Oracle Essbase 11 Architecture

Oracle Essbase is an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) Server that provides an environment for deploying pre-packaged applications or developing custom analytic and enterprise performance management applications. Oracle Essbase, along with Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus, is part of the Oracle BI Foundation.

Oracle Essbase provides adaptable data storage mechanisms for specific types of analytic and performance management applications, thereby ensuring sub-second response times regardless of the complexity of the analytics. The Block data storage option (BSO) enables driver-based scenario modeling, forecasting, and predictive analytic applications while Aggregate data storage option (ASO) is optimized for massive sparse data sets, supporting thousands of concurrent business users performing sophisticated analyses at the speed of thought.

With the release of Oracle Essbase 11 there is no stronger integration with the both Oracle Fusion Middleware technologies as well as Oracle Database 11g.

Oracle Hyperion Analytic pre-packaged applications which use Oracle Essbase are as follows.

This blog is an attempt to explain Essbase Architecture and high level integrated information flow between the source data and product components. 

Essbase Architecture

The Essbase product family incorporates powerful architectural features to handle a wide range of analytical applications across large multiple-user environments. The high level view of the integrated information flow between the source data and the product components is as below.

Essbase Components

Essbase Server

The multithreaded OLAP server takes advantage of symmetrical multiprocessing hardware platforms. The server acts as a shared resource, handling all data storage, caching, calculations, and data security.

Essbase Database

The multidimensional data cube can be implemented in the two storage models (block storage and aggregate storage). Block storage databases support dense data sets, enabling users to write back interactively and perform complex financial analytics. Aggregate storage databases drive operational analytics and are optimized for high dimensionality, extreme sparsity of data, and dimensions with millions of members.  

Administration Services

This database and system administrators’ interface to Essbase provides a single-point-of-access console to multiple instances of Essbase Server. With Administration Services Console, one can design, develop, maintain and manage multiple instances of Essbase Server and multiple applications and databases. The data preview option is provided within the console itself. It supports custom Java plug-ins to leverage and extend key functionality.

Provider Services

Provider Services facilitates connectivity from Smart View to the database tier. It also enables high availability, clustering, load balancing and failover functionality for Java API, Smart View, and XMLA clients which can bring enterprise-level performance and reliability to Essbase applications.

Smart View

This software program provides a single Microsoft Office interface for multiple Oracle Hyperion products. With smart view along with Spreadsheet Add-in function it also integrate live contents from Essbase, Planning, Financial Management and various reporting and analysis tools into Microsoft Office programs.

Spreadsheet Add-in

This software program merges seamlessly with Excel. With Spreadsheet Add-in, one can access instances of Essbase Server and perform ad hoc reporting on Essbase databases.

MaxL

This practical, expressive interface for administering the Essbase system in one of the two functional domains of the multidimensional database access language for Essbase. With MaxL Data Definition language (DDL), you use statements to make requests; MaxL DDL statements usually begin with verbs and read like English sentences. MaxL DDL improves on ESSCMD in that you can make it interact with the operating system by issuing shell commands, and you can embed it in Perl programs by implementing the Perl module.

ESSCMD

This command-line language performs server operations interactively or through batch or script files. ESSCMD is a legacy language, and will not be enhanced of new features in future release.

MDX

This multidimensional query language is the second of the two MaxL functional domains. MDX provides the ability to perform advanced data extraction and querying by means of statements that typically include the verb SELECT. MDX is also used to construct member formulas in aggregate storage databases.

Essbase API

This developers’ interface to Essbase enables you to create customized applications in VB, C or Java programming languages.

Visual Explorer

Visual Explorer is a separately-licensed add-in for Smart View and provides Essbase users with powerful analytics in a highly graphical format. It enables users to unlock the information stored in multidimensional databases using a free-form canvas for exploring and analyzing data.

Integration Services

Integration Services provides a metadata-driven environment to bridge the gap between data stored in Essbase database and transitional data stored in relational databases. Integration Server drill-through enables business users to view linked transactional data from Essbase reports. A Hybrid Analysis feature provides more detail information for decision making and more modularity in designing and maintaining large-scale analytic applications.

Essbase Studio

This tool provides an environment for the development, deployment, and maintenance of enterprise-scale Essbase analytic applications. The Essbase Studio graphical front end enables you to build Essbase cubes from disparate data sources. It also features in built in repository to store and reuse upstream and downstream metadata visibility; and enhanced drill through to multiple targets, including relational, Essbase, BI repository URL based and custom Java methods.