Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 12c - second Edition

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 12c - second Edition

by Adrian Ward, Christian Screen, Haroun Khan
Released April 2017
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781786464712

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Book description

A comprehensive guide from Oracle experts, that will act as your single point of reference for building an Oracle BI 12c system that turns data in actionable insight.

About This Book

  • Come, start your first Oracle Business intelligence system and excel in BI with this exhaustive guide

  • An all-encompassing guide for your Oracle business intelligence needs

  • Learn from the self-paced professional guidance and implement Oracle business intelligence using this easy-to-follow guide by our experts

    • Who This Book Is For

    If your job includes working on data, improving the financial or operational performance of your organization or you are a consultant for the above, then this book is for you. If you have been placed on a business intelligence project, then this book is for you. If you are the Project Manager, Business Analyst or Data Scientist then this book is for you. If you are an end user of Oracle Business Intelligence, then this book is for you too.

    Having a basic understanding of databases and the use of Business Intelligence is expected, but no knowledge of Oracle BI is required.

    What You Will Learn

  • Install OBIEE in Windows, including how to create the underlying Weblogic Application server and the required database

  • Build the BI system repository, the vital engine connecting your data to the front end of Oracle BI

  • Develop effective analysis, draw out meaning from the data, and present it to end users on interactive dashboards

  • Build pixel-perfect, printable reports using the embedded BI Publisher feature

  • Build agents for actionable insight and enable your users to act on Business Intelligence at their desktop or on the move

  • Understand the various aspects of securing the Oracle BI system, from data restrictions to whole dashboard access rights

  • Get acquainted with the system management tools and methods available for the continuous improvement of your system

    • In Detail

    Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) 12c is packed full of features and has a fresh approach to information presentation, system management, and security. OBIEE can help any organization to understand its data, to make useful information from data, and to ensure decision-making is supported by facts. OBIEE can focus on information that needs action, alerting users when conditions are met. OBIEE can be used for data analysis, form production, dashoarding, and workflow processes.

    We will introduce you to OBIEE features and provide a step-by-step guide to build a complete system from scratch. With this guide, you will be equipped with a good basic understanding of what the product contains, how to install and configure it, and how to create effective Business Intelligence.

    This book contains the necessary information for a beginner to create a high-performance OBIEE 12c system.

    This book is also a guide that explains how to use an existing OBIEE 12c system, and shows end users how to create.

    Style and approach

    This book will take you from one feature to another in a step-by-step manner and will teach how you can create effective business intelligence using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. You will be taught how to create BI solutions and dashboards from scratch. There will be multiple modules in the book, each module spread in chapters, that will cover one aspect of business intelligence in a systematic manner.

    Table of contents

    1. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 12c - second Edition
      1. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 12c - second Edition
      2. Credits
      3. About the Authors
      4. About the Reviewer
      5. www.PacktPub.com
        1. Why subscribe?
      6. Customer Feedback
      7. Preface
        1. What this book covers
        2. What you need for this book
        3. Who this book is for
        4. Conventions
        5. Reader feedback
        6. Customer support
          1. Downloading the example code
          2. Downloading the color images of this book
          3. Errata
          4. Piracy
          5. Questions
      8. 1. Oracle BI 12c Architecture
        1. Let's look at the big picture
        2. Terminology differences from Oracle BI 11g
        3. What is Oracle Fusion Middleware?
        4. Why is there a database repository for OBIEE?
        5. Overall components
          1. Java components
            1. Action Service
            2. Visual Analyzer
            3. Administrative Components
            4. SOA Web Service 
            5. Oracle BI Office
            6. Oracle Real-Time Decisions (RTD)
            7. Oracle BI Presentation Service plugin
            8. Oracle BI Publisher
            9. Security Services
          2. System Components
            1. BI Server 
            2. BI Presentation Server 
            3. BI Scheduler 
            4. BI JavaHost 
            5. BI Server Cluster Controller 
            6. Essbase
        6. WebLogic Server
          1. A few WebLogic Server nuances
          2. WebLogic Domain
          3. WebLogic Administration Server
          4. WebLogic Managed Server
          5. WebLogic Node Manager
        7. System tools controlled by WebLogic
        8. Security
          1. Managing by Application Roles
          2. Security providers
            1. Identity Store
            2. Credential Store
            3. Policy Store
        9. System requirements
          1. Client tools
          2. Multi-User Development Environment
          3. Certifications matrix
        10. Scaling out Oracle BI 12c
          1. Pre-configuration run-down
            1. Shared storage
          2. Clustering
            1. Vertical versus horizontal
            2. Oracle BI Server Cluster Controller
          3. Failover and high-availability
        11. Enterprise Deployment Guide
        12. Directory folder structure
          1. Log files / diagnostics
          2. Configuration files
        13. Download Oracle BI 12c
        14. System requirements
        15. References
        16. A review - what I should now know!
        17. Summary
      9. 2. Installing the Prerequisite Software
        1. Installation overview
        2. Installation media
        3. System requirements
        4. Installing Java
        5. Installing the WebLogic Server
        6. Installing the metadata schemas
          1. Creating the database and user
          2. Installing the schemas
        7. Gotchas
        8. A review - what I should now know!
        9. Summary
      10. 3. Installing on Windows Server 2012
        1. Installation overview
        2. Installation media
          1. Installing the BI Server software
          2. Configuring the database for the BI Server schema
          3. Configuring the BI application
          4. What is installed?
          5. Folder structure
            1. Shortcut reference variables
        3. Configuring start and stop links
        4. A review - what I should now know!
        5. Summary
      11. 4. Reviewing the Features of the Reporting Repository
        1. Integrated tools
          1. Answers
          2. Dashboards
          3. Published Reporting
          4. Actionable Intelligence
          5. Performance Management
          6. Marketing
          7. MapViewer
          8. Administration
            1. Briefing books
            2. Visual Analyzer
          9. Search
          10. Help
          11. Office integration
        2. The home screen
        3. Catalog
        4. New
          1. Recent
          2. Help
        5. Administration
          1. Session Management
          2. Maintenance and troubleshooting
          3. Issue SQL
          4. Catalog
            1. Structure of the Presentation Catalog
          5. Hidden items
          6. File management
          7. XML files
          8. Object copying
          9. Catalog deployments
          10. Securing catalog objects
          11. Multiple personal dashboards
            1. Permission inheritance
        6. A review - what I should now know!
        7. Summary
      12. 5. Installing and Configuring Client Tools
        1. Installing the client software
        2. Configuring a connection to the OBIEE Server
        3. Configuring a connection to the database
        4. Creating shortcuts
        5. Testing the client software
        6. A review - what I should now know!
        7. Summary
      13. 6. Understanding the Systems Management Tools
        1. Let's talk management tools
        2. WebLogic Server Administration Control
          1. First access and checkpoint
        3. Servers
        4. Clusters
        5. Machines / IP address or DNS
        6. Data Sources / JDBC connections
        7. Security Realms
        8. WebLogic Server is its own application
        9. Using WLST
        10. Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control
          1. Getting around in EM
            1. BI Foundation Domain Dashboard
            2. Overview tab
            3. Availability tab
            4. Configuration
              1. General
              2. Performance
              3. Presentation
              4. Mail
            5. Diagnostics
              1. Log Messages
              2. Log Configuration
            6. Security
        11. Oracle BI 12c Lifecycle Management
          1. What is a BAR File?
            1. Finding the default BAR files
          2. Deploying, migrating, and backing up artifacts
            1. Snapshot Service Instance artifacts - exporting to a BAR
            2. Migrating a Service Instance Snapshot - importing the BAR
            3. Moving just the RPD - no BAR necessary
              1. Download the RPD only - no BAR
              2. Uploading just the RPD - no BAR
            4. Stopping and starting System Components
              1. Stopping Oracle BI 12c
              2. Starting Oracle BI 12c
            5. Patching Oracle BI 12c
            6. Upgrading Oracle BI 12c
            7. Checking the logs
        12. Creating users, roles, and associations
        13. Creating users and groups in WebLogic Server
        14. Assigning users to groups
        15. Creating and assigning Application Roles
        16. JMX, MBeans, Java, and interfacing Oracle BI
        17. Migrating FMW Security to other environments
          1. FMW Core Security files and OPSS
        18. FMW Security Import/Export utility
        19. Using the Security Realm migration utility
        20. Oracle BI Publisher system management
        21. Monitoring system performance
        22. Have a backup plan!
        23. Recommendations for further learning
        24. A review - what I should know now!
        25. Summary
      14. 7. Developing the BI Server Repository
        1. Prerequisites
        2. Repository architecture
        3. Physical layer
          1. Creating an RPD and importing metadata
          2. Elements of the physical layer
            1. Database object
            2. Connection Pools
            3. Physical catalog and schemas
            4. Physical tables
            5. Physical join
            6. Consistency check
            7. Table aliases and naming conventions
        4. Business layer
          1. Business model
          2. Logical tables
          3. Logical table sources
          4. Logical columns
          5. Logical joins
          6. Dimension hierarchies
          7. Number of elements
        5. Presentation layer
          1. Subject areas
          2. Best practices in the presentation layer
            1. Aliases
          3. Implicit Fact
          4. Calculated measures
          5. Logical column calculation
          6. Expression Builder
          7. Physical column calculation
          8. Time series measures
          9. Level-based measure
        6. Federated and fragmented content
          1. Vertical federation-aggregation or level-based
          2. Horizontal federation
          3. Fragmentation
            1. Fragmentation example--content-based
        7. Variables and initialization blocks
        8. A review - what I should now know!
          1. Additional research suggestions
        9. Summary
      15. 8. Creating Dashboards and Analyses
        1. Creating our first analysis
        2. Creating our first Dashboard
        3. Analysis building - more details
          1. Views
          2. Tables
          3. Graphs
          4. Pivot Tables
          5. Narratives
          6. Performance Tiles
          7. Recap
          8. Prompts
          9. In analysis prompting
          10. Result layout
          11. Column hiding and showing
          12. Conditional display
          13. Recap
          14. Master Detail linking
          15. Saved Dashboards
          16. Calculated data
          17. Saved columns
        4. Pretty useful stuff!
        5. A review - what I should now know!
        6. Summary
      16. 9. Agents and Action Framework
        1. Agents
          1. Mail server setup
          2. Creating the Agent
        2. Actions
          1. BI Navigation
          2. Web navigation and passing a parameter
            1. Adding some conditionality
          3. Note on Invoke Actions
        3. A review - what I should know now!
        4. Additional research suggestions
        5. Oracle documentation on Actions
        6. Summary
      17. 10. Developing Reports Using BI Publisher
        1. Don't miss the installation integration checkpoint!
        2. What's all this XML talk?
          1. Where does BI Publisher excel?
          2. Oracle BI Foundation versus Oracle BI Publisher
          3. New features and enhancements
            1. Improved Oracle BI 12c look and feel
            2. Delivering documents to the cloud
            3. Better encryption and security
            4. Report design basics, terminology, and locations
            5. Report design components
            6. Data model
            7. Layout
            8. Properties
            9. Translations
        3. Where to administer BI Publisher
          1. Default embedded BI Publisher configurations
        4. Where to build a data model
          1. Where to add a data source connection
          2. What is a JNDI data source?
        5. Let's get publishing
          1. Administration management of BI Publisher
          2. Accessing the BI Publisher Administration page
          3. Verifying application roles
          4. Creating the data source JDBC connection
          5. Creating a file (XLS) data source
          6. Verifying application role data source privileges
          7. Setting up a data model
          8. Creating a new Presentation Catalog folder
          9. Creating a new data model
          10. Creating an SQL query data set
          11. Adjusting data set display names
          12. Creating a parameter
          13. Creating a list of values
          14. Connecting the parameter to the list of values
          15. Getting the sample data
          16. Creating a BI Publisher report using the Layout Editor
          17. Auditing and monitoring BI Publisher
          18. Modifying a few configuration files
        6. Enabling Audit Policy in the Fusion Middleware Control Enterprise Manager
          1. Connecting to the Audit Framework
          2. Viewing the auditing log file
          3. Timeout issues
        7. Connecting to Oracle BI server data sources
          1. BI Publisher Application Programming Interface
          2. BI Publisher Scheduler
          3. High availability
        8. A review - what I should now know!
        9. Summary
      18. 11. Usage Tracking
        1. What is usage tracking?
          1. Setting up usage tracking
          2. Setting up database tables
          3. Setting up the BI Server repository
            1. Updating the BI Server configuration
        2. Analyzing usage
          1. Usage measures
        3. Customizing your setup
        4. Additional data
        5. A review - what I should now know!
        6. Summary
      19. 12. Improving Performance
        1. What is poor performance?
          1. Where can I improve the performance?
            1. Hardware
            2. Full speed ahead
            3. More servers please
            4. Database
            5. BI Server
            6. More performance tips
            7. The use of cache
            8. Setting up the cache
            9. Web servers on top
            10. Domain setup
        2. A review - what I should now know!
        3. Summary
      20. 13. Using the BI Admin Change Management Utilities
        1. Problems with multiple developers
        2. Merges
          1. Three-way merge
          2. Two-way merger
          3. Multiuser development
          4. Online development
          5. Advantages and disadvantages
        3. Multiuser Development Environment
          1. Advantages and disadvantages
        4. A review - what I should now know!
        5. Additional research suggestions
        6. Summary
      21. 14. Ancillary Installation Options
        1. Oracle BI 12c on its own server
          1. High availability and failover planning
          2. Silent installation
        2. Custom ports and port management
        3. Installing Oracle BI 12c on *Nix
        4. Listening on port 80
        5. Configuring a HTTP proxy with the NGINX web server
        6. Enabling compression on web servers
          1. Setting up compression for the NGINX HTTP server
        7. Automating starting and stopping
          1. Scripting Windows Services
          2. Ancillary application integration awareness
        8. Recommendations for further learning
        9. A review - what should I know now?
        10. Summary
      22. 15. Reporting Databases
        1. Theories and models
          1. Reporting databases
            1. Relational modeling
            2. Dimensional modeling
          2. Why is database theory important?
        2. Designing your database - objectives, rules, and goals
          1. Objectives
          2. Rules
            1. Rule 1 - complete dimensions
            2. Rule 2 - build generic tables
            3. Rule 3 - partition large tables
            4. Rule 4 - prudent indexing
            5. Rule 5 - aggregate everything
            6. Rule 6 - constant analysis of usage and accuracy
            7. Rule 7 - manage statistics
            8. Rule 8 - understand the granularity
          3. Goals
            1. Goal 1 - keep it simple
            2. Goal 2 - minimize Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimensions
            3. Goal 3 - use data, not functions
            4. Goal 4 - minimize joins
            5. Goal 5 - reduce snowflaking
            6. Goal 6 - make it flexible
          4. Design summary
        3. Creating a warehouse
          1. Source system assessment
          2. Warehouse design
            1. Warehouse tables
              1. The match star schema
              2. The tournament star schema
            2. Populating and tuning
            3. Monitoring and maintaining
        4. Some definitions
        5. A review - what you should know now!
        6. Summary
      23. 16. Customizing the Style of Dashboards
        1. Multiple skins and styles in one environment
          1. Hands-on - go time!
          2. Changing styles
        2. Creating your own look and feel - overview
          1. Creating your style
          2. Modifying the code
          3. Updating your style
          4. Alternative deployment method
          5. Custom messages
        3. A review - what I should now know!
        4. Summary
      24. 17. Upgrading to 12c
        1. Checking the 11g system and files
        2. Generation
        3. Export bundle
        4. Bundle contents
          1. Importing the bundle
        5. Import via the Configuration Assistant
        6. Import via the BI Migration Script
        7. Connectivity
        8. Consistency check
        9. Security and manual migration
        10. Regression testing
          1. Unit testing
          2. Full regression testing
          3. User acceptance testing
        11. A review - what I should now know!
        12. Summary

    Product information

    • Title: Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 12c - second Edition
    • Author(s): Adrian Ward, Christian Screen, Haroun Khan
    • Release date: April 2017
    • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
    • ISBN: 9781786464712