In an application, you must configure at least one plan type. An Essbase database is created for each plan type. You can have up to three plan types for Planning applications, and two for separate modules. You cannot change the name or number of plan types after creating an application.
As you create accounts, entities, and other elements of the application, you associate them with plan types, so the database for each plan type contains only application dimensions, members, and data values relevant to the plan type. This optimizes application design, size, and performance.
The number of plan types depends on the needs of your organization. For example, if the sales department has a yearly revenue plan, and the finance department has a P&L plan, you can define two plan types, Revenue and P&L.
Data can be shared between plan types. For example, the Revenue plan may include several sales detail accounts that roll up into a Total Product Sales account. You can configure the P&L plan to include the Total Product Sales account. This configuration enables you to bring the data value for Total Product Sales into the P&L plan, without account details. Thus, the database for your P&L plan is smaller and more efficient.
Plan type names can have up to eight characters. You can enter more than eight bytes, including single-byte and double-byte characters, but an error message displays when the Essbase database is created. If Essbase is installed on a UNIX server, the plan type name cannot contain underscore characters.
For information on Public Sector Planning and Budgeting, see the Oracle Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting User’s Guide.
To define plan types, perform one of these actions:If using the application wizard, select the plan types and enter the plan type names.
If creating the application manually, double-click the Plan 1 Name property and enter the name of the plan type. Repeat the process for additional plan types.