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CAT EG O RY ARCHIVES: O RACLE HYPERIO N
Come See Edgewater Ranzal at Kscope11 Posted on May 18, 2011 by richardsonjeff ODTUG Kscope11 is right around the corner. Kscope11 offers the chance for a full day EPM Symposium on Sunday, plus the opportunity to learn from experts in the EPM and BI fields on a wide range of topics. Edgewater Ranzal will be well represented at the conference, with our associates presenting eight presentations covering Planning, DRM, EPMA, HFM, and FDM. The sessions that we will be presenting at Kscope11 are summarized below. Each title links to an abstract for the presentation, providing additional details.
Session
Date
Time
Room
Presenter
Title
6/27/11
11:15 –
102C
Jeff Richardson Calculation Manager: The New
No. 1
and Improved Application to
12:15
Create Planning Business Rules 7
6/28/11
11:15 –
103C
Tony Scalese
12:15
Planning (or Essbase) and FDM and ERPi Equals Success!
10
6/28/11
4:30 – 5:30
101B
Chris Barbieri
Security and Auditing in HFM
11
6/29/11
8:30 – 9:30
103A
Patrick Lehner
Best Practices for Using DRM with EPMA
11
6/29/11
8:30 – 9:30
101B
Chris Barbieri
Getting Started with Calc Manager for HFM
12
6/29/11
9:45 – 10:45 101B
Chris Barbieri
Advanced Topics in Calc Manager for HFM Follow
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9:45 – 10:45 102C
John Martin
Have it Your Way: Building Planning Hierarchies with EPMA or Outline Load Utility
13
6/29/11
11:15 –
101B
Tony Scalese
12:15
Maximizing the Value of an EPM Investment with ERPi, FDM, & EPMA
17
6/30/11
8:30 – 9:30
101B
Tony Scalese
Taking Your FDM Application to the Next Level with Advanced Scripting
18
6/30/11
10:30 –
101B
Peter Fugere
11:30
IFRS Reporting Within Hyperion Financial Management
In addition to the presentations above, you can catch up with our experts at our booth in the Vendor Showcase. We look forward to seeing you in Long Beach. If you haven’t already registered, you can do so here. Posted in Calculation Manager, Data Relationship Management, DRM, EPM, FDM, HFM, Hyperion, IFRS, Oracle DRM, Oracle Hyperion, Ranzal Overview | Tagged Calculation Manager, Data Relationship Management, drm, EPM, FDM, HFM, Hyperion, IFRS, kaleidoscope, Oracle, ranzal | Leave a reply
Oracle Business Intelligence Essbase Cube Builder: Continued Integrations with Essbase and OBIEE Posted on September 2, 2010 by Michael Duong Oracle has been busy focusing on improved consolidation of their BI applications this past year. This next offering within Oracle’s arsenal of BI apps will allow for enhanced integrations between the multi-dimensional and relational worlds of Essbase and OBIEE. The new application is called Oracle Business Intelligence Essbase Cube Builder (OECB) previously referenced as Oracle Essbase Integrator (OEI) during beta testing and its purpose will help refine and make for more consistent Follow
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binary integrations. OECB will permit OBI apps to push metadata and data into Essbase cubes, a significant advancement for OBIEE users where leveraging in-depth ad hoc and what-if scenarios can be available. You can download OECB on the Oracle e-delivery site: OECB Download
OECB will bestow an integrated BI platform that supports OLAP capabilities and dashboards among others. OECB will also allow Essbase to leverage metadata and data from OBI and OBI apps. Other supports will include what-if scenarios, allocations, spreading, changing attributes, and multiple hierarchy comparisons. From a user’s perspective, OECB will provide seamless authentication from OBI to Essbase which reduces maintenance and improves the user experience. Users can also feel confident that metadata and data will have the same context across platforms which mean users will see the same dimensions, members and measures between their OBI and Essbase apps. The environments will be synchronized as updated changes will be retained and applied with data values matching between the two apps. OBI dashboard metadata and data contents will be synchronized to Smartview. OBI physical/business model and mapping/presentation layers will be synchronized to Essbase. Additional support features indicated above affords users with the ability for more robust development. All of this becomes available starting with version 11.1.2. Prior versions will also become available after the official release of OECB. The implication here is if you’re a traditional OBIEE shop wanting to add flexibility to improve analysis with a powerful application like Essbase, OECB will be your opportunity. As Oracle continues to provide expanded integrations between Essbase and OBIEE, see how this new offering called Oracle Business Intelligence Essbase Cube Builder can be leveraged within your organization. Posted in BI Reporting, EPM, OBIEE, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase, Smart View | Tagged Essbase, Multi-Dimensional, OBI Answers, OBI Interactive Dashboards, OBI Publisher, Oracle 11g, Oracle BI Administration Tool, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Relational, Smartview
ORACLE HYPERION CALC MANAGER – Follow
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Part 3 – Working with Templates Posted on July 31, 2010 by richardsonjeff In Part 1 of this series, we introduced Calc Manager, providing a general overview and explanation of some new terms. In the second post in the series, we walked through the development of a Planning rule that utilized a run time prompt. In this post, we’ll explore templates provided within Calc Manager. As with the Rule Designer, which is a great tool to help less experienced developers build rules, templates provide a simple way to develop rules for basic tasks in Planning and Essbase…tasks such as copying, clearing, exporting, allocating, and aggregating data. In addition, you can design your own templates. We’ll begin by logging on to Hyperion Workspace and navigating to Calc Manager. Once in Workspace, the navigation path is: Navigate -> Administer -> Calculation Manager.
Once in Calc Manager, you’ll land on the System View tab, which appears as follows:
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Once again, I’ll use my EPMA enabled version of my Planning app based on Sample.Basic.
To access predefined templates, right click on “Rules”. Once you give the rule a name, the graphical designer is launched. In the “Existing Objects” window, you should find a list of the pre-existing templates. A list of the system templates follows:
CLEAR DAT A
In order to use the system template to Clear Data, drag and drop “Clear Data” from the System
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Templates to the Rule Designer. This will then invoke a member selection window asking you to specify the data to clear. Keep in mind that this template generates a calc script utilizing the CLEARBLOCK command as opposed to a CLEARDATA command.
In my sample app, I select “FY11” for the Years dimension and “Final” for the Version dimension. The dropdown box for “Clearblock Option” can be used to define the blocks to be cleared…”All” is the default. The code that is generated appears below.
FIX ("FY11","Final") CLEARBLOCK ALL; ENDFIX
CO PY DAT A
The Copy Data template helps to walk the calc developer through the process of copying data from one slice of the database to another.
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In the remainder of the wizard, you select the “Copy From” member and the “Copy To” member. The calc script generated follows:
FIX (@RELATIVE("Measures" , 0),@RELATIVE("Periods" ,0),@RELATIVE("Product" DATACOPY "Working" TO "Final"; ENDFIX
AMO UNT - UNIT - RAT E
The Amount-Unit-Rate template allows the developer to build a calc script to solve for either an amount, unit, or rate, basically whichever is missing. I’ve added a couple of measures to my application to facilitate the demo. Using the member selection wizard, I’ve selected “Sales” as my amount, “Cases” as my unit, and “Revenue per Case” as my rate. The script generated by the template follows:
"Sales"( IF ("Sales" == #missing and "Cases" != #missing and "Revenue per Case" != "Sales" = "Cases" * "Revenue per Case"; ELSEIF ("Sales" != #missing and "Cases" == #missing and "Revenue per Case" "Cases" = "Sales" / "Revenue per Case"; ELSEIF ("Sales" != #missing and "Cases" != #missing and "Revenue per Case" "Revenue per Case" = "Sales" / "Cases"; ELSE "Sales" = "Cases" * "Revenue per Case"; ENDIF )
ALLO CAT IO NS
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Two types of allocation templates are provided within Calc Manager. The first template, Allocate Level to Level, allows you to allocate from one level to another. In my example with my Planning app, you would use this template to allocate marketing expenses from product family to product using a driver like revenue. This approach utilizes @ANCESTVAL to build the script. The second template, Allocate Simple, allocates values based on a predefined relationship, such as Marketing->Market * Cases/Cases->Market. Both templates walk the developer through the setup of the allocations, selecting members that are fixed throughout the process, offset members (if any), etc. AG G REG AT IO N
The aggregation template aids the developer to create a script to aggregate the application. The first screen of the wizard, pictured below, allows you to select members for the FIX statement in the aggregation – here you would limit the calc to a particular version, scenario, or your non aggregating sparse dimension members.
The next screen prompts for dense dimensions to aggregate. However, if dynamic calcs are properly utilized, this should not be necessary. The third screen asks for sparse dimensions for the aggregation. You should exclude any non aggregating sparse dimensions from this selection.
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Next, you’re prompted for partial aggregations of dense dimensions. Again – if dynamic calcs are used properly, this should not be an issue. In the final screen of the wizard, the developer selects settings for the script…
The code generated by Calc Manager follows:
SET AGGMISSG ON; SET FRMLBOTTOMUP ON; SET CACHE HIGH; FIX (@RELATIVE("Years" , 0),"Working","Budget") CALC DIM ("Product"); CALC DIM ("Market"); ENDFIX
Please note that this code is not optimized. In this example, I would use the following: AGG (“Product”,”Market”); The code as generated by Calc Manager will result in an extra pass through the database – the calc can be accomplished with a single pass. Additionally, AGG can be used in place of CALC DIM if Follow
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there are no formulas on the dimensions being calculated. Generally speaking, stored formulas on sparse dimensions should be avoided due to performance issues. SET CO MMANDS
The next template walks the user through setting various SET commands for the calc. This is a fairly straightforward exercise. EXPO RT DAT A
This is another straightforward template that helps create a data export calc script. You need to define the fixed members for the export, delimiter, #MISSING value, export type (flat file, relational), etc. In the final part of this series, due for posting on August 13, we’ll walk through the creation of a ruleset. If you have any questions before the next post, please leave a comment! Posted in HFM, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged calc manager, Calculation Manager, Essbase, HFM, Hyperion, hyperion experts, Oracle, Oracle Hyperion, Planning, Planning & Essbase | 1 Reply
ORACLE HYPERION CALC MANAGER – Part 2 – Creating a Planning Rule Posted on July 1, 2010 by richardsonjeff In Part 1 of this series we introduced Calc Manager, providing a general overview and explanation of some new terms. In this post, we will walk through the development of a rule for Hyperion Planning using the graphical interface within Calc Manager. Again, in order to access Calc Manager, log on to Hyperion Workspace. Once in Workspace, the navigation path is: Navigate->Administer->Calculation Manager.
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Once in Calc Manager, you’ll land on the System View tab, which appears as follows:
For purposes of this demonstration, I have created an EPMA enabled Planning application from the Sample.Basic application that we all know and love. When the Planning node is expanded, this is what I see:
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First, to help illustrate functionality available in Calc Manager, I’m going to create a script component that contains my standard SET commands for the rule. In order to create the script component, right click on “Scripts” and click on “New”. Give your script a name and click on “OK”. This will launch the Component Designer.
From here, you have two options. If you know what your SET commands need to be, you’re free to type them in directly. If you wish to be prompted through the process, click on the button at the top left corner of the Component Designer window. This will launch a window with all of the calc functions and SET commands. The following shot displays the function selection interface for SET commands.
For my purposes, I’m going to directly type my SET commands into the Component Designer. Once Follow
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complete, save and validate.
Think of script components as an easy way to reuse code…SET commands, standard cube aggregations and the like. Once we have saved the script component with our SET commands, it’s time to develop our rule. To begin, right click on “Rules” under the database node and select “New”. Give your rule a name and click on “OK”. This will launch you into the Rule Designer window.
In this example, I’ll create a rule that aggregates the cube, using a run time prompt for the Version dimension. Follow
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We can now begin to develop our rule. First, we’ll select the script component for our SET commands that we developed earlier. Simply drag this into the rule designer to the right of “Start”. The Rule Designer window now looks like this:
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Let’s take this opportunity to create our variable for the Version dimension run time prompt. Go to the “Tools” menu and select “Variables”. Once the Variable Navigator launches, expand the Planning, application, and database nodes. I’m going to create a run time prompt variable for the Version dimension. Right click on your rule name and select “New”. Once I populate the fields on the “Replacement” tab, my screen looks like this:
When complete, save the variable. Now, back to our rule… We’re going to specify members for our “Fix” statement. To do this, select “Member Range” in the New Objects portion of the Rule Palette.
To add to the rule, drag and drop to the right of the SET command script. My screen looks like this: Follow
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Next, we’ll populate the members for our Fix statement. I’ll start with Measures. For my rule, I want to select all of the level 0 measures. Once I click on the Value field for the Measures dimension, an Actions box appears.
I want to select a Function. This invokes the function selection window that we observed earlier. I Follow want to select @LEVMBRS from the list, which will then prompt for the dimension and level number.
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I select Measures from the drop down box and enter “0” for the level name. I’m going to repeat this process for all of my dense and non aggregating sparse dimensions, with the exception of the Version dimension. This will be handled via the run time prompt. For the Version dimension, select “Variable” in the Actions box. Change the Category selection to “Rule” and this is what we see.
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Highlight the variable and click OK. My member range box looks like this:
Now, we’ll develop the script component to aggregate the Product and Market dimensions. I’m going to drag a script from the “New Objects” portion of the Rule Palette into my member range. The graphical display looks like:
Again, I’m going to select a function (AGG in this case). I then select Products and Market from the dimension selector. Follow
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Now, save and validate. To deploy the rule to Planning, select Quick Deploy:
Once deployed, the rule can be run from Planning.
In this post, we’ve provided a walk through on developing a new rule using the graphical designer. More experienced developers can directly code the calc in script mode. To convert to script mode, select “Edit” and “Script” from the menu.
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In the next post, due by July 31, we’ll explore templates and ruleset creation. In the meantime, please leave a comment if you have any questions! Posted in HFM, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged calc manager, Calculation Manager, Essbase, HFM, Hyperion, hyperion experts, Oracle, Oracle Hyperion, Planning, Planning & Essbase | 1 Reply
ORACLE HYPERION CALC MANAGER – Part 1 Posted on June 11, 2010 by richardsonjeff With the continued investment in the Hyperion tool set by Oracle, there was a desire to centralize the development of calculations for HFM, Essbase, and Planning. As a result of this, Oracle Hyperion Calculation Manager was born. Calc Manager is a powerful tool for developing and administering rules for Planning and Essbase. An intuitive graphical interface is available to help in the development process, helping to expedite movement through the learning curve for people just beginning to dip their toes into the world of Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Essbase. Over the course of several posts this summer, I’ll explore Calc Manager functionality from the Essbase and Planning points of view. For EPMA-enabled Planning applications, use of Calc Manager is required. With version 11.1.1.3, Calc Manager can be used with Classic Planning apps as well. However, the focus of my blog posts will be EPMA-enabled apps, as Classic Planning rides off into the sunset. Calc Manager, a component of EPM Architect, is integrated into EPM Workspace, the standard entry point for many Hyperion applications. In order to access Calc Manager, log into Workspace, and select Nagivate->Administer->Calculation Manager (see screen shot below for navigation path). However, before we get too far into actually navigating the tool, we’ll need to get comfortable with the terminology within Calc Manager.
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There are three types of objects within Calc Manager: components, rules, and rulesets. Components are smaller pieces of a larger rule. Things like SET commands, FIX statements, formulas, etc. are examples of components. I’ll explore this in much greater detail in a future post, but think of a standard types of SET commands that you use in all of your scripts – this can be saved separately as a script component and pulled into a new rule very easily. Included below is a shot of the Component Designer with a sample of some standard set commands.
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Essentially, rules are the finished calc script, similar to Business Rules in the past. Rules are used for modeling/allocations/aggregations and the like. Rules can be built using system templates. Oracle has provided standardized templates for tasks such as clearing, copying, allocating, aggregating, and exporting data. Again, these templates will be explored in additional detail in a future post. Rulesets are similar to Business Rule Sequences under Hyperion Business Rules. Rulesets can be used to launch rules sequentially or simultaneously depending on your logic requirements. Now that we’ve covered the basic terminology related to Calc Manager, in my next post, which should be online by July 4, we’ll walk you through creating a rule for an EPMA enabled Planning app. In the meantime, if you have any questions, leave a comment! Posted in HFM, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged calc manager, EPMA, Essbase, HFM, Hyperion, Oracle, Planning | 1 Reply
Using Hyperion Essbase to Report Comparable Store Sales Posted on May 12, 2010 by bhennigan One of the commonly used measures in the retail industry is “comps” – comparisons of actual sales for this year versus last year. The goal of reporting comparable store is to provide information on what portion of a company’s sales comes from increasing sales growth in existing stores versus opening new stores. This metric is used to measure whether a company’s sales will continue to grow when store base reaches a saturation point, or the company slows expansion. What are the considerations in defining comp store calculation? Definition of comp store. In addition to having a store open for at least 1 year, it’s important to compare stores that have not changed significantly. In this case, we are using square footage in the store to identify significant changes to a store. In our example, if square footage changes by more than 25%, sales are no longer comparable to prior periods. Also, if the status of a store changes (i.e. opening, closing, moving, temporarily closing), comp store sales are not comparable with prior periods. Follow Definition of applicable time periods. In this case, we used month to date, quarter to date,
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and year to date. Each applicable time period is calculated monthly. The applicable time period amount is calculated only for stores open during the applicable period. For example, the June YTD amount for 2010 is only calculated for stores in existence from Jan 2009. Calculation of comp sales. Most clients prefer to remove the effects of currency translation on this calculation. In this case, only net sales are used for comp store analysis. Implementation The database outline for the comp sales database contains the following 10 dimensions: An individual store is uniquely identified as a member in the stores dimension. Comp store amounts are only calculated for the comp stores scenario. Actual data is loaded to the comp store scenario.
Below are sections of the accounts dimensions used for the comp store calculation. The comp store control stats are used to calculate the comp status counter, which is the first determinant of whether a store is a comp store.
The comp store metrics hierarchy stores the applicable comp store amounts in local currency and USD. Local currency comp store metrics show amounts for current year and prior year for MTD, QTD, and YTD. USD comp store metrics show amounts at a constant exchange rate. Follow
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Approach There are 2 different calculations for the comp store process: The calculation of the comp store sales counter determines whether a store qualifies for comp store status based on square footage and store status. The calculation of comp store metrics is dependent on the calculation of the comp store sales counter. The metrics calculation determines comp store amounts. The key processes for the comp store sales counter calculation are as follows: Calculate monthly square footage amounts. Set beginning balance equal to prior December. Accounts calculated are: square footage, store status, and comp store counter. Calculate monthly square footage change percent. Calculate ending store status and comp store status counter based on inputs for square footage and change type (open, close, move). The comp store status counter is used to identify qualification for comparable periods. The following is an example of how the comp store status counter logic would be applied to a store. Note that the store comp counter is incremented monthly once a store is open, but a change in square feet of the store resets the counter. This is to assure that sales from the 2000 square foot store are not compared with the 3000 square foot store.
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After calculating the store comp counter, the key processes for the comp store sales metrics are as follows: Copy actual (a rollup scenario including general ledger amounts and adjustments) to CompStoreAnalysis (another scenario). This allows reporting comp store results in a single scenario. Create blocks for every year based on prior year gross sales. Calculate net sales current year and net sales prior year in local currency for each appropriate time period, based on comp store status counter and the applicable comp time period (MTD, QTD, and YTD). To be included in QTD comps, a store must have a store status counter of 13 and have been in existence since the beginning of the current quarter last year. For YTD comps, the store must have been in existence since the beginning of last year. Calculate comp store sales in USD using the prior year rate. Aggregate comp store metric amounts in the comp store analysis scenario by stores, products, geographies, and legal organization. Note in the sample store shown above, comparable net sales on a MTD basis would be calculated for December 2008. Amounts would be calculated both in local currency and USD. The USD accounts are for current and prior year would use the same rate (last year’s). Posted in BI Reporting, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged comp sales, comp store, comparable store sales, comps, Essbase, Hyperion, Oracle, Oracle Hyperion, reporting | Leave a reply
Adding Drill Through to your Hyperion Implementation – Part 2 Posted on June 23, 2009 by jennyn15 So I have been told I blog with the frequency of a solar eclipse, and with respect to this two-part series, several interested parties via e-mal have indicated I have done the equivalent of a network TV season ending episode – “just wait the whole summer folks for the answer to these questions”. Thanks to all of you who “gently” pinged me to remind me to complete the blog. Follow
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Implementation: So for example, take the following view one might see at the bottom level (level zero, or base level members) of an Essbase cube:
Notice the accrual for Ranzal services that is visible, and multiple transactions are available at the weekly level. A further explosion into AP would reveal the identity of the vendors, and other relevant info looking something like this:
So as can be seen from the above example, relevant data from multiple tables is required from the drill through view. With the accruals that are made, there is relevant information in the journal descriptions; for the AP system there is vendor detail that is valid. The solution to this drill through is the creation of a view (called VendorFact in the above schematic) that is a union of the two data sources, filtering on data source. The query might look something like this: /**Begin pseudo-code***/ CREATE VIEW ‘VendorFact’ AS SELECT Company, Dept, FY, Per, Acct, JournalID, JournalDesc as Desc, PostingDate as MyDate, ‘00000’ as Vendor_ID, ‘00000 as Doc_Nbr, ‘0’ Line_Nbr, PostedBaseAmt as Amt From GLTRANS WHERE Source ‘AP’ UNION SELECT
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Company, Dept, Year(Trans_Date) as FY, Month(Trans_Date) as Per, Acct, ‘AP’ as Source, ‘NONE’ as JournalID, LineDesc as Desc, TransDate as MyDate, Vendor_ID, Doc_Nbr, Line_Nbr, Trans_Amt From AP /**End pseudo-code***/ The following view might result:
With the required view in place, a drill through query could then be created in Hyperion Web Analysis, using the relevant GL chart fields (Company, Department, Fiscal Year, Fiscal_Period, and Account) as filters in the selection query as follows: SELECT * from VendorFact Where Company = [CompanyToken] and Dept = [DeptToken] and Account = [AccountToken] and FY = [FYToken] and Per = [Month] Once this drill through query had been created, a drill-link could be added as a menu item on the Summary Expense analyzer view that was directly querying the Essbase database. When the user had drilled down to the bottom of the cube, the next action would open up the new Web Analysis report, pass the relevant parameters to the query, and display a relational grid like the one above. To give you a flavor of what this might look like, check out the example below from another type of application….. Step 1 – Create the Summary “Essbase” View, and establish Drill Links to target detail report The report is setup so that all dimensions except for currency must be selected at the lowest level. This is done as a sample and to put the constraint on the report so that it returns only expected rows. To drill through, first select data down to level 0 for all dimensions. Next double click the actual data cell you want to drill into. The drill through report will be initialized with the parameters passed. If dimensions are not at Follow
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lowest level, a “no data available” message will appear on the drill through. Drill Link Options Configuration This is the configuration to point the report to the Drill Through Report. It is accessed by opening the report and right clicking in a cell selecting “Drill” and “Drill Link Options…”
The drill link options page pops up. You specify the name of the report you want to open, and what to pass as the “WHERE” clause to the next report.
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Step 2 – Create the detailed Web Analysis view accessing the relational data The drill through report is accessed by the FinPlan report based on the dimensionally that is picked. There’s a 10,000 row limit on drill-throughs, as any set of detailed transactions that can be drilled to should never exceed even a few hundred records. If this setting was not enabled, opening the drill through report directly would fail as too many records would be loaded. SQL Query Configuration This screen is accessed by right clicking on the Drill Through Report Grid and selecting “Edit Query…” The JDBC-ODBC bridge driver is used to connect back to the hyperion data mart housing the drill through data. Drill through users will leverage a shared drill through connection..The row limit and fetch size are also configured here.
Click the “Query Builder” button in the screen above and another dialog box opens. This is where the drill through mappings are configured. Click Mappings and notice that all dimensions are configured to their drill through counterparts in the vw_GL_Transactions_DT view.
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When executing the drill through, an output like this can be generated.
As a final note, in constructing the view, particular care must be paid to the structure of the member names in the Essbase outline. For, example, core chart fields such as Departments and Accounts are often prefixed or suffixed to make them unique (e.g. instead of “000610” one might have “Dept_000610”). In constructing the drill through view, the member names must match those exactly as defined in Essbase, in order for the filtering aspects of the queries to execute properly. Other Drill Through Choices So one problem with Essbase is that it has multiple ways to do everything. For example, how many ways are there to load data? (Answer: For block storage cubes, flat file via rules file; sql interface with rules file; EIS data load via ODB connection; lock and send via Excel; lock and Follow
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send via smartview; planning web forms; FDM adapter; DIM adapter; ODI apdater; HAL adapter; I am sure I missed a few). There are 2 command line automation interfaces for goodness sake (MaxL and Esscmd). Transaction drill through is no different. Approach wise, the one consistent thought is this: never drill back to the live transaction tables. Ok, so never is a pretty strong word, but let’s just say as a general rule of thumb, doing so is not a good idea for the following reasons: • Your Essbase cube is a snapshot of data from a load. Querying a live database for open periods implies the sum of your details may not equal your account balances Performance – transaction databases are optimized for write based operations, and highly normalized. As we have defined in the above example, creating denormalized views for specific queries will make your DBAs and end users happier. Now, technology gets better (hardware and software), and with some of the new items coming from Oracle, out of the box, they are trying to get you to a place where EPM apps are more real time, so the rules above won’t always apply, but for now, it’s a good starting point. In general when deciding on drill through options, you want to ask the following questions: What products do I need to drill through from? o Web Analysis o Interactive Reporting o Financial Reports o Excel Add-In o Smart View o OBIEE What is the type of content I want to drill through two? o Transactions in a relational database o Some other content served up via a URL (for example, very clever way to serve up document images) What level of the source cube do I need to drill through from? o Either level zero, or the top of a dimension o Every level of a non-ragged hierarchy o Custom groups and ragged alternate rollups What release of the software are you using (Fusion vs. 9 vs 7.x) For example, if you want to enable drill through from every product, and need to support ragged or standard hierarchies, you are looking at an Essbase Integration Services or Essbase Studio solution. Ranzal has some creative techniques for enabling drill through via EIS on cubes not built with EIS (thanks to our handy outline extractor), which makes it useful for Planning, but once your concern over “newness” has abetted, Essbase Studio allows you to enable drill through the right way – build your cube first, then add the drill through later on. Not the other way around.
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On the other hand, if you are looking at something quick and dirty, a Web Analysis or IR view in the short term can get you where you need to be. Either way, Oracle, particularly with its continued emphasis on OBIEE/Essbase integration, is looking to provide more out of the box options to enable drill through. For example, if you haven’t seen it, check out the Ranzal webinar on Financial Data Management; the latest releases are geared to provide drill back from Planning to FDM, and then ultimately if you load from Oracle Financials, drill all the way back to the ERP. Closing This blog was meant to give you an idea of options and approaches for enabling drill through on your Hyperion application. While its great to have options, remember the golden rule – when you make your choice, know WHY you chose that path. Design is basically the optimization of an approach against one set of requirements over another. Until next time, good luck. Authored by: Mike Killeen – Ranzal and Associates
[email protected] For more than eleven years, Mike Killeen has scoped, designed, and implemented Planning & Essbase applications for Ranzal & Associates, an award winning, preferred consulting partner of Oracle Hyperion. Currently serving as practice director, Mike provides guidance to Hyperion product management, Ranzal customers, and internal consulting resources alike on best practices related to the implementation of Hyperion System 9. Mike is a certified Hyperion Professional, with certifications in Essbase, Planning, and HFM. He graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in engineering, and received his MBA from the University of Connecticut. Posted in Oracle Hyperion | Leave a reply
Business Intelligence Technology Environment – Welcome to the Buffet Posted on March 26, 2009 by gforkin Business Intelligence Technology Environment or BITE is my own little tag line and acronym (maybe Follow
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I should copyright it) to express the host of solutions available in the Business Intelligence application world today. (It could also be used as a verb to describe the plethora of poorly designed solutions… ahh but that is another story.) My current blog series will be Oracle EPM/BI+ solution centric while remaining Oracle EPM/BI+ application agnostic (now dictionary.com is paying off). I hope that you will enjoy this real life approach to the process of decision making on software solutions interspersed with some genuine tips and tricks of the trade — some that you have seen before and some you have never imagined. In other words, I hope that you will not find this blog to be represented by my newly coined acronym — BITE. Rules of conduct while at the Buffet First we need a definition. Yes a definition! Don’t be afraid, definitions are a good thing, they keep us grounded, they set limits and finally they determine if we are true to our mission. I define BITE as processes, software and goals needed to precisely solution the business data critical to the legal, accounting and business decision needs of a specific entity. Inventive techno junkies, single tool consultants and one track sales people – CLOSE YOUR EYES / SHEILD YOUR COMPUTERS for this next statement else you might go blind. “Precisely Solution” in the definition of BITE includes the moral imperative of not misusing software for intent other than its design and picking software that fits the current business life cycle of a company. (Those of you with Software Misuse problems, I will be posting a number you can call to get help. Remember the first step is admitting you have a problem.) The application stack for EPM / BI+; HFM, Essbase (with all its add-on modules), Smart View, OBIE, OBAW, FDM, DRM, ODI and a few products you might not have heard about or you’ve heard about but never assessed for your purposes. NO, NO, No, no folks this is not a software sales blog, it’s a solutions blog and in our solutions toolbox we need to do more than use a single hammer creatively to remain competitive from an efficiency and business life cycle standpoint. The Personalities in the Buffet Line Now that we have some parameters (and I know it was painful for you left brainers) by which we can solution, we need some realistic company situations to solution. Let’s start with four companies each different in their business life cycle, staff sizes and demands for a BITE at success. You can email me if you will absolutely die without a very specific company example however, I cannot boil the ocean here in this blog (small ponds are all that will be possible). Follow
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Our four companies need to be different to see solutions in the work. Let’s pick a manufacturer, a technology company, a retailer and a commodity group. In my next addition we will outline the companies, their mission, their needs and their resources. Posted in 1, BI Reporting, EPM, FDM, HFM, OBIEE, Oracle DRM, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged BI, EPM, Essbase, FDM, Fusion, HFM, OBIE, ODI, Oracle, Shared Services, System 11 | Leave a reply
Creating an OBIEE Repository for Relational Data Source Posted on March 11, 2009 by Michael Duong OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition) In this part of my OBIEE blog, I’ll guide you through basic steps to create an Oracle server repository and use it to bring over a relational data source for use in OBI Answers. As of OBIEE version 10.1.3.3.2, Essbase is supported as an OBI data source allowing the user to integrate Essbase data with OBI Answers, OBI Interactive Dashboards, and OBI Publisher. The latest version of OBIEE is 10.1.3.4x. Refer to my part 2 blog (OBIEE and Essbase – Defining OLAP Integration) for importing Essbase content into OBIEE. For the below steps, I will be using SQL Server 2005 relational database as my source but you can use Oracle 10g or older versions of either tool. To create an Oracle repository, open the Oracle BI Administration Tool and select File | New and name your new repository.
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Set security by selecting Manage | Security. Assuming you are the admin, select Users | Administrator. Right click Administrator, select Properties to enter an admin password and confirm the password. Close out Security Manager.
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To import a relational data source, select File | Import | from Database.
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Select a connection type.
Select the relational data source, enter login credentials and click OK.
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Enter the relational table to import. Deselect all but Tables, Keys, and Foreign Keys and click Import. If you are using Views instead of Tables, change accordingly.
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The relational table will import into the Physical layer of the Administration Tool.
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Test the import by right clicking a column (Branch_Name is selected in this example) and select View Data. Values for the selected column should populate in a view data table.
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Drag the imported relational table folder from the Physical layer to the Business Model and Mapping (BMM) layer. In the BMM layer, here you can create logical tables and joins to develop the type of model needed for presentation.
Next, drag the relational table from the BMM layer to the Presentation layer to finalize its presentation for the user. Manipulation by presentation can be performed in this layer for Subject Area use in OBI Answers.
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For your reference and as a recap from my part 2, here is the significance of each layer:
1. Physical layer – imported tables and views come from the relational data source; physical joins can be performed here 2. BMM layer – this layer organizes imports from the physical layer into logical categories 3. Presentation layer – BMM entities are organized for user presentation
Once your Presentation layer is complete, it can be made available for OBI Answers to create dashboard content bringing both relational and multidimensional data sources into one view. A sample of an Answers view is displayed below combining both relational and multidimensional data sources into a combo box allowing for choice among regions. Any selection of region updates both relational and multidimensional tables for view.
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This is just one simple example of the product’s capabilities. OBIEE is redefining how we approach BI with the evolution of this product improving on how we develop it. There is a great deal of flexibility within OBIEE for relational and multidimensional reporting and those who understand how to leverage this tool will see its impact upon their organization for the better. Posted in 1, BI Reporting, OBIEE, Oracle Hyperion, Planning & Essbase | Tagged OBI Answers, OBI Interactive Dashboards, OBI Publisher, Oracle 10g, Oracle BI Administration Tool, Oracle Follow
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Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle Repository, SQL Server | 2 Replies
Structuring Flexibility in Your EPM Project: A Guide for Maximizing Project Value Posted on March 2, 2009 by ajmason The goal of Enterprise Performance Management (“EPM”) software is to drive profitable growth by delivering predictable results, improving transparency and compliance, and increasing business alignment. However, the competitive environment is hardly predictable and business objectives change based on environmental feedback. As projects are typically linked to business objectives, functional requirements and needs may change even during the project implementation cycle. If business alignment is a primary objective, then the software must be adaptive enough to accommodate the changes in order to maximize value. Based on the results of a recent survey of IT Software Project Failures, the second highest ranked reason given for project cancellations was too many requirements and scope changes. Project management is often seen as the solution for achieving project success. The traditional approach is predominantly taught and utilized in most organizations. However, this approach has its limitations. The traditional project approach is best used when · The solution and requirements are clearly defined · You do not expect too many scope change requests · Prior EPM knowledge is available in-house · You can utilize existing templates. Given the unpredictability within the competitive environment, and the dynamic discovery and delivery processes inherent in an EPM project, a more flexible project approach that allows for changes in scope is required. This flexible approach works best when · The solution and requirements are only partially known · There may be functionality that is not yet identified
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· There may be a number of scope changes from the customer · The project is oriented to new product development and/or process improvement · The development schedule is tight and you can’t afford rework or re-planning. Although scope changes are necessary evils within an EPM project, too many scope changes without a surrounding process can lead a project to failure. From the view of a business stakeholder, implementing an EPM project is partly getting what you want and partly discovering what you really need. The more transparency obtained, the more likely business stakeholders will attempt to enable discoveries via new or modified requirements. Not having the appropriate boundaries or structure in place can easily lead to exceeded budgets, delayed timelines, and ultimately a solidly implemented solution with not enough business value. The key components required are adequate levels of flexibility and structure (otherwise known as structured flexibility). As the diagram represents, structured flexibility provides project stakeholders with a wide range of flexibility to aid the discovery and delivery processes. However, a boundary exists that allows the project to remain structured and meet the project time, budget, scope, and quality objectives. The points where structure meets flexibility should be determined jointly by the project stakeholders. Effective methods should be used to ensure adequate communication within and about the structure. The following seven (7) steps, when used appropriately, can serve as a guide for achieving the structured flexibility that can maximize project value: 1. Develop the initial ground rules for maintaining structure at the very start of the project; 2. Obtain buy-in for the ground rules from all project stakeholders and modify if necessary to create a common language; 3. Ensure all project members are aware that a structure exists and what the protocol for operating within that structure will be; 4. Allow project members to be flexible in their thinking and approach; 5. Document and prioritize changes and new ideas; 6. Focus on the highest value items first (needs not wants); and
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7. Enforce ground rules where and when flexibility meets structure. Although these steps may appear simple, high levels of project management and leadership skills are required to implement them. Having an objective project management partner helps. Posted in EPM, Oracle Hyperion, Project Management | Leave a reply
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