TM1 BI Interop Files: How to Deploy to Cognos Analytics

The Cognos Analytics BI Interop files establish connectivity between your Planning Analytics (TM1) and Cognos Analytics servers. They need to be deployed to the Cognos server. Here are the steps you need to do to deploy them.Steps to Change TM1 to use Cognos Security.

Error if Not Done Perfectly

If this deployment is not done correctly, you will not be able to get communication working between Cognos and TM1, so TM1Web (Planning Analytics Spreadsheet Services) and Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) may not work when configured to use CAM security. You might get an error that says something like “The TM1Web service parameter was not specified or is not one of the configured locations“.

Deploy BI Interop Files from the TM1 Server to the BI Server(s)

There are files that need to be copied from the TM1/Planning Analytics server to the BI server and then modified once in place. For Planning Analytics 2.x, all required files can be found at /tm1_64/bi_interop/ and for TM1 10.2.2, they are at tm1_64/webapps/tm1web/bi_files (for TM1Web) and /tm1_64/bi_interop/ (for pmpsvc and pmhub). Alternatively, you can just download them here (the BI Interop files are identical for both PA 2.0.x and TM1 10.2.2).

1. Firstly, unzip the bi_interop.zip file.
2. Merge the contents of the templates folder (not the folder itself) with the templates folder in the installation location on the Cognos Analytics application server.
3. Find and modify the file “variables_TM1.xml” to refer to the TM1 server using a fully qualified domain name. This is located in the (new) templatespsportal folder of the Cognos Analytics installation.
4. After these changes, restart the BI server.
5. Merge the contents of the webcontent folder (not the folder itself) with webcontent folder in the installation location on the Cognos Analytics gateway (or web) server.
6. If you are using Cognos 11, also copy to the webcontent/bi folder. You do not need to restart.
7. Modify the planning.html, pmhub.html, and tm1web.html files to match the TM1 server. You need to modify the “var” line in each file as follows:
   1. tm1web.html – var tm1webServices = [“https://tm1webserver.domain.local:9510”];
   2. planning.html – var planningServices = [“https://tm1webserver.domain.local:9510”];
   3. pmhub.html – var pmhubURLs = [“https://tm1webserver.domain.local:9510”];
   4. (Tip: modify the three files in the respective webcontent and TM1 folders and then copy the modified files to the BI and BI/TM1 folders).
8. Next, if there are multiple TM1 or Planning Analytics servers, or you are using a separate server for TM1Web or Planning Analytics Workspace, enter each one inside the square brackets, separating each entry with a comma. Each entry must be contained in inverted commas (rabbit ears).
9. Then, if you have deployed Planning Analytics Spreadsheet Services (the new TM1Web) and you are using Contributor, you will have needed to enable ports 9510 and probably 9511. So duplicate the TM1server entries with port 9510 from above for port 9511.
10. Importantly, the var line in the pmhub.html file is a “whitelist” of servers that can access the TM1 server. The entries in it must be identical to what is entered in a browser to access that service. Therefore, for the PAW server (which does not require a port to access it), enter the address as “https://PAWservername.domain.local”.

Do You Still Have Problems?

Best now is to log a Service Request with IBM. They are really good and diagnosing these problems with BI Interop files and helping you resolve them.