Planning Analytics

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

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Paulo Monte
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Paulo,

I have used the ExecuteCommand function in TI processes to help with backing up the data folder as well as deleting old backups, based on how many days of backups I want to keep. I've also used the function to help kick off processes when a new file has dropped into a folder via FTP.

Mitch Dorhout

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Mitch Dorhout
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

HI Paulo,

Similar to Mitch's usage i.e. making backups, pruning old logs but also use it to execute a powershell script to send email from the cloud instances e.g. error records when a process fails, extracts etc. as there is no other way currently to trigger emails to users/distribution lists.

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George Tonkin
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 2/22/2021 9:03:00 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 2/23/2021 1:15:00 AM
From: Kirk Stolworthy
Subject: RE: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi Paulo,

We're implementing a process now to manage the log files with ExecuteCommand. It will be scheduled weekly to compress the files and move them to an archive folder for retention for a length of time until they're deleted.

Kirk

Original Message:
Sent: 2/22/2021 9:03:00 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Hi Paulo,

We're using ExecuteCommand to trigger PGP decryption of inbound files and encryption of outbound files transferred via FTPS.

More details here if anyone is interested.

Thanks,

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Brian Simpson
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Hi Paulo,

1) Moving files from a landing folder to an archive folder after they've been processed.

2) Executing a PowerShell script to send emails.

I had experimented with using it for logging/debug output as well to overcome TexOutput overwriting what is in a file every tab in a TI, but it was way too slow.

Edit: this is both on Cloud and Local.

Tom

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Tom Cook
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Keep them coming!

Thanks for the great answers so far!

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Paulo Monte
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Original Message:
Sent: Tue February 23, 2021 09:26 AM
From: Tom Cook
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi Paulo,

1) Moving files from a landing folder to an archive folder after they've been processed.

2) Executing a PowerShell script to send emails.

I had experimented with using it for logging/debug output as well to overcome TexOutput overwriting what is in a file every tab in a TI, but it was way too slow.

Edit: this is both on Cloud and Local.

Tom

------------------------------
Tom Cook

Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Hi,

I have mainly used in the ways already described.

Another example not mentioned so far is to grab the last modified date of a file, put that into a cube and then show this date to users, so when they run a process they know the date of the source file.

regards,

Mark

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Mark Wragg
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Hi Paulo,

These are some of the things we've generally done with ExecuteCommand, both in and out of IBM PA Cloud:

1. Call TM1RunTI and/or SendEmail
2. Perform Backup/Archiving of PA data and log files
3. Move import/export data files between PA Server instances and across IBM PA Cloud tenants
4. Perform bulk import from PA to ODBC sources (e.g., bcp for SQL Server), since ODBCOutput is only suitable for a very tiny data set
5. Call custom command-line tools or scripts (anything from BAT files to PowerShell, as well as .NET, Python, etc. executables) for instance to:
1. Monitor and perform basic actions (like email or log to a file), with and without PA REST API, based on certain log messages/events, thread locks/waits, etc.
2. Integrate directly with non-ODBC or flat file data sources (e.g., via a native API for that data source).
6. Read/log certain host machine counters (disk, memory, etc. usage)
7. Stop/start other services (including PA Server instances)

I ordered this based roughly on most to least frequent use case, but I will say that integrating with non-ODBC or flat file data sources is coming up more and more often as an ask (yes, there are many ways to do this, but would be nice to have better options on the PA end). And the lack of an efficient, native PA option for bulk inserting a TM1 extract to a relational database table (vs. having to dump to a text file and do a bulk insert) is another pain point that would be great to see addressed (we logged an enhancement request for this quite a while back).

I'll close by adding that although Cognos Command Center can be used to do some of the simple tasks above (like file watching & movement) we've typically found that ExecuteCommand alternatives for simple, discrete tasks tend to perform much more efficiently overall, including in PA Cloud.

Regards,
Mike

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Michael Cowie
QueBIT Consulting
Tuscaloosa AL
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------

Performing backups is the most common but I also have one application where I send emails.

Mitch

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Mitch Petty
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon February 22, 2021 09:03 AM
From: Paulo Monte
Subject: What are you using ExecuteCommand for in the Cloud? We want to hear from you.

Hi All,
Many customers and partners implement additional functionality not native in the product\service using ExecureCommand via a TI process.
It's a powerful way to build around the service.
We'd really like to hear about what Cloud customers (specifically cloud customers) are doing with ExecuteCommand.
Cheers,

------------------------------
Paulo Monte
------------------------------