Loading Data to a FreeForm Application

The FreeForm application type is a business process that recreates a native Oracle Essbase application within the Planning environment to support required analysis. FreeForm enables any dimensions to be associated with the cube. The Planning-specific Currency, Entity, Scenario, and Version dimensions, along with their member hierarchies are not required with FreeForm business processes. You use FreeForm to do your own modeling and build your own cubes while preserving the ability to leverage platform functionality. Service Administrators build a FreeForm application using an Essbase outline (OTL) file, or by manually defining the dimensionality. For more information, see Creating a FreeForm App in Administering and Working with FreeForm.

FreeForm applications are meant for customers who want to create an Essbase application for anything or to migrate an on-premises application to the Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud because the FreeForm application in Planning does not have any dimension requirements.

You can load these FreeForm applications in Data Integration, but there are a number of considerations:

Note:

The following load requirements and considerations below also apply to exporting FreeForm applications since a user could create a FreeForm application and load it with the native load process, and not have it classified correctly in Data Integration, and then have issues exporting data.

1. The FreeForm application requires a minimum of three dimensions: Account, Period, and Scenario. The application definition in Data Management and Data Integration must have three dimensions with the dimension type of Account, Period, and Scenario.

2. You must set up a period mapping so that the system knows where to load the data. For example, you could set up period mapping with a period of Jan-20, which is the period member created in a FreeForm application. When you set up a period mapping in Data Management and Data Integration, you enter a period created in the FreeForm application and a year entry so that it passes the user interface validations for the period mapping. This is the case where you don't have to define a year dimension in your FreeForm application, only a period.

3. You must specify a Scenario dimension, but in Planning, it can be anything. The only requirement is that the dimension is classified as a Scenario dimension in Data Management and Data Integration. You then need to set up Category mapping so that the process succeeds.

   • Assign a dimension classification of Account for one of the dimensions.

   • If you want to use the drill through functionality, then a "Scenario" dimension is required. Assign a dimension classification of Scenario for one of the dimensions. Note when a dimension is classified as Scenario, the Category mapping is used to assign a target value, so data can be loaded to only one value. Select a dimension that meets this requirement and define a Category mapping.

   • If you want to use Check feature, then an "Entity" dimension is required. Assign a dimension classification of Entity for one of the dimensions.

   Applications of type ASO are not auto registered when they are created. Use the Data Management Target Application page and select Application type of Essbase to manually register the application.

4. To load metadata to FreeForm applications with only ASO cubes, register the Dimension application as follows:

   1. Add a new EPM local application with cubes "All Input Cubes."

      Because there is no BSO application, this application does not display any dimensions.

   2. Add a new Dimension application.

      For more information, see Registering Applications.

      You can load metadata to the ASO cubes by defining an integration with the appropriate source using the dimension application as source.