Create an Application in the Essbase Web Interface and Provision a User to Access and Query the Cube

In Understand Application Workbooks, you learned about the structure of an application workbook by exploring Sample_Basic_Dynamic.xlsx.

Now, you use this workbook to learn how to create an application in the Essbase web interface and provision a user to access and query the cube.

Create an Application in the Essbase Web Interface

Use this workbook to learn how to create an application from a workbook in the Essbase web interface.

1. In the web interface, on the Applications page, click Import.
2. On the Import dialog box, click File Browser (as the workbook was downloaded to the local file system). Open the Block Storage Sample (Dynamic) application workbook, Sample_Basic_Dynamic.xlsx, that you saved in Understand Application Workbooks.
3. Expand Advanced Options and Build Option, select Create Database, and then check the box to load data. You do not need to select Execute Scripts, because all measures and aggregations along hierarchies in the cube are dynamically calculated at query time.
4. Click OK. In a few moments, the Sample_Dynamic application and Basic cube are created.
5. On the Applications page, expand the Sample_Dynamic application, and select the cube, Basic.
6. In the Actions list for the cube, select Outline. The outline is a representation of the dimensions in the Basic cube as defined in the application workbook. The outline opens in a separate browser tab, allowing you to navigate between the outline and other web interface actions.
7. View a cube dimension, and then drill down into the children of that dimension:
   1. Expand the Year dimension to view the quarters.
   2. Expand the individual quarters to view months.

Now all of the information from the application workbook is represented in the new cube.

Provision a User to Access and Query the Cube

Now, you provision a user to access and query the cube.

1. Log in as a power user. This allows you to provision other users to the applications you have created.
2. Return to the web interface browser tab and go to Applications.
3. Select the application for which you want to provision the user; in this example, select Sample_Dynamic. If you select the cube instead of the application, then you won't be able to provision user roles.
4. Use the Actions menu to open the application inspector.
5. Select the Permissions tab within the application inspector.
6. Select to see the list of users on the system and select the next to each user to assign their access.
7. Use the radio button controls next to each user to assign their access. Select Database Manager for each added user. The Database Manager has full control of the cube, but no control over the application.
8. Click Close.

In Analyze an Application in Smart View, you’ll go to Smart View, log in as the user you just provisioned, and then query a cube.