Chapter 6 [ 215 ] Another method is the reporting of your data using the MDX query language that has been included with Oracle Essbase since version 7.x. MDX queries can be written in a similar way to an SQL query and executed in batch or through the EAS MDX query editor screens. Export data What always happens when you have a good system with good data, which is in demand by other departments in your company? Why, it seems as though everybody has to get some of it loaded into their own system, that's what happens. If there is anything that could be remotely described as a drawback to an Essbase system, it would be the data exporting functionality. Where traditional RDBMS systems allow the selection of data for export to meet almost limitless criteria, the Essbase method is a bit less robust. First of all, instead of an interfacing system establishing a connection with your database and fetching data into something like a recordset or a cursor, with Essbase, you are limited to using an Essbase report script and extracting the required data into a at le. The at le can then be sent to the downstream system so they can load it into their tables as needed. Unfortunately, the selection arguments available when building an Essbase report script are somewhat limited. We'll get more into report scripts in a moment! Forecast analysts The forecast analyst is one person who takes full advantage of Essbase's unique data calculating abilities. For starters, a forecast analyst wants to see what the data looks like out into the future. When we say "future" we mean future periods based on what is most commonly tagged as the Time dimension in the database outline. The forecast analyst has data which, on a period to period basis, is dependent on the previous period's numbers. Consider that a Gross Stock number for the current month is the result of the prior month's Gross Stock number, plus the current month's production (units produced), less the current month's sales (units sold). If we would like to know the resulting Gross Stock numbers for the next six months, all we need to do is update the forecasted sales numbers and the forecasted production numbers in the database, run a small database calculation script, and we now have forecasted Gross Stock numbers. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Using your Essbase Cube [ 216 ] This type of data analysis can be performed over and over with the results repeatedly retrieved into the same Microsoft Excel worksheet until the forecast analyst is satised with the resulting data. In the preceding screenshot, notice how changing just one Sales value has affected all of the future Gross Stock values. All you had to do was send back the new value, calculate your data, and then retrieve into your worksheet. You literally get your results immediately. Just try that with a typical relational database. Better still, you could add a member formula to the Gross Stock member and tag it as a Dynamic Calc member. Then all you would need to do is send the data back and retrieve the new values. Planning analysts Planning analysts perform many of the same data analysis tasks as forecasting analysts, but there are some noticeable differences. Because of Essbase's dynamic data calculating abilities, Essbase is the perfect tool for planning analysts who not only need to look at forecasted data like a forecast analyst, but also need to look at several versions of forecasted data and the variances between them. With a Scenario dimension in your Essbase database outline, you can enter different forecast data for the same time periods at the same time. You can then calculate the data and almost immediately look at several different strategies for your business' planning activity. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 6 [ 217 ] How is that for results? As you can see in the previous gure, a planning analyst can easily see three or more different scenarios that represent the same market conditions, yet allow differing factors to display long term effects. Budget analysts Yes, most of these different analysts seem like they perform somewhat similar tasks. That is true for the most part and budget analysts are not very different from the others, at least in terms of procedure. An Essbase database is ideal for a budget analyst, as it is for most any type of data analyst. Essbase's ability to dynamically calculate large amounts of data is a key factor in the successful budget analyst's job to provide the company's decision makers with powerful, accurate data. It is this data that helps them make intelligent business decisions. The primary job of the budget analyst is to combine the data created by the planning and forecast analysts with actual historical data to establish baseline data. This baseline data will be used to gauge the company's performance going forward against the actual data as it occurs and the forecasted data as planned. Good, accurate data can have an effect on the very course a company travels. By using the wide assortment of analytical calculation commands in conjunction with the unparalleled exibility of the Essbase database outline, a good budget analyst can create reports that show: • How the company actually performed compared to the long range budget forecast • How the company continues to perform compared to the monthly revised forecast and the long term budget forecast • How the company needs to perform to meet its goals and objectives Hey, they don't call it business intelligence for nothing! This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Using your Essbase Cube [ 218 ] Financial analysts Okay, these are the guys you need to watch out for. What the nancial analyst does is take in everything all of the other analysts do and crunch it into money numbers. It seems as though a nancial analyst in a company typically carries a lot of weight. Well, lucky for you and for your programming in Essbase. Once again, Essbase comes through for you and your customer. Essbase provides a full complement of nancial calculation functions which will satisfy the most discriminating number cruncher. From such computations as compound interest, discounts, and growth, you can be sure that the nancial picture of your company is in good hands. The real target users of your Essbase data As an IT person you may ask, "Why do I need to know who the Essbase data user is?" Well, because of the usefulness and versatility of your Essbase data to the decision makers in the company, the real end-user of your Essbase data is usually an executive or some other big shot. In fact, you may not even know it, but the data in a typical Essbase database system usually shows up in reports that are used at the highest levels of the company. Your job is to make these people happy. Thankfully, Essbase makes your job easy in so many ways. Ways to extract your Essbase data There are many different ways to extract data from an Essbase database. We have described several of them at different times in this book, depending on the topic being covered. For the sake of organization, we will list the various methods of extracting data from your Essbase database here: • Essbase Add-in for Microsoft Excel: It seems like we can't say enough about this particular tool. Designed to work seamlessly with the world's most popular spreadsheet program, the Essbase add-in is the tool of choice of data analysts everywhere. Yes, you can pull data out of your Essbase database with the add-in and load up an Excel worksheet. Even though Microsoft Excel has a limit of 65,536 rows through the 2003 version and many more rows available in Microsoft Excel 2007, it seems that Essbase can have a hard time handling spreadsheets that contain more than 1,000 rows. Performance rapidly degrades and you can even experience timeouts. We highly recommend that you pay attention to this and at the rst signs of trouble with large spreadsheets, you split them into smaller subset spreadsheets. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 6 [ 219 ] • Oracle Smart View: This tool is separate from the Essbase add-in and in fact, must be purchased as a separate component to be used with the Essbase suite of applications. As will be discussed at great length in the Appendix, Smart View is a dynamic data retrieval tool that allows the user to pull data directly from an Essbase database into any of the Microsoft Ofce components. This allows for the creation of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that never need data updating as fresh data can be retrieved in real time into the slides. The same holds true for Microsoft Outlook emails and Microsoft Word documents. Oh yes, and it also works with Microsoft Excel. • Essbase Query Designer: This tool is a part of the Essbase add-in and is a menu pick from the Essbase menu in Microsoft Excel. The Essbase Query Designer tool allows you to create simple to complex Essbase queries. This is accomplished through the use of an easy to use visual query wizard. The saved query can be opened and retrieved in Microsoft Excel to return your data. • Essbase Report Script: The Essbase report script will be discussed in great detail in the next section. An Essbase report script can be created from scratch as an ASCII text le or conveniently, a report script can be created by Essbase, as a by-product of the Query Designer function. Essbase report scripts can be executed within a Microsoft Excel worksheet, Essbase command script or MaxL script, or from an Essbase API call. • Essbase MDX Query Language: Essbase MDX can be easily described as a structured query language for multidimensional databases. MDX queries for the most part use simple and easy to understand statements to extract data from your Essbase database. MDX queries can be executed in much the same manner as Essbase report scripts or MaxL scripts. All of the above mentioned methods are used to report or extract the data that is in your Essbase database or cube. Some of the above mentioned tools go beyond the scope of the Microsoft Excel add-in and can be used by the other Microsoft Ofce products as well like Oracle Smart View. The Essbase add-in is the most complete tool in terms of functionality and ease of use. Included with the Essbase Add-in for Microsoft Excel is the Essbase Query Designer (EQD), which allows you to visually design custom reports from Essbase. The downside to the EQD is that the reports are only usable in Microsoft Excel. The Essbase report script can be used to run reports from a batch program and automatically send a morning report to key persons. While the formatting can be orderly, the report is still an ASCII based report without the pretty colors or graphs. And then there's MDX, which is a nice option, but the scripts do tend to require a bit of maintenance. However, the resultant output is in a very usable format. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com . Paul Corcorran on 5th July 20 09 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 794 23 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 6 [ 2 19 ] • Oracle Smart View: This tool is separate from the Essbase add-in and in fact, must. works with Microsoft Excel. • Essbase Query Designer: This tool is a part of the Essbase add-in and is a menu pick from the Essbase menu in Microsoft Excel. The Essbase Query Designer tool allows. by Essbase, as a by-product of the Query Designer function. Essbase report scripts can be executed within a Microsoft Excel worksheet, Essbase command script or MaxL script, or from an Essbase