Oracle BI EE Integration with Hyperion Sources Open World 2013
Who Am I? Venkatakrishnan Janakiraman Over 10+ Years of Oracle BI & EPM experience India Managing Director, Rittman Mead Consulting Blog at http://www.rittmanmead.com/blog - Old & defunct blog http://oraclebizint.wordpress.com Oracle ACE EPM/BI Specialization Twitter - @krisvenkat T : +44 (0) 8446 697 995 E : enquiries@rittmanmead.com W: www.rittmanmead.com
About Rittman Mead Oracle BI, EPM and DW Gold partner World leading specialist partner for technical excellence, solutions delivery and innovation in Oracle BI Approximately 100 consultants worldwide All expert in Oracle BI and DW UK based Offices in US, Europe (Belgium), India & Australia Skills in broad range of supporting Oracle tools: OBIEE OBIA ODIEE Essbase, Oracle OLAP GoldenGate Exadata EPM - HFM - Planning - Essbase - HPCM
Agenda BI EE Integration with Hyperion Sources Overview Integration with Essbase - Indepth Essbase Outline Features - Dimension Types - Member Alias - Ragged Hierarchies - Time Balance Properties - UDAs - Account Properties (Revenue/Expense etc) - Attributes - Varying Attributes - Text Measures & Format Strings - HOLAP Drills Essbase Security MDX Query Structure Federation ASO & BSO Difference Integration with HFM & HCM Direct Integration using ADM OFMA Integration with HPCM Standard Profitability Detailed Profitability Integration with Planning
Based on Fusion Middleware 11g Platform Fully-integrated with Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Common security (Oracle Identity Management, Oracle Access Manager) Built on WebLogic Server Managed through Fusion Middleware Control (Enterprise Manager) Built using multiple technologies including JDeveloper (ADF)
Based on Fusion Middleware 11g Platform Essbase HFM BI EE Connectivity HPCM HCM Planning
Oracle BI EE Integration with Essbase
Essbase: The Outline The dimensional model for the Essbase database Contains all of the dimensions, hierarchies, members Calculation and aggregation settings The most important bit of metadata for your Essbase Database Stored as a.otl file in the filesystem Contains entire metadata structure of Essbase Every property here is important
Outline Properties - Dimension Types Play an important role in Essbase Accounts Time Country Currency Accounts Important Dimension Like a measure dimension Primarily used for handling Financial Accounts in Essbase - Certain Properties available only for Accounts No/little significance from Reporting standpoint
Outline Properties - Member Names & Aliases Outline made up of Dimensions Dimensions made up of Members Every Member has a unique name Across dimensions in most Essbase databases Duplicate Member enabled databases - Unique Member Name in the dimension - Non-Unique across dimensions Every Member can have Aliases (decriptions) Upto 32 alias tables Default Alias table will be default description
Outline Properties - Member Property Member Property Varies by Dimension Type Standard Properties (Do not affect reports) Data Storage Dimensional Storage (BSO) Comment Two-Pass Calculation Time Balance All these properties Little Significance from Reporting standpoint MDX generated will automatically consider - these properties
Outline Properties - Member Property Member Property Varies by Dimension Type Variance Reporting Determines whether an Account - Expense - Revenue Smartview/FR - Flips sign based on Expense/Revenue
Outline Properties - Member Property Member Property Varies by Dimension Type Format Strings New 11.1.2.1 feature For representing data in different formats Handled through MDX function in the property
Outline Properties - Member Property Member Property Varies by Dimension Type Text Measures New 11.1.2.1 feature For representing data in Text Format (True or False) Similar to Smart lists in Planning
Outline - Hierarchies Hierarchies roll into Dimensions Hierarchies can be Ragged BSO Parent Dimension Considered as root node of Hierarchy ASO Depends on the Storage Type Stored Hierarchies - Similar to BSO Multiple Hierarchies Enabled (each behave like a dimension) - We cannot add data across hierarchies - MDX rollups across hierarchies will not work - Parent Dimension becomes Label Only
Outline - Hierarchies BSO ASO
Outline Properties - User Defined Attributes (UDAs) Every Member in Essbase outline can be tagged with UDA Very useful for grouping related members Example Population Groups Product Characteristics Color Attributes etc Very helpful to choose related members All Major Market Cities All Major Market Cities - with Pop < 9000000 etc
Outline Properties - Attribute Dimensions Similar to UDAs But defined as Dimensions Tagged to a member Can have a hierarchy of attributes Always retrieved at run time Similar to SCD-1s in DW
Outline Properties - Varying Attributes Equivalent to SCD-2s in DW Introduced in 11.1.2.1 Has some known issues/bugs Very good concept MDX Query PERSPECTIVE Clause
BI EE Support as of Today Essbase Feature BI EE Support Alias & Alias Tables Standard Outline Props (Dim Type, Two pass etc) Variance Reporting Format Strings Text Measures User Defined Attributes Attributes Multiple Hierarchy Support Varying Attributes Full Support Full Support No Support No Support No Support Full Support Full Support Full Support No Support
Oracle BI EE Integration with Essbase
Importing an Essbase Cube Step 1 : Select Metadata Import Using BI Administration tool, select File > Import Metadata Enter connection details for Essbase Server (requires Essbase Client to be installed on server and desktop) Select cube for import, check Import UDAs if UDAs are present in cube
Importing an Essbase Cube Step 2 : Review Import Review imported cube metadata Accounts dimension is now a hierarchy Single measure dimensioned by all dimensions Columns still based on outline dimension generations
Importing an Essbase Cube Step 3 : Convert To Parent-Child Imported level-based hierarchies can be converted to value-based Protects against outline evolution, new levels (generations) being added Right-click on dimension, select Properties > Levels, then change Hierarchy Type to Value
Importing an Essbase Cube Step 4 : Add Alias Columns Where aliases are present in the outline, these can be brought through to OBIEE Right-click on dimension, select Create Columns for Alias Table Select alias to create column for; alias then appears in physical database
Importing an Essbase Cube Step 5 : Create Remainder of Model Once physical model is created, drag and drop over to business model and mapping layer, and then presentation layer Essbase data is then ready for reporting on using Answers
Essbase Reporting Features in OBIEE 11g OBIEE 11g comes with a number of improvements for reporting against Essbase Hierarchical column provide OLAP-style drilling against Essbase cubes Selection steps and hierarchical prompts provided member-based selections UDAs can be used in filters Value-based hierarchies remove need to query specific levels to select members for analysis
Essbase and Hierarchical Columns Essbase cubes now use Hierarchical Columns by default Full drill into detail (symmetric / asymmetric drilling) Combine with regular attribute columns Works across both relational and OLAP sources MOLAP and ROLAP analysis combined
Selection Steps and Essbase The OBIEE 11g Selection Steps feature can be used to select members based on a hierarchy Select individual members, drill into hierarchy Select members based on position in a hierarchy Select Children Of Select Ancestors of Keep/Remove members
Conditional Selection Steps Selection steps can be added conditionally Select condition type, action, measure, operator and value Allows you to add/remove/keep members based on measure values
Review Selection Steps Selection Steps can be reviewed using the Results tab > Selection Steps Shows steps applied sequentially to the dataset Can be used in conjunction with regular criteria column filters
Filtering against UDAs User-Defined Attributes can be accessed via filters UDAs are not displayable like columns, they instead act as filters Add filter based on UDA = 1 (true) or false (0)
Displaying Aliases Aliases appear in the subject area just like other columns Have to be imported into the RPD Can be used just as any other column
Displaying Aliases We can make Members to reflect Aliases name directly Setting up the Display Column as the Alias New feature - This can be driven through a Session Variable
Handling Essbase Alternate Hierarchies Alternate hierarchies can be imported from Essbase ASO cubes (not BSO) Dimension must be multiple hierarchy enabled in the outline Multiple hierarchies are then imported into the RPD and created separately, based off of the same logical dimension table 1 3 2
Handling Attribute Dimensions Attribute dimensions are imported into the RPD just like regular Essbase dimensions Can be queried in analyses alongside regular dimension members/logical columns Typically attribute dimensions are nested within the parent dimension within the presentation layer of the RPD Can be queried separate from the parent dimension, or alongside it 1 3 2
Essbase Security and Filters Data filters and Meta Filters are respected by OBIEE SSO integration between Workspace and OBIEE Presentation Server removed in 11g SSO still possible but requires external solution (until 11.1.1.6+?) Shared Services and OBIEE both connecting to same external LDAP server External SSO over both OBIEE and EPM products
Security Design - BI EE & Essbase Essbase Security Completely different from BI EE/relational Security Experience of Essbase filters will be different from BI EE relational data filters
Security - Example - Traditional Base Level Data Rollup Hierarchies
Security Example Admin User A User B User C
Security Example Essbase Security - Either 6000 visible or not Essbase has only one cell
Security Example BI EE Security - Level 0 Data Filters in RPD Essbase has only one cell Poorly generated MDX
Drill-Across and Drill-Through To Relational Data One of the most powerful features in the OBIEE it is ability to combine data sources Multiple data sources presented as a single logical dimensional model In terms of Essbase and HFM integration there are three main use-cases: 1. Providing drill-down from an Essbase-based model to detail-level relational data 2. Displaying relational attributes and descriptive data alongside Essbase measures 3. Combining Essbase and relational measures into a single business model
Oracle BI EE Integration with HFM
Integration with HFM 2 Options Custom integration like Essbase - Everything is done manually Using OFMA - Oracle Financial Management Analytics
Integration with HFM - Manual Integration with HFM Through ADM Drivers Very similar to Essbase Integration Entire metadata structure imported Queries fired are ADM queries - Not as flexible as MDX
Integration Details - Import Metadata Very Similar to Essbase Provide connection details to HFM Server Choose the Application Import Metadata
Integration Details - Build RPD Define BMM & Presentation Layers Similar to Essbase Entire model gets created automatically
HFM Integration - Build Reports All queries generated are ADM Queries Very limited control from front end Unlike MDX, we cannot function ship custom MDX functions Works well for basic reports
HFM Integration - OFMA Separate licensable Product from Oracle Comes with a custom Configurator Can pick and choose BS/PL accounts Splits the Accounts dimension and configures reports to point to BS/PL Accounts
HFM Integration - OFMA Pre-configures all Prompts with selected values in Configurator Very handy for larger FM databases One time setup
HFM Integration - OFMA All reports/dashboards available out of the box Requires trial and error to understand how the Configurator works
Oracle BI EE Integration with HFM
Standard Profitability - Reporting HPCM Standard Profitability Uses Essbase as the backend All Allocated data stored in Essbase All Contribution data stored in Essbase ASO Cube for reporting Recommended to use Reporting Queries feature in Standard Profitability - Builds Smartview reports using a Wizard interface - Replicate reports in BI EE
Detailed Profitability - Reporting All data stored in relational tables Explicit modeling required Source Table Target Table Contribution Table Dimension Tables Standard Relational modeling techniques apply