Getting The Most Out of FDM:: Integrating With Essbase and Planning

www.finitsolutions.
com
Getting the Most out of FDM:
Integrating with Essbase and Planning
November 16, 2012
Scott Peters
speters@finitsolutions.com
www.finitsolutions.com
- 2 -
Getting the Most out of FDM: Integrating with Essbase and Planning
Finit Introduction
Finit Solutions specializes in consulting services in the Oracle Hyperion Enterprise
Performance Management Solutions suite of products:

Financial Close and Consolidation
Financial Management (HFM)
Hyperion Enterprise
Financial Close Management (FCM)
Disclosure Management
Account Reconciliation Module (ARM)

Integration
Financial Data Quality Management (FDM)
Oracle Data Integrator (ODI)
Enterprise Performance Management
Architect (EPMA)
Data Relationship Management (DRM)
Other (ERPi, EIS, etc.)

Planning and Business Intelligence
Planning
Core Planning
Modules (Workforce, CapEx,
Project Financial Planning)
Essbase (ASO / BSO)

Reporting Tools
Financial Reporting
Smart View / Essbase Excel Add-In
OBIEE
Financial Management Analytics
(OFMA)
Web Analysis

- 3 -
Finit Services
Finits consulting services cover a broad range of implementation
and post implementation options.

Finit Solutions: Implementation Services

Full cycle implementations
Discovery and Requirements
Global Design
Detailed Design and Build
Testing and Training
Deploy
Infrastructure Services
Data Services (historical data, GL data
integration)
Project / Program Management
Product Upgrades
Redesign / Enhancements
- 4 -
Finit Answers
Finit Answers provides the proper support offering for your Business
Hyperion Product Expertise: Finit has been offering Oracle Hyperion EPM services and support as a
company since our inception (July 2002) - staffed by our Hyperion Subject Matter Experts.
Finit is providing a unique pledge for Hyperion Enterprise Customers: Any Hyperion Enterprise related fees
can be applied to a future project to replace Hyperion Enterprise with Finit Solutions.
Allow Finit Answers to be your personal Hyperion Insurance Policy
Flexibility: We offer a pay as you go option (pay for only the time you use) along with several other levels
of support that we can customize to meet your needs:

1. Time And Materials Support: You only pay for the time you use (no monthly fees)
2. Dedicated Critical Support: Technical Application Support with a guaranteed 2-hour response time
3. Remote Consulting Assistance: Ask us to review your HFM Rules, Essbase Calcs, consolidations, FDM Integrations,
custom reports, etc.
4. Managed Services: Application Administrator Assistance (Primary or Secondary)

http://www.finitsolutions.com/Support_Finit_Answers.html
CONTACT Greg Barrett (gbarrett@finitsolutions.com) for more information

Finit Solutions Official Support Offering:
Answers & Support with Efficient, Responsive Service

- 5 -
We strongly believe that Service + Solutions = Maximum Value
Service
Our compensation model is based upon client satisfaction with consultants
work, not how many hours they charge.
Finit has no external owners and Finit partners are involved in every full-
cycle implementation.
Finit uses its own employees, no subcontractors.

Solutions
Finit consultants are Hyperion product experts who enjoy designing, building
and deploying great solutions, applications and processes.
Finit works closely with Oracle Hyperion development on product strategy
and beta testing.

Finits Focus
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Finits Values
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Our client service approach has led to 100%
customer satisfaction for every Finit client (170
and counting) for every Oracle Hyperion project
(over 300 and counting).

Finits Client Service
- 8 -

Some Finit Clients
- 9 -
About the Presenter
Scott Peters
(speters@finitsolutions.com)

Partner, Director of Data Integration Practice
7+ years of experience implementing Hyperion products at
approximately 50 clients
Has designed and implemented multiple FDM integrations with
HFM, Enterprise, Essbase, Planning and Data Warehouses
- 10 -
Integrations with Essbase and Planning
FDM Overview
Design Considerations
Integration Basics and Best Practices
FDM and Calc Scripts
Best practices to Clear and Calculate Data
Case Study
Using FDM to manage Planning data loads
Using FDM to Load Cost Center Essbase Cube
Q&A
Agenda
- 11 -
Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management
Web-based ETL tool developed by Upstream, acquired by
Hyperion in 2006, then Oracle in 2007
Created to provide the business community with a user-friendly
interface for loading data to Oracle Enterprise Performance
Management (EPM) target applications
Promotes a centralized, repeatable process for populating
target systems across an organization
Can support a virtually unlimited number of concurrent users

FDM Overview
- 12 -
FDM has a suite of Integration Adapters used to
communicate with other products.
Each adapter contains the API to allow FDM to communicate
with each product.
Adapters allow FDM to directly load data to another product or
stage a data file to be picked up as well as perform calculations,
consolidations, pull back values, etc.
HFM
Enterprise
Essbase (for Essbase and Planning)
Strategic Finance
Data Extract (Tax)
DataMart

FDM Overview
- 13 -
Adapter components include:
Dimensions that are associated with target system dimensions
during set up
Scripts based on VBScript
Custom used for development of advanced solutions (e.g. batch
processing)
Event automatically launched based on system activities
Import used to modify incoming data
Actions that contain all of the coding that FDM uses during its
processing steps
Options that dictate how FDM communicates with the target
system

FDM Overview
- 14 -
A single FDM application can integrate with multiple
Essbase/Planning apps or multiple products such as an
Essbase/Planning app and an HFM app.
You can apply different adapters to different locations.

FDM Overview
- 15 -
User Community Is it a centralized or decentralized
reporting process?
Designing a process for end users will likely differ from a
process owned by a group of administrators.
Business workflow requirements
How is data currently reported?
Are end users accountable for mapping all source data?
How important is it to have visibility into the mappings?
How important is it to have an audit trail?
Is there an existing FDM application integrated with other
products?

Design: Business and IT Factors
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Frequency of Data Loads
It is common that data loads to Planning contain all entities at
once. Loads can be scheduled.
Cube Design
How many cubes are there and how does data need to flow
between them?
How are calculated accounts handled?
Server Environment
The Essbase Runtime client must be installed on the FDM
Server.

Design: Business and IT Factors
- 17 -
Required Settings
Application Name
Database Name

Integration Basics
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Using an Essbase Load Rule to Load Data.
There is an option in the Essbase adapter to call a load rule that
sits on the Essbase server.
Load Rules offer benefits such as data manipulation, setting of
dimension values, and data accumulation.
For files with multiple errors, using a load rule will display errors
all at once instead of one at a time.
Can also just use API in the adapter to load file
This does not need any additional set-up
However, you dont get the benefits above of using a Load Rule

Loading Data to Essbase
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Loading Data to Essbase
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Calculating Data In Essbase
FDM has two options for calculating data
The File option is used to call an Essbase calc script.
FDM will initiate running the calc script as is.
This option does not allow FDM to dynamically update the script.
The Dynamic option allows FDM to process a calc script that is
coded in FDM.
The calc script can be written in
FDM using variables that can be
dynamically updated.

- 21 -
Adapter Modifications
Dimensions
Each FDM dimension has to be assigned to a particular
Essbase/Planning dimension

- 22 -
Adapter Modifications - Actions
Export Action
Allows a change in the order of the dimension layout in the .dat
file that FDM creates for the target system.
Helpful in cases where the order is dictated by a Load Rule.*

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- 24 -
Consolidate Action
Can control what should be aggregated or calculated.

- 25 -
Best Practices
Enable Entity Base Calc Setting
Essbase/Planning loads a lot of times contain all or multiple
entities in one data file.
You can calculate each base entity, bypassing FDMs Validation
Entity setup.

- 26 -
Best Practices
Versions
For Planning integrations, the Versions dimension needs to be
accounted for.
Setting this up as one of the mapped dimensions could cause
issues with loading and calculating.
It has become common practice to include the version as a part
of the scenario name in the POV since this is usually selectable.

- 27 -
Best Practices
Versions
Among other items, a typical POV in FDM includes the FDM
category and corresponding target system scenario.

To accommodate Versions in Planning, we can update each
Essbase scenario with a version name.

- 28 -
Best Practices
Creating an Entity string
By default, FDM will loop through each individual entity that
was loaded and run through the calc script.
Generating an entity list outside of the loop is best so that the
calculation is performed once on the full set of entities.

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Best Practices
Building an Essbase Intersection Check Report
Unlike other Hyperion target systems, Essbase does not have an
inherent intersection check that takes place during FDMs
validation process.
Finit has created a script that will essentially query the Essbase
outline and check for invalid intersections of data.
A list of invalid members for each dimensions can be returned
to the user during the validation (mapping) process.

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FDM & Essbase Calc Scripts
There are 2 main points of the process where FDM can
call an Essbase calc script
Load
This will clear data before it loads to Essbase
Consolidate
This will calculate or aggregate the data after it loads to Essbase

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FDM & Calc Scripts - LOAD
The loading of data to Essbase is inherently a merge of
data, replacing only intersections that are in the load file.
There are 2 options to handle the clearing of data to
avoid data getting stuck in the system before loading to
Essbase
Writing Calc Script in the LOAD action of FDM that fixes on
certain intersections
Using Finit SmartMerge solution for Essbase

- 32 -
Writing Calc Script in the LOAD Action of FDM
Can Fix on certain intersections that should clear and then write
a Clear Calc Script
Can have multiple Calc Scripts using If Then Logic
i.e. If FDM Loc is Balance Sheet, Fix on Descendants of Balance Sheet
Calc Scripts will also use FDM Parameters passed from the POC
i.e. Period, Year, Version, Entity, etc.

- 33 -
Using Finit SmartMerge solution for Essbase
Custom merge load solution eliminates the need for multiple
calc scripts to handle data protection.
At Export, FDM creates a .dat file that is compatible with
Essbase.
There is no Accumulate in File option with FDM to Essbase
integrations. Unless a Load Rule is used, only the last of like
intersections will load.
The script will archive the previously loaded data file and
compare it with the current load.
Intersections from the previously loaded file with be added at
the beginning of the new load file with #MI to clear out
intersections that are not in the new load file
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Previous .dat file

Current load records
- 35 -
New .dat file

Data loaded by methods other than FDM will not be
touched when the new file loads.
- 36 -
Verdict and Best Practice
For Clearing data, the SmartMerge is what I implement
now and has the least amount of maintenance with the
best results
It saves time in creating Clear Calc Scripts and in a few
implementations, there were many nuances in the calc
scripts and it was becoming very difficult to code all of
those calc scripts in FDM
- 37 -
FDM & Calc Scripts - CALCULATE
There are a few options to handle the calculation or
aggregation of data once it loads to Essbase
Writing Calc Script in the CONSOLIDATE action of FDM that fixes
on certain intersections and runs a calc script.
Have FDM create/edit and place a batch script on the Essbase
server that runs calc scripts or have FDM run that batch file
itself.

- 38 -
Writing Calc Script in the CONSOLIDATE action
Just like the Clear Calc Script, we can Fix on certain intersections
for the Aggregate Calc Script
Can have multiple Calc Scripts using If Then Logic
i.e. If FDM Loc is Balance Sheet, Fix on Descendants of Balance Sheet
Calc Scripts will also use FDM Parameters passed from the POC
i.e. Period, Year, Version, Entity, etc.
With this option, all calc scripts need to be written in the
FDM Actions

- 39 -
Have FDM create/edit and place a batch script on the
Essbase server that runs calc scripts or have FDM run
that batch file itself.
Can utilize parameters in the FDM POV without having to
replicate entire calc scripts in FDM
Can have the batch file get updated by FDM and moved to a
folder that is looking for the batch file and then it runs
Can also have FDM update the batch file and then execute it.

- 40 -
Update Text file with FDM parameters

Save file as Batch file and move to folder that has a
scheduled task running looking to run the batch file

- 41 -
Verdict and Best Practice
A simple aggregation calc script can be replicated in FDM
as it probably wont change much.
Also, if there is only 1 location loading data so there isnt
a need for many calc scripts in FDM, the FDM Action can
be used as well.
However, if a complicated calc script needs to run and
you dont wish to maintain it in FDM as well, the batch
file solution has worked quite well and is easier to
maintain going forward.
- 42 -
Planning Case Study-Environment
HFM is the primary consolidation and reporting tool.
Actual data is handled in HFM.
The Budget and Forecast data is managed in Planning.
All data needs to be included in both applications.
Planning requires data at a lower level of detail than HFM does.
- 43 -
Planning Case Study-Requirements
Loading data to Planning
Create a solution that can leverage the data imported into FDM
for the existing HFM load process
Accommodate capturing lower level of detail for Planning
Design a process that does not give end users additional work
Develop a process that can be managed by Corporate
Loading data from Planning to HFM
Create a process to continually capture the most current budget
and forecast data for HFM
Develop a process that can be managed by Corporate

- 44 -
Planning Case Study-Requirements
- 45 -
Planning Case Study-Planning Workflow
- 46 -
Loading HFM and Planning from 1 File
Additional dimensions are activated in the HFM adapter
to capture the data required by Planning.

- 47 -
Existing HFM import formats are updated so that these
new dimensions for the Planning load are populated
upon importing the data file.

- 48 -
When the data files are loaded to the HFM locations, the
attribute dimensions capture the lower level of detail
required by Planning.

- 49 -
Planning Case Study Planning to HFM
- 50 -
Essbase Case Study-Environment
HFM is the primary consolidation and reporting tool.
Actual data is handled in HFM.
A Cost Center cube was created in Essbase to collect cost
center detail not contained in HFM
- 51 -
Essbase Case Study-Requirements
Loading data to Essbase
Create a solution that can leverage the data imported into FDM
for the existing HFM load process
Accommodate capturing cost center detail for Essbase
Design a process that does not give end users additional work
Develop a process that can be managed by admins
Process must initiate calc scripts after the load

- 52 -
Essbase Case Study-Cost Center Workflow
- 53 -
Loading HFM and Essbase from 1 Source
Tag the FDM to HFM location with the Essbase location
Create an Import Integration script for the FDM to
Essbase location to source from the FDM to HFM
locations

Essbase Dim Source or Target
Account Target (HFM mapped)
Entity Source (EBS)
C1 Source (EBS)
C2 Source (EBS)
Activity Source (EBS)
- 54 -
Loading HFM and Essbase from 1 Source
Click on Import for the Cost Center location and it will
loop through all FDM to HFM locations that are tagged
and import the data
The data can then be mapped to the greater detail in the
Cost Center cube and load to Essbase
The Calc Script uses the batch file method to run the calc
scripts that are needed for the particular Cost Center
cube.

- 55 -

Questions?

Email us for a
copy of the slides or
link to the recording.
Thank you for attending!
- > Scott Peters
speters@finitsolutions.com

- > Insights@finitsolutions.com

- > General Questions
Greg Barrett
(gbarrett@finitsolutions.com)
Joe Mizerk
(jmizerk@finitsolutions.com)

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