Spreadsheet Design

Take the opportunity to clean out bloated workbooks

Don’t use retrieve sheet / report sheet paradigm

Use block headers for Essbase members

Place only Essbase member names in the retrieve range

Use unknown member StrictMode for most accurate results

Use flags in the first row/column with workbook script to hide rows/columns

Use the RetrieveRanges RetrievePolicy

Favor more, smaller retrieve ranges over a single large retrieve range

Use Excel DATEVALUE and EOMONTH functions to compute rolling periods

Use Excel spreadsheet auditing to trace formulas; the results should look symmetrical

Change the background color of rows/columns that contain hidden spreadsheet logic and Essbase member names

Create a standard look/feel for spreadsheet templates