OBIEE Interview Questions

1. Define repository in terms of Siebel Analytics? >Repository stores the Meta data information. Siebel repository is a file system, extension of the repository file. rpd. Metadata Repository With Siebel Analytics Server, all the rules needed for security, data modeling, aggregate navigation, caching, and connectivity is stored in metadata repositories. Each metadata repository can store multiple business models. Siebel Analytics Server can access multiple repositories 2. What is the end to end life cycle of Siebel Analytics? > Siebel Analytics life cycle . !ather "usiness Re#uirements $. %dentify source systems &. 'esign E() to load to a 'W if source data doesn*t exist. +. "uild a repository ,. "uild dashboard or use ans-ers for reporting. .. 'efine security /)'A0 or External table12 3. "ased on performance, decide on aggregations and4or caching mechanism. 5. (esting and 6A. 3. What were you schemas? ow does Siebel Architecture wor!s? "#plain the three layers. ow do you import sources? >(here are five parts of Siebel Architecture. . 7lients $. Siebel analytics Web Server &. Siebel analytics server +. Siebel analytics scheduler ,. 'ata sources Metadata that represents the analytical Model %s created using the Siebel Analytics Administration tool. Repository divided into three layer . 0hysical 8 Represents the data Sources $. "usiness 8 models the 'ata sources into 9acts and 'imension &. 0resentation 8 Specifies the users vie- of the model: rendered in Siebel ans-er $. %f you ha&e 3 facts and $ dimension and you need to 'oin would you recommend 'oinin( fact with fact? %f no then what is the option? Why you won)t 'oin fact to fact? >%n the "MM layer, create one logical table /fact2 and add the & fact table as logical table source *. What is connection pool and how many connection pools did you ha&e in your last pro'ect? >7onnection pool is needed for every physical database. %t contains information about the connection to the database, not the database itself. 7an use either shared user accounts or can use pass;through accounts ;<se= <SER and 0ASSW>R' for pass through. We can have multiple connection pools for each group to avoid -aiting. +. ,urpose of Alias -ables? >An Alias table /Alias2 is a physical table -ith the type of Alias. %t is a reference to a logical table source, and inherits all its column definitions and some properties from the logical table source. A logical table source sho-s ho- the logical ob?ects are mapped to the physical layer and can be mapped to physical tables, stored procedures, and select statements. An alias table can be a reference to any of these logical table source types. Alias (ables can be an important part of designing a physical layer. (he follo-ing is a list of the main reasons to create an alias table= @ (o reuse an existing table more than once in your physical layer /-ithout having to import it several times2 @ (o set up multiple alias tables, each -ith dif ferent Aeys, names, or ?oins (o help you design sophisticated star or sno-flaAe structures in the business model layer. Alias tables are critical in the process of converting ER Schemas to 'imensional Schemas. .. ow do you define the relationship between facts and dimensions in /MM layer? <sing complex ?oin, -e can define relationship bet-een facts and dimensions in "MM layer. 0. What is time series wi1ard? When and how do you use it? o We can do comparison for certain measures / revenue., sales etc.. 2 for current year vs. previous year, -e can do for month or -eeA and day also

o %dentify the time periods need to be compared and then period table Aeys to the previous time period. (he period table needs to contain a column that -ill contain BCear Ago@ information. o (he fact tables needs to have year ago totals. o (o use the B(ime series -iDard@. After creating your business model right clicA the business model and clicA on B(ime Series WiDard@. o (he (ime Series WiDard prompts you to create names for the comparison measures that it adds to the business model. o (he (ime Series WiDard prompts you to select the period table used for the comparison measures o Select the column in the period table that provides the Aey to the comparison period. (his column -ould be the column containing BCear Ago@ information in the period table. o Select the measures you -ant to compare and then Select the calculations you -ant to generate. 9or ex= Measure= (otal 'ollars and calculations are 7hange and 0ercent change. o >nce the (ime series -iDard is run the output -ill be= a2 Aliases for the fact tables /in the physical layer2 b2 Eoins bet-een period table and alias fact tables c2 7omparison measures d2 )ogical table sources o %n the !eneral tab of the )ogical table source etc you can find B!enerated by (ime Series WiDard@ in the description section o (hen you can add these comparison measures to the presentation layer for your reports. o Ex= (otal sales of current #tr vs previous #tr vs same #tr year ago 2. Did you create any new lo(ical column in /MM layer3 how? Ces. We can create ne- logical column in "MM layer. Example= Right clicA on fact table ;ne- logical column;give name for ne- logical column liAe (otal cost. Fo- in fact table source, -e have one option column mapping, in that -e can do all calculation for that ne- column. 14. 5an you use physical 'oin in /MM layer? o yes -e can use physical ?oin in "MM layer. When there is S7' type $ -e need complex ?oin in "MM layer. 11. 5an you use outer 'oin in /MM layer? o yes -e can. When -e are doing complex ?oin in "MM layer, there is one option type, outer ?oin is there. $. What are other ways of impro&in( summary 6uery reports other than A((re(ate 7a&i(ation and 5ache Mana(ement @ %ndexes @ Eoin algorithm @ Mat4vie- #uery re-rite @ Web proper report design its optimal by maAing sure that it is not getting any addition column or ro-s 13. What are le&el8base matrices? )evel;base matrices means, having a measure pinned at a certain level of the dimension. 9or Example, if you have a measure called B'ollars@, you can create a B)evel "ased Measure@ called BCearly 'ollars@ -hich /you guessed it2 is 'ollars for a Cear. (his measure -ill al-ays return the value for the year even if you drill do-n to a lo-er level liAe #uarter, month1 etc. (o create a level based measure, create a ne- logical column based on the original measure /liAe 'ollars in the example above2. 'rag and drop the nelogical column to the appropriate level in the 'imension hierarchy /in the above example you -ill drag and drop it to Cear in (ime 'im o A )"M is a metric that is defined for a specific level or intersection of levels. o Monthly (otal Sales or 6uarterly Sales are the examples. o Cou can compare monthly sales -ith #uarterly sales. Cou can compare customer orders this #uarter to orders this year 1$. What is lo((in( le&el? Where can you set lo((in( le&els? o Cou can enable logging level for individual users: you cannot configure a logging level for a group. o Set the logging level based on the amount of logging you -ant to do. %n normal operations, logging is generally disabled /the logging level is set to G2. %f you decide to enable logging, choose a logging o level of or $. (hese t-o levels are designed for use by Siebel Analytics Server administrators. o Set )ogging )evel . %n the Administration (ool, select Manage > Security. $. (he Security Manager dialog box appears. &. 'ouble;clicA the user*s user %'. +. (he <ser dialog box appears. ,. Set the logging level by clicAing the <p or do-n arro-s next to the )ogging )evel field

1*. What is &ariable in Siebel? o Cou can use variables in a repository to streamline administrative tasAs and modify metadata content dynamically to ad?ust to a changing data environment. (he Administration (ool includes a Hariable Manager for defining variables 1+. What is system &ariable and non system &ariable? o System variables o System variables are session variables that the Siebel Analytics Server and Siebel Analytics Web use for specific purposes. System variables have reserved names, -hich cannot be used for other Ainds of variables /such as static or dynamic repository variables, or for non;system session variables2. o When using these variables in the Web, preface their names -ith F6ISESS%>F. 9or example, to filter a column on the value of the variable )>!)EHE) set the filter to the Hariable F6ISESS%>F.)>!)EHE). o Fon;system variables. o A common use for non;system session variables is setting user filters. 9or example, you could define a non;system variable called Sales Region that -ould be initialiDed to the name of the user.s sales region. Cou could then set a security filter for all members of a group that -ould allo- them to see only data pertinent to their region. o When using these variables in the Web, preface their names -ith F6ISESS%>F. 9or example, to filter a column on the value of the variable Sales Region set the filter to the Hariable F6ISESS%>F.SalesRegion. 1.. What are different types of &ariables? "#plain each. o (here are t-o classes of variables= . Repository variables $. Session variables. Repository variables. A repository variable has a single value at any point in time. (here are t-o types of repository variables= static = (his value persists, and does not change until a Siebel Analytics Server administrator decides to change it. dynamic= (he values are refreshed by data returned from #ueries. When defining a dynamic repository variable, you -ill create an initialiDation blocA or use a preexisting one that contains a S6) #uery. Cou -ill also set up a schedule that the Siebel Analytics Server -ill follo- to execute the #uery and periodically refresh the value of the variable. Session Hariables Session variables are created and assigned a value -hen each user logs on. (here are t-o types of session variables= .system $.nonsystem. 10. What are the cache mana(ement? 7ame all of them and their uses. 9or "&ent pollin( table do u need the table in your physical layer? o Monitoring and managing the cache is cache management. (here are three -ays to do that. o 'isable caching for the system./%F% F6 config file2, 7ashe persistence time for specified physical tables and Setting event polling table. o 'isable caching for the system./%F% F6 config file = Cou can disable caching for the -hole system by setting the EFA")E parameter to F> in the F6S7onfig.%F% file and restarting the Siebel Analytics Server. 'isabling caching stops all ne- cache entries and stops any ne- #ueries from using the existing cache. 'isabling caching allo-s you to enable it at a later time -ithout losing any entries already stored in the cache. o 7ashe persistence time for specified physical tables = Cou can specify a cacheable attribute for each physical table: that is, if #ueries involving the specified table can be added to the cache to ans-er future #ueries. (o enable caching for a particular physical table, select the table in the 0hysical layer of the Administration (ool and select the option MaAe table cachable in the !eneral tab of the 0hysical (able properties dialog box. Cou can also use the 7ache 0ersistence (ime settings to specify ho- long the entries for this table should persist in the #uery cache. (his is useful for >)(0 data sources and other data sources that are updated fre#uently, potentially do-n to every fe- seconds. o Setting event polling table = Siebel Analytics Server event polling tables store information about updates in the underlying databases. An application /such as an application that loads data into a data mart2 could be configured to add ro-s to an event polling table each time a database table is updated. (he Analytics server polls this table at set intervals and invalidates any cache entries corresponding to the updated tables. o 9or event polling table ,%t is a standalone table and doesn*t re#uire to be ?oined -ith other tables in the physical layer 12. What is Authentication? ow many types of authentication? o Authentication is the process by -hich a system verifies, through the use of a user %' and pass-ord, that a user has the necessary permissions and authoriDations to log in and access data. (he Siebel Analytics Server authenticates each connection re#uest it receives. @ >perating system authentication @ External table authentication

@ 'atabase authentication @ )'A0 authentication 24. What is ob'ect le&el security? o (here are t-o types of ob?ect level security= Repository level and Web level o Repository level = %n presentation layer -e can set Repository level security by giving permission or deny permission to users4groups to see particular table or column. o web level= (his provides security for ob?ects stored in the Siebel analytics -eb catlog,such as dashboards, dashboards pages , folder, and reports you can only vie- the ob?ects for -hich you are authoriDed. 9or example; mid level manager may not be granted access to a dashboard containing summary information for an entire department. 21. What is data le&el security? o (his controls the type an amount of data that you can see in a report. When multiple users run the same report the results that are returned to each depend on their access rights and roles in the organiDation. 9or example a sales vice president sees results for all regions, -hile a sales representative for a particular region sees only data for that region. 22. What is the difference between Data :e&el Security and ;b'ect :e&el Security? o 'ata level security controls the type and amount of data that you can see in a reports. >b?ect level security provides security for ob?ects stored in the Siebel analytics -eb catalog, liAe dashboards, dashboards pages, folder, and reports. 23. ow do you implement security usin( "#ternal -ables and :DA,? o %nstead of storing user %'s and pass-ords in a Siebel Analytics Server repository, you can maintain lists of users and their pass-ords in an external database table and use this table for authentication purposes. (he external database table contains user %'s and pass-ords, and could contain other information, including group membership and display names used for Siebel Analytics Web users. (he table could also contain the names of specific database catalogs or schemas to use for each user -hen #uerying data o %nstead of storing user %'s and pass-ords in a Siebel Analytics Server repository, you can have the Siebel Analytics Server pass the user %' and pass-ord entered by the user to an )'A0/)ight-eight 'irectory Access 0rotocol 2 server for authentication. (he server uses clear text pass-ords in )'A0 authentication. MaAe sure your )'A0 servers are set up to allo- this. 2$. %f you ha&e 2 fact and you want to do report on one with 6uarter le&el and the other with month le&el how do you do that with 'ust one time dimension? o <sing level base matrices. 2*. Did you wor! on a standalone Siebel system or was it inte(rated to other platforms? o 'eploying the Siebel analytics platform -ithout other Siebel applications is called Siebel analytics Stand ;Alone .%f your deployment includes other Siebel Analytics Application it called integrated analytics ;Cou can say Stand;Alone Siebel analytics 2+. ow to sort columns in rpd and web? o Sorting on -eb column, sort in the rpd its sort order column 2.. %f you want to create new lo(ical column where will you create <in repository or dashboard= why? o % -ill create ne- logical column in repository. "ecause if it is in repository, you can use for any report. %f you create ne- logical column in dashboard then it is going to affect on those reports, -hich are on that dashboard. you cannot use that ne- logical column for other dashboard/or re#uest2. 20. What is comple# 'oin and where it is used? o -e can ?oin dimension table and fact table in "MM layer using complex ?oin. -hen there is S7' type $ -e have to use complex ?oin in "MM layer. 22. %f you ha&e dimension table li!e customer3 item3 time and fact table li!e sale and if you want to find out how often a customer comes to store and buys a particular item3 what will you do? o -rite a #uery as BSE)E7( customerI name, itemIname, saleIdate, sum/#ty2 9R>M customerIdim a, itemIdim b, timeIdim c, saleIfact d WJERE d.custIAey K a.custIAey AF' d.itemIAey K b.itemIAey AF' d.timeIAey K c.timeIAey !R><0 "C customerIname, itemIname, saleIdate@ 34. >ou wor!ed on standalone or inte(rated system? o Standalone.

31. %f you want to limit the users by the certain re(ion to access only certain data3 what would you do? o using data level security. o Siebel Analytics Administrator= go to Manage ;> Security in left hand pane u -ill find the user, groups, )'A0 server, Jierarchy What you can do is select the user and right clicA and go to properties, you -ill find t-o tabs named as users and logon, go to user tab and clicA at permission button in front of user name you have selected as soon as u clicA at permission you -ill get a ne- -indo-ith user group permission having three tabs named as general ,#uery limits and filter and you can specify your condition at filter tab, in -hich you can select presentation table ,presentation columns ,logical table and logical columns -here you can apply the condition according to your re#uirement for the selected user or groups. 32. %f there are 144 users accessin( data3 and you want to !now the lo((in( details of all the users3 where can you find that? o (o set a user.s logging level . %n the Administration (ool, select Manage > Security. (he Security Manager 'ialog box appears. $. 'ouble;clicA the user.s user %'. (he <ser dialog box appears. &. Set the logging level by clicAing the <p or 'o-n arro-s next to the )ogging )evel field 33. ow do implement e&ent pollin( table? o Siebel Analytics Server event polling tables store information about updates in the underlying databases. An application /such as an application that loads data into a data mart2 could be configured to add ro-s to an event polling table each time a database table is updated. (he Analytics server polls this table at set intervals and invalidates any cache entries corresponding to the updated tables. @ 7an you migrate the presentation layer only to different server o Fo -e can*t do only presentation layer. And asA him for more information and use one of the above ans-ers o 7reate a >'"7 connection in the different serve and access the layer. o 7opy the Rpd and migrate it to other server 3$. Define pipeline. Did you use it in your pro'ects? o Ces, pipelines are the stages in a particular transaction. assessment, finance etc. 3*. ow do you create filter on repository? o Where condition on content tab. 3+. ow do you wor! in a multi user en&ironment? What are the steps? o 7reate a shared directory on the net-orA for Multi;user 'evelopment /M<'2. o >pen the rpd to use in M<'. 9rom (ools;>>ptions, setup the M<' directory to point to the above directory. o 'efine pro?ects -ithin the rpd to allo- multiple users to develop -ithin their sub?ect area or 9acts. o Save and move the rpd to the shared directory setup in point . o When users -orA in the M<' mode, they open the admin tool and start -ith o M<' ;>7hecAout to checA out the pro?ect they need to -orA on /not use the 9ile open as you -ould usually do2. o After completely the development, user checAing the changes bacA to the net-orA and merge the changes. 3.. Where are passwords for user8id? : dap3 e#ternal table authentication stored respecti&ely? o pass-ords for user id are in Siebel analytics server repository ) dap authentication in ) dap server external database in a table in external database 30. 5an you bypass Siebel analytics ser&er security ?if so how? o yes you can by;pass by setting authentication type in F6S7>F9%! file in the security section as=authenticationItypeKbypassIn#s. %nstance config.xml and n#sconfig.ini are the $ places @ Where can you add ne- groups and set permissionsL o you can add groups by going to manage>security>add ne- groups> Cou can give permissions to a group for #uery limitation and filter conditions. 32. What are the thin(s you can do in the /MM layer? o Aggregation navigation, level base matrices, time series -iDard, create ne- logical column, complex ?oin. $4. What is ra((ed hierarchy? And how do u mana(e it o Ragged Jierarchy is one of the different Ainds of hierarchy. o A hierarchy in -hich each level has a consistent meaning, but the branches have inconsistent depths because at least one member attribute in a branch level is unpopulated. A ragged hierarchy can represent a geographic hierarchy in -hich the meaning of each level such as city or country is used consistently, but the depth of the hierarchy varies. o 9or example, a geographic hierarchy that has 7ontinent, 7ountry, 0rovince4State, and 7ity levels defined. >ne branch has Forth

America as the 7ontinent, <nited States as the 7ountry, 7alifornia as the 0rovince or State, and San 9rancisco as the 7ity. Jo-ever, the hierarchy becomes ragged -hen one member does not have an entry at all of the levels. 9or example, another branch has Europe as the 7ontinent, !reece as the 7ountry, and Athens as the 7ity, but has no entry for the 0rovince or State level because this level is not applicable to !reece for the business model in this example. %n this example, the !reece and <nited States branches descend to different depths, creating a ragged hierarchy. $1. What is the difference between Sin(le :o(ical -able Source and Multiple :o(ical -able Sources? o %f a logical table in "MM layer has only one (able as the source table then it is Single )(S. o %f the logical table in "MM layer has more than one table as the sources to it then it is called Multiple )(S. o Ex= <sually 9act table has Multiple )(S*, for -hich sources -ill be coming from different 0hysical tables. @ 7an you let me Ano- ho- many aggregate tables you have in your pro?ectL >n -hat basis have you created themL o As per resume ?ustification document $2. ow do you brin(?relate the a((re(ate tables into the Siebel analytics :o(ical layer? o >ne -ay of bringing the Aggregate (ables into the "MM layer is by bringing them as )ogical (able sources for the corresponding 9act table. o (his is done by dragging and dropping the aggregate table into the corresponding fact table. After doing that establish the column mappings and the set the aggregation levels. $3. ow do you !now which report is hittin( which table3 either the fact table or the a((re(ate table? o After running the report, go to BAdministration@ tab and go to clicA on BManage Sessions@. (here you can find the #ueries that are run and in the BHie- )og@ option in the Session Management you can find -hich report is hitting -hich table. $$. Suppose % ha&e report which is runnin( for about 3 minutes typically. What is the first step you ta!e to impro&e the performance of the 6uery? o 9ind the s#l #uery of the report in Admin;>manage Session;> run the s#l #uery on toad ;>read the explain plan output ;>modify the S6) based on the explain plan output $*. Suppose you ha&e a report which has the option of runnin( on a((re(ate table. A((re(ate table and for that what the steps you follow to confi(ure them? >Explain the process of Aggregate navigationL ow does the tool !now to hit the

$+. a&e you heard of %mplicit 9acts? %f3 so what are they? o An implicit fact column is a column that -ill be added to a #uery -hen it contains columns from t-o or more dimension tables and no measures. Cou -ill not see the column in the results. %t is used to specify a default ?oin path bet-een dimension tables -hen there are several possible alternatives. o 9or example, there might be many star schemas in the database that have the 7ampaign dimension and the 7ustomer dimension, such as the follo-ing stars= @ 7ampaign Jistory star. Stores customers targeted in campaign. @ 7ampaign Response star. Stores customer responses to a campaign. @ >rder star. Stores customers -ho placed orders as a result of a campaign. %n this example, because 7ampaign and 7ustomer information might appear in many segmentation catalogs, users selecting to count customers from the targeted campaigns catalog -ould be expecting to count customers that have been targeted in specific campaigns. @ (o maAe sure that the ?oin relationship bet-een 7ustomers and 7ampaigns is through the campaign history fact table, a campaign history implicit fact needs to be specified in 7ampaign Jistory segmentation catalog. (he follo-ing guidelines should be follo-ed in creating @ segmentation catalogs= @ Each segmentation catalog should be created so that all columns come from only one physical star. @ "ecause the MarAeting module user interface has special features that allo- users to specify their aggregations, level;based measures typically should not be exposed to segmentation users in a segmentation catalog. $..What is a((re(ate na&i(ation? ow do you confi(ure the A((re(ate tables in Siebel Analytics? o Aggregate tables store pre;computed results, -hich are measures that have been aggregated /typically summed2 over a set of dimensional attributes. <sing aggregate tables is a very popular techni#ue for speeding up #uery response times in decision support systems. o %f you are -riting S6) #ueries or using a tool that only understands -hat physical tables exist /and not their meaning2, taAing advantage of aggregate tables and putting them to good use becomes more difficult as the number of aggregate tables increases. (he aggregate navigation capability of the Siebel Analytics Server, ho-ever, allo-s #ueries to use the information stored in aggregate

tables automatically, -ithout #uery authors or #uery tools having to specify aggregate tables in their #ueries. (he Siebel Analytics Server allo-s you to concentrate on asAing the right business #uestion: the server decides -hich tables provide the fastest ans-ers. $0. <Assume you are in /MM layer= We ha&e $ dimension tables3 in that3 2 tables need to ha&e hierarchy3 then in such a case is it mandatory to create hierarchies for all the dimension tables? o Fo, it*s not mandatory to define hierarchies to other 'imension tables. $2. 5an you ha&e multiple data sources in Siebel Analytics? o Ces. *4. ow do you deal with case statement and e#pressions in Siebel analytics? o use expression builder to create case -hen1then.. End statement *1. Do you !now about %nitiali1ation /loc!s? 5an you (i&e me an e#ample where you used them? o %nit blocAs are used for instantiating a session -hen a user logs in. o (o create dynamic variable you have to create %" to -rite s#l statement. *2. What is 6uery repository tool? o %t is utility of Seibel4>"%EE Admin tool o allo-s you to examine the repository metadata tool o for example= search for ob?ects based on name, type. o Examine relationship bet-een metadata ob?ects liAe -hich column in the presentation layer maps to -hich table in physical layer *3. What is @DA and why do we need it? o Eava 'evelopment Mit /E'M2, A soft-are pacAage that contains the minimal set of tools needed to -rite, compile, debug, and run Eava applets. *$. ;racle doesn)t recommend ;pa6ue Biews because of performance considerations3 so why?when do we use them? o an opa#ue vie- is a physical layer table that consists of select statement. an opa#ue vie- should be used only if there is no other solution. **.5an you mi(rate the presentation layer to a different ser&er. o Fo -e have to migrate the -hole -eb N rpd files *+. ow do you identify what are the dimension tables and how do you decide them durin( the /usiness?Data modelin(? o 'imension tables contain descriptions that data analysts use as they #uery the database. 9or example, the Store table contains store names and addresses: the 0roduct table contains product pacAaging information: and the 0eriod table contains month, #uarter, and year values. Every table contains a primary Aey that consists of one or more columns: each ro- in a table is uni#uely identified by its primary;Aey value or values *.. Why do we ha&e multiple :-S in /MM layer? What is the purpose? o to improve the performance and #uery response time. *0. What is the full form of rpd? o there is no full form for rpd as such, it is ?ust a repository file /Rapid file 'atabase2 *2. ow do i disable cache for only 2 particular tables? o in the physical layer, right clicA on the table there -e -ill have the option -hich says cacheable +4. ow do you split a table in the rpd (i&en the condition? <-he condition (i&en was /ro!er and customer in the same table= Split /ro!er and customer. o -e need to maAe an alias table in the physical layer. +1. What type of protocol did you use in SAS? o (704%0