Database Calculation in Essbase

Database Calculation:

A database contains two types of values:

1. Values that you enter, which are called input data
2. Values that are calculated from input data

For Example:

• You enter regional sales figures for a variety of products. You calculate the total sales for each product.
• You enter the budget and actual values for the cost of goods sold for several products in several regions. You calculate the variance between budget and actual values for each product in each region.
• The database contains regional sales figures and prices for all products. You calculate what happens to total profit if you increase the price of one product in one region by 5%.

Small differences in the precision of cell values may occur between calculations run on different platforms, due to operating system math library differences.

Note: Most computers represent numbers in binary, and therefore can only represent real numbers approximately. Because binary computers cannot hold an infinite number of bits after a decimal point, numeric fractions such as one third (0.3333...), cannot be expressed as a decimal with a terminating point. Fractions with a denominator of the power of two (for example, 0.50) or ten (0.10) are the only real numbers that can be represented exactly. See IEEE Standard 754 for Floating-Point Representation (IEEE, 1985).

Essbase offers two methods for calculating a database:

1. Outline calculation
2. Calculation script calculation

The method you choose depends on the type of calculation that you want to perform.

Outline Calculation:
Outline calculation is the simplest method of calculation. Essbase bases the calculation of the database on the relationships between members in the database outline and on any formulas that are associated with members in the outline.

For example, the below screenshot (Fig. A) shows the relationships between the members of the Market dimension in the Sample Basic database. The values for New York, assachusetts, Florida, Connecticut, and New Hampshire are added to calculate the value for East. The values for East, West, South, and Central are added to calculate the total value for Market.

Fig A:Relationship Between Members of the Market Dimension

Fig. B shows the Scenario dimension from the Sample Basic database. The Variance and Variance % members are calculated by using the formulas attached to them.

Fig. B:Calculation of Variance and Variance %
It may be more efficient to calculate some member combinations when you retrieve the data, instead of calculating the member combinations during the regular database calculation. You can use dynamic calculations to calculate data at retrieval time.

Calculation Script Calculation:
Calculation script calculation is the second method of calculation. Using a calculation script, you can choose exactly how to calculate a database. For example, you can calculate part of a database or copy data values between members.
A calculation script contains a series of calculation commands, equations, and formulas. For example, the following calculation script increases the actual marketing expenses in the New York region by 5%.

FIX (Actual, "New York")
    Marketing = Marketing *1.05;
ENDFIX;