Validating Metadata

Optimal consolidation performance requires that metadata properties of each dimension in the application are set correctly. Incorrect metadata properties may cause consolidation errors, leading to poor performance.

Examples of metadata property validation include the default and Consol cube data storage properties, whether the Consolidation operator is valid, and whether a Parent member is Dynamic Calc or Label Only, or has a member formula.

A Best Practice is to validate metadata by running an on-demand Metadata Validation report, and by checking metadata in the Dimension Editor.

Note:

If you have problems with your application, be sure to validate metadata and correct all errors before contacting Oracle Support.

Validating Metadata

To ensure that your metadata is valid, you can run the Metadata Validation report at any time. The Validate Metadata screen displays validation results in three categories, with the count for each category:

• Error—These are errors that are expected to cause problems in the application and must be fixed.

• Warning—These are warning messages of issues that might cause problems in the application.

• Information—These messages are for informational purposes only.

The report displays the dimension name, the member name in [Parent].[Child] format, and the validation description. After validating, you can expand the messages on screen, or click Export to extract the messages to a CSV file. You can use the Dimension Editor to modify metadata or correct errors.

For example, if an error occurs that an Entity dimension member has a Consolidation Operator of other than Ignore in the Dimension Editor, select the member and change the Consolidation Operator property to Ignore.

To validate metadata from the Metadata Validator:

1. On the Home page, click Application.

2. Click Overview, then from Actions, select Validate Metadata.

3. Click Run to validate the metadata.

   The Validate Metadata screen displays a list of validation results. The number of messages is listed next to each category: Error, Warning, Info.

4. Click on a tab (Error, Warning, or Info) to view the messages in each category.

5. Expand the dimension name to display the messages. The results are displayed in [Parent].[Child] format with the error description. To review further details, see Metadata Validation Messages.

6. To export and view the details for all messages in a CSV file, click Export and then specify where to save the export file.

7. Navigate to the Dimension Editor to modify metadata.

   To view a list of valid member properties, see Editing Member Properties in the Simplified Dimension Editor.

8. Re-run the consolidation and check performance.

Using the Simplified Dimension Editor to Review and Fix Errors

To validate metadata from the Simplified Dimension Editor:

1. On the Home page, click Application and then click Overview.

2. Click the Dimensions tab and then click the name of the dimension that you want to evaluate, for example, Account.

   The Edit Member Properties screen for the selected dimension is displayed.

3. Click Zoom in All Levels
   
   .

4. Click Validate Metadata Definition
   
   or from the Actions menu, select Validate Metadata Definition.

   A validation pane, which lists the validation errors in the current dimension, is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

5. Use Fix Validation Errors to select and fix each validation error. Click Apply to apply changes to the metadata property value. Click Save after fixing all validation errors.

   To view a list of valid member properties, see Editing Member Properties in the Simplified Dimension Editor.

6. Click Cancel to return to the Dimensions tab.
7. Repeat these steps for each dimension.
8. From Actions, select Refresh Database. Run consolidation to check if performance has improved.

Validating Metadata During the Database Refresh Process

Use the Validate Metadata setting as part of the database refresh process to scan for and automatically resolve member identity (ID) mismatches between the business process and Oracle Essbase. See Refreshing the Database.

Caution: Selecting Validate Metadata might add additional time to the refresh process.

In certain cases, the identity of a member changes in a way that causes it to be not fully recognized in the multi-dimensional database used by the application. When a member’s identity is not fully correctly established within all parts of the system, it could sometimes cause hierarchy issues like incorrect member ordering, or it could miss children underneath that member, or miss some siblings, or miss certain properties, and so on. Selecting Validate Metadata detects such members and automatically resolves their identity, allowing these members as well as their hierarchies along with properties and siblings, to be fully and correctly recognizable and usable within all the parts of the system.

After making member ID corrections, members might be deleted or moved. A report file detailing any member movement to a different parent or deletion is generated and placed in the Outbox in a csv (comma-delimited) file format. Review the report to reaggregate some of the stored parent members where the child hierarchy may have changed.

For example:

The system generates a CSV file to the Outbox folder, and the filename is automatically generated with the application name followed by _autocorrect.csv; for example, vision_autocorrect.csv. This file is overwritten on each run.

After running the Refresh Database job with the Validate Metadata setting, you can download the export file from the Outbox.

To download the export file:

1. Click Application, and then click Jobs.
2. Under Recent Activity, click the job.
3. At the top of Job Details, click the export file option to select a download location.