On Saturday, July 13, 2013, an outline extractor which only works with 11.1.2.x and higher and provides XML output was released. For those of us who used the old Visual Basic extractor provided by Olap Underground and maintained by Tim Tow’s organization, this is good news.

Developing Essbase Applications

Joe Aultman presents the importance of being automated in chapter 9 “System Automation The Groovy Way” which jump-starts automation techniques for finance and IT professionals with an example of building an outline extractor in 7 steps.

As Tim noted, “You still have to do something with the XML format for it to be useful.”

via Tim Tows Hyperion Blog: Next Generation Essbase Outline Extractor Released!.

The most effective management systems are built to address business needs. It is convenient to begin an EPM system within the domain of financial management, so we may recap analysis for management, along the following outline.

1. Financial Opportunity Assessment 
   1. Interpreting Financials
   2. Evaluating Performance
2. Financial Planning
   1. Forecasts
   2. Budget
   3. Growth
3. Financial Operations
   1. Instruments
   2. Markets
   3. Financing
4. Cash Flow and Investment Opportunities
   1. Discounted Cash Flow and Other Techniques
   2. Business Valuation
   3. Corporate Structure
   4. Role of Risk Analysis

1. Overview
2. Requirements
1. ESXi Server
2. DNS Server
3. AD (PDC) Server
3. Database
4. Network
5. EPM System Software
6. Scaling Out
7. Clients
8. Financial Reporting
9. Introduction to ETL