Importing Essbase Cubes into the OBIEE 12c Administration Tool

This blog outlines an example on importing an essbase cube into the OBIEE RPD.

Import the Essbase Cube

  • Open the Oracle BI Administration Tool
  • Set preferences for the Administration Tool. To set preferences:
    • Select Tools, then select Options to display the Options dialog.
    • On the General tab, select the options you want to choose
    • Click (uncheck) “Skip Gen 1 levels in Essbase drag and drop actions”
      • When selected, excludes Gen 1 levels when you drag and drop Essbase cubes or dimensions from the Physical layer to the Business Model and Mapping layer. Often, Gen 1 levels are not needed for analysis, so they can be excluded from the business model.

Importing an Essbase cube

  • Start importing from Essbase…File > Import Metadata > Select Essbase 9 >
    • Enter server name
    • Enter user name and password

Essbase metadata import

  • Click “Next” and you should see a similar screen below listing the Essbase cubes on the server.
  • If you do not seen similar results go to the troubleshooting steps at the end of this document.
  • Select the ECAP cube and click the single Blue arrow so that OBI brings the cube into the Repository View. Can take 2-3 minutes depending on connection speed/VPN.

Selecting the ECAP cube

  • Once it’s in the Repository View, click the Finish button. You will see the newly added db within the Physical Layer.  Can take 2-3 minutes depending on connection speed/VPN.

  • Expand ECAP and then right-click the second Revenue and select “Create Columns for Alias Table…”

  • Select “Default” and click OK.
  • Double-click the 2nd Revenue and change the Display Column…Alias to “Default.” Click OK.

  • Right click on the Revenue cube and select “Convert measure dimensions to flat measures.”

  • Save your changes but DO perform a Global Consistency Check

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