businessobjects_essbase

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Essbase OLAP Access Pack Users Guide

BusinessObjects Enterprise 6

Windows


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2 Essbase OLAP Access Pack Users Guide

Copyright No part of the computer software or this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any

information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Business

Objects S.A.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems

with this documentation, please report them to Business Objects S.A. in writing at

[email protected].

Business Objects S.A. does not warrant that this document is error free.

Copyright Business Objects S.A. 2003. All rights reserved.

Printed in France.

Trademarks The Business Objects logo, WebIntelligence, BusinessQuery, the Business Objects tagline,

BusinessObjects, BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent, Rapid Mart, Set Analyzer, Personal

Trainer, and Rapid Deployment Template are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business

Objects S.A. in the United States and/or other countries.

Contains IBM Runtime Environment for AIX(R), Java(TM) 2 Technology Edition Runtime

Modules (c) Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2000. All Rights Reserved.This product includes code licensed from RSA Security, Inc. Some portions licensed from IBM

are available at http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu4j.

All other company, product, or brand names mentioned herein, may be the trademarks of their

respective owners.

Use restrictions This software and documentation is commercial computer software under Federal Acquisition

regulations, and is provided only under the Restricted Rights of the Federal Acquisition

Regulations applicable to commercial computer software provided at private expense. The use,

duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions set forth insubdivision (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-

7013.

Patents U.S. Patent Numbers 5,555,403, 6,247,008, and 6,578,027.

Part Number 308-10-610-01


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Essbase OLAP Access Pack Users Guide 5

Contents

Contents

Preface Maximizing Your Information Resources 7

Information resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Useful addresses at a glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

About this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 1 Introducing the Essbase OLAP Access Pack 15

What You Can Do with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

How BusinessObjects Integrates with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack . . . 18

The BusinessObjects Environment for the Essbase OLAP Access Pack . . 22

Chapter 2 OLAP Concepts 29

Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Ancestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Database Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Descendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Drill Down/Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Generation, Hierarchical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Level, Hierarchical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Member, Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Nesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36


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Contents

OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Slice and Dice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 3 Getting Started 39

The Document Creation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Step 1: Selecting a Report Layout and Connecting to an Essbase

OLAP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Step 2: Selecting Your Initial Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Step 3: Fine-Tuning your Initial Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Step 4: Selecting a Level of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Step 5: Selecting Report Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Step 6: Generating the BusinessObjects Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Step 7: Refreshing and Editing Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 4 Advanced Techniques 69

Power Users and Basic Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Modifying Restricted Data in a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Creating an Interactive Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Working with Differences between Data Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Advanced Techniques for the Generated Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Index 89


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preface

Maximizing Your InformationResources


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Maximizing Your Information Resources

Overview

Information, services, and solutions

The Business Objects business intelligence solution is supported by thousands

of pages of documentation, available from the products, on the Internet, on CD,

and by extensive online help systems and multimedia.

Packed with in-depth technical information, business examples, and advice on

troubleshooting and best practices, this comprehensive documentation set

provides concrete solutions to your business problems.

Business Objects also offers a complete range of support and services to help

maximize the return on your business intelligence investment. See in the

following sections how Business Objects can help you plan for and successfully

meet your specific technical support, education, and consulting requirements.


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Information resources

Information resources

Whatever your Business Objects profile, we can help you quickly access the

documentation and other information you need.

Where do I start?

Below are a few suggested starting points; there is a summary of useful webaddresses on page 12.

Documentation RoadmapThe Documentation Roadmap references all Business Objects guides and

multimedia, and lets you see at a glance what information is available, from

where, and in what format.

View or download the Business Objects Documentation Roadmap at

www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm

Documentation from the productsYou can access electronic documentation at any time from the product you are

using. Online help, multimedia, and guides in Adobe PDF format are available

from the product Help menus.

Documentation on the webThe full electronic documentation set is available to customers with a validmaintenance agreement on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website at

www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm

Buy printed documentationYou can order printed documentation through your local sales office, or from the

online Business Objects Documentation Supply Store at


Search the Documentation CDSearch across the entire documentation set on the Business Objects

Documentation CD shipped with our products. This CD brings together the full set

of documentation, plus tips, tricks, multimedia tutorials, and demo materials.

Order the Documentation CD online, from the Business Objects Documentation

Supply Store, or from your local sales office.
http://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm


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MultimediaAre you new to Business Objects? Are you upgrading from a previous release or

expanding, for example, from our desktop to our web solution? Try one of our

multimedia quick tours or Getting Started tutorials. All are available via the Online

Customer Support (OCS) website or on the Documentation CD.

How can I get the most recent documentation?

You can get our most up-to-date documentation via the web. Regularly check the

sites listed below for the latest documentation, samples, and tips.

Tips & TricksOpen to everyone, this is a regularly updated source of creative solutions to any

number of business questions. You can even contribute by sending us your own

tips.

www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asp

Product documentationWe regularly update and expand our documentation and multimedia offerings.

With a valid maintenance agreement, you can get the latest documentation in

seven languages on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website.

Developer Suite OnlineDeveloper Suite Online provides documentation, samples, and tips to those

customers with a valid maintenance agreement and a DEVELOPER SUITE license

via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website.

Send us your feedback

Do you have a suggestion on how we can improve our documentation? Is there

something you particularly like or have found useful? Drop us a line, and we will

do our best to ensure that your suggestion is included in the next release of our

documentation: [email protected]

NOTE

If your issue concerns a Business Objects product and not the documentation,

please contact our Customer Support experts. For information about Customer

Support visit: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm
http://www.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.aspmailto:[email protected]://businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://businessobjects.com/services/support.htmmailto:[email protected]://www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asphttp://www.businessobjects.com/


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Services

Services

A global network of Business Objects technology experts provides customer

support, education, and consulting to ensure maximum business intelligence

benefit to your business.

How we can support you?

Business Objects offers customer support plans to best suit the size and

requirements of your deployment. We operate three global customer support

centers:

Americas: San Jose, California and Atlanta, Georgia

Europe: Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Asia: Tokyo, Japan and Sydney, Australia

Online Customer SupportOur Customer Support website is open to all direct customers with a current

maintenance agreement, and provides the most up-to-date Business Objects

product and technical information. You can log, update, and track cases from this

site using the Business Objects Knowledge Base.

Having an issue with the product?

Have you exhausted the troubleshooting resources at your disposal and still not

found a solution to a specific issue?For support in deploying Business Objects products, contact Worldwide

Customer Support at: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm

Looking for the best deployment solution for your company?

Business Objects consultants can accompany you from the initial analysis stage

to the delivery of your deployment project. Expertise is available in relational and

multidimensional databases, in connectivities, database design tools,

customized embedding technology, and more.

For more information, contact your local sales office, or contact us at:

www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htm

Looking for training options?

From traditional classroom learning to targeted e-learning seminars, we can offer

a training package to suit your learning needs and preferred learning style. Find

more information on the Business Objects Education website:

www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htm
http://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htm


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Useful addresses at a glance

Address Content

Business Objects Documentation


Overview of Business Objects documentation. Links

to Online Customer Support, Documentation Supply

Store, Documentation Roadmap, Tips & Tricks,Documentation mailbox.

Business Objects Documentation

mailbox

[email protected]

Feedback or questions about documentation.

Product documentation

www.businessobjects.com/services/

support.htm

The latest Business Objects product

documentation, to download or view online.

Business Objects product information

www.businessobjects.com

Information about the full range of Business

Objects products.

Developer Suite Online

www.techsupport.businessobjects.com

Available to customers with a valid maintenanceagreement and a Developer Suite license via the

Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Provides

all the documentation, latest samples, kits and tips.

Knowledge Base (KB)


Technical articles, documents, case resolutions.

Also, use the Knowledge Exchange to learn what

challenges other users both customers and

employees face and what strategies they find to

address complex issues. From the KnowledgeBase, click the Knowledge Exchange link.

Tips & Tricks

www.businessobjects.com/forms/

tipsandtricks_login.asp

Practical business-focused examples.
http://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htmmailto:[email protected]://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/http://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/http://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asphttp://www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asphttp://www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asphttp://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/http://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htmmailto:[email protected]://www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm


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Useful addresses at a glance

Online Customer Support


www.businessobjects.com/services

Starting point for answering questions, resolving

issues.

Information about registering with Worldwide

Customer Support.

Business Objects Education Services


education.htm

The range of Business Objects training options and

modules.

Business Objects Consulting Services


consulting.htm

Information on how Business Objects can helpmaximize your business intelligence investment.

Address Content
http://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/services/http://www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htmhttp://businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htmhttp://businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htmhttp://businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htmhttp://www.businessobjects.com/services/http://www.techsupport.businessobjects.com/


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About this guide

This guide describes the ESSBASE OLAP ACCESS PACK, a data provider that lets

BUSINESSOBJECTS users access Essbase multidimensional servers.

Audience

This guide is intended for for the person who uses the Essbase OLAP Access

Pack with BUSINESSOBJECTS to access data from Essbase multidimensional

servers.

Conventions used in this guide

The conventions used in this guide are described in the table below.

Convention Indicates

This font Code, SQL syntax, computer programs. For example:

@Select(Country\Country Id)

Some code

more code

Placed at the end of a line of code, the symbol ()

indicates that the next line should be entered

continuously with no carriage return.


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chapter

Introducing the Essbase OLAPAccess Pack


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Introducing the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

Overview

This chapter introduces the Essbase OLAP Access Pack. It describes:

what you can do with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack in combination with

BusinessObjects

the key features of the BusinessObjects environment for the Essbase OLAPAccess Pack


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What You Can Do with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

What You Can Do with the Essbase OLAPAccess Pack

Online analytical processing (OLAP) describes a software technology extracts

and presents multidimensional data from different points of view.

The Essbase OLAP Access Pack is a tool that lets BusinessObjects users

retrieve data from Hyperion Essbase multidimensional servers. An EssbaseOLAP server is a data manipulation engine that supports and operates on

multidimensional data structures. These data structures are represented by

objects that you manipulate with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack.

The data structures represent how you think about your business. Your products,

the territories in which they are sold, the time in which sales occur or costs

accrue, and how you measure your business activity (units sold, net profit, etc.)

are represented as dimensions. How you measure your business activity is

represented as a special type of dimension, an account, which BusinessObjects

represents as a measure.

You create a focus on a part of your business by selecting dimensions and

measures to analyze. From these dimensions and measures, you create a data

provider from which you generate a BusinessObjects report. You use the

BusinessObjects report for query and analysis with the multidimensional data

structures in the Essbase OLAP server.


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How BusinessObjects Integrates with theEssbase OLAP Access Pack

Analyzing data using BusinessObjects and the Essbase OLAP server is a two-

phase process:

creating the data provider and generating the BusinessObjects report with the

Essbase OLAP Access Pack using the BusinessObjects report to perform and distribute your analyses

Once you have generated the BusinessObjects report, you can return to the

OLAP Access Pack to access different data for the analysis you are conducting

with BusinessObjects.

What you can do with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

The Essbase OLAP Access Pack provides you with the tools to select the

dimensions and measures you want to use in your BusinessObjects report. You

use the Access Pack for the following operations:

Operation Description

Select the

initial report

layout

You select either the standard BusinessObjects report format

or a customized format from a template.

Select theinitial data

You select the initial data from a cube that containsinformation in a multidimensional structure. You drag and

drop data objects into a Grid that represents the edges and

body of a crosstab. Your selected objects and how you

position them on the Grid determine the data fetched from the

underlying database. The data appears in the Grid as soon as

you drop the objects in a chosen space.


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How BusinessObjects Integrates with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

Fine-tune your

data

When you place data objects along the Grid, BusinessObjects

quickly fills in the resulting data values. You can modify the

data objects along the Grid by adding and deleting members

or by using a filter to restrict the data returned from the

database. For example, if you initially choose to look at sales

data for three cities, but decide that only one city requires your

attention, you can remove the dimension members that

produce data for the cities that do not interest you. Or, you can

use the dimension member for the one city as a filter and view

data for just that city.

Select an

appropriate

level of detail

In a multidimensional data structure, dimensions such as

Geography are typically set up as hierarchies. Within the

hierarchy there are generations. In a Geography dimension,

typical generations are postal code, city, state, country, andcontinent. The data values for a higher generation of the

hierarchy such as country are calculated by aggregating the

data values for the lower generations. When you move a data

object, such as country, to the Grid, you can drill-down on it to

see data values at the state generation. Or, you can drill-up at

the state generation to see values at the country generation.

By drilling up and down along the edges of the Grid, you can

select the appropriate level of detail to show the important

information in your report.

Generate the

BusinessObjec

ts report

You click one button in the Grid to generate the report from the

data you have moved to the Grid.

Operation Description


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What you can do with a BusinessObjects report

BusinessObjects provides you with the tools to analyze, format, and distribute the

data you selected with the OLAP Access Pack. When you want to use different

data in your report, you edit the data provider by invoking the Essbase OLAP

Access Pack from BusinessObjects.

You can use BusinessObjects to do any of the following on the data you have

accessed with OLAP Access Pack:

Create a

layout for

your report

A report can consist of one or more large blocks of data.

Blocks can be tables, crosstabs, or charts. Most reports

consist of sections that contain smaller blocks of data.

Build on an

existing

report

You can add tables, crosstabs, and charts to existing reports.

You can change tables into crosstabs, crosstabs into charts,

charts into tables, etc. You can pivot data in tables, crosstabs,and charts, which enables you to display previously

undisplayed data, move or remove data. Pivoting enables you

to build crosstabs and 3-D matrix charts from tables and 2-D

charts respectively. You can also manipulate columns, rows,

and cells.

Control the

data thatappears in a

report

You can apply breaks in tables and crosstabs, use sorts to

control the order in which data appears, use ranking to viewthe top and bottom values in a range of data, and make

calculations on report data, either inside a table or a crosstab.

Slice and dice

data

Slice-and-dice mode enables you to switch the position of

data in a report. You can move data from columns to rows;

rename, reset, and delete blocks; turn tables and crosstabs

into charts, and vice versa; and apply, edit, and delete breaks,sorts, ranking, and calculations.

Format

reports for a

specific look

You can resize and position blocks and cells; apply shading

and borders to sections, blocks, and cells; format the cells or

chart elements; format the data; use page headers, footers,

and margins; and display page numbers, dates, and times.


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How BusinessObjects Integrates with the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

Print your

reports or

publish them

on the Web

You can convert your documents to HTML and place them on

a Web server so that people with a Web browser can access

them. For further information about using BusinessObjects

and the Web, refer to the InfoView Users Guide.

Send and

receivedocuments to

and from

other users

You can exchange documents with other users through a

document repository created by a BusinessObjectssupervisor or by electronic mail.

Schedule

document

tasks

You can have tasks on your documents carried out at

specified times or intervals enabling work to be done on your

documents while you are away from your computer.


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The BusinessObjects Environment for theEssbase OLAP Access Pack

The OLAP Panel is the primary element of the BusinessObjects environment for

the Essbase OLAP Access Pack.

The OLAP panelThe OLAP Panel is the graphical interface that lets you create BusinessObjects

reports from the data in an Essbase OLAP server. An Essbase OLAP server is a

data manipulation engine speicifically designed to support and operate on

multidimensional data structures. Like other Microsoft Windows applications, it

features toolbar buttons, dialog boxes, and online help.

a. The OLAP toolbar

b. The Database Outline box

c. The Filters box

d. The Grid

e. Displays a dialog box in which you can set the font used for text and numbers

in the Grid or filters and options for the volume of data to be retrieved.

f. Clears the panel of all dimensions, dimension values, filters, and data values.

e

a

b

c

d

f g h i


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The BusinessObjects Environment for the Essbase OLAP Access Pack

g. Generates a BusinessObjects report.

h. Closes the OLAP Panel and returns to the New Report wizard from which you

can select another Essbase application or database.

i. Displays OLAP Panel online help.

The database outline box

The Database Outline box in the OLAP Panel uses a tree structure to show the

objects contained in the database and indicate their relationships.

In the Database Outline box, the symbol indicates a dimension.

One of the dimensions is represented by the symbol. This dimension is

translated into a BusinessObjects measure.

You select one of two modes to view the database objects depending on whether

you want to begin your analysis with entire hierarchical generations or individual

dimension members. The Database Outline box shown below is in View by

Member mode, which allows you to begin your analysis by examining results forindividual dimension members.

The Database Outline box in View by member mode, showing dimensions and members.

The box title shows the name of the Essbase OLAP Application Tbc, the Essbase

Database SoftDrin, and the server name (Boston).

dimension

view by generationview by member

member

database name


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Further informationFor further information about dimensions, dimension members, hierarchies, and

hierarchy generations, refer to Chapter 2, OLAP Concepts.

For further information about how to begin your analysis, refer to Chapter 3,

Getting Started.

Viewing and hiding the database outline

You can view the Database Outline in one of two modes: by member or by

generation. You can switch modes by clicking the buttons at the bottom edge of

the Database Outline box

View by member modeIn View by member mode, dimensions and members are displayed hierarchically

by parent/child relationship.

In this mode, you can select individual members of a dimension for your analysis.For example, if you want to view values for Q1 only, first view the outline by

member, then drag and drop the Q1 member icon into the Grid.

If you drag a dimension to the Grid in this mode, only the root value appears. You

can, however, drill down to the dimension's child members.

View by generation modeIn View by generation mode, dimensions are displayed with all their generations.


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In this mode, you can select a dimension generation to begin your analysis, but

you cannot select individual dimension members. For example, if you want to

view values for all quarters, first switch the mode to view by generation, then drag

the Quarter symbol into the Grid. A Database Outline box in View by generation

mode is shown below.

The Database Outline box in View by generation mode, showing dimensions and

generations. The generation names, such as Region and State, must be specified on the

Essbase server. If no names are specified on the Essbase server, they display with the

name of the dimension followed by a numeral to indicate their generation.

Hiding the Database OutlineTo show or hide the Database Outline box, click Show/Hide Database Outline.

database name

view by member

generations

view by generation

dimension

Show/Hide

Database

Outline


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The filters box

What are filters?Filters restrict the data values returned from the database to the values you

select. To create a filter, you place dimensions, members or generations in the

Filters box. For example, if you have a dimension Customers that organizes data

for many countries and you want to see data only for your Canadian customers,

you can drag and drop the dimension member Canada into the Filters box.

Showing and hiding the Filters boxTo show or hide the Filters box, click Show/Hide Filters.

Displaying filters in the Filters boxTo position the filters vertically within the Filters box, click Wrap Filters. At least

two filters must be in the Filters box to enable the toolbar button.

The grid

The Grid is the area of the OLAP Panel that you populate with dimensions,

generations, and dimension members from the Database Outline.

The Grid is made up of three areas:

Area 1 is the body of the Grid.

Area 2 is the down edge of the Grid. Area 3 is the across edge of the Grid.

Show/Hide

Filters

Wrap Filters


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The toolbar

The buttons on the toolbar allow you to modify the OLAP Panel display, reverse

actions, hide or display areas of the OLAP Panel, or add or remove values from

a dimension. The toolbar buttons are described in the following table.

The toolbar buttons are described in the following table.

.

Toolbar

Button

Description

Displays or hides the Database Outline box in the OLAP Panel.

Displays or hides the Filters box in the OLAP Panel.

Displays or hides the Status Bar in the OLAP Panel.

Aligns filters horizontally within the Filters box. Any filters that

cannot be viewed on one line in the Filters box appear on a

second, third, or further line. The button is available only if there

are at least two filters in the Filters box.

Reverses actions performed. When you click the button for the

first time, you reverse the most recent action; the second time you

click the button, you reverse the action preceding the most recent

one. In this way, you can reverse up to five consecutive actions.

Displays the Add/Remove Panel, which allows you to add

members to, or remove members from, a dimension. This

changes the dimension members that appear along the Grid

edges and therefore refines the information in the report.

Exchanges the dimensions in the down edge with those in the

across edge. Swap Edges does not alter the values of

dimensions.

Opens the Dimension Properties dialog box, which allows you to

modify the properties of the selected dimension.


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ch

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OLAP Concepts


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OLAP Concepts

Overview

This chapter describes terms that are commonly used in discussing

multidimensional databases and online analytical processing (OLAP).

The chapter indicates:

any use of a term that is specific to Essbase OLAP servers. mapping between the OLAP term and the corresponding BusinessObjects

term, when necessary.


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Accounts

Accounts

In the Essbase data model, a dimension defined with the Account attribute

becomes the database Account dimension. The Account dimension corresponds

to measures in BusinessObjects and other OLAP servers, in that they represent

the numeric data of primary interest to database users such as sales or cost data.

In BusinessObjects, measures are not dimension members. Having the account

(or measure) defined as a type of dimension allows you to drill on the measure inthe OLAP Panel Grid. The members of the Account dimension that you select

depend on the type of information you want to analyze.

In the BusinessObjects Database Outline box, the measures you use to populate

the Grid are members of a dimension defined with the Accounts attribute. They

are contained in a separate folder that is represented by the icon.

Aggregation

In multidimensional databases, data is often collected at the lowest generation

level of detail (the leaf node) and aggregatedinto higher levels for analysis. For

example, data might be collected for the number of units of a product sold by

store and then aggregated to produce information about the number of units sold

by city, state/department/province, country, continent, and world.

The aggregation occurs within a dimension hierarchy. The above example is for

a Geography dimension and the hierarchical relationship specifies that store is

the lowest generation level and that store data aggregates into city data, whichaggregates into state/department data.

Through aggregation, the data is precalculated for a database outline, which

supports the efficient querying of a multidimensional database.

NOTE

The terms aggregation and consolidation are used interchangeably.

(See also dimension; hierarchy; generation, hierarchical; level, hierarchical)


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OLAP Concepts

Ancestor

A dimension member at any generation level above a particular generation level

in a dimension hierarchy branch. Consider, for example, a Geography dimension

with the generations Continent, Country, State/Department/Province, and City.

The dimension member North America is the ancestor of the dimension

members Canada, Ontario, and Toronto.

(See also descendant; dimension; hierarchy; generation, hierarchical; level,hierarchical; member, dimension)

Cell

In a database outline, the single datapoint specified by the intersection when one

member is selected from each dimension. For example if the dimensions are

Time, Product, Geography, and the account (a measure in other OLAP servers)

is Sales, then the dimension members January 2001, Chewing Gum, and Japanspecify a unique intersection along all dimensions that uniquely identifies a single

data cell, the value of chewing gum sales in Japan for January 2001.

(See also cube; dimension; account; member, dimension)

Child

A dimension member that is in the next lower generation level in the hierarchy

that is directly related to the current dimension member. The child dimension

members are included in the calculation to produce the aggregated total for theirparent dimension member. For example, in a Geography dimension containing

the generation levels Continent, Country, and City, Italy and Spain are children

of Europe.

(See also aggregation; dimension; generation; hierarchical; level, hierarchical;

member, dimension; parent)

Database Outline

A database outline can be thought of as a group of data cells containing data

values and arranged in a multidimensional structure by the dimensions of the

data.

(See also cell; dimension; account; OLAP)


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Descendant

Descendant

A dimension member at any generation level below a particular level in a

dimension hierarchy branch. Consider, for example, a Geography dimension with

the generations Continent, Country, State/Department/Province, and City. The

dimension member Toronto is the descendant of the dimension members

Canada and Ontario. Values of descendants are included in the calculation that

produces the aggregated total for an ancestor.(See also ancestor; dimension; hierarchy; generation, hierarchical; level,

hierarchical; member, dimension)

Dimension

A dimension is a structural attribute of a database outline that is a list of

members, all of which are of a similar type in the users perception of the data.

For example, all days, weeks, quarters, years, etc. make up the Time dimension.

The dimensions that structure a database outline describe the set of members

upon which the user wants to base an analysis. For example, a database outline

that will be used to analyze sales of consumer products typically has Time,

Product, and Geography dimensions.

A dimension represents the highest aggregation level in the database outline. A

dimension acts as an index for identifying values within a database outline. Thus,

dimensions offer an efficient way of organizing and selecting data for retrieval,

calculation, and updating.In BusinessObjects, by default, the concept of the OLAP dimension maps to the

concept of the BusinessObjects hierarchy. You can modify this in the Dimension

Properties dialog box such that the OLAP concept and BusinessObjects concept

of a dimension are the same. See Chapter 4, Advanced Techniques, for further

information.

Drill Down/Up

Drilling down or up is a technique for navigating through levels of data ranging

from the most summarized (up) to the most detailed (down). For example, on a

Time dimension, to view the details of sales data by year, the user can drill down

on a year to display sales data by quarter, and further to display sales data by

month. The drilling paths are defined by the dimension hierarchy.

(See also dimension; hierarchy)


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OLAP Concepts

Generation, Hierarchical

An element of a dimension hierarchy. Generations refer to aggregation levels

within each dimension. Generations describe the dimension order from the root

(most summarized) level to the leaf(most detailed) level of data. Two members

of a dimension with hierarchies are at the same generation level if within a

hierarchy branch, there is the same number of ancestors between the members

and the root level.In the Database Outline, the symbol indicates a generation.

In other OLAP servers, hierarchical levels refer to the dimension order from the

most summarized to the most detailed.

In BusinessObjects, by default, the concept of the OLAP dimension maps to the

concept of the BusinessObjects hierarchy. The concept of the OLAP level

(Essbase generation) maps to the concept of the BusinessObjects dimension.

(See also ancestor; descendant; dimension; hierarchy; level, hierarchical)

Hierarchy

An arrangement of members of a dimension into generations where each

generation represents the aggregated total of the data from the generation

below. Members in a hierarchy are arranged from the more general to the more

specific; for example, Year, Quarter, Month.

In BusinessObjects, a group of related dimensions is referred to as a hierarchy.A BusinessObjects dimension is an object that can be used for multidimensional

analysis. In BusinessObjects, by default, the concept of the OLAP dimension

maps to the concept of the BusinessObjects hierarchy.

(See also dimension; generation, hierarchical; level, hierarchical; member,

dimension)


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Level, Hierarchical

Level, Hierarchical

Levels refer to the branches within each dimension, but they reverse the

numbering that Essbase uses for generations. Levels describe the dimension

order from the leaf(most detailed) level to the root(most summarized) level. The

root level number varies depending on the depth of the hierarchy branch.

In other OLAP servers, hierarchical levels describe the dimension order from the

most summarized to the most detailed. For Essbase and DB2 OLAP servers,hierarchical generations describe the position of the hierarchy member in relation

to the root node.

In BusinessObjects, by default, the concept of the OLAP dimension maps to the

concept of the BusinessObjects hierarchy.

(See also dimension; generation, hierarchical; hierarchy; member, dimension)

Measure

Measures are the numeric data, for example sales or cost data, of primary

interest to cube users. The measures you select depend on the type of

information you want to analyze.

In Essbase, measures are members of a dimension that uses Accounts data and

might also contain formulas and special tags to help Essbase calculate the

outline.

(See also accounts)Member, Dimension

A dimension member is an item in a dimension representing one or more

occurrences of data. For example, a Geography dimension can have dimension

members New York and Cairo.

In the Database Outline, the symbol indicates a member.

(See also dimension; generation, hierarchical; level, hierarchical)


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Parent

Parent

The dimension member that is one generation up in a hierarchy from another

dimension member. The parent value is usually an aggregation of all of its

childrens values.

(See also aggregation; child; dimension; generation, hierarchical; level,

hierarchical; member, dimension)

Sibling

A member in a dimension hierarchy that is a child of the same parent as a

specified member. For example, in a Time dimension with Year and Month levels,

the members January 2000 and February 2000 are siblings.

(See also ancestor; child; descendant; parent)

Slice and Dice

The user-initiated process of navigating by calling for data displays interactively,

activating filters, swapping edges in the Grid, and drilling down/up.


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OLAP Concepts


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Getting Started

40 E b OLAP A P k U G id


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Getting Started

Overview

This chapter explains how to retrieve data stored in an Essbase OLAP server to

create a BusinessObjects report. You will learn how to:

use the New Report Wizard to create a report

select a report layout

connect to an Essbase OLAP server

select and fine-tune data

select the level of detail and report options

generate a BusinessObjects report

refresh and edit the report



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The Document Creation Process

The Document Creation Process

The Essbase OLAP Access Pack allows you to create reports that answer

questions such as:

Which part of my business do I need to review?

Which product line, geographic territory, or time period are over or under

performing?

In the Database Outline box, objects such as product and market are represented

as dimensions and dimension members. Numbers such as profit are defined as

dimensions in the database and then represented as measures in

BusinessObjects.

You use the BusinessObjects New Report wizard to connect to an OLAP server

and create a BusinessObjects document. After you have provided all the

information required by the wizard, the OLAP Panel appears. You select, move,

and manipulate data in the OLAP Panel in order to create a report. The processof creating a document consists of the seven steps:

Step Description

Step 1 Selecting a report layout and connecting to an Essbase

OLAP server

Step 2 Selecting your initial data

Step 3 Fine-tuning your initial data

Step 4 Selecting a level of detail

Step 5 Selecting report options

Step 6 Generating the BusinessObjects report

Step 7 Refreshing and editing your document



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42 Essbase OLAP Access Pack User s Guide

Getting Started

Step 1: Selecting a Report Layout andConnecting to an Essbase OLAP Server

The first step in creating a new BusinessObjects report is to open the New Report

Wizard.

1. In BusinessObjects, click New Report Wizard on the Standard toolbar to start

the New Report wizard.

The wizard Welcome screen or the wizard Create a New Report screen

appears.

2. Select the type of report you want to generate.

The Specify Data Access screen appears.

New Report

Wizard

If Then

you want to

generate a standard

BusinessObjectsreport,

select Generate a standard reportandclick Begin.

you want to apply a

special layout and

format to the report,

select Select a template and click Begin.

For further information on selecting a template and

applying a special layout to a report, see the

BusinessObjects Users Guide: Reporting

Techniques and Formattingand Getting Started with

BusinessObjects.



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Essbase OLAP Access Pack User s Guide 43

Step 1: Selecting a Report Layout and Connecting to an Essbase OLAP Server

You need to connect to an Essbase OLAP server to access the database you

want to use for your analysis.

3. In the Specify Data Access screen, select the Others option button.

4. Select OLAP Essbase from the drop-down list, then click Next.

5. In the Define Connection Parameters screen, type or select the connection

parameters: Host, User Name, and Password.

The Host is the name of the Essbase OLAP server. If you have previously

connected to an Essbase OLAP server, the name of that server appears bydefault. Click Next.

If you do not know the name of your server, contact your Information System

(IS) manager.

6. In the Select an Essbase OLAP Database screen, select the application and

database you wish to use.

An Essbase application is a collection of related databases. The selection list

displays only the applications that you are allowed to use and that contain at

least one database. An Essbase database resides within an application.

If you are working with a large database outline and want to optimize memory

usage by loading outline members incrementally, select the Load the outline

members only when neededbox.

7. Click Finish.

The OLAP Panel appears.

NOTE

Your ability to establish a connection to an Essbase OLAP server depends on

your access rights to the server and on the server security.



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Getting Started

EXAMPLE

Connecting to an Essbase OLAP server

In this example, you a sales manager are reviewing the most recent yearly profit

percentage and product share data for beverage sales in the United States. You

take the following steps:

1. Launch BusinessObjects and select File, New, from the main menu or click

New Report Wizard on the standard toolbar to start the New Report Wizard.2. In the Create a New Report screen, select Generate a standard reportand

click Begin.

The wizard Specify Data Access screen appears.

3. Select the Others option button, and select OLAP Essbase from the drop-

down menu. Click Next.

The Define Connection Parameters screen appears asking for the name of

the host, and your user name and password.

4. Type or select the connection parameters. Click Next.

The Select an Essbase OLAP Database screen appears.

5. Select an application and database.

6. For efficient memory management of large databases, select Load the outline

members only when needed. Click Finish.

The OLAP Panel appears on your screen showing the name of the database

and the server. You are now connected to the OLAP server and ready to

begin adding dimension members and levels, and measures to the Grid.

This example is continued in the example "Selecting report data" on page 48.

database name

and server name

(in parentheses)



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Step 2: Selecting Your Initial Data


To select the data for your report, drag generations, members, and measures

from the Database Outline to the Grid.

Moving objects to the grid

1. Choose between viewing generations and members.

If Then

you want to

move individual

members of a

dimension to the

Grid,

select the View by member radio box in the Database

Outline.

Members are units within one hierarchical generation of

a dimension. For example, if a generation of the Time

dimension is Quarter and you want to view values for Q1

only, you first choose to view the outline by member

you want tomove allthe

members within

a hierarchical

generation of a

dimension to the

Grid,

select the View by Generation radio box in theDatabase Outline.

A generation is a structure within a dimension that

groups dimension members. For example, in the Time

dimension, the Quarter generation includes Q1, Q2, Q3,

and Q4. The Year generation can include 1999, 2000,

2001.

If you want to view values for all members in ageneration, you first choose to view the outline by

generation.



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Getting Started

2. Drag the member, generation, or measure from the Database Outline to the

down edge or across edge of the Grid.

You can drag single members, generations, or measures, or use multi-

selection. The following rules apply to dragging and dropping to the Grid.

If Then

you drag two or

more members

of the same

dimension to a

Grid edge,

they appear in the across edge or down edge in the Grid,

and in the order in which they appear in the Database

Outline. You cannot change the sort order of the

dimension members in the Grid.

When the dimension members appear in a

BusinessObjects report, by default they appear in

alphabetic order. To change the sort order of dimension

members in a report, see "Step 6: Generating the

BusinessObjects Report" on page 65.

you drag amember from a

different

dimension to

the Grid,

it appears in a separate location on the Grid edge: to the right of an existing dimension when you drag it to

the right side of the down edge

to the left of an existing dimension when you drag it to

the left side of the down edge

above an existing dimension when you drag it to the top

of the across edge

below an existing dimension when you drag it to the

bottom of the across edge

you drag a

measure to the

Grid,

it appears in the Grid edge in which you dropped it. If there

is already a measure present in the Grid, it appears in the

same edge as that measure.

Measures appear in the Grid in the same order as in the

Database Outline. You can change the sort order in the

report, but not in the Grid.



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When you drag and drop members on the Grid, BusinessObjects provides

feedback to indicate if you are adding members to the Grid edge or replacing

existing members.The shape of the mouse cursor changes and a message

appears in the status bar. The following table describes what each mouse

cursor and status bar message indicate.

Replacing objects on the grid1. From the Database Outline, select the object you want to move to the Grid.

2. Holding down the mouse button, drag the object to the same place on the Grid

as the object you want to replace.

NOTE

The cursor and the status bar message Replaces memberwith member

indicate that you are replacing the object on the Grid with the object from the

Database Outline.

3. Release the mouse button.

Removing objects from the grid

To remove an object from the Grid, select the object and drag it from the Grid to

the Database Outline.

Cursor and message Description

Adds memberto the

edge

Adds the selected members to the Grid edge

in the location you select

Replaces member

with member

Replaces the member on the Grid edge with

the members you selected in the Database

Outline

Cannot add

dimension to edge

Indicates that you cannot move the selection

to this Grid edge



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Getting Started

EXAMPLE

Selecting report data

This example builds on the scenario from the example "Connecting to an

Essbase OLAP server" on page 44. To review profit and product share for yearly

beverages sales in the United States, you need to select the data needed to build

the report.

1. Drag the Year and Market dimensions to the accross edge of the Grid.

2. Drag the Beverages product line to the down edge of the Grid.

3. If you think that packaging or the sales channel are significant performance

predictors, add them to your analysis. You can add other measures and

dimensions to the Grid depending on the result of the initial analysis.

4. Add Profit % and Product Share to the down edge.

In the Database Outline, measures such as Profit, Inventory, and Ratios are

a special form of dimension. They are displayed in a tree structure in the

Database Outline and you can drill on them or add and remove members aswith other dimensions.

The initial data shows that the Profit % was lower in the south than in other

regions for all beverage lines. Also, aside from the south there was little

significant difference in Profit % for a beverage line from one region to

another.

5. To continue your inquiry, you want to fine tune your data and concentrate on

the south. You will learn to do this in the example "Fine-tuning your initial

data" on page 53.



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Further informationFor further information about dimensions, generations, members, and measures,

refer to Chapter 2, "OLAP Concepts".

For further information about the OLAP Panel, refer to Chapter 1, "Introducing

the Essbase OLAP Access Pack".



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Getting Started

Step 3: Fine-Tuning your Initial Data

You have created a basic query, but you will want to narrow the parameters of

your analysis to find the important information. To do this you add and remove

data. Two common methods of fine-tuning the initial data that appears in the Grid

are:

Adding and removing dimension members -- Adding and removing members

changes which dimension members appear along the edges of the Grid andtherefore which values appear in the Grid and in the report.

Using a filter -- Using a filter restricts dimension members that appear along

the edges of the Grid to those included in the filter. You can add and remove

dimension members from a filter.

Adding and removing dimension members from the grid

1. Click Add/Remove Panel.

The Add/Remove panel shows all the dimensions currently populating theGrid and the Filters box.

2. Click the tab (Across Edge orDown Edge) that contains the dimension you

want to modify.

Add/Remove

Panel



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3. From the Available Dimension Members box, select the dimension you wantto modify.

The Available Dimension Members box displays the dimension members for

the selected dimension. Click the + beside the dimension or a dimension

member to see all the dimension members. The Selected Dimension

Members box displays the currently selected dimension members.

4. Click Apply, then OK.

TIP

You can gain access to the Add/Remove Panel from the Grid. Right-click a dimension

or member. From the popup menu, clickAdd/Remove Members.

If Then

you want to

add members

to the

dimension,

select the members you want to add from the Available

Dimension Members box, and do one of the following:

click the double right arrow button

drag and drop the members into the Selected

Dimension Members box

Note: If you are adding members to a nested dimension,

using the double arrow button adds the selected members

everywhere it is appropriate in the nested dimension.Consider the following example:

You have the dimension Time nested within the dimension

Price. Time has the members 1999, 2000, and 2001, and

you are adding the member Q4. Using the double arrow

button, adds Q4 to 1999, 2000, and 2001.

By dragging and dropping, you can select the individual

members to which you want to add Q4.

you want to

remove

members from

the dimension,

select the members you want to remove from the Selected

Dimension Members box, and do one of the following:

click the double left arrow button

drag and drop the members into the Available

Dimension Members box

Note: Using the double arrow button removes all instances

of the members you select. By dragging and dropping, you

can remove individual instances of the members.



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Getting Started

Creating a filter

Filters restrict the values displayed in the Grid by restricting the data returned

from the database.

For example, if you want to view the sales for just one market region, you move

dimension members to the edges of the grid and then create a filter from the

Market dimension member for the region.

1. Select the View by member option button or View by generation option

button below the Database Outline box as necessary.2. Drag a member or generation from the Database Outline box and drop it in

the Filters box.

The filter appears as a drop-down list. The data values in the Grid correspond

to the member displayed in the filter.

NOTE

A dimension or generation cannot appear in the Filters box and Grid at the same

time.

Adding members to or removing members from a filter

You can add members to or remove members from a filter either by:

using the Add/Remove Panel

dragging and dropping the filter

Adding or removing filter members using the Add/Remove Panel1. Right-click on the filter.

2. In the popup menu, click Add/Remove Members.

The Add/Remove Panel appears.

3. In the Filters tab, select and move the members you want.

- To add members, select members in the Available Dimension Members list

box. Then either click the arrow pointing to the Selected Dimension Members

list box, or drag the selection and drop it in the list box.- To remove members, select members in the Selected Dimension Members

list box. Then either click the arrow pointing to the Available Dimension

Members list box, or drag the selection and drop it in the list box.



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Removing filter members by dragging and dropping1. Select the filter member you want to remove.

2. Drag it to the Database Outline box.

Adding filter members by dragging and dropping1. Select the View by members option button below the Database Outline.

2. Click the + to the left of the dimension containing the member you want to add.

3. Drag the member from the Database Outline box and drop it in the Filters box.

EXAMPLE

Fine-tuning your initial data

This example uses the report created in the example Chapter 3, "Selecting

report data".You want to focus on beverage sales in the south. To restrict the data

displayed, you to create a filter so that only values for the south are displayed in

the Grid.

To create the filter, drag the dimension member South from the across edge tothe Filters box. The Grid displays values only for the south.

Notice that colas have the highest product share and the lowest profit %. You

now want to look at this result in more detail to see if all states in the south

showed the same results and if there were individual colas whose performance

differed from the other products in their classification.



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Getting Started

Step 4: Selecting a Level of Detail

As you proceed with your analysis, you need to be aware that important

information may not be visible at the most aggregated levels of data. For

example, in reviewing sales for a line of products that at the country level has

average sales, you want to look at the data at its lower levels. Average sales at

a higher level can include both excellent and poor sales, so you need to review

the less aggregated levels of detail to know if these are poorly performing stores.

You can select an appropriate level of detail for your analysis by expanding and

collapsing the dimensions along the edges of the Grid. You can view values for

all possible members of a dimension or for the aggregated values of those

members in the dimension hierarchy.

For example, you can view sales figures for each month of a year, for each

quarter, or for the year as a whole. You can expand a quarter or all quarters and

see values for the months included in the quarters. You select the level of detail

by drilling on the dimension members or by drilling on a filter.You expand the levels of a dimension member by drilling down on it. You collapse

the levels of a dimension by drilling up on one of the dimension members.

When you have used a filter to control which dimension appears along the edge

of a Grid, you drill on the filter to select the level of detail of that dimension.

Drilling down on a dimension

1. Right-click the dimension or one of its members.

A popup menu appears.



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2. In the popup menu, select a drill down command:

- Drill Down on Selected Occurrence expands the member to the level below

it.

- Drill Down on all Occurrences expands all the occurrences of the member

within a nested dimension to the level below them.

The following figure shows the nested dimension Year expanded to the next

level.

TIP

To drill down on a selected occurrence of a dimension, press Ctrl and double-click a

member. To drill down on all occurrences, double-click a member.



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Getting Started

Drilling up on a dimension1. Right-click the dimension or one of its members.

A popup menu appears.

2. In the popup menu, select a drill up command:

- Drill Up on Selected Occurrence collapses the member to the level above it.

- Drill Up on All Occurrences collapses all the occurrences of the memberwithin a nested dimension to the level above them.

TIP

To drill up on a selected occurrence, press Ctrl + Shift, then double-click a member.

To drill up on all occurrences, press Shift and double-click a member.

Drilling on a filter1. Right-click the filter on which you want to drill.

2. In the popup menu, select Drill Down orDrill Up.



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EXAMPLE

Selecting a level of detail

This example uses the report created in the example "Fine-tuning your initial

data" on page 53. Now you want to create a report with more detailed information

about cola sales in the south. The resulting report will answer the follwing

questions:

Were profit % and product share consistent across all states in the region or

were there noteworthy differences?

Were profit % and product share consistent across all types of colas or there

were noteworthy differences?

The report already has the report filtered by the south region. You want to move

the filter back to the Grid and drill down on it.

To move the filter to the Grid:

1. Drag and drop the filter on the across edge.

2. Drill down one level on South.

The following figure shows the South dimension member restored to the Grid

and drilled down one level.

3. Drill down one level on Colas to view more details of colas profit % and



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Getting Started

product share.The following figure shows the OLAP Panel displaying values for the different

cola product lines in individual states in the south.

The data shows that profit % was consistently lower in Arkansas in comparison

with the other states in the region regardless of product share.

Before creating a BusinessObjects report, you need to customize its appearance.



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Step 5: Selecting Report Options


Once you have populated the OLAP Panel with the necessary dimensions,

members, measures, and filters, you can select options for the Grid and the

BusinessObjects report such as:

swapping the across and down Grid edges

selecting dimension labels

selecting value labels for missing and inaccessible data selecting decimal display

selecting the dimensions to use as BusinessObjects measures

selecting the sort order for dimension members

selecting how totals and subitems are displayed

selecting how much data will be displayed in the report

Swapping edges

You can rotate the Grid for a different view of the data values. You can then select

which arrangement of dimensions and edges you want to appear in the report.

Click Swap Edges. The dimension members, levels, and measures along the

across edge change places with the dimension members, levels, and measures

along the down edge.Swap Edges



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Getting Started

Selecting dimension labelsIt is sometimes convenient to have more than one label for the same dimension

member. For example, in global businesses, it is very convenient to have

dimension member names translated into different languages. Database

administrators can create alias tables for dimension member names that provide

these different labels. You select an alias table to specify which labels you want

to see in the Grid and the BusinessObjects report.

To select an alias table:1. Click Options in the OLAP Panel.

The OLAP Panel Options dialog box is displayed.

2. Select the General tab.

3. In Aliases, select the Use Table check box.4. Select an Alias table from the drop-down list.

5. Click OK.



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Selecting value labels for missing and inacessible dataYou can modify the labels that appear in the Grid and in the BusinessObjects

report with your own messages. By default the following messages appear:

To modify a label:

1. Click Options in the OLAP Panel.

The OLAP Options dialog box appears.

2. Type the message you want to appear in the corresponding box in the Values

Labels text box.


Selecting decimal displayYou can set the decimal places for numbers displayed in the Grid.

To set the decimal display:



2. In Decimals, specify the decimals display.


Message Description

#Missing The values are not present in the database.

#Inaccessible The Essbase OLAP administrator has not given you access

rights to certain data.#Empty Empty values can occur when there is an imbalance of

members within a dimension. For example, if you place the

Year dimension in the Grid, you can view the quarters and

months of the years in the dimension. However, if you remove

the months of Q1 while leaving the months of all other quarters,

you create an imbalance in the dimension. The values for the

months of Q1 are considered empty.

If Thenyou want to restrict the number of decimal

places,

click Fixed and type a number

in the field.

you want to let the Essbase OLAP server

set the number of decimal places,

click Variable.



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Getting Started

Selecting the dimensions to use as BusinessObjects measuresIn the Essbase data model, the standard OLAP measure is a dimension defined

with special tags. By default, the members of the Essbase dimension labelled

Accounts are treated as BusinessObjects measures. If Accounts is not present,

the members of the first dimension in the Database Outline are treated as

BusinessObjects measures.

You can select a different Essbase dimension to use as a BusinessObjects report

measure.To select the dimension to be used as the BusinessObjects measure:



2. In Report measures, select a dimension from the drop-down menu.


Further informationFor further information about the differences between the Essbase and

BusinessObjects data models, refer to Chapter 4, "Advanced Techniques".

Selecting sort order

From the OLAP Panel, you can specify how the dimension members are sorted

in the report.

1. In the Database Outline, select a dimension populating the Grid.

2. Click Dimension Properties.The Dimension Properties dialog box appears.

3. Select the sort order that you want.

Dimension

Properties

If Then

you want dimension members to appear in the

same sort order as in the Database Outline,

selectApply sort defined

on server.

you want dimension members to appear in

alphabetically ascending order (the default

sort order for a BusinessObjects report),

clearApply sort defined

on server.


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Getting Started

Applying indents to totals and subitemsYou can choose to apply a left indent to either the subitems or the totals in a

BusinessObjects report. If you want to apply indents, you must use the sort order

defined on the server and turn the dimension hierarchy into a single report

dimension.

Turning the dimension hierarchy into a single report dimension makes it a flat

hierarchy. By default in BusinessObjects, the concept of the OLAP dimension

maps to the concept of the BusinessObjects hierarchy.

In addition, turning the dimension hierarchy into a single report dimension makes

the BusinessObjects dimension into an OLAP dimension, which has other effects

on the BusinessObjects report. See Chapter 4, "Advanced Techniques" for

further information.

To apply an indent to a total or subitem:

1. In the Database Outline, select a dimension populating the Grid.

2. Click Dimension Properties.

The Dimension Properties dialog box appears.

3. Select how you want to apply indents.

Selecting how much data will be displayed in the reportYou can have BusinessObjects warn you if the number of rows or cells in your

report is larger than a number you choose. You can also limit the array fetch size.

You may want to do this to make it easier to work with the report.

For further information on setting limits, see Chapter 4, "Advanced Techniques".

DimensionProperties

If Then

you want to apply a left

indent to the subitems in

the report,

selectApply sort defined on server,

Turn hierarchy into a single Report Dimension,

Indentation, then Subitems.

you want to apply a leftindent to the totals in the

report,

selectApply sort defined on server,Turn hierarchy into a single Report Dimension,

Indentation, then Totals.


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Step 7: Refreshing and Editing Documents

Step 7: Refreshing and Editing Documents

Refreshing the document

After creating the report, you can work on and refresh it in BusinessObjects.

Refreshing the report updates it with the most recent data in the OLAP server.

You can refresh the report with the Refresh Data command or you can select

various options for having it refreshed automatically. For further information on

refresh options, see BusinessObjects Users Guide: Reporting Techniques andFormatting.

To refresh the document and generated report with the Refresh Data command,

click Refresh Data on the BusinessObjects toolbar.

Editing the document

After continuing your analysis with the report in BusinessObjects, you may want

to add data to the report. To add dimensions or measures from the Database

Outline, you need to return to the OLAP Panel. When you have finished yourmodifications, you apply them to the report.

To return to the OLAP Panel and edit the document:

1. Click Edit Data Provider.

The OLAP Panel appears on your screen. If you have more than one data

provider, a dialog box appears in order for you to select the data provider you

want to edit.

2. Modify the members, levels, and measures in the OLAP Panel following theprocedures in the previous steps of this chapter.

3. Click Continue.

The modified report appears on your screen.

Refresh Data

Edit Data

Provider



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Getting Started

Changing the number of columns and rows in a documentWhen you add dimensions to a document, it can change the number of columns

and rows in the report. If this happens, a dialog box appears asking whether you

want to leave the current report as is or display the new data in a new report.

If Then

you do not want the updated

data to be displayed in the

current report,

select Leave the current report as it is. The

new data is still available. You can view it in a

table, a crosstab, or a chart.

you want the updated data to be

displayed in the current report,

select Display the new data in a new report.

The new data will be displayed in a new report

tab.


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Power Users and Basic Users

Power Users and Basic UsersWith BusinessObjects and the Essbase OLAP Access Pack you can conduct

extensive OLAP analyses, create reports, and distribute them over the Web.

These multiple functions suggest that there can be different types of users. In a

business or organization, it is possible to have one type of BusinessObjects user,

the power user, who needs to conduct the in-depth analyses necessary to review

results, spot trends, and mine the data set for information that might not be

obvious at first glance. Other users, basic users, take these reports, pull out theinformation specific to their jobs, and apply that information to long-term business

strategy or addressing short-term needs. The power user directs the creation of

the report. The basic user requires appropriate pieces of the information in the

report.

For example, a sales manager (the power user) needs information about sales

trends, sales of competing products, regional sales performance, individual sales

representative performance, quotas, and so on. A sales representative (the basic

user) needs information about the performance of individual accounts incomparison with previous time periods. The sales manager creates a report for

her own use that provides all the information that she and the sales

representatives will need. She then distributes the appropriate pieces of the

report to sales representatives. The sales representatives review the report in

order to have the information they need to perform their jobs.


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Selecting what a filter fetches and displays


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Modifying Restricted Data in a Document

Selecting what a filter fetches and displaysYou can select which members of the dimension being used as filter fetch values

and whether all the filtered values will be displayed. This can limit both the

amount of data fetched and the amount of data displayed.

1. From the OLAP Panel, click Options to display the OLAP Panel Options

dialog box.

The OLAP Panel Options dialog box is shown below.


2 In the Filters box select the option you want for filters you use in the OLAP


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Advanced Techniques

2. In the Filters box, select the option you want for filters you use in the OLAPPanel.


Option Description

Fetch only current

filter members

The data is filtered on the members currently

displayed in the Filters box of the OLAP Panel.

Fetch all filter

members but display

only currentmembers

Values for all filter members are retrieved from the

server, but only those currently displayed in the

OLAP Panel Filters box are displayed in the report.Although you will not see some members when the

report appears, you will be able to use them in the

report at a later stage; for example, for drilling.

Fetch and display all

filter members.

Note: This is the

default value.

Values for all filter members are retrieved from the

server and displayed in the report. You can

deactivate the filter and reactivate it later by editing

the data provider in the OLAP Panel.


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3. In the Prompt message text box, type a message that prompts the user tomake a selection


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Advanced Techniques

p g , yp g p pmake a selection.

4. Select a prompt type for the filter.

5. Select the possible values the user will be able to select.

6. Click OK.

What users see in BusinessObjects

When users refresh the document from BusinessObjects, they are prompted to

enter or select the values that will be used to refresh the report. They select these

values based on their own business needs and enter them in the Enter or Select

Values dialog box.

The user types the values in the field and clicks OK to generate the report, or

clicks Values to display the List of Values dialog box.

If you want a user to be able to select Then

only one filter value for a report, select Mono-valued.

multiple filter values for a report, select Multi-valued.

If you want the user to be able to

select filter values from

Then

the current filter values displayed in

the list in the Filters box,

select Current filter values.

Note: If you select this option, the

hierarchy becomes flat.

dimension members belonging to

the selected va