Many of you used the Essbase ribbon I built 10+ years ago. I have been asked by many to build a similar ribbon for Smart View. Today I am introducing the Power Adhoc Ribbon. It has all the bells and whistles of the old ribbon completely re-engineered for Smart View. There is a nominal fee, but you can try it for free. Some of the awesome features are summarized below.

The Power Adhoc Ribbon has it’s own website where you can get updates, download the most recent version, and read more about what the options and future enhancements. Head over to the Power Adhoc website for all the details.

• Refreshing worksheets is the cornerstone of any adhoc reporting. We put refresh on steroids. You can refresh the worksheet or all the worksheets in the workbook, but we added even more. The ribbon has two other options that let you refresh with suppression on or off, without changing your Smart View settings.
• We know you change your aliases all the time. Now it sits on the ribbon to toggle it on the fly. Change between no aliases and the default aliases whenever you want, quickly and efficiently.
• The ribbon also includes quick options to change your aliases between default and none. It doesn’t stop there. You can also toggle your formatting between Excel and Cell Styles.
• Now, all your most commonly edited worksheet settings are on the ribbon, including zoom, suppression, and retention. When you change worksheets, the ribbon automatically updates to reflect the current worksheet settings.
• What do you do when you want to distribute those workbooks with Smart View functions? Zap will remove all the functions in your worksheet or workbook with the values they return and leave any Excel formulas.
• How many times have you wanted to duplicate a worksheet and been frustrated because it doesn’t copy your settings and connection? That is now a thing of the past. The worksheet duplicator will copy any worksheet and include the connection and worksheet settings.
• The Power Adhoc ribbon adds a complete template management vehicle. Commonly used worksheets can be saved in groupings and reused at a later time by opening them right from the ribbon. Group them by application, purpose, or however you want. Templates can be starter adhocs or standard reports. You manage your templates and how they are organized. Your templates can be renamed, reorganized, or removed at any time.
• Power Options allows you to show/hide the options you want. You no longer need to see the options that aren’t relevant to you.
• Because you maintain your subscription, we can easily let you know when updates are released.  As soon as any improvements are available, you will be the first to know.
• Not everything on the ribbon will be new to you. To reduce the need to toggle between ribbons, the most commonly used options from Smart View are included.
• To reduce the learning curve, every option has a power tooltip that explains its purpose.
• By having a subscription, you get all the updates and you decide what enhancements are prioritized. If there is an enhancement you need, ask for it.
• Many operations, like refreshing and submitting, can sometimes take longer than you expect. Just to make sure you can monitor those requests, we notify you how long it took by updating Excel Status Bar.

For years, people have asked me to build a new ribbon to supplement Smart View that replicates the functionality I have in my Essbase Ribbon.  Multiple people have hacked into it and made it their own.  One company is selling it.  For that reason, I had zero interest in doing it again.  Time has passed, and here I am, building a ribbon.  It will again have common functions in one place, as well as some additional ones, like

• Copy a worksheet that includes all the Smart View settings and connection information
• HS Zapper function that will replace any cell with one of the HS functions with the value it returns for all you folks that use HSGet and its sister and brother functions.
• Template manager that will allow you to create/manage/update templates, whether they be complicated workbooks, or just starting points for a new adhoc
• A connection manager that will automatically log you in to an environment
  • Maybe a Shared Connection switcher to easily toggle environments
• A bulk copy/paste option that to put in the POVs
• Functions like retrieve with suppression, retrieve without suppression, so you don’t have to constantly change the options

This will not be written as a VBA addin.  It will be a full-blown DLL written in C# to optimize security and performance.  It will come with an installation process that will allow easy installation updates.

If you would like to be a beta tester, I am looking for 20-30 people.  If you are interested, send me a message through the contact option at In2hyperion.com.  I will include people up to the a limit to make it somewhat reasonable to manage feedback.  If you want to ensure inclusion, let me know ASAP.  It will be first come, first serve. It will be ready in weeks.

This is what you can expect as a starting point.

I don’t normally write up monthly updated, but this month there are a number of intriguing changes/updates/enhancements that are important to know.  Some may change existing processes.  This is not an exhaustive list, but these are things I think all of us should take note of.

The changes that you will see in the UI may not be visible unless you clear your cache.

EPMAutomate

• You MAC users are going to like this, it can now be installed and work on a MAC. By the way, I am one of them.  I can’t wait until the beta is finished for the Smart View to work with office360, meaning MAC, Ipad, etc.
• You can now run multiple instances of EPMAutomate. So, logging out of one will not log you out of the other.  This will help those that want to run test and prod on one VM.  It will also remove any issue of one process stepping on another.
• Admin mode can be enabled with EPMAutomate, which was a huge missing piece, in my opinion.
• A sortMember command to order members in dimensions is now available.

Forms

• No more composite forms, sorry guys!

Smart Push

• There is a new Smart Push option called Use Database Suppression that enables you to apply row suppression at the database level instead of at the application level, thus eliminating the impact on query thresholds and improving Smart Push wait times.

Settings

• There is a new setting to set the accounts that are linked between plan types to false. This will use the  a new attribute of HSP_LINK (not HSP_NOLINK).

Groovy

• We now have the ability to use the new suppression option on the data map / smart push. This will improve performance and reduce the need to break up pushes in groups of members.
• Groovy can now run jobs. This means a rule can execute other jobs within that rule.  They show as tasks in the job console.  This is limited to the execution of rules, rulesets, and templates.
• All RTPs are now supported in ASO.

Smart View (AMEN on some of these as us old timers will love) – You will want to download the updated version to take advantage of these.

• In-grid, cell-based POV—POV members are placed on the grid instead of in the POV toolbar.
• Submit without refresh—Using the default Submit Data button in the Smart View ribbon, all data cells in a single grid (modified cells and unchanged cells) are marked dirty and submitted. Once the submit operation is complete, the entire grid will be refreshed.
• Enhanced free-form—Users can insert empty columns and rows anywhere in a grid and change the alias table. Additionally, supports member auto-refresh where deleted members are returned to the grid upon refresh.
• Multiple-grid ad hoc—Multiple ad hoc grids can be placed on the same Excel worksheet. With multiple-grid ad hoc, users can submit data from any grid on the sheet. Grids based on aggregate storage cubes and block storage cubes are supported on the same sheet. Each grid is independent; for example, if required, you can change the alias table for only one grid on the sheet.
• Users will now get a warning when the version installed is out of date. Hopefully this can be turned off!

General

• Jobs can now have a new return, success with warnings. An example of this might be loading data.  The job finished successfully but there were rejected records.  Make sure your automation accounts for this!

DM

• There is now an option to not run the validation when data is loaded. For those of you that despise the performance challenges of using DM, this might be a game changer.  The longest part of the process is the actual validation, not the import or export to Planning.

Modules in ePBCS

• Rolling forecast can now be configured for length.
• There were some critical bugs that were fixed in WFP (I know first-hand).
• Some CapX forms were improved as well.

There is a new, and often requested, option added to Smart View.  If you use drill through to Data Management (PBCS) or FDMEE (On Prem), download the most recent release of Smart View.  We, as users, now have the option to change where the result of our drill through queries is returned.  Users can either be asked where the result should be displayed, have it displayed in your browser, or (drum roll) have another tab created that holds the results in Excel.

Change Your Option

This isn’t a complicated or drawn out explanation, but it is sexy!  To change where the results are displayed, go to your Smart View ribbon and click Options to open the dialogue.  Select the Advanced tab on the left and scroll down just a tad.  You will see an option for Drill-Through Launch.  The 3 options previously mentioned are available.  This removes one of the biggest user frustrations regarding drill-through reporting and will surely make a lot of people happy.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

It works just as you would expect, but here is the proof.  When you open a retrieve and connect to the application, right click on a cell.  Click on Drill-through as you always have.

If the data has more detailed data available, a new worksheet will be created in your workbook with the results if you have chosen the In New Sheet option.

Not Much Else To Cover

That is it.  There isn’t much else to say, but this is a great and frequently requested feature.  We can finally provide a good answer.

Absolutely you can drill through to the detail and have it returned in Excel.

As always, post a comment if you have something to share with the community or have additional questions about this topic.

No, But Can It Solve Yours?

I received a lot of positive feedback on the Groovy Series and have been asked a many great questions.  People are excited about the improvements but are still a little hesitant to buy in to the hype.  They question, and rightfully so, 

1. are the performance gains really as positive as I have stated, and
2. is the functionality that can be added to improve a user’s experience really available, and
3. can it improve the validity of the data input as much as I have said it does?

Challenge Accepted!

If you have a challenge, performance issues, or missing functionality that you desperately need in Data Forms, post a quick comment with a summary about what you are facing.  Please enter a valid email so I can contact you directly with any questions.  Don’t worry, your email will remain confidential!

I am going to try to pick one situation every week or two and provide some alternatives with Groovy that will solve, or improve the problem you are facing.

I encourage you to

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Good luck on your quest to make Hyperion Planning a better experience for all of your users!

Introduction

I know you can argue this is a user issue and a training issue, but the fact is, sometimes people will save a form without editing any data.  There are at least three negative issues as a result.  One, the business rules and smart pushes execute, consuming unnecessary resources.  Two, users may think they made changes and expect changes in the results.  Three, if the processes are time consuming (like applying allocations or currency rates globally), the user will have to wait to correct the issue.  There is a very simple way to stop all the processes from executing and inform the user that they haven’t made any changes.

The Code

The following will provide a template to use to accomplish the interruption of the form save.  The messageBundle can be altered to be whatever is required and in as many languages as needed.  If this is new to you, read Part 13 of this series.

//Setup Message Bundle
def mbUs = messageBundle( ["validation.NoDataChanged":"No data was altered so no business logic was executed."])
def mbl = messageBundleLoader(["en" : mbUs])

//Create the grid and iterator objects
DataGrid curgrid = operation.getGrid()
GridIterator itr = curgrid.getDataCellIterator(PredicateUtils.invokerPredicate("isEdited"))
// Throw an exception if no cells are edited
if(!curgrid.empty && !itr.hasNext() ){throwVetoException(mbl, "validation.NoDataChanged")}

A second option would be to count the cells that have been edited.  One reason to show this, as it is not my first choice, is that it could be altered for another purpose.  If the number of cells edited is required, this could be used to count them.

def iCount = 0 

//Setup Message Bundle 
def mbUs = messageBundle( ["validation.NoDataChanged":"No data was altered so no business logic was executed."])
def mbl = messageBundleLoader(["en" : mbUs]) 

//Iterate through the edited cells
operation.grid.dataCellIterator({DataCell cell -> cell.edited}).each { iCount +=1 }

// Throw an exception if no cells are edited
if(iCount == 0) { throwVetoException(mbl, "validation.NoDataChanged") }

Implementing On A Form

Once the code is save as a business rule, add it to any form and run it BEFORE SAVE.  This example assumes the code above is saved as GP – IsEdited.

As long as it is set to run before save and there are no cells on the form that have been altered, the user will get an error that displays whatever the message bundle represents.

Summary

This isn’t going to change your life, or make a drastic improvement for your users.  But, it is a simple thing that is easy to implement that will add some polish to your application.  If you have found other ways to use Groovy Calculations to add some polish to your application, please share with a comment.

If you are a fan of the HSGetValue and HSSetValue, you probably are using a private connection. As you know, anybody that uses the template has to either change the connection string to their own predefined private connection, or set up a private connection with the same name. When dealing with inexperience users, both methods can be problematic.

You may be surprised to know that the Get and Set Value functions can use a shared connection.Rather than using the private connection name, the following can be specified to use a shared connection in place of the private connection name.

Private connection syntax:
HsGetValue(“PrivateConnectionName”,”POV”)
HsSetValue (dollar amount,”PrivateConnectionName”,”POV”)

Shared connection syntax:

HsGetValue(“WSFN|ProviderType|Server|Application|Database”,”POV”)
HsSetValue (dollar amount,”WSFN|ProviderType|Server|Application|Database”,”POV”)

Parameter Summary

• “WSFN” is a static string and never changes
• The provider type for planning is “HP” regardless of whether the server is a cloud server or on premise server
• The server specifies the location of the server housing the application. For PBCS, use the URL provided by Oracle (planning-test-domain.pbcs.us2.oraclecloud.com)
• The application is the application name
• The database is the plan type, or database name

Put that all together and the string looks like this.
WSFN|HP|planning-test-A12345.pbcs.us2.oraclecloud.com|Finance|Revenue

Conclusion

Although there are a few drawbacks to using a shared connection (users could use the wrong connection and not get the expected result), my experience has been that the pros (no setup of private connections, can be used in multiple environments without changing anything, etc.) far outweigh the cons.

Overview

If you have ever used custom functions in Excel, depending on the complexity of them, you have probably run into an issue where the accuracy of the results was sporadic. There is a quick solution.Use CTRL ALT SHIFT F9.

The lengthier explanation from Microsoft explains that the calculation of worksheets in Excel can be viewed as a three-stage process:

• Construction of a dependency tree
• Construction of a calculation chain
• Recalculation of cell

With the introduction of complex VBA functions, the default calculation can produce inaccurate results because it doesn’t evaluate the dependency tree and calculation chain correctly.

So, if you have this issue, the most complete and thorough (and time consuming) calculation can be initiated by clicking CTRL ALT SHIFT F9. This forces the dependency tree to be rebuilt and recalculates the entire workbook. There are several levels in forcing Excel to calculate.

F9

Recalculates all cells that Excel has marked as dirty, that is, dependents of volatile or changed data, and cells programmatically marked as dirty. If the calculation mode is Automatic Except Tables, this calculates those tables that require updating and also all volatile functions and their dependents.
VBA: Application.Calculate

SHIFT F9

Recalculates the cells marked for calculation in the active worksheet only.
VBA: ActiveSheet.Calculate

CTRL ALT F9

Recalculates all cells in all open workbooks. If the calculation mode is Automatic Except Tables, it forces the tables to be recalculated.
VBA: Application.CalculateFull

CTRL ALT SHIFT F9

Causes Excel to rebuild the dependency tree and the calculation chain for a given workbook and forces a recalculation of all cells that contain formulas.
VBA: Workbooks(reference).ForceFullCalculation (introduced in Excel 2007)

References

• Microsoft.com Article
• Microsoft Article (PDF)

No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. The grid lines don’t align with the row headers. It is very slight on smaller forms, but forms with hundreds of rows compounds the issue. The further down the grid, the more of an issue the offset is.

If you have ever seen this issue and pulled your hair out trying to figure out why it happens with some users and not others, fixing it is embarrassingly (now that I know) easy. Change the zoom in IE back to 100%!

Take a look at the bottom right area of IE.  If you see that the zoom is NOT 100%, select the View / Zoom / 100% menu.

Hopefully this will save you some time if you ever run accross this issue.

The newest release of Smart View (Release 11.1.2.1.102) includes many helpful, long-awaited features sure to both enhance the end-user experience and increase productivity. Many of the new features are examined below while a complete list and their descriptions can be found here.

Ad Hoc Operations in Multiple Cells

Previous versions of Smart View limited users to cell level ad-hoc operations. For example; say you wanted to ‘Zoom In’ on a member, Smart View limited this action to a single cell (single member). The newest version allows users to select a range of cells before performing an action allowing for quicker answers. Multi-cell actions such as Zoom In, Zoom Out, Keep Only and Remove Only are now permitted.  

Member Information

End users of Smart View often struggled to find additional information pertaining to members of a dimension from which they queried. This problem has been remedied with the new ‘Member Information’ button located in the Essbase ribbon. When focused on a single Essbase member, users can click the Member Information button and be presented with multiple member properties such as:

• Dimension Name
• Member Level
• Member Generation
• Parent/Child Name
• Consolidation Operator
• Alias Tables
• Alias Names
• Attributes
• Formulas
• Comments
• User Defined Attributes (UDAs)

Linked Objects

End users with proper access can now add/ access ‘Linked Reporting Objects’ and ‘Linked Partitions’. Having Linked Reporting Object access allows for cells notes, external files and URLs to be linked to Smart View data cells for reference. Access to Linked Partitions enables connection between 2 separate databases. This allows users to navigate database ”A” while connected to database “B”, opening up additional data analysis opportunities.

Displaying Member Names and Aliases

Previous versions of Smart View generated a common complaint centered on the display of member names versus aliases. Essbase and Planning users familiar with the Essbase Add-In were accustomed to displaying both member names and aliases in a retrieve. These users had become frustrated by Smart View’s inability to function similarly. This problem has been fixed with Oracle’s latest release whereas users now have the option to display member names and their aliases, side-by-side, on retrieves.

POV Toggle

The ‘POV Toggle’ button allows end-users the ability to move dimensions from the Smart View POV Toolbar to row one, thus placing all dimensions on the grid. Users familiar with the Essbase Add-In will appreciate this functionality, allowing ‘power users’ quicker retrieve setup times. This can easily be switched back with the click of the POV Toggle button.

Sheet Level Options

Previously, all Smart View specified Options were global in nature. Options found in the ‘Options’ dialog box including ‘Member Options’, ‘Data Options’ and ‘Formatting Options’ are now sheet specific, allowing for multiple sheets to function with their own definitions. This means ‘Sheet 1’ could drill to the bottom level and display only member names while ‘Sheet 2’ could drill to the next level and display the combination of member name and alias. Note that options found in ‘Advanced Options’, ‘Cell Styles’ and ‘Extensions’ remain global in nature.

Butterfly Reporting

One of the commonly used features of Financial Reporting involves the use of ‘Butterfly’ reporting. Butterfly reports display a column of dimensional members between two columns of data.

New Zoom Options

Users now have additional ‘Zoom’ options including:

• Same Level
• Sibling Level
• Same Generation
• Formulas (retrieve data for all members that are defined by the formula of the selected member)

Submit Data without Refreshing

Gone is the requirement to refresh a grid prior to submitting data while in Free-Form mode.

As noted above, this review includes many, but not all new features released with Smart View 11.1.2.1.102. Please visit Oracle for a complete list and description of each new feature.