As you know, the Hyperion 11.1.1.3 release of Essbase Studio Server was not release as a windows service. After my last Essbase Studio implementation project, and being repeatedly asked, “How do we run Essbase Studio as a Windows Service?”, I decided to dig deep into the details and deliver a concrete answer to those that care to read on.  Of course, I was successful in my endeavor, hence this post. Now, I ask, Do you want to see Essbase Studio Server launchable in your services panel like this…?

I keep getting asked “Was the Essbase Studio installation ever provided as a windows service?”. My reply to that now is “Who cares?”. If the Oracle think-tank decided not to make life easier for us with a Windows Service for Essbase Studio upon install then so be it. At least now, I’ve got a great rebuttal and a top-notch solution. Now, no longer must this one piece of the Hyperion BI suite be the outcast with only the startServer.bat file to launch the server.
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In previous, blog posts I’ve talked about the power of Smartview, how it came from Hyperion, and all of that jazz, but today we want to learn how to immediately integrate Smartview and OBIEE.  The burning question is, How can the end-users download smartview to their workstations? We’ll if you’d like to see the option to download Smartview in the “More Products…” menu along with the Oracle BI for Office add-in download, then continue on, you’ll be delighted you did.

Here is what we want the users to see.

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We steadily brand our client’s OBIEE portals with their logos, color schemes, etc.  Usually this takes a tool like Photoshop to handle the graphics.  However, I just came across a very sweet, free, photoshop-like web tool that anyone can use to edit photos and even create graphics and color schemes with.

The group is called SmartSell and they are in the Netherlands.  Here is the link to the photoshop-like web tool.

I will throw out a quick disclaimer and state that I have not used SmartSell’s tool thoroughly and although I think it looks cool, I am not sure how powerful it is, if the site is maintained, etc.  And, I definitely don’t vouch for these guys. Check it out for yourself.

For color schemes I do use a nice tool that allows you to grab great hex codes for your CSS that you might manipulate when branding your OBIEE portals.  Check out ColorMatch5k when you get a chance to check your graphic art skills.

Update 9/22/2009

In addition to the graphics tool mentioned above, we have now run across Aviary, the tool which seems destined to be Photoshop’s replacement.  It is also web based and has an amazing approach to diagramming filter relationships.