Oracle Business Intelligence 11.1.1.6.0 – ADF Data Sources –A way forward for Real Time Transactional (Operational) Reporting

ADF components as a data source to the Oracle BI Server facilities the integration of any application build on ADF framework for operational reporting. For example, as Oracle CRM applications (Fusion Apps) are developed using the ADF Framework, Oracle Business Intelligence users can report on CRM data using an ADF data source that implements the required ADF Application Programming Interface (API).

This blog is an attempt to explain the Oracle ADF Architecture, ADF Business Components, and ADF VO concepts. 

Oracle ADF Architecture

Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF) is an object-relational framework that can be used to create J2EE business services and expose underlying database objects. This framework provides an abstraction layer that enables application developers to build applications quickly and efficiently.

Oracle ADF is based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. An MVC application is separated into:

• a model layer that handles interaction with data-sources and runs the business logic,
• a view layer that handles the application user interface, and
• a controller that manages the application flow and acts as the interface between the Model and the View layers  

Separating applications into these three layers simplifies maintenance and reuse of components across applications. The independence of each layer from the others results in a loosely coupled, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

Oracle ADF implements MVC and further separates the model layer from the business services to enable service-oriented development of applications.

The Oracle ADF architecture is based on four layers:

• The Business Services layer - provides access to data from various sources and handles business logic
• The Model layer - provides an abstraction layer on top of the Business Services layer, enabling the View and Controller layers to work with different implementations of Business Services in a consistent way
• The Controller layer - provides a mechanism to control the flow of the Web application

•  The View layer - provides the user interface of the application

ADF Business Components

Any service-oriented Java EE applications, core business logic are defined by one or more business services. These back-end services provide clients with a way to query, insert, update and delete business data as required, which can also enforce appropriate business rule. ADF Business Components are prebuilt application objects that provide a ready-to-use implementation of Java EE design patterns and best practices.

ADF EO and VO?

The ADF model is represented through the ADF Business Component constructs called Entity Objects (EO) and View Objects (VO), usually constructed and defined during design time.

Entity Objects

Are components that represent a row in a database table and simplify modifying its data. It enables developer to encapsulate domain business logic for database rows to ensue business policies and rules validations.

View Objects

Are components that encapsulate a SQL query and simplify working with it results. In addition to read-only view objects, there are entity-based view objects that support updatable rows. Applications built using ADF obtain their data by querying the defined View Objects using the ADF APIs.

The ADF components can be used as a data source to OBI Server which allows builds the data model on top of the ADF Framework.

There are lots of enhancements has been done for OBIEE 11g/Web Logic so one can build the reporting data model on the top of the ADF Framework, such as

·         ADF Integration

·         SQL Bypass

·         Flex Support through BI Extender

·         Conformance/Federation Model

·         Action Framework and Embedding of BI content in Transaction pages

·         Reuse Apps Security

·         Date Effectivity Support

·         Enhanced Essbase Support

These enhancements are the foundation of Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) which is pre-built packaged operational reporting solution for Fusion Applications such as Oracle Financials, Oracle Supply Chain Management, Oracle Procurement and Spend, Oracle Project Portfolio Management, Oracle Human Capital Management and Oracle Customer Relationship Management.

The introduction of OTBI raise lots of questions such as What is difference between BI Apps and OTBI?  Are BI Apps and OTBI complement or compete with each other?  Would OTBI cannibalize BI Apps in recent future?

There is lot to explore and write about. Stay tune.