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.