especially useful incombination with the removal of IIS dependencies for Executive Viewer Server.

In addition, Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer has now been fully localized, to match the same languagesExecutive Viewer Client ships in.

Standard Windows Installer for Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer

In addition to adding full management functionality, Executive Viewer Desktop Explorer now also has standardWindows Installer. This allows for better deployment.

Improved drag and drop support from Desktop Explorer

It is now possible to drag and drop Image, Custom, Database, Data Source and View Items from Executive ViewerDesktop Explorer onto the Windows file system and vice versa. This ensures a familiar look and feel for the user.

Performance Map

The well known chart type Performance Map has been added Executive Viewer. Performance Maps can becustomized in many ways through options and formatting, including:

Ordered'Ordered' allows you to switch on or off, the order in which the elements appear in the Performance Map.Switched on it is easier to find the elements because they appear in the same order. Switched off, thesurfaces are better distributed and appear more square, helping to read the map.

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Add Hierarchy'Add Hierarchy' allows you to automatically take the hierarchy of elements into account, without having toselect all elements or ancestors in the hierarchy.

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Automatic color codingYou have the possibility to automatically color the squares by their deviation from the average, making itpossible to instantly color code, while being independent from the absolute values appearing in the cells.

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Custom Item Type

In addition to the four existing Item Types (Data Source, Database, View, Image) a fifth Item Type has been addedto Executive Viewer: the Custom Item.

The Custom Item allows the user to store any custom data that belongs to any of these items, or just custom datain general.

The Custom Item Type has system properties like file name and mime type. Due to this, Executive ViewerExplorer and Desktop Explorer can handle the content of the Custom Item as a real file, allowing uploading anddownloading.

You can use a Custom Item to store documents, comments, HTML or java script that belongs to a View. The openapproach allows you to be creative with your solutions.

Custom items can also be retrieved as a file by using the URL-API.


Integrated Database Registration Wizard

In previous versions of Executive Viewer the setup offered a Database Registration Wizard at the end of theinstallation process. This wizard allowed users to quickly register Data Source and Database items in order topopulate the repository automatically instead of manually.

As of Executive Viewer 9.3.1.0 the Database Registration Wizard has been integrated into both the ExecutiveViewer ASP.NET Explorer and the Desktop Explorer. This allows users to generate the necessary Database itemsdirectly from their Data Source items, provides more ease of use and a more integrated approach. It also makes itpossible to deal with situations where Windows Integrated Authentication is not used for session security, as oftenhappens in combination with TM1.

Statistical Functions in the calculator

The calculator in Executive Viewer Client has been enhanced with several statistical functions. This allows you tocreate calculations that help you analyze your data with a more statistical approach.

Enhanced Executive Viewer Appearance

The visual appearance of Executive Viewer has been enhanced. By using GDI+ code we gave Executive ViewerClient a modern appearance. A number of things have changed:

New full color icons have been introduced•Gradients have been used, like in the toolbar, headers and cells•Drag images are being used to indicate what is being dragged•Transparent and more organic tool-tips have been used•Target highlighting when dragging and dropping has been updated•More organic 3d edges for cells•New busy indicator•

The default font has changed as well. This can imply that you have to make some changes for views to showcorrectly in an integrated environment.

New View Tab Bar

The new tab bar tries to provide a similar look and feel of the tab bar of Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox. The newtab bar adds some new functionality like being able to close a view with a close button on each tab, or drag anddrop tabs to change the order of the views. The new tab bar also greatly contributes to make Executive Viewer looka bit more up to date.

In-cell data entry for TM1

Data entry is now performed in the cells and not anymore on the Data Entry options pane to the right of the table.The values will be entered directly into the cell. Also the use of TM1 spreading control codes is implemented. Thismeans you can choose to use either the TM1 spreading control codes or the Data Entry options pane.

Embedded appearance

When Executive Viewer is embedded into office, or appears on an HTML page in Internet Explorer, the control isrendered in two ways. One is the runtime mode, that shows Executive Viewer live. Executive Viewer can be used


interactively. The other is in design mode, where Executive Viewer is represented in a way, not being live, whereproperties and layout can be edited.

In design mode Executive Viewer would previously appear in a very basic print layout, a simple black and whiteoutput. Now Executive Viewer will render itself as a bitmap appearing virtually the same as the live output. Thismakes it easier to see Executive Viewer in design mode and has some additional positive side effects. Whenprinting in Internet Explorer or when using the thumbnail (Quick Tabs) in Internet Explorer 7 to choose a tab,Executive Viewer will now render itself with live-like output as well. It appears correct and has a WYSIWYG lookand feel.


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