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We’re excited to have Casabase Software, an Alteryx Alliance Partner, share how ExoInsight and the Alteryx APA Platform™ work together to enable easy data access to financial and other business data stored in Oracle Essbase and Oracle Planning Budgeting Cloud Solution (PBCS).
Casabase Software is the developer of ExoInsight, the platform that provides data access and integration with Oracle Essbase and Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS). With the ExoInsight Alteryx Tool, users of Alteryx Designer and Alteryx Server can easily connect to Essbase and PBCS, enabling the analytic power of Alteryx to be used with the data and hierarchies in these systems.
ExoInsight provides the following advantages to companies using Essbase or PBCS:
- Easy installation and maintenance. You can be up and running in less than five minutes.
- Completely stand-alone. There are no modifications or additions to your existing Essbase or PBCS environments.
- No Essbase or PBCS knowledge necessary. Users who have never used Essbase or PBCS before will easily be able to pull data with the intuitive user interface and proprietary POV String syntax made possible by ExoInsight. (MDX and Essbase report scripts are also supported!)
- Native security. ExoInsight utilizes the existing security model in Essbase and PBCS, so no duplication or additional maintenance of security is necessary.
- Eliminate manual steps. ExoInsight eliminates the need for costly, slow, and difficult to maintain extraction processes. No more files floating around, no more multi-step ETL processes, no more wondering if the data you’re loading matches your source system. ExoInsight eliminates risk and increases the efficiency of working with your Essbase and PBCS data.
- Focus on simplicity. Everything from the installation to the end-user experience has been created with simplicity in mind.
Self-Service Analytics for Financial and Operational Data
The office of the CFO depends on both financial and operational data to report on the health of the company, create budgets for future periods, and track progress against those budgets. With ExoInsight, even users who have no prior knowledge of Essbase or PBCS can easily extract the financial and operational data and hierarchies they need from these systems. Combining the ability to easily access your data with the self-service analytics and process automation provided by the Alteryx APA Platform™ gives users the ability to provide unprecedented analysis and insights.
Once ExoInsight is installed at your organization, all you have to do is add the ExoInsight Alteryx Tool for Essbase or PBCS to your taskbar:
Drag the tool onto the Alteryx Designer canvas and the connection screen is displayed. Enter the ExoInsight URL, the Essbase or PBCS environment (server) name, and your Essbase or PBCS username and password (Essbase screenshot is displayed below):
Clicking the Connect button brings you to a screen to select your Essbase or PBCS application and cube from a drop-down menu. Both ASO and BSO cubes are supported and the functionality works exactly the same for each. Once you select your application and cube, the outline is displayed:
You can now use the outline to build the POV String for the data you want to extract from Essbase or PBCS. As you select individual members — or right-click and select set operators such as Children, Descendants, Leaves, or Siblings — the POV String is automatically built for you in the text box above.
The POV String is extremely versatile and can be as simple or complex as your requirements dictate. It supports substitution variables, attribute dimensions, UDAs, and you can even embed complex MDX statements.
The input box also supports MDX and Essbase report script syntax:
Once you have selected the data you want to pull from Essbase or PBCS, running the workflow will pull back the data in the exact format Alteryx needs to process and interface with other Alteryx tools and external systems:
Now that you have your Essbase or PBCS data pulled into the workflow, the full power of the Alteryx APA Platform is available to you.
Automation with the ExoInsight Alteryx Plug-In
All of the above functionality can be scripted in the Alteryx APA Platform as well. Instead of manually entering a username and password and manually building out the POV String, you can pipe these parameters in via a Text Input Tool, external file, or any other method you want. This enables your workflows to be completely automated.
In the below example, the workflow is prompting for a username and password, and the results are being piped into the ExoInsight Alteryx Tool along with the cube, application, and POV String:
Hierarchies
In most Essbase and PBCS applications, the metadata (dimensions, hierarchies, and associated member properties) are just as important as the data itself. The ExoInsight Alteryx Tool makes it easy to pull dimension information as well.
Simply type the name of the dimension in the text box. When you run the workflow, you will get the dimension information, including both a parent/child as well as a generational representation of the hierarchy, along with various other useful member metadata.
Power and Simplicity
ExoInsight by Casabase Software enables you to unleash the power of the Alteryx APA Platform with your Oracle Essbase and Oracle PBCS data. The ability to easily access these two mission-critical systems eliminates risk, increases efficiency, reduces cost, and enables anyone to extract value from their Alteryx and Essbase or PBCS investments.
For more information, please feel free to contact us at support@casabasesoftware.com and visit our website at www.casabasesoftware.com/alteryx.
