Integrations → XLCubed

About XLCubed

Integrating XLCubed with Incorta enables you to query Incorta business views and embed XLCubed published reports and charts into Incorta dashboards.

XLCubed is a standalone add-in from Fluence Technologies, used in Microsoft Excel. It helps business users create reports and dashboards and analyze and explore data without any programming experience by connecting to different data sources. You can also build pixel-perfect planning and budgeting models.

Using the XLCubed add-in, you can build several reports in Excel, such as the following:

  • Income statements
  • Budget variance analysis
  • Several other financial statements using pre-built templates

Prerequisites

Requirements include:

  • Windows operating system
  • A license to use XLCubed with Incorta
  • Microsoft Excel installed
  • Incorta version 5.2 or higher
  • XLCubed Excel and web editions installed
  • Valid licenses for both XLCubed Excel and web editions
Important

You must install the XLCubed web edition if you want to embed XLCubed reports in an Incorta dashboard.

Note

To disable displaying instructions about connecting XLCubed to Incorta, ask your Cluster Management Console (CMC) administrator to disable it under Default Tenant ConfigurationsExternal Visualization ToolXLCubed.

XLCubed installation and licensing

To use XLCubed with Incorta, download and install the following:

Note

Incorta provides a 28-day XLCubed trial license. For a permanent license, contact your Incorta account executive.

Installation

Use the following steps to install the Incorta XLCubed Excel edition:

  1. Unzip the downloaded file.
  2. Make sure Microsoft Excel is closed.
  3. Install the XLCubed executable .exe file from the unzipped folder.
  4. Open Excel.

You’ll notice a new tab called XLCubed in the Excel ribbon.

To install the XLCubed web edition, refer to the XLCubed Web Edition Installation Guide.

Licensing

Upload the license to use XLCubed with Incorta.

  1. In the Excel ribbon, select the XLCubed tab, then Extras > Licensing.
  2. Select Activate.
  3. Browse to the location where you saved the license.license file.
  4. Select Apply License.
  5. Restart Excel.

Now you can see the XLCubed tab renamed to Incorta.

Important

To purchase the permanent license, please contact your Incorta account executive.

Using XLCubed with Incorta

Here are some XLCubed references to familiarize yourself with XLCubed and how to use it:

Important terms

Use the following table to map the terminologies between XLCubed and Incorta.

XLCubedIncorta
DatabasesTenants
CubesSchemas
User IDTenant username
PasswordTenant password

Sample data connection

You can use the sample dataset Incorta provides to try out XLCubed with Incorta before using your own data.

To connect to the sample data, follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. In the Excel ribbon, select the Incorta tab.
  3. Select Connections > Connections > Add.
  4. Select the New Connection tab.
  5. From the left pane, select Incorta sample data.
  6. Select the database and cube.
  7. Select OK.

Connect XLCubed to Incorta

Configure Incorta in the MS Excel XLCubed add-in using the following steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. In the Excel ribbon, select the Incorta tab.
  3. Select Connections > Connections > Add.
  4. Select the New Connection tab.
  5. From the left pane, select Incorta.
  6. Enter the following details:
    1. Incorta server URL
    2. Make sure to select Requires Logon.
    3. Type in the tenant name you want to connect to.
  7. Select Connect.
  8. Enter your Incorta Analytics username and password.
  9. Select OK.
  10. Choose your business schema.
  11. Select OK.

Now that you are connected to Incorta using XLCubed, you can see a list of the connections you created in the Connections window.

Query Incorta business views

To start querying your Incorta business views, do the following in the Incorta tab:

  1. Select Grids and Tables, then Grid.
  2. In the Grid Report Designer, start building the report by selecting the following:
    • Tables
    • Filters (set of available dimensions)
    • Columns and rows
    • Member selector

For more information, refer to the XLCubed Report Designer documentation.

Note

If you select a measure as a dimension, you must select at least one item from the member selector.

  1. Create your report.
  2. Save the report.
Note

While creating a connection, you choose a default schema that you are going to query. You can switch to another schema using the same connection in the Design grid window.

You can use the XLCubed Excel plugin dashboards for Oracle EBS data application to perform advanced analytics on your Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) data with the customizable XLCubed dashboards Incorta created.

For more information, refer to XLCubed Excel plugin dashboards for Oracle E-Business Suite.

Publish reports to the web

To embed your XLCubed reports in Incorta, you must publish them to the web using the XLCubed web edition.

Use the following steps to publish to the web:

  1. Open the XLCubed report you saved earlier.
  2. Select Publish to Web from the Incorta tab in the Excel ribbon.
  3. From the Publisher window, connect to the server you want to publish the report to.
  4. Enter the report name and description.
  5. Select where you want to publish the report.
  6. (Optional) Select Display after Publish to open the published report.
  7. Select Publish to start the publishing process.

For more information, refer to the Web Publishing XLCubed documentation.

Embed report into Incorta dashboard

After publishing a report on XLCubed web, you can embed it in an Incorta dashboard using Rich Text iframe. You can interact with the published reports using drill down or slicers defined in XLCubed reports. However, embedding reports in Rich Text visualizations does not keep the published report in sync with Incorta filters.