05 Enhancing Outline

Creating Outline with Rules FilesAnalytic Services Fundamentals
Enhancing Database Outlines
© 2005 Hyperion Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
Describe computational, reporting, and analytical capabilities defined in the database outline
Create business-view dimensions to enhance data analysis
Set dimension and member properties to define their rollup and reporting behaviors
Create attribute dimensions to extend reporting capabilities
Presentation Title
In addition to defining the structure of a multidimensional database, the outline stores meta information that defines rollup and reporting behaviors of its dimensions and members. In this lesson, you learn how to set properties of the outline dimensions and members to extend computational, reporting, and analytical capabilities of the Essbase Analytical Services. You also learn how to load dimensions and members dynamically by using the load rules.
Copyright © 2003 HP corporate presentation. All rights reserved.
Enhancing Analytic Capabilities
the database outline.
You can achieve multidimensional richness of data analysis by creating business-view dimensions.
Business-View Dimensions
Business-view dimensions are typically defined by the company’s industry and business practices. For example, if the business requires analysis of sales data by individual product and by region, then you can add new dimensions Products and Markets to store detailed analytic data. You can group members in business-view dimensions by relevant categories and define complex roll ups, which also enhances reporting capabilities of your database design.
Creating Business-View Dimensions
4
5
3
2
Creating Business-View Dimensions
Business-View dimensions often have hundreds or even thousands of members. It is more efficient to build, change, or remove these dimensions dynamically using a data source and a rules file, than it is to add or change each member manually in the Outline Editor.
Enhancing Computational Capabilities
Analytic Services computational capabilities:
Consolidation Property and Operators
Consolidation property defines how the member rolls up to its parent.
Valid consolidation operators are:
Presentation Title
In addition to the structural relationships between members within dimensions, the database outline enables you to define consolidations between the members by setting their consolidation property. You set the consolidation property by assigning on of the consolidation operators: Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), Division (/), Percent (%), or Ignore (~). By default, when you add a new member to the outline, the member consolidation property is set to the Addition (+) consolidation operator.
The consolidation property defines how the member rolls up to its parent. For example, you may want to subtract a member from its sibling, such as subtracting COGS from Sales, to define the proper value for Margin.
The Ignore (~) operator identifies the member as exempt from consolidation. For example, Actual, Budget, Variance, and Variance % are tagged as Ignore (~) so that they do not roll up into Scenario.
Once your outline is created, you need to look at how the dimensions and members are ordered. Your data consolidates based on the order of dimensions and members in your outline.
Consolidation Order
Consolidation order is defined by the order of members in the outline.
Analytic Services calculates data in top-down order.
Parent
Presentation Title
It is important to understand how Analytic Services calculates members with different consolidation operators. When you are using just addition and subtraction operators the order of members in the outline is irrelevant. However, when you use any other operator, you need to consider the member order and its impact on the consolidation.
When siblings have different operators, Analytic Services calculates data in top-down order. The following example illustrates a top-down calculation:
Sample Roll-up
(((Member1 + Member2) + (-1)Member3) * Member4) = X
(((10 + 20) + (-25)) * 40) = 200
If the result from Members 1-4 is X, then Member5 consolidates as follows:
(X/Member5) * 100 = Y
(200/50) * 100 = 400
If the result of Member5 is Y, then Member6 consolidates as follows:
Y/Member6 = Z
400/60 = 66.67
Setting Member Consolidation
Defining Member Calculation
Operators and functions return sets of member or data values.
Markup = (Retail - Cost) % Retail;
IF (@ISMBR(Jan))
Presentation Title
Whenever possible, use consolidation operators in the outline to define natural formulas. This is generally more intuitive to end users as they can drill down to see how a member was derived. However, you can define more complex formulas for members.
Analytic Services provides a comprehensive set of operators and functions that you can use to construct formula calculations on a database. For instance, you can perform common arithmetic operations or control the flow of formula executions based on the results of conditional tests. Calculation functions include boolean to provide a conditional test, mathematical, statistical, and financial to perform specialized calculations, and so on.
In the example shown in the slide, Analytic Services performs the following calculations for each month:
The IF statement and @ISMBR function check that the current member on the Year dimension is Jan. This step is necessary because the Opening Inventory value for Jan is an input value.
If the current month is not Jan, the @PRIOR function obtains the value for the Ending Inventory for the previous month. This value is then allocated to the Opening Inventory of the current month.
Calculating Market Share
The @PARENTVAL function returns the parent values of the member
being calculated in the specified dimension.
Measures
100%
205
314
125
644
1820
31.83
48.76
19.41
35.38
100
@PARENTVAL
Returns the parent values of the member being calculated in the specified dimension.
Syntax
dimNameSingle dimension name specification that defines the focus dimension of parent values.mbrNameOptional. Any valid single member name or member combination, or a function that returns a single member or member combination.Example
Example 1
This example is based on the Sample Basic database. The formula calculates Market Share for each state by taking each state's Sales value as a percentage of Sales for East (its parent) as a whole. Market Share->East is calculated as East's percentage of its parent, Market.
"Market Share" = Sales % @PARENTVAL(Market,Sales); This example produces the following report:
Cola Actual Jan Sales Market Share ===== ============ New York 678 37.42 Massachusetts 494 27.26 Florida 210 11.59 Connecticut 310 17.11 New Hampshire 120 6.62 East 1812 37.29 Market 4860 100 Example 2
Adding the "Market Share" member and formula to the outline would produce the same result as above.
Creating Member Formulas
To add a formula to a dimension or member:
From the Outline Editor, select the dimension or member to which you want to add a formula.
Click Formula
Spelling and syntax must be exact.
Verify the formula for syntax errors. Click Verify.
If the formula is not valid, correct syntax and verify again.
Click OK.
Variance Reporting Calculation
Members that represent expense must have the Expense Reporting tag.
Analytic Services provides two variance reporting functions:
@VAR(mbrName1, mbrName2)
@VARPER(mbrName1, mbrName2)
Variance % equals Actual minus Budget as a percentage of Budget.
Variance = @VAR(Actual, Budget);
Variance % = @VARPER(Actual, Budget);
Presentation Title
One of the typical analytic requirements is the ability to perform variance reporting on actual versus budget data. When you are budgeting expenses for a time period, you want the actual expenses to be lower then the budget. When actual expenses are greater than budget, the variance is negative. On the other hand, when you are budgeting non-expense items, such as sales, you want the actual sales to come in a higher than the budget. When actual sales are less the budget, the variance is negative.
Essbase variance reporting calculation requires that any outline member that represents an expense to the company must have the Expense Reporting tag. For example, Inventory members, Total Expense members, and the COGS member each receive the Expense Reporting tag for variance reporting. You assign the Expensive Reporting tag to a member by setting its Variance reporting expense property to true. The default value of the Variance reporting expense property is false.
Note: Expense reporting can only be tagged on members within the Accounts dimension.
To perform variance reporting calculation, Essbase provides two functions: @VAR and @VARPER.
In the example shown in the slide, Sales is a non-expense member, and the variance reports a negative number. However, COGS is tagged as an expense member, and the variance reports a positive number. Because it is an expense reporting item, the sign is flipped on the variance calculation. The actual formulas used in the relevant outline are as follows:
@VAR(Actual, Budget);
@VARPER(Actual, Budget);
These formulas trigger Essbase to check if a member has the Expense Reporting tag and does a sign flip if it finds the member does. When you use the subtract operator in the member formula, Essbase does not check the Expense Reporting tag for that member.
Assigning the Expense Reporting Tag
1
2
Time Balance Property
Time balance property defines member consolidation across the Time dimension.
Skip option determines how Analytic Services treats zero and missing values.
Inventory
Additions
Presentation Title
Similarly to the Variance reporting expense property, time balance properties apply only to members of the Accounts dimension. Time balance lets you control the consolidation of balance sheet items for different time periods. Essbase enables you to set one of the following values for the Time balance property:
None. When a member in the Accounts dimension represents a value that is irrespective of a time period, the corresponding parent in the Time dimension is calculated based on the consolidation and formulas of its children. For example, the Time balance property for the Additions member is set to the default value, None. This tells Essbase to calculate the Qtr1 member in the Time dimension as the sum of its children (Jan, Feb, and Mar).
TB First. When a member in the Accounts dimension represents the value at the beginning of the time period and you want to carry this value to the parent in the Time dimension, set the Time balance property of that member to TB First. For example, the Opening Inventory member represents the inventory at the beginning of the time period. If the time period is Qtr1, then Opening Inventory represents the inventory at the beginning of Jan; that is, the Opening Inventory for Qtr1 is the same as the Opening Inventory for Jan. Similarly, Year Opening inventory is equal to Qtr1 Opening inventory.
TB Last. When a member in the Accounts dimension represents the value at the end of a time period and you want to carry this value to the parent in the Time dimension, set the Time balance property of that member to TB Last. For example, the Ending inventory represents the inventory at the end of the time period. If the time period is Qtr1, then Ending Inventory represents the inventory at the end of Mar; that is the Ending Inventory for Qtr1 is the same as the Ending Inventory for Mar. Year Total Ending inventory is equal to Qtr 4 Ending inventory.
TB Average. When you want that the parent value in the Time dimension to represent the average value of a time period for a member in the Accounts dimension, set the Time balance property of that member to TB Average.
Setting Skip Properties
If you set the time balance as TB First, TB Last, or TB Average, you must set the skip property to tell Essbase what to do when it encounters missing values or values of 0.
The following table describes how each setting determines what Analytic Services does when it encounters a missing or zero value.
None: Zeros and missing values are considered when parent values are calculated. This is the default setting.
Missing: #MISSING values are excluded when parent values are calculated.
Zeros: Zero values are excluded when parent values are calculated.
Missing and Zeros: #MISSING values and zero values are excluded when parent values are calculated.
Setting the Time Balance Property
2
1
3
Enhancing Reporting Capabilities
Analytic Services reporting capabilities:
Label Only Members
Take the value of the first child that stores data
Scenario
Budget
Actual
Assigning the Label Only Tag
1
2
Shared Members
Create an index pointer to a stored member (base member)
Are always level 0 members
Are positioned after (below) the base member in the outline
Products
Creating Shared Members
Member Aliases
Analytic Services stores aliases in the alias tables
You can create up to 10 alias tables
Year
Qtr1
Jan
Feb
Mar
Enhancing Reporting Capabilities
The database outline design reflects the reporting requirements and structures needed by end users. In addition, Essbase enables you to store reporting metadata in the outline to enhance its reporting capabilities. For example, you can create member aliases or attribute dimensions
Member Aliases
Aliases provide alternative names for members, they can improve the readability of an outline or a report. Aliases as well as member names must be unique in the outline.
Aliases are stored in tables as part of a database outline. An alias table maps a specific, named set of alias names to member names. When you create a database outline, Essbase creates an empty alias table named Default in which Essbase stores the aliases that you create.
You can set more than one alias for a member. In this case, you can create a new alias table and set it as the current table. Then, when you create new aliases, they are stored in the new alias table. When users retrieve data they can choose which alias table they want to use or they can view by the member names. Upon retrieval, Essbase scans the current alias table and the actual member names; if it does not find the name, it scans all the existing alias tables looking for a match. If none is found in any alias table or in the member names, unknown member name errors may occur. You may create up to ten alias tables for each database outline.
Creating Aliases
Attribute Dimensions
Analysis by attribute provides depth and perspective, supporting more informed decisions.
Products
Colas
Cola
Presentation Title
Attributes describe characteristics of data. For example, products can have attributes such as colors, sizes, or flavors. Through attributes you can group and analyze data based on their characteristics. For instance, you can analyze product profitability based on size or packaging, and you can make more effective conclusions by incorporating attributes such as the population size of each market region into the market analysis. Such an analysis could tell you that decaffeinated drinks sold in cans in small (less than 6,000,000-population) markets are less profitable than you anticipated.
Essbase provides attribute dimensions that help you define and store attribute information. Members of an attribute dimension are potential attributes of the members of a standard dimension. To define attributes for the outline members:
Create a new dimension and a new member hierarchy at the end of the outline.
Tag the new dimension as attribute.
Identify the dimension type as text, numeric, Boolean or date.
Associate a standard dimension with the attribute dimension. Once associated, the standard dimension is referred to as a base dimension.
Associate the members of the base dimension with the level 0 members of the attribute dimension.
Associating Attribute Dimensions
Presentation Title
All attribute dimensions must be associated with one and only one base dimension. If you do not associate every attribute dimension with a base dimension, the outline is not valid.
To associate a base dimension with an attribute dimension:
In the Outline Editor, right-click the base dimension (for example, Product) and open its properties window.
In the Dimension Properties window, select the Attributes tab.
In the Other attribute dimensions list box, select the attribute dimensions that you want to associate to the base dimension (for example, Caffeinated, Intro Date, and Promotions) and click Assign. The selected attribute dimensions appear in the Associated attribute dimensions list box.
Confirm the attribute dimension association by clicking OK.
Assigning Attributes to Base Members
1
4
3
4
5
2
Assigned Attribute
Presentation Title
After a standard dimension has been associated with an attribute dimension, the next step is to assign the members in the base dimensions with the corresponding attribute.
The following rules apply when associating members of base dimensions with members of attribute dimensions:
Members of base dimensions can be associated only with level 0 members of attribute dimensions.
You can associate members from only one level of a base dimension with members of a single attribute dimension.
You can associate a member of a base dimension with members of many different attribute dimensions.
You can associate a member of a base dimension with only one member in a single associated attribute dimension.
To associate a base member with an attribute member:
In the Outline Editor, select a member of the base dimension (for example, 100-30) and open its property window
In the Member Properties dialog box, select the Associations tab.
In the Available attributes list box, select the attribute member that you would like to associate with the selected base member and click Assign. The selected attribute member moves to the Associated attributes list box.
Note: You can associate many members of multiple attribute dimensions with a single member of a base dimension; for example, the 100-30 member of Product is associated with Caffeinated: False and Intro Date: 01-15-2000.
Confirm the member association by clicking OK.
Summary
learned how to:
Create business-view dimensions to enhance data analysis
Set dimension and member properties to define their rollup and reporting behaviors
Create attribute dimensions to extend reporting capabilities
Presentation Title

Documents

05 Enhancing Outline