OBIEE 11g –Not Designed to do it or Can’t do List

I believe OBIEE is one of the best business intelligence tools in market now a day. There are number of things which OBIEE 11g can do and lots of stuff has been written about it. Are there any things which OBIEE 11G can’t do? It is tricky question and will not found this in any standard Oracle documentation which is quite oblivious. During number of implementations I came across few of the limitations (rather OBIEE is not designed to do it).

This blog is an attempt to list down the stuffs which OBIEE 11g can’t do or not designed to do.

Item A: 

OBIEE 11g does not support multiple prompts created on the same column. For e.g. Create Year > 2000 and Create Year < 2015 does not work.

Workaround A

I would suggest using a proper operator rather than using one column for two or more times. E.g. Create Year Between 2000 and 2015 would work

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g Multiple Prompts Created on the Same Column does not Work (Doc ID 1925214.1)

Item B: 

OBIEE 11g does not support sort order of the attribute columns when these columns are being used with the hierarchy columns.

Workaround B

Developer should not mix hierarchical columns with the attribute columns that make up the hierarchy.

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g Sort Order not Working when Using Hierarchy Column (Doc ID 1924905.1)

Item C: 

OBIEE 11g Administrator Import Metadata does not support static variables in the connection pool due to security reasons

Workaround C

This can be achieved by using session variable with default value , check following blog entry http://bidirect.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/obiee-11g-use-of-dynamic-and-static.html

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g about the Use of Static Variables in the Connection Pool (Doc ID 1925713.1)

Inference 

This been removed for security reason. I hope you find this information useful.

Item D: 

OBIEE 11g - when editing a filter one can’t select a value bigger than 500

Workaround D

Apply the one-off Patch:17413638 SPINBOX IN EDIT FILTER CAN'T SELECT VALUE BIGGER THAN 500

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g: When Editing a Filter You Can't Select a Value Bigger Than 500 (Doc ID 1622271.1)

Item E: 

OBIEE 11g – When database objects set to NUMBER (xx,y) are imported into OBIEE repository, all the number data types are shown as an INT data type. So all large numbers to report as 2147483647

Workaround E

After importing set the database objects as DOUBLE. It is shame as OBIEE import does not automatically convert Number( XX.Y) data type into Double.

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g Is There an Alternative Datatype As NUMBER Is Not Large Enough In Repository.

(Doc ID 1625091.1)

Item F: 

OBIEE 11g – When using OBIEE 11g with Google Maps Map viewer, two Zoom Controls are displayed. One in OBIEE and one in Google itself.

Workaround F

No workaround available. This is caused by a recent change by Google in their mapping API.

Oracle Support Document

Using OBIEE 11g with Google Maps In Mapviewer, Two Zoom Controls Are Displayed (Doc ID 1639735.1)

Item G: 

OBIEE 11g – There is no quick way or API based solution to change all subject area permission from Authenticated User to BI Administrator in OBIEE via Analytics -> Administration- Manage Privilege webpage

Workaround G

No workaround available. This needs to be done manually L

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g FAQ: Is There Any Method to Change Presentation Services Subject Area Permissions Programmatically or With a Batch Process (Doc ID 1681133.1)

Item H: 

OBIEE 11g – After moving one catalog through archive/unarchive  or copy/paste, the objects in the catalog looks fine, however the items referenced by the dashboards are invalid because the paths were not updated during the migration process

Workaround H

A potential solution may be to try use catalog manager's search and replace functionality to replace the references to the old path with the new location

Oracle Support Document

OBIEE 11g Dashboards Migration Issue (Doc ID 1670281.1)

Inference 

I believe no product is complete or possible to design to cover all features from the wish list, so OBIEE is not an exception. The idea is to make sure that if does not work normally what is the best workaround to start with. I believe Oracle eventually will work on some reasonable requests as enhancements in future releases of OBIEE 11g.

OBIEE 11g Concepts (III) – How Do Inline and Dashboard Prompts Differ?

There are number of questions business users ask around OBIEE/OBIA implementations. Some of them are specific to functional stuff e.g.  #invoice on hold represents # hold invoices or # invoices items?  In addition some of the ambitious questions are around product features and basic product offerings e.g. what is difference between filter and selection steps?    How many different types of views OBIEE supports etc.

This blog series is an attempt to give a simple layman definition of number of concepts or OBIEE 11g terminology /offering. Prompts can be used to limit data for specific users; dashboard prompts can be used in several dashboards, and modified, with changes applying to all dashboards using the prompt, reducing cost of ownership. In this blog I am covering differences between Inline and Dashboard Prompts. The definitions are extracted from Oracle Standard Product documentation.

Inline and Dashboard Prompts

The two differences between inline prompts and dashboard prompts is where they are stored and their run-time behavior.

Inline Prompt

A prompt that is created at the analysis level is called an inline prompt because the prompt is embedded in the analysis and is not stored in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog and, therefore, cannot be added to other analyses.

Inline prompts allow the end users to specify the data values that determine the content of the analysis. An inline prompt can be columns prompt variable prompt, image prompt, or currency prompt. When you create an inline prompt, you select the columns and operators for the prompt and specify how the prompt is displayed to the users and how the users select the values. The user's choices determine the content of the analyses that are embedded in the dashboard. An inline prompt is an initial prompt, meaning that it only displays when the analysis is rendered. After the user selects the prompt value, the prompt fields disappear from the analysis and the only way for the user to select different prompt values is to re-run the analysis.

Dashboard Prompt

A prompt that is created at the dashboard level is called a dashboard prompt because the prompt is created outside of a specific dashboard and is stored in the catalog as an object, which can then be added to any dashboard or dashboard page that contains the columns that are specified in the prompt. Dashboard prompts allow the end users to specify the data values that determine the content of all of the analyses and scorecard objects contained on the dashboard. A dashboard prompt can be a column prompt, variable prompt, image prompt, or currency prompt. Dashboard prompts are reusable, because you can create one prompt and use it many times. When the prompt object is updated and saved, those updates are immediately displayed in all dashboards where the prompt is used. A dashboard prompt is a specific kind of filter that, when created, saved, and applied to a dashboard or dashboard pages, can filter all or some of the analyses and scorecard objects that are embedded in a dashboard or analyses and scorecard objects that are embedded on the same dashboard page.

A dashboard prompt is interactive and is always displayed on the dashboard page so that the user can prompt for different values without having to re-run the dashboard. Users can create and save dashboard prompts to either a private folder or to a shared folder.

Note:  For a dashboard using a column that was renamed in the Business Model, the existing dashboard prompts based on the renamed column do not work with newly created analyses. The workaround for this issue is to use Catalog Manager to rename the column in the catalog.

This blog series is an attempt to expand my blog reach to BI End User or Business Users along with BI Developers/Architects.

OBIEE 11g Concepts (II) – How Do Filters and Selection Steps Differ?

There are number of questions business users ask around OBIEE/OBIA implementations. Some of them are specific to functional stuff e.g.  #invoice on hold represents # hold invoices or # invoices items?  In addition some of the ambitious questions are around product features and basic product offerings e.g. what is difference between filter and selection steps?    How many different types of views OBIEE supports etc. 

This blog series is an attempt to give a simple layman definition of number of concepts or OBIEE 11g terminology /offering. In this blog I am covering differences between filters and selection steps. The definitions are extracted from Oracle Standard Product documentation.

Filters and Selection Steps

Filters and Selection Steps are used to limit the results that are displayed when an analysis is run, so that the results answer a particular question

Together with the columns that user selects for an analysis, filters and selection steps determine what the results contain. Based on the filters and selection steps, only those results that match the criteria are shown. For example, depending on the organization in which user work, you can use filters and selection steps to learn who are the top ten applicant sources, what are the work load is for a particular group of recruiters, the types of requisition have the fastest time to fill, and so on.

Another kind of filter, called a prompt, can apply to all items in a dashboard. Prompts can be used to complete selection steps and filters at run-time.

Oracle BI provides the Filters view and Selection Steps view, which user can add to an analysis to display any filters or selection steps applied to the analysis. Adding these views can help the user understand the information displayed in the analysis.

How Do Filters and Selection Steps Differ?

Filters and selection steps are applied on a column-level basis and provide two methods for limiting the data in an analysis. A filter is always applied to a column before any selection steps are applied. Steps are applied in their specified order. Filters and selection steps differ in various ways.

Filters

Filters can be applied directly to attribute columns and measure columns. Filters are applied before the query is aggregated and affect the query and thus the resulting values for measures.

For example, suppose that there is a list of members in which the aggregate sums to 100. Over time, more members meet the filter criteria and are filtered in, which increases the aggregate sum to 200.

Selection Steps

Selection steps are applied after the query is aggregated and affect only the members displayed, not the resulting aggregate values.

For example, suppose that you have a list of hierarchical members in which the aggregate sums to 100. If you remove one of the members using a selection step, then the aggregate sum remains at 100.

Attribute & Hierarchical Columns 

One can create selection steps for both attribute columns and hierarchical columns. Selection steps are per column and cannot cross columns. Because attribute columns do not have an aggregate member, the use of selection steps versus filters for attribute columns is not as distinctive as for hierarchical columns.

Measure Columns

While measure columns are displayed in the Selection Steps pane, you cannot create steps for them so steps do not affect them. Measures are used to create condition steps for attribute and hierarchical columns, such as Requisitions open for more than one year.

This blog series is an attempt to expand my blog reach to BI End User or Business Users along with BI Developers/Architects.

OBIEE 11g Concepts (I) - What are Analyses? & what is Analysis Editor?

There are number of questions business users ask around OBIEE/OBIA implementations. Some of them are specific to functional stuff e.g.  #invoice on hold represents # hold invoices or # invoices items?  In addition some of the ambitious questions are around product features and basic product offerings e.g. what is difference between filter and selection steps?    How many different types of views OBIEE supports etc.

This blog series is an attempt to give a simple layman definition of number of concepts or OBIEE 11g terminology /offering. In this blog I am covering Analyses and Analysis Editor concepts/offering of OBIEE 11g. The definitions are extracted from Oracle Standard Product documentation.

What are Analyses?

An analysis is a query against an organization's data that provides answers to business questions. A query contains the underlying SQL statements that are issued to the Oracle BI Server.

Analyses let you explore and interact with information by visually presenting data in tables, graphs, pivot tables, and so on. You can save, organize, and share the results of analyses. As an author, analyses that you create can be saved in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog and integrated into any Oracle BI dashboard. Analyses can be enhanced through features such as graphs, result layout, calculated items, and drilling.

Analyses offer following benefits:

Limited authoring rights can be granted to users who have a need for custom analyses, but creating analyses is not their main job function

Formulas can be manipulated and filters applied at the column level allowing for more targeted retrieval of data.

What is the Analysis Editor?

The "Analysis editor" lets report author explore and interact with information by visually presenting data in tables, graphs, pivot tables, and so on. Report author can include the views that you create in an analysis for display in dashboards.

The Analysis editor contains the following tabs:

Criteria tab — I allows report author specify the criteria for an analysis, including columns, and filters. Author can specify the order, in which the results should be returned, formatting (such as headings, number of decimal places, styles such as fonts and colors, and conditional formatting), and column formulas (such as adding a Rank or Percentile function).

Results tab — it allows report author to create different views of the analysis results such as graphs, tickers, and pivot tables. Author can also add or modify selection steps

Prompts tab — it allows report author to create prompts that allow users to select values to filter an analysis or analyses on a dashboard. Prompts allow users to select values that dynamically filter all views within the analysis or analyses. You can also create prompts for use with selection steps, both for member selection steps and qualifying condition steps.

Advanced tab — it allows report author to edit XML code and examine the logical SQL statement that was generated for an analysis. You can use the existing SQL statement as the basis for creating a new analysis. The tabs of the Analysis editor are organized into various panes and areas. As author work, he/she can manage these panes to suit user’s needs.

Analysis Editor Vs BI Composer

Author access the Analysis editor for creating or editing an analysis. If user is accessing Oracle BI in accessibility mode, then, Analysis editor is replaced by the BI Composer.

This blog series is an attempt to expand my blog reach to BI End User or Business Users along with BI Developers/Architects.