Now that 11.1.

2 has been rolled out and put to use, its time to do a little refle
ction on the new features that have been added in this release. This post will c
over the significant changes made to Essbase.
ASO-Specific Changes
Several of the changes included in this release help Aggregate Storage Databases
make up significant ground on Block Storage Databases in terms of functionality
. First, ASO cubes now support allocations. Allocations can be performed based o
n a set value, proportionately, or spread evenly.
1. Allocations can be written in MaxL using the EXECUTE ALLOCATION command
2. Allocations can also be written with the Essbase API using EssPerformAlloc
ationAso and providing the information in the ESS_PERF_ALLOC_T API structure
The second big addition for ASO databases is the ability to utilize custom calcu
lations. There are two ways to write these calculations:
1. Custom calculations can be written in MaxL using the EXECUTE CALCULATION c
ommand
2. Custom calculations can also be written with the Essbase API using EssPerf
ormCustomCalcASO and providing the information in the ESS_PERF_CUSTCALC_T struct
ure
Two important notes regarding this new feature:
1. These calculations are only available for level-0 members
2. Calculations for ASO cubes cant be executed from EAS in the same way that B
SO calculations can
Another ASO related addition is the supported conversion of both non-Unicode and
Unicode BSOs to ASOs.
Monitor Progress of Data Loads and Dimension Builds
When using asynchronous data loads and dimension builds, users can now query the
system for the following information:
State and stage of the build/load process
Number of processed and rejected records
Name and location of the error file
Error and Exception Handling
You can now use the @RETURN function in calc scripts to exit the calculation wit
h customized error messages based on conditions specified within the IF ELSEIF ca
lculation.
The MaxL shell IfError command can be used to detect syntactical, nested script,
and permission errors. The command accepts a non-zero argument and allows you t
o exit the script or continue processing.
Alias Tables
Alias tables have been updated to allow 32 different tables to be used for a giv
en cube as opposed to the old limit of 10. While it is uncommon to have more tha
n 10 alias tables for a single cube, it is possible and therefore is a nice addi
tion.
Multiple language codes are also supported for a single alias table. These codes
are cleared when an alias table is cleared or copied (cleared in the copy), and
preserved when a table is renamed.
Dynamic Write-back
While Essbase has allowed users to pull data from other cubes using the @XREF fu
nction, there hasnt been a simple way to write to those cubes. Well this release
includes a feature that was created to do just that. The @XWRITE function was ad
ded to allow users to write to blocks other than the ones being calculated. Thes
e blocks can be in the same database, or in a remote database.
Metadata Export to XML
Metadata can be extracted from an outline file or the active database outline in
to an XML. This allows users to compare outlines more easily, as well as track c
hanges more effectively. The MaxL statement EXPORT OUTLINE has been added to sup
port this export.