Making the Data Source as Small as Possible

To improve performance of Essbase block storage data load, you can make the source data as small as possible and group it into ranges to remove redundancy.

Make the data source as small as possible. The fewer fields that Essbase reads in the data source, the less time is needed to read and load the data.

Group the data into ranges. Eliminating redundancy in the data source reduces the number of fields that Essbase must read before loading data values.

The following example data source is not organized in ranges. It includes unneeded repetition of fields. All values are Profit values. Profit must be included only at the beginning of the group of data applicable to it. This example contains 33 fields that Essbase must read to load the data values properly.

Profit
Jan     "New York"   Cola          4
Jan     "New York"   "Diet Cola"   3
Jan     Ohio         Cola          8
Jan     Ohio         "Diet Cola"   7
Feb     "New York"   Cola          6
Feb     "New York"   "Diet Cola"   8
Feb     Ohio         Cola          7
Feb     Ohio         "Diet Cola"   9

The next example provides the same data optimized by grouping members in ranges. By eliminating redundancy, this example contains only 23 fields that Essbase must read in order to load the data values properly.

Profit
Jan   "New York"   Cola          4
                   "Diet Cola"   3
      Ohio         Cola          8
                   "Diet Cola"   7
Feb   "New York"   Cola          6
                   "Diet Cola"   8
      Ohio         Cola          7
                   "Diet Cola"   9

Essbase assigns the first value, 4, to Jan->New York->Cola; it assigns the next value, 3, to Jan->New York->Diet Cola and so on.

Although sorted efficiently, the data source sorted and grouped by dense dimensions shows a lot of repetition that can slow down the load process. You can further optimize this data by grouping the data into ranges. The optimized data source below eliminates the redundant fields, reducing processing time.

                                Sales  Margin   COG  Profit
Jan Actual  Cola         Ohio      25      18    20       5
                         Florida   30      19    20      10
            "Root Beer"  Ohio      18      12    10       8
                         Florida   28      18    20       8