<s>
Essbase	B-Application
is	O
a	O
multidimensional	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
MDBMS	O
)	O
that	O
provides	O
a	O
platform	O
upon	O
which	O
to	O
build	O
analytic	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Essbase	B-Application
began	O
as	O
a	O
product	O
from	O
Arbor	O
Software	O
,	O
which	O
merged	O
with	O
Hyperion	O
Software	O
in	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-Application
Corporation	I-Application
acquired	O
Hyperion	O
Solutions	O
Corporation	O
in	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
late	O
2005	O
IBM	O
also	O
marketed	O
an	O
OEM	O
version	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
as	O
DB2	B-Application
OLAP	B-Application
Server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
that	O
set	O
out	O
twelve	B-Application
rules	I-Application
for	O
analytic	O
systems	O
(	O
an	O
allusion	O
to	O
his	O
earlier	O
famous	O
set	O
of	O
twelve	B-Application
rules	I-Application
defining	O
the	O
relational	B-Architecture
model	I-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
whitepaper	O
,	O
published	O
by	O
Computerworld	O
,	O
was	O
somewhat	O
explicit	O
in	O
its	O
reference	O
to	O
Essbase	B-Application
features	O
,	O
and	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
later	O
discovered	O
that	O
Codd	O
had	O
been	O
sponsored	O
by	O
Arbor	O
Software	O
,	O
Computerworld	O
withdrew	O
the	O
paper	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
"	O
on-line	O
transaction	O
processing	O
"	O
(	O
OLTP	B-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
OLAP	B-Application
defines	O
a	O
database	O
technology	O
optimized	O
for	O
processing	O
human	O
queries	O
rather	O
than	O
transactions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
results	O
of	O
this	O
orientation	O
were	O
that	O
multidimensional	O
databases	B-Application
oriented	O
their	O
performance	O
requirements	O
around	O
a	O
different	O
set	O
of	O
benchmarks	O
(	O
Analytic	O
Performance	O
Benchmark	O
,	O
APB-1	O
)	O
than	O
that	O
of	O
RDBMS	B-Application
(	O
Transaction	B-General_Concept
Processing	I-General_Concept
Performance	I-General_Concept
Council	I-General_Concept
(	O
TPC	O
)	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hyperion	O
renamed	O
many	O
of	O
its	O
products	O
in	O
2005	O
,	O
giving	O
Essbase	B-Application
an	O
official	O
name	O
of	O
Hyperion	O
System	O
9	O
BI+	O
Analytic	O
Services	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
new	O
name	O
was	O
largely	O
ignored	O
by	O
practitioners	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Essbase	B-Application
brand	O
was	O
later	O
returned	O
to	O
the	O
official	O
product	O
name	O
for	O
marketing	O
purposes	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
server	O
software	O
still	O
carried	O
the	O
"	O
Analytic	O
Services	O
"	O
title	O
until	O
it	O
was	O
incorporated	O
into	O
Oracle	B-Application
's	O
Business	B-General_Concept
Intelligence	I-General_Concept
Foundation	O
Suite	O
(	O
BIFS	O
)	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
August	O
2005	O
,	O
Information	O
Age	O
magazine	O
named	O
Essbase	B-Application
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
10	O
most	O
influential	O
technology	O
innovations	O
of	O
the	O
previous	O
10	O
years	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
,	O
the	O
BlackBerry	B-Operating_System
,	O
Google	B-Application
,	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
,	O
Voice	B-Application
Over	I-Application
IP	I-Application
(	O
VOIP	B-Application
)	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
the	O
Pentium	B-Device
processor	I-Device
,	O
and	O
ADSL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Editor	O
Kenny	O
MacIver	O
said	O
:	O
"	O
Hyperion	O
Essbase	B-Application
was	O
the	O
multi-dimensional	O
database	O
technology	O
that	O
put	O
online	B-Application
analytical	I-Application
processing	I-Application
on	O
the	O
business	B-General_Concept
intelligence	I-General_Concept
map	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
spurred	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
scores	O
of	O
rival	O
OLAP	B-Application
products	O
–	O
and	O
billions	O
of	O
OLAP	B-Application
cubes	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Essbase	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
developed	O
to	O
address	O
the	O
scalability	B-Architecture
issues	O
associated	O
with	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
such	O
as	O
Lotus	B-Application
1-2-3	I-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Indeed	O
,	O
the	O
patent	O
covering	O
(	O
now	O
expired	O
)	O
Essbase	B-Application
uses	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
as	O
a	O
motivating	O
example	O
to	O
illustrate	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
such	O
a	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
context	O
,	O
"	O
multi-dimensional	O
"	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
representation	O
of	O
financial	O
data	O
in	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
typical	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
may	O
display	O
time	O
intervals	O
along	O
column	O
headings	O
,	O
and	O
account	O
names	O
on	O
row	O
headings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
a	O
user	O
wants	O
to	O
break	O
down	O
these	O
values	O
by	O
region	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
this	O
typically	O
involves	O
the	O
duplication	O
of	O
this	O
table	O
on	O
multiple	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
alternative	O
representation	O
of	O
this	O
structure	O
would	O
require	O
a	O
three-dimensional	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
grid	O
,	O
giving	O
rise	O
to	O
the	O
idea	O
that	O
"	O
Time	O
"	O
,	O
"	O
Account	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
Region	O
"	O
are	O
dimensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
further	O
dimensions	O
are	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
system	O
,	O
it	O
becomes	O
very	O
difficult	O
to	O
maintain	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
that	O
correctly	O
represent	O
the	O
multi-dimensional	O
values	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multidimensional	O
databases	B-Application
such	O
as	O
Essbase	B-Application
provide	O
a	O
data	O
store	O
for	O
values	O
that	O
exist	O
,	O
at	O
least	O
conceptually	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
multi-dimensional	O
"	O
hypercube	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
number	O
and	O
size	O
of	O
dimensions	O
increases	O
,	O
developers	O
of	O
multidimensional	O
databases	B-Application
increasingly	O
face	O
technical	O
problems	O
in	O
the	O
physical	O
representation	O
of	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
property	O
of	O
multi-dimensional	O
spaces	O
is	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
sparsity	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
OLAP	B-Application
systems	O
generally	O
provide	O
for	O
multiple	O
levels	O
of	O
detail	O
within	O
each	O
dimension	O
by	O
arranging	O
the	O
members	O
of	O
each	O
dimension	O
into	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
hierarchies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
large	O
databases	B-Application
,	O
this	O
can	O
cause	O
the	O
effective	O
storage	O
requirements	O
to	O
be	O
many	O
hundred	O
times	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
being	O
aggregated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
version	O
7	O
,	O
Essbase	B-Application
has	O
supported	O
two	O
"	O
storage	O
options	O
"	O
which	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
sparsity	B-Algorithm
to	O
minimize	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
physical	O
memory	O
and	O
disk	O
space	O
required	O
to	O
represent	O
large	O
multidimensional	O
spaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Essbase	B-Application
patent	O
describes	O
the	O
original	O
method	O
,	O
which	O
aimed	O
to	O
reduce	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
physical	O
memory	O
required	O
without	O
increasing	O
the	O
time	O
required	O
to	O
look	O
up	O
closely	O
related	O
values	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
alternative	O
storage	O
options	O
,	O
marketing	O
materials	O
called	O
this	O
the	O
Block	O
Storage	O
Option	O
(	O
Essbase	B-Application
BSO	O
)	O
,	O
later	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
Essbase	B-Application
Analytics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Put	O
briefly	O
,	O
Essbase	B-Application
requires	O
the	O
developer	O
to	O
tag	O
dimensions	O
as	O
"	O
dense	O
"	O
or	O
"	O
sparse	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sparsity	B-Algorithm
is	O
exploited	O
because	O
the	O
system	O
only	O
creates	O
blocks	O
when	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
can	O
specify	O
calculations	O
in	O
Essbase	B-Application
BSO	O
as	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
procedural	B-Application
"	O
calculation	O
scripts	O
"	O
that	O
act	O
on	O
values	O
stored	O
in	O
the	O
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
second	O
method	O
(	O
stored	O
calculations	O
)	O
uses	O
a	O
formula	O
against	O
each	O
calculated	O
dimension	O
member	O
when	O
Essbase	B-Application
calculates	O
that	O
member	O
,	O
the	O
result	O
is	O
stored	O
against	O
that	O
member	O
just	O
like	O
a	O
data	O
value	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fourth	O
method	O
(	O
calculation	O
scripts	O
)	O
uses	O
a	O
procedural	B-Application
programming	I-Application
language	I-Application
specific	O
to	O
the	O
Essbase	B-Application
calculation	O
engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
block	O
storage	O
effectively	O
minimizes	O
storage	O
requirements	O
without	O
impacting	O
retrieval	O
time	O
,	O
it	O
has	O
limitations	O
in	O
its	O
treatment	O
of	O
aggregate	O
data	O
in	O
large	O
applications	O
,	O
motivating	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
a	O
second	O
storage	O
engine	O
,	O
named	O
Aggregate	O
Storage	O
Option	O
(	O
Essbase	B-Application
ASO	O
)	O
or	O
more	O
recently	O
,	O
Enterprise	O
Analytics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
storage	O
option	O
makes	O
the	O
database	O
behave	O
much	O
more	O
like	O
an	O
OLAP	B-Application
database	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
Analysis	I-Application
Services	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
a	O
data	O
load	O
,	O
Essbase	B-Application
ASO	O
does	O
not	O
store	O
any	O
aggregate	O
values	O
,	O
but	O
instead	O
calculates	O
them	O
on	O
demand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
large	O
databases	B-Application
,	O
where	O
the	O
time	O
required	O
to	O
generate	O
these	O
values	O
may	O
become	O
inconvenient	O
,	O
the	O
database	O
can	O
materialize	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
aggregate	O
"	O
views	O
"	O
,	O
made	O
up	O
of	O
one	O
aggregate	O
level	O
from	O
each	O
dimension	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
database	O
may	O
calculate	O
all	O
combinations	O
of	O
the	O
fifth	O
generation	O
of	O
Product	O
with	O
the	O
third	O
generation	O
of	O
Customer	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
these	O
views	O
are	O
then	O
used	O
to	O
generate	O
other	O
aggregate	O
values	O
where	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
approach	O
has	O
a	O
major	O
drawback	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
cube	O
cannot	O
be	O
treated	O
for	O
calculation	O
purposes	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
large	O
hypercube	O
,	O
because	O
aggregate	O
values	O
cannot	O
be	O
directly	O
controlled	O
,	O
so	O
write-back	O
from	O
front-end	O
tools	O
is	O
limited	O
,	O
and	O
complex	O
calculations	O
that	O
cannot	O
be	O
expressed	O
as	O
MDX	B-Language
expressions	O
are	O
not	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Essbase	B-Application
ASO	O
can	O
specify	O
calculations	O
as	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
method	O
(	O
dimension	O
aggregation	O
)	O
basically	O
duplicates	O
the	O
algorithm	O
used	O
by	O
Essbase	B-Application
BSO	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
second	O
method	O
(	O
dynamic	O
calculations	O
)	O
evaluates	O
MDX	B-Language
expressions	O
against	O
dimension	O
members	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
majority	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
users	O
work	O
with	O
Essbase	B-Application
data	O
via	O
an	O
add-in	B-Application
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
(	O
previously	O
also	O
Lotus	B-Application
1-2-3	I-Application
)	O
known	O
as	O
Smart	O
View	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Essbase	B-Application
Add-In	B-Application
is	O
a	O
standard	O
plugin	B-Application
to	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
and	O
creates	O
an	O
additional	O
menu	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
connect	O
to	O
Essbase	B-Application
databases	B-Application
,	O
retrieve	O
or	O
write	O
data	O
,	O
and	O
navigate	O
the	O
cube	O
's	O
dimensions	O
(	O
"	O
Zoom	O
in	O
"	O
,	O
"	O
Pivot	O
"	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2005	O
,	O
Hyperion	O
began	O
to	O
offer	O
a	O
visualization	B-Application
tool	O
called	O
Hyperion	O
Visual	O
Explorer	O
(	O
HVE	O
)	O
which	O
was	O
an	O
OEM	O
from	O
Tableau	O
Software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tableau	O
Software	O
originated	O
at	O
Stanford	O
University	O
as	O
a	O
government-sponsored	O
research	O
project	O
to	O
investigate	O
new	O
ways	O
for	O
users	O
to	O
interact	O
with	O
relational	B-Application
and	O
OLAP	B-Application
databases	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hyperion	O
and	O
Tableau	O
together	O
built	O
fundamentally	O
the	O
first	O
versions	O
of	O
Tableau	O
Software	O
which	O
was	O
designed	O
specifically	O
for	O
multidimensional	O
(	O
OLAP	B-Application
)	O
databases	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-Application
quickly	O
terminated	O
the	O
OEM	O
arrangement	O
with	O
Tableau	O
Software	O
soon	O
after	O
the	O
acquisition	O
of	O
Hyperion	O
in	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
other	O
well	O
known	O
analytics	O
vendors	O
provide	O
user-facing	O
applications	O
with	O
support	O
for	O
Essbase	B-Application
and	O
include	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
APIs	B-General_Concept
are	O
available	O
for	O
C	B-Language
,	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
and	O
Java	B-Language
,	O
and	O
embedded	O
scripting	O
support	O
is	O
available	O
for	O
Perl	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
standardised	O
XML	B-Protocol
for	O
Analysis	O
protocol	O
can	O
query	O
Essbase	B-Application
data	O
sources	O
using	O
the	O
MDX	B-Language
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
Corporation	I-Application
began	O
bundling	O
Hyperion	O
BI	O
tools	O
into	O
Oracle	B-Application
Business	B-General_Concept
Intelligence	I-General_Concept
Enterprise	O
Edition	O
Plus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
standard	O
interfaces	O
can	O
administer	O
Essbase	B-Application
applications	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
ESSCMD	O
,	O
the	O
original	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
interface	I-Application
for	O
administration	O
commands	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
MaxL	O
,	O
a	O
"	O
multi-dimensional	O
database	O
access	O
language	O
"	O
which	O
provides	O
both	O
a	O
superset	O
of	O
ESSCMD	O
commands	O
,	O
but	O
with	O
a	O
syntax	O
more	O
akin	O
to	O
SQL	B-Language
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
support	O
for	O
MDX	B-Language
queries	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
Essbase	B-Application
Application	O
Manager	O
,	O
the	O
original	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
GUI	B-Application
administration	O
client	O
,	O
compatible	O
with	O
versions	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
before	O
7.0	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
Essbase	B-Application
Integration	O
Server	O
for	O
maintaining	O
the	O
structure	O
and	O
content	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
databases	B-Application
based	O
on	O
data	O
models	O
derived	O
from	O
relational	B-Application
or	O
file-based	O
data	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2017	O
,	O
Essbase	B-Application
Cloud	O
has	O
been	O
available	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Oracle	B-Application
Analytics	O
Cloud	O
(	O
OAC	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
suite	O
of	O
analytics	O
that	O
include	O
reports	O
and	O
dashboards	O
,	O
data	O
visualization	B-Application
,	O
inline	O
data	O
preparation	O
and	O
mobile	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
several	O
significant	O
competitors	O
among	O
the	O
OLAP	B-Application
,	O
analytics	O
products	O
to	O
that	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
(	O
HOLAP/MOLAP	O
)	O
on	O
the	O
market	O
,	O
among	O
them	O
SAP	O
BPC	O
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
Microsoft	B-Application
Analysis	I-Application
Services	I-Application
,	O
(	O
MOLAP	O
,	O
HOLAP	O
,	O
ROLAP	O
)	O
,	O
IBM	O
Cognos	O
(	O
ROLAP	O
)	O
,	O
IBM/Cognos/Applix	O
TM1	B-Application
(	O
MOLAP	O
)	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
OLAP	I-Application
(	O
ROLAP/MOLAP	O
)	O
,	O
MicroStrategy	O
(	O
ROLAP	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
EXASolution	O
(	O
ROLAP	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
note	O
that	O
of	O
the	O
above	O
competitors	O
,	O
including	O
Essbase	B-Application
,	O
all	O
use	O
heterogenous	O
relational	B-Application
(	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
,	O
IBM	O
DB/2	B-Application
,	O
TeraData	O
,	O
Access	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
or	O
non-relational	O
data	O
sourcing	O
(	O
Excel	B-Application
,	O
text	O
Files	O
,	O
CSV	O
Files	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
to	O
feed	O
the	O
cubes	O
(	O
facts	O
and	O
dimensional	O
data	O
)	O
,	O
except	O
for	O
Oracle	B-Application
OLAP	I-Application
which	O
may	O
only	O
use	O
Oracle	B-Application
relational	B-Application
sourcing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
two	O
options	O
can	O
export	O
Essbase	B-Application
cubes	O
into	O
other	O
formats	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
CubePort	O
,	O
a	O
commercial	O
conversion	O
application	O
,	O
converts	O
Essbase	B-Application
cubes	O
to	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
Analysis	O
Services	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
product	O
performs	O
an	O
object-to-object	O
translation	O
that	O
make	O
up	O
an	O
Essbase	B-Application
cube	O
,	O
including	O
:	O
outline	O
,	O
member	O
formulas	O
,	O
calc	O
scripts	O
,	O
data	O
loading	O
(	O
load	O
rules	O
)	O
,	O
report	O
scripts	O
to	O
MDX	B-Language
queries	O
,	O
substitution	O
variables	O
,	O
and	O
security	O
model	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
extract	O
from	O
any	O
platform	O
version	O
of	O
Essbase	B-Application
,	O
including	O
Oracle/Hyperion	O
Essbase	B-Application
on	O
Windows	O
,	O
Unix	O
,	O
AIX	B-Application
,	O
HP	B-Application
UX	I-Application
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
IBM	O
DB/2	B-Application
OLAP	B-Application
,	O
or	O
AS/400	O
Showcase	O
Essbase	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
output	O
is	O
a	O
simple	O
text	O
file	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
pulled	O
indirectly	O
into	O
other	O
OLAP	B-Application
products	O
,	O
among	O
other	O
uses	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
synchronizing	O
outlines	O
.	O
</s>
