Why Smart View for Metadata Management?
For classic application types, the admin extension has been available since planning release 11.1.2.3. It bears repeating, however, that the extension is an essential part of your admin tool belt for a number of reasons:
- Quick tool for admins to push wholesale or individual member updates
- Easy addition of members
- Arguably the simplest method for managing member properties!
- Ability to update and deploy outlines directly from Smart View excel interface
Getting the Planning Admin Extension
Download the extension directly from Oracle EPM Workspace:
Firing up the Extension in Smart View
Open and manage classic application dimensions via Smart View’s Hyperion Planning connection. Dimensions are managed in Parent/Child format via the Planning Ad Hoc connection, and carry drillable functionality with member properties displaying across columns.
Database > Application > Dimensions.
In this example, we will use the Account dimension for the Vision app:
Updating Member Properties, Excel-Style
You can update properties for individual or multiple members.
- Leverage the property drop-downs using Smart View cell styles, such as the Skip property:
- Or you can use Excel Formatting and manually update any number of member properties:
Adding Members to Outline
There are two ways to add members.
- Insert a row, then enter the member-name only in the empty row. Refresh the sheet:
Upon refresh, all property columns will populate with default settings. The member itself carries an asterisk (*), indicating it does not yet exist in planning:
TestRate account. (*) indicates account has not been pushed to planning yet:
You can then edit pre-populated member property fields as needed on your new row.
- You can also insert members by copying an existing row(s), leveraging parent assignment and member properties as needed from sibling members:
Send Updates to Planning
Once member additions or property changes have been made, simply perform a data submit to send outline updates to planning:
You can now confirm your updates in Workspace:
NOTE: Submitting updates does NOT push changes to Essbase, only to planning. A database refresh is still required. Observe the ‘Misc Drivers’ rollup in EAS outline viewer – the new TestRate member is not yet present:
Refresh Database via Smart View
Admins are now able to refresh a database directly from Smart View via the planning admin extension. Keep in mind, this will push all outstanding updates in planning in the same fashion as a Workspace/planning refresh.
Smart View Panel > Right-click Dimensions folder > Refresh Database:
Select applicable options and refresh:
You see the normal warning about the refresh action. Click OK to proceed:
Now when viewing the outline via EAS (for on-prem users), you can confirm member updates have been pushed to Essbase. The process is complete!
Key Limitations
- No ability to delete members from outline
- Cannot make edits or additions to Period dimension
I’d urge you to consider the Smart View planning admin extension the next time you need to add members quickly or make wholesale property changes to your classic outline. Above all, have fun exploring this functionality!
Free eBook Download
In the eBook “Having a Conversation with Data”, learn what the current BI infrastructure has been and associated challenges with the traditional approach. How important the user experience is in order to best maximize data’s value (think visualizations!!) to your organization and how to gain a competitive advantage with modern analytics platforms.
