EpicorEPM UserGuide 102400 PDF

Epicor Enterprise Performance
Management 10 User Guide

10.2.400
Disclaimer
This document and its contents, including the viewpoints, dates and functional content expressed herein are the
proprietary copyrighted property of Epicor Software Corporation, are intended for informational purposes only and
are believed to be accurate as of its date of publication. However, Epicor Software Corporation makes no guarantee,
representations or warranties with regard to the enclosed information and specifically disclaims any applicable implied
warranties, such as fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, satisfactory quality or reasonable skill and care.
As each user of Epicor software is likely to be unique in their requirements in the use of such software and their business
processes, users of this document are always advised to discuss the content of this document with their Epicor support
representative, account manager and/or consulting personnel. All information contained herein is subject to change
without notice and changes to this document since printing and other important information about the software
product are made or published in release notes, and you are urged to obtain the current release notes for the software
product. The usage of any Epicor software shall be pursuant to an Epicor end user license agreement and the performance
of any consulting services by Epicor personnel shall be pursuant to Epicor's services terms and conditions. Usage of the
solution(s) described in this document with other Epicor software or third party products may require the purchase of
licenses for such other products. Where any software is expressed to be compliant with applicable laws or other statutory
or regulatory requirements in this document, such compliance is not a warranty and is based solely on Epicor's current
understanding of such laws and requirements. All laws and requirements are subject to varying interpretations as well
as to change and accordingly, Epicor cannot guarantee that the software will be compliant and up to date with such
changes. All statements of platform and product compatibility in this document shall be considered individually in
relation to the products referred to in the relevant statement, i.e., where any Epicor software is stated to be compatible
with one product and also stated to be compatible with another product, it should not be interpreted that such Epicor
software is compatible with both of the products running at the same time on the same platform or environment.
Additionally platform or product compatibility may require the application of Epicor or third-party updates, patches
and/or service packs and Epicor has no responsibility for compatibility issues which may be caused by updates, patches
and/or service packs released by third parties after the date of publication of this document. Epicor, Business Inspired
and the Epicor logo are trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States, certain other
countries and/or the EU. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Copyright ©
Epicor Software Corporation 2019. All rights reserved. Not for distribution or republication. Information in this document
is subject to Epicor license agreement(s).
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Revision: May 15, 2019 4:54 a.m.
Total pages: 483
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Contents
Contents
About Epicor Software Corporation.....................................................................................9
Disclaimer..............................................................................................................................10
Introduction..........................................................................................................................11
Chapter 1: EPM Concepts and Tools...............................................................13

Data Warehousing and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)...........................................................................13
Multidimensional Data...................................................................................................................................13
OLAP Cubes...........................................................................................................................................14
Server Deployment Layouts............................................................................................................................16
Data Flow......................................................................................................................................................17
Epicor EPM Content.......................................................................................................................................19
EPM Tools......................................................................................................................................................20
Terms............................................................................................................................................................21
Chapter 2: EPM Server.....................................................................................24

Epicor EPM Server Management Console.......................................................................................................24
View EPM Sever Management Console...................................................................................................25
Security..........................................................................................................................................................26
User Accounts........................................................................................................................................26
View User Accounts and Adjust Properties.......................................................................................27
Add a User Account........................................................................................................................28
User Groups...........................................................................................................................................30
Add a User Group...........................................................................................................................30
View User Group Roles....................................................................................................................32
Licensing........................................................................................................................................................33
Import a License File...............................................................................................................................34
Communication.............................................................................................................................................38
Add a Remote Host................................................................................................................................40
Business Data Dictionary Management...........................................................................................................41
Install a Custom BDD..............................................................................................................................43
User Cube Management................................................................................................................................55
Check User Cube Status.........................................................................................................................55
Deploy a User Cube................................................................................................................................58
Change Processing Schedule...................................................................................................................65
Change Fiscal Years or Companies..................................................................................................67
Change the Cube Processing Rules..................................................................................................69
Run (or Process) a User Cube on Demand...............................................................................................71
Redeploy a User Cube.............................................................................................................................72
Download a User Cube...........................................................................................................................75
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Contents Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Package Management...................................................................................................................................76
View Content Pack Status.......................................................................................................................76
Deploy a Content Pack...........................................................................................................................78
Create Deployment Context............................................................................................................83
Finalize Content Pack Deployment...................................................................................................89
Operational Settings......................................................................................................................................93
Adjust Operational Settings....................................................................................................................94
Chapter 3: Cube Manager...............................................................................98

Cube Manager Interface................................................................................................................................98
Launch Cube Manager...........................................................................................................................98
Cube Management......................................................................................................................................102
View Cube Properties and Status Details...............................................................................................102
View the User Cube Deployment Status.........................................................................................103
Define a Refresh Schedule....................................................................................................................106
The Lifecycle of a Cube.........................................................................................................................110
Deploy a User Cube.......................................................................................................................111
Deploy a User Cube for Epicor ERP................................................................................................111
Define User Cube Deployment Context..................................................................................113
Run (or Process) a Cube Deployment....................................................................................................118
Reconfigure a Cube..............................................................................................................................120
Redeploy an OLAP Cube Deployment...................................................................................................121
Download a Cube from the Server........................................................................................................123
Delete a Cube Deployment...................................................................................................................125
Error Checking.............................................................................................................................................127
Use the Cube Compiler Test Bed (CCTB) Tool.......................................................................................127
Chapter 4: Viewing an SSAS Cube with Microsoft SQL Server

Management Studio or Microsoft Excel...................................................138
Viewing an OLAP Cube in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio...........................................................138
Connect to SQL Server Analysis Services................................................................................................138
Open an OLAP Cube.............................................................................................................................141
Explore Data.........................................................................................................................................144
SSAS Cube as a Datasource in Microsoft Excel.............................................................................................148
Connect to SSAS in Excel......................................................................................................................148
View Data in Excel................................................................................................................................151
Chapter 5: Performance Canvas...................................................................158

Performance Canvas Overview.....................................................................................................................158
Performance Canvas Terms and Definitions...........................................................................................159
Performance Canvas Access Options.....................................................................................................160
Find the Port that Performance Canvas Installation Uses.................................................................161
Performance Canvas Does Not Open.............................................................................................164
4 10.2.400
Exclude Performance Canvas from McAfee Scan............................................................................165

Performance Canvas Interface...............................................................................................................169
Canvases.....................................................................................................................................................171
Load Sample Datasource Cubes............................................................................................................172
DSPDemoSales and dspDemoSalesMeasure Cubes Not Listed........................................................173
Canvas Designer Interface.....................................................................................................................177
Open Sample Canvas............................................................................................................................178
Use Slicers............................................................................................................................................179
Use Gems.............................................................................................................................................183
Manage ViewPoints..............................................................................................................................192
Open a ViewPoint..........................................................................................................................194
View Canvas Information......................................................................................................................195
Receive the URL of the Canvas with Filters.....................................................................................196
View the Underlying Cube Metadata.............................................................................................196
Print a Canvas.......................................................................................................................................197
Save Canvas as a PDF or Microsoft PowerPoint File................................................................................198
Edit a Canvas........................................................................................................................................198
Create Canvas - Typical Scenario...........................................................................................................201
Create a Folder Structure for Canvases..................................................................................................204
Classify Folders..............................................................................................................................208
Gems...........................................................................................................................................................216
The Analysis Tool Interface....................................................................................................................220
Create a Calculated Measure................................................................................................................222
Create a Chart Gem.............................................................................................................................225
Create a Table Gem..............................................................................................................................232
Define Table Gem Properties.........................................................................................................238
Edit a Gem...........................................................................................................................................240
Additional Data Point Menu..........................................................................................................242
Slicers..........................................................................................................................................................243
Create a Country Slicer.........................................................................................................................247
Group Slicers on the Filter Block............................................................................................................250
Canvas Publication.......................................................................................................................................254
Dashboards across Multiple Cubes...............................................................................................................256
Performance Canvas Security.......................................................................................................................260
Set up Basic Authentication Security Model...........................................................................................261
Set Up NTLMv2 Security Model.............................................................................................................265
Return to the Anonymous Security Model.............................................................................................268
Restrict Access to an EPM Canvas.........................................................................................................271
Mobile Dashboards......................................................................................................................................274
Dashboards for Microsoft SharePoint...........................................................................................................280
Add a New Web Part Page....................................................................................................................280
Deploy a Canvas as a Web Part.............................................................................................................280
Chapter 6: Glossary Designer.......................................................................282
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Glossary Designer Overview.........................................................................................................................282

EPM Glossary........................................................................................................................................282
OLTP Table Relationships......................................................................................................................285
OLTP Processing....................................................................................................................................285
Glossary Development Process..............................................................................................................285
Glossary Designer User Interface..................................................................................................................287
Launch the Glossary Designer...............................................................................................................287
Connect to the Source Database...................................................................................................291
Glossary Designer Tabs.........................................................................................................................296
Glossary Definitions.....................................................................................................................................299
Add a New Definition...........................................................................................................................299
Add a New Glossary Definition.............................................................................................................301
Glossary Definition Attributes...............................................................................................................302
Expressions...........................................................................................................................................304
Add a Filter Expression...................................................................................................................304
Add a Value Expression.................................................................................................................304
Create a Calculated Measure with an OLAP Calculation.................................................................305
Calculation Template.....................................................................................................................306
Use a Calculation Template....................................................................................................310
Cube Templates...........................................................................................................................................312
Add a User Cube to Create a Cube Template........................................................................................312
Add a Measure to the Cube Template..................................................................................................312
User Cube Template Parameters...........................................................................................................316
Table Joins...................................................................................................................................................319
Add Table Join......................................................................................................................................320
Add Join Columns................................................................................................................................321
Dimensions..................................................................................................................................................322
Add a Dimension..................................................................................................................................323
Add Dimension Attributes.....................................................................................................................323
Add a Hierarchy to the Dimension........................................................................................................326
Add a Hierarchy Level...........................................................................................................................327
OLTP Processing – Custom Pre-Processors and Extension Tables...................................................................328
Add an Initializer...................................................................................................................................329
Add an Extension Table for the OLTP Processing Initializer.....................................................................330
Glossary Generation.....................................................................................................................................332
Glossary Generation Options................................................................................................................334
Testing and Troubleshooting........................................................................................................................336
Generate a User Cube for Testing.........................................................................................................336
Glossary Version Management.....................................................................................................................337
Change the Glossary Version................................................................................................................338
Sample Glossary Creation............................................................................................................................339
Create a Sample Glossary.....................................................................................................................339
Build a Sales Head User Cube...............................................................................................................340
Add Measures to the Sales User Cube...................................................................................................340
Create Glossary Definitions...................................................................................................................340
6 10.2.400
Test Glossary Definitions.......................................................................................................................342

Add Measures to the User Cube...........................................................................................................342
Create a Dimension..............................................................................................................................343
Generate the Sales User Cube...............................................................................................................343
Make the Glossary Active and Deploy the New User Cube....................................................................344
View the Cube Data.............................................................................................................................345
Add a Geography Dimension................................................................................................................345
Generate the User Cube.......................................................................................................................347
Chapter 7: Cube Editor..................................................................................349

Cube Editor Interface...................................................................................................................................349
Launch Cube Editor.....................................................................................................................................349
Templates....................................................................................................................................................350
Measures Selection...............................................................................................................................354
Dimensions Selection............................................................................................................................361
Business Definition Parameters.....................................................................................................................366
Format String........................................................................................................................................378
Measures.....................................................................................................................................................385
Add or Remove Measures.....................................................................................................................385
Add an Existing Measure...............................................................................................................387
Remove a Measure........................................................................................................................389
Use Calculation Wizard.........................................................................................................................390
Add a Calculated Measure....................................................................................................................397
Dimensions..................................................................................................................................................405
Add a New Dimension..........................................................................................................................405
Add an Existing Dimension Attribute.....................................................................................................409
Remove a Dimension............................................................................................................................412
Add and Maintain Hierarchies...............................................................................................................414
User Cube Compilation................................................................................................................................418
User Cube Deployment................................................................................................................................422
User Cube Deployment Parameters.......................................................................................................425
Error Checking.............................................................................................................................................427
Chapter 8: Content Pack Editor....................................................................428

Launch Content Pack Editor.........................................................................................................................428
Content Pack Editor User Interface...............................................................................................................429
Content Pack Creation.................................................................................................................................431
Create a Content Pack..........................................................................................................................431
Add Content to the Content Pack.................................................................................................434
Cross User Cube Canvas..............................................................................................................................440
Add a Cross User Cube Canvas.............................................................................................................441
Chapter 9: Content Pack Deployer...............................................................443
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Launch Content Pack Deployer....................................................................................................................443

Content Pack Configuration and Deployment..............................................................................................444
Specify Basic Content Pack Deployment Information.............................................................................444
Create Application Context...................................................................................................................452
Specify Deployment Options.................................................................................................................454
Deploy Content Pack............................................................................................................................460
Flush EPM Performance Canvas Cache...........................................................................................466
Content Pack Re-Deployment......................................................................................................................467
Re-deploy a Content Pack.....................................................................................................................467
Content Pack Upgrade.................................................................................................................................469
Define Upgrade and Deployment Options.............................................................................................470
Upgrade Content Pack..........................................................................................................................476
8 10.2.400
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide About Epicor Software Corporation |
About Epicor Software Corporation
Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering inspired business software solutions to the manufacturing,
distribution, retail and services industries. With over 40 years of experience serving small, midmarket and larger
enterprises, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Epicor enterprise resource planning
(ERP), retail management software, supply chain management (SCM), and human capital management (HCM)
enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry
expertise and passion for excellence, Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional and
global businesses demand. The Company's headquarters are located in Austin, Texas, with offices and affiliates
worldwide. For more information, visit www.epicor.com.
10.2.400 9
| Disclaimer Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Disclaimer
This document and its contents, including the viewpoints, dates and functional content expressed herein are the
proprietary copyrighted property of Epicor Software Corporation, are intended for informational purposes only
and are believed to be accurate as of its date of publication. However, Epicor Software Corporation makes no
guarantee, representations or warranties with regard to the enclosed information and specifically disclaims any
applicable implied warranties, such as fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, satisfactory quality or
reasonable skill and care. As each user of Epicor software is likely to be unique in their requirements in the use
of such software and their business processes, users of this document are always advised to discuss the content
of this document with their Epicor support representative, account manager and/or consulting personnel. All
information contained herein is subject to change without notice and changes to this document since printing
and other important information about the software product are made or published in release notes, and you
are urged to obtain the current release notes for the software product. The usage of any Epicor software shall
be pursuant to an Epicor end user license agreement and the performance of any consulting services by Epicor
personnel shall be pursuant to Epicor's services terms and conditions. Usage of the solution(s) described in this
document with other Epicor software or third party products may require the purchase of licenses for such other
products. Where any software is expressed to be compliant with applicable laws or other statutory or regulatory
requirements in this document, such compliance is not a warranty and is based solely on Epicor's current
understanding of such laws and requirements. All laws and requirements are subject to varying interpretations
as well as to change and accordingly, Epicor cannot guarantee that the software will be compliant and up to
date with such changes. All statements of platform and product compatibility in this document shall be considered
individually in relation to the products referred to in the relevant statement, i.e., where any Epicor software is
stated to be compatible with one product and also stated to be compatible with another product, it should not
be interpreted that such Epicor software is compatible with both of the products running at the same time on
the same platform or environment. Additionally platform or product compatibility may require the application
of Epicor or third-party updates, patches and/or service packs and Epicor has no responsibility for compatibility
issues which may be caused by updates, patches and/or service packs released by third parties after the date of
publication of this document. Epicor, Business Inspired and the Epicor logo are trademarks of Epicor Software
Corporation, registered in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. All other trademarks mentioned
are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © Epicor Software Corporation 2014. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent
of Epicor Software Corporation.
Epicor Worldwide Headquarters

804 Las Cimas Parkway
Austin, Texas 78746
Toll-free 1.800.999.1809
Direct 1.512.328.2300
http://www.epicor.com
10 10.2.400
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Introduction |
Introduction
Traditional business intelligence solutions provide powerful methods to understand a company's performance;
however, these capabilities are often provided in a disconnected fashion. The analyst must know how to use and
interpret the gathered intelligence; little or no help is provided to help that analyst quickly and consistently act
upon intelligence or performance.
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (or EPM) is differentiated from these traditional business intelligence
solutions through its focus on the performance management lifecycle. EPM solutions, while made up of many
of the same components as traditional business intelligence solutions, enable a cycle of continuous performance
improvement by providing a tightly integrated end-to-end experience. Business intelligence solutions enable
monitoring and understanding a business’ performance. EPM solutions integrate monitoring and analysis with
the planning and control (or audit) cycle of the enterprise to enable a cycle of continuous performance
improvement. This is the EPM lifecycle.
This user guide is a complete reference book that explores the entire Epicor EPM application suite. It begins with
an overview of the data storage and manipulation techniques on which EPM is built. Following is a review of
EPM components and their functions. The guide then details data replication, a process that extracts data from
your source Enterprise Resource Planning system database and copies it to create an offline data store. The guide
then examines the administrative piece of the Epicor EPM suite, EPM Server that performs all deployment and
management functions and also distributes Content Packs and deploys user cubes. Next, this guide explains how
to deploy and process user cubes with different parameters and according to different schedules in Epicor Cube
Connect – Cube Manager application. You can use SQL Server Management Studio to view the entire contents
of the OLAP cube in a pivot style format, as well as view processed user cubes (OLAP cubes) and off-line cubes
in Microsoft Excel. Then, you will become familiar with the visual medium for Content Pack – Epicor EPM
Performance Canvas that ordinary business uses to perform a wide range of analytical tasks without in-depth
knowledge of business intelligence concepts. You use Performance Canvas Designer to create visualizations and
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| Introduction Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
display information maintained in pre-defined or customized OLAP cubes. Then this guide describes how to build
a Glossary – relational schema definition to store data in a data warehouse. The Glossary contains all business
expertise on a specific ERP application. An EPM Glossary describes how data can be pulled from a source ERP
system and used within EPM user cubes. After that the guide focuses on how to solve the common issues of user
cube design and deployment in Epicor EPM Cube Connect – Cube Editor. Use the Cube Editor to design user
cubes based on the databases of a range of Epicor ERP systems. Then this guide covers EPM Content Pack Editor,
the tool to create Content Packs which are later deployed by means of the Epicor Cube Connect – EPM Content
Pack Deployer application. To complete the guide, the last two chapters describe how to measure and analyze
ERP data using the ERP-specific Content Packs.
This user guide explores Epicor EPM solutions that will help you establish a culture of high performance where
all stakeholders are keenly aware of what is important to the company, how the company is tracking, and where
their work fits in.
12 10.2.400
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide EPM Concepts and Tools | Chapter 1
Chapter 1: EPM Concepts and Tools
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management provides a complete set of tools and applications that let you plan, execute,
and analyze at both strategic and tactical levels – aligning business activities with business goals. A business support
system, Epicor EPM supports the complex analysis required to discover business trends. The information retrieved from
this analysis is valuable in identifying trends and modeling data in the areas of planning, budgeting, forecasting, financial
reporting, and data warehouse reporting.
This chapter first reviews Enterprise Performance Management concepts and terms from Data Warehousing and Online
Analytical Processing (OLAP) to measures and dimensions. An understanding of EPM terminology is central to learning
about the tools and applications that are part of the EPM cycle of continuous performance improvement.
The chapter then briefly describes the EPM set of tools and applications and their purpose. The remaining chapters in
this guide review each EPM tool in detail.
Data Warehousing and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
ERP application databases often store millions of business transactions. Data Warehousing is the bringing together
of important operational information that may be stored in various forms or locations within a company, such
as ERP application databases and spreadsheets, for the purpose of query and analysis of trends, patterns, ratios,
and quantities in transaction data.
The Data Warehouse is the data storage layer technology and contains all of your organization’s analytical data
in a consistent and non-redundant form. The Operational Data Store (ODS) collects data for the Data Warehouse
and may provide a location for data consolidation and cleansing.
Online Analytical Processing (or OLAP) is the data access layer technology designed to let you slice and dice
multidimensional data in an ad-hoc way. It is this exploratory “slice and dice” interface technology, which provides
simple business process-oriented access to complex data, that sets it apart from the traditional row and column
reports that present a single, fixed view of business data, and Online Transaction Processing (or OLTP) systems.
OLAP systems are often designed to look at historical data rather than today’s data. An OLAP system might
capture what the data looked like a year ago and let you compare it to what the same data looks like now.
The Data Warehouse, with OLAP, provides:
• Efficient aggregate analysis of complex data.
• Simple business process-oriented access to complex data.
• Historical data analysis.
• Consistent data across the enterprise.
• Resilience to changing analytical requirements.
Multidimensional Data
A database is organized data. Relational databases are organized around a collection of records kept in tables.
A relational table is based on a simple row (record) and column (field) data format. Therefore, in a relational
database, tables represent data in two-dimensional form. Data values in such tables can be defined as measures,
each with two arguments (dimensions): rows and columns. In such structures you use simple queries to quickly
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Chapter 1 | EPM Concepts and Tools Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
retrieve a limited amount of records; however, the relational database is not suited to aggregation across large
amounts of data based on data patterns.
OLAP technology is optimal for information retrieval from large data arrays aggregated across records. The data
warehouse type database that OLAP uses is a multidimensional data model. The multidimensional data model
enables you to quickly slice and dice the data. Analysts and managers who frequently require higher-level
aggregated data leverage OLAP applications in order to explore corporate data for strategic business advantages,
to predict new business opportunities, to handle time series, and to analyze any aspect of stored information.
OLAP Cubes
OLAP is built on multidimensional data structures, which are commonly represented as data cubes. Cubes are
not based on the ODS directly, but on a separate, replicated analysis database. This layer, which includes all of
the OLAP content including the cubes and other pieces, is the Data Warehouse described earlier.
Cubes consist of numeric facts called measures which are categorized by dimensions. A simple example would
be a cube that contains a company’s sales as a measure, and sales region as a dimension. Each sale has a sales
region that describes more about that sale. You could add other dimensions to the structure such as sales manager,
sales representative, customer, or date/time. This multidimensional cube structure provides the analyst with the
means to view measures (in this example, sales) using any combination of the dimensions (for example, by sales
region and sales manager). Most cubes have at least three data dimensions (within practical limits, you can have
as many dimensions as you like) and a suite of consolidated measures.
The multidimensional data cube is illustrated below:
1. Dimensions – Dimensions, which describe the measures (or facts), are used to filter, group, and navigate
within data. These activities are known as “slicing” the data. In this illustration of a Sales cube, there are
three dimensions – Date, Customer, and Sales Region.
2. Dimension Attributes – Dimensions are not only a set of individual values. Dimensions may also contain
many attributes, and these attributes may be used for “slicing” the data as well. In this illustration, Region
Name, Sales Manager, Shipping Manager, and Primary Warehouse are attributes of the dimension Sales
Region.
3. Hierarchies – In contrast to two-dimensional structures, multidimensional structures are represented as

hierarchies, also referred to as trees. The hierarchical relationship is used to create parent-child links where
each child has only one parent. In this illustration of a Sales cube, Parent Region defines one hierarchy that
enables browsing data by the Sales Region dimension in a hierarchical fashion. Dimensions may be part of
as many hierarchies as are available.
Most business facts registered in a Data Warehouse occur at a specific date and time. The Date dimension
can have several hierarchies. For example, the Date dimension shown may have a fiscal calendar hierarchy
as well as a Gregorian calendar hierarchy used for navigation. The hierarchy for fiscal year provides grouping
first by fiscal year, and then by fiscal quarter. The hierarchy for Gregorian calendar year provides grouping
first by calendar year, then by month, and then by day. You can use the Date dimension against other
dimensions to provide an analysis drill down in this dimension. For example, start at a high level such as
fiscal year 2009 to view specific details. Inside the fiscal year and the same data, you can drill down to fiscal
quarter Q4.
4. Measures – Measures, usually numeric, are the values that are aggregated and analyzed from the cube’s
fact table; for example, actuals, delivered quantity, turnover, and average price. Measures are calculated by
the dimensions, which are retrieved from master data tables related to the fact table; for example, Chart of
Accounts, Cost Center, Product Group, and Country. In this illustration, Purchase Quantity and Sales Totals
are measures.
14 10.2.400
In summary, OLAP cubes fulfill the goals of data warehousing by providing:

• Efficient aggregate analysis of complex data
A well-designed set of dimensions, hierarchies, and measures permit faster aggregation operations.
• Simple business process-oriented access to complex data
If you define friendly, clean dimensions and measures, you can more easily find what you need in the data.
• Historical data analysis

Slowly changing dimensions, a special dimension type, can show changes in a dimension over time.
Here is an example of a slowly changing dimension.
We track sales and each sale has a customer. In 2015, Customer A is in the USA. The sales for Customer A
are shown as part of the total USA sales.
In 2016, Customer A moves to another country, Canada. The dimension has changed – it does not happen
often, which is why it is called slowly changing.
So when we look at our cube in 2016 and look at the 2015 total sales do the sales for Customer A show up
in USA or in Canada? It depends on how we design the cube. In the OLTP system it is normal for the customer's
country to be overwritten with "Canada" leaving no trace of the previous value "USA". We can take that
value directly and update the cube, but then sales for 2015 are not correct.
Cubes can solve this issue by understanding which changes in a dimension should not impact history. EPM
provides basic protection against this by default if you use the processing options to process current year and
forward (Only since Current Fiscal Year option) as it will not change data from previous years. Another approach
10.2.400 15
is to write special dimension initializers that can recognize this issue and avoid the problem by duplicating the
customer record when specific changes (like state) are made.
• Consistent data across the enterprise
Defining common dimensions, known as Conformed Dimensions, that are shared across different types of
analyses and that are standardized across an organization help to construct a common way to filter, group,
and view data – a “single view of the truth” – across the enterprise.
• Resilience to changing analytical requirements
The more dimensions made available, the more flexible analysis can be. OLAP data stores are designed to
support large number of dimensions while maintaining a high level of performance to support maximum
flexibility.
Server Deployment Layouts
You can use different server deployment layouts for your EPM installation with different dependencies between
components to set up your installation for access over the internet, and for other tasks. The following graphic
illustrate some of the server deployment layouts.
Most common deployment is dedicated BI sever.
The following deployment is optimal for external access.
16 10.2.400
Data Flow
This graphic illustrates how data from your source system is replicated and transformed as multidimensional data
and then presented for analysis.
1. Source Systems – Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems such as Epicor ERP, iScala, and Clientele
provide the core transactional data for the OLAP multidimensional cube. Source systems may also include
other data sources such as spreadsheets and other databases. All of these systems may contain completely
different data that does not line up.
2. Replication – Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems such as Epicor ERP, iScala, and Clientele are
operational databases designed for high performance read and write access to current business transactions.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) systems such as EPM User Cubes are designed for high performance
aggregation over historical data for analysis. The Epicor EPM management tools are available across many
OLTP sources and can be used to extract data either directly or in replicated form. However, in order to
provide the best performance for both systems, it is often necessary to host OLAP analysis and other read-only
activities, such as reporting, on separate hardware from the OLTP systems. Therefore, typical Epicor EPM
deployments first replicate data into an Operational Data Store (ODS).
Replication copies an OLTP database, or parts of it, to one or more servers. In addition, it can also consolidate
data from more than one source system into a single offline data store so it can be analyzed together.
Different source systems use different mechanisms for replicating data into the ODS. SQL Server replication
provides this facility for Epicor ERP systems. Read the Configure SQL Server Replication chapter in Epicor
Enterprise Performance Management Server Installation Guide for information on replication components,
replication architecture, and replication setup and management.
Running OLAP system directly on the ODS would have a very significant impact on ERP performance. Epicor
recommends that you use SQL Server Replication to clone your database or databases to a server dedicated
to BI and Reporting and install EPM there against the replicated database. You can technically run EPM
server directly on the ERP database server without replication, but it will have significant performance impacts
on your running system. If it's a 24x7 operation you should not do this as EPM nightly cube processing can
cause serious performance issues for the database server.
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3. Operational Data Store (ODS) – The ODS serves a number of purposes. In regards to the Data Warehouse,
the purpose is for data staging, consolidation, and cleansing for almost all warehouses require some amount
of data cleansing and consolidation. The ODS also has a number of advantages:
• Provides a location for consolidating data from many source OLTP systems into a single place and for
performing data cleansing. Consolidation is the bringing together of data from multiple sources to help
provide the analytical “single version of the truth”. Data cleansing, sometimes called conforming the
data, is the process of removing or correcting invalid, malformed, or useless (for analytical purposes)
data.
• Provides a permanent record store for historical data for analysis. Due to this OLTP systems can remove
read-only historical transactions and reduce OLTP hardware requirements.
• Relieves the impact on OLTP system performance from heavy reporting and ad hoc inquiries.
• Acts as the sole source of data for the Epicor data warehouse, removing traditional complexity.
4. Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) – The Data Mart, the database that holds the data the cube uses, has
a significantly different structure from the ODS and Source System databases. Complex ETL processes move
the data into the data mart and transform the data into the specialized set of database schema patterns.
These database schema patterns are typically used to store multidimensional data within a data mart.
5. EPM Glossary – The cube contains complete OLAP metadata. The EPM Glossary provides the metadata
structure that guides the exploration of multidimensional data and the construction of the ETL. Each data
source has an EPM Glossary that contains the table relationship information as well as pre-defined dimensions
and measures. The EPM Glossary uses this information to build the structure of a cube. Review the Epicor
EPM Glossary Designer chapter for more information on EPM Glossary and Epicor EPM Glossary Designer.
6. Data Mart – The Data Mart database is a relational database with a structure that holds multidimensional
data efficiently.
7. Analysis Services Cube – The Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis Services (SSAS) cube contains complete
OLAP metadata for the cube. This, in turn, you use to explore multidimensional data. The SSAS cube also
acts as an optimized index for multidimensional data. The SSAS cube stores the data structure; it does not
permanently store multidimensional data. That is the role of the data mart.
8. Visualizations – Once the user cube is populated based on the OLAP structure, it becomes available as a
unique data source for several analytical tools. OLAP cubes require separate products for viewing and
analyzing the data, which the analysis server does not provide. Epicor EPM Performance Canvas is the
standard analysis platform for creating visual presentations from the OLAP cubes. It also provides a standalone
web-based solution for accessing and exploring analytical data on a variety of devices including mobile
phones, tablets, and other computing devices. Epicor EPM Performance Canvas provides additional integration
with Microsoft® SharePoint®, Epicor ERP Dashboards, Epicor Web Access, and Microsoft® Excel® – pervasive
OLAP data visualization anywhere your users are. OLAP analysis reports are intended for online analysis;
therefore, OLAP tools do not typically offer print formatting. SQL Server Reporting Services may be used to
build print style reports against Analysis Services cubes.
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Epicor EPM Content
Epicor wants to provide you with the quickest and easiest way to get up and running with advanced analytics
from your Epicor system. With Epicor EPM Content Packs, Epicor offers pre-packaged user cubes that support
over 250 predefined performance indicators that industry leaders use to measure enterprise performance.
Epicor EPM User Cubes are included in Epicor EPM Content Packs. An Epicor EPM User Cube is an EPM formatted
cube and ETL definition. It encapsulates how to get the data, how to flatten it for use in cubes, and how to
organize the structure of an SSAS cube for browsing. EPM Server will compile these user cube files into ETL
scripts, a data mart relational database schema, and an SSAS cube during deployment.
An Epicor EPM Content Pack contains one or more Epicor EPM user cubes and one or more visualizations, and
is managed by the Epicor EPM tools. All content packs can be deployed against a single company or against
multiple companies for cross-company analysis of trends and performance.
When it is all put together, Epicor Enterprise Performance Management is an end-to-end solution that removes
the barriers to better business insight through a combination of intuitive user experiences, user driven key
performance indicators (or KPI), and prepackaged analytics that have real meaning to the business.
10.2.400 19
EPM Tools
This section describes the Epicor Enterprise Performance Management tools you use to deploy and manage the
cubes.
For installation instructions and information on Epicor EPM

hardware and software requirements, review the Epicor EPM
Server Installation Guide on EPICweb.
1. A Windows® NT service EPM Server is the server product used for data source administration, cube
processing, scheduling and deployment, content pack creation and deployment, and integration with
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).
2. The EPM Server Management Console, also known as Manage EPM Servers, is the system administration
interface for EPM Server. With the Console, you can monitor, manage, and deploy OLAP cubes as well as
view deployed content packs. The EPM Server chapter reviews all Management Console features.
3. The tools you use to create and deploy OLAP cubes and content packages are under the Epicor Cube Connect
umbrella. Epicor Cube Connect, which was developed by Epicor to leverage Microsoft SQL Server Analysis
Services, is comprised of four tools which install together and interface with EPM Server. The first tool is the
Epicor Cube Connect Cube Editor. With this tool, you can customize OLAP cubes via cube templates to
include your own measures and dimensions. Epicor Cube Connect ships with over 500 pre-defined measures.
The Cube Editor chapter explores the Cube Editor in more detail.
4. Epicor Cube Connect Cube Manager monitors, manages, and deploys OLAP cubes created by the Cube
Editor. The Cube Manager chapter explores the Cube Manager in more detail. Cube Manager requires little
20 10.2.400
knowledge of data warehousing and OLAP-design techniques but is limited to data defined in the EPM
Glossary.
5. Another Epicor Cube Connect tool is the EPM Content Pack Editor. With this tool, you can create and
package collections of custom cubes and dashboards. For more information, read the Content Pack Editor
chapter.
6. To manage the deployment of content packs created in the EPM Content Pack Editor, use the Epicor Cube
Connect EPM Content Pack Deployer. For more information on this tool, read the Content Pack Deployer
chapter.
7. An EPM Glossary is a collection of business definitions (measures or dimension attributes) for a source system
such as Epicor ERP or iScala, and is a definition of the overall dimensional schema for your data warehouse.
Building a set of shared dimensions helps ensure that OLAP data is presented in a common way throughout
the data warehouse. With EPM Glossary Designer, you can modify an EPM Glossary to customize business
definitions, shared dimensions, and cube templates which are then available for use in the Cube Editor or
can be directly deployed to EPM Server. For more information, review the Epicor EPM Glossary Designer
chapter.
8. The visualization piece of Epicor EPM is the EPM Performance Canvas. Epicor Performance Canvas is the
web-based analysis platform used to create canvases, or dashboards, for OLAP-related information. An
integral part of Epicor Performance Canvas is Epicor Performance Canvas Mobile. With this feature, all KPIs
created by Epicor EPM and deployed within Canvases can also be deployed to mobile devices for wireless
access on the go. Separately installed, the Epicor Performance Canvas SharePoint™ component gives you
the ability to use a Canvas within Microsoft SharePoint.
A powerful platform for advanced analytics such as budgeting and planning, and advanced forecasting is
Epicor Performance Canvas Planning. A Microsoft Excel add-in, it is flexible and scalable and can handle
very large implementations across multiple installations, as well as manage mixed content from multiple
sources.
For more information, review the Epicor EPM Performance Canvas chapter.
Terms
This section lists general and Epicor-specific enterprise performance terms and definitions.
Canvas – A canvas (also known as a dashboard) is a visual display of the information required to achieve one or
more objectives that is monitored on a single computer screen. The EPM canvases are a product of the EPM
Performance Canvas tool.
Cube – A set of data that is organized and summarized into a multidimensional structure defined by a set of
dimensions and measures. The cube is the data foundation for the content packs as well as graphs and reports.
Cubes often include defined data hierarchies such as Fiscal Year > Fiscal Quarter > Fiscal Period which enable
analysis to roll up to any hierarchy level. In Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, a “cube” refers to a single
SSAS solution which enables analysis of a particular set of data using OLAP techniques. User cube is the EPM
definition for certain specific analytical processing. This is not an OLAP cube exactly. The difference between a
user cube and an OLAP cube is that a user cube is the universal specification of an OLAP cube in terms of field
names (or specified dimensions and levels in terms of OLAP).
User cube is a structure with no data in it. When you deploy and successfully process a user cube, it is filled with
actual data. At this point this entity can be referred to as both user cube and OLAP cube.
Data Aggregation – An aggregation function calculates the value of a measure with a hierarchical dimension
in each hierarchy node. This function summarizes data values in all sub-nodes and levels. For example, the Sales
measure is aggregated by the Source dimension (and others as well) using the additive function. A measure can
10.2.400 21
have different aggregate functions by each dimension. For instance, in the case of the Sales total measure with
three dimensions Source, Route, and Time, the Sales is calculated with the additive function applied to all
dimensions: Source, Route and Time. The described aggregation by dimension hierarchy is called built-in. An
external aggregation type is applied to non-hierarchical dimensions. It implies that itemized dimensions are
replaced with more general dimensions. For example, Months are replaced with Quarters, Quarters with Years.
This aggregation type is applied to the Time dimension in Epicor Enterprise Performance Management.
Data Mart – The relational database representation of a single cube, also known as a single star schema. A star
schema data mart contains the data necessary to perform an analysis of a particular business process at a particular
granularity.
Data Mining – Data Mining is an advanced business intelligence technique in which statistical and machine
learning techniques are used to discover new information from an existing set of data such as a relational database.
Data Mining techniques are often used to make predictions and forecasts.
Data Warehouse – A database, or set of databases, specifically structured for query and analysis. A data
warehouse typically contains data representing the business history of an organization. In SQL software engineering
terms, a data warehouse is what an OLAP cube is querying for retrieving data. A data warehouse can be viewed
as a collection of data marts which share standard conformed dimensions, adhere to the same data standards,
and are stored at the finest grain possible. Often, the data warehouse is a set of data marts implemented within
a single database. The key to the data warehouse is that the data is consistently represented between data marts
even though each data mart contains a different multidimensional view of the data. The Epicor EPM Data
Warehouse consists of an ODS database where data is collected and consolidated, a Data Mart database where
the data is restructured for specific analytic views, a set of Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services cubes which
provide OLAP access to the data marts, and an EPM Glossary, a set of data definitions which defines what data
is available within the warehouse and how it can and should be structured for analysis.
Decision Support – Systems designed to support the complex analysis required to discover business trends. Use
the information retrieved from these systems to make business decisions based on timely and accurate analysis
of business trends.
Dimension – A structural attribute of a cube which is used to sort, filter, and group measurable data. These
categories typically describe a similar set of members upon which you want to base an analysis. Dimensions
frequently contain hierarchies used to provide logical drill-down views within a cube. For example, a geography
dimension might include levels, or attributes, for Country, Region, State or Province, and City; you use these
levels to see measures aggregated at the Country level and then drill down into Region, State, and so forth.
Dimension Table – A table in a data warehouse whose entries describe how data in a fact table may be grouped,
filtered, and sorted. Dimension tables contain the data from which dimensions are created.
EPM Glossary – A data warehouse uses a relational schema definition to store data. The EPM application refers
to this schema as the Glossary. It is a set of .XML files that contain all business expertise on a specific enterprise
resource planning (ERP) application and can be referred to as a data dictionary. An EPM Glossary is a definition
of how data can be retrieved from a source ERP system and how that data can be used within EPM user cubes.
The Glossary contains enough information for EPM to create a customizable set of user cubes and all of the ETL
(Extract, Transform, Load) logic required to move data into those cubes from the source system.
ETL – Extract, Transform, Load process (and the logic behind it) that pulls data from the operational database,
transforms it to fit the analysis needs, and puts it to the Data Warehouse.
Fact Table – A central table in a star schema (or more broadly Dimensional Modeling) that contains numerical
measures and keys relating facts to dimension tables. Fact tables contain data that describes specific events within
a business, such as bank transactions or product sales. During analysis, the data in a fact table is designed to be
quickly aggregated along one or more dimensions.
Granularity – The level of detail of numeric data in a fact table. For example, a fact table that stores data for
sales measures could be calculated at various granularities. For Sales Line Item, metrics are calculated separately
for every single sales line item. This would let you sort and filter by properties of a line item like product. For Sale,
metrics are calculated separately for each sale. You could sort and filter by customer but not by product. For Day,
sales totals are calculated separately for each calendar day. You can see aggregated sales statistics by time but
cannot filter by customer or product.
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Hierarchy – A logical tree structure that organizes the members of a dimension such that each member has one
parent member and zero or more child members. In explaining hierarchies, specific terms are used. Root is an
upper-level element having no parents. Node is any tree element having children and a parent. Leaf is an end
element having no children.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) – A KPI is a measurement for gauging business success. KPIs measure a goal
value versus a current actual value for a set of dimensions. The data result provides a status for achieving that
goal.
Level – A name of a set of members in a dimension hierarchy such that all members in the set are at the same
distance from the root of the hierarchy. For example, a time hierarchy can contain the levels Year, Month, and
Day.
Measure – In a cube, a set of values that are based on a column in the cube's fact table. Measures are usually
numeric. Measures are the central values that are aggregated and analyzed. For example, a “Sales Total” measure
might be split across a time dimension to show sales total summarized by month. Each measure is a numeric
value and an aggregation operation that the cube can use to summarize it. All measures are aggregated, normally
summed. Available aggregates in EPM are Sum, Min, Max, Count, and Average (Mean).
Member – One of the entities that compose a dimension. For example, January 2015 and May 2017 are members
of the Time dimension. Another example are particular company names as members of the Company dimension.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) – The technology that uses multidimensional structures to provide rapid
access to data for analysis. The source data for OLAP is commonly stored in a relational database within data
warehouses.
Online Transaction Processing System (OLTP) – In the context of EPM, OLTP systems are the transactional
systems that provide data for OLAP multidimensional cubes.
Operational Data Store (ODS) – An ODS collects data for a data warehouse and may provide a location for
data consolidation and cleansing, key data warehousing functions.
Star Schema – This refers to how tables are joined to build a centralized fact table that pulls information from
measures. Star schema is a specialized type of database schema design which is separated into Fact tables and
Dimension tables. It is used to provide simple, high performance database storage for OLAP systems.
Star Weight – A level of importance expressed numerically. EPM Server uses star weight to determine what
order should be used when joining glossary definitions together to construct a user cube. The table with the
higher star weight is considered first in the join.
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Chapter 2 | EPM Server Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Chapter 2: EPM Server
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Server, a Windows® service, performs all deployment and management
functions and is the administrative piece of the Epicor EPM suite. The EPM Server also distributes content packs and
deploys OLAP cubes dependent on the server version.
You can access EPM Server through the Epicor EPM Server Management Console and the Cube Connect tools.
EPM Server tasks include the following:
• Deployment and management of user cubes on Microsoft SQL Server Analysis® server
• Deployment and management of user cube content packs
• Extract, transform, and load (ETL) processing for all user cubes
Epicor EPM Server Management Console
The EPM Server Management Console (Console), a Microsoft® Management Console (MMC) snap-in, is the
interface for the EPM Server. The Console displays all connected servers and databases. It also displays content
packs as they are added. Use the Console to perform the following activities:
• Deploy and process user cubes and deploy user cube content packs
User cubes are not available until they are deployed and
processed through the EPM Server or Cube Connect - Cube
Manager applications.
• Monitor the status of each deployed user cube

• Manage pre-packaged user cubes and EPM content packs
• Manage user security groups for one or more server connections
• Manage communication with SQL Server Analysis Services® (SSAS)
• Maintain licensing at the content level or at the user cube level
Main Menu Path: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software > Epicor Enterprise Performance Management
> Manage Epicor EPM Servers
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide EPM Server | Chapter 2
View EPM Sever Management Console
1. The Console window consists of three panes. The left pane, or Console tree, displays the available EPM
servers, databases, and content packs.
2. The middle pane, or results pane, shows the information about, and functions pertaining to, the item
currently selected in the Console tree.
3. The right pane, or action pane, lists the actions that are currently available based on the item selected in
the Console tree and the results pane.
4. These actions are also available from the Action menu (or right-clicking the item you want to perform an
action).
5. The Console toolbar provides buttons to navigate within the window and to show or hide various MMC
elements.
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6. You use the Back and Forward arrows to navigate to previous or next viewed items.
7. To navigate up one level from where you are at currently in the tree, click the Up One Level button.
8. The Show/Hide Console Tree button either displays or hides the left pane, or Console tree.
9. Use Save List to export the contents of the columns in the results pane into a text file.
10. Click the Help button to view Microsoft Management Console and EPM Server Management Console
application help.
11. The Show/Hide Action Pane button either displays or hides the right pane, or Action pane.
Security
The Epicor EPM Server Management Console supports two types of entities: user accounts and user groups. You
use these entities to set up and maintain security in Epicor EPM.
User Accounts
You can add and delete user accounts, view and edit account properties, and export the user account list to a
text file.
The product license must be imported before user accounts

can be added.
26 10.2.400
Each user account has one or more roles. The following roles are available:
• User – A user account assigned this role can deploy user cubes and manage the cubes deployed by this user
account. New user accounts are assigned this role by default.
• Power User – A user account assigned this role can perform all the actions a User can. Power Users can also
execute EPM special operations not directly related to OLAP cubes such as handling objects in the target ERP
database. Such operations only exist for iScala; there are no such operations for Epicor ERP at the moment.
For iScala, the EPM Power User can create additional tables in the iScala database and manage them. The
data from those tables are used in iScala cubes. This option is required when you want to add additional
information to the target ERP database. This information is stored in the target ERP database as extra tables
and is referred to as a database extension in the context of EPM in general and EPM Server Management
Console in particular.
• Administrator – A user account assigned this role can manage application security. Only user accounts with
the Administrator role can add other user accounts.
View User Accounts and Adjust Properties

To view user accounts and adjust properties:
1. In the Tree View, expand the <Host Name> > Epicor EPM Server > Security node.
2. Select the Users folder.
3. In the results pane, the list of user accounts displays.

The Name and Roles display for each user account.
4. Right-click a user account.
5. From the context menu, select Properties.
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6. In the User Properties dialog, view and adjust the user roles.
7. Click OK to apply the changes you made and exit the User Properties dialog.
Add a User Account

Before a user can work with EPM, their user account must be added in the EPM Server Management Console.
To add a user account:
28 10.2.400
2. Right-click the Users folder and select New User.
3. In the Users and Groups management window, specify the Domain and the User Name in the
corresponding fields at the top of the window.
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You can also expand a domain in the tree view located at the bottom of the window and then select the
user name in this domain.
4. Click OK to add the user.
User Groups
EPM user groups are Windows user groups and are used for convenience – to group users by application role.
EPM does not have its own user groups; only Windows user groups can be used. You cannot create new user
groups or edit existing user groups in EPM; however, you can map Windows user groups as EPM user groups.
Add a User Group

To add a user group:
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1. In the Tree View, expand the Epicor EPM Server > Security node.
2. Right-click the Groups folder and select New Group.
3. In the Users and Groups management window, specify the Domain and the Group name in the
corresponding fields at the top of the window.
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You can also expand a domain in the tree view located at the bottom part of the window and then select
the group name in this domain.
4. Click OK to add the group.
View User Group Roles

After you add a user group, you can adjust the group roles. All members of a user group have at least the role
assigned to the group.
To view or adjust user group roles:
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2. Select the Groups node.
3. In the results pane, right-click the group for which you want to adjust roles.
4. From the Actions menu, select Properties.
5. In the Group Properties window, view and adjust the user group roles.
6. Click OK to apply the changes you made and close the Group Properties window.
Licensing
Epicor EPM brings together various tools to support your business intelligence and ongoing performance
improvement needs.
A separate Epicor license is required for the following Epicor EPM tools:
• Epicor EPM Server and Epicor Cube Connect – This includes the Console, Cube Manager, Cube Editor, Content
Pack Editor, and Content Pack Deployer.
• EPM Performance Canvas
• EPM Canvas Planning
• Epicor EPM Glossary Designer
• Each Epicor EPM content pack – This includes cube templates and visualizations.
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For the components you require, you must acquire the necessary license information. The license information is
delivered in a ZIP file. You then use the EPM Server Management Console to import the license file. In EPM, the
licensing structure is by product and then by content pack.
Import a License File

You must import each license file separately.
To import a license file:
1. Locate your license file. For example, if you purchased Epicor EPM and the Sales Management content pack,
you would receive the following license files:
• Core Epicor EPM Server and Client License: Enterprise Performance Management UNL.ZIP
• Sales Management Content Pack License: Sales Management EPM Content Pack UNL.ZIP
2. Copy the license file to the location on your machine where you installed EPM Server.
3. Extract the license files from the ZIP archive.
34 10.2.400
4. In the Tree View, expand the Epicor EPM Server node.
5. Select the License node.
6. Right-click the License node, and select All Tasks > Import License.
7. In the Supply License File window, find and select the license file.
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The license file is a conventional file with the .lic extension.
8. Click Open.
36 10.2.400
9. If you just imported the main server license, restart the EPM service. To restart the EPM service, open the
Windows Services Console, locate the Epicor Enterprise Performance Management service in the list of
available services, right-click the service, and then select Restart. Close the Windows Services Console.
10. After you import a license, the component, or feature, displays under the License > Features node in the
Console.
11. The results pane displays information about each component. The Name column displays the component
name.
12. The Value column displays On if the component is licensed, or Off if the component is not licensed; and
therefore, cannot be used.
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13. The date the component license expires displays in the Expiration column.
14. The UUID column is the unique identification key for this component.
Communication
Epicor EPM Server communicates with Epicor EPM client (Epicor Cube Connect) through a communication port.
When you start Epicor EPM Server for the first time after the installation, the server looks for any free port starting
from port number 33000, and sets it as its own.
You can view the port number, or change it if all ports in the range 33000..33099 are already occupied by other
applications, or if the port is blocked by firewall.
To view or change the port number:
1. In the EPM Server Management Console tree, expand the <Host Name> > Epicor EPM Server node.
2. Right-click Epicor EPM Server node, and select Properties.
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3. The Epicor EPM Server Properties window displays. In the Port field, view the current port number. The
default port number is 33000.
To change the port number, enter the new port number in the Port field and press ENTER.
You receive either the message, that the port was successfully changed, or that the connection via this port
failed. In case the connection failed, check that no firewall is blocking connections to this port, or use a
different port number.
4. To the message, click OK.
5. In the Epicor EPM Server Properties window, click one of the following buttons:
• Click OK to apply the changes you made and close the Epicor EPM Server Properties dialog.
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Clicking OK is similar to clicking Apply and then Cancel.

• Click Cancel to close the Epicor EPM Server Properties dialog.
• Click Apply to apply the changes you made.
Add a Remote Host

To add a remote host:
1. In the Tree View, right-click the root Epicor EPM Servers node.
2. Select All Tasks > Add remote host.
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3. The Manage Epicor EPM Servers – Supply Epicor EPM Server window displays.
4. In the Manual pane, enter the server name and port number in the Host and Port fields, if you know them.
5. You can alternatively use the tree in the lower Active Directory Scan pane to navigate to the Epicor EPM
Server.
When you select a server in the tree, notice its name and port number display in the Host and Port fields
in the upper pane.
Business Data Dictionary Management

An EPM Glossary is a collection of business definitions (measures and dimensions) that guide the pre-defined
analytics for the Epicor applications and the construction of the ETL. EPM Glossary holds the automated knowledge
about a specific Epicor application, mostly about its database. EPM Glossary is also referred to as a Business Data
Dictionary (BDD). Epicor EPM has a default EPM Glossary built into it.
Use the BDD Site Manager to install a custom EPM Glossary to override the standard EPM Glossary. The folder
on your machine where you deploy a custom EPM Glossary pack is known as the BDD site. The BDD Site Manager
will also allow you to switch between multiple deployed EPM Glossaries by setting which glossary is currently the
primary.
In most installations, the EPM Content Installation program

installs the appropriate EPM Glossary automatically. The EPM
Glossary Designer which allows for building a custom BDD can
also install the custom BDD automatically without accessing
BDD Site Manager.
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You can invoke the BDD Site Manager from Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Manager and the EPM Server
Management Console.
To start the BDD Site Manager:
1. In the Tree View, expand the root Epicor EPM Servers node.
2. Right-click the <Host Name> node.
3. Select All Tasks > BDD Site Manager.
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4. The Manage Epicor EPM Servers – BDD Site Manager window displays.
Install a Custom BDD

To install a custom BDD:
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1. On the BDD Site Manager toolbar, click Open.
2. The Open Pack File window displays. In the field next to the File name field, select to display only Product
BDD Pack Binary files in bdd format, or Product BDD Pack XML files in bdx format.
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3. Navigate to and select the product BDD pack file.
4. Click Open.
5. Notice the pack structure and properties display in the BDD Product Pack Structure and BDD Product
Pack Header panes.
6. In the Sites in Proximity pane, click the +1 button to select the folder where you want to deploy the BDD
pack loaded in the left panes.
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7. In the Browse For Folder window, browse to the folder where you want to deploy the loaded BDD pack
and click OK.
8. Notice the folder you selected displays in the tree in the Sites in Proximity pane.
9. Select the new folder and click the Add specified BDD site button (white arrow in a green circle).
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The folder is added as a BDD site.
10. In the Sites in Proximity pane, right click the folder you added and select Deploy Pack.
BDD pack which is currently loaded and displays in the left panes is deployed to the folder.
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11. If a message displays that states the target site is invalid, click Yes to make it valid.
Notice the Deploying Product BDD Pack window displays the deployment progress.
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12. When the deployment is complete, the Sequence ended message displays at the bottom of the Deploying
Product BDD Pack window.
13. Close the Deploying Product BDD Pack window.
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14. Notice the deployed BDD pack information displays in the Selected Site pane.
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15. In the Sites in Proximity pane, right click the folder you added and select Make Primary.
The primary BDD site is the folder which contains the BDD deployed and this BDD overrides EPM built-in
BDD.
Notice the Making BDD Site Primary window displays the deployment process steps.
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16. To the message that requests confirmation to stop the EPM service, click Yes.
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17. To the message that request confirmation to start the EPM service, click Yes.
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18. When the Making BDD Site Primary window displays the Sequence ended message at the bottom, close
the screen.
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19. Verify that the folder now has a check mark in the tree in the Sites in Proximity pane. The BDD deployed
overrides EPM built-in BDD.
User Cube Management
In the Epicor EPM Server Management Console, you can view the properties of a user cube, check the user cube
status, deploy and re-deploy a user cube, run (process) a user cube on demand, reconfigure a user cube, or
download a user cube from the server.
If you design a user cube using Epicor Cube Connect - Cube

Editor, the Epicor Cube Connect - Cube Manager is used to
deploy it. For more information on the Cube Editor, refer to
Cube Editor chapter. For more information on the Cube
Manager, refer to Cube Manager chapter.
Check User Cube Status

A user cube deployment passes through different statuses during its lifecycle. When a user cube deployment is
sent to a server, the deployment is first put in memory queue for processing (not OLAP processing) by the server.
From that moment, the user cube deployment obtains a status. Status information displays as the user cube is
processing. The list of statuses in order of a user cube deployment lifecycle is listed in the following table.
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Status Description
In Registration Queue The user cube is put into the server’s memory queue for deployment registration. This
status is very brief and will not be seen except on very heavily loaded servers.
Transient The user cube is still in the registration queue but now being written to the EPM tracking
database. This status is very brief and will not be seen except on very heavily loaded
servers.
Rejected There was an unrecoverable fault in the registration process that prevents further
movement along the deployment’s lifecycle.
Registered The user cube file has been sent to the server. The server is validating the file now.
Deploying The user cube file is being translated into an SSAS cube and that cube is being deployed
to SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS). Also a processing schedule task is being created
as a SQL agent task.
Failed Deployment There was an unrecoverable fault during deployment; that is, during the transition from
Deploying to Deployed status. For example, the user cube was designed incorrectly and
the user cube compiler could not compile the user cube.
Deployed The SSAS cube is online and the processing schedule is in place; however, the cube
contains no data.
Processing Deferred The cube is waiting to begin processing because too many other cubes are currently
processing.
Processing The data mart is populating with data and the SSAS cube is being refreshed. First an ETL
process pulls data from the source system, then the SQL server cube processing actions
are called to actually update the cube.
Interrupted The ETL or OLAP Processing (transition from Processing to Processed status) was interrupted
in such a way that it could not signal with an error status (which can be Failed Processing).
For example, an unexpected server shutdown (power down) happened or the Windows
process hosting this operation is killed. This status can be as well assigned if the server
was restarted while the cube was processing, or the process was manually stopped, or
SQL became unavailable in case you are processing a lot of data which leads to SSAS to
become overwhelmed, and so on.
This status does not, however, indicate that anything went wrong with processing. If
processing failed the cube deployment would be in the Failed status instead.
Failed Processing There was an unrecoverable fault during ETL or OLAP Processing (transition from Processing
to Processed status). For example, if the user cube tries to access a non-existing source
database object (database incompatibility) and the SQL script fails.
Processed The user cube was processed at least once and the last processing was a success. SSAS
cube data is up-to-date and can be used for analysis.
Failed Removal The deployment was marked for deletion but the server could not delete it. This is
uncommon. It may be caused by corruption on the server, human intervention, or by
other reasons. The Epicor EPM server will continuously try to remove the cube until
success.
To check a user cube status:
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1. In the Tree View, expand the <Host Name> > <ERP System Logon Service> > <Company name> node.
In this example, expand the Epicor 10 > ERP104 node.
EPM Server Management Console displays only available

ERP systems as the top level tree nodes. For example, if
you have a database from iScala installed, and a database
from Clientele installed on your EPM server, EPM detects
them, and the EPM Server Management Console displays
two top level tree nodes: Scala and Clientele. The nodes
for the ERP systems that are not available in your
installation are hidden.
2. Select the Deployed User Cubes node.
3. The results pane displays the list of user cube deployments.
4. The user cube deployment status displays for each user cube deployment in the Status column.
5. In the list of user cube deployments, right-click the user cube deployment of which you want to check the
status, and select All Tasks > Check status.
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6. The Manage Epicor EPM Servers - Poll Cube Status window displays.
7. Click the Refresh button to see if the status has changed.
8. The Status field contains detailed information on the user cube deployment’s status.
9. The Status Server Time field displays the server time the user cube deployment’s status changed to the
status that currently displays in the Status field.
10. If the user cube deployment has the Failed Deployment, Failed Processing, Rejected, or Interrupted status,
the Problem Details displays the fault details.
11. Exit Manage Epicor EPM Servers - Poll Cube Status.
Deploy a User Cube

The most common task you perform on a user cube in EPM is cube deployment. When a user cube is deployed,
the following are created:
• ETL scripts
• Data mart relational database schema
• Physical OLAP cube from the glossary definition of the user cube being deployed
For more information on the Glossary Designer, review Epicor EPM Glossary Designer chapter.
You can deploy user cubes from the following applications:
• Epicor EPM Server Management Console
• Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor
• Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Manager
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To deploy a user cube from the Epicor EPM Server Management Console:

Verify that the Deployed User Cubes folder is highlighted; do not select a specific user cube deployment
under the node.
3. From the Action menu, select All Tasks > Deploy User Cube.
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4. In the Open User Cube File window, navigate to and select the user cube you want to deploy. You can
only select the user cube files with .cbn or .cbx extensions.
5. Click Open.
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6. In the Deploy for <ERP System> window, notice the Application Database field displays the database
you selected in the Console.
7. You can select a different database.

If you select a different database, click the Get fiscal companies from the selected database button to
load the list of companies from the selected database. As a result, the list of companies for this database
displays in the Application Context section.
8. In the Application Context section, select the Deploy against all companies check box to deploy the
user cube for all companies listed in the table. In this case, data for all companies is collected and used in
user cube processing.
If you want to collect data for specific companies, clear the Deploy against all companies check box and
select the check boxes next to the companies for which you want to deploy the user cube. In this case, only
data for the selected companies is collected and used in user cube processing.
9. Select the Report Currency.

The Report Currency field displays the list of currencies that are defined in all the companies you selected
for deployment. All companies selected for deployment must share the same Report Currency; if they do
not, you will not be able to deploy the user cube. If the Report Currency field is empty and no options are
available for selection in this field, the selected companies do not have common currencies. In this case,
reduce the number of companies selected for the user cube deployment.
You must select a Report Currency when you compile a user cube for the Epicor ERP. Clientele and iScala
do not require a report currency selection. For each company, three report currencies and one base currency
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are defined in the Epicor ERP. For more information on the report currency, refer to Epicor ERP Application
help.
10. Select the Deploy against all fiscal years check box to deploy the user cube for all financial years. In this
case, data for all financial years is collected and used in user cube processing.
If you want to collect data for specific financial years, clear the Deploy against all fiscal years check box and
select the check boxes next to the fiscal years for which you want to deploy the user cube. In this case, only
the data for the selected financial years is collected and used in user cube processing.
11. In the EPM Context – Processing section, specify the Data Source Rebuild Type parameter. The option
you select tells the data source (database, Excel spreadsheet, and so on) on how to re-build the data itself.
Options include:
• No Optimization – Use this option to consider the data for all financial years when processing the user
cube. In this case, during each subsequent user cube processing, EPM collects information for all the
financial years specified for deployment configuration to populate the user cube.
• Only Last Fiscal Year – Use this option to consider only the data for the last financial year when
processing the user cube to save on processing time. In this case, during each subsequent cube processing,
EPM collects information only for the last financial year, among those specified for deployment
configuration, to populate the user cube. This occurs only between two subsequent cube processings
for which the operational year configuration (the number of years and their values) is the same.
In other words, the setting only applies to reprocessing. The first time you process the cube all the years
you've selected are processed. The second, third and the following processings will use the setting and
only update data for the last year.
This option saves processing time.
• Only since Current Fiscal Year – Use this option to re-process starting from the current fiscal year and
also process any years defined in the future.
12. In the Scheduling section, select the user cube processing schedule or how often you want to process the
cube. The first schedule option, Frequency, is the cube processing frequency. The other two schedule options,
Week Days and Time of Day, depend on the frequency selected. In the Frequency field, select one of the
following options:
• Monthly – Select the Day of Month when you want to process the user cube and set the Time of
Day.
• Weekly – Select one or more Week Days when you want to process the user cube and set the Time
of Day.
• Daily – Set the Time of Day when you want to process the user cube.
• Hourly – Use this option only for small user cubes that can be reprocessed quickly. Processing time
should be less than one hour.
• On Standby – Use this option to deploy a user cube with no processing schedule. When the On Standby
option is selected, the cube can only be processed manually.
13. In the OLAP Isolation section, select if dimensions should be shared between multiple cubes that are
deployed separately within EPM Server. The following options are available:
• Standalone – Use this option to deploy your user cube separated into a single isolated fact and set of
dimensions. In this case, the cube is deployed separately from other cubes; no dimensions are shared.
• Shared Database – Use this option to deploy a user cube so that it interacts with other deployed cubes.
In this case, dimensions are shared. If the Shared Database option is enabled, a field appears to enter
the name of the shared database.
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The benefit of using the Shared Database option is that it is easier to create cross-cube canvases that interact.
When you use shared dimensions, you can create filters that work across more than one cube. When a cube
is defined as shared, the user has the option of defining for it a completely user defined name.
The advantage of the Standalone option is that it is easier to customize the cube data – you can much more
easily replace the cube with a new version.
If you plan to make a number of changes to your cubes, Epicor recommends to use the Standalone option.
Once the cubes are together in the database it can be difficult to change one of the dimensions without
clearing out and re-deploying everything.
14. In the OLAP Naming section, define which, if any, globally unique identifier (GUID) will be used as part of
the OLAP cube name. When a cube is deployed, one of two GUIDs can be appended to the name of the
cube to create the OLAP cube name. This can guarantee that multiple deployments of the same cube can
coexist on the same server. Under certain circumstances, the OLAP cube name can be completely user
defined. The following options are available:
• Globally Unique – Select this option to append the globally unique deployment ID that is created during
the deployment process to the cube name to create the OLAP cube name. The deployment ID is the
identification of the deployment registration record in the Epicor EPM cube tracking database and is
used by the server. This will ensure a unique name in all circumstances even when there are multiple
deployments for the same cube.
• Cube Unique – Select this option to append the unique identifier for the cube to the cube name to
create the OLAP cube name. The unique identifier for the cube can be found in the UUID field of the
Cube Properties section and uniquely identifies the specific user cube. When a new user cube is created
with Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor and saved to file, a unique ID is generated and is stored for
that cube. When you use this option, there can only be one deployment for a specific cube.
• User Defined – Select this option to specify your own OLAP cube name to be used for the deployed
cube. When you select this option, a field displays where the OLAP cube name can be specified. The
name you enter is used as is and is not combined with any other name or GUID to create the OLAP cube
name. The OLAP cube name should be unique within the server and should not contain the following
characters: . , ; ‘ ` : / \ * | ? “ & % $ ! + = ( ) [ ] { } < >.
This option is only available if the OLAP Isolation is set

to Shared Database. This option is not available if the
OLAP Isolation is set to Standalone.
15. On the toolbar, click the Deploy cube button.
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16. A message displays that states the deployment request is accepted by the Epicor EPM server. Click OK.
17. In the Console, the user cube status changes from Registered to Deploying (the empty cube is being created);
then, from Deploying to Deployed (the cube and processing schedule have been created but the cube does
not yet contain any data).
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Depending on the complexity of the user cube, this may take a few seconds or several minutes to complete. At
this point, your user cube is deployed and ready to have data processed into it. You can either wait for the
processing schedule you specified to begin or you may run the user cube on demand to process data immediately.
You can also define the processing schedule, fiscal years and
companies to include, and so on from the Cube Manager. For
more information, review the Refresh Scheduling section in
Cube Manager chapter.
Change Processing Schedule

To change the user cube processing schedule, use the reconfiguring functionality.
Reconfiguring a user cube deployment means changing the user cube processing schedule and deployment
configuration (target company and fiscal years) for the cube, which is already deployed. For example, reconfiguring
may include changing the execution scheduling from Monthly to Weekly, or changing the target company from
01 to 02. Reconfiguring does not alter the cube's structure.
To set up an update schedule:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube deployment for which you want to change the scheduling
and select All Tasks > Re-configure.
4. In the Scheduling section of the Re-configure for <ERP System> window, select one of the following
options in the Frequency field:
Day.
of Day.
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• On standby – Use this option to process a cube with no processing schedule. When the On Standby
5. On the toolbar, click the Re-configure deployment button.
6. To the message that states the EPM server accepted the re-configuration request, click OK.
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Change Fiscal Years or Companies

To change fiscal years or companies:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube deployment for which you want to change the fiscal years or
companies and select All Tasks > Re-configure.
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4. In the Application Context section of the Re-configure for <ERP System> window, select the Deploy
against all companies check box to deploy the user cube for all companies listed in the table. In this case,
data for all companies is collected and used in user cube processing.
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Change the Cube Processing Rules

To change the cube processing rules:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube deployment for which you want to change the processing
parameters and select All Tasks > Re-configure.
4. In the EPM Context section of the Re-configure for <ERP System > window, specify the Data Source
Rebuild Type. Options include:
• No Optimization – Use this option to consider data for all financial years when processing the user
cube. In this case, during each subsequent user cube processing, EPM recollects information for all the
financial years specified for deployment configuration to feed the user cube.
• Only Last Fiscal Year – Use this option to consider only the data for the last financial year when
processing the user cube to save on processing time. In this case, during each subsequent cube processing,
EPM collects information only for the last financial year, among those specified for deployment
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configuration, to populate the user cube. This occurs only between two subsequent cube processing for
which the operational year configuration (the number of years and their values) is the same.
• Only since Current Fiscal Year – Use this option to re-process starting from the current fiscal year and
also process any years defined in the future.

A message displays that states the EPM server accepted the re-configuration request. Click OK.
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Run (or Process) a User Cube on Demand

You can start the user cube processing immediately. To do it, use the Run now option on a specific user cube
deployment. This option takes into account the Data Source Rebuild Type and the OLAP Processing Type parameters
defined for that cube deployment.
You can also run a user cube on demand from Cube Manager.
For more information, review the Run a Cube Deployment
section in Cube Manager chapter.
To run (or process) a user cube on demand:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube deployment you want to process immediately and select All
Tasks > Run now.
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4. When the confirmation message displays, click Yes to start the user cube processing.
5. To the message that states the request for immediate cube processing is submitted, click OK.
Redeploy a User Cube

You can overwrite a running user cube with a new version. Redeploying a user cube means the user cube is
recompiled. Generally, you may need to perform redeployment in one of the following cases:
• You updated a user cube.
• You updated the configuration of the target ERP system (such as installing database extensions), and want
to recompile the user cube on that new configuration.
• A cube failed compilation, but you want to try again.
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To redeploy a user cube:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube deployment you want to redeploy and select All Tasks >
Re-deploy.
4. In the Open User Cube File window, find and select a user cube file.
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5. Click Open.
6. In the Re-deploy for <ERP system> window, specify the redeployment configuration parameters. This
window is similar to the Deploy for <ERP system> window. For detailed information on the configuration
parameters, review the previous Deploy a User Cube section.
7. Click the Re-deploy cube button.
8. To the message that states the redeployment request is accepted, click OK.
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Download a User Cube

You can download a running user cube from the server to a location on your local machine where you can modify
it and then re-deploy it.
To download a user cube:
3. In the results pane, right-click the user cube you want to download and select All Tasks > Download
into file.
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4. In the Save Downloaded User Cube As window, navigate to the folder where you want to download the
user cube.
5. In the file name field, enter the user cube file name.
6. Click Save.
Package Management
The list of available content packs displays under the EPM Content Packs node in the Console tree.
View Content Pack Status

To view the content pack status:
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1. In the Tree View, expand the <Host Name> > EPM Content Packs node.
2. In the right pane, right-click one of the content packs.
3. Select All Tasks > Status Detail.
4. In the Poll Pack Status window, review the information on recent pack deployments.
5. Exit Manage Epicor EPM Servers - Poll Pack Status.
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Deploy a Content Pack

To deploy a content pack:
1. In the Console tree, select the EPM Content Packs node.
2. From the Action menu, select All Tasks > Deploy Pack.
3. In the Open EPM Content Pack File window, find and select the content pack file.
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4. Click Open.
5. The EPM Content Pack Deployer displays.
6. On the Target EPM Server screen, specify the EPM server where you want to deploy the content pack.
7. Click Next.
8. On the Target Performance Canvas Server screen, select the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas
Dashboards check box if you wish to deploy the Performance Canvas dashboards that are contained in
the pack. Specify the URL of the EPM Performance Canvas server where to deploy the canvas, and specify
the URL of the target XMLA web service for the EPM Performance Canvas server.
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Clear the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas Dashboards check box if you do not want to deploy the
dashboards.
9. Click Next.
10. The Select Content Pack screen displays the structure of the content pack you selected before.
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Review the content pack structural elements and properties. The information on this screen is from the EPM
content pack’s Properties and Structure sections and is read-only.
11. Click Next.
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12. If this content pack was already deployed on this server, the Existing Deployments screen displays. Click
Next.
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13. If this content pack was already deployed on this server, and you selected the Upgrade the existing content
pack(s) option on the previous screen, the Upgrade Options screen displays. Click Next.
Refer to the Finalize Content Pack Deployment section for further instructions.
14. If this content pack was never deployed on this server, of if you selected to delete and replace the previous
content pack deployment, or deploy an additional copy, you should now specify deployment options such
as processing schedule, data source rebuild type and so on.
Refer to the Create Deployment Context section for further instructions.
Create Deployment Context

When you deploy an EPM content pack, you create deployment contexts on several Content Pack Deployer
screens to define the user cube deployment parameters for the cubes in the Content Pack. One context is assigned
to all the cubes in the content pack. You can adjust deployment context for individual cubes in the content pack
later on the Review Deployment Options screen.
To add a new deployment context:
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1. After you specify basic content pack deployment Information, you are taken to the Application Context
screen.
2. On the Application Context screen, in the Application Database field, select the source database where
the pack will retrieve data.
3. Click the Get fiscal companies from the selected database button to load the list of companies from
the selected database.
As a result, the list of companies for this database displays.
4. Select the Deploy against all companies check box to deploy the user cubes from the content pack for
all the companies in the current database.
As a result, all the companies are selected, and you are not able to deselect any of them.
To deploy the content pack only for some selected companies, clear the Deploy against all companies check
box and select the required companies.
5. In the Report Currency field, select the report currency for the content pack deployment.
For each company three report currencies and one base currency are defined in the Epicor ERP system. For
details on the report currency, refer to Epicor ERP on-line documentation.
The Report Currency field displays the list of currencies, which are defined in all the companies, selected for
deployment. If the Report Currency field is empty, and no options are available for selection in this field,
then the selected companies do not have common currencies. In this case, reduce the number of companies
for deployment. For example, if USD and EUR are defined for Company A, USD and RUR are defined for
Company B, and CAD is defined for Company C, then the Report Currency field is empty, when all three
companies are selected for deployment. If you select Company A and Company B, only USD is available in
the Report Currency field.
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6. Clear the Deploy against all fiscal years check box and select the required financial years to deploy your
content pack only for the selected fiscal years
To deploy your content pack for all financial years of the current fiscal calendar, select the Deploy against
all fiscal years check box. As a result, all the financial years in the years list are selected, and you are not able
to deselect any of them.
7. Click Next.
8. On the OLAP Isolation screen, select one of the available options:

• Standalone
Use this option to deploy each user cube in the content pack separately from other cubes.
• Shared Database
Use this option to enable dimension sharing.
If the Shared Database option is selected, enter the name of the shared database into the field that
appears.
You can deploy the content pack user cubes so that each cube is separated into a single isolated fact table
and set of dimensions. Another option is to deploy the cubes so that they interact. This second approach
implies that dimensions are shared between multiple cubes.
9. Click Next.
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10. On the Processing Schedule screen, in the Process cubes field, select the cubes processing frequency.
The following options are available:
Day.
of Day.
11. In the Start cubes ... minutes apart field, specify the interval between cube processing.
12. Click Next.
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13. On the Processing Options screen, select the Data Source Rebuild Type.

• Rebuild only for the current fiscal year and on
Use this option to re-process starting from the current fiscal year and also process any years defined in
the future.
• Rebuild only for the last fiscal year
Use this option to consider only the data for the last financial year during the content pack cubes
processing.
In this case, during each subsequent cube processing Epicor EPM recollects information only for the last
financial year, among those specified for deployment configuration, to populate the user cubes. This
occurs only between two subsequent cube processings, for which the operational year configuration
(the number of years and their values) is the same.
This option saves processing time.
• Rebuild for all fiscal years
Use this option to consider the data for all financial years when processing the cubes.
In this case, during each subsequent cube processing Epicor EPM recollects information for all the financial
years specified for deployment configuration to feed the cubes.
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14. Click Next.
15. On the Date Format screen, select the Override cube dimension attribute settings check box to specify
a different date formatting.
16. In the Style field, select one of the pre-defined date formats .
To specify your own date format, select Custom and enter the format in the Format field.
17. Click Next.
18. On the Link to Enterprise Search screen, select the Link cubes to Enterprise Search check box to create
search hyperlinks from within cube views.
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Linking cubes to Enterprise Search will create hyperlinks from within cube views to search for more details
about data you are viewing. For example if you are viewing a metric about a particular customer you can
immediately search for the customer to view details about the customer from other Epicor Applications.
19. Click Next.
You are now ready to deploy the EPM content pack. Refer to the Finalize Content Pack Deployment section for
further instructions.
Finalize Content Pack Deployment

After you specified basic content pack deployment Information, created EPM content pack application context,
and specified deployment options, you are taken to the Review Deployment Options screen.
1. On the Review Deployment Options screen, review the information you provided for each user cube
from your content pack.
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You can edit application context, specify a different processing schedule and change OLAP naming and
isolation for each cube individually by clicking on the Edit button associated with the cube you wish to
change.
2. Click Next.
3. On the Deploy screen, select the Process pack cubes after deployment check box to start processing of
the deployed cubes in the content pack immediately after deployment.
The cube processing may take several minutes or even several hours depending on the user cube complexity
and data source size.
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If you clear the Process pack cubes after deployment check box, the cubes in the content pack are deployed
without further processing. In this case, the deployment wizard finishes after the content pack is deployed.
The cubes will be processed according to the defined schedule or you may manually process the cubes later
using EPM Cube Manager or EPM Server Management Console.
4. Click the Deploy button to start deployment and processing (if the corresponding option is selected).
5. The Content Pack Deployer displays deployment progress.
The following icons indicate the deployment steps status:
Icon Description
Green circle with a white arrow The step is waiting to start
Blue gear The step is currently in progress
Green box with the check mark The step completed successfully
Red circle with an X The step failed
6. You can select each of the steps to view detailed action description.
7. The deployment process cannot be stopped or interrupted. To stop processing any time, close the wizard
window.
It will not affect data consistency. However, in this case, you have to flush the Performance Canvas cache
manually. For details on how to flush the Performance Canvas cache, refer to Performance Canvas on-line
documentation.
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8. If you selected to start processing of the cubes in the content pack immediately after deployment, the
Content Pack Deployer displays processing progress.
9. After deployment and processing, The cubes from the EPM content pack have been successfully
deployed and processed message displays at the top of the Content Pack Deployer screen.
10. Click Exit to leave the EPM Content Pack Deployer application.
You can alternatively click the Deploy Another Pack button to deploy more content packs.
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After successful completion of content pack deployment, wait several minutes before starting Epicor EPM
Performance Canvas; otherwise, Epicor EPM Performance Canvas may malfunction.
Operational Settings
When you manipulate user cubes in EPM, your actions are logged in the used databases. If you do not manage
transaction logs, the database may eventually grow to a point where the database will stop functioning. EPM
Server can automatically manage log growth in the tempdb and EPM databases. EPM will not, however, manage
logs in the source database. These settings should be handled by a database administrator who can make the
right choices for the environment.
When EPM Server processes a cube it performs a complex ETL procedure in TSQL to restructure and copy data
from the source database into the EPM (EAS) database for use by analysis services. This process consists of the
following steps:
1. Create working tables in the source database to hold the transformed data.
2. Run a series of SQL statements to insert and update records in those working tables.
3. Move the working table data into EPM.
4. Drop the working table.
This process is relatively quick because data is first transformed to its final form, and only then is moved between
databases - moving data between databases is a slow operation. The downside of this process is that the many
transformation operations which perform an update on the working table data cause transaction log writes. If
the working table has millions of records it can cause rapid growth of the transaction logs. If the transaction logs
are not managed it can cause the source database to run out of log space and stop functioning.
To better manage transaction log growth in EPM, use one of the two approaches:
• Manage transaction log settings in the source database
• Avoid logging in the source database
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You can also limit the number of cubes that can be processed at the same time. Use the cube Processing Quota
to do it. The default Quota is 1.
With the Cube Processing Quota in effect cubes processing

may no longer start exactly at the time you scheduled it or
when you run the cube on demand.
Adjust Operational Settings

Adjust the EPM Operational Settings to avoid logging in the source database.
To adjust EPM logging settings:
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1. In the EPM Server Management Console, in the Tree View, expand the Epicor EPM Servers > <Host
Name> node.
2. Right-click the Epicor EPM Server node and select All Tasks > Operational Settings.
3. On the EPM Server Operational Settings screen, select the Enforce SQL Server tempdb database size
ceiling check box.
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Enable this setting to allow EPM to monitor and force release of log space within tempdb during processing
if it appears to be growing indefinitely.
4. Open the Isolation tab.
5. Select the Minimize operations to ERP database check box.
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Enable this setting to move the working tables created during cube processing out of the source database
and into the EPM database where EPM can automatically manage the log growth.
With this setting enabled logs in the source database will not grow significantly during processing, but
overall processing time may take longer due to the increased amount of data that needs to be moved
between the source database and EPM.
6. Open the Performance tab.
7. In the Processing Quota field, enter the number of the cubes that can be processed at the same time.
8. Click the Update the modified settings and close dialog button.
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Chapter 3 | Cube Manager Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Chapter 3: Cube Manager
Epicor Cube Connect - Cube Manager (the Cube Manager) is intended to deploy user cubes created by the Epicor
Cube Connect - Cube Editor (the Cube Editor). The Cube Manager is the application for workstation users because
you can install the Cube Manager outside the main EPM Server.
Use the Cube Manager application to perform the following tasks:
• Configure a wide range of user cube deployment parameters.
• View and edit user cube properties.
• Deploy a selected user cube on different EPM servers as the Cube Manager provides the capability to select the
deployment server.
• Perform different actions on user cube deployments, such as processing and re-deploying user cubes, re-configuring
user cube deployment, viewing the user cube deployment status, and so on.
• Deploy and process user cubes with different parameters and according to different schedules.
The Cube Manager functionality mirrors that of the Epicor EPM Server Management Console, except the Cube Manager
deploys one user cube at a time. Security restrictions limit cube deployment to user cubes for the user ID that created
them.
Cube Manager Interface
The Cube Manager is a Windows® application. This section describes the main elements of the Cube Manager
interface: controls, panes, and menus.
Launch Cube Manager

Use the following path to start the Cube Manager: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software > Epicor Enterprise
Performance Management > Epicor EPM Cube Manager.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Cube Manager | Chapter 3
Alternately, you can launch the Cube Manager from an existing user cube. In the My Documents\My Analysis
folder, right-click a user cube (.cbn) file and select Open with Epicor EPM Cube Manager.
The main interface components include the following:
1. Menu Bar – The Cube Manager menu bar is similar in appearance to a menu bar of any Windows-style
application.
Many of the commands found under the menus correspond to the buttons on the toolbar.
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2.
Toolbar – The Cube Manager toolbar includes buttons that correspond to the menu commands. The
following toolbar buttons are intended for server management.
• Use the Server field to select the Epicor EPM server to which you want to connect to view the user cube
deployments, deploy the user cube or perform other user cube management tasks.
• Use the Port field to select the port via which you want to connect to the EPM server you selected in
the Server field.
• Click the Query Server button
to query the server via the selected port. As a result, the server name and the port number display in the
Epicor EPM Servers section located at the bottom left of the window.
3. Cube Properties – The Cube Properties section displays basic user cube information. The pencil icon identifies
fields that can be edited in the Cube Manager. The push pin identifies fields that are read-only and cannot
be edited.
The following user cube properties display:
• Name – This field displays the user cube name. The name is specified in Epicor Cube Connect – Cube
Editor on the Cube Name screen. This is the user cube name, but not the user cube filename. You can
edit the user cube name in the Cube Manager.
• ERP – This field displays the name of the ERP system for which the user cube was designed. When you
select the cube template in Epicor Cube Connect - Cube Editor, on the Template screen, you automatically
select the ERP system, as both pre-defined and blank cube templates are designed for a specific ERP
system. This field is read-only.
• Version – This field displays the version of the cube template. This field is read-only.
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• Description – This field displays the description of the user cube. The description is provided by default
in Epicor Cube Connect - Cube Editor on the Template and Cube Name screens. You can edit the user
cube description in the Cube Manager.
• UUID – This field contains the unique identifier of the user cube. This field is read-only.
To edit the user cube name and user cube description, double-click the line where the property you want
to edit displays. When you do this, the screen for editing the property displays. Enter the new property value.
Click OK to keep the changes you made or click Cancel to discard the changes and return to Cube Properties.
4. Epicor EPM Servers – This section displays the Epicor EPM server name and connection port number, on
which you want to deploy and/or manage this user cube.
To populate this section with the EPM server for deploying the user cube, select the Server name and Port
number from the lists on the toolbar. Then, when you click the Query Server button, the following occurs:
• EPM connects to the listed server.
• EPM looks for any existing user cube deployments for the user cube file you opened and displays them
to you in the Deployments section.
5. Deployments – This section displays the list of deployments for the current user cube on deployment for
the selected EPM Server. It displays the cube deployment identification number (UUID), cube deployment
OLAP name, status of the current deployment, and time of the current status. It also displays the OLAP
database name and two processing duration fields (CP and LP for current and last processing).
•
Reload deployments from the selected server – Use this button to refresh the deployment list. For
instance, click this button when you add a new deployment.
•
Deploy a user cube on the Epicor EPM server, which deployments are listed – Use this button to
add a new deployment; that is, deploy the current cube deployment.
6. Deployment Configuration – When you select the cube deployment in the Deployments section, the cube
deployment configuration displays in this section.
The deployment configuration displays as a tree. The tree root corresponds to the deployment ID. It has two
child nodes: Operational Context and Database.
The Operational Context node displays the operational deployment parameters:
• Data Source Rebuild Option
• Has previous version of the user cube stored
• OLAP Isolation
• OLAP Naming
• OLAP Processing Type
• Deployment schedule
These parameters are discussed in the next section Cube Management - Deploy a Cube.
The Database node displays the application parameters or context of the deployment: the base currency,
the companies and the financial years for which the cube is deployed. The child nodes of this node correspond
to the companies for which the cube is deployed. This node may have one child node (when the cube is
deployed for iScala) or multiple child nodes (when the cube is deployed for Epicor, as for Epicor, you can
deploy a cube for multiple companies at the same time). The child nodes for each company node are the
financial years for which the cube is deployed.
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Cube Management
You use the Cube Manager to perform various tasks on user cubes such as the following:
• View and update user cube properties.
• View the user cube deployments status.
• Schedule user cube data and structure updates.
• Deploy and re-deploy a user cube.
• Adjust a user cube configuration.
• Save a user cube locally.
• Debug a user cube.
• Remove a cube deployment.
This section reviews these tasks in detail.
View Cube Properties and Status Details

To view user cube properties:
1. Click the Open button on the Cube Manager toolbar to open the user cube file. Alternatively, from the
File menu, select Open.
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2. In the EPM Cube Manager - Open User Cube File window, browse to and select the user cube which
properties and status details you want to view.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Cube Properties section, view the cube name, name of the ERP system for which the cube was
designed, cube template version, cube description, and unique identifier for the cube.
View the User Cube Deployment Status

If you deployed a user cube, you can view the cube deployment status:
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1. In the Server field on the Cube Manager toolbar, select the Epicor EPM server on which you deployed the
cube.
2. In the Port field on the Cube Manager toolbar, select the port via which to connect to the Epicor EPM server
specified in the Server field.
3. Click the Query server button to test the connection to the selected server via the selected port.
4. In the Deployments section, right-click the cube deployment.
5. Select the Status option.
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6. Review the following properties in the Poll Cube Status window:
• Status Server Time – This is the date and time when the current status was assigned to the selected
cube deployment.
• Status – This is the current status of the user cube, together with the status description.
A user cube deployment passes through different statuses during its lifecycle. Status information displays
as the user cube is processing. A user cube can have one of the following statuses:
Status Description
In Registration The user cube is put into the server’s memory queue for deployment registration.
Queue This status is very brief and will not be seen except on very heavily loaded servers.
Transient The user cube is still in the registration queue but now being written to the EPM
tracking database. This status is very brief and will not be seen except on very
heavily loaded servers.
Rejected There was an unrecoverable fault in the registration process that prevents further
movement along the deployment’s lifecycle.
Registered The user cube file has been sent to the server. The server is validating the file now.
Deploying The user cube file is being translated into an SSAS cube and that cube is being
deployed to SQL server analysis services. Also a processing schedule task is being
created as a SQL agent task.
Failed Deployment There was an unrecoverable fault during deployment; that is, during the transition
from Deploying to Deployed status. For example, the user cube was designed
incorrectly and the user cube compiler could not compile the user cube.
Deployed The SSAS cube is online and the processing schedule is in place; however, the
cube contains no data.
Processing Deferred The cube is waiting to begin processing because too many other cubes are currently
processing.
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Status Description
Processing The data mart is populating with data and the SSAS cube is being refreshed. First
an ETL process pulls data from the source system, then the SQL server cube
processing actions are called to actually update the cube.
Interrupted The ETL or OLAP Processing (transition from Processing to Processed status) was
interrupted in such a way that it could not signal with an error status (which can
be Failed Processing). For example, an unexpected server shutdown (power down)
happened or the Windows process hosting this operation is killed. This status can
be as well assigned if the server was restarted while the cube was processing, or
the process was manually stopped, or SQL became unavailable such as you are
processing a lot of data which leads to SSAS to become overwhelmed, and so on.
This status does not, however, indicate that anything went wrong with processing.
If processing failed the cube deployment would be in the Failed status instead.
Failed Processing There was an unrecoverable fault during ETL or OLAP Processing (transition from
Processing to Processed status). For example, if the user cube tries to access a
non-existing source database object (database incompatibility) and the SQL script
fails.
Processed The user cube was processed at least once and the last processing was a success.
SSAS cube data is up-to-date and can be used for analysis.
Failed Removal The deployment was marked for deletion but the server could not delete it. This
is uncommon. It may be caused by corruption on the server, human intervention,
or by other reasons. The Epicor EPM server will continuously try to remove the
cube until success.
• Problem Details – If any errors occurred during user cube deployment, this field displays detailed
information on those errors.
7. Click the Refresh button to update the status details information.
8. After you view the status details, click the Close button on the toolbar.
Define a Refresh Schedule

In the Cube Manager, you can set up a schedule to update a user cube on a regular basis or mark the user cube
to be only processed manually.
You can also change the user cube deployment schedule

without deploying and processing the user cube. This is
explained later in this chapter in the Reconfigure a Cube
section.
To schedule a user cube update:
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1. Click the Open button on the Cube Manager toolbar to open a user cube file.
Alternatively, from the File menu, select Open.
2. In the EPM Cube Manager - Open User Cube File window, browse to and select the user cube for which
you want to define the refresh schedule.
User cube files can be of two formats - User Cube Native Format File (.cbn) or User Cube XML Format File
(.cbx).
3. Click Open.
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4. In the Server field on the Cube Manager toolbar, select the Epicor EPM server on which you want to deploy
the user cube.
6. Click the Query server button to test the connection to the selected server via the selected port.
7. In the Deployments section, click the Deploy a user cube on the EPM server, which deployments are
listed button to create a new deployment.
This will open the cube deployment window where you can enter the configuration for a new deployment
of the cube that is currently open.
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8. In the EPM Cube Manager - Deploy for <ERP> user cube deployment window, locate the Scheduling
section.
9. In the Frequency field, select one of the following options:

• Monthly – Select the Day of Month when you want to deploy the user cube and set the Time of Day.
• Weekly – Select one or more Week Day when you want to deploy the user cube and set the Time of
Day.
• Daily – Set the Time of Day when you want to deploy the user cube.
option is selected, the user cube can only be processed manually.
10. Click the Deploy cube button on the toolbar.
11. To the message that states the deployment request is accepted, click OK.
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12. In the Deployments section, track the user cube deployment status.
13. Click the Reload deployments from the selected server button to refresh the deployment status.
14. View the refreshed schedule of the current deployment. To do this, select the deployment in the
Deployments section. Then, view the configuration that displays in the Deployment Configuration
section under Operation Context node.
The Lifecycle of a Cube

An Epicor EPM user cube is a definition of the structure of the final cube. An OLAP cube is a representation of
data in the database at the time of the cube's processing. The Cube Manager application is intended for deploying
and processing user cubes one cube at a time.
A cube passes through several stages:
• Cube compilation – This stage creates the data structure and brings back data as a test without writing it
to the server. This is actually the first step that happens after setting a cube to deploy and is done while the
cube is in the Deploying status.
• Cube deployment – This stage executes the data structure against the live database. Deploying basically
creates physical database schema and cube schema. The data cubes must be deployed before they can be
shared and / or processed.
• Cube processing – This stage fills the cube with data, or updates the data. Cube processing prepares the
cube for loading and use with EPM Performance Canvas. If you are going to build canvases on top of a cube,
it must have the Processed status.
A cube can be assigned one of a number of statuses while

moving through the deploy and process stages. See the
View the User Cube Deployment Status section above for
a list of all of the possible statuses.
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Deploy a User Cube

When a user cube is deployed, the structure of the empty cube is created within the data mart and Microsoft
Analysis Services. The currently defined configuration for processing is also stored.
Deploy a User Cube for Epicor ERP

To deploy a user cube for Epicor ERP:
1. Click the Open button on the Cube Manager toolbar to open the user cube file.
Alternatively, select the File > Open menu command to open the user cube file.
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2. In the EPM Cube Manager - Open User Cube File window, browse to and select the user cube you want
to deploy.
3. Click Open.
4. In the Cube Properties section, view the user cube name, user cube template version, user cube description,
and unique identifier for the user cube. Notice, the ERP field displays Epicor 10.
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5. In the Server field on the Cube Manager toolbar, select the Epicor EPM server on which you want to deploy
the user cube.
7. Click the Query Server button on the Cube Manager toolbar to test the connection to the selected server
via the selected port.
You cannot deploy the user cube without connecting to the server.
8. If the user cube was deployed on this server before, the deployments are listed in the Deployments section.
9. In the Deployments section, click the Deploy a user cube on the EPM server, which deployments are
listed button.
The cube deployment window titled EPM Cube Manager - Deploy for Epicor 10 displays. You should
now specify the Application Context and EPM Context to deploy the user cube. Refer to the Define Cube
Deployment Context section for further instructions.
Define User Cube Deployment Context

The user cube deployment window design differs for various ERP systems.
To define Application Context and EPM Context to deploy the user cube for Epicor ERP:
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1. In the EPM Cube Manager – Deploy for Epicor 10 window, in the Application Database field, select
the database.
2. The companies are loaded when the EPM Cube Manager – Deploy for Epicor 10 window opens. If the
companies are not loaded, or to refresh the display, click the Get fiscal companies from the selected
database button to load the list of companies from the selected database.
As a result, the list of companies for this database displays in the Application Context section.
3. In the Application Context section, select the Deploy against all companies check box to deploy the
user cube for all companies listed in the table. In this case, data for all companies is collected and used in
user cube processing.
4. Select the Report Currency.

If there is not a common currency among all the selected companies, a warning icon flashes and you are
not able to select a report currency. Clear one or more companies check boxes until a common currency is
available.
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6. In the EPM Context – Processing section, specify the Data Source Rebuild Type parameter. Available
options:
• No Optimization option to consider the data for all financial years when processing the user cube. In
this case, during each subsequent user cube processing, EPM collects information for all the financial
years specified for deployment configuration to feed the user cube.
• Only Last Fiscal Year option to consider only the data for the last financial year when processing the
user cube to save on processing time. In this case, during each subsequent cube processing, EPM collects
information only for the last financial year, among those specified for deployment configuration, to feed
the user cube. This occurs only between two subsequent cube processings for which the operational
year configuration (the number of years and their values) is the same.
This option saves processing time
• Only since Current Fiscal Year option to re-process starting from the current fiscal year and also process
any years defined in the future.
7. In the Scheduling section, select the user cube processing schedule or how often you want to process the
cube. The first schedule option, Frequency, is the cube processing frequency. Depending on the frequency
you selected, the second schedule option (if present) can be either Day of Month or Week Days, and the
third schedule option (if present) is Time of Day. In the Frequency field, select one of the following options:
Day.
of Day.
8. In the OLAP Isolation section, select if dimensions should be shared between multiple cubes that are
deployed separately within EPM Server. Available options:
• Standalone – Use this option to deploy your user cube separated into a single isolated fact and set of
dimensions. In this case, the user cube is deployed separately from other cubes; no dimensions are shared.
• Shared Database – Use this option to deploy a user cube so that it interacts with other deployed cubes.
In this case, dimensions are shared. Enter the name of a new cube database into which the cube will be
deployed in shared mode or select an existing cube database into which the cube should be added.
9. In the OLAP Naming section, define which, if any, globally unique identifier (GUID) will be used as part of
the OLAP cube name. When a cube is deployed, one of two GUIDs can be appended to the name of the
cube to create the OLAP cube name. This can guarantee that multiple deployments of the same cube can
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coexist on the same server. Under certain circumstances, the OLAP cube name can be completely user
defined. Available options:
• Globally Unique – Select this option to append the globally unique deployment ID that is created during
the deployment process to the cube name to create the OLAP cube name. The deployment ID is the
identification of the deployment registration record in the Epicor EPM cube tracking database and is
used by the server. This will ensure a unique name in all circumstances even when there are multiple
deployments for the same cube.
• Cube Unique – Select this option to append the unique identifier for the cube to the cube name to
create the OLAP cube name. The unique identifier for the cube can be found in the UUID field of the
Cube Properties section and uniquely identifies the specific user cube. When a new user cube is created
with Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor and saved to file, a unique ID is generated and is stored for
that cube. When you use this option, there can only be one deployment for a specific cube.
• User Defined – Select this option to specify your own OLAP cube name to be used for the deployed
cube. When you select this option, a field displays where the OLAP cube name can be specified. The
name you enter is used as is and is not combined with any other name or GUID to create the OLAP cube
name. The OLAP cube name should be unique within the server and should not contain the following
characters: . , ; ‘ ` : / \ * | ? “ & % $ ! + = ( ) [ ] { } < >. This option is only available if the OLAP Isolation
is set to Shared Database.
10. Click the Deploy cube button on the toolbar.
11. A message displays that states the Epicor EPM server accepts the deployment request. Click OK.
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12. In the Deployments section, click the Reload deployments from the selected server button to refresh
the deployment status.
13. In the Deployments section, track the cube deployment status.
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14. View the configuration of the current deployment. To do this, select the deployment in the Deployments
section.
15. View the configuration that displays in the Deployment Configuration section.
Run (or Process) a Cube Deployment

When a cube is processed, a static picture of the data is stored in the OLAP cube. You can perform processing
on demand or use a schedule to update the cube data on a regular basis. There are several ways to control how
data refreshes during processing which directly determines how long processing will take. If you want to change
the configuration of the cube, you must re-configure or re-deploy it.
To process the deployed cube immediately, but not according to the deployment schedule:
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1. In the Deployments section, right-click a cube deployment.
2. Select Run.
3. In the confirmation message that displays, click Yes to start cube processing immediately.
4. To the message that states the run request was submitted successfully, click OK.
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Reconfigure a Cube
Reconfiguring a cube means changing cube deployment parameters without deploying and processing the cube.
For example, if you want to change the processing schedule to a new time for a cube that is already running,
you should reconfigure the cube.
Reconfiguring does not alter the cube's structure.
To reconfigure a cube:
2. Select Re-configure.
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3. In the Re-configure for <ERP> window, specify new deployment parameters. This window is similar to the
Deploy for <ERP> window. For detailed information on the configuration parameters, review the previous
Deploy a Cube section.
4. Click Re-configure deployment in the cube re-configuration window.
5. A message displays that states the reconfiguration request is accepted. Click OK.
Redeploy an OLAP Cube Deployment

After you make a structural modification to an EPM user cube, you need to redeploy the deployment or
deployments that utilize that cube. When you redeploy an OLAP cube, you replace an existing deployment with
a new version. For instance, you should redeploy after you have updated or added a field in your EPM user cube
file and you want to replace the deployment or deployments that is running with a new version that has the
modified structure.
To redeploy an OLAP cube deployment:
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2. Select Re-deploy.
3. The cube re-deployment window displays. This window is similar to the Deploy for <ERP> window. For
detailed information on the configuration parameters, review the previous Deploy a Cube section.
4. After you specify cube re-deployment parameters, click the Re-deploy cube button on the toolbar.
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5. A message displays that states the redeployment request is accepted. Click OK.
6. In the Deployments section, click the Reload deployments from the selected server button to refresh
the cube deployment status.
7. A message displays that states the redeployment request is accepted. Click OK.
8. Check the cube status in the Deployments section.
Download a Cube from the Server

You can download a deployed cube from the server. To download a cube means to save the user cube file to a
specified folder on your local machine for further use.
To download a cube:
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2. Select Download.
3. In the Save Downloaded User Cube As window, navigate to the folder where you want to download the
cube file.
4. Enter a filename under which to save the user cube.
5. Click Save.
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Delete a Cube Deployment

When you delete a cube deployment, the user cube file is not deleted. This way, you can deploy this cube again
if needed.
If you delete a cube deployment that has the Registered status,

the cube will be deleted once it is done with the Deployment.
The same is true for cubes that have the Deploying or
Processing statuses.
To delete the cube deployment from the EPM server:
1. In the Deployments section, right-click a cube deployment you want to remove.
2. Select Delete.
3. In the confirmation message that displays, click Yes to permanently remove the cube deployment.
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4. To the message that states the removal request was submitted, click OK.
5. Click the Reload deployments from the selected server button.
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6. Notice the cube deployment is no longer in the Deployments list.
Error Checking
You may receive SQL errors when you process user cubes you created.
Use the Cube Compiler Test Bed (CCTB) Tool

To troubleshoot cubes, EPM provides the Cube Compiler Test bed tool (CCTB). When there is something wrong
with your content or data and it causes an SQL error during cube processing, CCTB helps you determine the
reason for the problem. You will most likely need this tool if you are creating a custom glossary with the Glossary
Designer and need to debug your glossary.
With CCTB, you can see the SQL portion of the ETL procedure that ran during the last cube processing. If processing
failed with an SQL error, the CCTB tool displays the statement that threw the error. The Cube Compiler Test Bed
tool is designed to read RTS data.
If you have a .cbn user cube file, follow this procedure to troubleshoot the deployed cube with CCBT:
1. Navigate to C:\Program Files (86)\Epicor Software\EAS\Cubex\bin\ and run CCTB.exe.

The path may vary in your environment if the EPM was not installed to the default path. Check with your
system administrator for the specific details at your location.
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2. In the Corona Compiler Test Bed window, click Next.
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3. In the Corona Compiler Test Bed - RTS window, click Open.
4. In the Open User Cube File window, navigate to and select the .cbn user cube file you want to troubleshoot.
5. Click Open.
6. In the Find Deployments window, click Find.
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7. The cube deployments that are found on the server are listed.
8. Right-click the deployment you want to troubleshoot and select Select.
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9. In the Corona Compiler Test Bed - RTS window, click Run.
10. View the SQL script that ran during the last cube processing.
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Scroll down to the end of the script to see the SQL statement that caused cube processing failure.
If you do not have a .cbn user cube file, you can find the Deployment ID and use it to retrieve the detailed SQL
script with the SQL statement that caused cube processing failure.
1. Open the Epicor EPM Server Management Console (Manage Epicor EPM Servers Management tool) and
expand the <ERP> – Company> – Deployed User Cubes node.
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2. Navigate to the cube with the Failed Processing status.
3. Right-click the cube and select All Tasks > Check status.
4. In the Manage Epicor EPM Servers – Poll Cube Status window, in the Problem Details pane, review
the processing errors. Often, you will see an SQL error. In this case, it is useful to see what statement in the
ETL is causing the issue.
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5. Close the Poll Cube Status window.
6. To locate the ETL script for this cube, open the cube’s properties. To do this, in the Epicor EPM Server
Management Console’s <ERP> – <Company> – Deployed User Cubes node, right-click the cube and
select Properties.
7. In the <Cube Name> Properties window, locate the Deployment ID field and copy the value in this field.
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8. Navigate to C:\Program Files (86)\Epicor Software\EAS\Cubex\bin\ and run CCTB.exe.

The path may vary in your environment if the EPM was not installed to the default path. Check with your
system administrator for the specific details at your location.
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The Cube Compiler Test Bed tool is designed to read RTS data.
9. In the Corona Compiler Test Bed window, click Next.
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10. Paste the Deployment ID copied earlier into the UUID field.
11. Click the green arrow button to retrieve the script.

The detailed SQL script will display. Scroll down to the end of the script to see the SQL statement that caused
cube processing failure.
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Chapter 4 | Viewing an SSAS Cube with Microsoft SQL Server Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Management Studio or Microsoft Excel
Chapter 4: Viewing an SSAS Cube with Microsoft SQL Server

You can use Microsoft® SQL Server® Management Studio (Studio) to establish a SQL Server Analysis connection to an
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) data cube. Once connected, you can view the entire contents of
the cube in a pivot style format.
Processed user cubes and off-line cubes can also be viewed in Microsoft® Excel.
Viewing an OLAP Cube in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
You can use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to view the OLAP cubes deployed on the server.
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) is a middle-tier server for online analytical processing and data
mining. The Analysis Services system includes a server that manages multi-dimensional cubes of data for analysis
and provides rapid client access to cube information. Analysis Services organizes data from a data warehouse
into cubes with pre-calculated aggregation data to provide rapid answers to complex analytical queries.
Connect to SQL Server Analysis Services

To view an OLAP cube in SSAS, first connect to an SQL Server.
1. Navigate to SQL Server Management Studio using the following path: Start > All Programs > Microsoft
SQL Server 2014 > SQL Server Management Studio.
The following examples use Microsoft SQL Server 2014

as a reference for the path definitions. Check with your
system administrator for the specific details at your
location.
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Studio or Microsoft Excel | Chapter 4
2. In the Connect to Server window, in the Server type field, select Analysis Services.
3. In the Server name field, accept the default value.

This field may display no default value if you have never connected to the SQL Server before. In this case,
enter the name of the local SQL Server 2014 instance. That could be just localhost or it could be something
like localhost/SQL2014 for a named instance.
4. If the server has two SQL servers installed or it has one but with an instance, you must specify it in the Server
name field. In this case, click the down arrow in the Server name field, select the <Browse for
more...> option.
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5. In the Browse for Servers window, navigate to the server and instance set.
6. In the Browse for Servers window, click OK.

Alternatively, you can connect to your OLAP cube through the XMLA web service if you have it installed.
XMLA web service is required for Epicor EPM Performance Canvas. To do so, enter the URL at which the
XMLA web service is deployed. Typically, this is a simple URL like http://serverName:8064, but the actual
URL is up to the person who installs it. In the past, it has frequently looked like this:
http://serverName/olap/msmdpump.dll.
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7. In the Connect to Server window, click Connect.
Open an OLAP Cube

When the connection is established, open an OLAP cube.
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1. In the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, in the Object Explorer pane, expand the
Databases node.
The list of available databases displays.
2. Expand the OLAP cube to open. In this example, you expand the MM1_Inv_OnHand node. Notice each
OLAP cube has a unique alphanumeric identifier after its name.
3. Expand the Cubes node.
4. Right-click MM1_Inv_OnHand and select Browse.
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5. The Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Analysis window displays the Measure Group and
Dimension panes.
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6. In the Object Explorer pane, click the push pin icon to auto-hide the pane.
Explore Data
After you open an OLAP cube, you can view Measures and Dimensions of the cube. You view hierarchies to
determine the values to display in custom cubes.
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1. From the Measure Group pane, expand the Part Bin node.
2. Drag the Bin Num BIN hierarchy and drop it in the Drag levels or measures here to add to the query
pane.
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3. From the Measure Group pane, expand the Part hierarchy.
4. Drag the Part Type field and drop it in the query pane.
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5. In the Measure Group pane, expand the Measures > Measures node to view other collections.
6. From the Measures list, drag the On Hand Qty and drop it in the query pane.
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7. In the right pane, scroll down the results.
SSAS Cube as a Datasource in Microsoft Excel
You can use most versions of Microsoft Excel to view processed OLAP cubes and off-line cubes.
You can use Excel installed on the same machine where EPM is installed. You can also point a remote installation
of Excel to the cubes.
When information is updated in the database, it is not

automatically updated in the cube representation in Excel. To
update information in Excel, select the Refresh Data command
from the Excel Data menu.
Connect to SSAS in Excel

To view a user cube in Microsoft Excel, first establish an SQL Server Analysis Services Connection in Excel.
1. Launch Microsoft Excel.
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2. From the Data menu, select From Other Sources > From Analysis Services.
3. The Data Connection Wizard displays. In the Server Name field, enter the server name.
There are two ways to connect to Analysis Services:

• Through the regular SSAS provider
• Through the XMLA Web Service
Example The XMLA Web Service installer currently

shipped with EPM installs to the following location:
http://<ServerName>:8064
You should not use localhost in the Server Name field. If you do this and you are not on the server, it will
not work because localhost references the local machine.
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4. Click Next.
5. In the Select Database and Table window, select MM1_INV_Turns.
6. Click Next.
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7. In the Save Data Connection File and Finish window, accept the default data and click Finish.
8. In the Import Data window, verify that the Pivot Table Report option is selected.
9. Click OK.
The MM1_INV_Turns cube data details are now available to work with as an Excel Pivot Table.
View Data in Excel

To view data details in Excel:
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1. From the Pivot Table Field List, expand the Date hierarchy.
2. Right-click Calendar and select Add to Column Labels.

Alternatively, you can drag the Calendar and drop it into the Column Labels pane.
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3. The calendar element populates as column headings in the pivot table.
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4. From the Pivot Table Field List, expand the Company hierarchy.
5. Right-click Company and select Add to Row Labels.

Alternatively, you can drag the Company and drop it into the Row Labels pane.
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6. The Company entries populate as rows in the pivot table.
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7. In the Pivot Table Field List, expand Measures.
8. Drag the Qty Onhand and Qty Turns measures into the Values pane.
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9. Column headings and values populate the pivot table.
Continue to explore the data in Excel.
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Chapter 5 | Performance Canvas Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Chapter 5: Performance Canvas
Epicor EPM Performance Canvas (Performance Canvas) is a web-based analysis platform designed to create interactive
canvases (or dashboards) for OLAP-related information. With Performance Canvas, ordinary business users can perform
a wide range of analytical tasks without in-depth knowledge of Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), cubes, measures,
dimensions, and other business intelligence concepts. Use Performance Canvas to create, visualize, and display information
maintained in pre-defined or customized OLAP cubes in the EPM suite of products.
This chapter describes techniques for planning the layout and design of custom gems (charts), slicers (filters), and
canvases (visual dashboards).
Performance Canvas Overview
The Performance Canvas is the visual medium for Content Packs. Each Content Pack includes (among other
things) pre-defined canvases, gems, and slicers specific to the Epicor product line of business. Gems and slicers
are performance analysis objects that rely on the OLAP cubes. A canvas is an informational dashboard that visually
displays metrics to analyze the state of your business. The datasource behind the cube displays on the canvas as
charts or tables that use dimensions to strategically filter information.
The Performance Canvas is available as a standalone, web-based dashboard tool that uses datasources such as
Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis Services (SSAS) cubes and similar OLAP compliant datasources. The Performance
Canvas client is a web-based application accessible in the following web browsers:
®
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or later
®
• Microsoft Edge
®
• Mozilla Firefox
® ® ®
• Apple Safari for Mac OS and iOS
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Performance Canvas | Chapter 5
• Google™ Chrome
While legacy browsers such as Internet Explorer 7, 8 and Safari

3, 4 are supported, Epicor strongly recommends to use the
latest available version of your preferred web browser for the
best experience and performance. Support is provided for the
latest public release version of each of the browsers listed.
Some options in the application such as complex visualizations
with many data points may be unavailable or limited on legacy
browsers.
The EPM Performance Canvas can become an integrated Web Part type available for use directly on a Microsoft
SharePoint page or site through the use of a Microsoft SharePoint connector. You can also deploy canvases as
an interactive and searchable Web 2.0 object. You can configure full text indexing and searchable data support
to be used by almost any search engine such as Microsoft® Enterprise Search and Google™ OneBox. Use Epicor
Mobile EPM to deploy all canvases to mobile devices for wireless access on the go.
The Epicor EPM Installation Guide, which is available on EPICweb, provides details on how to install Epicor EPM
Performance Canvas. The Canvas is ready to use to create web-based dashboards immediately after installation.
The application automatically looks for a connection to the sample OLAP cube, DSPDemoSales, which is hosted
from the manufacturer’s page. You can then use the Designer link to load other OLAP cubes. To have other
cubes available in Performance Canvas, you would deploy and process them on the EPM Server, and then add
them as datasources in the Performance Canvas Admin Console on the Data sources tab.
Performance Canvas Terms and Definitions
• Canvas – A canvas is an interactive web-based dashboard that provides a visual display of information.
Following are canvas features:
• A canvas presents data details in a combination of text and graphics. Use graphics, such as charts or tables,
to visually emphasize objectives and their status.
• A canvas displays data that helps you to answer key questions about your business such as Are my sales
on track currently?
• All canvas details display on a single screen, Microsoft SharePoint site, or mobile device.
A canvas is available for others via a web URL or Microsoft SharePoint site. Depending on your license, you
can save and deploy a canvas workspace as a web canvas or save it as a ViewPoint.
• Gem – A gem is a visualization such as a chart or table that displays business information on a canvas. One
canvas can contain many gems.
Gems listen to slicers to provide data details. A gem is connected to one or more slicers on the canvas, but
they can listen to their own filters as well.
• Slicer – A slicer is a filtering tool. Use slicers to select information to view in the gem, or gems, that displays
on a canvas. From an OLAP point of view, a slicer is a dimension filter.
The most common slicer is a date or time field. A slicer can be a single hierarchy or a multi-level hierarchy.
Company is an example of a single hierarchy as it is comprised of one field, yet there can be three companies
in the cube data. Time is an example of a multi-level hierarchy. It is a pre-defined field collection that includes
Year > Quarter > Period > Date, thus creating a specific drill-down path.
Slicers can be positioned anywhere on a canvas, but, as a rule, they display across the top of the canvas.
• Drill Down – A drill down refers to viewing underlying data by levels that are predefined within the slicer
element. Drilling down provides a way to funnel data details to various field levels in controlled layers. For
example, if the slicer is defined as Customer Country, the first drill down level is the country value. The second
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drill down level can be a province or state. The drill down can continue to follow a path to other fields such
as counties, cities, and zip codes.
The drill downs are defined by the cubes and not by the Performance Canvas. Cube dimension hierarchies
determine what is available for drill downs on a canvas.
There are three ways to use slicers or gems to drill down into data:
1. Select a slicer, clear the All entry, and expand the slicer list. Members of the slicer collection display and
you can select them individually or in multiples.
2. You can define gems to allow direct drill down. Gems that allow direct drill down are identified by an
outline around its members. Click directly on a drill down gem element, such as a bar graph, and the
data changes to the linked slicer. For example, if the slicer is against a state field, double-click the column
to select a state. Each double-click on the element displays the slicer’s path defined by a cube dimension
hierarchy.
3. Use the right-click context menu to select the drill down by option. This type of drill down provides more
control over the data you see and is considered an advanced drill down.
• ViewPoint – A ViewPoint refers to a saved scenario created by drilling into canvas details. Any user can
perform an analytical drill down on a canvas and then save the data details at a specific point in the analysis
to return to it later or to share it with others. Save as ViewPoint preserves the analytical path at the point
when the ViewPoint is saved.
For example, a sales canvas can display information by salesperson. Each salesperson can create a drill down
based on the slicers and see a specific view of details. The salesperson can then save the specific drill as a
ViewPoint, which becomes the default display the next time the ViewPoint is used.
Any user can create a ViewPoint by setting filter selections, or by modifying an existing canvas. When you
save a canvas as a ViewPoint, you can access the ViewPoint later through its URL address.
Performance Canvas Access Options

The Performance Canvas opens to a web based home page. To open the Performance Canvas standard page:
1. From the server, open a web browser.
2. In the address bar, enter http://<ServerName>:<PortNumber> and press Enter.
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You can use localhost as the server name, if you work from the server on which the Performance Canvas is
installed. You may omit the port number if the Performance Canvas is on the standard port 80. This is the
preference for the Performance Canvas setup, but port 80 is often already used by another application.
Find the Port that Performance Canvas Installation Uses

To find the port your Performance Canvas installation uses:
1. Navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\EPM Performance Canvas folder.
2. Open the zenith.properties file in the Notepad.
Be extremely careful doing this not to make any accidental

changes to the file. Such changes could cause
Performance Canvas to stop working.
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3. Locate the line that starts with dsp.port.
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4. Note the port number and then close the file without saving.
5. To open the Performance Canvas home page, enter these digits after http://localhost: in you web browser
address bar.
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Performance Canvas Does Not Open

If the Performance Canvas home page does not open, check that the Performance Canvas service is running.
1. Open the Windows Services Console.
2. Locate the Performance Canvas service in the list of available services.
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3. Verify the Status is Started or Running.
4. If the Performance Canvas service status is not Started or Running, right-click the service and select Start.
5. Exit the Windows Services Console.
The Performance Canvas service might not start at the first attempt. This might be caused by the virus blocking
software. If this is the case, disable your antivirus program while starting the Performance Canvas Service. If that
solves the problem, configure your antivirus program and exclude the Performance Canvas folder from being
scanned and then enable the antivirus program again. After successfully starting the service, wait a few minutes
before you try to access Performance Canvas to allow it time to fully initialize.
Exclude Performance Canvas from McAfee Scan

To exclude Performance Canvas from McAfee antiviral scanning:
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1. Right-click the McAfee icon in the system tray.
2. Select On-Access Scan Properties.
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3. In the On-Access Scan Properties dialog, click the All Processes item in the left pane.
4. Open the Exclusions tab.
5. Click the Exclusions button.
6. In the Set Exclusions dialog, click the Add button.
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7. In the Add Exclusion Items dialog, click the Browse button.
8. In the Browse for Files or Folders dialog, navigate to and select the Performance Canvas folder.
9. Click OK.
10. In the Add Exclusion Items dialog, select the Also exclude subfolders check box.
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11. Click OK
12. In the Set Exclusions dialog, click OK.
13. In the On-Access Scan Properties dialog, click OK.
If you still cannot see the Performance Canvas page in the browser, open the zenith.properties files in Notepad
and change the port number.
Performance Canvas Interface

The Performance Canvas interface includes the following items:
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1. The Navigation pane displays links to the Epicor EPM Performance Canvas Designer, Administration Console,
and Documentation & Help for generic dashboard usage. Use the Designer link to load datasources such as
OLAP cubes.
The Admin Console link is available only on the server. If

you connect to the URL, the link does not display. The
Designer link is available only if you have the appropriate
rights. The rights depend on the user access configuration
set in the Admin Console.
2. My Canvases displays all the canvases available to the User ID currently logged into the application. When
a cube is selected, the available canvases filter according to the User ID and display in this folder for all cubes
loaded as a datasource.
The default canvas listings for the sample cube include Demo introduction, Geography focus, Graphs in
tables, Heatmaps and navigation, and Sales:Performance. Double-click a canvas from the list to load it.
3. The My Analyses folder displays all the analyses created with the Canvas that are not a dashboard. You
can use the Pivot Table, or another analytical tool, to create custom analysis items.
4. The My ViewPoints folder displays canvases that were modified for specific information and saved with a
new name. You can add ViewPoints to a Microsoft SharePoint site and make them available to other users
based on security.
5. My Annotations are comments attached to specific gems for collaboration.
6. Workspace is the left pane of the Performance Canvas screen and is where you can view canvases.
Double-click a canvas in the My Canvases list in the right pane to load it. Each canvas opens in a new tab
with the canvas name in the title.
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Canvases
You can build canvases (dashboards) according to your specific requirements as well as customize and create
gems and slicers in the Epicor EPM Performance Canvas Designer (Designer).
You must obtain the Designer license to create a new canvas

or to modify existing canvases.
Canvases typically fall into one of three categories:
1. Strategic – A strategic canvas is designed for high level executive business roles to monitor performance.
A strategic canvas can answer questions such as Is my business performing well?
2. Operational – An operational canvas provides day-to-day monitoring of operations, such as production.

Operational canvases answer business process questions about the current state of the business. For example,
Am I on track to meet my sales quota this quarter?
3. Analytical – The analytical canvas provides a starting point for exploring data. Analytical canvases often
display one or two graphs with a broad set of filters and options.
The first step in designing a canvas is to understand what exactly a canvas can do. In general, a canvas is a
web-based collection of information for sharing or monitoring your business.
Plan the canvas design to center around a specific business objective, such as company sales, which is monitored
by one or more user roles, such as a Sales Manager and Sales Representatives. Create gems and slicers for the
canvas to provide performance updates for the general canvas theme. The following tips on designing a new
canvas can be helpful:
• Identify the business roles that can access the canvas.
• Identify the key question, or questions, the canvas will help answer. What is the business objective?
• Review which measures, performance indicators, and dimension combinations are necessary to answer the
key question, or questions.
• Determine what kind of charts and tables to use to present your data.
• Determine the information levels that logically belong behind a graph. For example, a Sales Territory is
comprised of statistics such as territory, sales manager, and sales representative. These dimensions can be
individual graphs or drill down levels in a single, combined graph.
• Review potential filters (slicers) to help select the details. For example, the Sales Territory graph can include
Country as a level of detail. If other graphs also require Country details, perhaps Country is better suited as
a filter. Then all gems can filter data using the slicer, not just one.
• Begin with the most important item, such as overall sales, and place it at the top left of the canvas. Follow
with supporting details in order of importance. Ideally, the first gem on your canvas will answer the most
important key question and the rest of the canvas will facilitate the exploration of related questions. For
example, if your key question is Are my sales on track this quarter? then the top left graph might show the
total % of sales quota met this quarter and others might break the sales data down by other attributes for
more detailed investigation.
The general workflow to create a new canvas:
1. In the Performance Canvas, navigate to the Canvas Designer.
2. Define datasources for your canvas.
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3. Drag and drop gems on the canvas. You can use the gems already available or create custom gems.
4. Drag and drop slicers on the canvas. You can use the slicers already available or create custom slicers. Position
slicers at the top left of any gem they control. If all the canvas gems listen to the same slicers, position them
across the top of the page.
5. Link slicers to gems. You can drag and drop a slicer from the toolbox onto a gem that is on the canvas to
link them. Once you do this, the slicer will be able to filter data in the gem.
6. Publish the canvas.
Load Sample Datasource Cubes

Canvases are typically built on one or more OLAP cubes, but the standalone installation of the Canvas accepts
various datasources, such as Microsoft SQL Server Analysis cubes and any similar OLAP compatible datasource.
To load sample datasource cubes:
1. In the Navigation pane of the EPM Performance Canvas Home Page, click the Designer link.
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2. In the Available datasources window, select the DSPDemoSales and dspDemoSalesMeasureCube check
boxes.
3. Click OK to accept the datasource.

If the system administrator never loaded the cubes, the Cube has been successfully loaded message
displays. Click OK.
DSPDemoSales and dspDemoSalesMeasure Cubes Not Listed

If the DSPDemoSales and dspDemoSalesMeasure cubes are not on the list, complete the following:
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1. Above the Available datasources listing, click the Missing a datasource? Click here. link.
2. The Performance Canvas Administration Console window displays.
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3. Navigate to the Data sources sheet.
4. In the left pane, expand the All datasources node to view the olap64.performancecanvas.com
/DSPSQL06/SQL2008 entry.
5. Use the following path to navigate to the dspDemoSales cube: olap64.performancecanvas.

com/DSPSQL06/SQL2008/ > dspDemoSales.
6. In the Tree View, select the DspDemoSales cube check box.
7. The dspDemoSales cube uploads. This may take several seconds.
8. To the The Cube was successfully added message, click OK.
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9. Use the following path to navigate to the dspDemoSalesMeasureCube

cube:olap64.performancecanvas.com/DSPSQL06/ SQL2008/dspDemoSalesOLAPDB.
10. In the Tree View, select the DspDemoSalesMeasureCube cube check box.
11. The dspDemoSalesMeasureCube cube uploads. This may take several seconds.
12. To the Cube was successfully loaded message, click OK.
13. On your web browser toolbar, click the Back arrow to return to the Designer's Available datasources page.
You can now load the cubes as described in the previous procedure.
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Canvas Designer Interface

The EPM Performance Canvas Designer (Designer) is a powerful tool you use to create and customize gems,
slicers, and canvases based on your specific requirements. The Designer license is required to create a new canvas
or to modify existing canvases.
The Designer interface is comprised of two main parts:
1. Canvas Designer workspace – The main area on the left side of the screen is considered the Designer
workspace where you use gems and slicers to build canvases. The workspace opens to an empty default
canvas identified as [Unnamed canvas]-X, where X is a sequential number.
2. Right Pane – The right pane holds the Gems, Slicers, and Canvases groups for easy access. Within each
group, you can select an item to open its properties card where you can view the item’s definition properties;
a gem’s properties card displays a graphical preview of the gem.
The contents of the right pane change based on the security level of the user ID and the cube, or cubes,
loaded. The right pane provides access to all the datasources available to the user ID. You can set a filter on
the right pane contents.
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Use the following File menu options in the Designer to create new canvases, gems, and slicers:
1. New – Create a new canvas, gem, or slicer. Each item presents its own development workspace.
2. Save – Save the canvas you are creating.
3. Save As – Save an existing canvas with a new name to modify it later.
4. Filter – Limit the list of gems and slicers in the toolbox to only those that connect to a specific cube.
5. Preview – Print preview the canvas in focus. A preview is required before a ViewPoint can be created.
6. Exit to client – Return to the Performance Canvas home page. All canvases close when you select this
option.
Open Sample Canvas

The initial installation of the Epicor EPM Performance Canvas provides a connection to a sample Sales cube. After
the cube loads, you can view components of the sample Start: Sales performance canvas.
To open a sample canvas:
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1. Enter http://<ServerName>: <PortNumber> in the URL window of a web browser to navigate to the
Canvas home page.
2. In the right pane, expand the My Canvases and then Start here! folder to view the sample canvases.
3. Double-click the Start: Sales performance canvas.
4. The left panel of the screen displays the Start: Sales performance canvas.
5. Click the double arrow in the upper right corner of the Navigation pane; this hides the Navigation pane
to make viewing easier.
Use Slicers
The Start: Sales performance canvas has four slicers defined. Locate the Geography, Product, and Calendar, and
Salesperson slicers at the top of the canvas. Each slicer on this canvas is a detailed hierarchy. By default, the
pre-defined slicers are set without a filter and display All in the field listing.
To use slicers:
1. Click the Product slicer.

A box displays that includes a toolbar to access the slicer hierarchal details. The default level of any slicer
hierarchy is listed as All. All is a default member in the cube and means “include all members of this dimension
in the query”. In the context of a filter like this, All means“do not filter by this dimension”.
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2. Click the arrow to the left of the All filter to expand the hierarchy and access individual filter details.
3. Clear the All check box.
To select specific hierarchy details, you must first clear the

All selection.
4. Expand the Food slicer hierarchy. The datasource behind the canvas controls the hierarchy details. The
multi-dimensional cube architecture creates an entry for all slicer categories under this hierarchy, even null
values. An arrow by a selection indicates there are more details for that entry.
5. From the Slicer listing, select the Food hierarchy.
6. Click OK (the green check mark).
7. Once you click OK, all the gems (charts) on the screen change their values to reflect the Food hierarchical
details. Notice the Product slicer now displays Food as the slicer value. Select a second value to further slice
the same details.
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8. Expand the Calendar slicer.
9. Clear the All check box and expand the slicer details.
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10. From the Calendar slicer, select the year 2009.
11. Click OK.
Notice the gem values change to reflect the slicers selected. Currently, the Sales: Performance Canvas displays
details by the Product Group Food and the Calendar year 2009.
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Use Gems
A gem is a graphical display of data details that meets specific analytical requirements and is attached to a canvas.
Simply, gems display measure details in a graphical format.
One canvas can contain many gems, and each gem listens to the slicer for data display instructions.
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The Start: Sales performance canvas has five gems defined:
1. Actual vs Plan: Monthly
2. Avg customer vs Diff
3. Actual vs Diff
4. Product actuals
5. Act R12 vs Plan R12
Each gem is defined with its own details and its own slicer, or slicers, to which to listen. Various chart types are
available to display data details. Some gems allow another layer of data details called a direct drill down, providing
more analytical opportunities beyond the slicer. When you move the mouse over a gem with its own drill down
details, that gem element displays an outline. Click the outlined gem to view more details.
To use gems:
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1. From the Actual vs Plan: Monthly gem, click the 200907 entry.
2. Select Filter.
3. Notice the Calendar details change to this value, and the Product Actuals gem briefly displays loading.
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4. In the Product Actuals gem, hover the pointer above its different segments to locate the Food entry.
5. Click the Food entry and select Drilldown.
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The data details are set up as a direct drill down so when you select to drilldown, several of the gems react
to the drill down.
6. In the Product Actuals gem, click the Produce entry and select Drilldown. Gems on the canvas briefly
displays loading.
7. In the Products Actuals gem, click the new Specialty entry and select Drilldown.
Notice three of the gems refresh to display the data.
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8. Note the Product Actuals now display No data available to indicate there are no other layers to review.
9. On the web browser toolbar, click the back arrow to return to the previous view which displays details in
the Product actuals. You may need to click the back arrow a second time to refresh.
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10. Click the Geography slicer to expand it.
11. Clear the All check box and expand the details.
12. Expand the USA node and select CA.
13. Click OK.
14. Notice several of the gems refresh to display details by multiple products, the calendar period of 200907 in
the state of CA.
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15. On the web browser toolbar, click the back arrow to return to the previous view.
16. From the Actual vs Diff gem, click the menu icon in the upper right corner (either a gear icon, or thee
horizontal lines depending on the theme that is used on the canvas) and select Analyze.
You can change the options on this menu based on the

gem type. You use this menu to edit all gems.
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17. View the gem details in an Excel pivot table. You can modify the gem and use the Save as Analysis button
to save the gem as a separate file in the My Analyses folder on the home page.
18. Close the Analyze screen.
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19. To undo your changes and refresh the data to the original details, right-click an empty space on the workspace
and select Reload.
By default, the gem drill down properties rely on the hierarchy selection within a slicer. Once clicked, the graph
displays child levels of data based on its definition. The gem’s data is always filtered by the selected slicer, or
slicers. You can design gems to have a direct drill down. A colored outline identifies available drill down capabilities
as you scroll over the gem.
Manage ViewPoints
You can save a canvas with the slicer and drill down selections of a specific analysis as a ViewPoint for later use.
A ViewPoint reserves the analytical trail of details to a permanent file. ViewPoints create a URL which can be
shared with others, security permitting. A ViewPoint file populates on the EPM Performance Canvas Home page
in the My ViewPoints folder.
To save a canvas as a ViewPoint:
1. Once you have reached the analytical path you wish to save, right-click an empty space on the workspace,
and select ViewPoint > Save as new ViewPoint.
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2. In the Are you sure? box, in the Viewpoint name field, enter the ViewPoint name.
3. Click OK.
4. Click the double arrow in the upper right corner to display the hidden Navigation pane.
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5. Notice the ViewPoint displays in the My ViewPoints folder in the right pane.
Open a ViewPoint
To open a ViewPoint:
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1. In the right pane, expand the My ViewPoints folder.
2. Right-click the ViewPoint to view and select Open.
View Canvas Information

You can view the underlying cube metadata and receive the canvas URL.
To receive the canvas URL:
1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Info > Canvas URL.
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2. The Copy window displays the canvas URL.
3. Copy the URL and click OK.

You can then paste the URL in any text editor to save it.
Receive the URL of the Canvas with Filters

To receive the URL of the canvas with some filtering applied:
1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Info > Filtered Canvas URL.
2. The Copy window displays the canvas URL.
3. Copy the URL and click OK.
4. Paste the URL in any text editor to save it.
View the Underlying Cube Metadata

To view the underlying cube metadata:
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1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Info > <Cube name>.
2. In the Cube metadata window, review the cube description, latest data and schema update dates.
3. Click OK to close the window.
Print a Canvas
You can print a canvas or save it as a PDF or Microsoft® PowerPoint® file.
To print a canvas:
1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Print page > Send to printer.
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2. On the Print screen, set the printing options.
3. Click Print.
Save Canvas as a PDF or Microsoft PowerPoint File

To save a canvas as a PDF or Microsoft PowerPoint file:
1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Print page.
2. Select Screen Print PDF, One gem per page PDF or Download as PPT.
Edit a Canvas
You can edit a canvas you are currently viewing on the Performance Canvas page.
To open a canvas for editing in the Canvas Designer:
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1. Right-click an empty space on the workspace, and select Design a Canvas.
2. In the Available datasources dialog, select cubes.
3. Click OK.
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4. In the Designer right pane, expand the Canvases group.
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5. Right-click the canvas you want to edit and select Edit.
Create Canvas - Typical Scenario

A typical scenario to create a canvas may go like this. You want to create a Sales Review canvas to provide a sales
order analysis by product, sales order date, and sales territory. First, determine what slicers and gems to create.
Canvases are linked to one or more datasources when they

are created. The system administrator must deploy datasources
in order for them to be available for use with any canvas.
• The slicers to create are:

• Country – This slicer should provide salesperson location information such as country, state, and city.
• Time – This slicer should provide a fiscal time selection to view the data.
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• Product – This slicer should provide a means to review sales order details.
• The gems to create are:

• Product Group Sales – This gem should display the total product group sales in a table view.
• Product Family Actual – This gem should be a pie chart that displays actual sales by product family.
• Quarter Sales – This gem should be a bar chart that compares the quarterly year to date Actual compared
to Planned sales.
Gems and slicers from different cubes do not interact directly.

For example, a slicer from cube A cannot easily limit data on
a gem from cube B. So, most of the time, your canvas contains
only gems and slicers from a single cube.
After you determine the general canvas layout, create a canvas:
1. Enter http://<ServerName>:<PortNumber> in the address window of a web browser to navigate to the

Canvas home page. For example, enter http://localhost:89/.
2. In the Navigation pane, click the Designer link.
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3. In the Available datasources window, click Select none at the top of the window.
Epicor recommends to limit the number of cubes available

at one time to reduce confusion and improve
performance.
4. In the Available datasources window, select the dspDemoSales and

DspDemoSalesMeasureCube datasources.
5. Click OK.
If the Cube has successfully loaded message displays, click OK.
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The Designer window displays. In the right pane, use the Slicers, Gems, and Canvases groups to access slicers,
gems, and canvases available for each open datasource. Select a specific datasource to filter to specific items tied
to the selection.
Create a Folder Structure for Canvases

On the Performance Canvas home page, you can see all available Canvases listed in the right pane under the My
Canvases folder. You can create a tree structure to display the Canvases in a particular order.
To change or create folder structure for Canvases:
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1. Open the Performance Canvas home page.
2. In the right pane, click the Admin Console link.
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3. Navigate to the Taxonomy sheet.
4. Click the Add root classification button to create a new top level folder.
5. In the Classification Name field, enter the new folder name.
6. Click OK.
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7. To rename an existing folder, in the Classifications pane, right-click a folder you want to edit, select Edit.
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8. Enter the new folder name.
9. Click OK.
Continue adding and editing folders. Once you are satisfied with your classification folder structure, add
dashboards to the categories.
10. Close the Admin Console sheet.
Classify Folders
To classify the folders:
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1. In the right pane, click the Designer link to open the Performance Canvas Designer.
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2. Select the datasources.
3. Click OK
4. In the Designer right pane, expand Gems, Slicers, or Canvases group.
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For example, expand Slicers.
5. Right-click any gem, slicer, or canvas, and select Classify.
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For example, right-click the Geography slicer.
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6. Double-click the classification (folder) for the item.
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7. To the confirmation message, click Yes.
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8. Use the Remove Classification option to remove an item from a category.
9. To the warning click OK.
Once you are done, return to the Performance Canvas home page. Notice your canvases now display in the
folders you have selected.
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Gems
A gem represents data details over a period of time in graphical form. One canvas can contain many gems.
By default, the drill down properties of a gem rely on the hierarchy selection within a slicer. When you click an
element within a gem, the graph displays child levels of data based on its definition. The gem’s data is always
filtered by the selected slicer, or slicers. You can design gems with a direct drill down. Available drill down
capabilities are identified by a colored outline as you scroll over the gem.
The general workflow to create a new gem is as follows:
1. In the Designer, select File > New > Create Gem.
2. In the Select datasource window, click the drop-down list to select a cube for the gem.
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3. Click OK.
4. In the Analysis tool, in the right pane, expand the Measures group.
5. Select a measure. In this example, you select the Actual measure.
6. Drag and drop it in the Measures drop zone.
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7. Expand the Dimensions group.
8. Select a dimension. In this example, you select the Geography dimension.
9. Now click and drag this dimension into one of the three drop zones. Notice the Columns, Filters, and Rows
drop zones are available; you decide to place the Geography dimension in the Filters drop zone.
10. Click Save as Chart or Save as Table to define the gem type.
In this example, you select the Save as Chart option.
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11. In the Chart name field, enter the name of the gem and provide a short description of its purpose.
If you do not specify a name for a new gem, Performance

Canvas assigns it a default name that has the following
structure:
'New gem by anon' <Date and time info>
For example:
'New gem by anon Fri Jul 01 10:47:23 GMT-500 2011'
The date and time in the gem’s name guarantee that each
gem has a unique name. Also, such name helps you
distinguish among different gems.
12. Click Save.
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13. Notice the new gem is added to the Gems > Unclassified folder in the Designer right pane.
The Analysis Tool Interface
Use the Analysis tool to design new gems or other analyses, such as Microsoft SQL Server Analysis cubes. To
create the analysis behind the gem, drop measures and dimensions into one of the four drop zones: Filters,
Columns, Rows, and Measures. As you drop measures and dimensions into the drop zones, a Multidimensional
Expressions (MDX) query builds automatically. You can view the query at any time in the MDX Editor tab. This
query carries the gem’s definition. If you have a strong understanding of the MDX language, you can use the
language to create the gem directly on the MDX Editor tab.
The Analysis tool interface includes the following items:
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1. Workspace – This is the middle pane of the Analysis tool where the resulting object you design displays.
2. Drag and drop sheet – The available dimensions, measures and KPIs for all datasources currently loaded
and available to your User ID display in this tab. To view dimension details, expand each listing. Three panels
display in the Drag and drop sheet for data access:
• Dimensions – All dimensions available from the open datasources display in this panel. Expand the
Dimension to view specific data details. You can use dimensions in the Filters, Columns, or Rows drop
zones.
• Measures – The Basic measures node contains measures defined in the open datasources. The Calculated
Measures folder contains the calculated measures within the data source structure. The Canvas uses the
Calculated folder to store calculated measures created directly inside the Canvas. Use the Measures drop
zone to add a measure to the gem.
At least one measure must be attached to a gem. If

you do not select a measure, the cube automatically
assigns the cube’s default measure.
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• KPIs - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are created as special details to judge the performance of your
business. The KPIs in the available datasource display in this pane and can be used as measures.
3. MDX Editor tab – Optionally use the MDX editor to use true MDX code to directly create a gem. If you use
a manually created MDX query for your gem, the application may block you from using the drag and drop
designer if your query is too complex for it to understand. Once you start using the MDX, you must make
any further query changes through the MDX Editor tab.
4. Filters, Columns, Rows, and Measures drop zones – Use the drop zones quadrant to lay out the analysis
or gem. As you drop data details into the drop zones, the MDX query is defined.
An MDX query builds as gems are created using the

Canvas. A simple query built using drag and drop methods
exports to an Excel Pivot Table. Advanced gems built using
the MDX query language or with calculated measures do
not export to an Excel Pivot Table.
5. Excel pivot – Use this button to create a Microsoft® Excel® Pivot Table object from a gem. This menu
selection uses the gem details in the analysis workspace and creates an Excel Pivot Table file for you. This
pivot table then forwards you to Excel for further analytics.
6. Save as Chart – Use this button to turn a table gem into a chart gem or to save data details in the workspace
as a chart style gem.
7. Save as Table – Use this button to save data details on the workspace as a table style gem.
8. Reset – Use the Reset button to reset the MDX expression and remove everything from the object in the
Analysis workspace. This item serves as an undo function.
9. Flip – Use the Flip button to easily change dimensions and measures between the Rows and Columns drop
zones.
10. Create Calculated Measure – Use the sigma button to create reusable calculated measures that are stored
in the canvas design. These objects display in the Measures - Calculate folder in the Measures group.
Create a Calculated Measure
To create a calculated measure:
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1. In the Analysis tool, in the right pane toolbar, click the sigma button.
When you use the Calculator tab editor, a WITH MEMBER

statement is automatically added in the beginning of the
MDX statement.
2. In the Create calculated measure pane, in the Calculator tab, build a calculated measure.
3. In the Name and format pane, in the Name field, specify the calculated measure name.
4. Select the Create reusable copy check box to make the calculated measure available in all other gems that
use the same datasource.
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5. Click Save at the top of the Create calculated measure pane.
6. The new measure displays in the Measures pane under the Calculated node.
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Create a Chart Gem
Gems display as either a chart (graphical) or a table (grid). The most common data display is done using chart
gems.
In the Designer window, in the Gems listing, different gem types have different icons.
1. A table gem displays in the Gems listing with a spreadsheet icon next to it.
2. A chart gem displays with a bar chart icon.
The Designer provides more than 20 graph styles for a graphical view of data including:
• Bar Chart
• Layered Bar
• Stacked Bar
• Stacked 3D Bar
• 3D Bar Change
• Pie Chart
• 3D Pie Chart
• Line Graph
• 3D Line Graph
• Time Series
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• Area
• Difference Area
• Stacked Area
• Waterfall
• Gauge
• Bubble
• Scatter Plot
• Spider web
• Candlestick Graph
• Pareto
• Ring
• Bullet
• Sparkline
The chart style gem is created in a table format and then saved as a chart. Once you save the gem as a chart,
you can build gem details in the Property Editor using the Basic Properties or the Advanced Settings options.
Following is an example of how to create a chart gem for the Sales Performance canvas. The gem will show the
actual sales by product family, which can be viewed by salesperson, country, and time. The preferred chart style
is a pie chart.
To create a chart gem:
1. In the Designer window, from the toolbar, select File > New > Create Gem.
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2. In the Select datasourse window, click the drop-down list and select DspDemoSalesMeasuresCube.
3. Click OK.
4. The Analysis tool opens.
5. In the Drag and drop sheet, expand the Dimensions pane.
6. Expand the Product dimension.
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7. From the Product hierarchy, select the Product Family dimension level.
8. Click and drag this dimension level into the Columns drop zone.
9. From the toolbar at the top of the Analysis tool window, click the Save as Chart button.
10. Notice the Property Editor sheet now displays in the right pane.
11. The Property Editor > Basic settings sheet displays the primary properties of the chart gem.
12. In the Chart name field, enter a concise title for the chart. In this example, the name of the chart is Product
Family Actual.
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13. Press Tab. Notice the title bar of the gem changes to match the new entry.
14. In the Chart title field, enter Product Family Actual and press Tab.
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15. Notice the title displays on the gem.
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16. In the Chart type field, select Pie.
17. From the toolbar, click Save. The Designer screen displays.
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18. In the right pane, scroll through the Gems pane and locate your new chart gem. The new gem displays in
the listing with a bar chart icon next to it. You can now drag and drop it onto your canvas. This gem now
displays on the Gems listing for use with any canvas linked to the same datasource.
Create a Table Gem
Use the Table style gem to display the details as a grid. A table style gem displays on a canvas like a Microsoft
Excel Pivot Table.
The drill down is available by expanding and collapsing the slicers at the top of the grid. The drill down also reacts
to slicers selected from the top of the canvas.
Following is an example of how to create a table gem for the Sales Performance Canvas. The gem will show the
sales activity by product and by customer.
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1. In the Designer window, from the toolbar, select File > New > Create Gem.
2. In the Select datasource window, select DspDemoSales.
3. Click OK.
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4. In the Analysis tool, in the Drag and drop sheet, expand the Dimensions pane.
5. Expand the Product dimension.
6. From the Product hierarchy, select Product Family.
7. Click and drag this dimension into the Columns drop zone.
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8. In the Drag and drop > Dimensions pane, expand Customer.
9. From the Customer dimension, select Hierarchy.
10. Click and drag it into the Rows drop zone.
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11. Expand the Measures pane.
12. Expand the Calculated Measures node.
13. From the Calculated Measures list, select Actual Plan Diff measure.
14. Click and drag the Actual Plan Diff measure into the Measures drop zone.
Notice the Measure values phrase automatically displays in the Column drop zone.
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15. View the resulting gem in the workspace. Notice all details display a plus sign by default and can be expanded
to perform a drill down into the data details.
16. To view the details, right-click a plus sign and select Expand.
17. From the toolbar at the top of the Analysis tool window, click the Save as Table button.
You now set the table gem basic properties like name and description.
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Define Table Gem Properties
After you created the table gem, specify its properties.
1. In the Property Editor sheet that displays in the right pane, in the Name field, enter a title for the table.
In this example, the name of the table is ProdGroup.
2. Press Tab. Notice the title bar of the gem changes to match the new entry.
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3. In the Description field, enter the table description.
4. From the toolbar, click Save. The Designer window displays.
5. In the right pane, scroll through the Gems pane and locate your gem. The new table gem displays in the
listing with a spreadsheet icon next to it. You can now drag and drop it onto your canvas.
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Edit a Gem
Every gem on a canvas has a menu button in the upper right corner. This button looks like either a gear, or three
horizontal lines depending on the theme that is used. Clicking this button activates the gem edit menu.
To edit a gem:
1. In the Designer, on the gem, click the menu button.
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2. Edit – Select this option to open the gem in the Property Editor in the Analysis tool to modify the gem’s
appearance (titles, size, colors, style, and so on). Select the Show advanced settings check box to access the
Advanced Settings tab.
3. Save to list – Select this option to create a copy of the gem and place it in the Gems listing.
4. Delete gem – Select this option to remove the gem from the canvas and from the list of available gems.
5. Revert to original Query – Select this option to delete any changes to the original gem design. This option
is similar to an undo function.
6. Lock Hierarchy – The hierarchy is a collection of data details which provide a drill down. Select this option
to lock the hierarchy of the selected gem to the level that displays when the option is selected. When a
hierarchy is locked, slicers and other drill downs within the dashboard cannot affect this hierarchy. So if, for
instance, you want a time series graph that always displays all years even if a user drills down by time on
another gem in the dashboard, lock the time hierarchy for the gem and it will never drill down or filter by
time.
7. Unlock hierarchy – Select this option to revert the hierarchy that was locked to the original settings.
8. Sort – Select this option to manually sort measures. This sorts the data without regard to the defined
hierarchy.
9. Show top items by – This option organizes field data behind the graph. You can show top items based
on Count, Percent, or Sum. Select this option to decrease the size of information.
10. Show bottom items by – Select this option to organize the data behind the graph to show the bottom
items based on Count, Percent, or Sum.
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Additional Data Point Menu
Chart gems that display on a canvas have an additional menu to manipulate the gem’s data.
1. Click a data point to view the context menu.
2. Use the first menu option – Drilldown – to select the specific filter from the menu to stop the gem from
reacting to this slicer.
3. Drillup – After a drill down, this option will return you back one drill down level. Optionally, you can use
the back buttons on the browser.
4. Show underlying data – Select this option to view the underlying data behind the gem. It is only available
with the EPM Performance Canvas Designer license. When clicked, a dialog box displays that provides the
underlying transactions for the selected gem.
5. Breakdown – Select this option to view the data breakdown of the hierarchy behind the gem data point.
You will be prompted with a list of attributes to break down the data. For example, you might click on a
data point, select breakdown by customer, and be presented with a bar graph showing the data in that
datapoint split by customer name.
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Slicers
A slicer highlights specific details that graphically display in gems on a canvas.

Slices fall into three categories:
• Hierarchy - This slicer contains a collection of fields available for a defined filter. An informational symbol,
resembling a block of triangles, displays next to a hierarchy field.
• Level - This slicer is a specific filter for a hierarchy level. For example, the Sales hierarchy can include Sales
Representatives as a level.
• Member - This slicer is specific field that comprises the level slicer. For example, the Sales Reps level provides
a listing of specific names where each name is a member.
The general workflow to create a new slicer is as follows:
1. In the Designer, select File > New > Create Slicer.
2. In the Select datasource window, select a datasource for the slicer.
3. Click OK.
4. Select the slicer type as Hierarchy, Member, or Level.
5. In the Name and description pane, provide the slicer Name.
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You can optionally add a short Description of its purpose.
6. Click Next.
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7. In the Select slicer contents window, select the field or field hierarchy. In this example you select the
Geography field hierarchy
8. Click and drag the field or field hierarchy into the right pane.
9. Click Save.
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10. Notice the new slicer is added to the Slicers > Unclassified folder in the Designer right pane.
You can now add the slicer to the Designer workspace.

Once the filter level is determined, the slicer is connected to the contents of a specific field in the datasource.
The available fields are filtered based on the filter type selected.
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Create a Country Slicer
To create a country slicer:
1. In the Designer window toolbar, click File > New > Create Slicer.
2. In the Select datasource window, in the Select a Data Source field, select DSPDemoSales.
3. Click OK.
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4. In the Slicer type field, accept the default of HIERARCHY. The hierarchy slicer type is a collection of
pre-defined data details. Hierarchy slicers are mapped to a hierarchy in the cube.
5. In the Name and description pane, in the Name and Short Name fields, enter a slicer name. You can
optionally enter different information in the two fields. You can leave the name field blank; in this case, the
slicer is assigned a default name from the cube.
6. In the Description field, provide an explanation of the slicer if necessary. This description will show as a
slicer tooltip.
7. Click Next.
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8. The Select slicer contents screen displays with fields contained in the datasource of the slicer. The fields
are filtered by the slicer type selected. In this example, the slicer is a hierarchy which is indicated by the
triangle of blocks. On the Select slicer contents screen, expand the Geography dimension.
9. Drag and drop the field into the right pane.

Hierarchies display as All by default; therefore, All displays in the right pane.
10. Click Save.
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11. In the Designer right pane, expand the Slicers group to verify the new slicer displays in the listing.
The slicer wizard provides an option to search for a slicer rather than display details. For instance, a slicer is defined
for part numbers. You can use search to select a specific part as opposed to a field that displays all the members.
Group Slicers on the Filter Block
You can drop a slicer on another slicer already on the canvas to build a filter block.
To adjust filter block properties:
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1. Right-click the filter block, and select Horizontal Miller Columns or Vertical Miller Columns.
Horizontal Miller Columns and Vertical Miller Columns options are only available on single filter blocks.
2. Drag the boarders to adjust size.
These are alternative filter designs where the hierarchy always is expanded on the canvas.
3. Right-click the filter block, select Default filter layout, to return to the default filter design. You can now
manually expand the hierarchy. This option is only available when Miller Columns are selected.
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4. Right-click the filter block, and select Initial Selection to set initial filter values.
5. On the Slicer settings sheet, in the Slicer field, select the slicer for which to set the initial value.
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6. In the Selection model field, select a filter selection type:

• Filter selection – to use a hardcoded value
• Default member – to use a value from the cube
• Custom selection – to define the value by an MDX statement
7. Click Save.
8. If you have a lot of slicers in your filter and want to save space on the canvas, you can group several slicers
in the Others group. Right-click the filter block, select Configure Grouping, and select the check boxes
next to the slicers to add to the Others group.
9. As the result, all the slicers you selected are hidden under the single Others title.
10. To remove a filter block from the canvas, right-click the filter block and select Remove.
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Canvas Publication
When you save a canvas, you can select whether it should be available as a Searchable Canvas. A canvas becomes
a viewable dashboard and is available to use immediately after it is saved (published).
A saved canvas file contains the gem and slicer structures that display on the final canvas.
To publish a canvas:
1. After you created your canvas, in the Designer, from the File menu, select Save.
2. In the Canvas name field, enter the canvas name.
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3. You can leave the Canvas description field empty, or provide some information about the new canvas. A
description can be useful to provide future users with an overview of the canvas.
4. In the Publish as searchable field, select True if you want to flag the canvas as searchable when using
SharePoint Enterprise Search. This field is optional.
5. Click Save.
6. From the File menu, select Exit to Client to return to the Performance Canvas home page.
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7. Verify the new canvas displays in the My Canvases folder.
The new canvas is now available for deployment or for use by other users. The canvas is now linked to the
datasource, or datasources, used in its definition.
You must deploy the canvas to use it with EPM.
Dashboards across Multiple Cubes
You can use several cubes as datasources when you build a dashboard. When you start to build a canvas in the
Canvas Designer, in the Available datasources window, select all the cubes to use in the canvas.
Data will not necessarily interact between multiple cubes, but

it can be displayed together.
If you want to connect a slicer to gems from different cubes, use hierarchy slicer and the Shared dimension
functionality.
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This feature will not work for all cubes that have dimensions with the same names. You can use shared dimensions
if multiple cubes on your dashboard have dimensions with exactly the same name and exactly the same list of
members. If these things are not true of both cubes, the feature will not work.
In future versions of EPM Server, a shared dimension deployment option will create real shared dimensions in
SSAS and this feature will work with all cubes deployed in shared mode but will not work with cubes that are
deployed standalone.
To create a slicer connected to gems from several cubes:
1. In the Designer window toolbar, click File > New > Create Slicer.
2. In the Select datasource window, in the Select a Data Source field, select a cube.
3. Click OK.
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4. In the Slicer type field, accept the default of HIERARCHY.
5. In the Name and description pane, in the Name field, enter the slicer name.
You can optionally add a short name and description.
6. In the Shared dimension field select True to connect the slicer to gems from different cubes.
7. Click Next.
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8. In the Select slicer contents screen, view the fields contained in the slicer datasource; select one hierarchy.
9. Drag it to the right pane.
10. Click Save.
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11. In the Designer right pane, expand the Slicers group to verify the new slicer displays in the listing.
Performance Canvas Security
Performance Canvas provides several security models including Anonymous, Basic authentication and NTLM.
The default security model in Performance Canvas is Anonymous. This model does not require any logon credentials.
All canvases are available for all users. All users have access to full Performance Canvas functionality, except for
the Admin Console. Admin Console is only accessible from the machine where Performance Canvas is installed.
Basic authentication security model implies that the users are prompted to login to Performance Canvas accounts.
You create these accounts within the Performance Canvas. You can then map these accounts to different roles
to create an advanced structure with differentiated access to functionality and data for different users. Basic
authentication model can be useful if Performance Canvas users do not belong to a Windows Domain.
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Set up Basic Authentication Security Model
To set up basic authentication security model:
1. On the Performance Canvas homepage, in the right pane, click the Admin Console link.
2. Open the Security tab.
3. Click the Basic auth button.
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4. In the Username field, enter a new user name to create the administrative account. For example, enter
Administrator.
5. In the Password and Confirm password fields, enter an administrator password. For example, enter
Epicor.
6. Click the Save Account button.

Now you can create accounts for ordinary users.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 to define all the Performance Canvas users.
8. On the Roles tab, from the drop-down list in the upper left corner, select Administrator role.
9. From the Users list in the right pane, select the check box next to Administrator.
10. Click the Add button.

You must assign at least one account to the Administrator role.
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11. Add the rest of the users to their respective roles.

You must now stop and start the Performance Canvas service in Windows Services for the security change
to come into force.
13. In the list of available services, locate the Performance Canvas service.
14. Right-click the service and select Stop.

Verify the Status column displays the Stopped value for the Performance Canvas service
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15. Right-click the service and select Start.
Verify the Status column displays Started for the Performance Canvas service
16. Close the Windows Services Console.
Another security model is NTLMv2. When this model is enabled, users are not prompted to log into Performance
Canvas. Instead, their Active Directory (AD) accounts are used. Windows Integrated Security mode also provides
integration with Active Directory, but NTLMv2 is simpler to configure and is the recommended method unless
your cubes contain AD integrated security rules. To differentiate access to functionality and data for different
users, map AD accounts to different Performance Canvas roles.
To be able to use NTLMv2 model, verify the following requirements are met:
• The Performance Canvas service is run by an AD account and not by Local System.
• The AD account that runs the Performance Canvas service has write permission in the Performance Canvas
installation folder.
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Set Up NTLMv2 Security Model
To set up NTLMv2 security model:
1. On the Performance Canvas home page, in the right pane, click the Admin Console link.
2. Open the Security tab.
3. Click the NTLMv2 button.
4. Click the Save button.
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5. On the Roles tab, in the upper left corner, select the Administrator role.
6. Click the Edit button to display the Administrator’s role settings.
7. In the right pane, select your admin account.
8. Click the Add button to add your admin account to the role.
9. In the left pane, click the Save button.
10. You can use the Create Role button to create new user roles. Alternatively, you may simply use the existing
set of user roles.
11. For each custom role, expand the Show settings section and select the capabilities you would like to be
available to users in the role. You can also use roles to restrict access to specific canvases.
12. When you have the roles you need, repeat the steps you did for the Administrator role for all user roles to
assign users to the role. Save each role.
You must stop and start the Performance Canvas service in Windows Services for the security change to
come into force.
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14. In the list of available services, locate the Performance Canvas service.
15. Right-click the service and select Stop. Verify the Status column displays Stopped or no value for the
Performance Canvas service.
16. Right-click the service and select Start and verify the Status column displays Started for the Performance
Canvas service.
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17. Close the Windows Services Console.
18. Restart your browser.
Return to the Anonymous Security Model
If you are unable to log in as your administrative user, perform the following steps to return to the Anonymous
security model:
1. In the Windows Services Console, stop the Performance Canvas service.
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2. Navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\EPM Performance Canvas folder.
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3. Open the zenith.properties file in Notepad.
4. Set “dsp.security.provider=ANON”.
5. Save the file.
6. Close the editor.
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7. Start the Performance Canvas service again.
Restrict Access to an EPM Canvas
You can restrict the access to certain EPM Canvases by user. For example, if there are employees who will not
need access to financial Canvases, you can restrict their access to these Canvases.
To restrict the access to an EPM Canvas:
1. Configure one of the security methods other than Anonymous: Basic or NTLMv2 for instance.
The configuration steps are described above.
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2. Setup roles, or use existing roles that will have access to specific canvases and assign users to them in the
Admin Console.
3. To assign canvases to a particular role, in the Admin console, open the Approval tab.
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4. Click the Canvases button.
5. Select a canvas and double-click in the Allow column.
6. Select the check boxes next to the roles that will have access to the canvas.
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7. Click Save.
8. Close the Administration console sheet.
Mobile Dashboards
With Epicor Mobile EPM, dashboards can be deployed to mobile devices for wireless access on the go. Any canvas
created using the EPM Performance Canvas Designer can be made available to a mobile device. EPM Performance
Canvases are easily deployed direct to mobile devices and include full search capabilities to rapidly find and
drill-down to applicable data.
The canvas displays in the window of the mobile device as a miniature of the original canvas. The mobile canvas
displays the gems exactly as defined by the designer.
Mobile views can be accessed in word-sized graphs, searched upon, and used with drill down paths in a mobile
browser of choice: Windows® Mobile, Symbian®, BlackBerry® smartphones, Apple® iPhone®, Apple®
iPad®,Google™ Android™, and others.
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If you use an iPad to access the mobile site, iPad detects that and gives you an even better user experience,
especially in the analysis section.
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Sparkline rendering is available on any gem. A sparkline graphic displays instead of a chart or table style gem
when viewed on a mobile device. These sparkline graphics are as interactive as the original size graph on a canvas.
To create a dashboard to view on a mobile device:
1. Design and save the dashboard.
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2. On the Performance Canvas home page, in the right pane, click the Admin Console link.
3. Open the Approval tab.
4. Click the Canvases button.
5. In the list of canvases, locate you new canvas.
6. Verify the check box in the Mobile column is selected for this canvas.
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To access the mobile interface, in your browser address bar, enter your Performance Canvas server location and
port number, and add /m. The application will direct you to the appropriate user interface version depending on
your device. For example, enter http://<yourserver>:80/m with the appropriate server name and port number.
Dashboards for Microsoft SharePoint
The Canvas provides a Microsoft SharePointconnector to enhance the power of Epicor EPM Canvas scorecards
and dashboards by making them available in Microsoft SharePoint, a powerful tool for creating intranet, extranet,
and internet portals.
Canvases can also be deployed as an interactive and searchable Web 2.0 object. Support for full text indexing
and searchable data can be configured to be used by almost any search engine such as Microsoft Enterprise
Search™ and Google OneBox™.
Items that can be configured to display on an existing Microsoft SharePoint site are referred to as web parts. A
web part displays in one of two ways:
• List – The list view displays all canvases available for selection. Select a canvas in this mode to open it in a
new window.
• Connected – Select the connected view if the canvas selected from the list should open directly. In Microsoft
SharePoint, select Connections > Send Selected item to > <CanvasName> in the web part to work in this
mode.
To configure a list canvas web part, first create the new web part page and then deploy EPM canvas to Microsoft
SharePoint.
Add a New Web Part Page
To add a new web page to an existing Microsoft Sharepoint site:
1. Install and configure the Microsoft SharePoint connector as part of the installation process prior to deploying
an EPM Performance Canvas to a Microsoft SharePoint site. The installer for the SharePoint Connector is
extracted during the normal Performance Canvas installation process and located in \tools\Sharepoint
connector\ under the directory where Performance Canvas is installed. The Readme.txt in this directory
explains the installation process. The Microsoft SharePoint connector installation makes the Performance
Canvas available as a selection in the Web Parts Page listing. The installation process registers the Performance
Canvas as a Web Parts selection type.
2. Navigate to an existing Microsoft SharePoint site.
3. In the Site Actions field, select Create Web Page.
4. In the Web Pages section, select Web Part Page.
Deploy a Canvas as a Web Part
To deploy a canvas as a web part:
1. On the Canvas Web Parts page, select Add Web Part from Middle Page.
2. From the Add Web Parts to Middle Columns, scroll to the Miscellaneous section.
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3. Select DSP Canvas.
4. Click Add.
5. In the DSP Canvas placeholder, click the open the tool pane link.
6. In the Selected Canvas field, select the canvas to deploy.
7. Clear the Clean check box.
8. Click Apply.
9. Click OK.
10. From the File menu, select Exit to close the Microsoft SharePoint site.
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Chapter 6 | Glossary Designer Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Chapter 6: Glossary Designer
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Glossary Designer (Glossary Designer) is an application you use to
create and modify Epicor EPM Glossaries (Glossary) and User Cube Templates.
A data warehouse uses a relational schema definition to store data. Epicor EPM refers to this schema as the Glossary.
The Glossary is a set of .xml files that contains all business expertise on a specific enterprise resource planning (ERP)
application and can also be referred to as a Data Dictionary. An EPM Glossary describes how data is pulled from a
source ERP system and how the data is used within EPM user cubes.
Glossary Designer Overview
Building an EPM Glossary in the Glossary Designer is similar to designing a Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis
Services Cube and ETL within Microsoft® Business Intelligence (BI) Development Studio® and Microsoft® SQL
Server Integration Services. The result is a structure from which Epicor Cube Connect tools can selectively pull
predefined user cube members (measures and dimensions) to create custom cubes that contain specific data a
customer needs.
Each ERP source system has one EPM Glossary that generates several predefined Content Packs. Custom definitions
and calculated measures can be added to the Glossary for specific analytical requirements. Custom glossary
creation is available but requires a thorough understanding of the data structure. The EPM Glossary included
with the Content Packs for each Epicor data source guides the selection of dimensions or measures and requires
minimal understanding of the data structure.
The EPM Glossary Designer scans the database schema of the selected online transactional processing (OLTP)
datasource to generate a new Glossary. This schema scan reads the table relationships and builds the foundation
for the new Glossary.
The Glossary Designer is compatible with any generic ERP system that runs on an SQL Server. Use the Glossary
Designer to create glossaries for Epicor ERP, iScala, Clientele, and other ERP systems. Moreover, the Glossary
Designer can work with almost any SQL Server database.
EPM Glossary
A Glossary contains predefined dimensions, measures, and table join information that defines how data is retrieved
from a source ERP system. The Glossary contains enough information for EPM to create a customizable set of
user cubes and all the extract, transform, load (ETL) logic required to move data into those cubes from the source
system.
This diagram illustrates the relationship between the EPM Glossary and the rest of the EPM Tools.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Glossary Designer | Chapter 6
Epicor Cube Connect (Cube Manager, Cube Editor, Content Pack Editor and Content Pack Deployer applications)
users can select the data they want to analyze. If the EPM Glossary provides sufficient information, a user can
construct a new user cube without understanding how the data is structured. Careful thought must be given to
the Glossary to enable flexible choices to Epicor Cube Connect users so they do not find themselves unable to
build the cube they need.
The following graphic shows the EPM Glossary components.
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1. Preprocessors – Custom Preprocessors are custom Transact-Structured Query Language (TSQL) procedures
that provide additional intelligence for user cubes. For example, use a preprocessor to perform data cleansing
operations and create a custom table to track changes in data not stored in the source database over time.
Custom Preprocessors are sometimes referred to as initializers.
2. Glossary Definitions – Either an individual Measure or Dimension Attribute. A Glossary Definition is used
to build an individual data element. Each definition describes a potential user cube member (dimension or
measure) and defines the joining and linking relationships with other definitions to create custom user cubes.
EPM Cube Editor users can include Glossary Definitions into custom user cubes.
Many predefined definitions are included with the Content Packs and user cubes. Glossary definitions can
be shared across user cubes if the definition structure is similar.
A glossary definition is sometimes referred to as business definition.
3. Cube Templates – Predefined user cubes are available in the EPM Cube Editor as a starting point to build
custom user cubes. Use Cube Templates as the foundation to create user cubes and assign new identification
to the new user cube.
4. Physical Schema Definitions – There are two types of physical schema definitions in a glossary:
• A description of the physical schema (tables) from which data can be sourced
• Detailed information on valid ways to join tables to use them in user cubes
This is not explicitly a description of the relationships between tables in the source database. A physical
schema definition describes how EPM can join data for retrieval. EPM includes physical schema definitions
for most Epicor applications.
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OLTP Table Relationships
Each Glossary definition includes retrieval details, aggregation rules, and table relationships required to populate
the definition (dimension or measure) selected to be a member of a user cube. The joins appropriate for a user
cube can differ from the standard foreign key relationships a database definition uses. The Glossary requires the
link definition between two tables as well as the join direction.
The following terms are used to define join direction:
• Strong – the initial table.
• Hook – the destination table.
• Star Weight – a numeric importance level the EPM Server uses to determine the order in which a user cube’s
glossary definitions are added to the cube. This order determines which joins to use during the cube ETL.
For a detailed discussion and examples of OLTP table joins, refer to the Table Joins section later in this chapter.
OLTP Processing
Data is directly extracted from an OLTP data source by pulling in source columns or calculating data values using
SQL value statements. Any number of custom data table definitions and custom TSQL initialization scripts can
be used to populate the tables. A custom TSQL script, referred to as a preprocessor or initializer, creates and
populates one or more Extension Tables with data. These tables can be used as an OLTP source for a glossary
definition. The script executes during cube processing before any other data processing begins.
Initializers provide a flexible way to extend basic join and calculation capabilities of the EPM Glossary, allowing
temporary or permanent custom database tables to become part of the cube processing. Once you create the
Extension table and columns, select and add them to the glossary definition.
For example, in Epicor ERP, you can create a user-defined table to hold custom details. You can use an initializer
to join that table to a standard table and bring the table into the cube. Initializer scripts execute during the cube
processing, if a cube requires them, before any other data processing begins. The script brings in the user-defined
table and its join, which then becomes a glossary definition as part of the cube being processed. If OLTP Processing
is not used for the join, the table is not included in the cube, as it is not a standard piece of the schema.
Glossary Development Process
There are two stages in Glossary development. The first stage is strategic, high level data structure planning. The
second stage is more technical and includes Glossary and User Cube Template creation.
Design a High Level Data Warehouse
1. Understand what you need to build and why.
2. Use Kimball style data warehouse design concepts.
3. Understand the dimensional bus matrix.
4. Use a short guide to build your design.
Create a Glossary and User Cube Templates
1. Understand how a data warehouse design is translated into the glossary.
2. Build user cubes and dimensions directly from the dimensional bus matrix design.
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3. Build glossary definitions to fill out each dimension and member.
4. Use joins to define how glossary definitions can be attached to bring data together and into the user cubes.
5. Use preprocessors to provide sources for glossary definitions which are more complicated.
You typically perform the following steps when you start to develop a Glossary:
1. Identify high level business processes and break them down into individual fact tables. One fact table is
equal to one user cube in EPM.
2. Select a granularity that is the level of detail of data in the user cube. Questions such as Is this at the order
header level or the order line item level? can be helpful.
3. Identify high level business entities, or dimensions, to define for slicing, filtering and grouping data within
the user cubes.
The result is a high level warehouse design presented in the table below.
For purposes of this example, two simple and tightly related user cubes are created: Sales Header and Sales Detail.
In the table below, notice the dimensional bus and which dimensions are shared between which user cubes. In
a normal design scenario, you would build something like this but it would typically be much larger (more business
processes, more dimensions). Once your first version is complete, you can move on to the Glossary Designer and
construct it. Your first design should not be an exhaustive list of all potential dimensions and user cubes; rather,
it should reflect a few analyses that will be immediately useful. You can return to the design and expand it to
provide more flexibility after you have built and deployed working cubes. It is more productive to first build a
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small working version and use that experience to better understand how you should construct additional items
and what business users require before proceeding with additional user cubes and dimensions.
User Cube Granularity Dimensions

Calendar Geography Product
Sales Head Sales Order Header X X X
Sales Detail Sales Order Line X X X
For a detailed description of how to create the glossary and user cube templates for this sample data, refer to
the Sample Glossary Creation section in this chapter.
Glossary Designer User Interface
This section describes the user interface of the Glossary Designer.
Launch the Glossary Designer
To launch the Glossary Designer:
1. To navigate to the Glossary Designer, use the following menu path: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software
> Epicor Enterprise Performance Management > Epicor EPM Glossary Designer.
2. The EPM Glossary Designer start screen displays. Click the Glossary Designer Database field.
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3. In the Server field, accept the default value or enter <Servername>\ <Instance name> and press Tab.
4. Wait while the information on the available databases is loaded.
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5. In the Database field, select the EpmGlossaryDesigner database.
EpmGlossaryDesigner is an empty database installed with the Glossary Designer. Content installers such as
the EPM Content Pack installer for Epicor ERP may install additional glossary databases which you can use
as a starting point to customize an existing glossary rather than starting from scratch.
6. Click the Test Connection button.
7. Verify the Connection Successful message displays.
8. Click OK to return to the Glossary Designer start screen.
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9. In the EPM Glossary field, click the green plus sign to create a new glossary.
10. In the New Glossary window, in the Glossary Name field, enter a name to identify the new glossary.
11. In the Source System field, select the type of application database the new glossary will use. In this example,
Custom SQL Server is selected to indicate the glossary will be built against a non-Epicor application that
runs on an SQL Server database. Other options include:
• Clientele
• Epicor 9
• Epicor 10
• iScala
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12. In the Default Database field, specify a default source database name. In this example, AdventureWorks
database is used. This field is optional.
13. In the Glossary Version field, enter the glossary version number. You can enter three digits. A fourth digit
for the revision number is added to the final version and automatically updates as you change the glossary.
14. In the Description field, enter a description to explain the purpose of this glossary and some information
about how to use it. This field is optional.
15. Click OK.
Connect to the Source Database
To connect to OLTP source database:
1. Click the OLTP Source Database field.
When you click the OLTP Source Database field, the EPM
Glossary field may display blank. In this case, click the
EPM Glossary field and select the glossary you've just
created again.
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2. In the Server field, accept the default value or specify a different server.
The server name in the Glossary designer database field and in the OLTP source database - Server
fields can be the same, or you can specify two different servers. You can take the Glossary Designer database
from one server and the OLTP database from another server.
Also, the field is not case specific, it can be lowercase or uppercase or mixed.
3. In the Database field, click the refresh button.
4. Wait while the information on the available databases is loaded.
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5. In the Database field, click the down arrow.
6. Select the name of the database from which to retrieve all business data. In this example, select the
AdventureWorksDW2012 database.
Epicor recommends to use a database on the local

machine to improve performance.
7. Click the Test Connection button.
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8. Verify the Connection successful message displays.
9. Click OK.
10. On the Glossary Designer start screen, click the Start button.
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11. The Epicor EPM Glossary Designer - <Database name>:<Glossary name> window displays.
The Glossary Designer loads the contents of the selected glossary and then scans the physical database
schema of the selected database. You can briefly see the Loading Database Metadata message in the upper
right corner of the Glossary Designer window. On complex databases like Epicor ERP, the schema scan can
take some time, but you can start to work with most functions while the scan is in process. If you plan to
import items from the physical schema of the selected database or want to generate the glossary to test
cubes, you must wait until the scan is complete to proceed.
12. Once the scan is complete, click Save to save the new glossary and begin constructing it.
Save your work frequently throughout this process.
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Glossary Designer Tabs
The Glossary Designer window has seven tabs. The following sections describe these tabs and the actions you
can perform on each tab in detail.
1. File – General options for the Glossary Designer are available on the File menu. In previous versions this
menu was represented in the circular “pearl” menu.
2. Glossary – The main entities of the EPM Glossary are glossary definitions that can be edited on the Glossary
tab. Each glossary definition defines a potential user cube member (dimension attribute or measure), as well
as the calculation method and the way of retrieval from the source system for this cube member. A glossary
definition also defines how a user cube member can be joined with other glossary definitions to create
custom user cubes. The Glossary tab displays data details in a column and row spreadsheet view. In the first
row each column acts as a filter for the Glossary data. You can add new fields in the Glossary tab; they
display at the bottom of the screen.
3. OLTP Joins – Glossary definitions describe how to create a measure or dimension and how to retrieve its
data, but without a well defined set of joins between source tables, it is impossible to combine them together.
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To make user cubes construction available to Epicor EPM users, it is necessary to define the key ways to join
tables in the source system. You create basic table joins on the OLTP Joins tab.
4. OLTP Processing – In addition to getting data directly from OLTP source columns or calculating data values
using SQL value statements, EPM glossary can contain any number of custom data table definitions and
custom TSQL initialization scripts used to populate these tables. A custom TSQL script that creates and
populates one or more extension tables with data is referred to as an initializer. Any extension table can
then be used as an OLTP source table for a glossary definition. Initializer scripts run during cube processing
before any other data processing begins, if a cube requires them.
5. Cube Templates – On the Cube Templates tab, you can create new user cube templates and edit their
parameters. Each user cube template contains a single user cube definition. It is similar to the user cube
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definition created in the Epicor Cube Connect - Cube Editor. User cube template construction is also a good
way to ensure the core glossary will function well when constructing user cubes.
Epicor strongly recommends to include user cube

templates in all glossaries in order to ensure glossary
definitions and joins are well tested for common usage.
If you do not intend to let users make simple
customizations to user cubes, you can forego use of the
Cube Editor entirely and build all of your user cubes
directly with the Glossary Designer.
6. Dimensions – On the Dimensions tab, you can add dimensions and dimension attributes, as well as edit
their parameters.
Each dimension is a group of closely related glossary definitions that can be used for grouping, filtering,
and sorting data in a deployed cube. You can quickly and easily create a dimension from a set of glossary
definitions in the Glossary Designer
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7. Generate – On the Generate tab, you can generate user cubes, generate and deploy glossaries, and configure
their options.
All other tabs in the Glossary Designer application are

intended for creating all required glossary components.
The Generate tab is intended to actually generate and
output a glossary file that EPM Server and EPM Cube
Connect use. Glossary generation is the process of
translating the glossary design into the final glossary
format. Generation may optionally also output .cbn files
for each user cube template which can be directly
deployed to EPM Server.
Glossary Definitions
You can create and modify glossary definitions on the Glossary Designer’s Glossary tab.
The Glossary tab lists all the glossary definitions. You can edit any glossary definition directly in the grid as well
as in the right panel of the Glossary tab. After you edit a glossary entry, click the Validate or Validate All
button on the toolbar to check for errors.
Add a New Definition
To quickly add a glossary definition from the source system database schema, use the import procedure.
To import a glossary definition:
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1. On the Glossary Designer toolbar, click the Import button.
2. In the field selection window, select the database fields to import.
The Glossary Designer imposes some restrictions on source

data; for example, blob/text data types are not allowed
in the user cubes.
3. Click OK to import the selected fields into the Glossary Designer.

The Glossary Designer creates new glossary definitions based on each selected database field which will be
displayed at the bottom of the list.
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Add a New Glossary Definition
To add a new glossary definition:
1. Click the Add button on the toolbar.
2. Notice the new line is added to the glossary definition list.
3. In the new line, specify glossary definition parameters. Glossary definition parameters are discussed in the
next section.
4. Click Save
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Glossary Definition Attributes
On the Glossary tab, you can edit the following glossary definition parameters in the grid:
Lock – Select this option to indicate that this glossary definition was previously locked for release. If an item is
locked for release, it may have been previously available for customers. Be careful when you edit or remove a
locked glossary definition.
Gen – Select this check box to always include the current glossary definition during generation, even if it is not
used by any user cube template. Even when this check box is cleared, if the current glossary definition is included
in a user cube template, this glossary definition is automatically included during generation.
Display Group – Specify the name of the logical display folder under which this glossary definition is grouped
in the Business Glossary in the Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor. Epicor recommends to specify the display
group for all glossary definitions to make it easier to locate a glossary definition in the Epicor Cube Connect –
Cube Editor.
Name – Specify a unique name to identify the glossary definition. In SQL Server Analysis Services, this name is
assigned to a dimension, measure, or hierarchy level built from this glossary definition. This name should be
human readable, should be less than 100 characters, and may contain spaces, but should not contain the following
characters: ., ; ‘ ` : / \ * | ? “ & % $ ! + = () [] {} <,>. When you import a glossary definition, it is automatically
given a <table name><column name> name and any of the excluded characters in the derived name will be
replaced with a space.
Caption – Specify the abbreviated name for this glossary definition. Captions do not have to be unique. This
parameter is optional.
OLTP Source Schema – Specify the name of the SQL Server Schema from which this glossary definition gathers
its value. By default this is dbo.
OLTP Source Table – Specify the name of the source system database table from which this glossary definition
gathers its value. Table membership determines how an individual glossary definition is calculated and joined
into a user cube. It is a required parameter for all glossary definitions, even calculated ones.
OLTP Source Field – Specify an OLTP field. This parameter is used to inform Epicor Cube Connect how this
glossary definition value is determined. Simple glossary definitions often reference a Table.Column in the source
database. If this is the case, specify the source database column in this field.
You must either fill out the OLTP Field column or a value
calculation in the Value Expression field.
Cube Usage – Select how this glossary definition can be used in a user cube, as a measure, dimension, or both.
Measures, like a currency value, are numeric values; calculations such as SUM can be performed on them.
Dimensions, like a customer or product, are used to sort, group, filter, and drill down data within user cubes.
Aggregation – If a glossary definition is used as a measure, select the default aggregation method for this
measure in a user cube.
This defines how the user cube calculates the value for this member when grouped. The available values for this
field are Sum, Count, Min, Max, and Average.
Format String – Optionally specify a custom format string that should be used within the user cube to format
values for this glossary definition. For example $#,##0.00;($#,##0.00) would format 1000000 like $1,000,000.
The same format string would format -.113342 like ($0.11).
Any valid SQL Server Analysis Services format string may be used. Complete Reference is available on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms146084.aspx.
Multi Currency – Select this check box to treat the current glossary definition as the Epicor ERP multi-currency
column. During the user cube deployment, users can specify the currency in which they want the user cube to
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output. As a result, all the multi-currency columns will retrieve the base, report 1, report 2, or report 3 currency
values that match the requested currency as specified within Epicor ERP.
This option is used in Epicor ERP only and is ignored in all other source systems for which EPM has specific
multi-currency support.
Star Weight – Specify the star weight for this glossary definition. Star weight is an importance level expressed
numerically. It helps EPM Server determine what order to use when it joins glossary definitions to construct a
user cube. Higher star weighted items are considered first.
All measures are assigned higher weights than dimensions by default.
Year Limiter – Select this check box to limit the data processed into a given cube deployment by year. This
option designates a DateTime column as a source for filtering. Each limiter limits data from its OLTP Table only.
Use the year limiters carefully as they can filter out data you want to include in your user cube. Any records that
contain null values for a year limiter column are excluded from all cubes. Epicor recommends that you set the
Year Limiter at the maximum for only one date column per user cube.
SQL Data Type, Precision, Max Length, Scale – Together, these attributes determine the SQL Server data type
that will be used in the user cube and the star schema to hold this information. For glossary members that come
directly from an OLTP Table and OLTP Column (items that are not calculated in any way), Epicor recommends to
leave these options blank, and the glossary will automatically use the same type used in the OLTP database.
If the glossary definition has a calculated value in the SQL Type column, select the TSQL data type used to store
the glossary definition data during processing and in the SSAS Cubes. Otherwise, the source database column
type is used. Additional glossary definition parameters display in the right pane of the Glossary tab.
Description – Specify a detailed human readable glossary definition description. Describe what the glossary
definition does and for what it can be used. The description is included in the glossary and is available in Epicor
Cube Connect to help users understand what each item is for and how it is calculated. The description is also
generated into the SSAS model and into the glossary help that ships with the product. Epicor recommends to
specify descriptions for all glossary definitions.
Filter Expression – Enter an expression in SQL or XML that determines whether and when this glossary definition
excludes itself from a user cube.
Value Expression – Enter an expression in SQL or XML that is used to determine the value of this glossary
definition in the user cubes. This expression runs during cube processing in SQL.
OLAP Expression – Enter the MDX expression to use as a calculated measure in a user cube.
Notes – Enter any development specific notes for this glossary definition. This information is not output into the
final glossary and is only provided as a convenient place to store development notes. Other notes fields exist
throughout the Glossary Designer to help you keep track of your work.
Null Values – This attribute is similar to the NullProcessing property in SSAS. It specifies what action Analysis
Services takes when it encounters a Null value in a data item.
Sort By – Use this attribute to sort the members of the business definition in a custom order.
For example, for the Employee Name glossary definition, when the data is pulled from the Name column from
the database, it may not come sorted alphabetically, it may come sorted by ID. So using this column you can sort
it alphabetically or use another OLTP column from the same table from where this definition comes to sort it.
Recursive Hierarchy Child and Recursive Hierarchy Parent – Use these fields to explicitly set members order
to create a recursive hierarchy.
For example, to describe the manager-employee relationship, set the Employee ID as the child of the Emp Name
definition, and the Supervisor ID as a the parent. In the OLTP table, all the employees have an ID, and the supervisor
ID value is just the ID of another ID.
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Expressions
Filter, Value, and OLAP Expression are used to create complex calculated user cube members. Expressions are
built in the Glossary tab in the right pane.
Add a Filter Expression
You can build an expression in SQL or XML to define whether to filter the glossary definition from a cube.
Expressions run during cube processing and are evaluated to a Boolean value (true or false). If the expression
value is True, the glossary definition is included in the cube; if the expression value is False, the glossary definition
is excluded from the cube.
When the glossary definition is excluded, it is null in the

resulting cube.
To add a filter expression:
1. In the grid, select the glossary definition.
2. In the Glossary tab in the right pane, locate the Filter Expression field.
3. Open XML or SQL tab to select the language you prefer to use to build the expression.
In this example you select the XML tab.
4. Enter an expression.
Add a Value Expression
You can build an expression in SQL or XML to calculate a glossary definition value in a user cube.
To add a value expression to a glossary member:
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1. In the Glossary tab, in the grid, select a glossary definition.
2. In the right pane, in the Value Expression field, click the XML or SQL tab to select the language you prefer
to use to build the expression.
In this example you select the SQL tab.
3. Enter an expression.
4. Click the Test button to validate the expression.
You can add expressions manually; but Glossary Designer also provides you with Calculation Templates tool that
can help you add several expressions to various glossary members easily. For details on how to use Calculation
Templates, refer to the Use a Calculation Template section.
The calculation runs only once while data is processed into a

cube. Therefore, use value expressions with caution as measures
aggregate the resulting values. For example, if an average is
calculated using a value expression and then summed by the
cube, this value will not be correct.
Create a Calculated Measure with an OLAP Calculation
You can build an MDX expression to use as a calculated measure in a cube.

OLAP expressions run on-demand within the cube, so this is an appropriate place to calculate ratios and averages
that remain correct regardless of the summary level in the cube.
To create a calculated measure with an OLAP expression:
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1. In the grid, select the glossary definition.
2. In the right pane, in the OLAP Expression field, enter an expression. For example,
([Measures].[Onhand Qty] – [Measures].[Allocated Qty])
In MDX, references to glossary definitions must be

expressed as they will appear in a cube. So here we take
the glossary definition Onhand Qty which is a measure
and use the reference [Measures].[Onhand Qty] that would
be used in a cube.
3. Click Save.
Calculation Template
The Glossary Designer provides an easy way to build a filter, value, or OLAP expression from a calculation template.
Use Calculation Templates to easily add consistent calculation expressions across multiple glossary members that
might need to share the same expressions.
Templates display formula patterns with variables you can replace with actual field names. Calculated fields
display in the Glossary tab with no reference to a table. Select an existing calculated field to display the formula
behind the field in the Expression Window. You can create custom calculated fields within the Glossary or by
writing custom code.
To create a calculation template:
1. In the Glossary tab’s toolbar, click the Calculation Templates button.
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2. In the lower pane, click the Template button to add a new template.
3. Notice a new line is added to the list of templates in the upper pane.
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4. In the Name column, enter a template name.
Avoid the use of spaces or special characters in the name.
5. In the Type column, select in what code the value expression is written. In this example, SQL Value is used.
Available options:
• SQL Value
• XML Value
• SQL Filter
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• XML Filter
• OLAP (MDX)
6. In the SQL Data Type column, enter the type of the resulting value from the expression template. In this
example, the resulting expression is textual, so nvarchar is used.
7. In the SQL Max Length column, set the maximum resulting value length if required.
Max length is only required for some SQL types, for example nvarchar.
8. In the lower pane, enter the Template Text. For example,

CASE WHEN [@SRCDB].[dbo].[{db_table_name}].[{db_field_name}] = 'EPIC02' THEN 'Brians Bagels'
WHEN [@SRCDB].[dbo].[{db_table_name}].[{db_field_name}] = 'EPIC03' THEN 'Dirks Donuts'
ELSE 'Unknown'
END
This is a simple case statement that changes the company name.
9. The items in the curly brackets ({}) are variables that will be replaced by the actual data associated with the
glossary definition item that is selected when the template is used.
To add a variable, right click where you want to insert it and select the variable type.
10. Click OK to save the template.
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Use a Calculation Template
You can now use the calculation template you created.

To use a calculation template:
1. In the Glossary tab, in the grid, select the glossary definition to which you wish to add an expression.
2. In the Glossary tab, in the Value Expression pane, open the SQL tab.
3. Click the
(sigma) icon.
4. From the list of available templates, select the template you created. In this example, select ChangeCompany.
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5. Click the Value Expression pane. Notice the template text displays in the Value Expression tab with the
fragments in the curly brackets replaced with the correct codes specific to the glossary definition you selected
in the grid.
6. Click the Test button to ensure the expression is correct.
7. Click Save.
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Cube Templates
Create User Cube Templates on the Cube Templates tab.
Add a User Cube to Create a Cube Template
To add a user cube to create a cube template:
1. Open the Cube Templates tab.
2. Click the Add Cube button on the toolbar.

You can alternatively click the green plus in the user cube Name field.
3. In the Name field, enter or select the name of the new cube template.
4. On the toolbar, click Save.
The cube template is created. Now it is necessary to add measures and dimensions to this cube template.
Add a Measure to the Cube Template
To add a measure to the cube template:
1. On the Cube Templates tab’s toolbar, click the Add Measures button.
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2. In the Select Glossary Definitions window, select the measures to add to the user cube template. Use
the Shift and Ctrl keys to select more than one field.
If you are running an older version, you might see a

different window design. If this is the case, the window
you see is titled Select Glossary Entries.
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3. Click OK.
4. On the Cube Template tab toolbar, click Save.
5. To add a dimension to the cube template, click the Add Dimension Link.
6. In the list of dimensions select the dimension to add to the cube template.
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7. The dimension you selected now displays in the Dimensions pane.
8. To use a measure as a dimension attribute, select a measure or measures.
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Use this option to correct mistakes easily where some data should be in a dimension and not used as a
measure.
9. Click the Move Measure To Dimension button.

The selected measure or measures are removed, and placed in the selected dimension.
Once you have completed the appropriate steps, new measures that have been added will display in the Measures
section of the Cube Templates tab.
User Cube Template Parameters
The following user cube template parameters are available on the Cube Templates tab.
1. Name – Enter or select a unique name for the cube template. This name is part of the name used in SSAS
for the cube. It also displays in the Cube Editor.
You can also use this field to add new user cube templates or delete existing ones.
• To add a new user cube template, click the green plus icon.
• To delete an existing user cube template, select it, click the red cross icon and confirm deletion.
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2. Display Folder – In the Cube Editor, all cube templates display in folders. In the two lists, select the first
and second level folder in which this user cube template should display. You can also enter names for new
folders in these fields.
3. Description – Provide a description for this user cube template. This description displays in the Cube Editor.
It is not required to complete this field, but Epicor recommends that you do.
4. Notes – Specify any development specific notes about this user cube template. These notes are not output
anywhere in the final glossary and are only there for your convenience.
5. Include in Release – When this check box is selected, this user cube is automatically included in all release
builds of the glossary. The glossary release builds when you click the Generate Release button on the Generate
tab.
6. Last Release – This field displays the version number of the last glossary build in which the current user
cube was included. This field is read-only.
7. Measures – This pane displays the list of measures to include in the user cube. Each measure is a glossary
definition for which the Cube Usage parameter is set to Measure. Any changes to the measure made in this
section, such as altering its name, affect the glossary definition globally.
The set of defined measures comprise a single fact table that is the foundation for data in a user cube. All
data in the user cube must be joinable to the fact table data.
The following parameters display for the measures in this section:
• Lock – When selected, this option indicates that this measure was previously locked for release.
• Gen – When selected, this check box indicates the particular measure is included in this template during
generation. It may be required to include several additional measures in the user cube template, but you
can choose not to generate them into the user cube template. This way you can check whether these
measures function correctly within the user cube if a user adds them in the Cube Editor, but you do not
actually include them in the user cube template.
• Display Group – The name of the logical display folder under which this glossary definition is grouped
in the Business Glossary in the Cube Editor.
• Glossary Name – This is the measure name as it will display in the cube template.
• Caption – The abbreviated name for this measure.
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• Aggregation – The default aggregation method for this measure.

• OLTP Schema – This is the OLTP database schema name in which the OLTP Table resides. By default
this is dbo.
• OLTP Table – This is the OLTP table name from which this measure is taken.
• OLTP Column – This is the OLTP column name from which this measure is taken.
• Multi Currency – If this check box is selected, this measure is treated as the Epicor ERP multi-currency
column. During the cube deployment, users can specify the currency in which they want the cube to
output. As a result, all the multi-currency columns will retrieve the base, report 1, report 2, or report 3
currency values that match the requested currency as specified within Epicor ERP.
This option is used in Epicor ERP only and is ignored in all other source systems for which EPM has specific
multi-currency support.
8. Dimensions – This pane displays the list of dimensions to include in the user cube. Each dimension attribute
in each selected dimension is included in the user cube template.
The following parameters display for the dimensions in this section:
• Master Date Dimension – This field displays the primary date for the cube.
• Name – This is the dimension name.
• Gen – When selected, this check box indicates that the particular dimension is included in the user cube
template during generation. It may be required to include additional dimensions in the user cube template
to test that they work correctly if a user adds them into the user cube in the Cube Editor. However, you
do not actually include them in the user cube template during user cube template generation.
9. Hover the cursor over certain data, for example, over the Glossary Name of one of the measures in the
Measures pane.
The jump icon appears – blue circle with a white arrow. Use the jump functionality to jump directly to various
definition items.
You can find this functionality in various places like the Glossary Name field under the Measures pane of
the Cube Templates tab, and the Glossary Name field in the Attributes pane and the Cube Template field
in the Used in Cubes pane of the Dimensions tab.
10. Click the jump icon.

The Dimensions tab for this dimension is displayed.
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Table Joins
Create and manage table joins on the OLTP Joins tab.

To define join direction, first specify the initial table. This table is referred to as Strong. You should also specify
the destination table referred to as Hook. Another important parameter to create a table join is Star Weight. This
refers to a numeric importance level the EPM Server uses to determine the order in which a user cube’s glossary
definitions are added to the cube. This order determines which joins to use during the cube ETL.
To create a functional Glossary, it is important to understand the interaction between star weight and joins.
The simplest rule to define a transaction set is to assign the highest star weights to the tables that contain measures
at the most detailed level, referred to as granularity. In the following OLTP Join example, the two glossary
definitions, Order Total and Line Item Price, are user cube measures. The join is laid out as follows:
The data granularity in the user cube is defined by the Line Item Price because it has the highest star weight. One
record for each available Line Item Price record is present in the fact table. Assuming that Line Item Price has no
filter expression to exclude data from the cube, there is one record in the fact table for each record in the OrderDtl
table. The join provides details in the cube such as line item, sales price, part numbers, and ship dates which
become part of the cube for analysis.
If the Order Total (OrderHed) definition carries the higher star weight, the cube builds details at the Order Total
(OrderHed) level, thereby blocking any line details (OrderDtl). OrderHed details, such as Order Date, Purchase
Order, and Ship Via, are available, but the join does not allow line item details due to the star weight.
Combining measures from multiple granularities is not always advisable. Create a separate user cube for each
granularity to ensure granularity is always correct, for example, the Order Head and Order Detail user cubes.
Joins appropriate for a user cube may not be the same as the
standard foreign key relationships used as part of an OLTP
database definition. However, many of the joins an EPM
Glossary uses match the standard foreign keys. In addition to
defining a link between the two table joins in an EPM Glossary,
it is also required to define the direction of the join. Strong is
the starting table and Hook is the destination table. Star Weight
defines the direction that must match two given glossary
definitions.
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Add Table Join
To add an OLTP join:
1. Open the OLTP Joins tab.
2. Click the Add Join button on the toolbar.
3. Notice the new row is added to the grid with joins. In the new row, in the Strong column, in the
Table column, specify the name of the starting table.
4. In the Hook column, in the Table column, specify the name of the destination table.
After you add join tables, add the join columns.
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Add Join Columns
To add a column used in the OLTP join:
1. On the OLTP Joins tab, in the join grid, select the pair of tables for which to add the join columns.
2. Click the Add Column button on the toolbar.
3. Notice the new row is added under the table names.
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4. In the new row, in the Strong column, in the Expression field, specify the name of the strong table column
used to join the tables.
5. In the Hook column, in the Expression field, specify the name of the hook table column used to join the
tables.
The two tables are joined using the specified column.
Dimensions
The Glossary Designer is intended for creating conformed dimensions also known as shared dimensions that can
be used across many user cubes. Creating conformed dimensions saves time for user cube development in the
future; conformed dimensions also help make analysis more precise, where each business process approaches
the grouping, filtering, and sorting of a particular business entity (for example, customers) in a standard way.
Furthermore, conformed dimensions provide the ability to connect analysis from multiple business processes. In
the example design, each of the dimensions that is used in more than one user cube is a conformed dimension:
User Cube Granularity Dimensions

Calendar Geography Product
Sales Head Sales Order Header X X X
Sales Detail Sales Order Line X X X
Each dimension should be, whenever possible, entirely self-contained. This means, if multiple source tables are
used, then OLTP joins should be present to enable the flattening of all the dimension attributes together. If there
is no direct way to join the tables in a dimension, EPM attempts to find a way to join each table individually using
other tables in each user cube; in this case, the dimension may not work with some user cubes as a result.
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Add a Dimension
To add a dimension to use in user cubes:
1. Open the Dimensions tab.
2. On the toolbar, click the Add Dimension button.
3. You can alternately click the green plus icon in the dimension name field.
4. In the dimension name field, enter or select the name of the new dimension.
Now that the dimension is created, add attributes for this dimension.
Add Dimension Attributes
To add attributes for a dimension:
1. On the Dimensions tab, click the Add Attribute button.
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2. In the Select Glossary Definitions window, select the dimension attribute to add to the user cube or hold
the Ctrl key and select several dimension attributes.
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3. Click OK.
On the Dimensions tab, you can edit the following Dimensions Parameters:
Name – This is a unique dimension name and is only used internally within the Glossary Designer. This field can
also be used to add new dimensions or delete existing ones.
Description – This is the dimension display description and is used internally within the Glossary Designer.
Notes – These are development specific notes about this dimension and are not output anywhere in the final
glossary.
Attributes – These are the dimension attributes to include in the user cube. Each dimension attribute is a glossary
definition for which the value of the Cube Usage parameter is set to Dimension. Any changes to the dimension
attribute, such as altering its name, affect the glossary definition globally. The following parameters display for
dimension attributes in this section:
• Lock – When selected, this option indicates that this dimension was previously locked for release.
• Gen – When selected, this option indicates the particular dimension is included in user cubes which use this
dimension during generation. It may be required to include additional dimension attributes in the user cube,
but you can choose not to generate them into the user cube template. This way you can check whether these
dimension attributes function correctly within the user cube, if a user adds them in the Cube Editor, but you
do not actually include them in the user cube template.
• Display Group – This is a logical display folder under which this attribute is grouped in the Business Glossary
in the Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor. Epicor recommends to specify the display group for all attributes
to make it easier to locate an attribute in the Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Editor.
• Glossary Name – This is the glossary from which this dimension attribute is taken.
• Caption – This is the abbreviated name for this glossary definition. Captions do not have to be unique. The
EPM tools do not currently use them.
• OLTP Schema – This is the OLTP database schema name in which the OLTP Table resides. By default this is
dbo.
• OLTP Table – This is the name of the OLTP table from which the dimension attribute is taken.
• OLTP Column – This is the name of the OLTP column from which this dimension attribute is taken.
• Sort By – Use this attribute to sort the members of the business definition in a custom order.
For example, for the Employee Name glossary definition, when the data is pulled from the Name column from
the database, it may not come sorted alphabetically, it may come sorted by ID. So using this column you can
sort it alphabetically or use another OLTP column from the same table from where this definition comes to
sort it.
• Recursive Hierarchy Child and Recursive Hierarchy Parent – Use these fields to explicitly set members
order to create a recursive hierarchy.
For example, to describe the manager-employee relationship, set the Employee ID as the child of the Emp
Name definition, and the Supervisor ID as a the parent. In the OLTP table, all the employees have an ID, and
the supervisor ID value is just the ID of another ID.
Hierarchies – These are hierarchies and hierarchy levels, as well as their parameters.
Used in cubes – These are the user cubes that use this dimension.
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Add a Hierarchy to the Dimension
To add a hierarchy to the dimension:
1. On the Dimensions tab, click the Add Hierarchy button on the toolbar.
2. A new line is added in the grid, which displays the hierarchy data.
3. In the new line, specify the hierarchy parameters. The following hierarchy parameters are available:
• Name – This is a unique hierarchy name and is only used internally within the Glossary Designer.
• Description – This is a human readable hierarchy description and is only used internally within the
Glossary Designer.
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The hierarchy is added into the user cube template and displays in te Hierarchies grid on the Dimensions tab.
After the hierarchy is added, add hierarchy levels.
Add a Hierarchy Level
To add a hierarchy level for the selected hierarchy:
1. On the Dimensions tab in the Hierarchies pane, select the hierarchy for which to add a hierarchy level.
2. Click the Add Hierarchy Level button on the toolbar.
3. The new line is added under the name of the selected hierarchy in the grid.
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4. In the new line, select the Glossary Name for this hierarchy level. This is the name of the glossary definition,
which corresponds to this dimension.
5. Use the up arrow and down arrow buttons to move the hierarchy levels up and down within the hierarchy.
The hierarchy level is added to the selected hierarchy and displays in the Hierarchies pane.
OLTP Processing – Custom Pre-Processors and Extension Tables
On the OLTP Processing tab, you can add and edit custom TSQL initialization scripts (referred to as pre-processors
or initializers) and extension tables.
Initializers provide a flexible way to extend basic join and calculation capabilities of the EPM glossary. They allow
the creation of custom database tables that are transient or permanent as part of cube processing and use the
power of TSQL to populate the tables with data. Once the extension table and columns are created, you can add
them to the glossary as glossary definitions.
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Add an Initializer
To add an initializer for OLTP processing:
1. Click the OLTP Processing tab.
2. Click the Add Initializer button on the toolbar.

Or click the green plus icon in the upper field.
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3. New Initializer N (where N is system generated consecutive number) displays in the upper field. In the upper
field, specify the name of the new initializer.
The initializer is created. Now it is necessary to define the extension tables for this initializer
Add an Extension Table for the OLTP Processing Initializer
To add an extension table for the OLTP processing initializer:
1. On the OLTP Processing tab, click the Extension Tables tab.
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2. On the Extension Tables tab, in the extension table name field, click the green plus icon.
3. Specify the unique extension table name. You also can select a name from the drop-down list, or accept
the default name EPM automatically generated: #epm_ (temporary tables) or epm_ (permanent tables) is
added to the table name automatically.
4. Specify the following extension table properties:

• Segment By – When one of the Segment By check boxes is selected, the EPM Server creates multiple
instances of the extension table in different circumstances. The following sub-options are available for
the Segment By options:
• Cube Deployment – When this check box is selected, a new table instance is created for each cube
deployment. When this check box is cleared, multiple cube deployments may share access to this
table.
• Year – When this check box is selected, a new table instance is created for each detected year.
• Company – When this check box is selected, a new table instance is created for each detected
company. This check-box is only available for Epicor.
• Is Temporary Table – When this check box is selected, the extension table is created in the SQL Server
tempdb space and is removed after cube processing is complete. Otherwise, the table is permanently
created in the source system database.
• Automatically Generate “Create Table” SQL – When this check box is selected, the CREATE
TABLE statement is automatically generated for this table in the initializer script. In this case, this script
immediately appears on the SQL Procedure tab. If you do not select this check box, it is expected that
you write the necessary logic to create this extension table in the SQL Procedure.
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5. To add a column to the extension table, click the Column button at the bottom of the screen.
6. The new column is added to the extension table and displays in the Schema pane.
In the Schema section, you can edit the schema as a grid. In this grid you can define each column used in
the extension table.
7. In the Schema pane, specify the following column parameters in the corresponding fields.
• PK – Select this check box to mark the primary key. At least one field in the extension table must be
selected.
• Name – Extension table column name.
• Allow NULL – Select this check box, if the value in this column can be NULL.
• SQL Type – Select the SQL type for your column.
• Size – Specify the column size.
• Scale – Specify the column scale.
• Precision – Specify the column precision.
Repeat the last two steps as many times as many columns the extension table contains.
Glossary Generation
Generate glossaries on the Generate tab. All other Glossary Designer tabs are intended for creating glossary
components. On the Generate tab, you can generate and output a glossary file. EPM Server and EPM Cube
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Connect can then use this file. The process of translating the glossary design into the final glossary format is
referred to as glossary generation.
During the glossary generation, a set of .xml files is created and tested against the local EPM Server and a locally
deployed source database, if it is available. Additionally, a number of .cbn user cube files that can be directly
deployed in the EPM Cube Manager can be generated to facilitate the testing process.
To generate a glossary, click the Generate or the Generate Release button on the toolbar and wait until the
generation process is complete. Once glossary generation is complete or cancelled, you may browse the generation
log to review errors and warnings, if any. During the generation process within the Glossary Designer, a user
cube and the core glossary are tested, and a few of the tests automatically correct errors for you.
When you are ready to make a complete glossary release, use the Generate Release toolbar button to include
all the required user cubes and glossary definitions in the generation process. Only the cube templates that have
the Include in Release check box selected are included in the full release generated after you click the Generate
Release button.
Releases with no errors are packed into individual .bdd files, which can be used to distribute the glossary to other
computers.
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You might see an orange lock icon next to a cube template or a glossary in the Glossary Designer. This icon
identifies the items used in a standard Epicor EPM content pack and informs you to be careful when removing
or modifying these items as you may cause part of an installed content pack, such as a canvas that uses this
glossary definition, to malfunction. You cannot lock items.
Glossary Generation Options
You can enable or disable several generation options. To do so, use the corresponding option buttons on the
Generate tab toolbar. To enable any option, click the corresponding button on the toolbar. To disable the option,
click the button once again. When an option is enabled, the corresponding button is highlighted in orange.
The following generation options are available:

Test Compile Cubes – Enable this option to test the glossary by loading it into EPM Cube Connect to ensure
that no problems occur with this glossary. If the Test Compile Cubes option is enabled, each user cube is loaded,
deployed for testing, and then discarded during the generation process to ensure that no deployment problems
occur.
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Select Cubes – Select one or more individual user cubes to include in the glossary generation process. This way
you can limit the number of user cubes included in the generation process and speed up glossary generation
during development and testing. This option is ignored when generating a release as all user cubes which are
marked to be included are selected in this case.
Output Paths: User Cubes – Specify the directory to which all user cubes .cbn files are saved. By default, the
user’s My Analysis folder is specified in this field.
Output Paths: Server Glossary – Specify the shared folder where the .xml glossary files will be copied when
deploying to server. [ERP System Logon Service]\Glossaries\[GlossaryVer#] will be appended to the path you specify
as the output path to assemble the full path that will be used. For example, if you specify "C:\EPMDeployments"
and EPM is used with Epicor ERP 10, the full path will be C:\EPMDeployments\Epicor 10\Glossaries\Epicor
10-10.x.xxx.xx. By default, the .bdd file (if the full release is generated) and the .xml glossary files are generated
in a user writable folder at C:\Users\[User]\Documents\My Analysis\EPM Glossaries\[ERP System Logon
Service], for example C:\Users\EPMUser\Documents\My Analysis\EPM Glossaries\Epicor 10.
Make Cubes Overwritable – Each output .cbn user cube file contains a unique identifier (ID code). Enable this
option to ensure that the ID code is the same for each generation of the same user cube. Most of the time this
option should be enabled. However, if you want to deploy several versions of the same user cube side-by-side
for testing purposes, disable this option. As a result, EPM Server is unable to identify that these are different
versions of the same user cube.
Generate Glossary – Enable this option to re-generate the glossary definitions during the generation process.
If this option is disabled, the glossary definitions generated in the last run are used. This option should be usually
enabled, but you can disable it to speed up generation process and perform quick tests of the user cube templates.
Test SQL Calculations – Enable this option to execute each glossary definition with an SQL Value clause during
the glossary generation process. It is required to ensure that there are no issues or errors when executing the
SQL statements during cube processing. When this option is enabled, the user cube generation process can take
significantly more time to complete.
Deploy Glossary to Server – Enable this option to copy the .xml files to the path specified in the Server Glossary
Output Path and to immediately deploy the generated glossary to the local EPM Server. When this option is
enabled, the EPM Server is stopped and then restarted.
Epicor does not recommend to enable this Deploy Glossary to

Server option if you work in a live environment except after
testing the glossary thoroughly and using the Generate Release
option to ensure that the full glossary is loaded to the server.
Generate Cube Files – Enable this option to perform generation of the cube templates and .cbn files into the
glossary. This option is ignored when generating a release as all user cubes are generated in this case.
Open in Cube Manager – When this option is enabled, the resulting .cbn file is immediately opened in the EPM
Cube Manager to perform test deployment and processing. This option is only available when Deploy Glossary
to Server is selected.
During every glossary generation, the currently deployed

glossary is overwritten, so Epicor recommends to develop your
glossary outside of a live environment.
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Testing and Troubleshooting
In Glossary Designer, you can test separate user cube members, or a user cube as a whole.
To validate glossary definitions, use Validate and Validate All options on the Glossary and Cube Template tabs.
The Glossary Designer displays error icons next to each record with a problem detected. To see a detailed error
description, hover the cursor over the error icon.
Generate a User Cube for Testing
You can create .cbn user cube files on the Glossary Designer Generate tab, and then deploy them in the EPM
Cube Manager for testing purposes.
1. On the Generate tab, click the Select Cubes button.
2. Select the user cube to test.
3. Click the Deploy Glossary to Server button to attempt loading the glossary into EPM Server after glossary
generating is finished.
4. Click the Open in Cube Manager button to open the user cube file in the EPM Cube Manager once glossary
generating is finished.
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After glossary generation, you can use the Cube Manager to deploy and process the cube to EPM Server.
5. Click Generate.
Epicor recommends to use the Deploy Glossary to Server

option on a separate test environment as this setting
overrides the existing glossary.
Glossary Version Management
When you launch the Glossary Designer, on the application’s start screen, in the Glossary Version field, you can
fill in the three-part version number to identify the glossary version.
A fourth part that designates the revision number is added to the final version and is automatically updated as
you make changes to the glossary. Every time you click Generate, the Glossary Designer updates this number.
You can specify the glossary version when you create a new glossary, and change the version numbers later
when you open the glossary for editing.
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Change the Glossary Version
To change the glossary version for an existing glossary:
1. Open the glossary in the Glossary Designer.
2. In the upper left corner of the Glossary Designer window, click the File menu.
3. Select Glossary Properties.
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4. On the <Glossary Name> screen, in the Glossary Version fields, adjust the glossary version number.
5. Click OK.
Sample Glossary Creation
This section reviews how to create a sample glossary with two simple and tightly related user cubes.
The glossary in the following example is built based on AdventureWorks database. This is a sample database SQL
server provides. AdventureWorks uses several advanced SQL Server features that EPM Server and Glossary Designer
do not yet support such as type aliasing and split schemas (segmenting tables into separate schemas). Therefore,
you must run CleanAdventureWorks.sql SQL script on AdventureWorks database before you begin to create this
sample glossary. This script removes these features from use. The actual data and core schema do not change;
all the tables are moved into dbo schema and type aliases are removed leaving the original underlying types.
Create a Sample Glossary
To create a sample glossary:
1. Start the Glossary Designer and select an empty EpmGlossary Designer database, installed with the
Glossary Designer, as the design database.
2. Click the green plus icon under EPM Glossary to create a new glossary.
3. Enter a new glossary name.
4. Select Custom SQL Server in the Source System.
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5. Click OK.
6. In the OLTP Source Database field, select the AdventureWorks database.
7. With all the options set, the Start button becomes enabled. Click it to open the Glossary Designer.
8. Once the AdventureWorks database schema scan is complete, click Save to save the new glossary and start
to construct it.
Build a Sales Head User Cube
To create an empty Sales user cube:
1. Click the Cube Templates tab and click the Add Cube button on the toolbar.
2. Enter Sales in the upper field to name the user cube.
3. Select the Include in Release check box to mark this user cube as automatically included in all releases.
4. In the Display Folder field, select the folder and subfolder where this user cube will display in Cube Connect:
Sales and Sales Analysis.
5. In the Description field, enter the user cube template description to display in Cube Connect.
6. Click Save.
Add Measures to the Sales User Cube
Now add measures to the Sales user cube. Measures and dimension attributes are glossary definitions, so you
can either add them from the Glossary tab or use the import feature directly from the Cube Templates tab.
1. Click Add Measure to add measures.
2. Notice there are no glossary definitions suitable for use as a measure in the measure selection Select Glossary
Definitions window at this time. In fact, there are no glossary entries. So, you must create a glossary entry
or import some on the Glossary tab.
3. Close this window and navigate to the Glossary tab.

Create Glossary Definitions
The quickest way to add glossary definitions on the Glossary tab is the import function.
1. On the Glossary tab, click Import.
2. In the field selection window, you can see the database schema within AdventureWorks.
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As determined, the Sales user cube will be at the SalesOrderHeader level. So, to begin, grab the members
from that table.
3. In the filter box at the top of the Table column, enter SalesOrderHeader and press Enter to filter the
results.
You can filter the contents of the grid by the first row,
and by most others, in the Glossary Designer.
Now you can see the items, some of which should be in the Sales user cube.
4. Click the DataType column header to sort the results by type.

This is a good way to see what fields can be used as measures or dimension attributes.
If you are running an older version, you will see a different

window design. If this is the case, the column you need
is titled TableName.
• Fields you can use as a measure - Numbers you can perform mathematical operations on such as
summing, averaging, and so on
• Fields you can use as dimension attributes - Text strings, dates, other numeric columns with low
cardinality (not too many unique values allowed), and so on which are good for filtering and grouping
• Items you cannot include in user cubes such as blobs, images, large text fields, xml, and other
semi-structured or unstructured data.
Now you can select items that would be good measures and that would be good dimensions.
5. Hold the Ctrl key and select TotalDue, TaxAmt, Freight, and SubTotal for measures and DueDate,
ShipDate, OrderDate, AccountNumber, PurchaseOrderNumber, SalesOrderNumber, and Status for
dimensions.
6. Click OK to create new glossary definitions from these items.
Do not select any key fields that link to other tables that
you may want to use for dimensions such as TerritoryID.
These internal ID numbers should not display in the user
cube. You will use these fields for joins later.
7. In the main Glossary Designer window, verify imported measures and dimensions display in the grid.
8. Scroll to the Cube Usage column and notice the Glossary Designer attempted to guess what should be
dimensions or measures based on their data type. It set all the date columns to the Measure type because
they are numeric types.
9. In this user cube, those dates marked as measures are going to be dimensions, so select each, one by one,
and change the value in the Cube Usage column to Dimension.
10. Fill out the following additional properties for each glossary definition to instruct the user cubes how to use
these glossary definitions:
• Display Group – This is a logical display group for displaying glossary definitions in the EPM Cube Editor
in the Folder\Subfolder\Subfolder format. Since these are all sales properties, define the Sales folder for
all items.
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• Name – Each glossary definition must have a unique name so the import function automatically guesses
at the human-readable unique names by taking the table name + column name. Some of the Names
may be too long; this user cube will be simple, so you can come up with some shorter unique names for
them. This name column is the name used within generated SSAS cubes.
• Caption – The import function also creates a short name as a caption. Short names do not have to be
unique. Captions will allow longer unique names in user cubes while maintaining a way to automatically
pull abbreviated names for use on graphs and filters.
• Aggregation – For measures, this property defines how the user cube will calculate the value for this
member when grouped. By default, user cubes sum the values. For example, you want Order Total
measure to sum, so if you grouped together all the orders by order date.year, you will see all order totals
summed together for each year.
• Year Limiter – For datetime type members only, this indicates that the user cube may use this field to
help limit data that goes into the cubes if a user asks for a specific calendar year only. This should be
used sparingly and Epicor recommends that it is set at maximum for only one date column per user cube.
Use OrderDate for this purpose.
• Description – This is a detailed description for each glossary definition that will be available in Cube
Connect. This description helps users to understand what each item is for and how it is calculated.
Test Glossary Definitions
Now that there are some items defined, test that there are no noticeable problems.
1. Click Validate All to have the Glossary Designer scan all glossary definitions for problems.
Notice the Glossary Designer shows error icons next to each record with a problem.
2. Hover the cursor over the error icon to see the error message.
In this example, the Glossary Designer noticed that you changed the date columns to Dimension types but
did not change the starweight values to be lower than all measures.
3. Correct that by lowering the starweights on these three dimensions to 100 like the other dimension attributes.
4. Click Validate All again.
5. Notice the errors are resolved and the Glossary Definitions Validated message displays.
Add Measures to the User Cube
Now you can start adding measures to the user cube.
1. Click the Cube Usage column header to sort the glossary definitions so you can easily see the measures.
2. Select all measures by clicking to the left of the columns where the arrow icon is located.
3. Click the Add to Cube toolbar button and select to which user cube to add these glossary definitions.
The Glossary Designer opens the Cube Templates tab and displays the Sales user cube. Notice all the selected
glossary definitions are added as measures to the user cube.
Do not forget to save your work as you go.
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Now that you have added some measures, you are halfway to a functional user cube. But a user cube must also
link to dimensions to provide filtering, grouping, and sorting of the data.
Create a Dimension
To create a dimension:
1. Click the Dimensions tab where you can build shared dimensions.
2. Click Add Dimension to create a new blank dimension.
3. Start with a simple dimension, Order Date. In the upper field, enter Order Date to name the dimension.
4. Click Add Dimension Attribute.
5. In the Select Glossary Definitions window, select Order Date.
6. Click OK to add it to the dimension.

This dimension, being a date column, is automatically translated by Cube Connect into a date hierarchy
based on the Gregorian calendar (the standard wall calendar) as defined by SQL server. Year > Quarter >
Month > Date levels are created automatically. Because dates on their own create a complex hierarchy, you
can stop there and let the dimension only contain this single glossary definition.
7. After you set up a basic dimension, add it to the user cube. Return to the Cube Templates tab.
8. Click Add Dimension Link.
9. Select Order Date to add this dimension to the Sales user cube.
10. In the Dimensions grid, in the Order Date row, select the Gen check box to tell Cube Connect this new
dimension must be included in the template when you output the glossary.
You can use the Gen column in the Related Dimensions grid to selectively turn on and off members to
include or exclude for testing.
11. Validate that there is nothing wrong with the user cube. Click Validate to test the user cube.
12. Notice the Cube Validated message displays in the upper right corner. It confirms that the Sales user cube
has no detected problems.
Generate the Sales User Cube
1. On the Cube Templates tab, click Generate Cube.

After some time a status log displays.
2. Drill into it to see all the individual actions taken to construct the glossary.
Errors and Warnings, if any, are shown in this interface

as well.
The key steps are glossary generation, in which the joins, OLTP processing and glossary definitions are built
and tested and user cube generation in which one or more user cube templates are built and tested.
Generation can be further fine-tuned by selecting different generation options at the top of the screen.
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Make the Glossary Active and Deploy the New User Cube
Make the glossary active and deploy the new user cube using other options.
1. On the Generate tab, click the Select Cubes button and select the Sales user cube. This ensures that only
the Sales cube is generated.
2. Click the Deploy Glossary to Server button to attempt loading the glossary into EPM Server after it finished.
3. Click the Open in Cube Manager button to open the user cube file in the EPM Cube Manager after it is
finished generating.
This Deploy Glossary to Server setting overrides the

existing glossary, so, Epicor recommends to use the option
on a separate environment for testing.
You can use the Cube Manager to attempt to deploy and process the cube to EPM Server.
4. Click Generate.
5. In the Cube Manager, click the green circle with a white arrow icon to connect to the server.
6. In the Cube Manager, click the Deploy User Cube button (the blue cube with the green arrow) to open
the Deploy User Cube dialog.
7. In the Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Manager – Deploy User Cube dialog, leave the default settings and
click the Deploy cube button (the blue cube with the green arrow icon) to deploy the user cube.
8. To the message that states the deployment request is accepted, click OK.
9. Wait a moment and click the Refresh button.
10. Notice the cube changes its status as you refresh:

• Registered – The cube is uploading to EPM Server.
• Deploying – The cube and its dependencies are being created and tested. If there is a problem with the
cube or glossary structure, this stage may return an error.
• Deployed – The cube has been created but no data has been processed into it.
11. Once deployed, right-click the cube and select Run to process data into the cube immediately. To the
confirmation message, click OK.
12. The cube Status changes to Processing and then Processed when its data is available.
13. At this point you can view the cube data.
14. Close the Cube Manager, but leave the Glossary Designer open.
15. Save your work in the Glossary Designer.
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View the Cube Data
To view the cube data:
1. Launch Microsoft ®SQL Server ®Management Studio.
2. In the Connect to Server dialog, in the Server type field, select Analysis Services.
3. In the Server name field, select your cube server’s name.
4. Click Connect.
5. In the Object Explorer pane, expand the Databases > Sales > Cubes node.
Since the Sales cube was deployed using the Unique Cube
Name option earlier, the cube is named Sales-{a unique
id}.
As you develop, be careful to not allow too many OLAP

cube copies to build up. Cube copies can safely coexist
on a server but may undermine performance and cause
confusion if left around.
6. Right-click the cube (not the database) and select Browse to view data in the OLAP cube in a pivot table.
If there is no data in the cube you will receive a warning at this point and not be able to browse the cube.
7. Drag the Order Date hierarchy into the pivot table.

You can drag and drop measures into the center of the pivot table and dimensions into the column, row,
or filter regions to browse the data in your OLAP cube.
Measures are always calculated at aggregate.

Remembering that your measures are almost always going
to be presented as sums across arbitrary filters and slices
on dimensions/hierarchies is key to creating measures that
calculate correctly in all situations.
8. Look at the structure of the cube. Note that date dimension automatically created attributes for different
date summary levels (year, quarter, month, date) and arranged them into a hierarchy that you can drill down.
You can also look at the data by an individual attribute.
9. Pull Month Attribute onto the pivot table.
This is a good example of the type of data that is pulled out of the OLAP cubes: summarized information that
can be quickly drilled down and filtered in different ways. Keep this use case in mind as you design your cubes.
Add a Geography Dimension
Return to the Glossary Designer and enhance the user cube by adding a geography dimension.
1. On the Dimensions tab, create a new blank Geography dimension.
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2. On the Glossary tab, click the Import button to import some new glossary definitions to fill out the
Geography dimension.
3. In the import dialog, look at the SalesOrderHeader table.
4. Notice the TerritoryID glossary definition. You do not want to show the ID number in the user cube. Instead,
you want to import some data from another table and join it to SalesOrderHeader for the user cube. In the
AdventureWorks database, the territory information is stored in the SalesTerritory table.
5. In the filter field at the top of the TableName column, enter salesterritory.
You can see that there are several interesting territory data points in the SalesTerritory table that can be
shown in a user cube.
You might need the ID number for referencing back to the main system, but you can also get the Name
and some hierarchy information like Group and CountryRegionCode.
What you do not want to import at this point are the numeric values. Avoid making dimensions out of items
that are really measures like SalesYTD. Many of these values could be done live in a user cube across any
set of filters which is far superior to a canned value that cannot be sliced.
6. Select TerritoryID, Name, Group and CountryRegionCode from the SalesTerritory table.
You can see that the SalesTerritory table links to the CountryRegion table by CountryRegionCode, so you
will be able to use that to get Name from CountryRegion.
7. Click OK to import.
8. Import Name from the CountryRegion table.
9. Clean up the imported items. In the Display Group column, enter Geography. Verify they all have
Dimension set in the Cube Usage column. Make sure they are named well, and so on.
10. Use the left column to select all the rows with geography items.
11. Click the Add to Dimension button and select Geography to add them to the Geography glossary
dimension.
12. On the Dimensions tab, click the Validate button to validate the Geography dimension.
13. View the validation results. The Glossary Designer found some errors because you did not specify how to
join the two tables (CountryRegion and SalesTerritory) together.
14. To fix the problem, go to the OLTP Joins tab and set up the first join. In database terms, the join you need
can be described as CountryRegion. CountryRegionCode = SalesTerritory. CountryRegionCode.
15. On the OLTP Joins tab, click Add Join.
16. Fill in the tables. Strong should be used for tables closest to the main fact tables in the user cube. In this
case, since the join is from SalesOrderHeader -> SalesTerritory -> CountryRegion, make SalesTerritory the
Strong portion and CountryRegion the Hook portion.
17. Click Add Column to set up the column names used in the join.
18. In the Strong Expression and Hook Expression columns enter CountryRegionCode.
19. Click Validate All to test all the joins.
20. The No Join Errors Found message displays in the upper right corner.
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21. Return to the Dimensions tab and validate again.

There are no errors and you can add the Geography dimension to the user cube.
22. On the Cube Templates tab, click the Add Dimension Link button and select Geography.
23. Select the Generate check box to ensure the Geography dimension is included in generation.
24. Click Validate to check the user cube.
25. Notice an error message displays. Hover the cursor over the error to see it is reporting that it cannot figure
out how to join SalesOrderHeader to any of the tables in the new Geography dimension. To solve this
problem, add a join between the SalesOrderHeader and SalesTerritory tables as discussed earlier.
26. On the OLTP Joins tab, click Add Join.
27. In the Strong Table column, enter SalesOrderHeader.
28. In the Hook Table column, enter SalesTerritory.
29. Click Add Join Expression to set up the column names used in the join.
30. In the Strong Expression and Hook Expression columns enter TerritoryID.
31. Click the Validate button. The No Join Errors Found message displays.
32. On the Cube Templates tab, click the Validate button. Notice the Cube Validated message displays.
33. Use the Predict Join Tree function to have a clearer picture of the joins within the user cube. The Predict
Join Tree function shows the exact order in which data is joined into the user cube and using what join.
The Predict Join Tree function is a useful diagnostic tool as your user cubes become more complex. It is
important to understand the interaction of the starweight property for glossary definitions with join order.
The user cube is constructed starting with the highest starweight measure as the base. The simple rule is to assign
your most granular tables the highest starweight so the user cubes will try to build from the finest granularity
outward.
In this example, you can see that the strongest member is Order Freight in SalesOrderHeader table, so the user
cube begins there. Moving on to the next highest member that is not in the SalesOrderHeader table it finds a
join to SalesTerritory, and then it finds a join to CountryRegion, and so forth. Starweight is critical to understanding
what the join order is for your user cube.
Generate the User Cube
Now that the user cube is validated, generate it.
1. Close the Join Tree window. On the Generate tab, click Generate User Cubes.
2. Click the Generate button.
3. The user cube successfully tests and loads in the Cube Manager.
4. Notice the existing cube deployment you created before. You would like to replace it. The Make Cubes
Overwritable option on the Generate tab of the Glossary Designer is what makes this possible. As long
as this option is selected, EPM Server uses the same cube id number for each generation and recognizes
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them as two different versions of the same cube and thus allows you to overwrite. You almost always want
this option turned on.
5. Overwrite the cube using the re-deploy option. In the Cube Manager, right-click the existing cube deployment
and select Re-Deploy.
6. In the Epicor Cube Connect – Cube Manager – Re-deploy User Cube window, leave the default
deployment options and click the deploy button to proceed.
To the message that informs the re-deployment request accepted by the EPM Server, click OK
7. Wait a moment and click the refresh button to see the cube status changes from Deploying to Deployed.
8. Process the cube. Right-click it and select Run.

This allows you to look at the cube structure. There is no need to process data into it yet.
o the confirmation message, click Yes.
9. Open the OLAP cube in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
10. Notice the OLAP cube structure changed. There is now one dimension for each dimension attribute in the
glossary’s Geography dimension.
But the data in the Sales cube does have a logical hierarchy, Sales Territory Group > Sales Territory. So go
back to the Glossary Designer and set up a hierarchy.
11. Back in the Glossary Designer, go to the Hierarchies tab to create a Sales Territory Group > Sales
Territory hierarchy. EPM Server can transform this hierarchy into a single dimension with three attributes
if all three items are found in a user cube.
12. Click Add Hierarchy and give the hierarchy a name, and a description.
EPM Server will use the top level of the hierarchy as the hierarchy name currently, so this name is only for
convenience in the Glossary Designer.
13. Use the Add Hierarchy Level button to add the three levels to this hierarchy.
14. Return to the Cube Templates tab and click Generate once again.
15. Re-deploy the user cube once again.
16. This time when the cube deployment is complete, in the Cube Manager, right-click the cube and select
Run to process data into the cube.
17. When you finish, return to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to review the OLAP cube.
18. Notice the OLAP cube has fewer dimensions. This is because the Sales Territory Group dimension (the name
of the top-level attribute in the hierarchy you created) now contains the two fields missing before.
19. Right-click the OLAP cube (not the database) and select Browse to inspect the hierarchy and its contents.
20. Drag the new Sales Territory Group hierarchy into the pivot table and drill down to see the hierarchy you
created. Note how fast and flexible drill down becomes as you add more dimensions to the cube. You can
add the date hierarchy to the columns level and so forth.
The basic cube is built. Because the cube does not contain all possible dimensions, you would likely continue to
add more.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Cube Editor | Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Cube Editor
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cube Connect – Cube Editor (Cube Editor) is designed to solve the
common issues of user cube design and deployment. In the Cube Editor, you can create custom user cubes from
pre-defined user cube templates as well as customize, edit, and tailor Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes to
include your own measures. User cube design with the Cube Editor requires little knowledge of the source Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) database. Once created, user cubes can be deployed immediately or saved to file for later
deployment.
The Cube Editor is a Windows®, wizard-style application for workstation users. The Cube Editor accesses the EPM
server to manipulate data and perform context-specific actions on it.
The Cube Editor is a cross-platform OLAP system you use to design user cubes based on the databases of a range of
Epicor ERP systems.
Cube Editor Interface
The Cube Editor uses six screens to create a user cube - Select Template, Cube Name, Measures, Dimensions,
Design Complete, and Deployment. On each screen, you can change the user cube parameters or use the
pre-defined ones.
The Cube Editor screen is a multi panel interface that provides selections for the various wizard steps. All the
screens have a similar layout with a menu bar, toolbar, two or more informational panes, and a button bar.
Launch Cube Editor

Use the following path to start the Cube Editor: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software > Epicor Enterprise
Performance Management > Epicor EPM Cube Editor.
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Chapter 7 | Cube Editor Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
The Cube Editor is also available directly from a user cube file or from the context menu of a user cube file.
• Context Menu - You can open a user cube from the context menu. In the My Documents\ My Analysis folder,
right-click a user cube .cbn file and select Open with Epicor EPM Cube Editor.
• Directly - You can double-click the .cbn or .cbx user cube file to open the user cube directly. By default, user
cube files are stored in the My Documents\ My Analysis folder.
Templates
There are three cube types:
• Epicor EPM User Cube (referred to in this guide as User Cube) – The system administrator or an individual
with the appropriate license creates Epicor EPM user cubes using the Glossary Designer.
• Pre-Defined User Cube Template (Cube Template) – Each ERP-specific Content Pack provides a collection
of cube patterns that can be used as templates.
• Microsoft SQL Server Analysis OLAP Cube (OLAP Cube) – All Content Pack cubes are available for data
manipulation using Microsoft SQL Server Analysis once they have been deployed and processed. User cubes
that have not been deployed are not available for use with Microsoft SQL Server Analysis.
In the Cube Editor, user cubes are created based on existing, pre-defined templates. You can adjust the pre-defined
templates to create new user cubes or use the templates without adjustments.
If you want to use an existing user cube with no modifications,

you can directly deploy and process this cube in Cube Manager.
You don't have to go through Cube Editor.
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To create a cube based on a template:
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Select Template window, in the top pane, expand the tree nodes until you find
the template for your new user cube.
You can adjust the path to the template by regrouping

the templates. In the toolbar, click the Regroup Templates
button and select the grouping criteria.
2. Select the template for your new user cube.
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3. Notice the bottom pane of the screen displays the template description and grouping parameters.
4. Click Next.
Alternatively you can click the Open User Cube File icon and select a cube file to open that may not be
listed in the tree display.
5. In the EPM Cube Editor – Cube Name window, adjust the default user cube name; you can also use the
default value.
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6. In the Cube Description field, adjust the default user cube description; you can leave the default value.
7. Click Next to continue.
8. You can click Back to return to the previous screen.

When you go back to the previous screen, the changes are not lost, they are saved.
9. If a message displays informing that the database you specified does not exist on the SQL server, click Yes.
10. In the Select Application Database window, select the target database. The target database is the database
against which the EPM server tests the user cube as you design it. This is usually your ODS database, the
same database against which you are going to deploy the user cube later.
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11. Click Select.
You specified the basic user cube properties, and can now define its structure. Select measures and dimensions
for your user cube.
Measures Selection
After you selected the template for your user cube and defined the basic cube properties, select the cube measures.
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top left pane, select the measure group.
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2. In the top right pane, organize the measures and their order.
Right-click a measure and use the Move Up and Move Down menu selections to move it.
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3. In the top right pane, use the +1 button to add new measures.
4. In the bottom pane, view and edit the user cube design.
If you don't see the design context, increase the length of the window.
5. Right-click the measure in the top right pane, and select Edit Measure.
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6. You can alternatively click the Edit the selected measure of the selected measure group button on the
toolbar.
7. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Measure – <Measure name> window, adjust the measure properties.
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8. Click Validate.
9. To the Measure's properties validated successfully message, click OK.
10. To discard your changes, in the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Measure – <Measure name> window, click
Revert to Default.
11. Click OK.
12. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, right-click the measure in the top right pane, and select
View Definition.
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13. You can alternatively click the View the business definition of the selected measure button on the
toolbar.
14. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, adjust the measure.
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You can only change business definitions that you

created. These business definitions are referred to as User
Defined. You can view the Standard business definitions
but you cannot change their properties. You can,
however, use the Heritage parameter to copy a part of a
business definition. Heritage specifies business definitions
inherited behavior.
For a detailed discussion of business definition properties,
refer to the Business Definition Parameters section later
in this chapter.
15. To save your changes, click Save.
16. To validate the updated business definition, click Test.
17. Click Close.
18. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, click Next.
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Now select the user cube dimensions.
Dimensions Selection
Select and adjust the dimensions for your user cube.
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, you can add new or existing dimensions as well as view
and edit the user cube design.
2. In the top left pane, right-click a dimension , and select Edit.
3. You can alternatively select the dimension and click the Edit the selected dimension button on the toolbar.
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4. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension – <Dimension name> window, adjust the dimension.
5. Click Validate.
6. To the Dimension properties validated successfully message, click OK.
7. To discard your changes, in the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension – <Dimension name> window, click
Revert to Default.
8. Click OK.
For a detailed discussion of dimensions and dimension attributes properties, refer to the Dimensions section
later in this chapter.
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9. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, click Next.
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10. In the EPM Cube Editor - Design Complete window, click Save to save the user cube.
11. In the EPM Cube Editor - Save User Cube As window, enter the user cube file name.
By default, user cube files are save to My Documents\My Analysis folder. You can navigate to a different
folder.
12. Click Save.
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You can click Deploy to deploy the user cube in the Cube Editor, or click Exit to quit the application and deploy
the user cube later.
You can also deploy user cubes in EPM Cube Manager and
EPM Server Management Console.
Business Definition Parameters
Because a business definition can be assigned to a measure or a dimension level (also referred to as dimension
attribute), the business definition term is used as a common name for a dimension level or a measure. All business
definitions are stored in the Business Glossary.
You can access the Edit Business Definition window from either EPM Cube Editor – Measures or EPM Cube
Editor – Dimensions window.
To access the Edit Business Definition window for a business definition assigned to a measure:
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, right-click the measure in the top right pane, and select
View Definition.
2. You can alternatively click the View the business definition of the selected measure button on the
toolbar.
To access the Edit Business Definition window for a business definition assigned to a dimension level:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension window, right-click the dimension in the top left pane, and select
Edit.
2. You can alternatively click the Edit the selected dimension button on the toolbar.
3. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension – <dimension name> window, right-click the dimension level in
the top left pane, and select View Business Definition.
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4. You can alternatively click the View the business definition behind the selected attribute button on
the toolbar.
You can only edit the business definitions that you created. These business definitions are referred to as User
Defined. You can view the Standard business definitions but you cannot change their properties. You can copy
a part of a standard business definition to create a user defined business definition.
In the Cube Editor, user defined business definitions are marked with a special icon:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, notice the business definition structure that
has Heritage, OLAP, and Formula nodes. These are the properties of every business definition and may have
a nested structure.
2. Heritage specifies inherited behavior of a business definition.

Business definitions inherit the behavior of the business definition selected as the Heritage parameter. You
can select more than one business definition. In this case, the business definitions are inherited hierarchically.
Use the Heritage parameter to copy a part of a Standard business definition to create a User Defined business
definition. Only User Defined business definitions are editable. All custom User Defined business definitions
have to be inherited from one of the Standard business definitions.
A business definition cannot be inherited more than once

on the same level of the inheritance hierarchy. A business
definition cannot inherit itself explicitly or implicitly, as
the Cube Editor does not allow dead loops in the Heritage.
3. The OLAP node has the Caption, Format String, and Null Processing subnodes.
Use the Format String to inform SSAS of the formatting that should be applied to a measure's result. The
value of Format String can contain [currency] and it will be replaced with the corresponding standard currency
symbol in the currency-aware ERP systems such as Epicor ERP. When the currency type is known, Format
Strings for currency measures are filled in automatically with values appropriate for that currency.
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For example the following string: [currency]##.##,00.00 will be replaced with $##.##,00.00 in the resultant
OLAP cube if the reporting currency selected for the deployment is USD.
Use the Null Processing node to control how the value is handled in the cube when the value is null. For
example, Op Complete Count measure is null for some record. How should the cube handle it when the
user requests the value? Should it show the user a null, or treat it as a 0, or not let the user process the data
into the cube?
This setting maps directly to the Null Processing option in SQL Server Analysis Services. Refer to MSDN for
the detailed description of the option:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.analysisservices.nullprocessing.aspx.
Automatic Specifies that for the Cube or Dimension data items, Null values are treated
as ZeroOrBlank. And for MiningStructure or MiningModel data items, Null
values are treated as UnknownMember.
Error Null value is illegal in this data item.
Preserve Specifies that the Null value is preserved.
UnknownMember Specifies that the Null value is treated as the unknown member. This value is
applicable only for attribute key columns.
ZeroOrBlank Specifies that the Null value is converted to zero (for numeric data items) or
blank string (for string data items).
4. Formula specifies additional rules on how to construct the business definition. A formula consists of the
following two parts:
• Calculation – Defines the rules to obtain the business definition value.
• Filter – Defines the additional logical rules to filter the data supplied for the formula calculation.
Formula has priority over Heritage. If a business definition formula is empty, it is inherited. If a business
definition has its own formula, that formula is used instead of the inherited formula.
You must first specify Heritage to be able to specify

Formula.
5. If you opened the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window for a user defined business
definition, right-click the Heritage node and select Add Base Business Definition.
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6. To the warning message, click OK.
7. The EPM Cube Editor – Business Glossary window displays.
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8. To find a particular business definition, in the left pane, switch to the Alphabet or Groups tab to see the
business definitions list ordered alphabetically or logically.
9. In the left pane, expand the tree and click the business definition from which to inherit behavior.
10. Notice, the right pane displays whether the business definition is Standard or User Defined, as well as the
business definition name, description, allowed OLAP roles, OLAP format string type, and Null Processing
property.
11. Right-click the business definition and select Select. The business definition you are currently adjusting
inherits all parameters from the business definition you selected in the Glossary.
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12. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, expand the OLAP node.
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13. Click the Format String node.
14. In the OLAP format string property of the business definition value is text box in the lower pane, edit
the Format String value.
Format String accepts string type values. The default value

is Standard.
15. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, expand the Formula node.
16. Right-click one of the nodes under the Calculation node, select Define as, and select the calculation type.
If you select the Just a value of something option, select this value.
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17. If you select an operator, specify the calculation operand. You can compose calculations at any difficulty
level. In addition, any nesting level is supported for the calculation.
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18. Right-click the Filter node, select Define filter as, and select the filter type in the context menu.
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To create a business definition formula, you can

alternatively click the Calculation Wizard button in the
Edit Business Definition toolbar to start the Calculation
Wizard. In the Wizard, you can select a pre-defined
calculation template.
19. In the Edit Business Definition window, click Close. The changes take effect immediately.
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Only the business definitions of the User Defined type can

be edited. Business definitions of the Standard or Technical
type cannot be edited even though the Edit command is
in the context menu. All edit controls are disabled for
Standard and Technical business definitions on the EPM
Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition screen. You can
only view the internal structure of Standard and Technical
business definitions.
Format String
On the EPM Cube Editor - Edit Business Definition screen, under the OLAP node, select the Format String
subnode, and in the text box at the bottom of the window, define the formatting that should be applied to a
measure or dimension level result.
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If the result is a string value, a Format String expression can have one section or two sections separated by a
semicolon (;).
Usage Results
One Section The format applies to all string values.
Two Sections The first section applies to string data; the second section applies to null
values and zero-length strings (" ").
Use the following characters in the Format String for string values.
Character Description
@ Represents a character placeholder that displays a character or a space. If the string has a character
in the position where the at sign (@) appears in the format string, the formatted string displays
the character. Otherwise, the formatted string displays a space in that position. Placeholders are
filled from right to left unless there is an exclamation point (!) in the format string.
& Represents a character placeholder that displays a character or nothing. If the string has a character
in the position where the ampersand (&) appears, the formatted string displays the character.
Otherwise, the formatted string displays nothing. Placeholders are filled from right to left unless
there is an (!) in the format string.
< Forces lowercase. The formatted string displays all characters in lowercase format.
> Forces uppercase. The formatted string displays all characters in uppercase format.
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! Forces left-to-right fill of placeholders. The default is to fill placeholders from right to left.
If the result is a numeric value, a Format String expression can have from one to four sections separated by
semicolons (;). If the format argument contains one of the named numeric formats, only one section is allowed.
Usage Results
One Section The format expression applies to all values.
Two Sections The first section applies to positive values and zeros, the second to negative
values.
Three Sections The first section applies to positive values, the second to negative values, and
the third to zeros.
Four Sections The first section applies to positive values, the second to negative values, the
third to zeros, and the fourth to null values.
The following example has two sections. The first section defines the format for positive values and zeros, and
the second section defines the format for negative values.
"$#,##0;($#,##0)"
If you include semicolons with nothing between them, the missing section prints using the format of the positive
value. For example, the following format displays positive and negative values using the format in the first section
and displays "Zero" if the value is zero:
"$#,##0;;\Z\e\r\o"
Use the following characters in the Format String for numeric values.
None Displays the number without any formatting.
0 Represents a digit placeholder that displays a digit or a zero (0). If the number has a digit in the
position where the zero appears in the format string, the formatted value displays the digit. Otherwise,
the formatted value displays a zero in that position. If the number has fewer digits than there are
zeros (on either side of the decimal) in the format string, the formatted value displays leading or
trailing zeros. If the number has more digits to the right of the decimal separator than there are zeros
to the right of the decimal separator in the format expression, the formatted value rounds the number
to as many decimal places as there are zeros. If the number has more digits to the left of the decimal
separator than there are zeros to the left of the decimal separator in the format expression, the
formatted value displays the additional digits without modification.
# Represents a digit placeholder that displays a digit or nothing. If the expression has a digit in the
position where the number sign (#) appears in the format string, the formatted value displays the
digit. Otherwise, the formatted value displays nothing in that position. The number sign (#) placeholder
works like the zero (0) digit placeholder except that leading and trailing zeros are not displayed if
the number has the same or fewer digits than there are # characters on either side of the decimal
separator in the format expression.
.
Represents a decimal placeholder that determines how many digits are displayed to the left and right
of the decimal separator.
If the format expression contains only number sign (#) characters to the left of the period (.), numbers
smaller than 1 start with a decimal separator. To display a leading zero displayed with fractional
numbers, use zero (0) as the first digit placeholder to the left of the decimal separator. The actual
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character used as a decimal placeholder in the formatted output depends on the number format
recognized by the computer system.
In some locales, a comma is used as the decimal

separator.
% Represents a percentage placeholder. The expression is multiplied by 100. The percent character (%)
is inserted in the position where the percentage appears in the format string.
,
Represents a thousand separator that separates thousands from hundreds within a number that has
four or more places to the left of the decimal separator. Standard use of the thousand separator is
specified if the format contains a thousand separator enclosed in digit placeholders (0 or #).
Two adjacent thousand separators, or a thousand separator immediately to the left of the decimal
separator (whether or not a decimal is specified), means "scale the number by dividing the number
by 1000, rounding as required." For example, you can use the format string "##0,," to represent
100 million as 100. Numbers smaller than 1 million are displayed as 0. Two adjacent thousand
separators in any position other than immediately to the left of the decimal separator are treated as
specifying the use of a thousand separator.
The actual character used as the thousand separator in the formatted output depends on the number
format recognized by the computer system.
In some locales, a period is used as the thousand

separator.
: Represents a time separator that separates hours, minutes, and seconds when time values are
formatted.
In some locales, other characters may be used as

the time separator. The actual character used as
the time separator in formatted output is
determined by the system settings on the
computer.
/ Represents a date separator that separates the day, month, and year when date values are formatted.
The actual character used as the date separator in formatted output is determined by the system
settings on the computer.
In some locales, other characters may used as the

date separator.
E- E+ e-
Represents scientific format.
e+
If the format expression contains at least one digit placeholder (0 or #) to the right of E-, E+, e-, or
e+, the formatted value displays in scientific format and E or e is inserted between the number and
the number's exponent. The number of digit placeholders to the right determines the number of
digits in the exponent. Use E- or e- to include a minus sign next to negative exponents. Use E+ or
e+ to include a minus sign next to negative exponents and a plus sign next to positive exponents.
-+$()
Displays a literal character.
To display a character other than one of those listed, put a backslash (\) before the character or
enclose the character in double quotation marks (" ").
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\
Displays the next character in the format string.
To display a character that has special meaning as a literal character, put a backslash (\) before the
character. The backslash itself is not displayed. Using a backslash is the same as enclosing the next
character in double quotation marks.
To display a backslash, use two backslashes (\\).
Examples of characters that cannot be displayed as literal characters include the following characters:
The date-formatting and time-formatting characters—a, c, d, h, m, n, p, q, s, t, w, y, /, and :
The numeric-formatting characters—#, 0, %, E, e, comma, and period
The string-formatting characters—@, &, <, >, and !
"ABC"
Displays the string inside the double quotation marks (" ").
To include a string in format from within code, use Chr(34) to enclose the text. The character code
for a double quotation mark is 34.
The following table identifies the predefined numeric format names:
Format Name Description

General Number Displays the number with no thousand separator.
Currency Displays the number with a thousand separator, if appropriate. Displays two digits
to the right of the decimal separator. Output is based on system locale settings.
Fixed Displays at least one digit to the left and two digits to the right of the decimal
separator.
Standard Displays the number with thousand separator, at least one digit to the left and
two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Percent Displays the number multiplied by 100 with a percent sign (%) appended to the
right. Always displays two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Scientific Uses standard scientific notation.
Yes/No Displays No if the number is 0; otherwise, displays Yes.
True/False Displays False if the number is 0; otherwise, displays True.
On/Off Displays Off if the number is 0; otherwise, displays On.
If the result is a date/time value, you can use the following characters in a Format String.
:
Represents a time separator that separates hours, minutes, and seconds when time values are
formatted. The actual character used as the time separator in formatted output is determined
by the system settings of the computer.
In some locales, other characters may used

as the time separator.
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/
Represents a date separator that separates the day, month, and year when date values are
formatted. The actual character used as the date separator in formatted output is determined
by the system settings of the computer.
In some locales, other characters may be

used to represent the date separator.
C
Displays the date as ddddd and displays the time as ttttt, in that order.
Displays only date information if there is no fractional part to the date serial number.
Displays only time information if there is no integer portion.
d Displays the day as a number without a leading zero (1–31).

dd Displays the day as a number with a leading zero (01–31).
ddd Displays the day as an abbreviation (Sun–Sat).
dddd Displays the day as a full name (Sunday–Saturday).
ddddd
Displays the date as a complete date (including day, month, and year), formatted according to
your system's short date format setting.
For Microsoft Windows, the default short date format is m/d/yy.
dddddd
Displays a date serial number as a complete date (including day, month, and year), formatted
according to the long date setting recognized by the computer system.
For Windows, the default long date format is mmmm, dd, yyyy.
w Displays the day of the week as a number (1 for Sunday through 7 for Saturday).
ww Displays the week of the year as a number (1–54).
m
Displays the month as a number without a leading zero (1–12).
If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute instead of the month is displayed.
mm
Displays the month as a number with a leading zero (01–12).
If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute instead of the month is displayed.
mmm Displays the month as an abbreviation (Jan–Dec).

mmmm Displays the month as a full month name (January–December).
q Displays the quarter of the year as a number (1–4).
y Displays the day of the year as a number (1–366).
yy Displays the year as a two-digit number (00–99).
yyyy Displays the year as a four-digit number (100–9999).
h Displays the hour as a number without leading zeros (0–23).
hh Displays the hour as a number with leading zeros (00–23).
n Displays the minute as a number without leading zeros (0–59).
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nn Displays the minute as a number with leading zeros (00–59).
s Displays the second as a number without leading zeros (0–59).
ss Displays the second as a number with leading zeros (00–59).
ttttt
Displays a time as a complete time (including hour, minute, and second), formatted using the
time separator defined by the time format recognized by the computer system.
A leading zero is displayed if the leading zero option is selected, and the time is earlier than
10:00 in either the A.M. or the P.M. cycle. For example, 09:59, For Windows, the default time
format is h:mm:ss.
AM/PM
Displays an uppercase AM with any hour from midnight until noon; displays an uppercase PM
with any hour from noon until midnight.
Uses the 12-hour clock.
am/pm
Displays a lowercase am with any hour from midnight until noon; displays a lowercase pm with
any hour from noon until midnight.
A/P
Displays an uppercase A with any hour from midnight until noon; displays an uppercase P with
a/p
Displays a lowercase a with any hour from midnight until noon; displays a lowercase p with
AMPM
Displays the AM string literal as defined by the computer system with any hour from midnight
until noon; displays the PM string literal as defined by the computer system with any hour from
noon until midnight.
AMPM can be either uppercase or lowercase, but the case of the string displayed matches the
string as defined by the system settings of the computer. For Windows, the default format is
AM/PM.
The following table identifies the predefined date and time format names:

General Date Displays a date and/or time. For real numbers, displays a date and time, for example,
4/3/93 05:34 PM. If there is no fractional part, displays only a date, for example,
4/3/93. If there is no integer part, displays a time only, for example, 05:34 PM.
The format of the date display is determined by your system settings.
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Long Date Displays a date according to your system's long date format.
Medium Date Displays a date using the medium date format appropriate for the language version
of the host application.
Short Date Displays a date using your system's short date format.
Long Time Displays a time using your system's long time format; includes hours, minutes, and
seconds.
Medium Time Displays a time in the 12-hour format using hours and minutes and the AM/PM
designator.
Short Time Displays a time using the 24-hour format, for example, 17:45.
Measures
On the EPM Cube Editor - Measures screen, you can add new (User Defined) or existing (Standard) measures to
the user cube. You can also remove measures from the user cube on this screen.
Add or Remove Measures

To add a new measure:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top right pane toolbar, click the +1 button.
2. Select New Business Definition.
3. In the EPM Cube Editor - Create New Business Definition window, specify the name of the business
definition.
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4. Specify the business definition description.
5. Click OK.
The new business definition is added as a measure to your user cube. This business definition is stored in
the Business Glossary as User Defined. You can use this business definition only within the user cube for
which it was created.
6. The EPM Cube Editor - Edit Business Definition window displays.
Now, set the parameters for this business definition. Refer to the Business Definition Parameters section
earlier in this chapter for details.
Add an Existing Measure

To add an existing measure:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top right pane toolbar, click the +1 button.
2. Select Existing Business Definition.
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3. In the EPM Cube Editor – Business Glossary window, in the tree in the left pane, locate the required
business definition.
You can view the business definition list grouped according to the definition name on the Alphabet tab or
grouped logically on the Groups tab. To find the business definition on the Alphabet tab, expand the starting
letter of the business definition. To find the business definition on the Groups tab, expand the Definition
Group for the business definition; then, expand the child listing, if necessary.
4. Right-click the business definition and click Select.
Remove a Measure
To remove a measure:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top right pane, select a measure.
2. In the toolbar, click the Remove the selected measure(s) from the selected measure group button.
3. You can alternatively right-click a measure and select Remove.
Use Calculation Wizard

Use the Calculation Wizard to add a new measure or dimension level when you know from what database table
and field you want to get it.
To add a measure or dimension level:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top right pane toolbar, click the +1 button, and select
New Business Definition.
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2. Or, on the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions screen, in the top left pane toolbar, click the +1 button.
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3. On the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension - <Dimension name> screen, in the left pane, right-click the
Attributes node and select Add Attribute > New Business Definition.
4. In the EPM Cube Editor – Create New Business Definition window, specify the name and description
of the business definition.
5. Click OK.
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6. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, in the toolbar, click the Calculation
Wizard button.
7. In the EPM Cube Editor – Calculation Wizard window, in the upper pane, select the Field Value Selection
node.
8. Click Next.
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9. In the EPM Cube Editor – <ERP System> Database Structure Browser window, in the left pane, view
the list of available tables and columns.
SQL tables pertaining to the SQL schema different than

dbo also display in the Database Structure Browser. EPM
Server can talk to multiple schemas in the same SQL server
source database at once to build a single user cube.
10. Select a table.
11. Select a column.
12. Click Select.
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13. In the EPM Cube Editor – Calculation Wizard – Finish window, click Finish.
14. In the EPM Cube Editor – Edit Business Definition window, notice the wizard set up Formula for your
15. Click Close.
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For a detailed discussion of business definition properties, refer to the Business Definition Parameters section
earlier in this chapter.
Add a Calculated Measure

To add a calculated measure:
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Measures window, in the top right pane toolbar, click the +1 button, and select
New Business Definition.
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2. In the EPM Cube Editor - Create New Business Definition window, specify the name and description
of the business definition.
3. Click OK.
4. In the EPM Cube Editor - Edit Business Definition window, right-click the Heritage node and select
Add Base Business Definition.
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5. To the warning message, click OK.
6. In the EPM Cube Editor - Business Glossary window, expand the tree in the left pane, right-click a business
definition, and select Select.
You need to do this step before specifying a calculated measure formula because custom User Defined
business definitions must be inherited from one of the Standard business definitions.
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7. In the EPM Cube Editor - Edit Business Definition window, expand the Formula > Calculation node.
8. Right-click the Value node, and select Define as, and then select the calculation type.
In this example, you select A binary operator > Subtraction.
9. If you select an operator, specify the first calculation operand.
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In this example, you right-click the Subtraction node and select Add Operand > Value of > Business
Definition.
You can compose calculations at any difficulty level. In addition, any nesting level is supported for the
calculation.
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10. In the EPM Cube Editor - Business Glossary window, expand the tree in the left pane, right-click a business
definition that should be used as the first operand in the calculation, and select Select.
11. If you select an operator, specify the second calculation operand.
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In this example, you right-click the Subtraction node and select Add Operand > Value of > Literal.
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12. In the EPM Cube Editor - Supply Literal window, enter a literal value.
13. Click OK.
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14. In the EPM Cube Editor - Edit Business Definition window, view the resulting formula under the Formula
> Calculation > Value node.
15. Click Close.
Dimensions
When you add a new dimension, it has no dimension attributes (also called dimension levels). You then assign
business definitions to the dimension as dimension attributes. You can use the business definitions from the
Glossary or create your own new business definitions.
You can give an arbitrary name to the dimension and change it any time.
EPM supports three dimension types:
• DateTime – This is a timing dimension that shows how the corresponding measure evolves with time.
A hierarchy like Year > Quarter > Month > Date is automatically created for DateTime dimensions.
• Master Date – This is a user cube primary date.
• Regular – All other dimensions have this type.
Add a New Dimension

To add a new dimension:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, in the top left pane toolbar, click the +1 button.
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2. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions – <Dimension name> window, in the Name field, enter a unique
name for the new dimension; specify Caption and Description.
3. In the Type field, select

• DateTime – Select this option if your new dimension is a timing dimension and will show how the
corresponding measure evolves with time.
When you select this option, a hierarchy like Year > Quarter > Month > Date is automatically created
for the dimension.
• Master Date – Use this option to add a primary date for each user cube.
• Regular – Select this option for all other dimensions.
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4. In the left pane, right-click the Attributes node and select Add Attribute > New Business Definition to
create a business definition and assign it as the dimension level.
5. In the EPM Cube Editor – Create New Business Definition window, in the Supply name for new
business definition field, enter a unique name for the new dimension level.
6. In the Supply description for new business definition field, enter the business definition description.
7. Click OK.
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The new dimension is added to your user cube with the new business definition as the first dimension level
(or attribute). You can now set the parameters for this business definition.
Add an Existing Dimension Attribute

You can create a new dimension and add an existing business definition to it as a dimension attribute.
To add a new dimension with existing dimension attribute:
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, in the top left pane toolbar, click the +1 button.
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2. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions – <Dimension name> window, in the Name field, enter a unique
name for the new dimension; specify Caption and Description.
3. In the left pane, right-click the Attributes node and select Add Attribute > Existing Business Definition
to assign an existing business definition as the dimension level to your new dimension.
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4. In the EPM Cube Editor – Business Glossary window, in the tree in the right pane, locate the required
5. Right-click the business definition and select Select.
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6. As a result, the selected business definition is assigned as the first dimension level to your dimension.
Remove a Dimension
To remove a dimension:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, in the top left pane, select the dimension to delete.
2. On the toolbar, click the Remove the selected dimension button.
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3. You can alternatively right-click the dimension to delete, and select Remove.
Add and Maintain Hierarchies

To add a new hierarchy to a dimension:
1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimensions window, in the in the Dimension list, select the dimension to which
you want to add a hierarchy.
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2. In the Hierarchies of the dimension pane, view the hierarchies already defined for this dimension.
3. In the Dimension list, right-click the dimension and select Edit.
4. In the EPM Cube Editor – Dimension – <Dimension name> window, right-click the Hierarchies node
and select Add Hierarchy.
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5. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the new hierarchy.
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6. Specify the hierarchy Caption.
7. Click Apply.
8. In the left pane, right-click the new hierarchy node and select Reload All Attributes to load the hierarchy
with all the dimension attributes available for this dimension.
9. In the left pane, under the new hierarchy node, right-click the dimension level you do not want to use in
this hierarchy and select Remove.
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Remove all the dimension levels you do not want to use in this hierarchy.
10. Click OK.

The new hierarchy is added to your dimension.
User Cube Compilation
Compiling a user cube means testing construction of the user cube structure without adding data to it. User
cube compilation is intended for checking whether you built the user cube correctly.
To compile a user cube:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor - Design Complete window, in the toolbar, click the Compile Locally button.
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2. In the EPM Cube Editor – Create <ERP System> Company Configuration window, select the user cube
compilation parameters.
The user cube compilation screen differs for various ERP

systems, but most of the fields are common.
3. Select the companies for user cube compilation.

The Company table displays the list of companies in the selected database. To select all the companies
displayed, select the Deploy against all companies check box. To select individual companies from the
table, clear this check box; then, select the companies for which to compile the user cube.
The company table includes the following columns.
• All – Select this check box to include the company into the user cube compilation. Otherwise, clear this
check box. By default, this check box is selected for all the companies.
• Code – This field displays the company code defined in the database.
• Name – This field displays the company name defined in the database.
• Calendar – This field displays the fiscal calendar for the company. A fiscal calendar is a set of fiscal years.
By default, you can define several fiscal calendars for a company. In this field, you can select a fiscal
calendar for the user cube compilation. To activate your selection, click somewhere outside the Calendar
cell.
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When you select a fiscal calendar, the fiscal years included in this calendar are displayed in the bottom
pane, in the Year section. After you select a fiscal calendar, you can include all or some fiscal years of
this calendar into the user cube compilation.
• RCN – RCN is the report currency number. When you select a currency in the Report Currency field, the
RCN field displays the number of this currency for the company.
Not all Epicor ERP systems support multi-currency.
4. If you compile a user cube for Epicor ERP, select the Report Currency.
ERP systems other than Epicor do not require a report

currency selection.
The Report Currency field displays the list of currencies defined in all the companies selected for compilation.
All companies selected for compilation must share the same Report Currency; if they do not, you will not
be able to deploy the user cube.
If the Report Currency field is empty, that is, no options are available for selection in this field, the selected
companies do not have common currencies. In this case, reduce the number of companies for the user cube
compilation. For example, if United States Dollar (USD) and Euros (EUR) are defined for Company A, USD
and EUR are defined for Company B, and CAD is defined for Company C, the Report Currency field is empty
when all three companies are selected for user cube compilation. If you select Company A and Company
B, both USD and EUR are available in the Report Currency field.
For each company, three report currencies and one base currency are defined in the Epicor ERP application.
For more information on the report currency, refer to Epicor ERP application help.
5. Select the financial years for user cube compilation in the Year section at the bottom of the window.
To select all the years displayed, select the Deploy against all fiscal years check box. To select individual
years, clear this check box first, and then select the financial years for which to compile the user cube in the
table.
6. On the toolbar, click the Create company configuration button.
7. To the Company configuration has been created successfully message, click OK. User Cube compilation
starts.
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8. To the The user cube has been compiled successfully message, click OK.
9. Close the EPM Cube Editor – Compiling User Cube window.
User Cube Deployment

You can view or adjust several user cube deployment parameters.
To view or adjust the values of user cube deployment parameters:
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1. In the EPM Cube Editor – Design Complete window, click the Deploy button.
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2. In the top pane of the EPM Cube Editor – Deployment window, the default cube deployment and
processing parameters display. You can view and adjust these parameters.
3. In the bottom pane, you can view and edit the parameters of the user cube you created.
4. In the EPM Cube Editor – Deployment window upper pane, click the link with the parameter name. In
this example, click the all fiscal years link.
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5. EPM Cube Editor dialog displays.
6. Specify new parameter value.

For the list of the available options refer to the User Cube Deployment Parameters section.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Deploy.
User Cube Deployment Parameters
The following Cube Deployment Parameters are available in the top pane of the EPM Cube Editor –
Deployment window:
• Host – Click the link with the host name to change the host where EPM server is installed. You connect to
this host to deploy the user cubes. After you clicked this link, the EPM Cube Editor – Select Host dialog
displays. In this dialog, type the host name, or select the host from the list.
Click OK to change the host, or Cancel, to cancel your adjustments.
The new host name now displays in the EPM Cube Editor – Deployment screen upper pane.
• Port – Click the link with the port number to change the port via which you connect to the host. The EPM
Cube Editor – Change Epicor EPM Server Port dialog displays.
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In the EPM Cube Editor – Change Epicor EPM Server Port dialog, change the port number and click OK.
The default value for the port is 33000.
• Application Database – Click the link with the database name to change the source database where the
cube will retrieve data.
In the EPM Cube Editor – Select Application Database dialog, select one of the databases available on
the SQL Server instance you specified as the Host. This is usually your ODS database.
• User credentials – This option is intended to change the user credentials you use to connect to the ERP
system for deploying the user cube. To change the type of user credentials, click the corresponding link.
• Data source rebuild mode – Click the link with the name of the data source rebuild mode. The dialog
displays prompting to select the mode of rebuilding data source during each cube processing. Available
options:
• Rebuild for all financial years – Use this option to consider the data for all financial years, when processing
the cube. In this case, during each subsequent cube processing Epicor EPM recollects information for all
the financial years, specified for deployment configuration to feed the cube.
• Rebuild only for the last financial year – Use this option to consider only the data for the last financial
year, when processing the cube. In this case, during each subsequent cube processing Epicor EPM recollects
information only for the last financial year, among those which are specified for deployment configuration
to feed the cube. This occurs only between two subsequent cube processings, operational year configuration
of which (the number of years and their values) is the same. This option is introduced for saving processing
time.
• Rebuild only for the current financial year and on – Use this option to re-process starting from the
current fiscal year and also process any years defined in the future.
• Cube processing schedule – The last string in the top pane contains the parameters for cube processing
schedule. The first schedule option is cube processing frequency. Click the link to change the processing
frequency.
Available options:
• Monthly – In this case, click the next link to set the day of the month, when you want to process your
cube; and then set the time of the day.
• Weekly – In this case, click the link with the weekday name to select the day or days of the week, on
which you want to process your cube. Use CTRL to select several days. Click OK. Then set the time of the
day.
• Daily – In this case, set the time of the day, when you want to process your cube.
• Hourly – Use this option only for small cubes that can be reprocessed quickly. Processing time should be
less than one hour.
• On Standby – Use this option to deploy a cube with no processing schedule. When the On Standby option
is selected, the cube can only be processed manually.
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Error Checking
When you use the Cube Editor, different warnings can occur. Typically, they occur when you build and test, or
compile, user cubes near the end of the wizard. Following is a list of common compiler errors and warnings, and
their meanings.
Message Meaning
Unable to compile a user-defined business You defined a business definition but did not specify any
definition in the user cube. The user-defined standard (pre-defined) business definition, neither in the new
business definition has no predefined standard business definition’s Heritage nor in the new business
business definition, neither in its calculation nor definition’s Calculation. As a result, the compiler does not
in its heritage, to determine the physical data know where in the SQL database to get the value for the new
sublayer for value and linking to the other business definition, and does not know how to link this new
business definitions of the user cube. business definition to the others within the cube.
The business definition has empty formula The specified business definition has absolutely nothing in its
calculation and no heritage. Calculation and Heritage; therefore, the compiler does not
know what to get for its value. This usually happens with the
User Defined business definitions.
Unrelated business definitions found. Some of the cube’s business definitions cannot be bound
(SQL-linked) to the others so no relation between them is
known.
Cube contains only hollow business definitions. The cube either does not contain any Standard business
definitions, or, the Standard business definitions which the
cube uses cannot be used to bind the other business definitions
to them so they are not cube-centric. (These business definitions
are usually simple dimension levels such as dates.) The
cube-centric business definitions are certain measured numeric
values, for example, transaction amounts. Such cube-centric
business definitions should be used in cubes as measures.
You have unsaved changed in the user cube Save the changes that have been made.
design. Save them to disk first before deploying.
The structure of the user cube has failed There is a business definition that has a defined filter that is
validation. No successful user cube compilation defined incorrectly – it has the wrong number of operands.
has occurred. Internal error. The number of
formula operands in the logical comparison
object is different than the required two.
Comparison: Equal; Number of Operands: n
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Chapter 8 | Content Pack Editor Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
Chapter 8: Content Pack Editor
EPM Content Pack Editor is intended for creating content packs. A content pack is a set of predefined user cubes with
one or more canvases for each cube. Each Content Pack is created for a specific Epicor line of business. These content
packs are then deployed by means of the EPM Content Pack Deployer application.
Use Content Pack Editor to perform the following tasks:
• Create a new EPM content pack or edit an existing one.
• View and modify the structure of the EPM content pack.
• View and edit the EPM content pack properties.
• Save the EPM content pack with another name.
Launch Content Pack Editor

Use the following path to start the Content Pack Editor: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software > Epicor
Enterprise Performance Management > EPM Content Pack Editor.
The Content Pack Editor is also available from the context menu of a content pack file. Right-click a content pack
.bpk file and select Open with Epicor EPM Content Pack Editor.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Content Pack Editor | Chapter 8
Content Pack Editor User Interface
This section explores the Content Pack Editor interface.
1. You use the EPM Content Pack pane to view and edit each component of the content pack.
The EPM content pack structure displays as a tree. When you select the root node, the right pane displays
the settings you can define for the content pack. The User Cube Deployments node corresponds to a set of
user cubes included in the EPM content pack. The child nodes of the User Cube Deployments node correspond
to the user cubes. And the child nodes of each user cube node are the canvases assigned to each cube.
When you edit the EPM content pack structure, you can add or remove user cubes to and from the EPM
content pack. Likewise, you can add or remove canvases for each user cube. By default, an automatic canvas
is added for each user cube.
When you create a new EPM content pack, you edit the structure of the default empty content pack.
2. Select the content pack name in the EPM Content Pack pane.
3. The Basic section in the right pane displays the basic information on the EPM content pack you are viewing,
creating, or editing. You can edit this information.
4. The Name field displays the EPM content pack name.
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When you start Content Pack Editor, the field displays the name of the default EPM content pack. When
you open an existing EPM content pack, this field displays its name.
This is the EPM content pack name but not the EPM
content pack filename. You can edit this name in Content
Pack Editor.
5. Major Version and Minor Version fields display the EPM content pack version.
6. The Description field displays the EPM content pack description.

When you start the Content Pack Editor, the description of the default EPM content pack displays. When
you open an existing EPM content pack, this field displays its description.
7. The Built-in section in the right pane displays the EPM content pack properties that you cannot edit.
8. The UUID field displays the unique EPM content pack identifier and is read-only.
9. The Format Version field displays the EPM content pack format version and is read-only.
10. A cube is given a readable OLAP cube name inside of SSAS. This name is what users see when they select
a cube in EPM Performance Canvas, Microsoft® Excel® and other applications. Use the OLAP Naming options
to define how to generate the names for the cubes within the content pack. Available options:
• Globally Unique – Select this option to use the globally unique deployment ID. A globally unique
deployment ID identifies the deployment registration record in the Epicor EPM cube tracking database.
The server uses this deployment ID.
• Cube Unique – Select this option to use the user cube unique deployment ID. A cube unique deployment
ID is the user cube ID, which uniquely identifies the specific user cube. When a new user cube is created
with EPM Cube Editor and saved to file, a unique ID is generated and stored for that user cube.
11. You can deploy each of the user cubes within the content pack separated into a single isolated fact and set
of dimensions. Another option is to deploy a user cube so that it interacts with other deployed cubes. This
second approach implies that dimensions are shared between multiple cubes that are deployed separately
within EPM Server. In the OLAP Isolation section, select one of the following options:
• Standalone – Use this option to deploy your user cube separately from other cubes.
• Shared Database – Use this option to enable dimension sharing.
12. The Save EPM Content Pack File button is available after you make changes to the content pack parameters.
Click this button to save your changes.
13. In the File name field, enter the content pack file name.
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14. Click Save.
Content Pack Creation

You use Content Pack Editor to create your own content packs, which you can then share with others in your
company.
To build a content pack, you perform the following steps:
1. Create a new empty content pack.
2. Add a user cube or cubes to the content pack.
3. Add one or more canvases to each of the user cubes, in order to visualize the user cube deployment.
Create a Content Pack

To create a new content pack:
1. Start the EPM Content Pack Editor application.
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2. The Content Pack Editor opens to a default empty content pack My EPM Content Pack.
You can start editing it right away. Use it as a template for your new Content Pack.
3. If you are already working with a Content Pack in the Content Pack Editor and want to create a new pack,
from the File menu, select New or click the Create New EPM Content Pack button on the toolbar.
4. In the left pane, select My EPM Content Pack.
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5. In the right pane, in the Name field, enter the content pack name.
6. In the Description field, enter the content pack description.
7. On the toolbar, click Save EPM Content Pack File.
8. In the EPM Content Pack Editor – Save EPM Content Pack File As window, in the File name field, enter
the content pack name.
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9. Click Save.
You are back on the Content Pack Editor screen. Now add user cubes and canvases to your content pack.
Add Content to the Content Pack

To add user cubes and canvases to your content pack:
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1. In the EPM Content Pack pane, right-click the User Cube Deployments node and select Add > From
File to add a user cube to the EPM content pack.
2. In the EPM Content Pack Editor – Open User Cube File window, navigate to and select the user cube
to add to the EPM content pack.
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By default, the contents of the My Analysis folder display.
3. Click Open to add the selected user cube to the EPM content pack.
4. In the EPM Content Pack pane, select the user cube in the left pane.
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5. In the right pane, view its OLAP Naming and OLAP Isolation properties.
You cannot directly edit these properties.
6. To override these properties, select the Use individual OLAP naming or Use individual OLAP isolation
check boxes.
You can now edit the OLAP Naming and OLAP Isolation properties.
7. Click Save EPM Content Pack File.
8. From the menu, click Tools and select Show canvas.
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9. In the right pane, the Show canvas tab displays all the canvases from the Performance Canvas on the server
specified in the Server URL field.
10. In the right pane, select one or more canvases to add to the user cube in your content pack.
11. Drag and drop the selected canvas or canvases from the right pane to the EPM Performance Canvas node
underneath the user cube for which you want to add a canvas or canvases in the left pane.
You can select multiple canvases and drag them to a single cube.
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You can also add a cross-cube canvas. For details on cross

user cube canvases, refer to the Add a Cross User Cube
Canvas section.
12. A default canvas is automatically created for each user cube added to a content pack and includes all available
measures, dimensions, and dimension levels of the user cube. Automatic default canvases are marked with
the lock icon. Automatic canvases cannot be edited, only removed.
13. You can delete a user cube or canvas from the content pack. To do this, in the EPM Content Pack pane,
right-click the user cube or canvas and select Remove.
When you do this, the user cube file or canvas is not deleted; they are removed only from the EPM content
pack you are editing.
14. After you add all the user cubes and canvases to the content pack, click either the Save EPM Content Pack
File or the Save EPM Content Pack File As button on the toolbar.
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15. If you clicked the Save EPM Content Pack File As button, in the Save EPM Content Pack As window,
specify the content pack name.
16. Click Save
Cross User Cube Canvas
A cross user cube canvas uses data from multiple user cubes. A cross user cube canvas can use data from all the
user cubes that display in the EPM Content Pack pane under the User Cube Deployments node.
All cross user cube canvases display in the EPM Content Pack pane under the Cross User Cube Canvas node.
After you add a cross user cube canvas to a content pack, you specify the mapping between user cubes in the
cross user cube canvas and user cubes in the content pack. For example, the cross user cube canvas being added
includes User Cube 1 and User Cube 2, and the content pack contains the following user cubes: Cube A, Cube
B, and Cube C. When you configure a cross user cube canvas, you must specify the mapping between the user
cubes in the cross user cube canvas and the user cubes in the content pack. For example, you must select one
of the three user cubes (Cube A, Cube B, or Cube C) to use as User Cube 1 and one to use as User Cube 2.
You must define the mapping for all the user cubes in the cross user cube canvas; otherwise, you will not be able
to save and deploy the content pack.
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Add a Cross User Cube Canvas

To add a cross user cube canvas:
1. In the right pane, on the Show canvas tab, select the cross user cube canvas. MM1.POM.01.POBuyers cross
user cube canvas included in the Material Management content pack is added in this example.
2. Drag and drop the selected canvas from the right pane to the Cross User Cube Canvas node in the left
pane.
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3. In the EPM Content Pack pane under the Cross User Cube Canvas node, select the canvas you've just
added.
4. The cross user cube canvas properties display in the right pane on the Properties tab.
5. The Data Source field displays the GUID of the live cube on the server, which is a cube within a cross user
cube canvas. A user cube from the content pack is mapped to this cube.
6. Now you need to map the user cube in the cross user cube canvas to a user cube in the content pack. From
the User Cube list, select the user cube in the content pack you want to map to the user cube in the cross
user cube canvas, the name of which displays in the Data Source field.
7. The Cube UUID field displays the GUID of the user cube selected in the User Cube field.
8. The Cube Container field displays the cube container GUID. It is technical information.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Content Pack Deployer | Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Content Pack Deployer
EPM Content Pack Deployer is intended for deploying EPM content packs, created by means of the Content Pack Editor
application. Content Pack Deployer is a Windows®, wizard-style application for workstation users.
Use Content Pack Deployer to perform the following tasks:
• Deploy EPM content packs. During EPM content pack deployment, you can:
• View the structure of the content pack being deployed.
• Specify the EPM server parameters for the content pack deployment.
• Specify the EPM Performance Canvas server
• Create the deployment context for each user cube included in the content pack.
• Optionally process the deployed content pack
• Track deployment and processing progress.
• Re-deploy EPM content packs. During EPM content pack re-deployment, you can:
• Deploy a new copy of the Content Pack.
• Upgrade the deployed EPM content packs. During upgrade of the existing deployed content pack you can:
• Replace the existing deployment with a completely new one.
• Merge the new content pack deployment into the existing deployment:
• Overwrite the Canvases with the standard ones during Content Pack upgrade, or keep current canvases.
• Merge all or some of the cubes.
Launch Content Pack Deployer

Use the following path to start the EPM Content Pack Deployer: Start > All Programs > Epicor Software >
Epicor Enterprise Performance Management > EPM Content Pack Deployer.
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Chapter 9 | Content Pack Deployer Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
The Content Pack Deployer is also available directly from a content pack file or from the context menu of a
content pack file.
• Context Menu - You can use the context menu to open a content pack in Content Pack Deployer. Right-click
a content pack .bpk file and select Open with Epicor EPM Content Pack Deployer.
• Directly - You can double-click the .bpk content pack file to open the content pack in Content Pack Deployer
directly.
Content Pack Configuration and Deployment
This section reviews how to deploy and process a content pack and how to configure a content pack that is
already deployed.
You can perform three main operations by means of EPM Content Pack Deployer:
• Deploy EPM Content Pack
• Re-deploy an already deployed EPM Content Pack
• Upgrade an already deployed EPM Content Pack
Before you start any of these tasks, you should specify the basic content pack deployment information.
Specify Basic Content Pack Deployment Information

To start working with an EPM content pack in EPM Content Pack Deployer:
1. Launch the EPM Content Pack Deployer application. The Target Epicor EPM Server screen displays.
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2. In the Specify the Target EPM Server where the pack will be deployed field, specify the physical name
of the host Epicor EPM server.
EPM Content Pack Deployer uses this host name to access the server.
3. Click Next.
EPM Content Pack Deployer pings the Epicor EPM Server you specified. If it does not respond, the error
message displays. Otherwise, the Target Performance Canvas Server screen displays
4. On the Target Performance Canvas Server screen, select the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas
Dashboards check box to create the Performance Canvas visualizations for the EPM content pack.
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If this check box is cleared, no Performance Canvas visualizations will be created for the EPM content pack
during deployment. In this case, deployment of the user cubes included in the EPM content pack is done as
if the cubes are deployed by means of the EPM Cube Manager or EPM Server Management Console.
The Deploy EPM Performance Canvas Dashboards option is enabled by default.
5. If you selected the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas Dashboards check box, in the Specify the Performance
Canvas Server URL where Dashboards will be deployed field, select or enter the URL of the web server where
Performance Canvas is installed and the port number.
Use the <server name>:<port number> format. The default Performance Canvas port number is 89. By
default, this field displays the last used URL.
6. If the Performance Canvas installation you use requires authentication, click the Show security button to
provide the credentials.
7. In the User name and Password field, enter valid Performance Canvas credentials.
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8. If you selected the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas Dashboards check box, in the Specify the XMLA Web
Service URL to which Performance Canvas will connect to retrieve cube data field, select or type the
URL of the XMLA web service which is installed on IIS and to which Performance Canvas connects to retrieve
the cube data.
Use the <server name>:<port number> format. The default XMLA web service port number is 8064. By
default, this field displays the last used URL.
9. Click Next.
If you selected the Deploy EPM Performance Canvas Dashboards check box, EPM Content Pack Deployer
pings the Performance Canvas server and XMLA web service. If at least one does not respond, the error
message displays. Otherwise, the Select Content Pack screen displays.
10. Click the Browse button.
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If you started the Content Pack Deployer by opening a

content pack (.bpk file), this screen is already populated
for the opened pack and you do not have to perform the
selection steps 10 – 12.
11. In the Select EPM Content Pack dialog, navigate to and select the content pack file.
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12. Click Open.

EPM Content Pack Deployer loads the content pack file and checks if this content pack was deployed on
this server before. The Select the content pack to be deployed field displays the content pack you selected.
13. Review the content pack properties, structure and contents.

This information is read-only. It is taken from the EPM content pack's Properties and Structure sections; for
details refer to the description of the corresponding sections in EPM Content Pack Editor chapter.
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14. Review the message at the bottom of the Select Content Pack screen.
If this content pack was deployed on this machine before, the Found already deployed versions of the
pack. message displays at the bottom of the Select Content Pack screen. Otherwise, the No already
deployed versions of the pack found. message displays.
15. Click Next.
16. If this content pack was never deployed on this server before, the Application Context screen displays.
Refer to the Create Application Context section for further instructions.
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17. If this content pack was deployed on this server before, the Existing deployments screen displays.
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Refer to the Content Pack Re-deployment or Content Pack Upgrade section for further instructions.
Create Application Context

After you specify basic content pack deployment Information, you are taken to the Application Context screen.
On the Application Context screen, you can create or adjust EPM content pack application context. This context
will be used for all the user cubes in the content pack.
This screen design differs for various ERP systems. The screen is similar to the Cube Manager cube deployment
window.
To create content pack application context:
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1. On the Application Context screen, in the Application Database field, select the source database where
the pack will retrieve data.
2. Click the Get fiscal companies from the selected database button to load the list of companies from
the selected database.
As a result, the list of companies for this database displays.
3. Select the Deploy against all companies check box to deploy the user cubes from the content pack for
all the companies in the current database.
As a result, all the companies are selected, and you are not able to deselect any of them.
4. To deploy the content pack only for some selected companies, clear the Deploy against all companies
check box and select the required companies.
5. In the Report Currency field, select the report currency for the content pack deployment.
For each company, three report currencies and one base currency are defined in the Epicor ERP system.
The Report Currency field displays the list of currencies, which are defined in all the companies, selected for
deployment. If the Report Currency field is empty, and no options are available for selection in this field,
then the selected companies do not have common currencies. In this case, reduce the number of companies
for deployment. For example, if USD and EUR are defined for Company A, USD and RUR are defined for
Company B, and CAD is defined for Company C, then the Report Currency field is empty, when all three
companies are selected for deployment. If you select Company A and Company B, only USD is available in
the Report Currency field.
For details on the report currency, refer to Epicor ERP on-line documentation.
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6. Select the Deploy against all fiscal years check box to deploy your content pack for all financial years of
the current fiscal calendar.
As a result, all the financial years in the years list are selected, and you are not able to deselect any of them.
7. To deploy the content pack only for some selected fiscal years clear the Deploy against all fiscal years check
box and select the required financial years.
8. Click Next.
You should now specify deployment options such as Processing Schedule, Data Source Rebuild Type and
so on. Refer to the Specify Deployment Options section for further instructions.
Specify Deployment Options

After you specify basic content pack deployment Information, and create EPM content pack application context,
you are taken to the OLAP Isolation screen.
To specify deployment options for the EPM content pack:
1. On the OLAP Isolation screen, select one of the available options:

• Standalone – Use this option to deploy each user cube in the content pack separately from other cubes.
• Shared Database – Use this option to enable dimension sharing.
You can deploy the content pack user cubes so that each cube is separated into a single isolated fact table
and set of dimensions. Another option is to deploy the user cubes so that they interact. This second approach
implies that dimensions are shared between multiple cubes.
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2. Click Next.
3. On the Processing Schedule screen, define how often you want to process the content pack cubes.
• Monthly – Select the Day of Month when you want to process the cubes, and in the Starting at field,
specify the time when you want to process your cubes.
• Weekly – Select one or more Day of Week when you want to process the user cube, and in the Starting
at field, specify the time when you want to process your cubes.
• Daily – In the Starting at field, specify the time when you want to process your cubes.
• On Standby – Use this option to deploy content pack user cubes with no processing schedule. When
the On Standby option is selected, the cubes can only be processed manually.
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4. If you selected to process the cubes daily, monthly or weekly, in the Start cubes ... minutes apart field,
specify the interval between cubes processing.
5. Click Next.
6. On the Processing Options screen, select Data Source Rebuild Type. The following options are available:
• Rebuild only for the current fiscal year and on – Use this option to re-process starting from the
current fiscal year and also process any years defined in the future.
• Rebuild only for the last fiscal year – Use this option to consider only the data for the last financial
year when processing the content pack user cubes. This option saves processing time. During each
subsequent cube processing, EPM recollects information only for the last financial year, among those
specified for deployment configuration, to populate the content pack user cubes. This occurs only between
two subsequent cube processings for which the operational year configuration (the number of years and
their values) is the same.
• Rebuild for all fiscal years – Use this option to consider the data for all financial years when processing
the content pack user cubes. In this case, during each subsequent user cube processing, EPM recollects
information for all the financial years specified for deployment configuration to populate the content
pack user cubes.
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7. Click Next.
8. On the Date Format screen, select the Override cube dimension attribute settings check box to specify
a different date formatting.
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9. In the Style field, select one of the pre-defined date formats,
10. If none of the pre-defined date formats meets your requirements, in the Style field, select Custom.
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11. In the Format field, define your own date format.

Refer to the Format String section of the Cube Editor chapter for date field formatting options.
12. Click Next.
13. On the Link to Enterprise Search screen, select the Link cubes to Enterprise Search check box to create
search hyperlinks from within cube views.
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14. If you selected the Link cubes to Enterprise Search check box, in the Search URL field, specify the
Enterprise Search address.
15. Click Next.

The EPM content pack is now ready for deployment. Refer to the Deploy Content Pack section for further
instructions.
Deploy Content Pack

After you specify basic content pack deployment Information, create EPM content pack application context, and
specify deployment options, you are taken to the Review Deployment Options screen.
To deploy an EPM content pack:
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1. On the Review Deployment Options screen, review the information you provided for each user cube
from your content pack.
2. To view or adjust application context details and deployment options for one of the user cubes in the content
pack, select the user cube name in the table in the right pane.
3. In the Context column, click the Edit button.

You can define the application context and deployment options for one or several of the user cubes that
will be different from the application context and deployment options the other content pack user cubes
use.
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4. In the EPM Content Pack Deployer - Edit <ERP> Context window, perform all the necessary adjustments.
Refer to the Create Application Context and Specify Deployment Options sections for the detailed
description of the parameters available on this screen.
5. Click the Modify context button.
6. To the Context has been modified successfully message, click OK.
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7. Click Next.
8. On the Deploy screen, select the Process pack cubes after deployment check box to start processing
of the cubes in the content pack immediately after deployment.
The cube processing may take several minutes or even several hours depending on the cube complexity and
data source size.
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You may process the cubes later using EPM Cube Manager or EPM Server Management Console.
9. Click Deploy to start deployment and processing if the corresponding option is selected.
10. The wizard screen displays the deployment and processing progress. You can select each of the steps to
view detailed action description.
11. You cannot stop or interrupt the deployment process. To stop processing any time, close the wizard window.
464 10.2.400
manually. For details on how to flush the Performance Canvas cache, refer to Flush EPM Performance Canvas
Cache section.
12. After the EPM content pack deployment and processing, the The cubes from the EPM content pack have
been successfully deployed and processed message displays at the top of the Content Pack Deployer
screen.
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14. You can alternatively click the Deploy Another Pack button to deploy more content packs.
After successful completion of the wizard, Epicor highly

recommends that you wait several minutes before starting
Performance Canvas; otherwise, Canvas malfunction may
occur.
Flush EPM Performance Canvas Cache

You cannot stop or interrupt the content pack deployment process. To stop processing at any moment, close
the wizard window. This will not affect data consistency, but you have to flush the Performance Canvas cache
manually.
To flush the Performance Canvas cache:
1. Log into the local EPM Performance Canvas server as administrator.
2. In the Navigation pane, click the Admin Console link.
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3. On the General tab, click the Flush cache button.
Content Pack Re-Deployment
This section reviews how to re-deploy a content pack that is already deployed.
You can deploy an additional copy of a content pack that was already deployed on the same EPM server before.
After you specify basic content pack deployment Information and select a content pack file in EPM Content Pack
Deployer, on the Select Content Pack screen you receive a notification in case the pack was already deployed,
even if it has a different version. On the next step, Content Pack Deployer prompts you to decide if you want to
upgrade the existing content pack or deploy a copy.
You can also use EPM Server Management Console to re-deploy

a content pack. For more information, review the EPM Server
Chapter.
Re-deploy a Content Pack

To re-deploy an EPM content pack:
1. On the Existing Deployments screen, select Deploy an additional copy of the content pack.
This additional deployment will not be coupled to already deployed versions, it's a new deployment.
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2. Click Next.
3. The Application Context screen displays.
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Follow the regular procedure to deploy a content pack:
1. Create EPM content pack application context.
2. Specify deployment options.
3. Deploy the content pack.
Refer to the Create Application Context section for the detailed instructions.
Content Pack Upgrade
This section reviews how to upgrade a content pack that is already deployed.
You can upgrade an existing content pack deployment in EPM Content Pack Deployer.
After you specify basic content pack deployment Information and select a content pack file in EPM Content Pack
Deployer, on the Select Content Pack screen you receive a notification in case the pack was already deployed,
even if it has a different version. On the next step, Content Pack Deployer prompts you to decide if you want to
upgrade the existing content pack or deploy a copy. Later you can select to overwrite all the current canvases
within the content pack with the standard ones during content pack upgrade.
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During Content Pack upgrade in EPM Content Pack Deployer you can only merge the complete content pack;
you cannot merge individual cubes. Use the EPM Server Management Console to manually merge cube by cube.
You can also use EPM Server Management Console to view all
the EPM content pack deployments which were deployed on
the selected EPM server and to manage content packs.
Define Upgrade and Deployment Options

When you upgrade an EPM content pack, you first select upgrade options and deployment options.
1. On the Existing Deployments screen, select Upgrade the existing content pack(s).
2. Click Next.
3. On the Upgrade Options screen, select one of the available options:

• Delete the existing content pack(s) and replace with the new content pack
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• Merge the existing content pack(s) with the new content pack
4. Click Next.
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5. On the Review Deployment Options screen, in the middle pane, review the list of the existing deployments
of the same content pack.
6. Select the deployment that you want to replace or to which you want to merge the new deployment.
7. In the right pane, review the deployment information for each user cube from the selected content pack
deployment.
8. If you selected to merge the existing content pack with the new content pack, in the table in the right pane,
you can view OLAP isolation and naming, scheduling and application context for each user cube in the
content pack. This information is read only.
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9. To view the OLAP isolation and naming for one of the user cubes in the content pack, in the table in the
right pane, in the cube row, click the cell in the OLAP Name column.
OLAP isolation and OLAP naming options display. You cannot change these settings.
10. To view the application context details for one of the user cubes in the content pack, in the cube row, in
the Context column, click the View button.
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11. In the View <ERP> Context window, review the user cube application context and EPM context.
12. Close the View <ERP> Context window.
13. If you selected to replace the previous content pack deployments, on the Review Deployment Options
screen, you can change the content pack deployment name.
474 10.2.400
14. If you selected to replace the previous content pack deployments, on the Review Deployment Options
screen, you can as well adjust OLAP isolation and naming, scheduling and application context for each user
cube in the content pack.
15. To adjust OLAP isolation and naming for one of the content pack user cubes, in the table in the right pane,
in the cube row, click the cell in the OLAP Name column.
16. Select the required OLAP isolation and OLAP naming options.
For detailed description of OLAP isolation options refer to the Specify Deployment Options section.
17. To view or adjust application context for one of the user cubes in the content pack, in the cube row, in the
Context column, click the Edit button.
For one or several of the user cubes, you can define the application context and deployment options that
will be different from the application context and deployment options the other content pack user cubes
use.
18. In the EPM Content Pack Deployer – Edit <ERP> Context window, perform all the necessary adjustments
and click the Modify context button.
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Refer to the Create Application Context and Specify Deployment Options sections for the detailed
description of the parameters available on this screen.
19. To the Context has been modified successfully message, click OK.
The content pack is now ready for upgrade. Refer to Upgrade Content Pack section for further instructions.
Upgrade Content Pack

To upgrade an EPM content pack:
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1. On the Review Deployment Options screen, click Next.
2. On the Deploy screen, select the Process pack cubes after deployment check box to start processing of
the cubes in the content pack immediately after deployment.
The cube processing may take several minutes or even several hours depending on the cube complexity and
data source size.
You may process the cubes later using EPM Cube Manager or EPM Server Management Console.
10.2.400 477
3. If you selected to replace the existing content pack, select the Delete deployed pack canvases check box
to replace the canvases from the previous content pack with the new canvases.
4. Click Deploy to start deployment and processing if the corresponding option is selected.
5. The wizard screen displays the deployment and processing progress. You can select each of the steps to
view detailed action description.
6. You cannot stop or interrupt the deployment process. To stop processing any time, close the wizard window.
manually. For details on how to flush the Performance Canvas cache, refer to Flush EPM Performance Canvas
Cache section.
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7. After the EPM content pack deployment and processing, the The cubes from the EPM content pack have
been successfully deployed and processed message displays at the top of the Content Pack Deployer
screen.
9. You can alternatively click the Deploy Another Pack button to deploy more content packs.
After successful completion of the wizard, Epicor highly

recommends that you wait several minutes before starting
Performance Canvas; otherwise, Canvas malfunction may
occur.
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Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide Index
Index
A create deployment context 83
create glossary definitions 340
add a calculated measure 397 cross user cube canvas 440
add a cross user cube canvas 441 cube editor interface 349
add a dimension 323 cube management 102
add a filter expression 304 cube manager interface 98
add a geography dimension 345 cube templates 312
add a new definition 299
add a new dimension 405
add a remote host 40
D
add a user account 28 dashboards across multiple cubes 256
add a user cube to create a cube template 312 dashboards for microsoft sharepoint 280
add a user group 30 data flow 17
add a value expression 304 data warehousing and online analytical processing (olap) 13
add an existing dimension attribute 409 define a refresh schedule 106
add an existing measure 387 define table gem properties 238
add an initializer 329 define upgrade and deployment options 470
add and maintain hierarchies 414 define user cube deployment context 113
add content to the content pack 434 delete a cube deployment 125
add or remove measures 385 deploy a content pack 78, 89
add table join 320 deploy a user cube 58, 111
adjust operational settings 94 deploy a user cube for epicor erp 111
deploy content pack 460
B dimensions 322, 405
dimensions selection 361
build a sales head user cube 340 download a cube from the server 123
business data dictionary management 41 download a user cube 75
business definition parameters 366 dspdemosales and dspdemosalesmeasure cubes not listed 173
C E
canvas designer interface 177 edit a canvas 198
canvas publication 254 edit a gem 240
canvases 171 epicor epm content 19
change processing schedule 65 epicor epm server management console 24
change the glossary version 338 epm glossary 282
check user cube status 55 epm tools 20
classify folders 208 error checking 127, 427
communication 38 exclude performance canvas from mcafee scan 165
connect to sql server analysis services 138 explore data 144
connect to ssas in excel 148 expressions 304
connect to the source database 291
content pack configuration and deployment 444
content pack creation 431
F
content pack editor user interface 429 find the port that performance canvas installation uses 161
content pack re-deployment 467 flush epm performance canvas cache 466
content pack upgrade 469 format string 378
create a calculated measure 222
create a calculated measure with an olap calculation 305
create a chart gem 225 G
create a content pack 431
create a folder structure for canvases 204 gems 216
create a sample glossary 339 generate the user cube 347
create a table gem 232 glossary definition attributes 302
create application context 452 glossary definitions 299
create canvas - typical scenario 201 glossary designer overview 282
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Index Epicor Enterprise Performance Management 10 User Guide
glossary designer user interface 287 redeploy a user cube 72

glossary development process 285 redeploy an olap cube deployment 121
glossary generation 333 remove a dimension 412
glossary generation options 334 restrict access to an epm canvas 271
glossary version management 337 return to the anonymous security model 268
group slicers on the filter block 250 run (or process) a cube deployment 118
run (or process) a user cube on demand 71
I
S
import a license file 34
install a custom bdd 43 sample glossary creation 339
save canvas as a pdf or microsoft powerpoint file 198
security 26
L server deployment layouts 16
launch content pack deployer 443 set up basic authentication security model 261
launch content pack editor 428 set up ntlmv2 security model 265
launch cube editor 349 slicers 243
launch cube manager 98 specify basic content pack deployment information 444
launch the glossary designer 287 specify deployment options 454
licensing 33 ssas cube as a datasource in microsoft excel 148
load sample datasource cubes 172
T
M table joins 319
manage viewpoints 192 templates 350
measures 385 terms 21
measures selection 354 testing and troubleshooting 336
mobile dashboards 274 the analysis tool interface 220
multidimensional data 14 the lifecycle of a cube 110
O U
olap cubes 14 upgrade content pack 476
oltp processing 285 use a calculation template 306
oltp processing – custom pre-processors and extension tables use calculation wizard 390
328 use gems 183
oltp table relationships 285 use slicers 179
open a viewpoint 194 use the cube compiler test bed (cctb) tool 127
open an OLAP cube 141 user accounts 26
open sample canvas 178 user cube compilation 418
operational settings 93 user cube deployment 422
user cube deployment parameters 425
user cube management 55
P user cube template parameters 316
user groups 30
package management 76
performance canvas access options 160
performance canvas does not open 164 V
performance canvas interface 169
performance canvas overview 158 view canvas information 195
performance canvas security 260 view content pack status 76
performance canvas terms and definitions 159 view cube properties and status details 102
print a canvas 197 view data in excel 151
view epm server management console 25
view the cube data 345
R view the underlying cube metadata 196
view the user cube deployment status 103
receive the url of the canvas with filters 196 view user accounts and adjust properties 27
reconfigure a cube 120 view user group roles 32
redeploy a content pack 467 viewing a cube in microsoft sql server management studio 138
482 10.2.400
Additional information is available at the Education and
Documentation areas of the EPICweb Customer Portal. To access
this site, you need a Site ID and an EPICweb account. To create an
account, go to http://support.epicor.com.

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Epicor Enterprise Performance

Management 10 User Guide

Chapter 1: EPM Concepts and Tools...............................................................13

Chapter 2: EPM Server.....................................................................................24

Chapter 3: Cube Manager...............................................................................98

Chapter 4: Viewing an SSAS Cube with Microsoft SQL Server

Chapter 5: Performance Canvas...................................................................158

Exclude Performance Canvas from McAfee Scan............................................................................165

Chapter 6: Glossary Designer.......................................................................282

Glossary Designer Overview.........................................................................................................................282

Test Glossary Definitions.......................................................................................................................342

Chapter 7: Cube Editor..................................................................................349

Chapter 8: Content Pack Editor....................................................................428

Chapter 9: Content Pack Deployer...............................................................443

Launch Content Pack Deployer....................................................................................................................443

About Epicor Software Corporation

Epicor Worldwide Headquarters

Chapter 1: EPM Concepts and Tools

Data Warehousing and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

3. Hierarchies – In contrast to two-dimensional structures, multidimensional structures are represented as

In summary, OLAP cubes fulfill the goals of data warehousing by providing:

• Historical data analysis

Server Deployment Layouts

The following deployment is optimal for external access.

Epicor EPM Content

For installation instructions and information on Epicor EPM

Chapter 2: EPM Server

Epicor EPM Server Management Console

• Monitor the status of each deployed user cube

View EPM Sever Management Console

The product license must be imported before user accounts

View User Accounts and Adjust Properties

2. Select the Users folder.

3. In the results pane, the list of user accounts displays.

4. Right-click a user account.

5. From the context menu, select Properties.

Add a User Account

2. Right-click the Users folder and select New User.

4. Click OK to add the user.

Add a User Group

2. Right-click the Groups folder and select New Group.

4. Click OK to add the group.

View User Group Roles

2. Select the Groups node.

4. From the Actions menu, select Properties.

Import a License File

3. Extract the license files from the ZIP archive.

4. In the Tree View, expand the Epicor EPM Server node.

5. Select the License node.

The license file is a conventional file with the .lic extension.

2. Right-click Epicor EPM Server node, and select Properties.

4. To the message, click OK.

Clicking OK is similar to clicking Apply and then Cancel.

Add a Remote Host

2. Select All Tasks > Add remote host.

Business Data Dictionary Management

In most installations, the EPM Content Installation program

2. Right-click the <Host Name> node.