Automation Nation

RJ Linehan&

Pete Cammisa

Today’s Agenda• Company Profile• Citizens of the Automation Nation• Process Automation• History Lesson• EPMA Automation• LCM Automation• History Lesson Learned• Essbase Automation - MaxL• Questions

Company Profile – Innovus Partners

• Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management• Oracle Gold Partner• Oracle Certified Specialists• Based in the NY Tri-State Area• Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Speaker Biography – RJ Linehan

• 12+ Years Consulting in the Oracle Hyperion EPM Space

• 40+ Projects Completed• Essbase and Planning Certified• Favorite Automation Tool

MaxL Scripting

Speaker Biography – Pete Cammisa

• 4+ Years Consulting in the Oracle EPM Space• 15+ Projects Completed• Essbase and Planning Certified• Favorite Automation Tool

EPMA Batch Client

Process Automation – What is it?• Process

Method for executing a set of related tasks to achieve a desired outcome

• Automation Streamlining a method through a means other than manual

execution

• Process Automation Using a tool or utility, an approach that applies automation to

a process to ensure the process achieves the desired outcome

Process Automation – What is it?• Business Requirement – The Need

Support the reporting of FY12 P&L actuals by months

• Process Flow – The What Export FY12 P&L actuals from PeopleSoft GL Create and copy flat file with data export to Essbase server Load flat file to Essbase Execute aggregation in Essbase

• Automation Flow - The How Execute scheduled Control-M job Execute SQL script against PS GL Execute batch copy command to copy file to Essbase server Execute MaxL command to load and calc Essbase

Process Flow Automation Flow Control-M Job Source System Source Server Source Job Name Source Flat File Source File Location Target System Target Server Target Job Name Target Load File Target File Location Target Load RuleLoad CY Actuals Load PS Actuals PS-ESS-Act PeopleSoft GL PS-PROD ExpCYAct.sql ExpCYAct.txt \\PS-PROD\data P&L Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSAct.bat ExpCYAct.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad PY Actuals Load PS Actuals PS-ESS-Act PeopleSoft GL PS-PROD ExpPYAct.sql ExpPYAct.txt \\PS-PROD\data P&L Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSAct.bat ExpPYAct.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad PY-1 ActualsLoad PS Actuals PS-ESS-Act PeopleSoft GL PS-PROD ExpPY-1Act.sql ExpPY-1Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data P&L Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSAct.bat ExpPY-1Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad PY-2 ActualsLoad PS Actuals PS-ESS-Act PeopleSoft GL PS-PROD ExpPY-2Act.sql ExpPY-2Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data P&L Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSAct.bat ExpPY-2Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad PY-3 ActualsLoad PS Actuals PS-ESS-Act PeopleSoft GL PS-PROD ExpPY-3Act.sql ExpPY-3Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data P&L Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSAct.bat ExpPY-3Act.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad CY HR Load PS HR PS-ESS-HR PeopleSoft HR PS-PROD ExpCYHR.sql ExpCYHR.txt \\PS-PROD\data WF Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSHR.bat ExpCYHR.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rulLoad PY HR Load PS HR PS-ESS-HR PeopleSoft HR PS-PROD ExpPYHR.sql ExpPYHR.txt \\PS-PROD\data WF Cube ESS-PROD LoadPSHR.bat ExpPYHR.txt \\PS-PROD\data L_ACT.rul

Source Target

Process Automation Documentation

Process Automation – Why use it?

• Frees up limited resources in the organization• Eliminates or minimizes errors in the process• Adds structure and stability to the process• Introduces reliability to the process• Creates opportunities to improve the process

Provides audit trail Increases security Supports user notification

Process Automation – Goals

• Identify when process automation is warranted• Leverage native tools to minimize complexity• Build a solution that promotes standardization• Avoid a solution with the following characteristics

Lacks core functionality such as error handling and notification

Hinders migration across environments Provides instability to the process

History Lesson• Company X

Oracle Hyperion EPM Shop for 8 Years Manually-driven on-demand EPM environment Lack of task knowledge with regards to processes supporting

EPM environment Lack of communication and understanding between functional

and technical resources Current environment negatively impacts stability of

management reporting cycles Resources supporting EPM environment are reactive instead of

proactive

EPMA Automation• EPMA Batch Client

The EPMA Batch Client operates in two modes:o Command line mode is an interactive modeo Script mode is an automated, lights-out mode

o Script mode requires 2 parts:o Batch File to call Command Fileo Command file to execute actions

The EPMA Batch client takes the place of a number of different existing tools (i.e. OutlineLoadUtility)

This is the native utility to automate EPMA processes. Unfortunately there is no native password encoding utility as exists for

the Planning utilities.

Process Overview

Source• Flat File• Interface Tables• DRM

EPMA• Shared Library• Local Application

Dimensions

Application• Essbase

(BSO/ASO)• Planning• HFM• HPCM

BATCH

CLIENT

BATCH

CLIENT

EPMA Automation

• EPMA Batch Client Some key processes that can be automated:

o Create applications, databases, dimensions, memberso Deploy / re-deploy applications and databaseso Copy applications and dimensionso Import dimensions to an application or the shared libraryo Create associationso Validate applicationso Execute data synchronizationo Delete applications, associations, dimensions, members

EPMA Automation• Batch file that calls a command file

Call the epma-batch-client.bat -C = Pass the Command file -R = Specify the location of the results file -L (on/off) = Log the commands (default is off) -S (true/false) = Stops the script on failure (default is true) -U = Username -P = Password

EPMA Automation

• Command file for importing meta-data from an ADS file to an application• Imports can also be done from an Interface Table source as well as a

DRM source.

EPMA Automation

• Command file for re-deploying an application, for example after meta-data is updated

EPMA Automation• Example of a results file, where if produced, error codes can be found. Note

that you can also view the progress in the Library Job console via Workspace.

LCM Automation

• The Life Cycle Management Utility Command-line utility that allows for hands-off or lights-out

processing of LCM migrations Ideally this utility can be used for automated backups as well

as automated migrations* There are 2 pieces required for the utility to run:

o A batch/command file to initiate the utilityo A migration definition file to define the migration itself

• The batch/command file is used to initiate the utility and pass the migration definition file. Below is a basic example. Other batch scripting features can and should be included for logging, error-checking, etc.

LCM Automation

LCM Automation

• The Migration Definition file: Specifies the who, what, where and how. Can be generated via the GUI in Shared Services or manually

created as an XML. A good practice to follow would be to use the GUI to

generate an XML for a starting point and modify, re-use the file going forward.

The LCM utility will automatically encrypt the password on the first run.

LCM Automation• Here is an example of a migration definition file used to export the Native

Directory from Shared services to the file system, perhaps for backup purposes.

LCM Automation• Here is an example of a migration definition file used to export the planning

application “Samp_Pln” to the file system, perhaps for backup purposes or to be moved into another environment.

Key Benefit of LCM Automation

• Incremental Backup and Restore of EPM Artifacts Similar to file-based backup of Essbase Object files Applying similar approach allows for efficient

recovery of artifacts Less dependence on organization’s infrastructure

team to restore backup NOT a Replacement for RDBMS Backups for EPM

Repositories

History Lesson Learned

• Company X Better understanding of processes in EPM environment that

drive management reporting cycles Improved communication between functional and technical

resources Identified key processes that could be automated through

scheduled and on-demand jobs Improved stability through the elimination of manual processes Approach to maintaining the EPM environment has become

more of a proactive task

Essbase Automation - MaxL

• Export Outline Statement Exports meta data from an Essbase outline to an XML file Supports both BSO and ASO outlines Supports selective dimensional export Supports alternate alias tables

Essbase Automation - MaxL

• Execute Allocation Statement Allocate source data to a

target range of cells in an ASO database

Leverages MDX to define members sets for source and target

Limited drivers for spreading data

Essbase Automation - MaxL• Execute Calculation Statement

Performs a calculation against an ASO database based on a script defined in MDX

Automation Nation – Useful Links• EPMA Batch Client

http://bit.ly/epmabatch

• LCM Utility (Navigate to ‘Using Life Cycle Management Utility’ Section) http://bit.ly/lcmutil

• Essbase Technical Reference (Navigate to MaxL Section) http://bit.ly/esstechref

• Oracle Magazine, “Using Oracle Essbase Release 11.1.2 Aggregate Storage Option Databases” http://bit.ly/OracleMagASO

• Innovus Partners Blog http://bit.ly/invprtblog

RJ Linehanrj@innovuspartners.com

Pete Cammisapete@innovuspartners.com