Oracle Essbase

Applies to: Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server

This article describes how to connect Tableau to an Oracle Essbase database.

Before you begin

Before you begin, gather this connection information:

Name of the server that hosts the database you want to connect to
User name and password

Use this connector with Tableau Desktop on a Windows computer.

Driver required

This connector requires a driver to talk to the database. If the driver is not installed on your computer, Tableau displays a message in the connection dialog box with a link to the Driver Download(Link opens in a new window) page where you can find driver links and installation instructions.

Make the connection and set up the data source

Start Tableau and under Connect, select Oracle Essbase. For a complete list of data connections, select More under To a Server. Then do the following:
1. Enter the name of the server that hosts the database.
2. Enter your user name and password to sign in to the server, and then select Sign In.
  
  If Tableau can't make the connection, verify that your credentials are correct. If you still can't connect, your computer is having trouble locating the server. Contact your network administrator or database administrator for more assistance.
On the data source page, do the following:
1. (Optional) Select the default data source name at the top of the page, and then enter a unique data source name for use in Tableau. For example, use a data source naming convention that helps other users of the data source figure out which data source to connect to.
2. Search for or select an application.
3. Search for or select a database from your application.
4. Select the sheet tab to start your analysis.

Set an accounts dimension

In some case, the accounts dimension for your data source can appear in the Dimensions area of the Data pane. This might occur if there is an error in the cube and another field is identified as the accounts dimension or there is no accounts dimension set at all. The accounts dimension defines the fields that are included as measures. To correct this error, right-click the field and then select Set as Accounts Dimension from the context menu.

Build views with Oracle Essbase

When Tableau is connected to an Oracle Essbase data source, there are three important features that you should know about:

Generations and Levels

In Tableau, you can work with either the generations or the levels of a dimension. The generations of a dimension are all members that are an equal distance from the root of the dimension. The levels are all members that are an equal distance from the leaves of the dimension. For balanced dimensions, you'll typically want to work with generations. However, if your dimension is ragged, then it may make more sense to navigate using levels.

By default, the generations of each dimension are listed in the Data pane. When you drag a dimension to a shelf, all generations that are ancestors of the selected generation (all generations that are above it in the hierarchy) are automatically included in the placement.

If you would rather navigate using the levels of a dimension, right-click the name of the dimension and then select Hierarchy > Levels.

If you are using the same dimension in multiple worksheets, you can use levels in one worksheet and generations in another worksheet simultaneously. Furthermore, you can mix generations and levels from different dimensions in the same worksheet.

Shared Members

Shared members are dimension members that appear in more than one place in a hierarchy. For example, Diet Coke might be part of the product generation. But it might be shared by both the diet colas branch and the colas branch of the product hierarchy above it. In the database, however, the data about Diet Coke is stored just once.

By default, Tableau includes shared members in all generations (or levels) of a dimension. This means that a shared member might appear multiple times in a table. If you choose to exclude shared members, they will appear only once in a table. By default, shared members are included for all dimensions. To exclude shared members for a given dimension hierarchy, right-click the dimension name in the Data pane and select Include Shared Members from the menu.

The figure below shows part of a data view where shared members are included (left) and excluded (right). Notice that diet drinks are shared members.

Includes Shared Members

The diet drinks are listed in both the Diet Drinks hierarchy and their respective drink hierarchies.

Does Not Include Shared Members

The diet drinks are only listed once, in their respective drink hierarchies.

Setting the Default Member

All multidimensional data sources have default members that are set when the data source is first built. If you find that you are creating filters all the time to look at the same specific data, you may find it useful to change the default member. For example, if you are the regional manager for the Western region in a company and you only want to look at your region’s numbers, you can set the default member to the Western region.

To change the default member in Tableau, right-click a dimension hierarchy and select Set Default Member.

In the subsequent dialog box, select from the following options:

Default member defined on cube – uses the default member that was defined when the cube was built. This is the default setting in Tableau.
(All) member for the hierarchy – uses the ALL member for the selected hierarchy as the default member.
Selected member – uses the member that you select in the bottom half of the dialog box as the default member.

The default member determines how you view the cube and so is much more powerful than applying filters. All fields will be calculated based on the default member you select. In addition, these default member settings are saved with the connection.

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