FCC – Blocks & Missing Blocks

You are certain the Essbase Calc Script you’ve written in Financial Consolidation and Close (FCC) is correct but can’t figure out why it’s not working?

The issue is likely due to missing blocks.

What are Blocks?

Every combination of stored sparse dimension is a block and every block contains all of the dense dimension members. In FCC, only the Account dimension is dense and everything else is sparse. The below is an example of a block:

Changing any sparse dimension member would indicate a totally different block.  The below is an example of a different block (note the change in red):

Missing Blocks

If a block existed for every potential combination of sparse dimension members, the database would be larger than needed. For efficiency, blocks are not available until they are created. Blocks are automatically created when data is loaded but not when calculating data. Configurable Calculation will not execute on blocks that do not exist. This is a common issue for calculations to not work.

To calculate a block, it must first exist before it can be calculated. There are multiple ways to create blocks.

How to Create Blocks

  • Load data to the desired intersection
  • Use DATACOPY command
  • Use Sparse Member Block Calculations
    • For more information on member blocks click here

The following block creation methods only apply to legacy applications (non-extended dimension applications / non-hybrid applications).

  • Use function @CREATEBLOCK
    • Creates block(s) for sparse member(s) or sparse member combination(s)
  • Enable auto creation of blocks at insertion points in the Consolidation module
    • This setting may have major impact on performance
    • Do not enable Auto Create Blocks if you are using (@CALCMODE(BOTTOMUP)) as these are mutually exclusive

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