OneStream is a platform with many functionalities. How do you get the most out of these functionalities? Managing such a platform requires - in addition to technical skills - a lot of knowledge about how to set up the system. In the first part of this blog, experienced Performance Management consultant Marc Roest discussed three of the best MarketPlace management solutions currently available. Today, he discusses two more solutions. Which solutions should every OneStream system administrator use? And why?
In the previous blog "Top 5 OneStream MarketPlace admin solutions - part one," we discussed the Log Cleaner, Snippet Editor and Dimension Comparison Utility. This second part of the post describes the following solutions:
- Sample Import Templates (IMT) - PV420-SV100
- Diagnostics 123 (OSD) - PV500-SV102
1. Sample Import Templates
Another MarketPlace solution that is not imported into OneStream, at least initially. OneStream is a platform that runs on Microsoft and therefore all data and settings are stored in a set of SQL databases. As an administrator, you often need large amounts of changes, and for those changes, updating the application manually is too time-consuming.
Many components within OneStream have export and import functionality to handle larger changes. To help the administrator, OneStream has bundled a number of sample files in this marketplace solution that can be used to make updates in the system.
The download file contains a zip file focused on the relational blending side of the application, in this case employee scheduling, but the templates can be used for many other purposes. The zip also contains a sample script to create a custom table in the OneStream database to use in your relational blending solution.
Every Excel file works with a named range, based on the first three letters of this named range, OneStream understands what to do. In this case, XFT means updating a table directly from the Excel. The formatting of such an Excel must exactly match the specifications of the fields in the table, which is why these templates are so useful.
The second zip in the solution contains regular templates to import CellDetail, forms and journals. The templates also contain a few sample lines so it is clear what should be entered in each column.
Advantages and disadvantages of Sample Import Templates
Advantages
+ Easy to use
+ Good examples of different ways to import data/artifacts
Cons
- Explanations of name ranges and settings are not included. This can be found in the Design and Reference Guide (Chapter3).
No installation is required, just unzipping the zip files. Therefore, I classify this solution as plug-and-play (see my earlier post on classifications in the MarketPlace solutions).
2. Diagnostics 123
If you are an administrator with a technical interest in addition to your functional approach, this solution is also a must-have. The Diagnostics 123 MarketPlace solution provides a central place to monitor and diagnose the health and performance of your environment. According to the documentation, it provides:
- Detailed analysis of environment snapshots on application and database servers.
- Live monitoring on application and database servers.
- Detailed task analysis including task currency, statistics and counts.
- Recycling application servers.
In addition to the general database server settings that apply to many MarketPlace solutions - and must be adjusted by your (technical) administrator/installation partner if this has not been done in the past - this solution requires some additional technical settings.
To give OneStream access to the necessary information about your server and databases, the SQL Server account running OneStream needs 'View Server State Permission granted' and a local administrator on the server to recycle application servers.After that, all you need to do is import the zip file, open the dashboard where you can create the tables and start the solution.
On the initial screen, you can select three options to analyze the system:
In ENV, you can take, analyze and compare snapshots of your system's performance. Standard reports are available to further analyze your snapshots.
From this page, the server can also be recycled, with the user able to do so smartly (automatically when there is no user activity) or forcefully (terminate all running processes).
In TASK, there is a graphical display of performed tasks. The dashboard is very dynamic through the use of filters and check boxes, allowing you to create exactly the overview you need.
LIVE shows the current environment and task health. Standard reports are available to further analyze your monitoring sessions. Many tasks can also be automated using data management tasks.
Advantages and disadvantages of Diagnostics 123
Benefits
+ One view of the performance of your entire environment
+ Highly dynamic dashboards that give you exactly the information you need
+ Data management steps needed for automation are included with the solution
Cons
- To fully utilize this solution, you need some more configuration and task scheduling- To fully utilize this solution, you need some more configuration and task scheduling
Setup is described in detail in the documentation and no scripting is required. Standard use can be done by the (functional) administrator. If you really want to use this solution, scheduled snapshots and more configuration are required. Therefore, I classify this solution as admin configurable (see my earlier post on classifications in the MarketPlace solutions).
