Migrating Planning Analytics Workspace assets between PAW systems is very easy. IBM have built in a special tool called Lifecycle Manager that facilitates the transfer of PAW objects from one Planning Analytics Workspace environment to another. Note though, that it does not move TM1 database objects, only the assets within PAW directly.
The fundamental steps in using Lifecycle Manager are to create a package, export it, import it and deploy it. This post covers creation and export. If you are using Planning Analytic as a Service (on AWS or Azure), you can create the package in one environment (eg Dev), then import it into another environment (eg Prod) before you deploy it to a database on that environment.
After the steps in this post have been completed, you will exported the package as a zip file. You will then need to either need to import it (for use in another PAW server), or deploy it directly to another environment within a Planning Analytics system.
How to Create a Planning Analytics Workspace Migration Package with Lifecycle Manager
To create a migration package within Planning Analytics Workspace, follow these instructions.
- Open the Administration tile in Planning Analytics Workspace
Click on the Administration tile on the PAW home page.
- Select Lifecycle Management
Click on Lifecycle Managment in the Administration section of PAW
- Click Create in Lifecycle Management
- Enter the Snapshot Name and Description
Here you need to enter a name for the snapshot and a description. For the name, we like to use a system like the date, followed by the environment, followed by the database and then something that indicates the purpose of the snapshot. Then for the description, enter something a little more verbose that explains what the purpose of the snapshot it.
- Click Next
- Add the Assets you want included in the Snapshot
Click into Shared and/or Personal and then select the assets you want included. Note that the Personal assets are only your personal assets, not all users personal assets.
- Click Create
When you have all the assets you need selected, then click the big blue Create button.
- Wait for the Snapshot the be created
When it is finished, the snapshot will be listed on the left and the contents listed on the right.
- Export or Deploy?
Once the snapshot package has been created, you can then either export or deploy it. Exporting it will download a zip file to your local computer. Deploy will allow you to deploy the contents to another folder within PAW and potentially connect it to a different database (assuming all the cubes are available in it!).
- Export
For this exercise, we are going to export it. However, if you are moving a deployment package to a different environment within the one Planning Analytics system (for example on Planning Analytics as a Service), you could skip straight to deployment and deploy your snapshot to another environment.
Click the Export button. This will download the zip to your local computer. You will then need to import the package to the different system before you can deploy it.
Need Help with Managing PAW?
If you need any tips or advice on how to manage Planning Analytics Workspace, please reach out. We’re here to help.
