ExoInsight enables you to connect Alteryx to Oracle PBCS and Oracle FCCS to utilize the data and hierarchies from these applications in your workflows. This guide will walk you through setting up and working with ExoInsight to enable integration between Oracle PBCS or Oracle FCCS and Alteryx.
Prerequisites
- ExoInsight must be installed, configured, and enabled at your organization.
- You must know the name of the ExoInsight PBCS or FCCS environment(s) that you would like to connect to. If you do not know the name of the ExoInsight PBCS or FCCS environment name, please contact your ExoInsight admin.
- You have downloaded and added the ExoInsight Alteryx Plug-In for PBCS (ExoInsight PBCS Output) to your Alteryx Designer instance, and you can see it in the Connectors menu in the Alteryx toolbar. If you do not have the plug-in installed, please contact your ExoInsight admin.
If all the above prerequisites have been met, read on to get started.
Connecting to PBCS or FCCS
You will find the ExoInsight Alteryx Plug-in for PBCS under your Connectors menu. Once you pull it to the workflow canvas, it will ask for the following parameters:
ExoInsight URL
The URL that references the ExoInsight instance at your organization. The format is
http(s)://ServerName:PortNumber/ExoInsight/PBCS
Your ExoInsight admin will provide you the correct ExoInsight URL to use. Please note that /ExoInsight/PBCS is case-sensitive.
ExoInsight PBCS Environment
This is a name given to the connection to your PBCS or FCCS environment. This is set up in ExoInsight and will be provided to you by your ExoInsight admin. Please note that the environment name is case-sensitive and will not work properly if not inputted exactly as it’s set up in ExoInsight.
Essbase Username and Password
This is the same username and password that you normally use to log into PBCS or FCCS, whether it’s in SmartView, on the web, some other tool. ExoInsight will respect the security filters that your username has been given in PBCS or FCCS, so you’ll be able to see the same applications, plan types, and data as you normally do.
Selecting Your Cube
Once you have successfully logged in, you will then be presented with a screen to select the PBCS application and plan type (cube) you would like to work with. First select the application from the first drop-down (1), then select the associated plan type (2):
Once the plan type is selected, the outline associated with that cube will appear in the space below (3):
Querying for Data
The outline that displays in the ExoInsight Alteryx Plug-in for PBCS is a visual representation of the structure of the PBCS or FCCS cube. To begin pulling data back, you simply need to select the members of the outline that you want to return data for. As you select members, the query will be built dynamically in the query box:
You can also right-click on a member and utilize set operators such as Children, Descendants, Leaves, Members, and Siblings (for a complete discussion of the POV String syntax, please refer to the POV String Documentation - Oracle PBCS and Oracle FCCS Module document):
Once you have your query built, run the workflow to see the results in Alteryx:
Querying for Dimension Metadata
ExoInsight makes it just as easy to pull dimension information from your PBCS and FCCS cubes as it does data. To pull dimension information, enter the dimension name in the query box exactly as it appears in the outline the run the workflow:
Passing in Parameters
Instead of manually entering your ExoInsight URL, ExoInsight PBCS or FCCS environment, username and password, etc, you can instead dynamically pass in these parameters as part of your workflow. If you choose to pass in parameters, they all must be present in the Text Input node. The required parameters are as follows:
url: The ExoInsight URL
env: The ExoInsight PBCS or FCCS environment (case-sensitive)
user: The PBCS or FCCS user to run the query
password: The password of the PBCS or FCCS user that will run the query
application: The PBCS or FCCS application name
plantype: The PBCS or FCCS cube name
suppressmissing: Tells PBCS or FCCS whether to suppress rows with missing values
entry: Either a valid POV String or dimension name
Parameters that are passed in will override any parameter values manually entered into the ExoInsight Alteryx Plug-in. It is recommended that you keep the default values of the ExoInsight PBCS Output plug-in and do not manually log in since all these parameter values will be passed in instead.
General Tips and Best Practices
- Start with small, high-level queries. PBCS and FCCS work best with targeted, focused queries. Think about the data required for your particular use-case and do not attempt to pull more data than you need. Most reporting and analytic requirements can be done with less data than initially assumed.
- If large data volumes are required, please refer to the discussion on looping in the POV String Documentation - Oracle PBCS and FCCS Module.
- Consider making your queries dynamic by including PBCS or FCCS substitution variables.
- For a detailed description of the POV String syntax, please refer to the POV String Documentation - Oracle PBCS and Oracle FCCS Module guide.
- For additional help, please contact the ExoInsight support contact for your organization.