In Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) there is a new way to move data between plan types. This new functionality, which is an enhancement on the old map to reporting tool, allows you to push selective data sets based on the context of a form. Along with data, it can also push Comments, Attachments and Supporting Detail. It even allows you to push data to an ASO cube within your PBCS environment. That means that you can push data real time to an ASO cube and have a Reporting Cube that is always up to date with the latest inputs. In this post, I will walk through the setup of an example data push, and explain some of the features and nuances of Smart Pushes.
Data Map
In order for you to be able to use Smart Push from a form, you must first setup a Data Map. You will need to log in to the application and open it through the simplified interface. Next, you will select the Console option, and then the bottom tab is where you create Data Maps.
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The creation screen is where you select the source and target cubes, and select which members you intend to move in the push.
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To change the selected members, click on the dimension and an options screen will appear. From here, you have the options to add new selections or remove existing ones. You can remove existing selections by clicking on the options menu (the gear).
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For new additions, you have the option of using any of the formulas that planning generically offers such as descendants, level zero descendants, children, or ancestors. You can see these by clicking on the function logo next to the member you want to select.
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You can also use substitution variables in lieu of members in the Data Map. In the Member Selection dialog box, there is a settings button on the right where you can toggle between member selection and variable selection.
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From the Variable screen, you can choose from User Variables, Substitution Variables and Attributes for that dimension. Note that these can be combined with member selections allowing for added flexibility.
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To include Comments and Supporting Detail with the push, press the Options button on the Data Map screen and check the items you want to include.
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Once you have completed the Data Map, it will show up in the Data Maps screen. From here you can edit, synchronize, or push data across this data map by selecting the actions icon.
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Assigning to a Form
The next thing I will walk through is applying a Data Map to an Input Form. This will allow users to dynamically push data across this map every time they hit save on a form. Again, I will start in the simplified interface and edit a form. If you are familiar with Planning Forms, you will notice there is a new fifth tab labeled Smart Push. This is where you can apply the map to the form. Here you have the option of running on save and even using the context of the form to limit the amount of data that is pushed upon save.
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Considerations
While Smart Push is a very powerful new tool, there are some considerations to keep in mind as you are designing our PBCS solution.
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As you can see, Oracle lists a few of those considerations in the documentation, which I have screen captured and included. Another important consideration is Smart Push does not offer the ability to easily map or alter metadata names between source and target. Therefore, you will want to make sure the metadata between source and target matches. Secondly, you will need to pay close attention to PBCS currency conversion and sandbox data as you are pushing it from one cube to another. There are ways to get them to work (which we will not go into in this post) but make sure you know them before you plan to include them in a Smart Push.
