Monday 25 April 2011

Planning 11.1.2.1 - Exporting metadata

I have lost count of the amount times the question has been asked “how can I extract a planning applications outline”, until now the options have been pretty limited, one of the possible methods is to use LCM but it has its limitations and is not in the format that suits everybody.

Since the arrival of version 11 the planning Outline Load utility has done wonders and has been improving with each release, it should have been around well before 11 but at least it did arrive.

Now the utility is mainly aimed at classic planning applications, yes there are still many clients holding out with classic and why not.

With the recent release of 11.1.2.1 the utility brings in the option to export dimension metadata which I didn't see mentioned in the planning new features document, so the utility has evolved as not just a loader but an extractor as well.

The utility is available on the machine where planning has been deployed in the folder <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1\

I am not going to go through all the parameters of the utility as I have already covered the utility when it was first released

To extract a dimensions metadata it is as simple as executing:-

Outlineload /A:application /U:username /D:DimensionToExtract /E:outputFilename

For example OutlineLoad /A:PlanSamp /U:admin /D:Account /E:F:/PlanExports/acc_export.csv



If you want to include logging then you can use the parameters /L:LogFilename /X:exceptionFileName, if you don’t want to enter a password you can you the –F:passwordFile, how to set up a password file is available read here



The generated output CSV file is exactly the same easy manageable format that is required to load a dimension using the utility.

It is also possible to extract attribute dimension metadata.



To extract an attribute dimension all that is required is to provide the attribute name using the /D: parameter.



Output format is MemberName/Parent/Alias.



It is possible to export all the Smart List metadata within an application.



The parameter required for exporting Smart Lists is /DS:HSP_SMARTLISTS





Once again the output format matches the one for importing.

To export exchange rates tables the parameter used would be /DX:HSP_RATES



All the exchange rates tables available within the application are exported to the output CSV file.



The utility supports the exporting of planning unit hierarchies (which was available in 11.1.2) and the defining parameter is /D:PlanningUnitHierName

Enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. Hi John, I see you are learning to love the Outline Load tool.

    Regards,

    John A. Booth
    http://www.metavero.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. It has become a very useful utility :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi,

    I would like to export my ACCOUNT metadata instead of ENTITY (wich is the default planning unit hierarchy).
    How can I do.

    Thanks in advances,

    PS: Very nice blog

    ReplyDelete
  4. The example I have given shows you how to export the account dimension.

    Cheers

    John

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi John

    Is it possible to do export dimension data in hyperion planning version 11.1.1.3

    Thx
    Naren

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi John,

    Its good that OutlineLoad utility can be used to extract the members from Planning as ODI doesnt do this.

    Is there any way of extracting only selected members(e.g. Members tagged with a UDA) using this utility?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi John
    Thanks. Great post. I used this for Planning...
    ... but I'm now trying to do it for a Profitability application (aka HPM or HPCM) and I can't find the OutlineLoad utility. Planning isn't installed so there's no Planning folders under user_projects and there's no similar Profitability folders either. Is this only a Planning utility? How can I export my dimensions from EPMA to transfer a Profitability app from Test to Prod? Much appreciated if you can help. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Trevor,

    The outlineload utility is only for planning applications.

    You could look at using LCM to migrate.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.