Art & Science of Discoverer A look at Discoverer 10g Release 2 Baton Rouge User Group Michael Armstrong-Smith.

Art & Science of DiscovererArt & Science of Discoverer A look at A look at

Discoverer 10g Release 2Discoverer 10g Release 2Baton Rouge User GroupBaton Rouge User Group

Michael Armstrong-Smith

A look at:Discoverer 10g Release 2

Data is limited – imagination knows no bounds

Please turn cell phones to mute

If you must make or take a call, please step outside

About Michael

Member of Oracle’s customer advisory board for business

intelligence

Co-author of Oracle Discoverer Handbook

Presenter at IOUG, OAUG and ODTUG

Fellow of Institute of Analysts and Programmers

MetaLink and OTN Forum panel expert

9 years experience of Discoverer and Oracle Applications

Over 25 years IT experience

Designated an Oracle ACE in 2006

Oracle Discoverer 10g Handbook

Released March 2006

Available on Amazon.com or via learndiscoverer.com

Armstrong-Smith BI Services

ASC offers the following BI services:Training

Standard Discoverer Training– End User – 3 days; Admin – 2 days

Customized Training – we train on your data– Discoverer– E-Business Suite– Oracle Warehouse Builder

ConsultancyInstallation; EUL creation; report creation; system evaluation; system security; data warehouse creation

Remote supportLet us manage your Discoverer environment or develop your data warehouse for you

http://learndiscoverer.com

http://learndiscoverer.blogspot.com

Session Objectives

This presentation covers: Is Discoverer going away?What’s good? A bullet point of the best featuresManaging Discoverer - a new approach to corporate best practices using librariesAn overview of Discoverer’s components - emphasis on best featuresLogging in - the log in mechanism makes for interesting possibilitiesCreating workbooks using Plus

Showing off the best featuresAvoiding the Query from the Twilight Zone

Executing workbooks using ViewerMaking use of the best features

Configuring Discoverer - set up a corporate look and feel

Questions and Answers

Question and Answers:

After each major section

10 minutes at the end

Is Discoverer going away?

Is Discoverer going away?

NO – NO – NO

Oracle acquisitions

In past few years:

Peoplesoft

Siebel

Hyperion, includes Brio

Others to come

Combining all of this:

Fusion

Impact of Siebel Analytics

At the time of purchase, Oracle inferred, but never officially announced, that Discoverer would no longer be developed and would eventually be de-supported.Outcry from the Discoverer community, particularly the U.S. Government who are heavily invested in Discoverer.Oracle told that if they were forced out of Discoverer, they would look elsewhere for a BI solution.Within a few months, Oracle restated their position concerning Discoverer and reaffirmed it in the most recent direction statement in June 2007.Oracle have announced the next two releases of Discoverer and the enhancements that will be made to those releases.

10.1.2.311g

Oracle Statement of Direction

Why BI Standard Edition?

You already know and use:Oracle DatabaseBI Discoverer, with hooks to

Oracle PortalSSO, OIDE-Business Suite

Oracle Warehouse BuilderComplete solution from one vendorYou need affordable BI now

Oracle offer a complete low-cost solution

No need to pick and choose from best of breed and hope that components fit together

ETL – Oracle Warehouse Builder

Ad-hoc query – Oracle BI Discoverer

Dashboards – Oracle Portal

Pixel perfect reporting – BI Publisher

Custom BI development – BI Beans

More information

Oracle BI Standard Edition Data Sheet

http://www.oracle.com/appserver/business-intelligence/docs/oraclebisedatasheet.pdf

Statement of direction

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/discoverer/pdf/discoverer_sod_2007.pdf

What’s good in 10.1.2?

Reporting Possibilities

Parameter enhancements

Cascading parameters

Optional and Mandatory parameters

Support for keywords and tokens

SYSDATE, NULL and USER

Exception handling

Conditional formatting (formerly Exceptions)

Stoplight formatting

Reporting Possibilities

Greatly enhanced Viewer capability

Save

If enabled you can save changes

This depends on individual privileges

High fidelity printing within Viewer

Print to PDF

Export to PDF

Email

If enabled, send worksheet content as an attachment to an email

Reporting Possibilities

ExportEnhanced export with more export types

Export to PDF

Text area for annotationAdd comments to help other users

Improved GraphingNew graph typesChoose where to place graphs in relation to the data

To the left, right, above, belowIn a separate window

Ease of Use

Discoverer Plus user interfaceSimple to use log on dialogAvailable items paneSelected items pane

Superb drillingHyper drill to other worksheetsHyper drill to URLs

Sharing of scheduled workbooksDisseminate information by allowing other users to share your results

Ease of Use

Workbook ManagementFiltering of users by typeUser and workbook lists fetched incrementallyNew views to organize workbook lists

Interactive PivotingInteractively pivot items direct in the worksheetNo need to go to the Edit Worksheet dialog box

Date selectionProvision of a calendar style date picker for entering dates in

ParametersWhen creating conditionsScheduling Workbooks

Not covered this presentation

Discoverer Plus for OLAP now leverages the OLAP that you will find in the databaseDiscoverer portlets enhanced

New gauges portletPersonalization that allows you to change:

Parameter valuesFormatsLayoutGraph Types

Portal parametersChange the results in all or some of your portlets via a Portal parameter. Wired to portlets so that when parameter changes the portlet will refresh.

What’s Missing?

As far as we can see, the only features missing in the web based Discoverer are:

Ability to save to the file systemYou can only save to the database

Ability to create and edit sub queriesThis can still be done in Discoverer Desktop and they can be executed in Plus and Viewer

The correct use of Hyper Drills can, in most cases, replace sub queries

Part 1

Managing Discoverer - a new approach to corporate best practices using libraries

Managing Discoverer is an art - not a science – and is not something you can just throw a resource at and expect to see a successful, efficient, smooth running environment.

Without adequate training and guidance you will not get the most out of Discoverer.

Objectives

In this section, we will cover:

Why libraries are needed

The definition of a Discoverer library

The characteristics of a Discoverer library

The library manager

How to gain access to a library report

Libraries end chaos

Do you have multiple, similar workbooks and worksheets?

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Do your users reinvent the wheel?

Do you have a myriad of report styles?

What happens when the original developer leaves the company?

Background

“What starts right – stays right”

The benefit of doing it correctly - the first time - is piece of mind and credibility with your customers

What defines success?

Success in many respects has more to do with delivering reliably on organizational expectations rather than simply installing the technical software environment.

What is a Discoverer library?

A Discoverer library is a collection of reports based around a common theme or business unit.

The reports in a library differ from normal workbooks, and reports that are owned by individual report writers.

Libraries in 10g Release 2

Characteristics of a Discoverer Library

Owned by a library manager

Guaranteed to be accurate and perform efficiently

Guaranteed to adhere to corporate standards

Centrally documented

Centrally maintained

Secure with access being strictly controlled

Owned by a library manager

Not normally a real user but

A database role or Oracle Applications responsibility that can be granted to a user.

Doing this

Ensures the continued existence of the library following the departure of a manager, either from the company or from the position of being the library manager.

The Discoverer manager also has the library manager role for all libraries.

Guaranteed to be accurate and perform efficiently

To be held in a library, candidate reports

Meet a specification or business need

Have stringent user testing to confirm that they do what they are supposed to do.

Before being put forward as candidates for the library, new reports will require

User sign off

Documentation

Guaranteed to adhere to corporate standards

Typical corporate standards dictateThe layout, style and naming conventions that will be usedThat there should be an agreed list of abbreviations to which all library reports conformThat standard headers and footers will be employedThat the data will be displayed in your corporate colorsA confidentiality statement will be used where necessary

Centrally documented

Library documentation is maintained

Documents have meaningful descriptions

Special requirements are explained in detail

Includes a set of screenshots

End Users can use this documentation to:Understand what the report does and

Decide whether it satisfies their needs

Centrally maintained

Change is controlled

Justification is required for all change

Consultation process, followed by acceptance or rejection of the request.

When accepted, the library manager will release the report and assign it to a report writer.

Following completion of the change the report will need

user testing, sign off, and updated documentation prior to acceptance back into the library.

Secure with access being strictly controlled

Access is controlledAccess request requiredNo user will be allowed to change a library reportFollowing the approval of a request the library manager will liaise with the Discoverer manager to ensure that the user has access to the relevant business areaWhen this confirmation has been received the library manager will share the report with the userFinally, the user will be informed that their request has been accepted and that the report is now available to them

The Library Manager

The library manager is a very important member of the support staff with whom users need to maintain contact. The library manager is responsible for the following:

Maintaining and publishing the approved list of reports within the library

Accepting or denying requests for new reports

Accepting or denying requests for access to reports

Being a source of help to management for report availability

The Library Manager - continued

Library managers do not write Discoverer reports.

They are working on a higher plane and are more concerned with:

Report availability and

The accuracy of the reports than the inner workings of the reports

Creating new library reports

This is the flow that should be used to get a new report created and added to the library1. New report specifications required2. Existing reports examined3. Report writer assigned the task4. User acceptance testing must be completed5. Documentation produced by report writer6. Library manager

Checks that corporate standards have been metChecks that requirements have been metChecks documentation is completeAccepts new report into the libraryMakes report available to the end users

Gaining access to a library report

This is the flow that should be used in order for access to a library report to be granted1. A request is raised2. DBA, Apps Administrator and Discoverer Manager

do their tasksCreate user accountAssign roles and responsibilitiesAssign business area accessArranges Discoverer training

3. Library manager does his / her tasksAssigns report accessArranges departmental training

4. Notification back to end user

Library Summary

You should have learned that libraries are essential to managing Discoverer

You will soon learn how 10.1.2 Discoverer handles libraries easily

Discoverer Components

Administration (T)Desktop (T)Spreadsheet Plugin for OLAP (T)Plus (BI)Viewer (BI)OEM Application Server Control (BI)Portlets (P)

T = Tool, BI = Business Intelligence,P = Portal & Wireless

OBI Install

Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI)

Discoverer Plus

Discoverer Viewer

Not tightly coupled to infrastructure and portal

Installing OBI on XP

It will work, just not certified

OBI Tools Install

Oracle Business Intelligence Tools (OBI Tools)

Discoverer Admin

Discoverer Desktop

Spreadsheet Plugin for OLAP

Separate install from OBI and can be installed without OBI

Tools Installation Screen

Custom Installation

Components Summary

Installing Discoverer is much easier than ever before

Not mandatory to install portal or an infrastructure at the same time that you install Discoverer Plus and Viewer

Logging In and Managing Connections

In this section we cover:

Types of Plus connection

Using an infrastructure

Creating private connections

Using OEM toHook up an Infrastructure

Manage public connections

Connecting without Infrastructure

Connecting with an Infrastructure

Hooking up an existing Infrastructure

Use this workflow to connect to an existing infrastructure:

1. Launch OEM Application Server Control

2. Click Infrastructure button

3. In Identity Management, click Configure

4. Provide your OID host and portusually 389

Creating a Private Connection

Workflow for creating private connection:

1. Click Create Connection

2. Provide Connection Details

3. Provide Account Details

4. Click Apply or Apply and Connect

Private Connection Screen

1. Give a name meaningful to yourself

3. Must be a TNS Names entry on the server

2. Enter you username and password

Multiple End User Layers

Then click

Select

Public Connections

Controlled by Discoverer Manager

Using OEM Application Server Control

You will need the ias_admin password

http://myserver:1810

E.g. http://devserver.abc.com:1810

OEM main screen

Infrastructure button

Main Discoverer screen

Administration button – use this to control connections

Use these links to control the individual Discoverer components

OEM Admin Screen

Use this area to make OLAP data available

Use these links to manage connections

OEM Connections Screen

Summary

In this section we covered logging in to Plus and Managing Connections and looked at:

Types of Plus connection

Using an infrastructure

Creating private connections

Using OEM toHook up an Infrastructure

Manage public connections

Using OEM to configure Plus and Viewer will be covered later

A first look at Viewer

In this section:We will now demonstrate the new Discoverer ViewerNote how the interface lends itself to the use of librariesSee in action

Cascading ParametersAnalytic FunctionsHyper DrillingConditional Formatting using Stoplights

Viewer Initial Screen

Viewer Workbook Selection

Library name

Click to see the list of worksheets

Expanded Worksheet List

Click worksheet name to execute the query

Getting Started in Viewer

Follow this workflow to get started with Viewer

1. Look at the list of available workbooks

2. If you are not sure which one you should open look at the

Description. Your Report Writer will have given you a

meaningful description of what the workbook does

3. After making your choice, click on the workbook title

4. Viewer will open the workbook and display the initial screen on

the next page

Cascading Parameters Example

Clicking the City list of values buttons only displays the cities in North America

Results – profit for American cities

Cascading Overview

You have seen how Discoverer has filtered the lists for District and City by the previous selections

Now we will move on to some of the analytic functions

From the list of workbooks, select Crosstab Analytics

Viewer – Crosstab sorting - hmm

Viewer – Table Sorting - better

Hyper Drilling in Viewer

Click the drill button

Pops up

Click on the drill you want

Drills through to new query

Notice how the date parameters are brought through from the previous workbook

Notice also that now we are now seeing all quarters for on customer

Drills to lowest level

Notice once again that the customer name has come through plus the quarter that we clicked on

This time we can see a month by month breakout for the quarter selected

Conditional Formatting in Viewer

Profit under 2m considered low,

2m to 4m is average,

while over 4m is high

How about this?

New profit types called:

High Profit

Average Profit

Low Profit

Not new in 10.1.2 but worth learning anyhow

Summary

You have seen how to connect and use Discoverer Viewer

You have also seen some examples of the new 10g features:

Cascading Parameters

Hyper Drilling

Conditional Formatting

In the next sections, Michael will show you how to build these queries using Plus

A first look at Plus

In this section:

The Query from the Twilight Zone

The new Plus interface

Watch as Michael used the new Discoverer Plus to build the queries you just saw in Viewer

Cascading Parameters

Analytic Templates

Hyper Drilling

Conditional Formatting

And more ….

The Query from the Twilight Zone

A query that never – or seems like never – returns any information. Once submitted, the query just appears to run forever; apparently having been submitted to that “big database in the sky” from whence nothing ever returns.

Somewhere out there in the bowels of data land are millions of queries still searching for their elusive data, and hopefully the users are not still sitting at their desks waiting

Six ways to avoid the Twilight Zone

1. Build Discoverer around efficient data warehouses or summary tables

2. Apply effective conditions (constraints) at the beginning to avoid long-running queries

3. Apply query governors to reduce• The time allowed, or• The number of rows returned

4. Apply a sort order after the query results have been determined

5. Create totals and subtotals on a subset6. Apply calculations after the query has run

Plus initial screen

Plus Workbook Selection

Library and workbook

names

Click to see list of worksheets

Plus Worksheet Selection

Notice the use of libraries

Available items and Selected Items

Visual Representation

As you check / uncheck items on the left, the graphic on the right changes to give you a visual

representation of how the worksheet will look

Cascading Parameters

Work best with hierarchies

Work beautifully with hierarchies

Build parameters in this order:

Highest detail to lowest detail

Place dependencies on lower level items

Base System

Time Hierarchy

Geographic Hierarchy

Product Hierarchy

Building Cascading Parameters

Create workbook including two or more items from a hierarchy, and at least one metric

We’ll work on the Geographic hierarchy

First condition on the Region

Second condition on the District

Third condition on the City

Workflow for a condition

Follow this workflow to create a condition using a parameter:1. Click Conditions tab2. Right click My Conditions3. Select New Condition4. Complete condition5. Set Values to New Parameter6. Complete New Parameter dialog box7. Complete New Condition dialog box

New Parameter dialog box

Complete Condition dialog box

This construct allows user to select ALL values by keying the word ALL

Adding the cascades

Check this box

Check one or more of the existing conditions

Note: pick the conditions that form the hierarchy

Using Analytic Templates

We will:

Duplicate the cascading worksheet as a crosstab

Add Rank function

Add Running total

Set up the Crosstab

Crosstab Formatting

Change to Inline

Add Analytic Function

To add an analytic function, using templates, use this workflow:

1. Right click My Calculations

2. Select New Calculation

3. Click Insert Formula from Template

4. Select function

5. Click OK

Function List (Rank Selected)Note the automatic selections

Result with Ranking

OK so far, need to sort the profit

Sorting in a Crosstab

In Plus, it is not possible to do the sort that we require, it is not possible in Desktop either!

Michael will demonstrate

Need to replicate as table, and then sort

Add running total

Use workflow to create calculation using analytic formula

This time select Running Total

Let’s go with the default settings

What went wrong?

What went wrong?

Why is running total wrong?

The corrected Running Total

Moving on to Hyper Drills

The new 10.1.2 Plus can Hyper Drill to:

Worksheets, passing parameters

URLs

Need to plan the worksheet hyperlinks in advance

Build workbooks in reverse order

Add hyperlinks as we go

Planning Hyperlinks

Decide how the worksheets will interlinkTop Level

Select Ship Qty by range of years, showing data for all customers – from here we want to select a customer and then drill to the:

Middle Level, whereWe will display the Ship Qty for all quarters for the year range and customer name passed from the top level - from here we want to select a quarter and then drill to the:

Lowest Level, whereWe will display the Ship Qty for the three months in the drilled quarter for the customer passed through from the top level

Adding a Hyper Link

Use this workflow to add a hyper drill:1. Right click on cell you want to drill from2. From pop up select Manage Links3. Complete the Manage Links dialog box

Click New Link – opens New Link dialog boxGive the link a meaningful nameChoose Type – URL or WorksheetPick workbook and worksheet nameProvide the Parameter linksClick OK

Edit Links dialog box

Give the link a name and decide whether it should be a URL or worksheet link

Conditional Formatting

Two Types:

Conditional Formatpreviously known as Exceptions

Stoplight FormatUsed to highlight ranges

Upper and a lower range value

Change the colors (default, red, amber, green)

Adding a Stoplight Format

Use this workflow to add a stoplight format:1. Right click anywhere in the column on which

you want to define the format2. From pop up select Conditional Formats3. Click New Stoplight Format button4. Define the upper and lower limits5. Change colors if desired6. Hide the data if desired7. Click OK

New Stoplight Format dialog box

Upper range

Lower rangeClick to hide the

data

Using stoplight to create new type

Use this workflow to create a new type based on the stoplight:

1. Click Calculations tab

2. Right click My Calculations

3. Select New Calculation

4. Use the DECODE function to create a new type using LEAST or GREATEST

5. Use the type as page item

Trying to achieve

IF profit <= 2,000,000

THEN type = ‘Low Profit’

ELSE IF profit <= 4,000,000

THEN type = ‘Medium Profit’

ELSE type = ‘High Profit’

DECODE function

Typically, the DECODE looks like this:

DECODE(A,B,C,D), which translates to

IF A = B or IF A = B1THEN C THEN C1ELSE D ELSE IF A = B2

THEN C2ELSE D

Solution, based on Stoplight

DECODE (profit, LEAST (profit, 2000000), ‘Low Profit’, LEAST (profit, 4000000), ‘Medium Profit’, ’High Profit’)

Other 10.1.2 features

Sharing results of scheduled workbooks

Optional and Mandatory parameters

New calendar popup for dates

Email results from Viewer

Print to PDF from Viewer

Sharing results of scheduled workbooks

Very easy, nice new feature, perfect for working with libraries. Use this workflow:

1. Create a scheduled workbook

2. Use Tools | Manage Schedules

3. Select workbook you want to share

4. Click Share

5. Grant access to role or use

Optional and Mandatory parameters

Easy to set up. Use this workflow:

1. Create any workbook that uses parameters

2. On New Parameter dialog boxUse Require users to enter a value

Check to make parameter mandatory

Uncheck to make parameter optional

If user leaves parameter blank, Discoverer assumes user wants all values

New calendar popup

Another nice new feature. Use this workflow:

1. Create a workbook that has a date

2. Create a condition on the date

3. Create a parameter for the condition

4. Discoverer automatically provides a calendar popup whenever user runs the workbook

Email from within Viewer

Another much asked for feature. To send the results via Email when in Viewer, use this workflow:

1. Run Viewer and execute a workbook

2. Click Send as email

3. Choose attachment type

4. Complete Send Email dialog box

5. Click Finish

Send Email dialog box

Print to PDF

Printing from within Viewer greatly enhanced. Use this workflow:1. Run Viewer and execute a workbook2. Click Printable page3. Set the Printable Page Options4. Click Preview Sample5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until ready6. Click Printable PDF7. Print

Tips for printing to PDF

On Printable Page Options (see next slide)

Click Page Setup

Pay attention to orientation

Adjust left and right margins

Use Scaling

Manually set column widths

Wrap text when data exceeds column width

Printable Page Options

Summary

In this section, you learned about:The Query from the Twilight ZoneSome of the new Discoverer features:

Cascading ParametersAnalytic TemplatesHyper DrillingConditional FormattingSharing Scheduled WorkbooksOptional and Mandatory ParametersNew Calendar PopupEmailing ResultsPrinting to PDF

Setting up a corporate look and feel

Principal weapon in your arsenal is the new Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Application Server Control.

Accessed using: http://yourserver:1810

Need your ias_admin password

What can you configure?

Add your corporate logo

Define public connections

Customize the look and feel of Viewer

Manage links to an infrastructure database

Manage links to OLAP

Determine the Java plug-in to be used in Plus

Set up the SMTP server for Email

Add your corporate logo

Done in two places:

PlusLogo set in here is displayed on top of all internal Plus screens

ViewerLogo set in here is displayed on top of all internal Viewer screens and on top of the login page of both Plus and Viewer

Changes take immediate effect

Customize Viewer

Navigate to customization screen:

Launch OEM App Server Control

Under System Components click Discoverer

Under Components click Discoverer Viewer

Click Customization button

Customize Look and Feel or

Customize Layout

Customize Look and Feel

Customize Layout

Preview Changes

Add Email connectivity

Navigate to customization screen:

Launch OEM App Server Control

Under System Components click Discoverer

Under Components click Discoverer Viewer

Under General click Email

Set SMTP Server

Email connectivity

Customize Plus

Navigate to customization screen:

Launch OEM App Server Control

Under System Components click Discoverer

Under Components click Discoverer Plus

Under General click one ofLogo Look and Feel

Java Plugin Logging

Communication Protocols

Plus customization screen

Items Learned in this Presentation

This presentation covered: Managing Discoverer using libraries

An overview of Discoverer’s components

Logging in

Using Viewer to run workbooks

The Query from the Twilight Zone and how to avoid

Using Plus to create workbooks

Configuring Discoverer

Q & A

Thank You

For more information or to get help about Discoverer 10.1.2 please contact Michael

[email protected]

Copyright

The content provided as papers and presentations from Armstrong-Smith Consulting is copyrighted by the authors, and has been licensed to the Baton Rouge User Group. It is only authorized for the personal use of Baton Rouge User Group members and user group attendees.

Downloading the files, placing them on other web sites, sharing them with other individuals or third parties is prohibited, unless permission to do so has been granted by the authors or Baton Rouge User Group.