1. Finance Data Mart Data Training
January, 2003

2. Contents Introduction and Training Objectives Brio Products Overview
Brio Portal and Brio Insight Overview
Brio Portal Username and Password
Database Username and Password
Information Sharing
Data Access
Security Summary
Security Details
Executive Dashboard Overview
Published BQYs
Data
Star Schemas
Meta Topics – Simplified Data Access
OLM Fact Definitions and Usage
Brio Essentials
Data Warehouse Team Contacts

3. Training Objectives
The goal of the session is to provide attendees with a basic understanding of data within the Finance Data Mart.
Upon completion of the training, attendees should be able to perform the following tasks:
Download the Brio Insight plug-in
Retrieve and analyze data from published BQYs
Create their own queries from Brio meta topics and star schemas

4. Brio Products Overview
Brio Desktop User (i.e., Brio Explorer, or Designer)
Data Warehouse
Connects to the DW without Portal
Brio Portal
Finance Data Mart
Position Control Data Mart
Portal and Insight are also available to Desktop users via the Web
Brio Insight User
Other Data Marts
Brio Insight
Web
Folders, Published Documents, Personalized Content, Dashboards
Connects to the DW with Insight and Portal via the Web
Each user will have separate Portal and database usernames and passwords. The Portal login provides the user with access to published content based on a security profile. The database login is necessary to extract data from the Data Warehouse.

5. Brio Portal and Brio Insight Overview
Allows users to access published documents (e.g., BQYs, Brio manuals, training documents) and personalize their content
Brio Insight:
Web-based query, analysis, and reporting tool available via Brio Portal
Brio Insight is a browser plug-in that allows users to extract, analyze, and report on data from the Data Warehouse

6. Brio Portal and Brio Insight Overview
Getting started with Portal and Insight:
The link below brings you to a document that provides detailed instructions for accessing Brio Portal and downloading Brio Insight

7. Brio Portal Username and Password
The Data Warehouse team will provide you with a Portal username and password
Change your Portal password after your initial login:
The link below brings you to a document that provides detailed instructions for changing your Portal password:

8. Database Username and Password
The Data Warehouse team will provide you with a database username and password
Change your database password after your initial login:
The link below brings you to a document that provides detailed instructions for changing your database password:

9. Information Sharing Insight User Insight User Explorer, Designer User
A BQY document created and saved with Insight is compatible with Explorer and Designer
Explorer, Designer User
Explorer, Designer User
A BQY document created and saved with Explorer or Designer is not compatible with Insight.
To share with Insight users, desktop users should export results to Excel or use Insight to create a BQY document that can be shared.
BQY documents can be ed or placed in a shared directory. A BQY document that is frequently used by multiple users may also be published to the Portal. Contact the DW team for publishing guidelines.

10. Data Access - Overview High
Cabinet, Deans, Department Chairs, Center Directors
Department Financial Managers
Finance Administration,
Portfolio Financial Managers
High

11. Data Access - Security Summary
Portal security via user id and password
Brio documents secured based on user role and profile
Data secured based on user role and profile

12. Data Access – Security Details
Data Base security applies to all individuals given either direct access to the warehoused data or given permissions to process Brio dynamic reports
Financial Managers and the Management of Organizations will have access to the warehoused Financial data based on the following criteria:
All financials posted against that Organization
All funds listing that Organization as a home Organization
All funds listing the PI (or the Financial Manager) associated with that Org as Fund Financial Manager. (This resolves the Multi-disciplinary issue)
All funds and orgs listing that Org as a predecessor in either one of the above three cases.
Administrative role: Individuals may be granted access to additional funds and orgs based on their needs and their role within Rensselaer.

13. Executive Dashboard Overview
Accessed via the Portal
High-level, graphical views of Portfolio-specific data
Designed primarily for executive use, though available to other users as well
Currently, there are two dashboards:
Financial Analysis
Research and Grants
Comprised of monthly summary data, refreshed periodically

14. Executive Dashboard Overview
At the portfolio level, we pre-populate the dashboards with data
At the Department level, users must process to see data:
To process each dashboard, it is currently necessary to login (with a database password) more than once. This is because there is more than one query in each dashboard.

15. Published BQYs
There are several pre-built Brio Insight documents (i.e., BQYs) available on the Portal for Finance Data Mart users.
To find them, click on the Browse tab in the Portal and navigate to the Finance Data Mart folder within the Data Warehouse folder.
Click on a document to open it and Insight starts automatically.

16. Published BQYs
Published Insight BQYs were developed by members of Finance and the DW team. They reflect our estimation of what users want to see.
Publishing BQYs is an ongoing process. As the rollout progresses, publishing will be more user-driven.

17. Published BQYs Subscribe Document Title Description SmartCut
Date Published
Brio Document Access Privilege

18. Published BQYs Brio Document Privileges Data Model and Query
The highest privilege level with abilities to see the table catalog, build queries, process, and analyze (i.e., drill)
Query and Analyze
Able to query (i.e., add new fields), process, and drill
Analyze and Process
Has the ability to process and drill
Analyze
Able to drill into existing data, but not process
View and Process
Has the ability to process (i.e., refresh) static data
View
The basic privilege level with static views only

19. Published BQYs Brio Document Section Naming Standards:
EIS: Executive Information System
Q: Query
R: Results
P: Pivot Table
C: Chart
RPT: Report

20. Data: Star Schemas
In the Data Warehouse, data is organized in Star Schemas
Star Schemas are:
Intuitive for developers and end-users
Designed for analysis and efficient performance

21. Data: Star Schemas
Definition: A Star Schema is comprised of one Fact table joined to one or more Dimension tables through Key fields

22. Data: Star Schemas
A Star Schema is comprised of one Fact table joined to one or more Dimension tables through Key fields
Join: A link between a fact table and a dimension table.
Key: A numeric field that identifies rows in fact and dimension tables.
Dimension Table: A table that describes the facts (e.g., expenditures by fund, account, etc.).
Fact Table: The central table in a Star Schema. It contains numeric performance measurements, i.e., facts. For example, revenue, expenditure, and encumbrance amounts are facts.

23. Data: Star Schemas The Finance Data Mart contains 5 Star Schemas
GLM: General Ledger Monthly summary
OLM: Operational Ledger Monthly summary
OLT:
Operating Ledger Transactions detail – Actuals
Operating Ledger Transactions detail – Budgets
Operating Ledger Transactions detail – Commitments
Extensive information about the Data Warehouse and Star Schemas is available at:

24. Finance Data Mart Tables
Data: Star Schemas
Finance Data Mart Tables
Each table name includes a three-character acronym (GLM, OLM, OLT) that describes which Star Schema it belongs to. In addition, table names include the words FACT or DIM (dimension) to indicate what kind of table it is.
GLM: General Ledger Monthly summary
OLM: Operational Ledger Monthly summary
OLT: Operational Ledger Transaction details

25. Data: Star Schemas - Big Picture
Finance Data Mart Tables
Data mart tables are the building blocks of Star Schemas.
A Data Mart contains data tables from a single business process, e.g., Finance.
A Data Warehouse is a centralized repository where operational data is arranged for query, analysis, and ease-of-use. A Data Warehouse is comprised of one or more Data Marts

26. Data: Meta Topics
Meta Topic
A Meta Topic is a simplified display of a Star Schema.
Star Schema
Fact and Dimension tables are rolled into one table where the fields are separated by category headings. Generally, a Meta Topic will contain a subset of the important items for analysis.

27. Data: OLM Fact Definitions and Usage
Schema / Meta Topic
Fact
Definition
Usage
OLM
Annual Budget Amount
Annual budget amounts submitted to the Budget office as the full funds budget for the fiscal year. In the case of all research, endowment income, gift and designated funds, the amount expected to be spent within the fiscal year.
Comparison by fiscal years; comparison against expenditures and commitments
Project YTD Revenue Budget Amount
Primarily used by finance administration to hold the anticipated revenue budget for the fund.
Not used by campus, only finance administration.
Project YTD Budget Amount
Represents the prior year ending balance plus any current YTD budget changes.
Budget vs. Expenditures by fund for a fiscal year.
Project ITD Revenue Budget Amount
Primarily used by finance administration to hold the cumulative revenue budget for the fund.

28. Data: OLM Fact Definitions and Usage
Schema / Meta Topic
Fact
Definition
Usage
OLM
Project ITD Budget Amount
Represents cumulative expense budget over the life of a project.
Budget vs. Expenditures by fund over the life of the fund. Do NOT use for unrestricted funds
Revenue
Recognized income prior to deductions.
Comparative analysis
Expenditure Amount
A payment, or the promise of a future payment
Transfer Amount
Amount moved between funds
Transfers function similar to expenditures
Encumbrance Amount
Represents requisition amounts that have been turned into purchase orders, and any other actual and/or anticipated commitments of funds (e.g., tuition encumbrance against research funds)
Commitment Amount
Represents the sum of Reservation & Encumbrance Amounts.

29. Data: OLM Fact Definitions and Usage
Schema / Meta Topic
Fact
Definition
Usage
OLM
ITD Reservation Amount
Represents amounts reserved to be spent (i.e. purchase requisitions) over the life of the fund
Comparative analysis
ITD Encumbrance Amount
Represents requisition amounts that have been turned into purchase orders and any other actual and anticipated commitments of funds (e.g. tuition encumbrance against research funds) over the life of the fund.
ITD Commitment Amount
Represents the sum of Reservation & Encumbrance Amounts over the life of the fund.

30. Data: Brio Essentials Data Functions on Numeric Facts:
You must either use a data function like Sum, OR change the data type to Real.
The default data type is Automatic, however, there is a Brio bug that causes nulls to be returned instead of valid data.
Right-click on a request line item to add a data function
Use the Item Properties to change the data type

31. DW Team: Contact Information
Data Warehouse team contacts:
Keith Cushing (Brio training, data analysis)
Phone:
Christa Wilary (Brio installations, user setup)
Phone:
User Community
Help, Issues, Changes, etc…