John Faucher - Atlanta OAUGatloaug.communities.oaug.org/.../EiSReportingFaucher120514.pdf · • Oracle XML Publisher: ... Filling the gap the Oracle E-Business Suite created ...

Reporting – Past,

Present, and Fusion

John Faucher

ATL OAUG

12/5/14

Agenda

Who am I

EBS Users Note

Reporting - Old School

Reporting - Today

Evolution to Analytics

Reporting - Fusion

Blurring the Lines Reporting / Business

Intelligence

Value of Fusion Measurement

Speaker Bio

Thank you Sisters of St Anne

IT Professional since 1985

Oracle Operations Manager 1989 (MPL 8 Applications

and V6 DB)

Coopers and Lybrand (1991 – 1993) MCS

Oracle Corp (1994 – 2001) – three lives

BOSS, USi, Solution Beacon, BIAS (2001 – 2013) – Oracle

Apps

EiS Technologies – Lifelong learner – the more I know

the less I know

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable.

Wisdom is knowing that you don't put one in a fruit salad.

Audience

Don’t be shy – raise your hand

Developers - Technical

Business Users - Functional

DBAs

Applications Administrators

Reporting Administrators

Infrastructure (servers, storage, networks, and propeller

hats)

11.5.10 ; R12.1.3 ; R12.2.X ; Fusion Apps

Came for free lunch / thought this was an SAP meeting

Note to EBS Users

With the “sun setting” of Discoverer and the move to OBIEE as

THE reporting tool for EBS, many of these points are quickly

becoming crucial to you.

See Oracle Lifetime Support Policy – Oracle Fusion Middleware

Oracle Discoverer 11g (Fusion Middleware 11gR1)

Oracle Discoverer 11gR1 (11.1.1.7.0)

Lifetime Support Policy, Coverage for Oracle Fusion Middleware Products – October 2014 Page 8

Line that has “Portal 11gR1, Forms 11gR1, Reports 11gR1 and Discoverer 11g R1 (11.1.1.x)”

The Party was over in June 2014 – Premier Support Ended for Discoverer

Extended Support ends June 2017

Reporting – The “Good” Old Days

Reporting and Information – often not in sync

What was out there 2007?

•Oracle Reports: Fixed format reports delivered with the 11i release were built on this tool. This is the

most used tool for reporting on Oracle Applications. Most of reports customizations are built with this tool.

Once customized the output of the report can be in Excel (Not group By Report), word, Acrobat documents

or text format.

•Oracle Discoverer: is an intuitive tool for creating reports and performing on-line analysis. Discoverer

uses the EUL (End User Layer), a meta data definition, which hides the complexity of the database from

the end user and provides easy to use wizards for creating reports to suit individual needs. The flexibility

of this tool allows the user to create cross tab reports that perform like pivot tables in Excel.

• Oracle XML Publisher: is a new Oracle tool for reporting. It enables users to utilize a familiar desktop

tool, like MS Word or MS Excel, to create and maintain their own report. At runtime, XML Publisher

merges the custom templates with the concurrent request extracts data to generate output in RTF, PDF,

HTML and EXCEL.

• RXi Report: (Variable reports) – variable format reports delivered with the E-Business 11i. With this tool

a user has the ability to print the same report with multiple layouts. The user can also choose which

columns he requires on a particular report. This tool is most used on Oracle Financials Applications

• FSG Reports (Financial Statement Generator): is a powerful report building tool for Oracle General

Ledger. Some of benefits of using this tool are that a user can generate financial reports, and schedule

reports to run automatically. The only drawback of this tool is that it is only available for the general ledger

responsibility and can be used to see only financial account balances.

• Business Intelligence System (BI): is a set of tools to provide high level information for the managers

(decision makers) to run their business such as the profitability of a particular business unit. The

information this tool provides helps managers to take the right decision with the daily data that is uploaded

on their systems.

Reporting Present – 3rd Party

Filling the gap the Oracle E-Business Suite created

EiS Technologies

Global Software

Noetix

excell4Apps / GL Wand

Polaris Associates

Tableau

Insight Software

Splash BI

Look for Oracle Validated Integration Logo for products

The Oracle Reporting & Analytics Ecosystem

Spans needs from Operational Reporting to BI to Analytics

What is the difference between Transactional

Reporting and Business Intelligence?

Which way do I go?

Fusion Reporting Architecture

Advil Please!

Traditional - Reporting Tools in Fusion Financials

Oracle White Paper – “Reporting Tools in Oracle Fusion Financials” April 2013

Usage Matrix

OTBI OBIA

Oracle Transactional

Business Intelligence

Real Time BI

No DW or ETL

Fusion Apps Only

Leverage ADF and OBIEE

No prebuilt reports or

dashboards

Fusion Fins – connect to

Essbase cubes

Oracle Business Intelligence

Applications

Based on Data Warehouse

Pre-built Adapters

Consolidate data from

multiple sources

Library of Metrics

Predefined Reports and

Dashboards

Sources – EBS, JDE, Psoft,

SAP, Fusion Apps

Common Metadata Repository & ADF for Fusion Apps

• Out of the box (OOTB) Reports are built

using Oracle BI Answers

• Existing reports can be modified using BI

Answers or BI Composer (a tool built for

modifying BI reports within Fusion

Applications)

• Ability to make changes and save to shared

folders depends on user roles and

responsibilities

OBIA: Change OOTB Reports

• Locate desired report

• Confirm user roles and privileges

• Invoke proper editing tool

• Save in place or save with alternate name

• Invoke Personalization/Customization page

editor if using new name to allow new

content to be placed on the appropriate

Fusion Applications page

OBIA: Change OOTB Reports – High Level Steps

OBIA - Using BI Answers To Modify A Report

OBIA – Using BI Composer To Modify A Report

Note that BI Composer is intended to be used for simple reports;

in some cases BI Answers is the more appropriate tool

OBIA – Extend Data Warehouse To New Sources

In the same manner as the current Applications Unlimited

BI Applications, the Data Warehouse and Reporting

framework can be extended using Informatica and OBI

infrastructure

OBIA – Extend Data Warehouse

• Determine subject area needing additional data

• Determine proper source system(s)

• Invoke Informatica PowerCenter tools to modify or create new

mapping(s) and workflow(s)

• Invoke the Data Warehouse Administration Console (DAC) to

register Informatica workflow(s) as Task(s) and an Execution Plan

• Invoke the BI EE Administration Tool to import, model, and expose

new/modified Warehouse table(s)

• Invoke BI Answers to create or modify report using new data. Edit

Dashboards as appropriate.

OBIA – Extend DW For New Sources

OTBI – Change OOTB Reports

• OTBI OOTB Reports are also built using Oracle BI Answers

• Existing reports can be modified using Answers or BI Composers (as

permissions and features allow)

• Use same steps as OBIA OOTB changes

OTBI – Compliment With Data From Another System

BI Publisher – Change OOTB Reports

BI Publisher –

Compliment With Data From Another System

So What Do We Have?

A powerful and highly flexible product set from Oracle and

plenty of 3rd party offerings

So What Do We Have?

Kerr-Newman metrics on Black Holes

Also a highly complex solution

Lots Of Tools…Maybe Too Many?

BI Platforms - What was out there 2013?

BI Platforms - More of the same for 2014

So How Do We Get Back To Simplicity?

Progression Along the BI Curve?

• Figure out where you are on the curve as Reporting and BI Converge

Standard Reports & Ad Hoc Reports

Query Drilldown

& Alerts

Dashboards, Scorecards, & KPIs

Forecasting

&

Statistical Analysis

Predictive Analytics

& Optimization

• Decide what is best for your Enterprise, plot a course, and take the first step

Strategic

Support

Operations

APPLICATIONS

APPLICATIONS

A Basic Approach – Report Creation and Modification

Today Business Analysts use…

• 3rd party solutions for Transactional Reporting

• OTBI for ad-hoc and real-time transactional reporting

• BIP for statutory reporting

• BI Composers for BI/Analytics/Predictives

• From available data sources

• New data sources require skilled developers and

administrators

Value of Fusion Applications

Do Fusion Applications provide all of the functionality needed

to enable users to enter, process, and manage transactions

productively in alignment with corporate goals?

Do Fusion Applications deliver meaningful analysis and flexible

reporting to empower management to make better business

decisions to help me reach my corporate goals?

Questions / Answers

John Faucher

[email protected]

www.eistech.com

Twitter.com/eistechnologies

Facebook.com/eistech

Go Navy – Beat Army!

Thank you