IBM Planning Analytics Developer - TM1 Models
First seen by Alion on Nov 3, 2026.
Position Description : Technical Business Analyst, Finance Budgeting & Reporting
About the Role :
We are investing in our finance systems to make budgeting, forecasting and management reporting faster, more accurate and more useful to the business. We are looking for a Technical Business Analyst who understands both finance processes and the data behind them, and who has hands-on experience implementing IBM TM1 (Planning Analytics).
You will sit between Finance and Technology. You will translate budgeting and reporting needs into clear technical requirements, shape TM1 models and processes, and make sure the data feeding reports is complete, reconciled and fit for purpose.
Key Responsibilities :
Requirements and process design :
- Elicit, document and validate business requirements for budgeting, forecasting, planning and management reporting with Finance stakeholders.
- Map current-state finance processes (budget cycles, rolling forecasts, actuals loads, variance analysis, board reporting) and design future-state processes in TM1.
- Write functional specifications, user stories and acceptance criteria for TM1 cubes, rules, TI processes, chores and dashboards.
TM1 implementation and support :
- Work alongside TM1 developers and modellers during build, testing and deployment, including dimension design, cube structure, rules, feeders and TurboIntegrator (TI) processes.
- Lead or support user acceptance testing, test script creation and defect triage.
- Support release management, cutover planning and post-go-live stabilisation.
- Contribute to model governance, including naming conventions, version control and change control.
Data and reporting :
- Define data requirements for planning and reporting : source systems, data owners, refresh frequency, grain, historical depth and transformation logic.
- Work with Data Engineering to design and validate data pipelines feeding TM1 and reporting layers (e.g. GL, ERP, D365, sales and inventory data).
- Establish reconciliation controls between source systems, TM1 and reports, and investigate and resolve variances.
- Define and validate data mappings, chart of accounts alignment, and master data (entities, products, stores, cost centres).
- Translate reporting requirements into data models and report specifications, and validate outputs against business definitions.
Stakeholder engagement :
- Act as the day-to-day bridge between Finance users, technical delivery teams and vendors or partners.
- Run workshops, prepare clear documentation and communicate trade-offs and risks to non-technical audiences.
- Support training and adoption, including user guides and process walkthroughs.
Essential Requirements :
- Demonstrated hands-on experience in an IBM TM1 / Planning Analytics implementation, covering requirements, design or testing (not only end-user use).
- Solid understanding of finance budgeting, forecasting and management reporting processes, including the monthly close and the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow relationships.
- Strong understanding of data requirements for finance reporting : data modelling concepts, dimensional design, data quality, reconciliation and lineage.
- Experience writing business and functional requirements, process maps and test documentation.
- Working knowledge of SQL and/or Excel at an advanced level for data validation and analysis.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical and financial concepts clearly to both finance professionals and technical teams, and to write concise, well-structured documentation and briefings for senior stakeholders.
- Ability to work across Finance and IT and build trust with stakeholders at all levels.
- Strong attention to detail and a structured approach to issues, risks and change.
Desirable :
- Exposure to Dynamics 365 Finance or other ERP finance modules, including understanding of how finance data flows from D365 into planning and reporting.
- Exposure to Microsoft Fabric and Power BI (or other enterprise BI platforms), including working with semantic models, dashboards and report validation.
- Experience with TurboIntegrator scripting, MDX, or TM1 rules and feeders.
- Experience in retail, FMCG or another high-volume, multi-site environment.
- Agile or hybrid delivery experience, and familiarity with delivery methods such as PMP or Prosci.
- A relevant tertiary qualification in finance, accounting, information systems or a related field.
What Success Looks Like :
- Budget and forecast cycles run on time, with clear requirements and fewer change requests after build.
- Reporting outputs reconcile to source systems, and data issues are found and fixed before they reach leaders.
- Finance users trust the models and use them without relying on shadow spreadsheets.
Skills
TM1, TM1 Turbo Integrator, SQL, Analytics, MDX, System Implementation, Reporting Tools, ERP