Regardless of whether the perception of using SmartView for large queries is good or bad, the reality is that finance and accounting users require the ability to pull large volumes of information out of Essbase.  The only limit that I am aware of in the days of the Excel Add-In was the maximum number of rows Excel would allow (assuming the Essbase application cache settings were high enough to support it).  With SmartView, there is a limit.  The limit is controllable very easily, however.  The error that users may question an administrator follows.

"Cannot perform cube view operation. OLAP error (1020011): Maximum number of rows [5000] exceeded."

To increase the maximum number of rows a user can retrieve, or submit, edit the service.olap.dataQuery.grid.maxRows property in the essbase.properties file.  The default is 5000. While editing this property, it may be benefitial to evaluate the size if the columns (.olap.dataQuery.grid.maxColumns), which is set to 255 by default.

Once this is updated, restart the Hyperion services.

The location of the essbase.properties file is dependent on the version of Essbase installed.  Start by going to the server with APS installed. 

Location for version 9.3
     %HYPERION_HOME%\AnalyticProviderServices\bin directory

Location for version 11
     %HYPERION_HOME%\products\Essbase\aps\bin\

Many Hyperion Planning administrators are eager to customize the Planning application.  Questions are always posted on the Oracle Technology Network forums as to how and what is customizable.  As with any technology challenge, with the right resources and enough time, anything can be customized.  It is unrealistic to think that projects have an unlimited number of people and time to create a completely customized solution.  However, there are a number of things that are developed in Hyperion Planning to support user customization.

• Planning includes templates that control the layout and content of PDF reports of data forms, data form definitions, task lists, and planning units.
• Hyperlinks can be added to the Planning Tools page to support quick access to specific pages
• The appearance of Planning can be customized by changing the appropriate style sheets, which are files that control the UI of the Planning application.
• Templates can be changed to personalize text, colors, and images in the Planning interface
• Workflow tasks can be changed so each state has a unique color.
• Workflow states (Not Started, Approved, etc.) can be personalized so the state more accurately represents the business naming convention
• Workflow actions (Start, Reject, etc.) can be personalized so the action more accurately represents the business naming convention
• Custom spreading patterns can be created.

Future articles will be posted that will provide a step by step approach as to how each of these customizations is accomplished.  The Hyperion Planning Administrator’s Guide will give an overview of how each of these customizations is accomplished as well.