ESSBASE NOTES

Multidimensional Analysis

Information is one of the most important assets of a business. Information analysis provides insight to the past, present, and future of your business; an Understanding of past performance helps you address current concerns, which in turn helps you plan for future growth. To gain business intelligence, you must analyse data from Many perspectives. For example, it is not enough to know the sales totals for a month, you must know which customers bought the most and which products sold the least.

Production Environment Components

The Essbase Analytics production environment is comprised of three principal database objects for creating and managing your databases. Analytic Services also provides two interfaces for viewing and analysing data in Excel. Alternatively, for an approach that is more integrated with your source data, use Analytic Integration Services to create outlines and load data, and to support transactional-level detail in your reporting and analysis

Database objects
Outline (.OTL) Rules files (.RUL) Calculation scripts (.CSC)

Data analysis interfaces

Smart View for Office Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in

Analytic Integration Services

Outlines
The database outline plays the key role in the life cycle of Analytic Services database design. Database development begins with creating a database outline. The outline defines the database dimension hierarchy that describes the structural Relationships between members within dimensions. The tree structure of the outline Enables you to define consolidations between members. For example, a dimension Represents the highest consolidation level in the database outline. To create and modify the database outline, you use Outline Editor in Administration Services Console.

Rules Files

Loading data with rules files enables you to deal with unstructured data sources. You can load data manually or use MaxL to load data in a batch production environment. There are no fundamental restrictions on the size of data source files or on the number of records that can be loaded using rules files

Smart View for Office

Smart View for Office is a Web-deployed, thin-client software program that is embedded in a client spreadsheet application. Smart View for Office and Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in provide similar Excel functionality for Analytic Services: retrieving and analysing data and creating ad hoc reports.

Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in

Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in is a software program that merges seamlessly with Excel. It enables you to use your spreadsheet application to interface with multiple instances of Analytic Server. With Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in loaded, you can retrieve data, create reports, and analyse data. A centralized OLAP metadata repository simplifies application administration; promotes reusability of dimensions, calculations, and business rules; and facilitates delivery of business-focused applications.

Designing Applications and Databases

Describe the block storage database design process Analyse and plan an implementation Create block storage applications and databases Create block storage outlines Modify member properties

Designing Block Storage Outlines

Outline design is a synthesis of all previously gathered research. In the outline design step, you make the final decisions about the number of dimensions, the depth and nature of outline hierarchies, and the database calculation requirements. The design team documents the preliminary outline design on paper, clearly defining the following information: Number of dimensions Structure of hierarchies Database time span Functional scenarios to be stored Data storage settings Mathematical requirements for measures data

When you create an application, you need to make the following design decisions: Create a block storage or aggregate storage application Create a Unicode-mode or non-Unicode-mode application Block storage or aggregate storage: If you own both the Essbase Analytics and Enterprise Analytics modules, you need to decide which one to use when you create an application. In general, you choose Essbase Analytics (block storage applications) when creating models for financial data and Enterprise Analytics (aggregate storage applications) when creating models for operational data.

Databases An Essbase Analytics database is a data repository that contains a multidimensional Data storage array.

Creating Block Storage Applications

Before you create a block storage database, you need to create a block storage Application that contains the database and other objects.

Creating Block Storage Databases

You must create an application before creating databases

Server File Structure

When you create a block storage application, Analytic Services creates a subdirectory for the application on the Analytic Server computer in the $ARBORPATH\app directory. The new subdirectory has the name of the application; For example, C:\Hyperion\essbase\app\Bigcorp. When you create a block storage database, Analytic Services creates a subdirectory for the database within the application directory. The new subdirectory has the name of the database; For example, C:\Hyperion\AnalyticServices\app\Bigcorp\Sales.

Design Recommendations
Although block storage applications accept multiple databases per application, it is Recommended best practice to create only one database for each application for the Following reasons: During processes, Analytic Services logs messages only at the application level. There are no database-level process logs. If multiple databases exist in one Application, Analytic Services logs all process messages for all databases to one log File. Multiple database logging makes it difficult to effectively interpret the log. If the administrator terminates an application process or if an application process Becomes unavailable, all databases of the unavailable application are inaccessible to users until the application process is restored.

Creating Outline Structures

Every dimension in an outline contains a hierarchy of members, with the dimension Name at the top of the hierarchy

Creating Dimensions and Members

Because implementations differ, a new database outline contains no dimensions or Members. Because you decide the number and names of database dimensions during the analysis and planning phase of your implementation, the first step in creating an outline is usually to add all dimension names to the outline.

Modifying Member Properties

As you create your outline, you can assign properties to members and dimensions: Data storage options: These options control whether data is stored for the member And what data is indexed or calculated if data is not stored. The default setting is Store Data. Consolidation options: These options control hierarchy calculations. The default Setting is (+) Addition. Aliases: These are alternate names for the member. Attributes: Both the Attributes and Associations tabs are for assigning members of an attribute dimension to members of an associated base dimension. Attribute dimensions are discussed in detail later in this manual. User-defined attributes (UDAs): These are text tags used for grouping members for calculation, security, or reporting purposes. Member formulas: These are used to define special calculation requirements

Data Descriptor Dimensions Overview

Despite the fact that each storage database implementation is inherently unique, due to the unique requirements of each implementation, there are ways of measuring data that are common to nearly all multidimensional data models. These common structures are called data descriptor dimensions

Designing Time Dimensions

With few exceptions, block storage databases contain time frames for analyzing data. Variations on time dimensions from one implementation to another are largely due to Differing answers to two design decisions: How granular is the time dimension? How many years of data are represented? The two most common design approaches are as follows: Generic time design (multidimensional) Fiscal year crossover design (single dimensional)

Designing Scenario Dimensions

Although scenario dimensions usually have few members and a minimal hierarchy, their impact on design and calculation issues is substantial. You typically compare and compute the most important variances between data sets in the scenario dimension. With multiple data sets incorporated into one dimension, analysis of differences between sets becomes extremely fast and efficient.

Actual: Monthly downloads from the general ledger of actual financial results Budget: Data for setting standards derived from the annual planning process Forecast: Estimates of financial performance updated monthly or quarterly Plan: Long-range estimates of financial performance What if: Estimates for target setting and complex modelling

Outline Calculations
Because the primary purpose of a scenario dimension is to store distinct data sets for variance analysis, setting up variance calculations is an integral step in creating a Scenario dimension. However, before you create variances, to facilitate calculations, you must be familiar with the tools available in a block storage outline. You can build calculations into your outline in two ways, using either a hierarchy Structure with the appropriate member consolidation operators or individual member Formulas. You maintain both options through the Member Properties dialog box.

Designing Accounts Dimensions

The accounts dimension (often called the measures dimension) is generally the most Complex dimension. Your business model resides in the accounts dimension, and the most complicated and potentially time-consuming calculations occur there.

Creating Accounts Hierarchies

A typical challenge when creating your accounts dimension is converting a report in Spreadsheet format into a meaningful outline structure

Creating Member Aliases

An alias is an alternate name for a member or shared member. For example, the Member Jan on this slide is identified by the short name Jan and the more descriptive alias January. Aliases are commonly used for the following reasons: To improve the readability of an outline or a report by providing descriptive names To accommodate multi-lingual databases by representing members in other Languages To facilitate name mapping during data load when data source names do not match Analytic Services member names (Data can be loaded to member names or aliases.)

Dimension Types
Analytic Services provides dimension types to enhance your outline. When you tag a

Dimension as a specific type, the dimension can access built-in functionality designed for that type. For example, if you define a dimension as accounts, you can specify accounting measures for members in the dimension. Analytic Services calculates the two primary dimension types, time and accounts, before other dimensions in the database. By default, all dimensions are tagged as None

Creating Period-to-Date Totals

Period-to-date reporting requirements are a staple of many databases. There are two methods to accomplish period-to-date analysis in block storage databases: creating calculated members or enabling Dynamic Time Series members.

Implementing Dynamic Time Series

The second method, enabling built-in Dynamic Time Series members, requires that you use the Time dimension tag to identify your time dimension. Consider the following design implications when using the Time dimension tag: You can use the Time dimension tag on only one dimension of an outline. All members in the dimension tagged as Time inherit the time property. You can add time-related members to dimensions that are not tagged as Time (as with the Years dimension in the generic time design). You can create an outline that does not have a dimension tagged as Time. Because Dynamic Time Series members are not stored, they have no impact on database size or calculation times. However, they do have the following implications: You cannot load data to Dynamic Time Series members. Users cannot drill down on Dynamic Time Series members. Some calculations return incorrect results when calculated dynamically in Dynamic Time Series members.

Dynamic Calc Members

Dynamic calculation storage options provide flexibility about how and under what circumstances calculations are performed and data is stored. The immediate benefit of dynamic calculation is reduction of batch calculation time and reduction of hard drive storage requirements.