Hyperion to Tighten Integration

Hyperion Solutions Corp. plans a major release of its Essbase online analytical processing server later this year as part of a plan to improve integration of its business intelligence and performance management applications and to simplify the release schedules of those applications.

By the end of the year, Hyperion will deliver Version 7.0 of Essbase XTD, which will have a new feature called Interoperability Services that will allow all Hyperion applications that leverage Essbase to share a common metadata layer. While Hyperion applications can exchange data and share a common user interface, Interoperability Services will allow them to share the same reporting definitions and structures, officials said.

Sandra Youngblood, at Bass Pro Outdoors Online LLC, in Springfield, Mo., looks forward to Version 7.0s metadata integration upgrades. "It should make it easier to retain data for different applications," said the payroll/productivity specialist. "You will be able to get into deeper levels of data much more quickly."

Hyperion also plans to add an improved administrative console in Version 7.0 to make the software easier to deploy and manage. Other planned features include some basic data mining capabilities for predictive analytics, as well as a framework to support integration of more advanced data mining technologies from vendors such as SAS Institute Inc. and SPSS Inc.

New in Essbase XTD 7.0 Interoperability Services for common metadata layer Improved administrative console Basic data mining capabilities for predictive analytics Framework for integration of more advanced data mining Event triggering for alerting of changes to data

Essbase XTD 7.0 will also get new event-triggering capabilities to alert users of changes in Essbase data, as well as guided analytics capabilities, Hyperion Chief Technology Officer John Kopcke said. "Rather than just drilling down into the data, itll change the way you look at information," Kopcke said. "Youll be able to see what makes sense in the context of the business."

Hyperion, of Sunnyvale, Calif., will also change its release schedule, moving from point releases to synchronous releases. The company will release applications at one time, rather than have some applications in the same family further along in point releases than other applications. The 7.0 release of Essbase will line up with the 3.5 release of the Hyperion applications so that the 3.5 applications will leverage the capabilities in Essbase 7.0.

Hyperion users welcome the simplified release schedule. "It can be a struggle to have all your applications integrated and know youre moving in the right direction," said Youngblood.