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PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

  • 1.  PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Tue September 27, 2022 12:31 PM
    Workbook functionality has been steadily removed from Workspace over the past several releases. I can no longer view/edit rules, processes, chores, or the set editor in a widget. Instead I am forced to use workbenches which are completely different from workbooks and lack the ability to add textbox widgets or multiple objects on one tab (among many other things).

    I spent a long time building a ton of administrative workbooks that had textboxes for notes and step-by-step instructions with tabs with multiple objects on them for updating related rules, processes, chores, etc. It was so convenient to have everything in one book for a given task. It was honestly the best part of PAW for me. Now the workbooks are only about 30% effective. I thought I would just add a navigation button from the workbook to the workbench with the other objects, but apparently only navigation to workbooks is allowed.

    Users: I'd be interested to know if I'm the only user frustrated by this deprecation or if others are feeling the same way. Is it just me or does workbench leave you feeling like it's just not as useful as workbooks?

    IBM: It might help me deal with this loss if I can understand why this direction was taken. I understand tasks performed by modelers vs consumers are different, but couldn't that just be addressed by subscription appropriate context menus or trees instead of limiting modelers to be forced to workbench which is limited in many ways compared to workbooks? Is the plan to add a ton more functionality to workbenches and if so, why force the switch before it's ready?

    In case you're wondering, I'm a cloud client, so I can't continue to use the older version.

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    Kirk Stolworthy
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    #PlanningAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Wed September 28, 2022 09:08 AM
    Kirk,

    Thanks for your post. I'm also experiencing the same issues with my cloud clients. The administrative books were very helpful in directing users through each step of a business process, especially with naming tabs and adding text boxes. Multiple clients have complained of the confusion this has caused since being forced to use workbench, they no longer know which steps they are running.

    If there were the ability to name tabs or add text boxes to workbenches, this would be a huge help.

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    Sarah Harrison
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Wed September 28, 2022 09:10 AM

    Kirk is correct.

     

    Being forced to adopt a product which is not ready for primetime is a major source of frustration.  We have a whole list of issues, but I will start with four:

     

    1. You can only have one workbench open at a time.
    2. You can only have one view on a workbench tab at a time, where often our need is to tie out two cubes in views side by side. 
    3. Workbench views can't use filters, much less synchronized filters.
    4. You can't use the life cycle manager to migrate workbenches from one environment to another.

     

    Gary




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Wed September 28, 2022 12:12 PM
    HI Everybody, 

    Workbenches do not require uses to resize to accomodate widgets in a canvas, but you can organize any editor  so you can see them side by side

    Any editor can be moved to its own window so the user can take advantage of multiple screens
    The set editor can also be opened in its own tab:
    Workbenches can be saved so the user can group related objects on the same file. 

    The cube viewer is fully supported with the exception of "save view as", including set editor support. Selector widgets are supported on the books. 

    The workbench includes many enhancements: database level searches, ODBC settings, new process editor, new rules editor, new chore editor, revamped cube creation, file manager, etc.

    If a user needs to upload files on the books, that can be achieved using the action button same as running processes.


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    Julian
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Wed September 28, 2022 01:31 PM
    Thank you all for the valuable feedback on the modeling.
    I'd like to iterate the positive outcome on Workbench that is a dedicated IDE we've been also getting from many users.
    For Workbench we are providing the following:
    1. Better user security - Admins and Modelers only.
    2. Smart use of the real-estate: multi-Window, -Monitor layout.
    3. Shared development space with other developers.
    4. Comments on the rules and TI could be used to put the text explanations in line/section specific areas.
    5. The synchronized views could be in the book only. Synchronization is a dashboard specific feature and has no value outside of a book. The Modeler could open a dashboard book and a workbench on different monitors and perform changes against the model and observe the impact on the dashboard. 

    The ability to LCM Workbenches is going to be provided in future.

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    Svetlana Pestsova
    IBM Planning Analytics Product Manager
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Wed September 28, 2022 02:43 PM

    Hi Gary,

    Just for point 2 "You can only have one view on a workbench tab at a time, where often our need is to tie out two cubes in views side by side. "

    Workbenches do have a "pop-out" icon for each view, this lets you take any view out to a floating tab/window and I find it particularly useful for those side-by-side comparisons. This was actually my primary reason for adopting workbenches a while ago.

    The point about synchronization could (IMO) be a good one for IBM to look at implementing to workbenches though - It's not something I have thought about before but I would very much like to have the ability to synchronize a couple of views across a workbench.

    Thanks,

    Declan



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    Declan Rodger
    Technical Director
    Spitfire Analytics
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Tue February 21, 2023 01:38 PM

    Hi Gary,

    We continue to release every month and to add the new features to Workbench.

    1. We're may allow to have more than one workbench open as the option. I'd like to go over the cases where or clients would like to use the multiple ones in more details. We need to evaluate for the Opening editors in different windows especially.
    2. Two cubes could be open side by side in one workbench to compare.
    3. Sets could be applied to the views as filters in Workbench but no synchronization would be allowed.
    4. The LCM will be available for Workbnches. It's on the roadmap for 2023.

    Best regards,



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    Svetlana Pestsova
    IBM Planning Analytics Product Manager
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Thu September 29, 2022 02:50 AM
    I do agree with Kirk.

    When I am in a project and develop new content or functionality, I do not differentiate between a user front end and a developer back end but do I hit the customers target.

    Today I find my self having two browsers open so I can do front end related stuff while developing back end stuff as well. This is not very efficient having to switch between windows. The same applies for the subset editor taking up the whole screen covering all the context which is often useful to have when you want to focus on specific dimension elements. The work bench is missing so much of the front end functionality.

    And end users or super users have lost the ability to run a process without further work needed. Now we have to make a button available to them in a specific workbook/tab - fortunately it is easy to do but it is still extra work every time this is needed.

    So, Svetlana, if IBM are focused on separating front and back end due to security then you must consider bringing all front end related functionality to the workbench as well. This way everybody wins.


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    Jesper Poulsen
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Thu September 29, 2022 11:54 AM
    Bringing front end functionality to the workbench will defeat the purpose of having a dedicated modeling experience. The workbench does allow to open the set editor as a widget and as with any other editor the tabs can be dragged so it can be placed side by side with other editors. Super users can open the workbench and run/edit processes, analyst users can do it via action buttons, this gives finer control on what the book author want the user to run. 


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    Julian
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 01:48 AM
    Edited by System Admin Fri January 20, 2023 04:30 PM
      |   view attached
    For my 2 cents worth on the navigation, popping out to a floating windows, side-by-side comparisons etc.
    Per Declan and Julian, this is supported but possibly not everyone knows how to use it.
    One thing I am sure not too many people know is that if you hold Ctrl down when clicking on the kebab menu, the options change from Edit Dimension to Edit Dimension in a new Window as an example.

    The clip attached below shows some of the other dragging gestures to put tabs one below the other or side-by-side etc.

    Edit: if clip does not play, try here

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    George Tonkin
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Thu September 29, 2022 12:06 PM
    Hi Kirk, Sarah, Gary, Jesper and Declan!
    I appreciate and collect all of your feedback and suggestions regarding Workbench Modeling capabilities as we're constantly looking for improvements.

    We're delivering the features analyzing the performance impact;
    developers working with the large dimensions would find it much faster to work in Workbench compare to the Modeling books or even Architect.
    The synchronization is a costly operation for the large dimensions, so I'd hope that the book synchronized dashboard plus using the different window for the cube rule would be not the best but acceptable solution. Also consistency needed for the views could be implemented applying sets across conformed dimensions.

    We're delivering the new Dimension Editor in Workbench in Q4 2022.


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    Svetlana Pestsova
    IBM Planning Analytics Product Manager
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Thu September 29, 2022 01:09 PM
    Thanks Svetlana and Julian. There are some advantages to workbench and those are probably more apparent when strictly performing "modeling" functions. The gray area for me that is still a gap is when performing more of a "maintenance" function that has a specific workflow that involves multiple steps and access to all different types of objects. This is where there is the most crossover between backend and frontend objects. I will need to split some steps in the process and jump to a workbench and then back to the workbook. Links to workbooks can be created, but as far as I can see that's not possible for workbenches. At least if I can put a link to a workbench in my main workbook with the process steps, I can quickly jump to the appropriate workbench and not have to navigate there and find which workbench I need for that step. I just added an idea here in case anyone would like to support it.

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    Kirk Stolworthy
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 06:09 AM
    Hello,

    On my side I must admit that workbenches are a godsent to me. As a modeler, I was quite infuriated with modeling on a book which required me to build a proper template (ex: set fit to page to avoid double scrollbars: 1 for the book, 1 for the widget) when I needed to quickly check a view/process/dimension. Since the checks I have to make are always different each time, I couldn't invest time on building a book. 

    In my project, administrative task such as the ones you described are handled by the run team. In their case, the book is good front-end for them: they're not familiar with the inner working of TIs and we don't expect them to. They simply navigate within the book and we restrict & simplify the list of autorized process parameters by building an action button in the book.

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    Paul Crohas
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 08:55 AM
    It's quite similar to the way we used to work with previous versions of PA: Dev/modelers on Architect and Administrators/Business team/End-users on TM1Web (websheets/views)

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    Paul Crohas
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    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 09:39 AM
    Hi Paul,
    Thank you for this post - it was precisely our target to make the Workbench suited to the developer needs.
    WORKBENCH will be continued as the environment for Modelers whereas the Analysts would have BOOKS with Analytics and full navigation support.

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    Svetlana Pestsova
    IBM Planning Analytics Product Manager
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    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 11:49 AM
    Hi,
    For me the gray area is maintenance.  I will have one book that has a tab that has instructions,  buttons for loading elements and hierarchies, and then also a dimension editing tab if I need to make manual adjustments to consolidations.   If they have to be in separate objects, I like the idea of a button that could open a workbench.  

    I have not tried this, but what happens if you have a group that has admin rights on a dimension so they can manually add rollups, but in all other cases are analysts.  How would they edit the dimension?

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    Scott Brown
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    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: PAW workbook functionality deprecations....I'm just not that into workbench

    Posted Fri September 30, 2022 03:32 PM
    Hi Scott,

    Dimension editing continues to be supported in the books, A brand new dimension editor will be available in the workbench this year and it will be also made available in the books shortly after its workbench release.

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    Julian
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    Original Message


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