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BOOK ORACLE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ENTERPRISE EDITION 11G

SUMMARY

536

Preface 1
Chapter 1: Understanding the Oracle BI 11g Architecture 9
Looking backward and looking forward 9
Let's look at the big picture 10
What is Oracle Fusion Middleware? 11
An application server by any other name 12
A database repository – for what? 12
Overall components 13
Java components 14
System components 15
WebLogic Server 17
A few software nuances 17
WebLogic Domain 18
WebLogic Administration Server 18
WebLogic Managed Server 19
WebLogic Node Manager 20
System tools controlled by WebLogic 21
Oracle Process Management and Notification system 22
Security 23
Backwards compatibility 24
Managing by application roles 25
Security providers 25
Identity Store 25
Credential Store 25
Policy Store 26
System requirements 27
Client Tools 27
Multiuser Development Environment 28
Certification matrix 30
Scaling out Oracle BI 11g 30
Preconfiguration run down 31
Shared storage 31
Clustering 31
Vertical expansion versus horizontal expansion 32
Oracle BI Server (system component) Cluster Controller 32
Failover and high availability 33
Enterprise deployment guide 33
Directory folder structure 34
Log files (diagnostics) 34
Configuration files 35
A review – what I should now know! 36
Additional research suggestions 36
Summary 37
Chapter 2: Installing the Metadata Repository 39
Repository Creation Utility (RCU) 39
What is the metadata store? 40
Technical metadata 40
Business metadata 40
Process metadata 41
Oracle Metadata Services (MDS) 41
Repository schemas 42
Non-repository metadata 43
Downloading the software 43
Running the RCU 44
Setting up your database 45
Oracle 45
MS SQL Server 46
Preparing for your installation 47
Linux 47
64 bit Linux 48
Standard installation steps 48
Adding repositories 60
Customizing your installation 61
Other common changes 63
Schema installations 65
Oracle CREATE USER Script 66
Silent installation 66
Example creation 68
Useful scripts 69
Usage tracking script 69
A review – what I should now know! 71
Summary 71
Chapter 3: Installing on Windows Server 2008 73
Installation media 73
System requirements 75
Installation 77
A review – what I should now know! 91
Summary 92
Chapter 4: Installation Options 93
Oracle BI on its own server 93
High availability and failover planning 94
Simple versus Software Only Installation 95
Software Only Install 95
Installing your own JDK 95
Simple Install 96
Silent installation 96
Custom static ports 97
Creating your own staticports.ini file 98
Installing Oracle BI 11g on *Nix 100
Listening on port 80 100
Ensuring IIS web server Role Services are installed 102
Getting the WebLogic Server Proxy IIS plugins 103
Creating and configuring an IIS Website 104
Enabling compression in IIS 7.x 107
Automate starting and stopping 108
Leveraging the WebLogic Server Windows Service installer command 109
Creating start-up and shutdown scripts 111
Creating desktop shortcuts 113
Creating boot.properties files 114
Ancillary application integration awareness 115
Recommendations for further learning 116
A review – what I should now know! 116
Summary 117
Chapter 5: Understanding the Systems Management Tools 119
Let's talk about management tools 119
WebLogic Server Administration Control 120
First access and checkpoint 121
Servers 122
Clusters 122
Machines, IP address, or DNS 123
Data sources or JDBC connections 124
Security realms 126
WebLogic Server is its own application 128
Using WLST 129
Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control 131
Getting around in EM 132
BI Foundation Domain dashboard 132
Coreapplication 133
The Overview tab 134
The Availability tab 134
The Capacity Management tab 134
The Diagnostics tab 135
The Security tab 136
The Deployment tab 136
Managing Oracle BI 11g artifacts 137
Creating a new Presentation Catalog 138
Deploying an existing Presentation Catalog 140
Deploying an RPD 140
Starting/stopping system components 142
Checking the logs 143
Creating the Tennis users, roles, and associations 144
Creating users and groups in WLS 145
Assigning users to groups 146
Creating and assigning application roles 147
Configuring an LDAP identity provider in WLS 149
Setting up the identity provider 150
Establishing Fusion Middleware Control security linkage 153
Restarting the WebLogic Server and Managed Server 156
Assigning the LDAP Service Account Role Privileges 158
JMS modules for BI Publisher communication 160
Refreshing Presentation Catalog GUIDs – sync it up! 160
JMX, MBeans, and Java 163
Migrating FMW Security to other environments 163
FMW core security files 163
Project Amelia 164
Downloading Project Amelia 164
Getting the FMW Security file 165
Running the script and generating the WLST script 165
Migrating the security script and running it on the target server 166
FMW Security Import/Export utility 166
Using the Security Realm Migration utility 167
Using the migrateSecurityStore function via WLST 168
Oracle BI Publisher system management 169
Monitoring system performance 169
Have a backup plan! 170
Recommendations for further learning 170
A review – what I should now know! 171
Summary 171
Chapter 6: Upgrading the RPD and Web Catalog to 11g 173
Upgrading an RPD and Web Catalog 173
Upgrade Assistant 175
Verification 183
Upgrading BI Scheduler 184
Manual migration 188
Consistency check 188
Security 189
Regression testing 190
Unit test 190
Full regression testing 191
User Acceptance testing 191
A review – what I should now know! 192
Summary 193
Chapter 7: Reporting Databases 195
Theories and models 196
Reporting databases 197
Relational modeling 198
Dimensional modelling 198
Why is database theory important? 200
Designing your database – objectives, rules, and goals 201
Objectives 202
Rules 202
Rule 1 – complete dimensions 203
Rule 2 – build generic tables 204
Rule 3 – partition large tables 204
Rule 4 – prudent indexing 204
Rule 5 – aggregate everything 205
Rule 6 – constant analysis of usage and accuracy 205
Rule 7 – manage statistics 205
Rule 8 – understand the granularity 206
Goals 206
Goal 1 – keep it simple 207
Goal 2 – minimize type 2 slowly changing dimensions 207
Goal 3 – use data, not functions 207
Goal 4 – minimize joins 207
Goal 5 – reduce snowflaking 207
Goal 6 – make it flexible 208
Design summary 208
Creating a warehouse 208
Source system assessment 208
Warehouse design 211
Warehouse tables 211
Populate and tune 214
Monitor and maintain 214
Some definitions 215
A review – what I should now know! 216
Summary 216
Chapter 8: Developing a BI Repository 217
Prerequisites 218
Repository architecture 218
Physical layer 218
Business layer 218
Presentation layer 219
Physical layer 219
Creating an RPD and importing metadata 219
Elements of the physical layer 225
Database object 226
Connection pools 228
Physical catalog and schemas 230
Physical tables 230
Physical join 232
Consistency check 235
Table aliases and naming conventions 236
Business layer 238
Business model 238
Logical tables 239
Logical table sources 242
Logical columns 243
Logical joins 246
Dimension hierarchies 249
Presentation layer 255
Subject areas 256
Best practices in the presentation layer 258
Aliases 260
Implicit fact 260
Calculated measures 262
Logical column calculation 262
Expression Builder 264
Physical column calculation 266
Time series measures 268
Level based measure 271
Federated and fragmented content 273
Vertical federation – aggregation or level based 273
Horizontal federation 274
Fragmentation 274
Fragmentation example – content based 274
Variables and initialization blocks 279
A review – what I should now know! 286
Additional research suggestions 287
Summary 287
Chapter 9: Features of the Presentation Catalog 289
Integrated tools 290
Analysis 290
Dashboards 291
Published reporting 291
Actionable Intelligence 291
Performance management 292
Marketing 292
Mapping 293
Administration 293
Briefing books 293
Search 294
Help 294
Office integration 294
The Home screen 294
Common links 295
Existing object links 295
Create objects 296
Browse catalog 296
Helpful links 296
Administration 296
Groups and users 297
Privileges 298
Full privileges list 300
Session management 300
Maintenance and troubleshooting 303
Issue SQL 303
The Presentation Catalog 304
Structure of the Presentation Catalog 304
Hidden items 306
File management 306
XML files 306
Object copying 306
Multiple personal dashboards 307
Catalog deployments 307
Securing catalog objects 307
Permission inheritance 309
Practical steps to object security 309
A review – what I should now know! 310
Summary 310
Chapter 10: Creating Dashboards and Analysis 311
Analysis versus Reporting 311
Creating an Analysis 312
Analysis Editor 314
Criteria Tab 314
The Results tab 316
Filters 317
Selection Steps 320
Saving an Analysis 324
Basic table formatting 325
Bins 328
Pivot Tables 332
Graphs 337
Sectioned views 338
View prompts and section sliders 340
Conditional Formatting 342
Building Dashboards 346
Creating a dashboard 346
Dashboard builder 347
Editing a dashboard 350
Adding a page 351
Report Links 354
Dashboard Prompt 356
Presentation variable 361
Protected and "is prompted" filters 363
Repository/Session variable 364
Some advanced options 366
Column Selector 366
View Selector 368
Master-detail linking 371
Hierarchical columns 374
Security 376
Object security 377
Data security 379
Design – best practices 385
Additional research suggestions 386
A review – what I should now know! 387
Summary 387
Chapter 11: Agents and the Action Framework 389
Agents 390
Actions 399
BI navigation 399
Web navigation and passing a parameter 402
Conditionality 404
Note on invoke actions 408
A review – what I should now know! 409
Additional research suggestions 410
Summary 410
Chapter 12: Developing Reports Using BI Publisher 411
Don't miss the installation integration checkpoint! 412
Where BI Publisher excels? 413
What's all this XML talk? 413
Yes, BI Publisher is now Published Reporting 414
Oracle BI Foundation versus Oracle BI Publisher 415
New features and enhancements 416
Improved Oracle BI 11g look and feel 416
Interactive Viewer 416
Dynamic upload and source from MS Excel spreadsheets 417
Leveraging LDAP user attributes in queries 417
Sharing a Presentation Catalog with Oracle BI 11g 417
Data Model Editor 417
Leverage view objects – Application Development Framework 418
Report design basics, terminology, and locations 418
Report design components 418
Data model 418
Layout 419
Properties 419
Translations 419
Where to administrate BI Publisher 419
Default embedded BI Publisher configurations 420
Where to build a data model 420
Where to add a data source connection 420
What is a JNDI data source? 421
Let's get publishing 422
Administration management of BI Publisher 422
Accessing the BI Publisher Administration page 422
Verifying application roles 423
Creating the Tennis data source JDBC connection 424
Creating a File (XLS) data source 425
Verifying application role data source privileges 426
Setting up a data model 426
Creating a new Presentation Catalog folder 427
Creating a new data model 428
Creating a SQL query data set 429
Adjusting data set display names 432
Creating a parameter 433
Creating a list of values 434
Connecting the parameter to the list of values 435
Getting the sample data 436
Creating a BI Publisher report using Layout Editor 438
Auditing and monitoring BI Publisher 441
Modifying a few configuration files 442
Connecting to the Audit Framework 443
Enabling Audit Policy in the Fusion Middleware Control
Enterprise Manager 443
Viewing the auditing log file 444
BI Publisher nuances 445
Timeout issues 445
Connecting to Oracle BI server data sources 445
BI Publisher Application Programming Interface (API) 446
BI Publisher Scheduler 446
High availability 446
A review – what I should now know! 447
Additional research suggestions 447
Summary 448
Chapter 13: Customizing the Style of Dashboards 449
What's the idea? 449
Multiple skins and styles in one environment 450
A strategy for something seemingly simple 451
Involve the Marketing department 451
Don't boil the ocean 451
Speed to implementation 452
Build a focus group 452
General knowledge and tools 453
Third-party tools 454
Oracle JDeveloper skinning tool 454
BI Consulting Group Identity product 454
Hands-on – go time! 455
Overview 455
Let's talk about tools and assumptions 457
Locating existing styles and skins 457
Developing/designing a new look and feel 458
Getting analyticsRes deployed 459
Good artists copy, great artists steal 462
Modifying instanceconfig.xml 464
Modifying skins and styles 465
Changing the banner color 466
Changing the global header menu link's color 466
Changing the header separator bar 466
Changing the header brand name 467
Changing the Login page background 467
Restarting Presentation services 467
Restarting Presentation services from the command line 468
Restarting Presentation services from Enterprise Manager 469
Viewing the results 470
Configuring a custom message 470
Refreshing metadata files and custom messages 472
Wrap it up! 473
Advanced learning topics 473
Firebug 474
NetBeans IDE 474
Formatting CSS (prettify) 474
NQ_SESSION.SKIN and NQ_SESSION.STYLE session variables 474
AnalyticsRes Application Caveat 475
A review – what I should now know! 475
Summary 475
Chapter 14: Improving the Performance 477
What is poor performance? 477
Where can I improve the performance? 478
Hardware 479
Database 481
BI Server 482
More performance tips 484
The use of cache 484
Setting up the cache 485
Web servers on top 487
Domain setup 487
A review – what I should now know! 487
Summary 488
Chapter 15: Using the BI Admin Change Management Utilities 489
Problems with multiple developers 489
Merges 490
Three-way merge 490
Two-way merger 494
Multi-User development 494
Online development 495
Advantages and disadvantages 498
Multi-User development 498
Advantages and disadvantages 506
A review – what I should now know! 507
Additional research suggestions 507
Summary 507
Chapter 16: Usage Tracking 509
What is usage tracking? 509
System setup 510
Setting up the database table 510
Additional data 511
Setting up the BI Server repository 512
Updating the BI Server's configuration file 513
Analyzing the usage 516
Usage measures 516
A review – what I should now know! 519
Summary 519
Chapter 17: Oracle Essbase and OLAP Integration 521
A bit about OLAP 521
Competition 522
MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP, XOLAP 522
Essbase's entrenched past 523
Oracle Essbase Studio 524
Oracle BI SampleApp v107+ – VM image 524
Getting started – let's get set up 525
Prepping the VM image 525
Starting the virtual machine image 526
Starting up Essbase 526
Starting up Essbase Administration Services (EAS) 527
Prepping Essbase 528
Creating the base Essbase application and database 528
Migrating the Essbase files 531
Validating the Outline 531
Loading data into the cube 532
Anything needed to prep the Oracle BI Server? 533
Modeling Essbase into Oracle BI 534
A bit of Essbase to Oracle BI knowledge 534
Importing Essbase as a data source 535
A few OLAP adjustments before modeling 536
Flattening the Measure dimension 537
Getting the UDAs 538
Dimension and hierarchy types 538
Getting a quick win 540
Incremental importing of Essbase metadata 541
Federation of data 543
Oracle BI/EPM roadmap 543
Workspace integration 544
Software license combo 544
A review – what I should now know! 544
Additional research suggestions 544
Summary 545
Appendix A: Programs and Definitions 547
Stress testing 548
XML – a better approach 553
biserverxmlgen 553
biserverxmlexec 554
biserverxmlcli 555
Working example using XML 556
More repository management 558
Admin tool 559
A review – what I should now know! 561
Summary 562
Appendix B: Useful Resources: Join the Oracle BI Movement 563
This book's resources 563
OBI11gBook.com forums 563
Author blogs 564
Other Oracle BI practitioner blogs 564
Oracle development team blogs 564
Oracle BI user groups 565
Oracle Development Tools Users'Group (ODTUG) 565
Oracle Applications Users'Group (OAUG) 565
Independent Oracle User Groups (IOUG) 566
International Oracle Users'Group Community (IOUC) 566
Conferences 566
Oracle Open World (OOW) 566
COLLABORATE 567
KScope 567
RittmanMead BI Forum 567
Join the movement 568
Further reading 568
Summary 569