Administrator Training

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Administrator Training

• Session 2

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• Notice
• Information in this document is subject to
  change without notice.  This document reflects no
  commitment on the part of OutlookSoft
  Corporation.  The software described in this
  document is provided under license by OutlookSoft
  Corporation and is subject to the license and all
  other agreements provided with the software. No
  part of this document may be copied or
  reproduced, electronically or manually, or stored
  in any electronic data retrieval system without
  the written permission of OutlookSoft
  Corporation.
•  
• Questions Please call OutlookSoft Corporation
  at 203-964-3100

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Agenda - Day 2

• Creating a new Application Set
• Modifying Dimensions and Members
• Managing Applications
• Everest Formulas

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Admin

• Everest Administration (eAdmin) lets you build
  and maintain Everest applications using Microsoft
  Excel as the easy-to-use interface for your
  administrative tasks.
• Using eAdmin you can
• Create new application sets (if you have SysAdm
  privileges)
• Create and maintain applications
• Create and maintain Everest formulas
• Create and maintain sites, users and security

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Everest Administrators

• Types of Administrators
• There are two types of administrators in Everest,
  with different roles and access to different
  tasks. An administrator may have one or both of
  these roles
• Application Administrator
• System Administrator

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Everest Administrators

• Application Administrator
• Builds and maintains the applications.
• Has read access to all data (could also be a
  business manager for a finance entity).
• System Administrator
• IT person responsible for NT server setup and
  network/internet administration.
• Has technical access to data (not operational
  access).
• Can build Application Sets.

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Creating a New Application Set

• To create a new application set in Everest, you
  always start by copying an existing application
  set (appset). Then you can proceed to customize
  the application set and create new applications.
• Everest is shipped with ApShell, a sample
  application set to be used as a starting point
  for building your application set.
• Only a user who has been given System
  Administrator privileges can create a new
  application set.

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ApShell Contents

• The ApShell is a "shell" application set that
  contains all of the required components needed to
  build a functioning application set such as
• Required dimensions
• Standard report and input schedule templates
• Data manager packages
• MyEverest Company desktop
• ApShell also includes the components necessary
  for currency translation and a library of
  formulas.
• ApShell contains the components for Intercompany
  Eliminations.
• ApShell contains sample data and has a full set
  of accounts, entities, etc.

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Creating a New Dimension

• You may create new dimensions in an Everest
  application set. These then become shared
  dimensions that are available for use in any
  application in the set.
• Some dimensions are required dimensions and
  must exist in all the applications within an
  application set.
• The dimension type determines the default
  properties to be included in the dimension.
• You may add additional properties as needed.

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Everest Dimension Types

• A Account type dimension (required in the
  application)
• C Category type dimension (required in the
  application)
• E Entity type dimension (required in the
  application)
• T Time type dimension (required in the
  application)
• R Currency type dimension (required in the
  application set)
• I Intercompany Required if the Intercompany
  flag is set to YES
• Un User Defined dimension type. For each user
  defined dimension you create, the number (n) will
  be incremented. For example, U1, U2, U3, etc.
• Note At least one currency dimension must reside
  in all application sets in order to validate
  currencies entered in the Entity dimension
  however, it does not have to be part of any
  applications within the set.

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Dimension Properties

• Every dimension has required properties.
• You can also define additional properties for a
  dimension using Manage Dimensions.
• Dimension properties appear as columns in the
  Member Sheets.
• In the Member Sheets you enter the values for the
  properties for each member of the dimension.
• The ability to assign properties is a very
  powerful feature. By creating properties, you can
  implement very powerful features in your
  reporting, member lookups, formulas, data manager
  selections, and so on.

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Adding Members to a Dimension

• This is where you really get to build your
  application.
• The members of each dimension in your application
  are defined in Member Sheets.
• A Member Sheet is a spreadsheet (.xls file) in
  which you list the members of a dimension and
  define the properties of each member.
• The sheet has the same name as the dimension for
  example, the Member Sheet for the dimension named
  Entity is Entity.xls.
• When you create a new dimension using Manage
  Dimensions, a Member Sheet is automatically
  created, and has column headings for every
  property that has been defined.

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Creating Hierarchies

• For all dimensions, you can use the PARENT
  property to define hierarchies. There is a Parent
  property for each hierarchy that is to be defined
  for a dimension.
• This property, unlike other properties, must be
  added directly to the member sheet. It does not
  appear in the property list in Manage Dimensions.
  
• The Parent properties must be named as follows
• PARENTHn where n is the number of the hierarchy.
  For example PARENTH1, PARENTH2, etc.
• These columns are required only if you want to
  have one or more hierarchies. Use them to define
  the parent for each member the parent must be a
  valid member ID. You will have a PARENTHn column
  for each different hierarchy rollup within the
  dimension.

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Creating Hierarchies

• For all dimensions, you can define PARENTH
  columns
• For example
• The entity, STORE1 reports to the parent CONUS
  defined in the PARENTH1 column.
• The entity STORE1 also reports to the parent
  CONSMALL defined in the PARENTH2 column.

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Managing Applications

• The option Manage Applications located on the
  eAdmin menu allows you to
• Create Applications
• Delete Applications
• Add dimensions to an application
• Remove dimensions from an application
• Secure dimensions at the application level

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Creating Applications

• There are two techniques for creating a new
  application
• Make an exact copy of an existing application,
  with existing dimensions, data and templates, and
  then modify it later.
• Create a new Application based on parts of
  another application using the Application Wizard.

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The Application Wizard

• You can use the Application Wizard to create new
  Applications.
• You can access the Application Wizard through
  eAdmin / Manage Applications,
  then select File/ New.
  

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Predefined Application Types

• When creating a new application, you can choose
  among these types of applications
• Generic has no special requirements (other than
  to include the 4 minimally required dimensions
  category, account, entity and time).
• Financial Supports the ability to translate
  local currency data into one or more reporting
  currencies, and the ability to enter and
  automatically eliminate intercompany details.
• Rate - A rate application is an application used
  to store the exchange rates to support the
  currency conversion in one or more financial
  applications. It must include a currency
  dimension detailing the exchange rates by each
  individual input currency.

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Formulas

• You can define formulas to perform calculations
  on members. There are three ways you can apply
  formulas
• Worksheet formulas
• Dimension formulas
• Advanced logic
• Each has advantages and disadvantages. You will
  normally use some combination of all three types
  of formulas to achieve the desired results.

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Worksheet Formulas

• You can define formulas in your worksheets (i.e.,
  reports or schedules) using normal Excel formula
  syntax that are applied to values returned from
  the Everest database.
• Worksheet formulas are best used for simple
  calculations, such as a variance calculation
  between budget and forecast. Such a calculation,
  while useful, does not need to be stored in the
  database.
• The other two types of formulas store results
  directly in the database, so those results can be
  brought into many different reports.

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Dimension Formulas

• Dimension formulas give you the ability to define
  very powerful formulas for calculating dimension
  members.
• Everest uses the MDX (multi-dimensional
  expression) language used by Microsoft Analysis
  Services.
• You assign dimension formulas in the Formula
  column of the dimension sheet by typing
  MDX-syntax expressions directly into the Formula
  cell for each member.
• Dimension formulas are applied to all levels in
  the dimension (base and parent) and are also
  applied to the entire application set.
• Everest is shipped with many useful MDX functions
  that help standardize your calculated members.

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Building Dimension Formulas

• To use formulas in your dimension(s) you must add
  a Formula property to the dimension using the
  Manage Dimensions task.
• Formula is a user-defined property, so you need
  to define the length of the field. You should
  enter a field length that is at least equal to
  the length of your longest formula.
• The formula property appears as a column in the
  dimension workbook.

Adding a Formula property to the Dimension
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Dimension Files

• You define your dimension formulas in dimension
  Excel files that you can access from the eAdmin gt
  Manage Members.
• These files are stored in the AdminApp directory
  of the AppSet.

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Advanced Logic

• You can use advanced logic calculations for
  special requirements, such as calculations that
  need to be performed on base level members (where
  the members have no children in any dimension).
• The results of such calculations are written
  directly to the application as base data and are
  simply aggregated up the dimensional hierarchy as
  they are, without being re-calculated at upper
  levels.
• All dimension formulas are applied to these
  results.
• You can use MDX or SQL syntax in advanced logic.
• Advanced Logic is application specific.

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Building Advanced Logic

• When to Use Advanced Logic
• An example of an Advanced Logic calculation is a
  Units times Price calculation.
• Such calculations cannot be defined in dimension
  formulas because they must only be performed on
  base level members.
• You define base level member calculations in
  Advanced Logic workbooks.

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Running Advanced Logic

• Advanced Logic can be run two ways
• After data is sent to the database
• It can be automatically invoked each time data is
  sent to the database (via EvSND).
• By using this method the logic is executed
  immediately after the data is sent and the
  results can be seen in Everest right away.
• Run via Data Manager for batch processing of
  logic.
• Using the Data Manager to execute logic is useful
  for calculations that do not need to be executed
  immediately.
• For example, as an administrator you may decide
  to wait until all the data has been entered in
  the local currency before generating the
  translated amounts in the reporting currencies.

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Advanced Logic Files

• Everest relies on Advanced Logic files which
  contain the calculations that are to be applied
  to the specified members.
• The files are
• Compiled Logic File
• Library File
• System Constants File

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Compiled Logic File

• Advanced Logic files are initially Excel files in
  which the syntax for the calculations are
  contained in column A. The system converts this
  file to an ASCII file that has the extension LGF
  (for example Default.lgf).
• When the Advanced Logic file is validated and
  saved its actually converted into another file
  (with the extension LGX) that is an executable
  version of the LGF file. So you will have three
  files, .XLS, .LGF and .LGX for each Advanced
  Logic file.

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Library Files

• Library files store a library of standard
  functions. A library file has the extension LGL.
• In ApShell, one of these files is named
  MdxLib.lgl.
• You can use the INCLUDE function in your XLS
  file to call the library file at validation.
• The logic module will then scan the library file
  for the appropriate logic to use.

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Library File - Example
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The System Constants File

• This file maps your dimension names for the
  application to the standard Everest dynamic
  logic. By updating the dimension constants file
  with your dimensions you avoid having to change
  or rewrite any of the standard functions that are
  included with Everest.  
• You can also include cube constants and member
  constants in  the dimension constants file.
• For example, you would do this if your advanced
  logic references another application (cube) where
  values that are to be used in the calculations
  were stored.

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System Constants File - Example
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Creating Advanced Logic

• The Logic task from the eAdmin menu, lets you
  create new logic files, modify and maintain
  existing logic files and validate logic files to
  ensure they are constructed with the proper
  syntax.
• Logic files can be created for use in Data
  Manager packages or for logic to be executed
  after data sends.
• In order for logic to be executed after data
  sends the logic file must be named DEFAULT.XLS.
• It can be cumbersome to manage one logic file
  (DEFAULT.XLS) that contains all the logic you
  wish.
• If so, use the INCLUDE instruction to 'include'
  other logic files in the DEFAULT.XLS file when it
  is executed.

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End of Session 2

• Thank You!
• Have a nice day