This page provides an installation check list related to the IFS Analysis Models.
Note: This is not a list that defines mandatory and optional tasks. The list is intended as a help when planning and performing the installation.
Note: The grouping of tasks into suggested roles is only an example, a possible scenario. One person could have several roles.
The abbreviation AM used on this page refers to Analysis Models.
Step/Task | Comments | Suggested Role |
---|---|---|
Check SQL Server Sizing Info | It is important to figure out the number of possible AM users in the installation and from that derive the necessary hardware in order to get a functional end-user environment. | Technical Manager |
Check 3rd Party Tool Licensing | Make sure to lookup and consider 3rd party licensing for SQL Server. | Technical Manager |
Check Software Prerequisites | In order to use the functionality delivered by IFS Analysis Models it is necessary to use supported software, like e.g. Windows Operating System, SQL Server version etc. >> | Technical Manager |
Installation/Upgrade of Microsoft Software | Install necessary software and/or update to supported Service Pack/Patch level. | Systems Engineer |
Handle SSIS Security Administration in SQL Server | Execution of SSIS packages in SQL Server after having used the IFS Analysis Models Installer requires some mandatory security administration in SQL Server. More more information use this link >> | Systems Engineer |
Check Existence of BRA Base Package | The IFS Analysis Models can and should not be installed unless the customer has installed the BRA Base (tech name BRBASE) component in the Analysis Models sales part. | Systems Engineer |
Get IFS Analysis Models Source Files | The source code related to IFS Analysis
Models
is connected to the sales part
Analysis Models. An order for this sales part
must be registered and AMS is used to retrieve the
necessary list of AM components to be extracted from the
Harvest repository. Customizations of the extension code are handled in separate customer specific component versions. |
Systems Engineer |
Check Dependent Core Components | IFS Analysis
Models is represented by the sales part
Analysis Models and
it covers different product areas in IFS Applications.
This means that the customer must have the necessary and
dependent core components installed in order to
successfully install, execute and use the IFS Analysis
Models. One way to figure out necessary components is to look into the documentation that can be found in the IFS Online documentation. Another possibility it to perform a test build using IFS Configuration Builder and check the list of dependent and mandatory components that might pop up. If the customer does not have these components installed then do not continue with installation actions; instead try to analyze what can be done. One possibility is to select the cubes that fits best with the core functionality that the customer has purchased. Then only use the AM components that are required by these selected cubes and make sure that other core components required are available in the customer installation. |
Systems Engineer |
Create IFS Build Home | IFS Analysis
Models related components are input to the
IFS Configuration Builder
when creating an IFS Build
Home. The components used can of course be other
components than only AN components, i.e. a combination
of ordinary core components and AM components. In a
standard scenario the created
IFS Build Home will only contain AM components.
Note: The main part of Analysis Models will be found in the folder
external. |
Systems Engineer |
Security - IFS Applications | In order to be able to successfully transfer data from IFS Applications to the data warehouse in SQL Server it is necessary to mange business related row level security. Please read more here >> | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Language - IFS Applications | It is important to understand language handling and translations before extracting data from IFS Applications to the the data warehouse in SQL Server. Please read more here >> | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Setup Basic Data in IFS Applications | There are some configuration options available
related to basic data that must be considered, i.e. it
is necessary to set up some basic data in IFS
Applications to make the build of the data warehouse
successful. Note: Some basic data configurations are mandatory Please read more here >> |
IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Handling Information Sources that supports Incremental Data Mart Load | All Information Sources in Apps 10 support Online
data access and this is also the preferred access type
for the ETL process. However some of the used
Information Sources will in Apps 10 support incremenal
load of the
Data Mart. This means that the
Fact parts of these Information Sources will be
represented by ordinary tables that are updated via a
new framework that supports incremental update. It is important to make sure that these Facts are setup in IFS Applications to be refreshed on a regular basis before loading the information to the ETL area. Please refer to the Configuration of Incremental Data Mart Load document but also to the general technical documentation for IFS Applications 10 for more information. |
IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Create Access Views | The transfer of information from IFS Applications to data warehouse in SQL Server is dependent on the existence of so called Access Views. Make sure to generate the necessary Access Views before doing and ETL transfer. Please read more here >> | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Decide AM Installer Actions | The main usage of the IFS Analysis Models Installer is to create a so called IFS AM Instance Home. There are many actions that the installer can help out with. It is important to know about available actions and plan which ones the installer should handle. Read more about the IFS Analysis Models Installer. | Systems Engineer |
Define Target Servers and Accounts | Different IFS Analysis Models Installer actions require different input. It is important to decide on target servers (one or many), versions of SQL Server and also accounts to be used. Please go through the IFS Analysis Models Installer documentation in order to have all necessary information available when the installer is executed. | Systems Engineer |
Set SQL Server Security | Make sure to handle necessary security settings in SQL Server. Please read more here >> | Systems Engineer |
Create IFS BI Instance Home | Use the IFS Analysis Models Installer to create an instance of the BI package. More information can be found in the IFS Analysis Models Installer documentation. | Systems Engineer |
Configure Basic Data for Lookup | The ETL process requires some accurate configuration information, basically configuring what basic data in IFS Applications that in same areas should be used during the transfer. Please read more >> | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA + Systems Engineer |
Plan Initial Load of Stage Area | Loading the ETL stage area is a challenge.
Dimensions can more or less without any problems be
extracted fully, i.e. all records are transferred in
each Dimension. There can be a few exceptions though,
e.g. time related data. For Facts the situation is
different. Here we are handling transactions and the
source tables might contain millions of rows. Extracting
information from Facts is also in general rather time
consuming, thus it is important to plan the first
initial load. The following strategies can be used::
It is important to plan how to do the initial load. It might even be necessary to first do test loads in a test installation to get an better overall idea. |
IFS Applications Consultant / BSA + Systems Engineer |
Configure SSIS Load Options | In order to handle this initial load it can be necessary to define volume specific configuration parameters. Please refer to the IFS Analysis Models Data Volume Configuration documentation. | Systems Engineer |
Perform Initial Load of Facts | The initial load to the data warehouse can be
handled either as manually defined agent jobs or by the
agent job that the
IFS Analysis Models
Installer creates. Note: The created agent job is based on a master SSIS package that handles the complete ETL process. It might be necessary to modify this SSIS package depending on strategy. Also keep in mind that all referenced entities, dimensions/facts, supporting incremental load must be initially loaded and then a schedule should be set up to keep the incremental specific snapshot tables up-to-date in IFS Applications before starting the initial transfer to the data warehouse in SQL Server. Read more about how to Handle Incremental Data Mart Load in IFS Applications. |
Systems Engineer |
Check ETL Load | Always make sure that the execution of all involved SSIS packages was successful. One option is to look into the system table sysssislog, available in the SQL Server database once a SSIS job has been executed. The other option is to look into the <AM-Instance-Home>\bianalysispackage\<SQL Server version>\SSIS\Log folder provided that the command file created by the IFS Analysis Models Installer is used. | Systems Engineer |
Setup Load Job Schedule | When the ETL load works fine it is a good idea to
set up a schedule that runs the agent job.
Note: Is is possible to also also create the schedule via the IFS Analysis Models Installer. Please refer to the Analysis Models Data Volume Configuration documentation |
Systems Engineer |
Check Cubes | The last part of the ETL process is to process the OLAP cubes. This applies as long as the master SSIS package supplied by IFS is used. Open the cubes either in SSAS (Analysis Services in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio) or by opening Excel and creating a connection to Analysis Services and the cube to be tested. | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Check/Execute Example Reports | If the IFS Analysis Models Installer was used to also deploy example reports, it is recommended to check at least a few of the reports. One option is to connect to Reporting Services in the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and execute the reports from there. Another option is to use the reporting services URL, supplied during the execution of the IFS Analysis Models Installer. | IFS Applications Consultant / BSA |
Perform External Report Integration Configuration | In order to use the IFS Enterprise Explorer client to view Reports and Dashboards it is necessary to configure some system parameter in IFS Applications. Please read more External Report Integration in the following lin >> | Systems Engineer |