Taking Your FDM Application to the Next

Level with Advanced Scripting

Tony Scalese
Edgewater Ranzal
www.ranzal.com

About Edgewater Ranzal

15 Years
700+ clients
1000+ projects

One of the Largest

Oracle/Hyperion Practices in
the U.S.

Oracle / Hyperion Platinum

Partner - Highest Status

Vertical Expertise with HighProfile Clients from Coast to

Coast

Sound Project Methodology

Insures Project Success

One Stop Shop for ALL EPM

Implementation needs

Our Services

Consolidation

Business
Intelligence

Data
Services

Project
Management

Planning

Infrastructure

Who Is Tony Scalese






Over 10 years Experience with Data Integration and

Financial Planning & Consolidation on the Hyperion suite
of products
Established many innovative FDM design, customization
and automation concepts that have evolved into standard
Industry-wide practices.
Certified HFM Consultant - System 9 & Fusion 11
Present at Oracle conferences, Ranzal webcasts and post
on Oracle Technology Network (OTN) and blog on
www.FDMGuru.com
B.A. Economics, Allegheny College; MBA Candidate,
Babson College

Agenda
Script Types

Tips & Tricks

Solution Overview & Wrap-up

Import Scripts
Event Scripts
Custom Scripts

Common Script Usage

Batch Scripts
Leveraging Workbench
Scheduling Scripts

Smart Replace
Resources
Scripting Challenge

What is FDM Scripting?



FDM has a powerful scripting engine that

leverages the VBScript programming
language to further extend the applications
functionality
Scripts can be used to execute SQL queries
Scripts can leverage windows objects (Shell) to
execute batch command files

FDM Scripting is as powerful as your

programming skills & knowledge of the
application architecture

Script Types


Import: Execute during the import workflow

stage when assigned to the import format
used by the location processing data
Event: Execute during predefined events
within the application. These are similar to
Excel workbook macros that execute
OnOpen
Custom: All other scripts that are used to
perform additional actions/functions in FDM

Import Scripts


DataPump Used with Delimited & Fixed Width

Import formats
Execute for the dimension to which they are assigned
in the import format.
Execute for each line in the data file

Integration Used with Script Import Formats

Used to provide direct integration to relational sources

Executes SQL queries to retrieve data from source
Often Utilizes an ADO connection
Working example in the Admin Guide

Import Scripts Some Facts




API objects are not available for use in Import

Scripts - Data Pump or Integration
Data Pump scripts are passed the field (strField)
defined by the import format i.e, field x of y - as
well as the entire record (strRecord)
Temporary variables can be used during the
import process and accessed by other import
scripts RES.pVarTempx
You cannot execute Import scripts from the
script editor

Import Scripts The #1 Pitfall



Pre/Cross Dimensional Mapping - if source account

is X, Y or Z then Entity is A
While there are times this can be necessary, robust event
scripting can often address the need for this logic

Why is this approach flawed?

Limited visibility to the true source value for a given
dimension
Mapping logic is likely no longer an end user function;
scripts are only visible to administrators
Any time the logic changes, the data file must be reimported
ERPi does not currently support modifications to the source
member that was extracted from the G/L

Example Integration Script



Package

Create connection to source

 Connection strings vary based on source
DB type
Run query to get source records
 SQL Select query
Append query result to FDM worktable

Event Scripts Some Facts







Only execute when the Event actually has

code
Application passes certain arguments to the
event script when triggered
Action event scripts often execute multiple
subprocesses and/or other event scripts
You cannot add new Event scripts
You cannot execute Event scripts from the
script editor

Event Scripts
Event Script

Executed

StartUp

During Log In and Logout of the application

ShutDown

Does not execute in 11.1.2.0

StatusMessage

When using the API function mStatusMessage

SystemLocked

When the system is Locked

POVChanged

When the point-of-view is changed

SecurityChanged

When security is changed

ImportMap (Bef & Aft)

During the Import of a mapping .TRx file

CopyMap (Bef & Aft)

During the Copy of map from one location to another

ClearData (Bef & Aft)

When data is cleared for a given point-of-view

FileImport (Bef & Aft)

When a flat file is imported; does not apply to adaptor & script
based import formats

Event Scripts
Event Script

Executed

Validate (Bef & Aft)

During Validate workflow step

ExportToDat (Bef & Aft)

During Export step when a data file is created

Load (Bef & Aft)

During Export step when data file export is loaded

to target system

Consolidate (Bef & Aft)

During a target system is consolidation

Check (Bef & Aft)

When Check workflow step

Calculate (Bef & Aft)

When Calculate is executed; Process Logic/Maps

ProcLogicGrp (Bef & Aft)

When Logic groups applied; during Import &

Process Logic/Maps

ProcMap (Bef & Aft)

When Maps are applied; during Import & Process

Logic/Maps; only executes for locations with
Wildcard maps

Event Scripts
Event Script

Executed

ArchiveItemAction

During archive of import & export files

ControlsAction

During Certification (un)Review & (un)Submit

ImportAction

When Import workflow step is run

MemoItemAction

When Memos are added, updated or deleted

MultiloadAction

During Multi-Load and Journal processing

BatchAction

During batch execution

BatchAutoMapCorrect

During a batch process that utilizes the autocorrect

mapping feature

Custom Scripts Some Facts

Custom Scripts


3 types of Custom scripts

General: All other actions in FDM; example
Batch loader script
Plug-In: No longer used
Web: Used to create tasks flows that allow end
users to execute scripts without requiring access
to script editor

Running SQL from Scripts



Select Queries Used to retrieve data from a

table
Set rs = DW.DataAccess.farsKeySet(strSQL)

DML Queries Used to Update/Insert/Delete

data
blnResult =
DW.DataManipulation.fExecuteDML(strSQL)

Scripting Objects


File System Object

Set FSO =
CreateObject(Scripting.FileSystemObject)
Set objFile = FSO.CreateTextFile(PathToFile,
OverwriteExisting, blnUnicode)

Windows Shell Object

Set wShell =
WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
lngResult = WShell.Run(strCommand,
WindowStyle, blnWaitOnReturn)

Batch Loader



From the Workbench, Tools  Batch

Processing
Set the Batch Processing options and click
Create Script

Batch Loader Script



Package

Process Level Tells FDM which workflow

steps to perform; see
enmBatchProcessLevels
Delimiter File name delimiter use in the
batch file name.
Example: 1~Location~Category~Period~rr.txt

Map Auto Correct Controls if FDM should

automap missing members to a
default/suspense member; True/False

Object Browser





Object Browser contains a

list of all of the API functions
that are available to be used
in FDM scripts
Object Browser is only
available in WorkBench
Many objects provide a
description of the return or
required arguments

Accelerators


Accelerators are prewritten snippets of code

that perform common scripting operations
including:

Get detailed POV information (location metadata)

Create and loop through a recordset
Work with text files using FSO
Send email

Accelerators provide 70-80% of the code,

you will often need to update/refine

Using Accelerators




Select the section of the script where you need the

accelerator code
Double click the accelerator and the code is inserted
Refine as needed you will need to review the code

Adaptor Specific Objects




Import the Type Library of the

Adaptor
Right click the object browser
and select Add Type Library
Browse to the adaptor folder
and import the
AdaptorName.tlb file

Scheduling Scripts


FDM Task Manager FDM component that

allows custom scripts to be scheduled on
specific intervals; seconds, days of the week,
specific day(s) each month
FDM Shell Object Used to execute custom
scripts from a windows batch file; batch file
can be scheduled within Windows Scheduled
Tasks or any enterprise scheduling software

Task Manager



Select application &

script to execute
Specify Login
credentials non
expiring recommended
Specify Time interval to
execute

FDM Shell



Shell object is in the SharedComponents of

the installation directory
Double click the UPSShell executable
Open Notepad and paste
Default syntax is provided
Consists of 2 parts Path to FDM Shell & Call to
script

FDM Shell Syntax




C:\Oracle\MIDDLE~1\EPMSYS~1\products\FINA
NC~1\SHARED~1\upsShell.exe
CustomScriptEx=AppName~UserID~PW~DOMA
IN~LoadBalancerName~LogDirectory~ScriptNa
me~LanguageCode(Default=1033)~EncodeUnic
ode(Default=0)
C:\Oracle\MIDDLE~1\EPMSYS~1\products\FINA
NC~1\SHARED~1\upsShell.exe
CustomScriptEx=App1~admin~password~~local
host~C:\Temp~BatchLoad~1033~0

Taking a Detour HFM Architecture



HFM subcubes are the intersection of the

Accounts, ICP, Custom1-4 & Period for the
Year, Entity, Scenario and Value dimensions
When loading in replace mode, the entire
subcube is cleared for each unique Year, Entity
Scenario that is contained in the data
This is the default HFM behavior loading
through FDM or directly in HFM through load
tasks
Data is orphaned in HFM if an entity is loaded
and then in subsequent loads is not part of the
data set meaning potentially inaccurate
financial results

Preliminary Load

Preliminary
load includes a
errant G/L
posting that
misclassifies
data into the
Rhode Island
entity

Reload

G/L posting is
corrected and
previous entry is
re-classed from
Rhode Island to
Massachusetts
Data is not cleared
from Rhode Island
since no data
exists in the G/L
file for R.I.
HFM is wrong!

How Can FDM Help?

Smart Replace is a Ranzal custom developed

FDM solution that addresses this common data
quality issue caused by the default clear
behavior of HFM

A list of the unique entities that have been loaded to

HFM is maintained
The data that is currently being loaded to HFM is
compared against the list of historically loaded data
If any orphaned entities are found, a data clearing
record for that entity is added to the data set being
loaded

Reload with Smart Replace

G/L posting is
corrected and
previous entry is
re-classed from
Rhode Island to
Massachusetts
Data is cleared
from Rhode
Island by the
custom Smart
Replace
functionality
HFM is correct!

What To Learn More?




FDM Adaptor Actions

FDM API Guide
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/epm.html

Oracle Technology Network (OTN)

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=409&s
tart=0

Ranzal & Associates

http://www.ranzal.com

W3 Schools
http://www.w3schools.com

Google

Scripting Challenge


Tell me a problem you are facing in your

FDM application that you believe or know
custom scripting will address
Entries can be dropped at the Ranzal booth or
email me (ascalese@ranzal.com) before the end
of the conference




I will select 1 challenge and create a script

that addresses the issue
I will schedule a 1 hr web session to demo
the solution

Questions

Tony Scalese
ascalese@ranzal.com
www.ranzal.com

Other Ranzal Presentations

Calculation Manager: The New and Improved Application to Create Hyperion
Planning Business Rules Monday, 11:15 am, Room 102C
Security and Auditing in HFM Tuesday, 4:30pm, 101B
Best Practices for Using DRM with EPMA Wednesday, 8:30am, 103A
Getting Started with Calc Manager for HFM Wednesday, 8:30am, 101B
Advanced Topics in Calc Manager for HFM Wednesday, 9:45am, 101B
Maximizing the Value of an EPM Investment with ERPi, FDM & EPMA Wednesday,
11:15am, 101B
Taking your FDM application to the next level with Advanced Scripting Friday,
8:30am, 101B
IFRS reporting within Hyperion Financial Management Thursday, 10:30am, 101B