Database Reference
In-Depth Information
(which allows you to report in any currency across the board in your database). This
reporting feature sometimes gets overlooked when converting the cube from BSo to
ASo and is a big gotcha when you get ready to start converting reports. often, it is
caught by ad hoc report users who can no longer do the same things they used to do
when the cube had the currency conversion module sitting behind it.
Just a parting note lest someone ask why partitioning was not included in this sec-
tion. As of version 11.1.x, almost all of the partitioning types are now fully supported for
both ASo and BSo cubes and allow the use of ASo and BSo cubes interchangeably as
the Source or the target. Prior to version 11, ASo cubes as a data source could only be
partitioned to BSo cubes as a data target. ASo cubes could not be partitioned to ASo
cubes and BSo cubes could not be partitioned to ASo cubes. These were some severe
limitations that you had to design around if partitioning was a main part of your design
considerations. today, the only major concern is the limitation when using replicated
Partitioning. not every combination of the two cube types works. Check the
Essbase
Database Administrator's Guide
(DBAg) for detailed information on this topic.
5.3 what is the easiest way to Convert
a Bso CuBe to an aso CuBe?
After having thought through the circumstances under which you should not convert a
BSo cube to an ASo cube, you are ready to move forward. you have made the decision
to convert one of your existing BSo cubes to an ASo cube. Perhaps you want to join in
the hoopla and rejoicing around the greatness of ASo cubes. or maybe you have, as I
did, a requirement that was handed to you that can only be met by resignedly endorsing
this technology. Possibly, you just want to see how well your BSo cube would work as an
ASo cube and explore the differences between the two of them. no matter how or why
the decision was made, you are now here and need to know what to do and how to go
about this proposal. The next section will walk you through some best practices and tips
to remember as you perform this conversion.
5.3.1 Using the Wizard
The first thing to look at is the Aggregate Storage outline Conversion Wizard. you access
this by opening Essbase Administration Services (EAS) and going to File > Wizards >
Aggregate Storage outline Conversion, as shown in Figure 5.1.
Although the Wizard contains the mechanism to convert a flat file outline object
that is not set up as a cube on your server (File System tab), I have found the conversion
process to be easier to work with if you have already set up the outline as a BSo cube. An
even better situation is to have data loaded so you can do a before-and-after comparison
using reports or the data preview option in EAS. While having the loaded cube on a
different server will work fine, I like to eliminate potential issues by having my source
and target objects co-existing on the same server. As a result, I have fewer unanswered
questions and the comparative process (if there is a need to debug something) is much
simpler. In some cases, loading data may not be possible, or you may not want to load
data for some other reason. That is okay and will not change your experience when
using the Wizard.
If you are doing the conversion on a Development Server, and the source cube is on a
Production Server, simply copy the application across servers. Again, you do not need data
loaded because the conversion process only converts the outline, it does not do anything
