OBIA 7964- Complexity Definitions for ETL/ELT Mapping, OBIEE Repository, Reports and Dashboard

Estimation is one of the important activities in realization of any project. Sometimes I found it funny to come up with ball point figure, rough estimate or 35K feet view which is bound to fail as project progress further, but I do understand that you have to start from somewhere.

Oracle Unified Method (OUM) do have estimation model designed for OBIEE implementation and OBIA implementation. It is based on use cases and complexity around the use case. The complexity definition is vital to reach to final estimation figures.

This blog is an attempt to share the complexity definition which I used for estimation process during my number of years experience with BI Apps implementation projects.

ETL/ELT Complexity Definition

For complexity for ETL/ELT we have four main categories SIMPLE, MODERATE, COMPLEX & VERY COMPLEX. The following lists detail the complexity definitions related to the development

SIMPLE: - One to four source tables with simple calculations (concatenation, substring, add, multiply, sum, etc)

MODERATE: Four to Seven source tables, Transformation requires self-joins, Transformation requires sub-selects, complex calculations required)

COMPLEX:  Eight  to  ten  Source  Tables, Usage  of  Change Data  Capture,  Contains Aggregation,  Set  and Other Advanced Transformation. 

VERY COMPLEX:  More  than  ten  Source  Tables,  Usage  of  Change  Data  Capture,  Contains  Aggregation,  Set,  Advanced Transformation and Mapplets.

OBI-EE Repository Complexity Definition

For complexity for OBIEE-EE Repository we have four main categories SIMPLE STAR, MODERATE STAR, COMPLEX STAR & VERY COMPLEX STAR. The following lists detail the complexity definitions related to the development

SIMPLE STAR: 4 dimensions, 1 fact, 1 subject area, 2 calculated and 1 hierarchy per dimension

MODERATE STAR: 5 dimensions, 1 fact, 2 subject area, 5 calculated measures and 2 hierarchies per dimension and 1 time series

COMPLEX STAR: 6 dimensions, 1 fact, 2 subject area, 10 calculated measures, 1 aggregate table and 2 hierarchies per dimension and 2 time series

VERY COMPLEX STAR:  more  than  6  dimensions,  more  then1  fact,  more  than  2  subject  area  and  more  than  4  hierarchy per dimension and more than 2 time series

OBI-EE Reports Complexity definition

For complexity for OBIEE-EE reports we have four main categories SIMPLE, MODERATE, COMPLEX & VERY COMPLEX. The following lists detail the complexity definitions related to the development

SIMPLE REPORT: Simple Layout, 1 calculated field, less than 5 filters and less than 10 columns

MODERATE COMPLEXITY REPORT: Simple Layout with less than 10 filters, static text view, no results view, more than 10 columns

COMPLEX REPORT: Calculated field or measures, conditional formatting, single graph, less than 20 columns and 15 filters

VERY COMPLEX REPORT: Contains more than 1 graph, pivot, gauge, view selector, column selector, filter view 

Complexity definition is one of the best inputs for proper estimation. The right estimation model is important but not substitutes to knowledge, resource management, time management and project governance for effective project implementation.

I hope you find this information useful.