EPO (ALG)

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Reporting flexibility

EPO has a multidimensional data entry and reporting tool called View Builder. This allows multidimensional grids to be defined, which can be used for data entry and reporting. New calculations can be defined in grid cells, which can refer to members of the outermost of any nested dimensions on the axes; they are then automatically applied in context to inner nested dimension members.

Books are made up of views, which can include multiple grids, charts and workflow elements.

Any dimension placed on the grid can have various ‘settings’ associated with it in relation to how it will appear when the end user opens the reporting / data entry books. User security overrides a grid layout. This allows standard grid layouts to be created and each user will only see what they are allowed to see, making each grid appear as if it has been custom built for the user.

The Expansion type allows the builder to decide how the dimension will appear when first opened by the user. Context ensures that items that have no values at a combination of dimensions will not appear – for example, it is possible to have a model with thousands of line items, but any one particular Responsibility Center may only use a few hundred or less. Context allows the grid to only show the required items without the user having to search through the thousands available.

ALG has licensed Simba’s OLE DB for OLAP provider technology, which allows products like Excel PivotTables, ProClarity and PowerPlay to access its data, just as they would Analysis Services cubes. Depending on what measures are selected, fewer or more dimensions will be visible in the virtual cube that can be viewed.

Of course, some EPO measures have more dimensions than would be found in a typical Analysis Services 2000 cube, so the screens in products aimed at that version of Analysis Services could be cluttered. Analysis Services 2005 cubes are likely to have many more dimensions, so newer versions of client tools may work better with EPO.

Although Excel PivotTables are normally read-only, it is possible to use a VBA add-in to make the PivotTable editable. The EPO add-in then traps the cell being changed and the MDX statement that was used to read it, which forms the basis for an ADO/MD Update command to change the data in the cube. The means that the EPO MDX Connector provides data entry and write-back via Excel. In the future, ALG is hoping to take advantage of the improved BI capabilities in Excel 2007.

THIS PAGE REPRESENTS ONLY A VERY SHORT EXTRACT FROM THE FULL REVIEW.

TO VIEW THE FULL REVIEW YOU CAN PURCHASE THE REVIEW INDIVIDUALLY OR PURCHASE AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO THE OLAP REPORT WHICH ALLOWS ACCESS TO ALL OLAP REPORT CONTENT.