Glossary

See missing data.

A set of operations that a user can perform on a resource.

A property that determines how an account's value flows over time and its sign behavior. Account type options can include expense, income, asset, liability, and equity.

Software that enables a program to integrate with data and metadata from target and source systems.

A type of function, such as sum or calculation of an average, that summarizes or performs analysis on data.

The database storage model designed to support large-scale, sparsely distributed data which is categorized into many, potentially large dimensions. Upper level members and formulas are dynamically calculated, and selected data values are aggregated and stored, typically with improvements in overall aggregation time.

A table that contains alternate names for members.

A hierarchy of shared members. An alternate hierarchy is based upon an existing hierarchy in a database outline, but has alternate levels in the dimension. An alternate hierarchy allows the same data to be seen from different points of view.

A branch member that has members below it. For example, the members Qtr2 and 2006 are ancestors of the member April.

1) A software program designed to run a specific task or group of tasks such as a spreadsheet program or database management system; 2) A related set of dimensions and dimension members that are used to meet a specific set of analytical requirements, reporting requirements, or both.

A person responsible for setting up, configuring, maintaining, and controlling an application. Has all application privileges and data access permissions.

The default reporting currency for the application.

An account type that stores values that represent a company's assets.

A characteristic of a dimension member. For example, Employee dimension members may have attributes of Name, Age, or Address. Product dimension members can have several attributes, such as a size and flavor.

A text, numeric, Boolean, date, or linked-attribute type that enables different functions for grouping, selecting, or calculating data. For example, because the Ounces attribute dimension has the type numeric, the number of ounces specified as the attribute of each product can be used to calculate the profit per ounce for that product.

1) A straight line that passes through a graphic used for measurement and categorization; 2) A report aspect used to arrange and relate multidimensional data, such as filters, pages, rows, and columns. For example, for a data query in Simple Basic, an axis can define columns for values for Qtr1, Qtr2, Qtr3, and Qtr4. Row data would be retrieved with totals in the following hierarchy: Market, Product.

An account type that stores unsigned values that relate to a particular time.

The currency in which daily business transactions are performed.

An entity at the bottom of the organization structure that does not own other entities.

A simple text message sent by an administrator to a user who is logged on to a Planning application. The message details information such as system availability, notification of application refresh, or application backups.

Logical expressions or formulas that are created within an application to produce a desired set of resulting values.

A set of commands that define how a database is consolidated or aggregated. A calculation script may also contain commands that specify allocation and other calculation rules separate from the consolidation process.

A module of Enterprise Performance Management Architecture (EPMA) that Planning and Financial Management users can use to design, validate, and administrate business rules in a graphical environment. c

User-defined time periods and their relationship to each other. Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 comprise a calendar or fiscal year.

See custom-defined function.

1) The data value at the intersection of dimensions in a multidimensional database; the intersection of a row and a column in a worksheet; 2) A logical group of nodes belonging to one administrative domain.

A member with a parent above it in the database outline.

An array of servers or databases that behave as a single resource which share task loads and provide failover support; eliminates one server or database as a single point of failure in a system.

The process of aggregating data from dependent entities to parent entities. For example, if the dimension Year consists of the members Qtr1, Qtr2, Qtr3, and Qtr4, its consolidation is Year.

A block of data that contains three or more dimensions. An Essbase database is a cube.

A process that converts currency values in a database from one currency into another. For example, to convert one U. S. dollar into the European euro, the exchange rate (for example, 0.923702) is multiplied by the dollar (1* 0.923702). After conversion, the European euro amount is .92.

A dimension created and defined by users. Channel, product, department, project, or region could be custom dimensions.

Essbase calculation functions developed in Java and added to the standard Essbase calculation scripting language using MaxL. See also custom-defined macro.

A grid display that enables users to enter data into the database from an interface such as a Web browser, and to view and analyze data or related text. Certain dimension member values are fixed, giving users a specific view into the data.

In block storage databases, a dimension likely to contain data for every combination of dimension members. For example, time dimensions are often dense because they can contain all combinations of all members. Contrast with sparse dimension.

An entity that is owned by another entity in the organization.

Any member below a parent in the database outline. In a dimension that includes years, quarters, and months, the members Qtr2 and April are descendants of the member Year.

The currency to which balances are converted. You enter exchange rates and convert from the source currency to the destination currency. For example, when you convert from EUR to USD, the destination currency is USD.

A data category used to organize business data for the retrieval and preservation of values. Dimensions usually contain hierarchies of related members grouped within them. For example, a Year dimension often includes members for each time period, such as quarters and months.

A currency rate that you enter in the exchange-rate table. The direct rate is used for currency conversion. For example, to convert balances from JPY to USD, in the exchange-rate table, enter a rate for the period/scenario where the source currency is JPY and the destination currency is USD.

Navigation through the query result set using the dimensional hierarchy. Drilling down moves the user perspective from aggregated data to detail. For example, drilling down can reveal hierarchical relationships between years and quarters or quarters and months.

In Essbase, a calculation that occurs only when you retrieve data on a member that is tagged as Dynamic Calc or Dynamic Calc and Store. The member's values are calculated at retrieval time instead of being precalculated during batch calculation.

Hidden outline members that provide period-to-date reporting at up to eight levels, such as year-to-date and month-to-date totals. An administrator assigns Dynamic Time Series members to members of the time-based dimension in your database outline.

A method for mapping bit combinations to characters for creating, storing, and displaying text. Each encoding has a name; for example, UTF-8. Within an encoding, each character maps to a specific bit combination; for example, in UTF-8, uppercase A maps to HEX41. See also code page, locale.

A dimension representing organizational units. Examples: divisions, subsidiaries, plants, regions, products, or other financial reporting units.

A subdirectory of Middleware home containing the files required by EPM System products. The EPM Oracle home location is specified during installation with EPM System Installer.

A directory containing active, dynamic components of EPM System products (components that can change during run-time). You define the EPM Oracle instance directory location during configuration with EPM System Configurator.

An optional configuration file for Essbase. Administrators may edit this file to customize Essbase Server functionality. Some configuration settings may also be used with Essbase clients to override Essbase Server settings.

A command-line interface for performing Essbase operations interactively or through batch script files.

The Essbase environment variable that defines the encoding used to interpret text characters. See also encoding.

An identifier for an exchange rate. Different rate types are used because there may be multiple rates for a period and year. Users traditionally define rates at period end for the average rate of the period and for the end of the period. Additional rate types are historical rates, budget rates, forecast rates, and so on. A rate type applies to a specific time.

An account that stores periodic and year-to-date values that decrease net worth if they are positive.

Logging on to Oracle EPM System products with user information stored outside the application. The user account is maintained by the EPM System, but password administration and user authentication are performed by an external service, using a corporate directory such as Oracle Internet Directory (OID) or Microsoft Active Directory (MSAD).

The ability to switch automatically to a redundant standby database, server, or network if the primary database, server, or network fails or is shut down. A system that is clustered for failover provides high availability and fault tolerance through server redundancy and fault-tolerant hardware, such as shared disks.

A character, such as a comma or tab, that separates fields in a data source.

A constraint on data sets that restricts values to specific criteria; for example, to exclude certain tables, metadata, or values, or to control access.

An area on the desktop. Two main areas: the navigation and workspace frames.

A layer in a hierarchical tree structure that defines member relationships in a database. Generations are ordered incrementally from the top member of the dimension (generation 1) down to the child members. Use the unique generation name to identify a layer in the hierarchical tree structure.

a collection of computers that provides a single view of network services (for example, an IP address) or application services (such as databases and Web servers) to clients of these services. Each node in a hardware cluster is a standalone server that runs its own processes. These processes can communicate with one another to form what looks like a single system that cooperatively provides applications, system resources, and data to users.

A system attribute that enables an application to continue to provide services in the presence of failures. This is achieved through removal of single points of failure, with fault-tolerant hardware, as well as server clusters; if one server fails, processing requests are routed to another server.

A member with one or more children but only one that is consolidated, so the parent and child share a value.

A pass of the budget or planning cycle in which the same version of data is revised and promoted.

A client-server communication protocol used by Java-based clients and relational databases. The JDBC interface provides a call-level API for SQL-based database access.

Java Server Page.

A member that has no children.

An account type that stores "point in time" balances of a company's liabilities. Examples: accrued expenses, accounts payable, and long-term debt.

The lowest level of detail in an account.

A cell-based link to an external file such as cell notes, URLs, or files with text, audio, video, or pictures. (Only cell notes are supported for Essbase LROs in Financial Reporting.) Contrast with local report object.

Distribution of requests across a group of servers, which helps to ensure optimal end user performance.

An input currency type. When an input currency type is not specified, the local currency matches the entity's base currency.

A computer setting that specifies a location's language, currency and date formatting, data sort order, and the character set encoding used on the computer. Essbase uses only the encoding portion. See also encoding, ESSLANG.

See linked reporting object.

The multidimensional database access language for Essbase, consisting of a data definition language (MaxL DDL) and a data manipulation language (MaxL DML). See also MaxL DDL, MaxL DML, and MaxL Shell

A language used for querying and calculation in multidimensional-compliant databases.

A discrete component within a dimension. A member identifies and differentiates the organization of similar units. For example, a time dimension might include members Jan, Feb, and Qtr1.

A data load option that clears values only from the accounts specified in the data load file and replaces them with values in the data load file.

A set of data that defines and describes the properties and attributes of the data stored in a database or used by an application. Examples of metadata are dimension names, member names, properties, time periods, and security.

A directory that includes the Oracle WebLogic Server home and can also include the EPM Oracle home and other Oracle homes. A Middleware home can reside on a local file system or on a remote shared disk that is accessible through NFS.

A marker indicating that data in the labeled location does not exist, contains no value, or was never entered or loaded. For example, missing data exists when an account contains data for a previous or future period but not for the current period.

A multidimensional, multiuser, client-server computing environment for users who analyze consolidated enterprise data in real time. OLAP systems feature drill-down, data pivoting, complex calculations, trend analysis, and modeling.

The database structure of a multidimensional database, including all dimensions, members, tags, types, consolidations, and mathematical relationships. Data is stored in the database according to the structure defined in the outline.

A display of information in a grid or table often represented by the Z-axis. A page can contain data from one field, derived data from a calculation, or text.

The entities that contain one or more dependent entities that report directly to them. Because parents are entities associated with at least one node, they have entity, node, and parent information associated with them.

A user who can input and submit data, use reports that others create, execute business rules, use task lists, enable e-mail notification for themselves, and use Smart View. Planners comprise the majority of users.

A data slice at the intersection of a scenario, version, and entity; the basic unit for preparing, reviewing, annotating, and approving plan data.

A feature for setting data focus by selecting members that are not already assigned to row, column, or page axes. For example, selectable POVs in FDM could include location, period, category, and target category. In another example, using POV as a filter in Smart View, you could assign the Currency dimension to the POV and select the Euro member. Selecting this POV in data forms displays data in Euro values.

Number of decimal places displayed in numbers.

The process of granting users and groups specific access permissions to resources.

A type of database that stores data in related two-dimensional tables. Contrast with multidimensional database.

The currency used to prepare financial statements, and converted from local currencies to reporting currencies.

The means by which access permissions are granted to users and groups for resources.

The highest member in a dimension branch.

A variable that users enter or select before a business rule is run.

User-defined Planning assumptions that drive key business calculations (for example, the cost per square foot of office floor space).

Scaling determines the display of values in whole numbers, tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, and so on.

A dimension for classifying data; for example, Actuals, Budget, Forecast1, or Forecast2.

A member that shares storage space with another member of the same name, preventing duplicate calculation of members that occur multiple times in an Essbase outline.

The part of the Shared Services repository that manages EPM System deployment information for most EPM System products, including installation directories, database settings, computer names, ports, servers, URLs, and dependent service data.

A child member at the same generation as another child member and having the same immediate parent. For example, the members Florida and New York are children of East and each other's siblings.

The currency from which values originate and are converted through exchange rates to the destination currency.

In block storage databases, a dimension unlikely to contain data for all member combinations when compared to other dimensions. Contrast with dense dimension. For example, not all customers have data for all products.

A language used to process instructions to relational databases.

Calculations and assumptions from which the values of cells are derived.

A dimension member at the top of the tree in a dimension outline hierarchy, or the first member of the dimension in sort order if there is no hierarchical relationship among dimension members. If a hierarchical relationship exists, the top-level member name is generally the same as the dimension name.

A means of converting balances from one currency to another through a third common currency. For example, to convert balances from the Danish krone to the British pound, balances could be converted from the krone to the euro and from the euro to the pound.

An Essbase application wherein character text is encoded in UTF-8, enabling users with computers set up for different languages to share application data.

A nonshared member name that exists only once in a database outline.

The process of deploying a new software release and moving applications, data, and provisioning information from an earlier deployment to the new deployment.

A centralized location for user and group information, also known as a repository or provider. Popular user directories include Oracle Internet Directory (OID), Microsoft Active Directory (MSAD), and Sun Java System Directory Server.

A variable that dynamically renders data forms based on a user's member selection, displaying only the specified entity. For example, a user variable named Department displays specific departments and employees.

An attribute, associated with members of an outline to describe a characteristic of the members, that can be used to return lists of members that have the specified associated UDA.

The process of checking a business rule, report script, or partition definition against the outline to ensure that the object being checked is valid.

The difference between two values (for example, between planned and actual values).

An attribute association that changes over one or more dimensions. It can be used to track a value in relation to these dimensions; for example, the varying attribute Sales Representative, associated with the Product dimension, can be used to track the value Customer Sales of several different sales representatives in relation to the Time dimension. Varying attributes can also be used for member selection, such as finding the Products that a Sales Representative was responsible for in May.

A possible outcome used within the context of a scenario of data. For example, Budget - Best Case and Budget - Worst Case where Budget is scenario and Best Case and Worst Case are versions.