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CalculatingEssbaseDatabases
InThisSection:
AboutDatabaseCalculation
AboutMultidimensionalCalculationConcepts
SettingtheDefaultCalculation
CalculatingDatabases
CancelingCalculations
ParallelandSerialCalculation
SecurityConsiderations
Theinformationinthischapterappliesonlytoblockstoragedatabasesandisnotrelevantto
aggregatestoragedatabases.
Alsosee:
ComparisonofAggregateandBlockStorage.
CalculatingAggregateStorageDatabases

AboutDatabaseCalculation
Adatabasecontainstwotypesofvalues:
Valuesthatyouenter,calledinputdata
Valuesthatarecalculatedfrominputdata

Forexample:
Youenterregionalsalesfiguresforavarietyofproducts.Youcalculatethetotalsalesforeach.
Youenterthebudgetandactualvaluesforthecostofgoodssoldforseveralproductsinseveral
regions.Youcalculatethevariancebetweenbudgetandactualvaluesforeachproductineach
region.
Thedatabasecontainsregionalsalesfiguresandpricesforallproducts.Youcalculatewhat
happenstototalprofitifyouincreasethepriceofoneproductinoneregionby5%.

Smalldifferencesintheprecisionofcellvaluesmayoccurbetweencalculationsrunondifferent
platforms,duetooperatingsystemmathlibrarydifferences.
Note: Mostcomputersrepresentnumbersinbinary,andthereforecanonlyapproximatelyrepresent
realnumbers.Becausebinarycomputerscannotholdaninfinitenumberofbitsaftera
decimalpoint,numericfractionssuchasonethird(0.3333...)cannotbeexpressedasa
decimalwithaterminatingpoint.Fractionswithadenominatorofthepoweroftwo(for
example,0.50)orten(0.10)aretheonlyrealnumbersthatcanberepresentedexactly.See
IEEEStandard754forFloatingPointRepresentation(IEEE,1985).

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Essbaseofferstwomethodsforcalculatingadatabase:
Outlinecalculation
Calculationscriptcalculation

Themethodthatyouchoosedependsonthetypeofcalculationthatyouwanttoperform.

OutlineCalculation
Outlinecalculationisthesimplestcalculationmethod.Essbasebasesthecalculationofthedatabase
ontherelationshipsbetweenmembersinthedatabaseoutlineandonanyformulasthatareassociated
withmembersintheoutline.
Forexample,Figure106,RelationshipBetweenMembersoftheMarketDimensionshowsthe
relationshipsbetweenthemembersoftheMarketdimensionintheSample.Basicdatabase.Thevalues
forNewYork,Massachusetts,Florida,Connecticut,andNewHampshireareaddedtocalculatethe
valueforEast.ThevaluesforEast,West,South,andCentralareaddedtocalculatethetotalvaluefor
Market.
Figure106.RelationshipBetweenMembersoftheMarketDimension

Figure107,CalculationofVarianceandVariance%showstheScenariodimensionfromthe
Sample.Basicdatabase.TheVarianceandVariance%membersarecalculatedbyusingtheformulas
attachedtothem.
Figure107.CalculationofVarianceandVariance%

Itmaybemoreefficienttocalculatesomemembercombinationswhenyouretrievethedatainsteadof
calculatingthemembercombinationsduringtheregulardatabasecalculation.Youcanusedynamic
calculationstocalculatedataatretrievaltime.SeeDynamicallyCalculatingDataValues.

CalculationScriptCalculation
Calculationscriptcalculationisthesecondmethodofcalculation.Usingacalculationscript,youcan
chooseexactlyhowtocalculateadatabase.Forexample,youcancalculatepartofadatabaseorcopy
datavaluesbetweenmembers.
Acalculationscriptcontainsaseriesofcalculationcommands,equations,andformulas.Forexample,
thefollowingcalculationscriptincreasestheactualmarketingexpensesintheNewYorkregionby5%.
FIX(Actual,NewYork)
Marketing=Marketing*1.05
ENDFIX
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SeeDevelopingCalculationScriptsforBlockStorageDatabases.

AboutMultidimensionalCalculationConcepts
Figure108,CalculatingaMultidimensionalDatabase,whichisbasedonasimplifieddatabase,
illustratesthenatureofmultidimensionalcalculations:
Figure108.CalculatingaMultidimensionalDatabase

ThedatabasehasthreedimensionsAccounts,Time,andScenario.
TheAccountsdimensionhasfourmembers:
SalesandCOGSareinputvalues
Margin=SalesCOGS
Margin%=Margin%Sales(MarginasapercentageofSales)

TheTimedimensionhasfourquarters.TheexampledisplaysonlythemembersinQtr1Jan,Feb,and
Mar.
TheScenariodimensionhastwochildmembersBudgetforbudgetvaluesandActualforactual
values.
TheoutlineinFigure108,CalculatingaMultidimensionalDatabaseisillustratedasathreedimensional
cubeinFigure109,IllustrationofaThreeDimensionalDatabase:
Figure109.IllustrationofaThreeDimensionalDatabase

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Anintersectionofmembers(onememberoneachdimension)representsadatavalueadatavalueis
storedinonecellinthedatabase.Torefertoaspecificdatavalueinamultidimensionaldatabase,
youmustspecifyeachmemberoneachdimension.InEssbase,membercombinationsaredenotedby
acrossdimensionaloperator(>).Createthecrossdimensionaloperatorusingahyphen()anda
greaterthansymbol(>).Donotincludeaspacebetweenthecrossdimensionaloperatorand
members.
ThesinglecellcontainingthedatavalueforSales,Jan,Actual,asshowninFigure110,Sales,Jan,
ActualSliceoftheDatabase,iswrittenasSales>Jan>Actual.
Figure110.Sales,Jan,ActualSliceoftheDatabase

WhenyourefertoSales,youarereferringtoasliceofthedatabasecontainingeightvalues,asshown
inFigure111,Sales,Actual,BudgetSliceoftheDatabase,whichare:
Sales>Jan>Actual
Sales>Feb>Actual
Sales>Mar>Actual
Sales>Qtr1>Actual
Sales>Jan>Budget
Sales>Feb>Budget
Sales>Mar>Budget
Sales>Qtr1>Budget
Figure111.Sales,Actual,BudgetSliceoftheDatabase

WhenyourefertoActualSales,youarereferringtofourvalues,asshowninFigure112,Actual,Sales
SliceoftheDatabase,whichare:
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Sales>Jan>Actual
Sales>Feb>Actual
Sales>Mar>Actual
Sales>Qtr1>Actual
Figure112.Actual,SalesSliceoftheDatabase

WhenEssbasecalculatestheformulaMargin%=Margin%Sales,ittakeseachMarginvalueand
calculatesitasapercentageofitscorrespondingSalesvalue.
EssbasecyclesthroughthedatabaseandcalculatesMargin%asfollows:
1.Margin>Jan>ActualasapercentageofSales>Jan>Actual.
TheresultisplacedinMargin%>Jan>Actual.
2.Margin>Feb>ActualasapercentageofSales>Feb>Actual.
TheresultisplacedinMargin%>Feb>Actual.
3.Margin>Mar>ActualasapercentageofSales>Mar>Actual.
TheresultisplacedinMargin%>Mar>Actual.
4.Margin>Qtr1>ActualasapercentageofSales>Qtr1>Actual.
TheresultisplacedinMargin%>Qtr1>Actual.
5.Margin>Jan>BudgetasapercentageofSales>Jan>Budget.
TheresultisplacedinMargin%>Jan>Budget.
6.EssbasecontinuescyclingthroughthedatabaseuntilithascalculatedMargin%forevery
combinationofmembersinthedatabase.

SeeDefiningCalculationOrder.

SettingtheDefaultCalculation
Bydefault,thecalculationforadatabaseisaCALCALLofthedatabaseoutline.CALCALL
consolidatesalldimensionsandmembersandcalculatesallformulasintheoutline.
Youcan,however,specifyanycalculationscriptasthedefaultdatabasecalculation.Thus,youcan
assignafrequentlyusedscripttothedatabaseratherthanloadingthescripteachtimeyouwantto
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performitscalculation.Ifyouwantacalculationscripttoworkwithcalculationsettingsdefinedatthe
databaselevel,youmustsetthecalculationscriptasthedefaultcalculation.
Tosetthedefaultcalculation,useatool:

Tool

Topic

Location

Administration
Services

SettingtheDefault
Calculation

OracleEssbaseAdministrationServicesOnline
Help

MaxL

alterdatabase

OracleEssbaseTechnicalReference

ESSCMD

SETDEFAULTCALCFILE

OracleEssbaseTechnicalReference

CalculatingDatabases
IfyouhaveCalculationpermissions,youcancalculateadatabase.
WhenyouuseAdministrationServicestocalculateadatabase,youcanexecutethecalculationinthe
backgroundsothatyoucancontinueworkingasthecalculationprocesses.Youcanthencheckthe
statusofthebackgroundprocesstoseewhenthecalculationiscomplete.
Tocalculateadatabase,useatool:

Tool

Topic

Location

Administration
Services

CalculatingBlockStorage
Databases

OracleEssbaseAdministrationServicesOnline
Help

MaxL

executecalculation

OracleEssbaseTechnicalReference

ESSCMD

CALC,CALCDEFAULT,and
CALCLINE

OracleEssbaseTechnicalReference

SmartView

CalculatingaDatabase

OracleSmartViewforOfficeUser'sGuide

CancelingCalculations
TostopacalculationbeforeEssbasecompletesit,clicktheCancelbuttonwhilethecalculationis
running.

Whenyoucancelacalculation,Essbaseperformsoneofthefollowingoperations:
Revertsallvaluestotheirpreviousstate
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Retainsanyvaluescalculatedbeforethecancellation

HowEssbasehandlesthecancellationdependsontheEssbaseKernelIsolationLevelsettings.See
UnderstandingIsolationLevels.

ParallelandSerialCalculation
Essbasesupportsparallelandserialcalculations:
Serialcalculation(default):Allstepsinacalculationrunonasinglethread.Eachtaskis
completedbeforethenextisstarted.
Parallelcalculation:TheEssbasecalculatorcananalyzeacalculation,and,ifappropriate,assign
taskstomultipleCPUs(uptofour).

SeeUsingParallelCalculation.

SecurityConsiderations
Tocalculateadatabase,youmusthaveCalculatepermissionsforthedatabaseoutline.Withcalculate
permissions,youcancalculateanyvalueinthedatabase,andyoucancalculateavalueevenifa
securityfilterdeniesyoureadandupdatepermissions.Carefullyconsiderprovidinguserswith
calculatepermissions.
SeeUserManagementandSecurityinEPMSystemSecurityMode.

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