For example, verify that you can connect to your Essbase application for a retrieval: try running a query in Smart View.

Check the following details about the source data.

• The source data is not open (for example, is someone editing the source data?).

  Essbase can load only source datas that are not locked by another user or application.

• The source data has the correct file extension.

  Text files must have a .txt extension; rules files must have an .rul extension.

• The source data file name and the path name are correct.

  Check for misspellings.

• The source data is in the specified location.

  Ensure that no one has moved or deleted the source data file.

• If you are using a SQL source of data:

  • The connection details (such as the user name, password, and database name) are correct.

  • You can connect to the SQL source data without using Essbase.

After you fix the errors, you can reload from the error log. If there is no error log, check whether the following conditions exist:

• The person running the data load or dimension build job had set up an error log. When performing a data load or dimension build, you can tell Essbase to either abort the data load upon errors, or write/append the errors to a log.

  When Essbase creates an error log for dimension build or data load, it's created in the cube directory. The file format is err_<databasename>_<number>.txt.

• The source of data and Essbase Server are both available.

  See Verify that Essbase Server Is Available and Verify that the Source Data Is Available

• Essbase Server crashed during the data load.

  If so, you probably received a network timeout error on the client.

• The application log exists.

If the error log exists but is empty, Essbase does not think that an error occurred during loading. Check whether the following conditions exist:

• The load rule contains selection or rejection criteria that rejected every record in the source.

  See Select and Reject Records.

• The load rule validates properly.

  See Requirements for Valid Data Load Rule Files and Requirements for Valid Dimension Build Rule Files.

Check the following items to troubleshoot the data that was loaded:

• You loaded the correct data source.

  If so, check the data source again to make sure that it contains the correct values.

• The source data is formatted correctly.

  • All ranges are set up properly.

  • The data is clean. For example, as it processes the data source, Essbase recognizes member names and knows the dimensions they belong to. If a data source record inadvertently includes a member from a dimension for which there is a member named in the header record, the new member name replaces the header record member for that dimension. In the following example data source, Essbase recognizes Florida as a member of the Market dimension. The values in the last four records are interpreted as Florida values instead of Texas values.

    Jan  Actual  Texas  Sales
       "100-10"   51.7
       "100-20"   102.5
       "100-20"   335.0
       Florida    96.7
       "200-20"   276.0
       "200-20"   113.1
       "200-10"   167.0

• Are there any implicitly shared members (when a parent and child share the same data value) of which you were unaware?

  An implied shared member occurs when a parent and child share the same data value. It can happen if a parent has only one child, or only one child that rolls up into the parent.

• You added incoming data to existing data instead of replacing incoming data with existing data.

  See Add to or Subtract from Existing Values.

• You selected or rejected any records that you did not intend to select or reject.

  See Select and Reject Records.

• The sign is reversed (for example, a minus sign instead of a plus sign) and whether you performed sign flips on any UDAs.

  See Flip Field Signs.

• You cleared data combinations that you did not intend to clear.

  See Clear Existing Data Values During Data Load.

• You scaled the incoming values incorrectly.

  See Scale Data Values.

• All member and alias names are fewer than 79 characters long.

You can check the data by running a query from Smart View or Report Writer.

To define rejection criteria:

Essbase performs the following steps to initialize a load rule:

1. Validates the load rule against the associated outline.

2. Validates the dimensions. This process includes ensuring that the build method and field types are compatible and that each dimension name is unique. Member names must be either unique or shared.

3. Adds new dimensions defined in the load rule to the outline.

4. Reads header records specified in the source data.

Then Essbase performs the following operations on each record of the source data during a data load or dimension build:

1. Sets the file delimiters for all records.

2. Applies field operations to the data in the order in which the operations are defined in the load rule.

   Field operations include joins, moves, splits, and creating fields using text and joins. To learn the order in which field operations are defined in the load rule, refer to Perform Operations on Fields.

3. Essbase applies all properties for each field, applying all properties to field1 before proceeding to field2. Essbase applies field properties in the following order:

   1. Ignores fields set to be ignored during data load.

   2. Ignores fields set to be ignored during dimension build.

   3. Flags the data field.

   4. Applies field names.

   5. Applies field generations.

   6. Performs all replaces in the order in which they are defined in the load rule.

   7. Drops leading and trailing spaces.

   8. Converts spaces to underscores.

   9. Applies suffix and prefix operations.

   10. Scales data values.

   11. Converts text to lowercase.

   12. Converts text to uppercase.

4. Adds members, or member information, or both, to the outline.

5. If you chose to skip lines, Essbase skips the number of lines that you specified; otherwise, Essbase proceeds to the first record.

6. Essbase performs selection or rejection criteria in the order in which the criteria are defined in the load rule. Essbase loads or rejects individual records of the source data based on the specified criteria.

Missing Dimension or Member Fields

If a dimension or member field is missing, Essbase uses the value that it used previously for that dimension or member field. If there is no previous value, Essbase stops the data load.

For example, when you load the following file into the Sample.Basic database, Essbase maps the Ohio member field into the Market dimension for all records, including the records that have Root Beer and Diet Cola in the Product dimension.

Jan  Sales  Actual  Ohio
                    Cola          25
                    "Root Beer"   50
                    "Diet Cola"   19

Essbase stops the data load if no prior record contains a value for the missing member field. For example, if you try to load the following file into the Sample.Basic database, the data load stops, because the Market dimension (Ohio, in the previous example) is not specified.

Jan  Sales  Actual
            Cola          25
           "Root Beer"    50
           "Diet Cola"    19

Unknown Member Fields

If you are performing a data load and an unknown member name is encountered, the entire record is rejected. If there is a prior record with a member name for the missing member field, Essbase continues to the next record. If there is no prior record, the data load stops. For example, when you load the following file into the Sample Basic database, the record containing Ginger Ale is rejected because it is not a valid member name. The records containing Cola, Root Beer, and Cream Soda are loaded. If Ginger Ale were in the first record, however, the data load would stop.

Jan, Sales, Actual
Ohio   Cola          2
       "Root Beer"   12
       "Ginger Ale"  15
       "Cream Soda"  11

Invalid Data Fields

If you are performing a data load, the data load stops if an invalid data field is encountered. All fields that are read before the invalid field are loaded into the cube, resulting in a partial data load. For example, in the following file, the data load stops when it encounters the 15- data value. The Jan and Feb Sales records are loaded but not the Mar and Apr Sales records.

East   Cola   Actual
Sales         Jan    $10
              Feb    $21
              Mar    $15-
              Apr    $16

To reload from the error log,