What is Essbase?

Essbase is a business analytics solution that offers a robust architecture for analysis, reporting, and collaboration. It is designed to help users model, test, and manage complex business scenarios. Essbase supports a wide array of functionalities including the ability to work with various data sources, upload and harmonize spreadsheets, and collate disparate data inputs.

Available both as a cloud service and an on-premises application, Essbase provides flexibility in deployment and supports thousands of simultaneous connections, which makes it capable of delivering up-to-the-minute information for in-depth analysis. With its easy-to-understand user and administration interface, Essbase simplifies the process of modeling complex hierarchies and business scenarios.

Essbase enables the creation and management of analytic applications using business drivers and can conduct multiple what-if scenarios. It boasts a rich set of mathematical functions to derive new data and a hybrid query engine optimized for block storage cubes, which facilitates fast aggregation and dependency analysis. Additionally, automation is made possible through a REST API, and the software integrates seamlessly with Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse using federated partitions.

Essbase Plugins for Excel

Overview of the Spreadsheet Add-in

The Spreadsheet Add-in, known as the Essbase plugin for Excel, integrates Essbase functionalities directly into the Excel environment. Once installed, it adds an Essbase menu to the Excel menu bar, enhancing Excel's native capabilities with Essbase-specific features. The core file of the Spreadsheet Add-in is labeled essexcln.xll and resides within the directory path EPM_ORACLE_HOME/products/Essbase/EssbaseClient/bin. Installation of the add-in involves modifications to the Windows Registry to correctly reference the location of the essexcln.xll file.

Integration with In2Hyperion Plugin

The In2Hyperion plugin is designed to complement the Spreadsheet Add-in by utilizing its functions and adding an exclusive ribbon for improved user experience. To function properly, the In2Hyperion plugin mandates the presence of both the Hyperion Essbase add-in and the Excel Add-In. Despite its dependencies, the In2Hyperion plugin operates smoothly, with no known issues reported.

Benefits of Using Essbase Plugins

Essbase plugins like the Essbase Add-In for Excel and Smart View enhance the user experience by allowing the drilling through member hierarchies, which expedites the retrieval of substantial data volumes. These plugins include essential functions such as Keep-only, Remove-only, Member Selection, Undo, and Pivot, streamlining the data manipulation process within Excel.

Smart View, in particular, has extended its compatibility to work seamlessly with a variety of Oracle and Microsoft products. It boasts features such as the Submit Data function, which enables users to input and submit data directly from Excel to connected Oracle products. Additionally, Smart View facilitates the addition and editing of member properties, saving of connections to favorites, and simultaneous connection to multiple data sources. With its enhanced data retrieval capacity and customizable member display options, Smart View represents a significant advancement over the Essbase Add-In for Excel.

Common Use Cases

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  Loading the Essbase menu into Excel
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  Pointing Excel to the essexcln.xll file to enable Essbase functionality
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  Drilling through member hierarchies within Excel to retrieve large amounts of data quickly
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  Using Keep-only and Remove-only functions to manipulate selected cells in Excel
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  Utilizing Member Selection, Undo, and Pivot functions for ancestor positioning within hierarchies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Dodeca retrieve data from multiple Essbase databases in a single report?

Yes, Dodeca can retrieve data from multiple Essbase databases in a single report.

Does Smart View support submitting data back to Essbase?

Yes, Smart View includes a Submit Data function for entering and submitting data to connected products.

Is it possible to control spreadsheet templates and settings in Dodeca?

Report developers control the spreadsheet templates and settings in Dodeca.

Can users save their connections for future use in Smart View?

Users can save connections to favorites in Smart View.

Does Dodeca maintain a log for changes made to the Essbase database?

Dodeca maintains an audit log for changes to the Essbase database and system configurations.