1. Administration Services
Essbase Architecture
Client Tier
Middle Tier
Database Tier
Spreadsheet Add-in
MaxL and MDX
C API, VB API, and Java API applications
TCP/IP
Essbase Server
HTTP
TCP/IP
Smart View
Visual Explorer
Provider Services
Administration
Services Console
HTTP
Essbase Database
Administration Services
Integration
Services Console
TCP/IP
ODBC
Integration Services
RDBMS
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2. Essbase Components Base Components: Additional Components: Essbase
Block Storage
Aggregate Storage
Administration Services
Spreadsheet Add-in
Smart View for Office
MaxL DDL
MDX
ESSCMD
C API, VB API, and Java API
Additional Components:
Integration Services
Essbase Studio
Provider Services
Most traditional database products are application-specific, and the proliferation of application-specific packages results in multiple support for training and development.
With the Essbase products as an application development environment, you can use the same tool to build multiple databases and only need to support one environment for development, deployment, and training.
Essbase products provide the analytic solution that integrates data from multiple sources and meets the needs of users across an enterprise.
Base Components
Base components of the System 9 platform include the following:
Essbase Server: This server acts as a shared resource, handling all data storage, caching, calculations, and data security.
Administration Server: This server provides access to Essbase through the Administration Console
Administration Console: This front-end client software provides wizards, editors, dynamic menus, and other tools to help you implement, monitor, and maintain Essbase applications and databases.
Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in: This software program merges seamlessly with Microsoft Excel. Using Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in, you can access the Essbase Server and perform ad hoc reporting on Essbase databases.
Smart View for Office: This software program provides a single Microsoft Office interface for the entire System 9 Business Intelligence Platform and Hyperion Business Performance Management applications, including Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning. Using Smart View for Office, you can perform many of the same functions as with the Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in, with the added capability of integrating live Hyperion data into any Microsoft Office program.
ESSCMD: This command-line language performs server operations interactively or through batch or script files. ESSCMD is a legacy language and will not be enhanced for new features in future releases.
MaxL DDL: This is one of the two functional domains of the multidimensional database access language for Essbase. It is a practical, expressive interface for administering the Essbase system. With the MaxL DDL language, you use statements to make requests; MaxL DDL statements usually begin with a verb, and read like English sentences. MaxL DDL improves on ESSCMD in that it can interact with the operating system by issuing shell commands, and it can be embedded in Perl programs by implementing the Perl module.
MDX: This multidimensional query language is the second of MaxL’s two functional domains. MDX provides the ability to perform advanced data extraction and querying by means of statements that typically include the verb SELECT.
Additional Components
Additional components of the System 9 Platform include:
Essbase Integration Services: This suite of tools and services provides data integration between Essbase databases and detailed data stored in relational databases.
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3. Aggregate Storage and Block Storage
Large number of base dimensions 
Extremely small batch window, or many applications to compute
Combinations of large dimensions
Calculation script based applications
Write back required
Perform interactive planning, allocations, sophisticated analytics
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4. Administration Services Console
Database and system administrator interface
Navigation panel
Object window
The Administration Console is the common administration interface for most of the System 9 servers. Database and system administrators use it to manage users and user security, server options, Essbase applications and databases, and database objects. The interface relies on context-sensitive right-click shortcut menus to perform most actions, and is organized into three frames: the navigation panel, object window, and message panel.
Navigation Panel
When you start the Administration Console, the default navigation tab, Enterprise View, is displayed. Enterprise View is a graphical view of the System 9 environment. Essbase applications and databases, and their associated objects, are represented as nodes beneath the Essbase Analytic Server node. You can expand a node on the Enterprise View hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) next to an object. If you double-click an individual object, it is opened in the object window.
In addition to Enterprise View, you can create custom views for specific servers, applications, or databases in order to reduce the number of mouse clicks it takes to navigate to an object in Enterprise View.
Object Window
This workspace is where objects are displayed after you open them. The Administration Console is a multi-window environment, so every object you open in succession stays open in the object window until you close it. You can tile objects inside the object window, or switch between them using the Window menu options. If an object has a toolbar, it docks itself at the top of the window, next to the main toolbar. The one exception to this rule is outline objects; their toolbars dock themselves inside the outline object. The main toolbar reflects the object toolbar for whichever object you have currently selected.
Message Panel
The message panel reflects system information. When checking formula syntax in an outline object, the message panel is where syntax errors are displayed.
Note: To disable the navigation panel or the message panel, use the View menu.
Message panel
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5. Essbase Production Cycle
Build Outline
Designing an Essbase database is a cyclic process that typically moves from a planning stage to verification stage. The process includes the following basic steps:
Build MDB: In this step you determine the information needs that the database must satisfy. You identify source data, user information, and access needs. As a result of this step, you design the database outline that determines the structure of the database.
Load Data: After an outline and security plan are in place, you load the database with test data to enable the later steps of the process.
Calculate: In this step, you test the consolidations in the outline and write and test formulas and calculation scripts for specialized calculations.
Report and verify: Users access data through reports and spreadsheets. In this step, you design the report layouts and run the reports. You also verify with users whether the database satisfy the analytic goals. If the initial database design requires fine tuning, you repeat the cycle.
Report
and
Verify
Load Data
Calculate/ Aggregate
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6. Database Outline Tree structure for dimension hierarchies
Consolidations and mathematical relationships between members
Outline Editor
The database outline plays the key role in the life cycle of the Essbase 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 the 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 the Outline Editor in the Administration Services Console.
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7. Data Load—Data Load Rules Files
Can be done through data load rules files that:
Map data sources to Essbase outline members
Are built in Data Prep Editor
Structured Data Loading with Rules
Loading data with load rules enables you to deal with unstructured data sources. You can load data manually or in a batch production environment using ESSCMD. There are no fundamental restrictions on the size of data source files or number of records that can be loaded using load rules.
Data Load Rules
If the data source does not map perfectly to the database, you must format your data source by using data load rules so that the data maps to the database you are loading it into. For example, you may want to change the data to:
Ignore certain fields or records in the data source
Manage header information, such as ignoring extraneous headers or setting up special purpose headers for label identification
Change the order of fields by moving, joining, splitting, or creating fields
Resolve member uniqueness by replacing member names with valid values
Scale data values
Overwrite existing loaded or calculated values and aggregate values
Update unrecognized new members without creating error conditions
Set header records for missing data values
Reject invalid records and continue the data load
Data load rules are a set of operations that Essbase performs on data when it loads the associated data source into the database. Data load rules are stored in rules files. The data in the data source is loaded into the database without changing the data source. You can reuse a rules file with any data source that requires the same set of data loading rules.
Map the header to Units
in the Accounts dimension.
Map fields to Scenario, Customer, and Product dimensions.
Remove CustID- from the
Customer name.
Ignore field
during data load.
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8. Data Load—Integration Services
A metadata-driven environment to bridge the gap between data stored in Essbase databases and transactional data stored in relational databases
Basic product component that enables
Hybrid Analysis
Drill-through reporting
Essbase Integration Services is a suite of graphical tools and scalable data integration services that reduces the time and expense required to create, deploy, and manage tailored applications. Essbase Integration Services provides a link between tailored-made applications built on the Hyperion BI platform and detailed data stored in relational databases.
Essbase Integration Services include:
Hybrid Analysis that integrates a relational database with an Essbase multidimensional database so that applications and reporting tools can directly access data within both databases. This merges the analytic power of multidimensional databases with the scalability of relational databases.
Drill-through reporting that enables you to drill through from the Essbase database back to the original relational data source. This lets you access and view the data of the relational database in context of the data in the Essbase multidimensional database.
SAP
Oracle
Legacy
Data Warehouse
Essbase Database
Integration Services
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9. Data Load—Essbase Studio
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10. Calculations
Block storage and aggregate storage databases are calculated differently.
Block storage databases—calculation scripts
Aggregate storage databases—aggregations
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11. Calculation Scripts In block storage databases:
Calculate all or a portion of the database
Control the order in which dimensions are calculated
Perform complex calculations
Level 0 Data
Calculated Database
Calculation Script
A calculation script contains a series of calculation commands, equations, and
formulas. You can use a calculation script to define calculations other than the
calculations defined by the database outline.
You can use a calculation script to specify exactly how you want Essbase to calculate a database. For example, you can calculate part of a database or copy data values between members or define calculations other than the calculations defined by the database outline.
You can design and run custom database calculations quickly by separating calculation logic from the database outline.
The following calculation script calculates just the Actual values in the database:
FIX (Actual)
CALC DIM(Year, Measures, Market, Product);
ENDFIX
The following calc script is an example of a “What If” script:
SET UPDATECALC OFF;
FIX (Forecast)
COGS=Sales*.25;
CALC ALL;
This script will show the impact on all affected accounts of a forecasted Cost of Goods Sold equal to 25% of Sales.
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12. Aggregations In aggregate storage databases:
Data consolidation and calculation are performed upon retrieval.
Retrieval performance can be improved by aggregating and storing selected level 0 data.
Once data is loaded into the aggregate storage database, the database is ready to be queried. No separate steps are required. Values are calculated through the outline structure, including consolidation operators, and MDX formulas. A consolidation of Level-0 values comprise the calculated values obtained at retrieval. Outline members in the Accounts dimension with MDX formulas are calculated upon retrieval as well. Values calculated for retrievals are not stored by default.
The aggregation order for aggregate storage databases is as follows:
Members on all Non-accounts dimensions.
Accounts dimension members and formulas
The order of the dimensions and members in Non-accounts dimensions is irrelevant because they are aggregated based upon internal optimization. This changes based on the nature of the outline.
Retrieval performance can be improved through an optional Essbase process to aggregate values and store them ahead of time, while balancing time and storage resources. If all values were to be aggregated and stored, the process would be extensive and would absorb much disk space, defeating the benefits of aggregate storage.
To improve retrieval performance, Essbase can aggregate values and store them ahead of time. However, aggregating and storing all values can be a lengthy process that requires disk space for storage. Essbase provides an intelligent aggregation process that balances time and storage resources.
Note: If a database needs calculation scripts for special calculations and data dependencies, make it a block storage database.
Aggregated data
Report
Level 0 data
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13. Reports Spreadsheet Add-in Smart View Excel with Spreadsheet Add-in
Essbase Server
Essbase Database
TCP/IP
Essbase Provider
Java API
Infrastructure
Single Database or
Database Cluster
Excel, Word, and PowerPoint with Smart View
HTTP(S)
TCP/IP
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14. Quiz Select the database storage structures that Oracle’s Essbase
supports.
OLAP storage
Block storage
Dynamic calc storage
Aggregate storage
Answers: 2, 4
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15. Quiz
Administration Services Console is a middle-tier services provider first offered with Release 9.3.
True
False
Answers: 2
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16. Quiz Select the stages in the Essbase production cycle.
Build the outline
Load data
Calculate/aggregate data
Report and verify results
Answers: 1, 2, 3, 4
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17. Quiz
A calculation script specifies how you want Essbase to calculate a database.
True
False
Answers: 1
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18. Summary In this lesson, you should have learned to:
Describe Essbase architecture and Essbase components
Discuss appropriate application areas for aggregate storage and block storage
Explain how to administer Essbase through Administration Services Console
Identify the stages in the Essbase production cycle
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