Why this blog?

Finding information from Oracle/Hyperion can be difficult as you search the thousands of pages of documentation. So I'm creating this blog with all of my tables and matrices for the Oracle Hyperion products. Questions like - How does Smart View compare to the Excel add-in? When should I use Financial Reporting or Web Analysis? I thought I would share this information with you in the simple format of tables and maybe a few bullet points. So no lengthy paragraphs on this blog... but hopefully some helpful Oracle Hyperion information.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

SOX Report Card - Enterprise vs. Financial Management

I can't take credit for this table - I came across this in a Hyperion presentation and it is pretty helpful in making the case to switch to Financial Management.

Financial Management

Enterprise

Single version of the truth

A

A

Timeliness / Speed of close

A

A

Adjustment capabilities

A

A

Workflow

A

C

Audit functionality

A

C

Documentation

A

F

Internal controls / email alerting

A

F

Enterprise vs. Financial Management

Still on Enterprise and wondering if it is time to make the jump to Financial Management? Enterprise is still a solid product but the table below will help you understand some of the benefits of the FM solution:

Hyperion Financial Management

Hyperion Enterprise

Unify financial and operating results

Consolidation and reporting (regulatory filings)

12 Smart dimensions

4 Fixed dimensions

Scalable to thousands of users

Client / server architecture – limit to 150 users

Web enabled

Microsoft Windows architected – distributed deployment – some web

24 by 7 Availability

Offline maintenance and backup required

Easy to customize Web User interface

HTML programming required for customized user interface

Hyperion Financial Management

Hyperion Enterprise

Drag and drop, oriented reporting with Financial Reporting

Script based reporting

Adhoc analysis with drill down capabilities

Not available

Process Workflow

Not available

Robust controls and audit trails

Some controls and audit trails

Integration with Hyperion Planning

Not available

Shared security maintenance of users and groups across Hyperion products

Not available

UFC: Web Analysis vs. Interactive Reporting

Pretty exciting matchup, right? At a high level review, you'll note that Web Analysis and Interactive Reporting overlap on a number of key features. So which tool is the right tool? Historically, IR was good at relational reporting and analysis. WA was good at Essbase reporting and analysis. With version 9.3.1, Interactive Reporting introduced a new CubeQuery feature that now allows it to better report against Essbase (prior to 9.3.1, there were many frustrations when trying to use IR with Essbase). CubeQuery closely models the functionality that is provided with Web Analysis. What is really cool? You can now easily combine Essbase and relational data very easily in IR dashboards and reports.

Let's look in a bit more detail, comparing the advanced analytic capabilities between IR CubeQuery and WA:


WA Studio

WA Workspace

IR Studio

IR Web Client

IR HTML

Basic Drilling

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Swap Rows and Columns

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Client install

Required first the first time

No install necessary

Client application

Required the first time

No install necessary

Adhoc Query

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Member Selection

High

High

Medium

Medium

None

Traffic Lighting

Yes

Yes

Yes – Called Spotlighter

Yes – Called Spotlighter

No

Formatting / Presentation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Save Personal Queries

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No




Next let's compare the dashboarding capabilities between the two:


Web Analysis

Interactive Reporting

Complexity to Create

Medium

Medium - Complex

Requires Programming

None

Yes – Java scripting

Flexibility

High

Very high

Drillable within the Dashboard (Essbase sources)

Yes

No (but in future versions)

Present Essbase Data with Relational Data

Yes – but not well

Yes

Data Controls

Yes

Yes

Risk (when using Essbase as data source)

Low

Medium-High (new)

Time to Implement (when using Essbase as a data source)

Lower

Higher (new)




So in summary, what is the best tool?

It depends…

  • Technically you could use both but …
  • IR requires Java Scripting knowledge for creating and maintaining dashboards
  • Learning curve for both products (similar concepts but steps and design considerations are completely different)

  • Web Analysis if you are only reporting on Essbase
  • Interactive Reporting if you report against relational sources
  • Interactive Reporting if you report against Essbase and relational sources in the same report or dashboard with considerations*
    *Java scripting
    *New (available in 9.3.1); Some fixes and enhancements in 11.1.1
  • Web Analysis if you don’t have any technical resources available / programmers (Web Analysis is easier to learn for administrators and no Java Scripting or “coding” required)
  • From an basic end user perspective using Essbase, IR and WA have the same functionality for the most part (there may be a few more features in WA)
    - Keep only, remove only
    - Navigation is different between the 2 tools – training consideration
  • From a power end user perspective, Web Analysis provides more adhoc advanced analytic features against Essbase



IR vs. WA vs. FR vs. Smart View

A number of products are currently available for reporting and analysis against the Hyperion Suite of products. Which tool is the right tool for me? The answer is probably not just one tool but at least two. Here is a high level matrix comparing the strengths of each of one of the tools:

Interactive Reporting

Financial Reporting

Web Analysis

Smart View

Relational Data Source

X

(Technically, yes but not well)

Yes, OBIEE in v11.1.1

Essbase Data Source

(9.3.1)

X

X

X

Printable, Formatted Reports

X

X

X

Adhoc Analysis

X

X

X

Dashboarding

X

X

Charting

X

Yes, but not as good as the others

X

X

Web

X

X

X



So the big question, which of these tools will be around in the future? Financial Reporting - Yes. We're already hearing about a new tool Oracle Answers+ that will be the direction for advanced analytics and dashboarding. From what I've hear (I've haven't seen this product yet), it is going to be a great solution but it is not Hyperion ready just yet. Smart View - Yes.

So what about Interactive Reporting and Web Analysis? This is completely unofficial / my own opinion so please take that into consideration. IR will have lifetime support but I think we will see new features not added to this product in the future (not any time soon though). I think Web Analysis will be around until we see Answers+ matching the feature set of WA (which I think is a ways down the road).

A related question - Web Analysis and Interactive Reporting have many of the same capabilities. Which tool is the best? I have a separate blog entry addressing that question. Check it out.

Smart View Query Designer vs. Regular Adhoc Query

In the latest versions of Smart View, a query designer is provided to create queries in Excel against Essbase. I've gotten a few questions from clients related to this new tool ... Why would I use the Query Designer vs. just using the adhoc analysis / member selection capabilities? See the matrix below to view a comparison:

Regular Query vs. Query Designer

Regular Adhoc Query

Query Designer

POV, Rows, Columns

Y

Y

Member Filters

Y

Y

Data Filters

N

Y

You know the Query Definition at the Beginning

Good

Best

You’ve drilled into a query and want to go back to original starting point

Good

Best

Free form MDX

N

Y

Save Queries using Microsoft Save

Y

Y

Copy across worksheets

Y

Y

Formatting Options in Smart View

Smart View provides a few different formatting options - Use Excel Formatting, Capture Formatting and Cell Styles. Which should you use? The most common will be either Excel formatting or Capture Formatting so I compare the two below - in general, I think Excel formatting is the best. Save Styles for possibly budget templates or common formatting when analyzing.

Capture Formatting

Use Excel Formatting

Apply to Data Cells

Y

Y

Apply to Members

N

Y

Retains formatting on Drill

Y – for specific data cells

N

Retains formatting on POV change

Y

Y


So the lesson learned here - set up the query / layout first and then apply formatting (probably Excel Formatting for your reports). Know that if you have to drill from there, formatting changes in most cases are lost.

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View 9.3.1 - 50,000 Foot View

This tables compares the Excel Add-in vs. Smart View from a high level. The main point you'll find here is that the Excel Add-in only works with Essbase and Excel while Smart View works with the full suite of Hyperion products and with all of the Office products (including PowerPoint and Word).

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View (overall)

Excel Add-in

Smart View

Excel

Yes

Yes

Word, PowerPoint, Outlook

No

Yes

Essbase

Yes

Yes

FM and Planning

No

Yes

Reporting and Analysis Modules (FR, WA, IR)

No

Yes

Copy and Paste Data Points across Office

No

Yes

Visual Data in Excel from Word or PowerPoint

No

Yes

POV Manager across Office

No

Yes

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Excel Add-in vs. Smart View 9.3.1 - Essbase Analysis

Have you made the switch from our beloved Excel Add-in to the Smart View Add-in? I've been slow to make the change too (I love the Excel Add-in and can use it in my sleep). But Smart View 9.3.1 makes a compelling case and version 11 seals the deal for me (feature comparison for 11.1.1 coming soon). Here is a side-by-side comparison of the Excel Add-in vs. Smart View (for Essbase) features:

Excel Add-in 9.3.1

Smart View Add-in – Essbase 9.3.1

Drill Capabilities

Yes

Yes

Keep only, Remove Only

Yes

Yes

Member Selection

Yes

Yes

Query Designer

Yes

Yes (different)

Retain Formulas

Yes (must select formula preservation)

Yes (by default)

Formatted Reports

Yes

Yes

Cell Text / LROs

Yes

No

Adjust function

No

Yes

DTS

Yes

Yes

Substitution Variables

Yes

No; Coming Soon

Member name referenced in a linked formula

Yes

No; Coming Soon

Cascade

Yes

No; Coming Soon

Ancestor Position

Yes

Yes

Use Excel Formatting & Cell Styles

Yes

Yes

Flashback / Undo

Yes – One Undo

Yes – Multiple Undo’s

POV Manager – Copy and Paste POVs

No

Yes

Share POVs

No

Yes

Define Default Starting POV

No

No; Coming soon with Smart Slices

Multi-Source Grids / Reports

Yes

Yes (using data points)

Alias Table defaults to Default

Yes

No

Submit Data to Essbase

Yes

Yes

MDX vs. Rpt Script

Rpt Script

MDX

Copy / Paste Data Points

No

Yes

Refreshable Essbase Data in Word and PowerPoint

No

Yes

Visualize in Excel

No

Yes

Launch business rules

No

No