Using Oracle Data Integrator with

Essbase, Planning and the Rest of

the Oracle EPM Products
Edward Roske
eroske@interrel.com
BLOG: LookSmarter.blogspot.com
WEBSITE: www.interrel.com
TWITTER: ERoske

About interRel
2008 & 2009 Oracle Titan Award winner - EPM Solution of the
year
2008 Oracle EPM Excellence Award
2009 Oracle EPM/BI Innovation Award
One of the fastest growing companies in the world
(Inc. Magazine, 08 & 09)
Two of the three Hyperion Oracle ACE Directors in the world
Founding Hyperion Platinum Partner; now Oracle Certified Partner
Focused exclusively on Oracle Hyperion EPM software
Consulting
Training
Infrastructure and Installation
Support
Software sales
4

 5 Hyperion Books Available:

Essbase (7): Complete Guide

Essbase System 9: Complete Guide
Essbase System 9: End User Guide
Smart View 11: End User Guide
Essbase 11: Admin Guide
eBooks available on Amazon Kindle

Just out!
Hyperion Planning for End Users

Coming Soon
Hyperion Planning for Admins (days now)
Hyperion Financial Management (Q1 2010)

Copyright 2007, Hyperion. All rights reserved.

To order, check out www.lulu.com

Disclaimer

These slides represent the work and opinions of the

presenter and do not constitute official positions of Oracle
or any other organization.
This material has not been peer reviewed and is presented
here with the permission of the presenter.
This material should not be reproduced without the written
permission of interRel Consulting.

Agenda

What is ODI?
A Real World Example ODI and Planning
ODI Demo
A glimpse into the concepts
Tips
Getting Started
Questions and Answers

What is ODI?

Oracle Data Integrator

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Overview

Integration tool that replaces HAL and DIM

Used to move and transform information across systems
Processes are based on metadata of existing systems
Only metadata is stored in ODI, not data
Sometimes referred to as Sunopsis

How is ODI used with EPM applications?

Interface metadata and data between source data systems

Build dimensions
Load data
Transfer data across files and relational databases and the
EPM applications
All supported with Hyperion Planning, Financial
Management and Essbase
Not supported with EPMA

Oracle ODI to EPM Functionality

Planning

Essbase

HFM

Metadata
discovery &
model creation

Load data

P
P
O
O

P
P
P
P

P
P
P
P

Load Metadata
Extract data
Extract
metadata
Other

Refresh to
Essbase

Calc, post and

pre MaxL
scripts

Consolidate

Marketing Message

Three main points:

Extract-Load & Transform (E-LT) architecture
Removes ETL server from infrastructure
USP = Native target database performs
transformations
Declarative Design
Developer define the rules, ODI:
Writes the data flows
Manages the data flow complexity
Writes the behind-the-scenes code

Knowledge Modules
Similar to HAL adapters
Talks (and almost always writes) to almost everything

A Real World Integration with ODI

1

GL
SAP

Accounts /
Entities

DW
Oracle

Planning
Fcst Data

Consolidated
Results

Accounts /
Entities

HFM

Essbase

Accounts /
Entities
Sales by
Customer
DB

Customer Dimension
Sales by Customer Data
8

MaxL Run Allocations,

Aggregate Data, etc

ODI Demo

A Glimpse

ODI Components and Concepts

ODI Components
Source Systems

Target Systems

ODI
(ELT) ExtractLoad-Transform

ODI Components
Topology Manager
Configure Architecture /
Infrastructure of source
& target technologies

Security Manager

Designer

Master
Repository

Work
Repository

(Infrastructure)

(Interfaces)

Design & execute metadata

models and interfaces to move
data across systems

Maintain ODI Security

Operator
Monitor Sessions
Review errors

Agent
Coordinates
communication &
scheduling

Metadata Navigator
Web access to
mettadata repository

Components
GUI

Purpose

Users

Repository

Administrators
Developers
Operators

Designer

Reverse Engineer
Develop Projects
Release Scenarios

Developers
Metadata Administrators

Operator

Operate Production
Monitor Sessions

Production Operators

Topology
Manager

Physical and Logical

Architecture of the
infrastructure (servers,
schemas and agents)

Infrastructure Administrators

Security
Manager

User privileges

Security Administrators

Configuration Info
Metadata
OLTP RDBMS
Sunopsis Infrastructure

Deployment
Typically have 1 Master Repository that talks to multiple
Work Repository (Dev, Test & Prod).
Can set the production work repository to execution only

Topology
Security
Versioning
Master
Repository
(Infrastructure)

Work
Repository
\
(s) \
(Interfaces)

Models
Projects
Execution

Topology Manager

Representation of the Information System

Connect to resources for integration purposes
Contains:
Physical Architecture
Data Server
Physical Schemas and Physical Agents
Logical Architecture (logical schemas & logical agents)
Contexts Links logical and physical architectures
Repositories Master and attached work repositories
Languages - different types of languages available

A Sample Topology
Logical Architecture
dbo.database
MSSQL

Rep.App1
Essbase

Rep.App2
Essbase

PlanSamp.
Consol
Planning

FinOp.Plan
1
Planning

C:\ODI\File
File

Physical Architecture
Windows Machine X
(Development Environment)

Essbase

DW
dbo.databa
se

Rep.App1

Source
Files

Windows Machine Y
(Production Environment)

Planning
PlanSamp.
Consol

C:\ODI\File
Rep.App2

DW
dbo.databa
se

FinOp.Plan
1

Data Server

Physical Schema

Logical Schema

Physical Agents

Windows Machine Z
(Production Environment)

Essbase

Planning

Rep.App1

PlanSamp.
Consol

Source
Files
C:\ODI\File

Rep.App2
FinOp.Plan
1

Logical Agents

Languages

Languages used to generate code for the specific

technologies

Designer

Designer includes:
Models Metadata for your source and target systems
Projects - Integrations that move data from your source
and target systems
Interfaces
Packages
Procedures
Variables
Knowledge Modules
The Designer module stores this information in a work
repository, references the topology and the security
information defined in the master repository.

Designing an Interface
Before you start building an interface you:
Import Knowledge Modules into the project
Create your Metadata Models
Then in the interface you:
Define your source and target
Define the mapping and translations (business rules)
Define the flow requirements
Execute
To automate execution, move on to:
Packages
Procedures
Variables
Sequencing

Knowledge Modules

Knowledge Modules (KMs) are components with built in

knowledge (functions and logic) that connect technologies
to ODI.
Similar to HAL Adapters, but many more connection
options.
KMs connect to the technology, extract data from it,
transform the data, check it, integrate it, etc.
You can find a complete list of KMs at
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle-dataintegrator/10.1.3/htdocs/documentation/oracledi_km_refer
ence.pdf

Knowledge Modules

Interfaces

LKM (Loading Knowledge Modules) are used to extract

data from the source database tables and other systems
(files, middleware, mainframe, etc.).
IKM (Integration Knowledge Modules) are used to
integrate (load) data to the target system.
CKM (Check Knowledge Modules) are used to check that
constraints on the sources and targets are not violated.
.

Knowledge Modules
Models
RKM (Reverse Knowledge Modules) are used to perform a
customized reverse-engineering of data models for a
specific technology.
JKM (Journalizing Knowledge Modules) are used to create
a journal of data modifications (insert, update and delete)
of the source databases to keep track of the changes.

Knowledge Modules
Others
SKM (Service Knowledge Modules) are used to generate
the code required for creating dataservices.

An Example: Hyperion Planning Model

Dimensions

Planning
Metadata

An Example: Hyperion Essbase Model

Dimensions
Essbase
Metadata

Interfaces

An ODI object which loads one target data store with data
from one or more sources, based on business rules
implemented as mappings

Inside the Interface: Mappings

More on Mappings

Execute
On
Expression
Editor
Target
Column

Update

Multiple Sources, Joins and Filters

Joins (similar to Joins in RDMS)

Links multiple data sources together
Uses SQL Clauses
Multiple sources in a single interface must be connected
with a join.
Create joins by dragging and dropping columns together
Alternatively, you can use the expression editor to add
them manually
Advanced joins
Connect models from different technologies or model /
schemas. (Heterogeneous Join)
Connect 2 or more datastores

Join Definition

SQL
Syntax
Specify
Join type

Use ISO-92 Syntax,

Join Order, Autocalculate Order

Filter

Reduce amount of data

processed by the interface
by applying a filter.
Funnel icon represents
filter applied on the source
Use the Expression Editor
or manually type in the
SQL.
Test filter, right-click and
select Data.

Expression Editor

Flow Tab

SUNOPSIS_MEMORY_ENGINE

SUNOPSIS_MEMORY_ENGINE sits between source and

target
Temporary staging area that is created during interfaces to
facilitate mapping and translation
Not recommended for large data sets for performance
reasons
Can be difficult to debug
We recommend configuring a separate staging area

Operator: Checking Status

Automation

Packages - Group of steps to complete a workflow.

Can include:
Interfaces
OS Commands
Procedures
Workflow can include error trapping and email status
notifications
Scenarios can schedule as a scenario or call a scenario
from a batch file
Variables - can have variables defined to pass parameters
(i.e. file name, current month, etc.)

Create Error Log Files in the Interface

Enable logging in
the interface in the
files to obtain more
details or send
information to a
text file for use in
debugging.

Errors

Errors are not always ODI errors, they are typically being
sent from other technologies (Oracle EPM in our case)
You will begin to see commonality of errors but they are
not always descriptive or useful.
Plan extra time for debugging interfaces

Real Life Tips

Tips General Information

Good sources of information:
interRel 3 day ODI and EPM training class (available
this fall)
OTN Forum:
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=3
74
http://john-goodwin.blogspot.com/
Get the 10.1.3.5 release
No patching required for Essbase, Planning, and HFM
Available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/od
i/index.html

Design and Development Tips

Whiteboard the Topology before configuring in ODI
Standardize naming conventions for topology components
Incorporate as many error logs and error trapping
processes as possible.
Consider using a staging area versus Sunopsis Memory
Engine. This will allow performance optimization and error
resolution.
If the source is a relational database, perform as many
translations in a view as possible.

Design and Development Tips

Recommend against using comma as a file delimiter for
source files. Use | or !.
Versus loading Essbase Data with ODI, write a MaxL to
load data to Essbase and add it as a step in the ODI
package.
Plan extra development time, learning curve is steep and it
is more complex than HAL.

Project Tasks: Getting Started

Plan the scope, identify source and target

Establish success criteria
Identify the resources
Define the Topology
Define your Models
Create Interfaces
Unit Testing
Automate with Packages
Schedule with Scenarios
Integration Testing
Deploy

How long will take?

No short answer, depends on the complexity of the

interface. If this is the first time, allow ample time to debug
issues.
Minimize risk by:
Working with infrastructure team for connectivity issues
Keeping data transformations simple or nonexistent in the
initial development (prototype)
Then consider the opportunities to automate translations or
business rules
Plan out your topology on a whiteboard first! It is critical to
understand what links to what to avoid silly mistakes.
Use Relational Sources where possible.

OTHER

Security Manager

Separate from Shared Services

Manage security for all ODI modules
Create Users & Profiles
Assign access
ODI Objects (data servers, projects, etc)
Methods (Edit, Create, Delete)
Servers

Metadata Navigator

J2EE application that provides web access to the

repositories
View Flow maps, trace the source of all data and drill down
to field level
Possible to trigger and monitor processing jobs from a web
browser using this tool
By default, installed on Jakarta Tomcat Application Server

Oracle Data Profiling and Quality

Integrator extends data quality features of Oracle Data

Integrator to provide more advanced data governance
capabilities.
Data Cleansing
Duplicates
Parsing
Data Enrichment
User driven rules
Integrated with ODI

ODI and EPM Training

Coming Soon from interRel Training!

Introduction to ODI for EPM Administrators

This class will be useful for administrators or developers that
will design, develop and / or deploy data integrations that
update Essbase, Planning or HFM with ODI.
Includes several hours of hands on workshops !!!

Thank You.

Edward Roske
eroske@interrel.com
BLOG: LookSmarter.blogspot.com
WEBSITE: www.interrel.com
TWITTER: ERoske