21 copyright 2009, oracle. all rights reserved. working with oracle business intelligence answers
DESCRIPTION
Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved Oracle Business Intelligence: Architecture Scheduler Database Data source Oracle BI Scheduler Oracle BI Server BI Clients Answers Dashboards Delivers Publisher Administration Oracle BI Presentation Services Oracle BI Repository Administration Tool Oracle BI Presentation CatalogTRANSCRIPT
21Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Working with Oracle Business Intelligence Answers
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Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to construct, modify, and save requests.
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Oracle Business Intelligence: Architecture
Scheduler Database Data
sourceData
source
Oracle BI Scheduler Oracle BI Server
BI Clients • Answers• Dashboards• Delivers• Publisher• Administration
Oracle BI Presentation Services
Oracle BIRepository
Administration ToolOracle BI
PresentationCatalog
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Oracle Business Intelligence Answers:Overview
• Enables you to query an organization’s data• Provides a set of graphical tools to create and execute
requests for information• Saves, organizes, shares, and integrates request
results with other content• Retrieves and displays analytical information through
requests• Provides the building blocks of Oracle Business
Intelligence Interactive Dashboards
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Oracle Business Intelligence Answers Request
Revenue less than $100,000 is
highlighted.
Revenue data is formatted as
dollar amounts and displayed
as dollars.
Request title
Custom column heading
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Key Terms
Special kind of filter that restricts the result set returned by a request;can be used to populate variables
Prompt
Underlying SQL issued to the Oracle BI Server for the specified request
Stores content created with Answers and Interactive DashboardsOracle BI Presentation CatalogQuery
Filter object that filters all content on a dashboard page and can be used to populate variables
Dashboard Prompt
Page in a Business Intelligence application that displays contentDashboard
Logical object that organizes and presents data about a businessSubject Area
Output returned from Oracle BI Server for specified requestResults
Set of columns and filters that are specified for a requestCriteria
Mechanism that restricts the result set returned by a requestFilter
Object that indicates the data that a request returnsColumn
Answers a query against an organization’s dataRequest
DefinitionTerm
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Starting Oracle Business Intelligence Answers
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Oracle Business Intelligence Answers:Start Page
This page appears after you click the Answers link.
A
B
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Oracle Business Intelligence Answers: Start Page
This page appears after you click the Answers link.
CD
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Answers Selection Pane
• Accesses saved requests and dashboards
• Shows columns and filters to construct requests
• Organizes content into presentation folders, tables, and columns
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Answers Workspace
Provides an area to create, modify, and save requests and filters
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Answers Tabs
Contain on-screen information and buttons to create, access, and manage requests
View or change columns and filters
for requests
View or modify results of requests
Create prompts to
filter requests
Work directly with XML and SQL generated for
a request
Display compound layout
Display table view
Display chart view
Display pivot table view
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Subject Areas
• Contain information about the areas of your organization’s business
• Have names that correspond to the type of information they contain
Select a subject area to create a new request.
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Interactive Dashboards
The Dashboards tab displays saved Interactive Dashboards in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog.
Click Dashboards.
Select saved Interactive Dashboards to view or modify.
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Variables
• There are three types of variables:– Presentation
— Defined using column formulas in Answers— Preserve user context; persist for the duration of a session
– Session— Defined in server repository; persist within a session
– Repository— Defined in server repository; available across the server
• Variables are used in reports and dashboards and can be called to define filters, formulas, and conditional formatting.
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Working with Requests in Oracle Business Intelligence Answers
1. Select a subject area.2. Construct a request.3. Modify request criteria.
• Sorting columns• Style• Column format• Data format• Conditional format• Formulas
4. Change column order.5. Display request results.6. Modify the results layout.7. Save a request.
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1. Select a subject area.
After logging in, select a subject area to navigate to the Oracle Business Intelligence Answers workspace.
Select subject area.
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2. Construct a request.
Select columns from subject area virtual tables in the selection pane to create request criteria.
Request criteria are displayed in the
workspace.
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3. Modify request criteria.
Use buttons to modify request criteria:• Column Properties
– Edit column properties to control appearance and layout • Edit Formula
– Add a new function (such as ranking or moving averages)
• Add Filter– Limit data that appears in a column
• Remove Column– Remove a column from the request criteria
• Order By– Determine sort order (ascending or descending)
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3. Modify request criteria (sorting columns).
• Use the Order By button for the desired columnto select the order.
• Click the button to set the sort order:– Ascending– Descending– Secondary column sort
This column sort occurs after the primary sort.
This column sort occurs after the secondary sort and in
descending sequence.
Primary ascending column sort
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3. Modify request criteria (style).
Provides the ability to override defaults for:• Font• Cell (including alignment)• Border• Style sheets
Click the Column Properties button.
Point to custom style sheets.
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3. Modify request criteria (column format).
Provides the ability to override defaults for:• Column visibility• Headings• Data duplication• Interaction 1
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3. Modify request criteria (data format).
Provides the ability to override the way data is displayed based on the data type
Text data: Treat as plain text, HTML, link, and so on
Numeric data: Treat as number,
percentage, currency, and so
on
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3. Modify request criteria (conditional format).
Directs attention to a data element that meets a certain condition
Click Add Condition for each condition.
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3. Modify request criteria (formulas).
Provide the ability to use complex formulas in your requests:• Operators• Functions• Filters• Variables
Click the Edit Formula button.
Calculation Builder
Select a function to add it to the column formula.
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4. Change column order.
Drag columns to change column order.
Drag a column to another location to reorder the
columns.
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5. Display request results.
• Click the Results tab to see the results of a request.• A request can be displayed in many formats.
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5. Display request results.
• Data is automatically sorted by the first column and then sorted by the second column.– Sorting can be specified by the user.
• Repeating values are suppressed.– By default, the values can be changed by the user.
• Click to see the next group or row.• Click to see all rows.
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6. Modify the results layout.
Change views to control the appearance of the results.
Choose a result view.
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7. Save a request.
On the Save Request page, you can save a request in a personal or shared folder.
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Advanced Formatting
• Saving column settings as systemwide defaults• Copying and pasting formatting attributes• Using a saved request as a style template• Using custom date-format strings
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Saving Column Settings as Systemwide Defaults
Settings on column properties tabs can be saved as systemwide defaults:• Save defaults for
particular columnsor data types.
• User must have appropriate permissionsto save.
• Subsequent users see new default settings.
Save as defaults for column.
Save as defaults for data type.
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Copying and Pasting Formatting Attributes
Copy a range of formatting attributes that are applied to an object and then paste them to an object of the same type:• This is supported for rows, columns, and table cells in
table, pivot table, and chart views.
Restore defaultsCopy Paste
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Using a Saved Request as a Style Template
• Use a customized saved request as a cosmetic style template.
• Apply formatting from template to new or existing requests:– Supported in table, pivot table, and chart views
Template formatting applied1 2
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Customized Date and Time Format Strings
• Provide additional options for formatting columns that contain time stamps, dates, and times
• Examples of general customized format strings:
12:00 AM
12:00:00 AM
Monday, February 2, 1998
2/2/1998
Example
Formats time in locale’s time format but omits seconds
[FMT:timeHourMin]
Formats time in locale’s time format[FMT:time]
Formats date in locale’s long-date format
[FMT:dateLong]
Formats date in locale’s short-date format
[FMT:dateShort]
ResultGeneral Format String
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Applying a Customized Format Stringto a Column
Example: Using a customized date format string for adate column
Result
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Summary
In this lesson, you should have learned how to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to construct, modify, and save requests.
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Practice 21: Overview
This practice covers the following topics:• Creating a request• Formatting the request