August 2010Gaurav Kant Goel

Our session will focus on what OBIEE is, what are its constituent tools and how are they

used for reporting and presentation purposes.

•OBIEE is a Business Intelligence (BI) tool set that will make data mining and analysis possible.

•It’s a framework for leveraging data for tactical and strategic use.

EXECUTIVES:strategic goals and objectives

MANAGEMENT:analytics to support goals and objectives

STAFF:Reports ad-hoc access

AdmissionsHR, Finance...

IT

Principals

TeachersRegistrar

DirectorsAdministration

The Board

Superintendent

Cabinet

Detailed data

Trend, summary data

Performance data

•BI Administrator Tool

•Oracle Answers

•Oracle Interactive Dashboards

•Oracle BI Publisher

•The administrator tool is used to manage the business logic, physical connections, security, and how available data sources are presented to the end users.

•These areas are all managed through a single file – RPD.

• Physical Layer• Business Layer• Presentation Layer

The Physical layer defines the data sources to which Oracle BI Server submits queries and the relationships between physical databases and other data sources that are used to process multiple data source queries. The recommended way to populate the Physical layer is by importing metadata from databases and other data sources. The data sources can be of the same or different varieties. You can import schemas or portions of schemas from existing data sources. Additionally, you can create objects in the Physical layer manually.

The Business Model and Mapping layer defines the business, or logical, model of the data and specifies the mappings between the business model and the Physical layer schemas. This is where the physical schemas are simplified to form the basis for the users’ view of the data. The main purpose of the business model is to capture how users think about their business using their own vocabulary. The business model simplifies the physical schema and maps the users’ business vocabulary to physical sources. Most of the vocabulary translates into logical columns in the business model. Collections of logical columns form logical tables. Each logical column (and hence each logical table) can have one or more physical objects as sources.

The Presentation layer is built after the Physical layer and Business Model and Mapping layer and adds a level of abstraction over the Business Model and Mapping layer. It is the view of the data seen by end users in client tools and applications, such as Oracle BI Answers. The Presentation layer provides a means to further simplify or customize the Business Model and Mapping layer for end users. E.g you can organize columns into catalogs and folders. Simplifying the view of the data for users makes it easier to craft queries based on users’ business needs because you can expose only the data that is meaningful to the users, organize the data in a way that aligns with the way users think about the data, and rename data as necessary for the set of users.

Please go to the following site to build a sample RPD step-by-step on a sample Sales History schema:

http://st-curriculum.oracle.com/obe/fmw/bi/biee/r1013/bi_admin/biadmin.html

•Oracle Answers is the report building interface that OBIEE provides. It is used for the construction of Data Queries and Reports.

•Basically it’s an AdHoc or Report Builder tool.

•Enables to query organisation’s data•Provides a set of graphical tools to create and execute requests for information•Saves, organises, shares and integrates request results with other content•Retrieves and displays analytical information through requests•Provides the building blocks of Oracle Business Intelligence Interactive Dashboards

Request – Answers a query against an organization’s dataFilter – Mechanism that restricts the result set returned by a requestPrompt - Special kind of filter that restricts the result set returned by a request Criteria – Set of columns and filters that are specified for a requestSubject Area – Logical Object that organises and presents data about a business

Dashboard – Page in a BI application that displays contentDashboard Prompt – Filter object that filters all content on a dashboard page and can be used to populate variablesBI Presentation Catalog – Stores content created with Answers and Interactive Dashboards Query – Underlying SQL issued to the Oracle BI server for the specific request

•Dashboards are the standard interface for the majority of users.

•It allows multiple reports to be displayed in a tabbed interface.

•The reports are interactive and can be clicked on to interact with the data.

http://st-curriculum.oracle.com/obe/fmw/bi/biee/r1013/saw/saw.html

•Oracle BI Publisher is a Java based product that is available with both Oracle BI Server and technology stack of Oracle E-Business Suite. Its an easy to use, template-based publishing solution that enables cutomers to rapidly develop and maintain report formats. It is built on standard well-known technologies such as XML and enables customers to take advantage of familiar tools like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat.

• Creates highly formattted, printable reports

•Leverages familiar word processing and other tools

•Outputs reports in familiar formats (such as PDF, HTML, Excel and Others)

•Is Integrated with Oracle BI and can be accessed from Oracle BI Answers

http://st-curriculum.oracle.com/obe/fmw/bi/biee/r1013/bipub/intro/gettingstarted.htm