Create an Application and Cube in Cube Designer

In Analyze Forecast Data in Smart View, you analyzed data in Excel. Users working in Excel can design and deploy applications using Cube Designer.

Now you’ll use Cube Designer to create an application and cube, similar to what we did in the web interface service in a previous task.

Open the Application Workbook in Cube Designer

Log in as a Power User and download Sample_Basic.xlsx from the Gallery.

1. In Excel, on the Cube Designer ribbon, click Cloud .

   If you are prompted to log in, then log in as a Power User.

2. Click Gallery, then Applications/Demo Samples/Block Storage, and double-click Sample_Basic.xlsx.

The Sample Basic application workbook is different from the Sample Basic Dynamic application workbook in that the Product and Market dimensions do not have dynamically calculated members.

For example, go to the Dim.Market worksheet in Sample_Basic.xlsx. Look at the Storage column. There are no X characters, which indicates that the members are stored. X characters in the Storage column indicate dynamically calculated members.

Therefore, after creating the dimensions and loading the data, you also need to calculate the cube.

Creating, loading, and calculating the cube can all be done in one step in the Build Cube dialog box.

Create, Load, and Calculate the Cube

Use Cube Designer to create, load, and calculate a cube from the Sample_Basic.xlsx application workbook.

1. On the Cube Designer ribbon, with the Sample Basic application workbook (Sample_Basic.xlsx) still open, click Build Cube .

2. On the Build Option menu, select Create Cube.

3. Click Run.

   If there is an existing application with the same name, you are prompted to overwrite the application and cube. Click Yes to delete the original application and build this new application.

4. Click Yes to confirm your selection.

   The View Jobs icon displays an hourglass while the job is in progress. The job runs in the background, and Cube Designer notifies you when the job is completed, which should display Success.

5. Click Yes to launch the Job Viewer and see the status of the job.

View the Application in the Web Interface

View and inspect the new application in the Essbase web interface.

1. Log into the web interface.

2. On the Applications page, expand the Sample application and select the Basic cube.

3. Click the Actions menu to the right of the Basic cube and select Outline.

   View the outline, and see that the expected dimensions are present.

4. Return to the Applications page, expand the Sample application, and select the Basic cube.

5. Click the Actions menu to the right of the Basic cube and select Inspect.

6. In the inspector, select Statistics.

7. On the General tab, in the Storage column, you see that both level 0 and upper-level blocks exist, showing that the cube is fully calculated.

In Analyze Data and Perform an Incremental Update in Cube Designer, you'll analyze data in this cube and perform incremental updates from Excel.