Connecting to an Essbase Cube using Smart View
More and more Customers are moving onto Cloud ERP and there are so many new tools that can be used. In this blog I will be running through how to use Smart View to connect directly to an Essbase cube.
Smart View reports are accessible using Financial Reporting Center which is a hub for 7 different types of reporting tools. Smart View is a Microsoft Office Plug-in which means that it can be an easy transition tool for a user who is already familiar with Microsoft Excel.
Ill be connecting to the Essbase Cube provided by the demo.oracle.com system.
Installation
There are two ways to download Smart View, it is however recommended to download it by using the download tool within Cloud ERP as this will download the corresponding version that will work with your version of Cloud ERP.
From OBIEE
Once logged onto to OBIEE go onto the home screen and on the left-hand side under Get Started there is an option to Download BI Desktop Tools where there is an option to Download Smart View for MS Office.
Then follow the on screen instructions
From oracle.com
The other method is from the oracle website however there is a risk that it may not match up with the correct version of Cloud ERP/OBIEE being used.
Note: you must close any Microsoft Office applications for the install to run.
How to Connect to an Essbase Cube
After downloading the Smart View plug-in, you will be able to see that Smart View is an option on the top ribbon of all your Microsoft Office Products. You can connect to an Essbase cube using any of the products, but I am using Excel as this provides the easiest way to query the cube and create ad-hoc reports.
Press on the Smart View tab on the top ribbon and then select options. On the options menu moved to the Advanced tab where under General there will be a space to enter a Shared Connections URL. Here will be where you enter your Cloud ERP URL followed by the suffix /workspace/SmartViewProviders .
Once this is done, use the Panel to go to Shared Connections where you will be asked to login.
After successful login you will have the option to select which server to use. On the dropdown there will be an option to connect to an Oracle Essbase Cube. Once connected the cube will be visible on the panel.
You’re now connected!