Introducing the Longview Add-In for Office

The Longview Add-In for Office is a fully integrated Add-In that allows you to make use of the familiar interface of Microsoft Excel in conjunction with the database used by your Longview system.

You can use the Longview Add-In for Office to access Longview data servers to query data and other aspects of the data server repository and submit data to the data server repository in worksheets and workbooks within Microsoft Excel.

The Longview Add-In for Office can also connect to a Tidemark Data Source.

For more information on this topic, see "Connecting to a Tidemark Data Source".

In this chapter, you can find information on the following topics:

• “Connecting to a Tidemark Data Source”
• “Opening Longview Add-In for Office files”
• “Accessing the Longview Add-In for Office”
• “Using the Longview Add-In for Office in Microsoft Excel”
• “Understanding your Longview database”
• “Using the Symbol Selector”
• “Viewing Longview Add-In for Office Help”
• “Viewing Longview Add-In for Office version and session information”

Connecting to a Tidemark Data Source

The Longview Add-In for Office can also connect to a Tidemark Data Source.

Connecting to a Tidemark Data Source is equivalent to connecting to a Tidemark Application. Once connected, data security, hierarchy and member selections will be restricted to those available in the Tidemark Application to which you are connected. Some, but not all the functionality is available for Tidemark Data Sources. Any functionality unavailable for Tidemark Data Sources will appears disabled in Longview menu options within Microsoft Excel.

This guide will describes how to use these features. However, note that there may be some slight differences in terminology. Most notably, Longview Data Sources use the term "symbol" and Tidemark Data Sources use the term "member".

The main features available for Tidemark Data Sources include retrieving data, refreshing data, and retrieving metadata.

The following lists the features applicable to Tidemark Data Sources:

• Data Query
• Data Extract
• Symbol Query
• Refresh Worksheet
• Refresh Workbook
• Convert to Values
• Longview Functions: LVCELL, LVDESC, LVCHILD, LVDIMDESC, LVDIMNAME, LVIDENTIFIER, LVPARENT, LVREFRESHDATETIME, LVSUBMIT, LVSYMBOLSELECTOR, LVUSER, LVUSERDESC

  Caution: The following caveats apply when connecting to a Tidemark Data Source:

• Longview Add-In for Office is only supported on Windows operating systems
• The link to download the Longview Add-In for Office is available from the Tidemark main menu. Once the Add-In is installed, you may subsequently launch the Longview Add-In for Office from the Tidemark main menu or by launching Microsoft Excel from your desktop and navigating to the LONGVIEW tab.
• Longview Add-In for Office queries are made directly against Tidemark data. Data security is enforced through a Tidemark data security profile that customers must configure in each Tidemark application they want to make available to users from Longview Add-In for Office. The security profile must be named ExcelProfile. Users cannot connect to Tidemark applications unless the ExcelProfile is present and configured properly.
• Single Sign-On is not supported for Tidemark Data Sources.
• Longview Add-In for Office can handle a maximum of 64 dimensions when connecting to a Tidemark Data Source. If your Tidemark Data Source has more than 64 dimensions, then you will be unable to use the Longview Add-In for Office to connect to it.
• When retrieving data using Data Query, Data Extract, or LVCELL() and LVSUBMIT(); you must specify a co-ordinate for each dimension
• Some messages, tooltips and user interfaces may be Longview-centric. For example, in some cases, you may see the term "symbol" instead of "member". You may think of these two terms as equivalents.
• Automation APIs are not supported for Tidemark Data Sources.

Opening Longview Add-In for Office files

Your Longview Dashboard may list links to specific Longview Add-In for Office files. Additionally, if you are using Tax Provision, you may see a list of Longview Add-In for Office files in the Reports category of the navigation pane. Clicking these links installs or updates the add-in as necessary, opens the appropriate file in Microsoft Excel, and automatically establishes a connection to the database using the credentials that were used to sign on to the Longview Dashboard.

If you have already installed the Longview Add-In for Office, you can also open any Excel file and connect to the data server using the method described in “Connecting to the data server”. When you use this method, the add-in is not updated.

Accessing the Longview Add-In for Office

After you have installed the Longview Add-In for Office, the Longview tab appears in the ribbon in Microsoft Excel.

Most Longview Add-In for Office features are unavailable until you connect to a data server. However, if you are not connected to a Longview data server, you can still view the Longview Add-In for Office Help.

For more information, see “Viewing Longview Add-In for Office Help”.

Most of the Longview Add-In for Office functionality is available from the ribbon, which is divided into the following groups:

• ConnectionsThe Connections group contains all functionality related to connecting to and disconnecting from the data server and managing existing connections.
• DataThe Data group contains functionality related to data in the Microsoft Excel workbook. For example, you can refresh, lock, or submit data in the active worksheet or workbook, or convert data.
• InsertThe Insert group contains functionality related to querying data or information from the Longview data server. Click one of the buttons in the Insert group to insert a query into your Microsoft Excel workbook.
• FormulasThe Formulas group contains functionality related to working with Longview Functions using the Function Arguments dialog. Longview Functions allow you to query different types of data into worksheet cells and submit data from worksheet cells to the Longview data server repository.
• ViewThe View group contains links to the Data Locks and User Submissions tools:
  • Locks—Opens the Data Locks tool, to view and delete any locks that are applied to the data server repository.
  • Submissions—Opens the User Submissions tool, to view the status of batches that have been created in the system.

  For more information on the Data Locks or User Submissions tools, see the Longview Data Locks Help or Longview User Submissions Help.

• HelpThe Help group contains a link to the Longview Add-In for Office Help.

Using the Longview Add-In for Office in Microsoft Excel

The functionality of the Longview Add-In for Office is the same for all supported versions of Microsoft Excel; however, depending on your version of Microsoft Excel, you may notice the following differences from this guide:

• Menu items may be in different case.
• Icons may look different.
• Color schemes may look different.

Understanding your Longview database

Your company uses a large database to contain its financial data. A Longview database consists of dimensions, hierarchies, and symbols. You can work with the application more effectively if you understand the basic concepts first.

In this section, you can find information on these main topics:

• “Dimensions”
• “Hierarchies”
• “Symbols”

Dimensions

The Longview database contains a wealth of information, divided into different categories. For example, some of the information describes the accounts in the General Ledger, some the world-wide locations in which your company does business, and so on. Each individual bit of information is stored in a symbol. Symbols are organized in hierarchies.

In the Longview database, each broad category of data is called a dimension. A dimension is a set of similar elements providing a structure for information analysis. You can manipulate the display of dimensions to see exactly the combination of data you need.

Hierarchies

Each of the symbols in the Longview database relates in some way to other symbols. For example, the symbol SALES in the ACCOUNTS dimension intersects every symbol in all the other dimensions of the Longview database.

The relationship between individual symbols is called a parent/child relationship. The relationships are known as a hierarchy.

A hierarchy is a method of organizing symbols and their relationships to each other in their dimension. In a Longview database, a symbol can occur only once, and can reside in only one dimension.

In any hierarchy, there are four types of symbols.

Symbols

A symbol is a plane of data within the database. Symbols identify specific cells within a hierarchy and are used to store information in the Longview database. An example of a symbol is an account named Sales or a time period named March.

Every symbol in the Longview database is identified by characteristics, such as names and descriptions.

Depending on how your Longview system is configured, you might see the name, the description, or both.

The way a symbol appears and operates in the application depends on its symbol characteristics. You specify symbol characteristics in Longview Application Administrator.

For information on creating, modifying, and deleting symbols, see the Longview Application Administrator Guide.

Using the Symbol Selector

Any input field with the Search icon to its right indicates that you can use the Symbol Selector to search for and select one or more symbols for that field.

Note: In the Longview Add-In for Office, you can double-click worksheet cells that contain an LVSYMBOLSELECTOR function (usually indicated by a yellow background) to open the Symbol Selector dialog.

You can also select symbols for these fields using look-ahead functionality. Type the first character of the name of the symbol that you wish to select. A drop-down list appears below the symbol field, containing the symbols whose first character matches the character entered. Select the symbol you want to use, or further narrow down the list by typing more characters. You can press F3 to find and highlight the next instance in the hierarchy.

Note: Look-ahead functionality is not available for fields in the Longview Add-In for Office or for Data Import Apps in Longview Designer.

To use the Symbol Selector, follow these steps:

1. Click the Search icon (if you are using the Longview Add-In for Office with a worksheet cell that contains an LVSYMBOLSELECTOR function, double-click the cell). The Symbol Selector dialog opens.

   

2. Navigate to the symbol in the hierarchy that you want to add and click it. The Add icon appears to the left of the symbol.
3. Click the Add icon. The selected symbol appears in the Selected Symbols list.

   The Add icon is unavailable because the symbol has already been selected. However, the Add icon can also be unavailable for the following reasons:

   • The maximum number of symbols have been selected. In this case, Add icons are unavailable for all symbols.
   • The symbol type (parent, leaf, or read-only) is not allowed to be selected, as set in the Symbol Selector definition.

   To remove a symbol from the Selected Symbols list, click the Remove icon to the left of the symbol name

   Note: To navigate to a symbol in the hierarchy, click the symbol in the Selected Symbols list.

4. When you are finished selecting the required symbols, click OK. The selected symbols appear in the input field or the worksheet cell.

   Note: Depending on where the input field is located, or how the LVSYMBOLSELECTOR function was set up in the Longview Add-In for Office, you may be able to select multiple symbols in the Symbol Selector, or one symbol only.

Searching using the Symbol Selector

You can also use the Symbol Selector dialog to search the hierarchy for symbols. Select symbols from the list of search results.

To search for symbols, follow these steps:

1. Click the Search icon (if you are using the Longview Add-In for Office with a worksheet cell that contains an LVSYMBOLSELECTOR function, double-click the cell). The Symbol Selector dialog opens.
2. Use the search list at the top right of the Symbol Selector dialog to select one of the following options:
   • Search Symbol Names
   • Search Symbol Descriptions
   • Search Names and Descriptions (this is the default)

   

3. Begin typing the characters you want to search for into the search field. The dialog automatically switches to the Search Results tab and the symbols that match your search appear in a list. Continue entering text to narrow down the number of search results returned.

   Note: After text is entered in the search field, the Symbol Selector automatically navigates to the first search result symbol in the hierarchy. As in the Selected Symbols tab, click a symbol in the Search Results list to automatically navigate to that symbol in the

   

   If the same symbol appears in multiple hierarchies, that symbol displays multiple times in the Search Results list, one match per hierarchy. Use the Parent and Root columns to differentiate between the multiple occurrences.

4. Click the Add icon beside the symbol in the Search Results list that you want to select. The dialog switches to the Selected Symbols tab, and the symbol is added to the Selected Symbols list.

   Note: You can also add symbols by clicking the Add icon beside the symbol in the hierarchy. Depending on where the input field is located, or how the LVSYMBOLSELECTOR function was set up in the Longview Add-In for Office, you may be able to select multiple symbols in the Symbol Selector, or one symbol only.

   

5. Click the Search Results tab to return to the Search Results list. Repeat step 4 for each symbol that you want to add.

   Note: Click the X button to the right of the search field to clear the search field and the Search Results list

   

   In the Search Results list, the Add icon is unavailable for symbols that have already been added.

6. Once you have finished selecting the required symbols, click OK. The selected symbols appear in the input field or the worksheet cell.

Viewing Longview Add-In for Office Help

The Longview Add-In for Office includes context-sensitive Help to assist you in finding the information you need. You can access the Longview Add-In for Office Help in the following ways:

• From the ribbon—Click Longview Add-In Help
• From the Insert Function and Function Arguments dialogs—Click Help on this function
• From the Backstage view (To access the Backstage view, click the File tab, and then click Longview)—Click Longview Add-In for Office Help.

Viewing Longview Add-In for Office version and session information

It may be useful at times to view version and session information about the Longview Add-In for Office.

Note: If you are not connected to a data server, only the version information for Longview Add-In for Office displays. (Not connected) displays in all other fields.

To view Longview Add-In for Office information:

1. Click the File tab. The Backstage view displays.
2. Click Longview.
3. Review version information in the About Longview Add-In for Office section for the following:
   • Longview Add-In for Office
   • Longview Data Server

   Note: To copy version information to your Windows clipboard, click Copy Info to Clipboard.

4. Review session information in the Session Information section for the following:

   Field	Description
   Username	Your current username and description.
   Group	Your current user group name and description.
   Name	The name of your current connection.
   Identifier	The Longview Identifier (LID) of the system you are currently connected to.
   Host	The host name of the data server you are currently connected to.
   Port	The port number of the data server you are currently connected to.