Hyperion Planning Interview Questions & Answers

In a Planning application it is possible to select several currencies per entity member?

FALSE
When creating a multi-currency application, which dimensions are automatically created
in Essbase?
Currencies
HSP_Rates
When you convert currencies in a webform, converted values are?
Read-Only
It is possible to select the application’s default currency as a triangulation currency?
False
Exchange rates are set up from?
The Planning Desktop
If you change an exchange rate, you must?
Refresh the application selecting the option “Currency Conversion Calc Script” and run the
HspCRtb or HspCRtt script
If you add a new reporting currency, scenario or version to your application, you must?
Refresh the application selecting the option “Currency Conversion Calc Script” and run the
HspCRtb or HspCRtt script
How many currencies can you select per Entity member?
1
The HSP_RATES Dimension includes the following members?
HSP_InputValue
HSP_InputCurrency
HSP_Rate_XXX (where XXX is a currency, i.e USD)
What exchange rate types are available in for the Accounts Dimension?
– None
-Average
-Ending
-Historical
What are the 5 options in the Currency Calculation Script section on the Planning
Desktop?
Calc Script Name
-Version Type
-Currencies
-Scenarios
-Versions
What are the 2 copy calc scripts called?
HspCRtB
HspCRtT
The copy calc scripts copy exchange rates from top level dimension members to Level0
members?
True
From which dimensions can you import members using the HAL Planning Adapter?
-Accounts
-Entities
-Custom Dimensions
-Alias
What must be done before loading custom dimension members using HAL?
Create the user defined custom dimension in Planning Web
What Hyperion tools can be used to load data?
HAL Essbase adapter
EAS
Essbase Application Manager (for versions prior to 4.x)
When creating a single currency application, which dimensions are automatically created?
Accounts
Currencies
Entities
Scenarios
Time Periods
Versions
Years
Which 2 statements are correct?
Target versions let you enter data for members at any level in the hierarchy
Bottom-Up versions only allow for data entry at Level0
Which statement is correct?
Bottom-Up versions only can be enabled for Process Management (Workflow)
Which statement is correct about copying versions?
You can copy account annotations as well as supporting details
Which statements are correct about user-defined custom dimensions?
You assign valid plan types at dimension level only and not at member level
You can create up to 13 user-defined custom dimensions
The name for a user-defined custom dimension can be up to 80 characters
It is possible to change the starting year or month after an application has been created?
False
Weekly distribution options (4-4-5, 4-5-4, 5-4-4) are only available with monthly time
periods, not for custom or quarterly time periods?
True

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Which 2 statements are correct about Plan Types?

A plan type name can be up to 8 characters
When adding a new account member, you must change the source plan type
If the base time period selected is 12 months, how is the default calendar set up?
Months rolling into four quarter parents, and quarters rolling into a total year parent
To which application elements can access rights for users and groups be assigned?
Scenario dimension members
Version dimension members
Account dimension members
Entity dimension members
User-defined custom dimension members
Data entry forms
Business Rules
What is Essbase limit for security filters?
64 KB
What must be done after creating or updating user and / or group security?
Refresh the application including the security from the Planning Desktop
You can specify several application owners per application?
False
Interactive users can:?
Enable e-mail notification for themselves
Create and maintain web-based data entry forms
Create and launch business rules
Create and launch adapter processes via HAL
Submit info and data for approval
Planners can:?
Enable e-mail notification for themselves
Input, submit and view data
Use any data access tools for which they are licensed (such as Reports and Analyzer)
Submit info and data for approval
Use reports that have been built by others
Execute business rules
Use the Planning spreadsheet add-in
When you add a user in Hyperion Planning web, how many users are automatically
created in Essbase?
2: the named user and the underscore user
Planning users who wish to change their passwords can do so:?
From the External Authentication Provider
If a user is assigned to a group and the access rights on the individual user conflict with
those of the group:?
User access rights will take precedence over group access
If a user belongs to several groups that have conflicting access rights to a member, then:?
None takes precedence over Write and Read access
Write takes precedence over Read access
Rights assigned directly to a member override rights derived from a member relationship
(e.g Idescendants):?
True
What step must be taken in order to assign access to user-defined custom dimension
members?
The application must be refreshed
Give 5 aggregation options:?
Division
Currency
Substraction
Multiplication
Percentage
Ignore
Addition
Dynamic Calc should not be used for base level members for which users enter data since
data values are not saved for Dynamic Calc members
True
Which statements are true about using Dynamic Calc and Store?
The data value is calculated and stored upon retrieval
Using Dynamic Calc and Store increase retrieval and calculation times
Dynamic Calc and Store should be used when calculating members of a dense dimension
How many aliases can be assigned per dimension member in Planning?
10
In order to be visible in Planning web, Alias tables should be created in:?
Planning
Which are correct account types from the list below?
Expense, Revenue, Asset, Liability, Equity, Saved Assumption
Target versions allow for data entry in both parent and bottom level members?
True
Attributes can be assigned to:?
Sparse dimensions only
For which dimensions are shared members available?
Accounts
User-Defined dimensions
Entities
Which statement is true?
Security can be assigned to shared members but not to custom attributes
Supporting Details can be added to both bottom-up and target versions?
True
When you type in a value into a bottom level time period, the totals for summary time
periods are updated immediately?
True
In Planning web, when you press the refresh button:?
The form is refreshed with the last saved values – Any values that have not been saved are
discarded
For indepth understanding of Hyperion Planning click on
Business Rules in Hyperion Planning
Hyperion Planning Architecture
Steps to create a planning application
Oracle Hyperion Planning
Data Forms and Example in Hyperion Plannings
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1) How is data stored in the Essbase database?

Essbase is an file based database where the data is stored in PAG files of 2 GBeach and grows
sequentially.

2) While loading the data, you have applied both the selection criteria as wellas rejection criteria
to a same record. What will be the outcome?

The record will be rejected.

3) What are attributes ?

A classification of a member in a dimension. You can select and group members based on their
associated attributes. You can also specify an attribute when you perform calculations and use
calculation functions. Eg: The database in Sample Basic which has product dimension has some
attributes like size, package type, and flavor. We can add these attributes to the dimensions where we
can retrieve the data like for example to retrieve "coke with 8 Oz with bottles", this is useful for generating
reports.

4) What are the different types of LOG Files ?

So many log files are there in ess base, but the important log files are:

1. Application log
2. Essbase.log
3. Configtool.log
4. eas_install.log
5. ess base server-install.log

Suppose we have assigned Generation 2 and Generation 4 as of now and think of adding generation 3
later some time. Can we build the dimension.
No. If gen 2 and gen 4 exists, we must assign gen 3.

5) Why do objects gets locked and when does this happens ?

Objects gets locked to prevent users to make simultaneous and conflicting changes to Essbase database
objects. By default whenever an object is accessed through Administrative services console or Excel
spreadsheet add-in, it gets locked.

6) What is the difference between UDA's and Attribute dimensions?

Attribute dimensions provides more flexibility than UDA's. Attribute calculations dimensions which include
five members with the default names sum, count, min, max and avg are automatically created for the
attribute dimensions and are calculate dynamically.

7) How does Attribute dimensions and UDA's impact batch calculation performance ?

UDA's- No Impact as they do not perform any inherent calculations.Attribute dim- No Impact as they
perform only dynamic calculations.

8) What are filters ?

A method of controlling access to database cells in essbase. A filter is the most detailed level of security,
allowing you to define varying access levels different users can have to individual database values.
9) What is TB First and TB Last ?

TB First: in the Sample.Basic database, the accounts member Opening Inventory is tagged as TB First.
Opening Inventory consolidates the value of the first month in each quarter and uses that value for that
month's parent. For example, the value for Qtr1 is the same as the value for Jan.
TB Last: in the Sample.Basic database, the accounts member Ending Inventory is tagged as TB Last.
Ending Inventory consolidates the value for the last month in each quarter and uses that value for that
month's parent. For example, the value for Qtr1 is the same as the value for Mar.
How can we display UDA's in reports ? How do they impact report report performance.

UDA's values are never displayed in the reports and hence do not impact report performance.
How does Attribute dim impact report performance ?
They highly impact the report performance as the attributes are calculated dynamically when referenced
in the report. For very large number of att dim displayed in the report, the performance could drastically
reduce.
While loading the data, you have applied both the selection criteria as well as rejection criteria to a same
record. What will be the outcome.
The record will be rejected.

10) What are different types of attributes ?

Essbase supports two different types of attributes.

1. User-Defined attributes
2. Simple attributes

User-Defined attributes: The attributes that are defined by the user.

Simple attributes: Essbase supports some attributes, they are: Boolean, date, number, and string.

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Hyperion interview Questions and Answers List

1. Define Hyperion?
Ans. Hyperion is Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Performance Management
(BPM ) tool. It is the market leader in Operational , Financial and Strategic Planning.
It contains the applications for reporting, Planning , dashboards, Analysis, scorecarding,
consolidation, Workspace, Master Data Management and Foundation.

2. Explain Olap and mention if it is related to HYPERION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ?

Ans. Hyperion HFM/ Hyperion Planning both are Essbase based. They are front-end
tech and Ess-base is the back end. Ess-base is a M-OLAP. There are three types of
OLAP technology present in the market.
These are ROLAP, MOLAP and HOLAP.
An example of ROLAP is BO. Here we deal with table and they acts as a virtual cube.
But if we think about Oracle Express Hyperion Essbase and Cognos then they are real
cubes. Thus MOLAP.
ROLAP+MOLAP=HOLAP.
In case of BO, we need to join to attain the OLAP effect virtually but behind is a joined
table. But in Case of
MOLAP there is no concept of table it is cube only.
For example a page is a table then a Book is a Cube.
If the data is large then it is advisable to take up ROLAP not MOLAP. because the
performance of the cubes degrade. If the size of data is arround 100 GB to 150 GB then
it is fine to go with MOLAP and if it is more then that then we should choose BO.

3. Explain why we use Hyperion?

Ans. We have IIS for HFM although there is no IIS for OLAp’s. If there is no IIS then it is
a time taking process
to retrieve financial data.

4. Is it possible to have one ASO database and one BSO database in a single
application. Justify .
Ans. No because ASO/BSO classification is defined at Application level and not at the
database.

5. Can we have multiple databases in single application?

Ans. Yes, in this one database per application.

6.Can we start and stop an application individually and how to increase performance
using this?
Ans. We can manage our server resources by starting only applications which receive
heavy user traffic. When an application is started, memory is accompanied by all
associated data bases.

7. Explain custom based macro?

Ans. We write Ess base calculator functions and special macro functions under Ess
base macros. Custom defined macros makes use of an internal Ess base macro
language that enables to combine calculation functions and also helpful to operate on
multiple input parameters.

8. Explain data file cache?

Ans. It represents buffer in memory which holds compressed data files (.PAG ).

9. What does “DOU” mean?

Ans. In reference to RPG, DOU means (Do Until).This will execute a loop matched with
an End or End do
For instance
Eval X=1
DOU X=4
Eval X=X=1
EndDo
This example will go through the loop 4 times with the result of X being 4.
“DOU” is similar to Do While(“DOW”) where the difference lies in that the DOU will
always perform 1 pass through the loop and DOW will perform the comparison and only
continue into the loop if the condition meets else the program continues after the End
(EndDo).
For example:-
Eval X=1
DOW X=4
X=X+1
Enddo
The result is that the loop will not execute and the value of X will be 1.
10. Which property helps us to consider using ACE ?
Ans. A very little population of intercompany data forces us to consider using ACE.

11. Which two functions can produce a report that includes only Elimination entities?
Ans. two functions which can produce a report that includes only Elimination entities are
a Fixed Name List and Dynamic Name List.

12. Explain Dense and Sparse Dimensions?

Ans. Dense dimension is a dimension in which most data exists for every combination
of dimension members whereas sparse dimensions are the dimensions which has low
probability that data will exist for every combination of dimension members.

13. What are the three primary build methods for building dimensions?
Ans. The following are the three primary build methods for building dimensions :-
1) Generation references
2) Level references
3) Parent-Child references.

14. Differentiate between ASO & BSO?

Ans. 1) We cannot write back in ASO although we can write back in BSO.
2) Most dimensions in ASO are sparse whereas in BSO most of them are dense.
3) We cannot create more than 1 database in ASO but we can create more than 1 db
per application. If we have more than 10 dimensions then we should opt for ASO.

15. Explain attributes?

Ans. Classification of a member in a dimension is known as an attribute. We can do
selection of group members based on their associated attributes. We can also specify
an attribute while performing calculations and along with we can use calculation
functions.

As example, the db in Sample Basic with product dimension has some attributes like
package type, size, and flavor. We can add attributes to the dimensions and can
retrieve data. For example, to retrieve “coke with 8 Oz with bottles”.
24. In what way can migrating of an application from the test environment be made if we
want to move it in the production environment, also can we do this from Windows to
Unix or if the test environment is different from the production environment?
There is a tool given to us by the Hyperion Administrative services but this only helps
with the migration of the application and the objects database while the data is not
migrating. In the other two cases the answer is yes.

25. Can we run on the same machine two instances of the same Essbase server and
each one will have the test environment and the development environment?
We will respond with yes, because we can have two instances of Essbase with various
sets of services on the same machine.

26. If we have A as the dimension and B,C as members of it how can we stop b and c
from rolling up to A?
We can do it with (~)exclude of the consolidation operator.

27. What is the role of the never consolidate operator(^)?

It stops member from becoming consolidate on all dimensions.

28. Is it possible to have several metaoutlines in the Integration services that are built
on a single OLAP model?
The answer is yes.

29. Is it possible to have a metaoutline built on two separate OLAP models?

No, it’s not possible.

30. What is the true meaning of a hybrid analysis?

The members with a higher level along with the data associated will stay in the Essbase
database while the members of a smaller level and their associated data will live in the
relational database.