The Hyperion inconsistency

The Planning Utilities that we have available in the Planning1 folder (\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem2\Planning\planning1 in Version 11.1.2.1 for example) are simply wonderful in terms of doing several activities in a fly - for example Loading and modifying the outline, exporting and importing user security, encrypting password, et. al. They are very easy to use and simple in terms of syntax.
The only comment I have are the inconsistencies on how you write the script.
Say for example that you want to migrate "SECURITY" by using the Utility. In this case, you would export the Security and then import it by using "ExportSecurity" and "ImportSecurity" utilities respectively.

The syntax for ExportSecurity in the simplest case would be something like:
ExportSecurity.cmd /A=application_name,/U=admin_user

The above script would export the application security and generate a SECFILE.TXT file.

Now, if you would import the security in the target application, the syntax you would probably think of is:
ImportSecurity.cmd /A=application_name,/U=admin_user
Right?

However, the syntax for ImportSecurity is:
ImportSecurity.cmd "application_name,admin_user"

It is pretty basic, however, what if they had the same kind of syntax for both of those utilities. Oracle or Hyperion might have some reasons behind it, but sometimes I am puzzled about how or why these things have such inconsistencies.

Any comments would be fun for discussion purposes or as a feedback to Oracle.

LCM and the magic of 7-zip

LCM is a great tool in the EPM world in terms of migrating artifacts from one environment to another, however, it being a real world, we know it is not perfect to the core. Moreover, when it comes to migrating reports from one environment to another, owing to the long, crazy, weird hard-to-remember paths that 

Hyperion is used to, we get those errors while trying to copy the “EXPORT FOLDER IN SOURCE ENVIRONMENT” to “IMPORT FOLDER IN TARGET ENVIRONMENT.” I think you understand what I mean, right, if you are used to LCM and those errors.

This is where 7-zip comes in handy. Windows comes with its very own Win-Zip, however, I am not a huge fan of it. 7-zip is a free tool and, I believe, it works a lot better when it comes to zipping the Hyperion kind-of files.

This is how it can be used in the process of LCM.

When you perform an LCM export in the source environment, a folder is created in the IMPORT-EXPORT folder.

For example, if you have performed an LCM export with the ADMIN account and named the export “REPORT 2013” the following would be the path/file you would be looking for –

\\Server\d$\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\import_export\admin@Native Directory\REPORT 2013.

Here is the trick now. If you try to copy the folder “REPORT 2013” directly to the target environment, you can get errors, such as “file too long” OR “permission related” etc. This is where you can use 7-zip. As I have already mentioned earlier, it is free to download, and it takes only a minute or so to install it. Zip the “REPORT 2013” folder, and copy the “zipped” folder and paste it to the target IMPORT-EXPORT folder. Now you go to the target server and unzip it, and there you go, you have the files, ready to be imported in the target environment. 

Hyperion Planning Utilities

Hyperion Planning comes loaded with several utilities that come in very handy. Knowledge about what those utilities are, what they do, how to use them, the proper syntax to run them can be of huge benefit during routine as well as ad hoc activities in the EPM world.

In regards to the EPM 11.1.2.1 version, the Utilities reside in the Planning1 directory (default) in the application server where you have Planning installed and configured. In my case, the folder is \\appserver\d$\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1. It might be different depending on how you have configured Planning.

Here, I have tried to list some of the utilities that are available in the Planning1 folder and a brief description regarding what they do. If you are interested to know more about any of them, Oracle document library is a great resource. I have also written blogs on some of those utilities. So you can feel free to search for them.

Note: Most of the utilities (may be all) are case sensitive, so please take great care during type those commands and their syntax.

OutlineLoad.cmd – The mother of all the processes to load metadata in Hyperion Planning, this is a very handy utility using which you can load metadata in Planning application. CSV, TXT files can be used to for default dimensions as well as user-defined dimensions, attributes, and UDAs. Make sure the metadata or data file is formatted correctly.

The following is a common syntax. It has some other parameters as well.

OutlineLoad [/S:server] /A:application /U:userName [/E:outputFileName] [/I:inputFileName/D[U]:loadDimensionName|/DA:attributeDimensionName:baseDimensionName][/X:exceptionFileName] [L:logFileName]

FormDefUtil.cmd – The form definition utility comes in very handy if you want to export the forms in planning application and import in a different target environment, for example, export-import between development and production, or so forth. You can export either a single form or all the forms in a planning application. It creates an XML file(s) which you can use to import in the target environment.

Syntax

FormDefUtil.cmd export Name_of_Form servername username Application_Name.

In case you are exporting all the forms, replace “Name_of_Form” with “-all” and in case you are importing, replace “export” with “import.”

ExportSecurity.cmd and ImportSecurity.cmd – By using the ExportSecurity utility in conjunction with ImportSecurity.cmd, we can export and import access permissions across applications. Running this utility creats a secfile.txt file which can be used to import security in the target environment or application. Before running the ImportSecurity.cmd utility, we need to edit the secfile.txt file to make sure we have the right names.

The syntax for ExportSecurity.cmd is

ExportSecurity.cmd /A=Application_Name,/U=admin_username (can use other parameters as per need)

For example, If the name of the application is khoonks and username is nirmal, the syntax would look something like:
ExportSecurity.cmd /A=khoonks,/U=nirmal (you can add other parameters as required)

The default location where the resulting secfile is created is what we call the "bin" folder. The location in 11.1.2.1 (my environment) is oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1.

We can specify the output file name/location by using the parameter "TO_FILE"
In the following example,
username is nirmal, application is khoonks, and we would like to export the resulting security file to a file named "mysec.txt" in E:\my_folder.
So the syntax would be something like:
ExportSecurity.cmd /A=khoonks,/U=nirmal,/TO_FILE=E:\\my_folder\\mysec

Moreover, we can also use the (-f) option to encrypt the password while doing the security export. In this case the syntax of a batch script to call the ExportSecurity.cmd would look something like:

call D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1\ExportSecurity.cmd -f:D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1\passwordFile /A=appname,/U=ADMIN,/TO_FILE=E:\\samplefolder\\subfolder\\mysec_secfile

The above script will create a file called mysec_secfile.txt inside the "subfolder" folder in the specified path. 

NOTE: In the above example, there is a space before "-f" and after "passwordFile"
The utility is very sensitive in terms of case and spaces. Therefore, make sure they are correct.

ImportSecurity.cmd “appname,username”
For example, if the app name is khoonks and username is nirmal, the syntax would be:
ImportSecurity.cmd "khoonks,nirmal"

ProvisionUsers.cmd – The provision users utility can be used to synchronize Planning users, groups, and roles in Shared Services console with Planning application and with Essbase.

Syntax is

ProvisionUsers /ADMIN:admin_user /A:Application_Name

SortMember.cmd – The sort member utility can be used to sort dimension members outside of Planning. This is an alternate for sorting members in Dimensions tab in Planning web. If you want to sort members without having to open planning, you can use this.

The syntax is

SortMember servername admin_username password Dimension member_name descendants ascend

Other parameters such as descend, etc can be used as per requirement.

Apart from these utilities, there are other utilities as well which can come in handy in Planning administrative job.

You can go and check the Planning1 folder to see and find out what the other utilities are and what they do.