Oracle Essbase is a server engine. The ability to create the metadata associated with the database cube is usually conducted through the Essbase Administration Service (EAS) console. Introduced shortly before Hyperion was purchased by Oracle, a different GUI development interface called Essbase Studio was introduced. This separate application allows a user to create an Essbase cube via a GUI IDE. It also is the first of the tools to assist with XOLAP technology development. It can even use Oracle BI as a data source. Using Oracle Essbase Studio to build an Essbase cube with Oracle BI as a data source allows an existing enterprise Oracle BI logical model to be translated into an aggregate storage repository. This could potentially create something of a feedback loop, in that the resulting Essbase cube could then be imported into the Oracle BI repository and leveraged as a data source.
More information about Essbase Studio can be found at the Oracle Technology Network...