Frequently Asked Questions for Apex Shell for Cost Transparency

Releasing 23 April 2021

What are you launching? 

Apex Shell for Cost Transparency (CT) provides a consistent navigation experience across Apptio’s products.  These features were released across Apptio’s other products such as, IT Planning, Self Service Reporting, Insights and Action Plans earlier this year. 

What customer problem does this address? 

Customers encounter a different user experience across Apptio’s products.  This new feature will provide a common navigation experience amongst Cost Transparency and Apptio’s other products.   This includes how users navigate between products (e.g. from Cost Transparency to IT Planning) and how one navigates within an individual product (e.g. between report collections and reports within CT).

How does it work and what business outcome does it provide? 

Apex Shell for CT provides a new way to navigate Apptio’s products.  This new user experience improves the usability through a modern, intuitive design and unifies Apptio’s cross-product experience over our portfolio of TBM solutions. 

Who are the target users? 

The Apex Shell for Cost Transparency is targeted for all users of Cost Transparency including TBM administrators and general users.  This feature applies across all aspects of using TBM Studio and the OOTB applications or customized reporting and analytics. 

Why should customers care? How is this better than what already exists? 

Customers should care as this is one of Apptio’s first steps to unifying our products and improve the usability and value derived.   

How do I use it? 

Apex Shell is currently used by other Apptio products including IT Planning, Self-Service Reporting, Insights & Action Plans.  For CT, the behavior is similar in nature with application specific features.  For example, to switch between products, click on the Application selector (“waffle” icon) in the top left corner to open the App Launcher.  To switch between report collections, click on the Left Panel expand/collapse icon to show/hide the list of available report collections.  To switch between reports within a report collection, click on the report name in the second row of the top navigation bar.  To switch time periods, environments, or branches, select the drop downs in the top row of the navigation bar.

Will users still be able to use the classic navigation?   

Apex Shell is a separate service and is independent of the CT Server and Client versions.  On 23 Apr 2021, Apex Shell will release an update which removes the navigation toggle across all our products.  Thus, for customers using IT Planning and CT on a Server release earlier than R12.9.5, they will have two disparate navigation experiences: 

• ITP will use the new Apex navigation 
• CT will use the current Classic navigation 

What are the UI changes? 

The Apex Shell for CT is primarily a UI change around the navigation features within CT.  There are no changes to existing reports or analytics, the data or cost model, or any URLs or APIs.

Apex Shell update (GA 23 Apr 2021) provides an App Launcher update which will display the costing and planning products under the single, ApptioOne product line:

What are the requirements for Cost Transparency customers?

Client v1.3 (23 Apr 2021 GA) will enable the Apex Shell for CT and requires customers to be on Server r12.9.5 (5 Mar 2021 GA) or r12.9.6 (23 Apr 2021 GA). 

In general, each new Client version will be compatible with the latest Server release (N) and the previous release (N-1). 

When will customers be upgraded?

On 23 Apr 2021, Client 1.3 will be released across regions after normal business hours.  This is an automated and seamless upgrade:

• AU region: 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. PST
• EU region: 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. PST
• US region: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. PST

Customers on Server 12.9.5 will see the new Apex Shell for CT when they log in.  Remaining R12 customers will follow the current upgrade scheduling process to move to Server 12.9.6 & Client 1.3 or the latest release.    

Will there be any known limitations at the time of launch?   

GovCloud customers are currently on R12.8.  The process to upgrade to Server 12.9.x and Client 1.x is in progress.  Timing will be late Q2 2021.   

How do I get help? 

Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or support.apptio.com for further questions about the Apex Shell for Cost Transparency features. 

#apex
#user experience