Shared Connections and Private Connections

You connect to data sources through shared or private connections.

In most cases, you can connect to one provider data source per sheet, with the exception of Oracle Analytics Cloud and Oracle Analytics Cloud - Essbase. For these providers, you can connect to multiple instances of the same data source type per sheet, slide, or document.

Shared Connections

You can create shared to connections to Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud sources.

For EPM Cloud sources, there are two ways to use a shared connection:
- One cloud provider per shared connection.
  
  For example, shared Connection "A" connects you to your Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud service instance; shared Connection "B" connects you to your Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud service instance.
- Multiple cloud providers per shared connection. This is referred to as integrated business process navigation flows in EPM Cloud. In this case, all supported cloud providers must reside on the same domain.
  
  For example, your organization is hosting Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud and Oracle Tax Reporting Cloud on the same domain. Connection "C" connects you to both service instances.
  
  This type of connection applies only to these EPM Cloud services:
  - Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud
  - Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting Cloud
  - Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud
  - Oracle Tax Reporting Cloud
  EPM Cloud Service Administrators: See Administering Planning for Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud, "Connecting Subscriptions in EPM Cloud" for information on setting up integrated business process navigation flows.
Shared connections are either:
- Accessed from a host location and available to multiple users through the Smart View Panel.
- Stored on each Oracle Smart View for Office client machine or on a web server in an XML file created by a system administrator. The connections in the XML file are then available to the user through shared connections in the Smart View Panel.
  
  See Accessing Shared Connections from an XML File in the Oracle Smart View for Office Installation and Configuration Guide for information on preparing and distributing this XML file.
You cannot edit or rename shared connections, but you can save them as private connections, which you can edit and rename.
Private Connections

Private connections are those that you create by saving a shared connection to your local computer or by entering a URL to a provider data source. When you create a private connection, it becomes the active connection.

Note:

When working with Oracle Analytics Cloud, Oracle Analytics Cloud - Essbase, and Oracle Enterprise Performance Reporting Cloud, you must use a private connection, or add the private connection information to a shared connection XML file, as described in Accessing Shared Connections from an XML File in the Oracle Smart View for Office Installation and Configuration Guide.