Chapter 11 [ 385 ] The storing of complex business rules to facilitate proper analysis of the data is a huge benet of Oracle Planning and is accomplished within the module by utilizing a small space on a relational database such as an Oracle or SQL server database. With the aid of pre-packaged process modules, Essbase Planning can also greatly shorten the length of time typically required for budget and forecast cycles, thus lowering the total cost of ownership for this product. Essbase analytics It's funny, but the word analytics is being tossed about rather often these days. Pretty much anything you do with OLAP or multidimensional database tools, can be termed analytics. In Essbase however, Essbase analytics, to some, usually refers to Essbase's other database engine, the ASO database engine. The reason given for this is that the typical Essbase ASO database is primarily used for presentation, analysis, and reporting which are all analytic functions. The Essbase BSO database, while analytic itself, can also be considered transactional as well. The Essbase analytics nickname dates back to the advent of the ASO database architecture when all you had was the BSO architecture. The new ASO architecture was the analytic tool. Yes, it's funny how Essbase is an analytical package and inside that package is an analytic piece but that's just how it is. Try not to get hung up on the terminology here though. When considering your options, you need to look at all of the same things you have always looked at. How large will the system be? What are the business customer's requirements? What type of system am I building here? When you answer these questions, it will matter less what you call what you are doing than choosing the right tools. Hyperion Application Link/Oracle Application Link The name pretty much says it all. Hyperion Application Link is a suite of ETL tools that allows the user or programmer to integrate Oracle products, like Essbase, with other third party software packages, especially transactional database packages. Hyperion Application Link (HAL) can integrate all of your data loading and ETL functions into one place and offer improved performance. 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 Essbase System 9 Components [ 386 ] When gathering data for your Essbase application, you may encounter data from many different sources. HAL allows you to set up a link to your favorite Oracle database using an ODBC connection. HAL will also allow you to load data from conveniently delivered at les too. In fact, you can usually accomplish just about all of your data loading needs for your Essbase System 9 installation by using HAL. Oracle Business Rules This tool can be a tremendous time saver. The Oracle Business Rules tool allows the programmer to create, store, execute, and manage complex business rules as specied by the business customer and as it relates to the business process and the data. All of this is accomplished by using an easy to understand user interface with graphical depictions of the various elements that go into a rule. Imagine a business process that dictates the values for next month's sales commitments as follows: • If the actual sales for the prior month are not received by the 15th of the current month, then the committed sales for the current month are to equal the sales number that was forecasted from the prior month. • If the actual sales for the prior month are received by the 15th, then the number used for the current month's committed sales will be equal to the prior month actual sales * 1.15. This is just one example of a business rule being automatically executed against the data for the users of the system. There are endless possibilities on how to make good use of this tool. The advantages of the Oracle Business Rules tool are clear, especially in today's fast-paced business world where static structures in data load and calculation scripts need almost continual modifying. With the Hyperion Business Rules tool, the dynamic nature of the business can more effectively be supported with the creation of minimal maintenance dynamic rules. 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 11 [ 387 ] Oracle Reports Oracle Reports is a powerful new tool for creating reports that presents complex nancial analytic data in an easy to read, professional looking, graphical format. The reports you create can contain many elements such as colorful charts, graphs, and even text box objects. Creating reports is quick and easy and objects embedded in one report can be linked to appear in another report. Essbase Shared Services Essbase Shared Services or Shared Services is a component of Oracle's Essbase Foundation Services. Shared Services is a standardized infrastructure framework that facilitates the deployment of other Essbase System 9 components and also simplies the ongoing system maintenance of those components. Shared Services provides a central framework for creating and maintaining users. It can also be used for managing user security across all Oracle Essbase modules, including external authentication. One nice feature of Shared Services is that you can build your applications for easy user ID set up and maintenance. If you are able to use external authentication or network authentication, where Essbase allows the network to authenticate the user ID, your password maintenance is all but eliminated and a user who has access to the network can also access any Essbase application that you have given him or her access to. If you plan to use Essbase authentication, the user ID is authenticated by the Essbase analytic server at login time. Finally, Essbase Shared Services provides the capability of managing the migration of components from your test environments to your production environments. You perform the development and testing in the Dev environment and then use the Shared Services tool to copy the objects to the Prod environment. 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 Essbase System 9 Components [ 388 ] Oracle Essbase Provider Services Oracle Essbase Provider Services is a middle tier data source provider between an Essbase Server and Smart view, XMLA, and/or Java API. The following gure shows the Provider Services architecture: Client Tier XMLA Clients Middle Tier Hyperion Provider Services Database Tier Essbase SOAP HTTP Hyperion Provider Services TCP / IP SOAP HTTP As you can see, Provider Services is a three-tiered architecture. One of the other special features is that you can congure Oracle Provider Services from the EAS tool. When you are working with Smart View for Microsoft Ofce, you will have the option of selecting Oracle Provider Services to connect to the Essbase analytic server. Essbase Smart Ofce Essbase Smart Ofce or more commonly known as Essbase Smart Space, is a unique new tool in the world of real-time analytic analysis and reporting. The most amazing feature of Essbase Smart Ofce is that it offers the rst gadget-based user interface. Smart Ofce consists of a set of congurable gadgets that run on the business customer's PC desktop and provide continuous access to nancial, operational, and performance related data. Additionally, Smart Ofce contains a toolkit that can be used for creating additional gadgets and data services that constantly keep the user upto date. The following screenshot says it all for this tool. Can you imagine how happy your customers will be with this scene on their desktop? You will probably have many new co-workers which will call you friend. 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 11 [ 389 ] Here comes the awesome part. Smart Ofce can also act like a sort of desktop instant messenger tool or collaboration tool, where users can notify one another on the y of changes in business processes, task completions, or anything else that can affect their performance. Oracle Essbase Financial Reporting This tool can be easily compared to a conductor in an orchestra. With it's easy to use, user friendly graphical user interface, Oracle Essbase Financial Reporting gets high grades on its usability factor. While advanced users will enjoy the intuitive, quick and easy, drag-and-drop method for creating impressive reports, even the most computer illiterate users can produce high level, executive quality reports with just a little practice. 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 Essbase System 9 Components [ 388 ] Oracle Essbase Provider Services Oracle Essbase Provider Services is. by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 20 09 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 794 23 Download at Boykma.Com Essbase System 9 Components [ 386 ] When gathering data for your Essbase application, you may encounter. have the option of selecting Oracle Provider Services to connect to the Essbase analytic server. Essbase Smart Ofce Essbase Smart Ofce or more commonly known as Essbase Smart Space, is a unique