Reuse a Data Flow

In a data flow, you can add parameters so that users can specify the data source and output dataset to use at runtime.

  1. On the Home page, click Navigator, then Data, then Data Flows.
  2. Open your data flow.
  3. In the Step editor pane, select the parameter prompt options to your steps.

    You can add parameters to the steps Add Data, Save Data, and Create Essbase Cube.

  4. To specify the datasource at runtime, in an Add Data step, select the When Run Prompt to select Dataset option then provide the Name and Prompt values for the parameter.
  5. To specify the output dataset at runtime, in a Save Data step, select the When Run Prompt to specify Dataset option, then provide the Name and Prompt values for the parameter.
  6. To specify the output Essbase cube at runtime, in a Save Data step, select the When Run Prompt to specify Dataset option, then provide the Cube, Application, and Prompt values for the parameter.
When you run (or execute) the data flow, you see a Dataflow Prompt dialog, which enables you to either use the default values or specify alternative values. For example:
  • If you added a parameter to specify the data source, you can either click OK to accept the default, or click the default dataset name displayed in the Sources section to display the Add Dataset dialog where you can select an alternative.
  • If you added a parameter to specify the data target, you can either click OK to accept the default, or edit the default dataset name displayed in the Targets section to specify an alternative.