Getting the most out of the Microsoft Excel Add-in [ 250 ] Also, if you perform a retrieve on an empty worksheet, Essbase will do a generic retrieve that brings in all of the high level database dimensions and drops them on the Microsoft Excel worksheet (as shown in the following screenshot). You can now take this generic retrieve and by performing various Essbase spreadsheet functions, like the Zoom In or the Pivot, you will have yourself a ne looking report in no time. Quite possibly the Retrieve add-in function will be the Essbase function you use most often. When you click Essbase | Retrieve, Essbase will populate the active Microsoft Excel worksheet with data, fresh from the database. Many times there will be data loads or database calculations occurring throughout the day and you will always want to make sure you are looking at the latest and greatest version of the data. A simple Essbase | Retrieve takes care of it for you. Setting the add-in spreadsheet options Here is a vital piece of the Essbase add-in. Setting the Essbase add-in options correctly can dramatically affect how you and the add-in perform. The options screen contains four tabs containing user settable options that affect the add-in's behavior at the individual worksheet level and also global options, which affect the add-in's behavior at the Microsoft Excel level. Access these screens by clicking Essbase | Options…. 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 7 [ 251 ] As shown in the previous screenshot, the Essbase Options screen on the Display tab contains settings that affect how Essbase will display your data. The settings on this tab are sheet level settings and only affect the Microsoft Excel worksheet that was active when the options screen was opened and the settings applied. You can select a different sheet in the workbook and set different options for it. Display tab The rst group of available options is the Indentation setting. The Indentation setting is a row heading setting and only affects how the row members' names are justied in their rows. The available settings are explained here: • None: All data retrieved will maintain the same column justication • Subitems: The children members of a parent would indent on the report • Totals: Parent members would be indented Only one of these options can be selected at a time. The next option group is the Suppress options. Here you can tell Essbase what values or lack of values you wish to prevent from showing up on the report: • #Missing Rows: These are Essbase NULL values • Zero Rows: This means the entire row of data has zero values • Underscore Characters: This could be rows that contain invalid data values 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 Getting the most out of the Microsoft Excel Add-in [ 252 ] You can choose one, all, or none of the Suppress options. Next up are the Cells options. Here you have four choices that you can choose between: 1. Use Styles: This option will use any styles that have been dened for this member in Essbase 2. Adjust Columns: This option when checked, will automatically adjust the Microsoft Excel columns to t the member names being retrieved 3. Auto Sort Row: This option tells Essbase to sort the member data according to the structure of the database outline and is only available if you have the Free Form setting checked 4. Repeat Member Labels: This setting will populate every row of the retrieved data with the member name or label In the Replacement section of the Essbase Options screen, you have two choices: 1. #Missing Label: This allows you to tell Essbase what value to substitute for null values that are returned in your report 2. #No Access Label: This allows you to substitute a value in cells that you do not have the proper access to view In the Aliases section, you have the choices of: 1. Use Aliases: This option will return the data using the member names stored in an alias table. If you select this option, the Alias table combo-box is available for you to choose the alias table from. 2. Use Both Member Names and Aliases for Row Dimensions: This setting will ll two columns as row headers with both the member names and the names stored in the selected alias table. The Query Designer option will only affect you if you are using EQD. If checked, it will apply the sheet options to the resultant report created from an Essbase query. Lastly, the Dynamic Time Series option, when checked, allows you to choose the last date from the time dimension to be used in dynamic time calculations. As you can see in the next screenshot, we have indented the sub or children items by checking the Indent SubItems selection, the columns are automatically adjusted to t the column names by checking the Adjust Columns checkbox, and the #Missing and Zero values have been suppressed because only the calendar periods with data have been displayed. You can tell this because the value for Quarter 1 is the same as the value to 2009. If there were values for the subsequent calendar periods, the total for 2009 would be different than the Quarter 1 2009 value. 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 7 [ 253 ] Zoom tab The functions found on this tab are page or sheet level options that aid the user in quickly drilling up or down to desired levels of data. The rst section on the Zoom tab allows you to control how the add-in reacts when you use the Zoom In function. You may be wondering what zoom in and zoom out means? As you all know, on a camera there is a function that allows you to zoom in on your subject. What does it do? It will give you a closer look at the object for which you are trying to take a picture. In a similar way, when we use the Zoom In function in Essbase, its gives you a closer look at the data by drilling down either one level down or several levels down. There is an entire range of choices but you are allowed only one at a time. 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 Getting the most out of the Microsoft Excel Add-in [ 254 ] Your Zoom In choices are explained as follows: • Next Level: The zoom will go to the next level down from the selected member from which you zoomed. • All Levels: The zoom will go all the way down to the bottom of the dimension and include all of the levels in-between. • Bottom Level: This option will skip all intermediate levels and return only the lowest level from the dimension that was zoomed on. The rest of the choices are self-explanatory here and perform similarly. The Member Retention section gives you options that tell Essbase what to do with the member(s) that you selected for your zoom: • Include Selection: This will zoom from the selected member to the level determined by the previous set of options and also include the selected member. • Within Selected Group: When checked, the add-in will keep all members if they are from the same logical group as the selected zoom member. • Remove Unselected Groups: This will not return the members that are not in a selected group. Be careful with this one because you can lose members from your report and may need to start over. The Hybrid Analysis option allows you to look at lower levels of data that is available in the back-end relational database and not in your Essbase database. The outline members are tagged as Enable Hybrid Analysis. In order to know which members are hybrid analysis enabled you need to check the option Enable Hybrid Analysis. Unless you are intimately familiar with your outline, this is probably best left unchecked. In the Sampling section, you can type an integer from 1 to 100 which will tell Essbase what percentage of the retrievable data to use when returning zoom data. Unless your zooms are causing you memory or performance issues you can leave this at 100. Mode tab The Mode tab allows the user to select the mode that Essbase will use to deliver the data to the Microsoft Excel worksheet. There is also an option on this tab that allows the user to control the read access mode that Essbase will use against the data while a user is connected to a database and is actively retrieving data. 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 . version of the data. A simple Essbase | Retrieve takes care of it for you. Setting the add-in spreadsheet options Here is a vital piece of the Essbase add-in. Setting the Essbase add-in options correctly. these screens by clicking Essbase | Options…. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 20 09 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 794 23 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter. 1 is the same as the value to 20 09. If there were values for the subsequent calendar periods, the total for 20 09 would be different than the Quarter 1 20 09 value. This material is copyright