Artifact Labels - EPBCS Quick Tip

Artifacts Labels is a very powerful and useful feature in PBCS/EPBCS and a lot of folks simply ignore it because they usually work on implementation with one functional language (typically English) and hence no need for labels etc. A typical use case is when you have users in different geographical locations (for example:Australia and Japan) so you need to add Japanese labels alongside the English ones to give the users in Japan an option to view the application in the local language.

But there is also another use case for labels when you have objects(forms, rules etc) with technical prefixes and administrative jargon that do not make any sense to the normal user, so you can use Artifact Labels to give it a meaningful name and that's what I'm going to write about in this blog.

Before we start I'll give you some background, Artifact Labels for Hyperion Planning on-premise folks is the equivalent of  HspCustomMsgs files. Back in on-premise days, we used to generate the custom HspCustomMsgs property files and define the labels using ASCII text as shown below.

Luckily, in the cloud it is much easier and we don't have to access the Planning server, add the files, restart the server...😊

So let's get on with it, here is a list of data forms I want to re-label.

I'll go to Tools -> Artifact Labels and filter for "Form" objects. Notice the default label is grayed out and you cannot edit it. 

I'll add a language "English".

I'll add the labels next to the forms I want to change (objects without English label will display the default label)

Save

Back to the Data card again and now we can see the labeled forms, this looks much better and neater if you ask me! 

Cannot Perform Custom Calc. Essbase Error(1300033) - PCMCS Quick Tip

Another post sitting in my drafts folder for quite some time about an issue I encountered in PCMCS allocation rules, specifically when it comes to using alternate hierarchies.

I was getting the following Essbase issue:

Cannot Perform Custom Calc. Essbase Error(1300033): Upper-level members, for example [General and Administrative], are not allowed in argument [POV]. Select a level-0 member

So let's get on with it and I'll start with the background and how it started using a sample Oracle demo application. When you're building allocation rules in PCMCS you specify three main components that are going to define how your is executed:

1- Source (The data slice you need to allocate)

2- Destination (The allocated data)

3- Driver Basis (How data is allocated)

I'm not going to delve into the basics of PCM rules in this post and I'll assume you have some product knowledge (if you have specific questions please post them in the comments section and I'll try to get back to you ASAP).

In the Source tab, I was trying to allocate a data subset based on alternate hierarchy (my cube deign had thousands of members and I needed an alternate hierarchy to make it more efficient and easier to manage). So here is my alternate hierarchy:

In the allocation rule, I want to allocate General and Administrative, Sales, and Marketing entities (Reminder: I'm using a sample application and in reailty, my cube had a lot more members and dimensions) and here is my Entity dimension selection in Source tab.

But the problem is when I try and run the rule I'm getting the Essbase error.

Cannot Perform Custom Calc. Essbase Error(1300033): Upper-level members, for example [General and Administrative], are not allowed in argument [POV]. Select a level-0 member

This didn't make sense, because I use parent members in the Source definition all the time and I know it works perfectly and to prove it here is the same allocation rule using the primary hierarchy.

And the primary vs alternate hierarchy:

To conclude, you need to use the primary hierarchy! It took me a while to figure it out and hopefully, it'll save some time for anyone facing the same issue.

I still need to figure out why the alternate hierarchy is not working and I'll keep you guys posted as soon as I figure it out.

Enterprise Performance Reporting Tips - Drill to Content

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog, I've had a couple of drafts that needed my attention but thanks to a busy schedule at work and my Ultra Trail Australia 100 training (I'm running it in two weeks) I had to put it on hold. Good thing I'm now tapering and I no longer have to run crazy long runs in the weekends.

Back to the post, I don't know if you've been using Enterprise Performance Reporting's Management Reporting lately, but if you're not then it's time to consider the tool! I will not go in details and describe the pros and cons of the tool compared to Web Reporting Studio, I will only say it has great potential and it's looking great already.

One of the best things about EPRCS is connectivity to different sources of data,  so you can create a data connection to build a report from:

1. Financials Cloud GL

2. EPBCS

3. FCCS

4. PCMCS

And this also means you can combine different grids/data sources in the same report and that's pretty awesome.

In this post, I'm going to write about the Drill to Content feature which can be useful if you have multiple environments and you want to drill back to the source environment from EPRCS.

Let's get on with it, here is a list of my data sources.

I'll create a very simple report using EPBCS as a data source.

I'll edit the grid in the report and click on the cell I want the Drill to Content link to appear on, go to "Drill to Content" and add the connection details.

After saving the report you will notice the Drill to Content indicator on the cell.

Click on it and you're taken back to EPBCS.

Very simple and handy at the same time.

Hope this helps.