Oracle Discoverer

Training On Oracle Discoverer Administration 4i

A Presentation by EAS Oracle Applications Oct 2003

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Introduction
Oracle Discoverer provides business users with data analysis capabilities, regardless of whether the RDBMS was designed for an OLTP system or as a data warehouse. Oracle Discoverer is a business intelligence toolset that comprises: Oracle Discoverer Administrator- Its design determines how users access and view data. Oracle Discoverer Desktop- It provides logical and intuitive access to information from your organizations relational databases for ad hoc query, analysis, and reporting.

Oracle Discoverer Plus- Same as above on web.

Oracle Discoverer Viewer- for viewing workbooks created by users of the Windows or Web releases of the Discoverer Plus.

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Introduction- Contd.
Discoverer Components

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Introduction- Contd.

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Implementation Flow Chart

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Sample Report to be Developed

Salesperson Order Summary report from Order Management has been identified to be developed in this training There are four queries in the report (in D2K). Q_Seldata Q_Order Q_header_salesrep Q_line_Salesrep Each query is made a view in order to develop the same report in Discoverer. Xxom_Sel_Selrep_Ord_Summary_V Xxom_Salesrep_Ord_Summary_V Xxom_Hdr_Selsrep_Ord_Summary_V Xxom_Lin_Selsrep_Ord_Summary_V

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End User Layer (EUL)

Create an EUL (mandatory if one does not exist already). EUL resides between the database dictionary/table definitions and Discoverer. EUL insulates Discoverer end users from the complexity and physical structure of the database. Provides an intuitive, business-focused view of the database Enables Discoverer end users to focus on business issues instead of data access issues. The metalayer structure of the EUL preserves the data integrity of the database. Discoverer provides read-only access to the application database.

A database user can only own one EUL.

EUL Access (Public-> all users, Public -> only owner) EUL user should have certain privileges on the database (CREATE SESSION, CREATE TABLE, CREATE VIEW, CREATE SEQUENCE, CREATE PROCEDURE)
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End User Layer (EUL)

Discoverer Administrator> Tools> EUL Manager

Use the EUL Manager to create and maintain EULs for different users (userids) in the database

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End User Layer (EUL)

Discoverer Administrator> Tools> EUL Manager> Create EUL

The Create EUL Wizard walks you through the steps of creating a new EUL. The first step is to choose the user who will own the new EUL. APPS database user has access to all the schema used for Oracle Apps

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End User Layer (EUL)

Discoverer Administrator> Tools> EUL Manager> Create EUL

The user creating EUL for a schema should know the password of schemas database user id

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End User Layer (EUL)

Discoverer Administrator> Tools> EUL Manager> Create EUL

Select the default and temporary tablespace for the new user by clicking your choice in the list. These settings are database settings Default table space must be at least 3mb

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Business Area
Create a business area and load data into it (mandatory). Business areas are conceptual groupings of tables and/or views Discoverer Administrator displays a business area as a file cabinet on the Data tab of the Workarea. You create a business area in Discoverer Administrator using the Load Wizard (User-friendly Interface) Identify the data source and have a clear understanding of its design. Identify which tables, views, and columns are required. Identify those that are likely to be included in multiple business areas. Map out the necessary joins and determine whether they exist in the database or will have to be created by you using Discoverer Administrator. Identify security issues and access privileges.

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Business Area
Business Area Concepts

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

The Load Wizard is where you open existing business areas or create a new one.
It is the first step to working in the Administration Edition.

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

Discoverer allows you to load metadata that is present in the database, but in nonOracle format.

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

Define the objects that will be loaded into the new business area.
You choices depend on where you chose to get your meta data. APPS schema is the owner of all four views in the report

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

Select the specific objects to load into the business area. Each table and view that you select will be a folder in the business area. All the four views to be used in the report are selected

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

These options let you make your business area and its folders easy to find and access

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Business Area- Load Wizard

Discoverer Administrator> File> New

Finally, you must name your new business area.

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Business Area- other features

Features provided for Business Area Opening an Existing Business Area (File> Open) Exporting a Business Area to a File (File> Export) Importing EUL elements from a File (eg. Business Area, Folders, Functions etc) (File> Export) Editing Business Area Properties (Double click on Business Area Icon) Deleting a Business Area (Right Click > Delete Business Area) Synchronizing the Business Area with the Database (File> Refresh) Data migration issues (Analytic Functions)

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Access Privileges
Use Discoverer access permissions to control who can see and use the data in business areas Use Discoverer task privileges to control the tasks each user is allowed to perform You can grant Discoverer access permissions and task privileges to database roles as well as to database users. Data access rights to the database tables remain under the control of the database administrator.

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Granting Access Permission for Business Area

Tools> Security

This section describes how to grant (or deny) access permission for business areas to specific users or roles. Users having responsibility Order Management Super User Vision Operation will be able to access the business area.

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Granting Task Privileges

Use this tab to grant privileges to a specific user or role/responsibility*. Oracle Applications users will see the term Responsibility displayed here instead of Role. Grant the head privilege (Administration, User Edition) before you grant the privileges under it. If you wish to grant (or deny) Administration privileges to a user or role, you must also grant (or deny) that user Administration access to the business area.
Tools> Privileges

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Granting Task Privileges

Administration Edition Tasks Format Business Area Create/Edit Business Area Create Summaries Set Privilege Manage Scheduled Workbooks Discoverer Plus Tasks Create/Edit Query Collect Query Statistics Item Drill Drill Out Grant Workbook Schedule Workbooks Save Workbooks to database
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Query Retrieval Limits

Tools> Privileges> Query Governor

Use this tab to view and edit the query retrieval limits for a specified user or responsibility.

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Specifying Schedule Workbench Limits

Tools> Privileges> Scheduled Workbooks

To set the parameters for scheduling workbooks to a user or role that has that privilege.

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Items
An Item, is a representation of a database table's column, in the EUL Administrator can do following on items (Columns):

Formatting Change
Name Change Other changes to enable user to clearly read the data

Items are stored in folders and can be:

Created Deleted Moved among different folders

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Editing Item Properties

Item>Right Click> Properties

This section shows you how to enhance the users view of the data by editing item properties.
Field name (Name) of view xxom_hdr_salesrep_ord_summary_v changed to Customer Name

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Joins
A join relates two folders using one or more common items. End users cannot create joins Administrator has to create joins for end users to create reports that combine information from multiple folders. A join between two folders enables you to include items from both folders when creating (Worksheet, Complex Folder, Hierarchy) Single item joins relate two folders using an item that is common to both folders. Multi-item joins relate two folders using more than one join condition. You cannot directly include functions or literals (e.g. text strings, numbers, dates) in the join conditions.

Items in joins can be hidden later, allowing end users to benefit from the use of joined folders without having to see the join details.
While Creating Joins, You do not need to enter a name for the join, Discoverer Administrator automatically creates a default name for the join when you click OK.
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Create Joins
Screen print refers to the data model of report developed in D2K Joins are to be developed among the views based on the data model (D2K) of sample report.

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Create Joins
To create a join, select
Item>right click> New Join

the Master folder

the operator the detail folder

Use Multi-Item for joining multiple Master and detail folders

For defining join types (outer join, Foreign key with null value, one to one relationship) use OPTIONS

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Edit Join Properties

You can inspect and edit more than one Join item at a time. Select a join to view its properties. If you select more than one Join Property and make a change to a property, the changes apply to all selected properties.
Join Name> Right Click> Properties

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Edit Join
The screen details are same as Create Join screen
Join Name> Right Click> Edit Join

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Folders
Folder, analogous to a directory in Windows where folders are the containers and items are the files held in the folders. Folders can include items, calculated items, joins, conditions, item classes, and hierarchies. You can assign a folder to one or more business areas. A folder has a single definition, regardless of the number of business areas to which you assign it. Three Type of Folders: Simple Folders, which contain items based on columns in a single database table or view Complex Folders, which can contain items based on columns from multiple database tables or views. This is analogous to a view in the database. Custom Folders, which are based on SQL statements

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Adding Simple Folders from Database

Insert> Folder> From Database> On-line Dictionary

This section describes how to add Simple folders from the database to an existing business area. Follow the same process you use when creating a new business area.

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Creating Custom Folder

This section describes how to create a custom folder TIP: You can add comments to your SQL statements by beginning the comment line with -. Like other folders, custom folders require joins in order for its data to relate to other data in the business area.
Insert> Folder> Custom

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Complex Folder
Complex folders consist of items from one or more other folders.

Complex folders enable you to create a combined view of data from multiple folders.
This can simplify the business area without creating a new database view. Complex folders result set could also be produced by a database view. But: Complex folders can be created without the database privileges required to create a database view. Security is handled through the Folders Business Area. Complex Folders has no effect on the physical schema, thus they are very safe to use. Views can be complicated to maintain, whereas Complex Folders are managed entirely within Discoverer Administration Edition.
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Creating Complex Folder

1. On the Data page of the work area, select the business area to which, you want to add a Complex folder. 2. Choose Insert | Folder | New. This creates a new complex folder. 3. Drag items from any folder (in any open business area) to your new folder.

Each item that is added in the complex folder must belong to a folder, that is joined to the folder of at least one other item in the complex folder
Item dragged and dropped in complex folder references the original, source item. Therefore any change made in the original item will reflect on the item inside the complex folder.

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Create Calculation Item

Calculation Items behave much like any other Item in a Folder Calculated Item can be used in Conditions, Summaries, Lists of Values, Joins, and other Calculation Items.
Folder Name> Right Click> New Item

3 Calculations in Discoverer
Derived calculations Aggregate calculations Aggregate Derived calculations Add new item to show difference of order qty and invoice qty in sample report

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Editing Calculation Properties

Same as Item Properties
Item Name> Right Click> Properties

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Editing Item Calculation

This section describes how to edit an existing Calculation.
Item Name> Right Click> Edit Item

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Create Conditions
End users can use Conditions to restrict the results of their query to the areas they are interested This can result in faster queries. No condition is applied in the sample report
Item (on which condn to apply)> Right Click> New Condition

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Mandatory Vs Optional Condition

Mandatory Condition
Always applied to the results of a folder. Used by an administrator to permanently restrict the rows returned by a folder. Invisible in Discoverer Plus. When created in a complex folder, can reference items in the source folders.

Optional Condition
Only applied to the results of a folder if selected in Discoverer Plus Provided by an administrator to help users build conditions Visible (but not editable) in Discoverer Plus. When created in a complex folder, can only reference items in the complex folder.

Affect the result set of the folder definition in Applied when used in Discoverer Plus thus the EUL. no effect on EUL result When added, changed, or deleted, cause any summaries based on the folder to become invalid, because their result set no longer matches that of the folder. When added, changed, or deleted have no affect on summaries based on the folder.

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Hierarchies
Hierarchy is a logical linking that you define between Items that enables Discoverer Plus users to: drill up (to a greater level of aggregation) and drill down (to a greater level of detail). Hierarchical relationships are not defined in the database; you create them in the Business Area. Discoverer Hierarchies mimic data relationships from the end users perspective instead of from the database perspective. There are two types of Hierarchy in Discoverer Administration Edition: Item Hierarchies Date Hierarchies

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Creating Item Hierarchy

Hierarchies Tab> Business Area> Right Click> New Hierarchy> Item Hierarchy

Example: Order> Line End user will have a report which can be drill down from location to departments

Hierarchy created in sample report to drill Order data at line level

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Creating Item Hierarchy- Contd

Hierarchies Tab> Business Area> Right Click> New Hierarchy> Item Hierarchy

Like other items in the Business Are, Name Hierarchy.

Choose names that describe the hierarchy so they are easy to find and use later.

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Creating Date Hierarchy

Example: Year> Month > Week
Hierarchies Tab> Business Area> Right Click> New Hierarchy> Date Hierarchy

User looks at total sales for each year in their records, they can drill down (using the Date Hierarchy) you implement this Date Hierarchy in a Business Area, and an end user has a report in Discoverer Plus You can use Discoverer Administration Editions existing Date Hierarchy templates to define many common Date Hierarchies, or you can create your own customized Date Hierarchies.

Default date hierarchy is used in sample report

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Creating Date Hierarchy- Contd..

Hierarchies Tab> Business Area> Right Click> New Hierarchy> Date Hierarchy

You can choose the date items in your Business Area that will use the new date hierarchy. This step is optional.

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Creating Date Hierarchy- Contd..

Hierarchies Tab> Business Area> Right Click> New Hierarchy> Date Hierarchy

Like other items in your Business Area, you can name your hierarchy. Choose names that describe the hierarchy so they are easy to find and use later.

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Item Class
An item class is a group of items that share similar attributes. The administrator creates an item class to enable the following features:

Lists of values
Alternative sorts Drill-to-detail links (hyperdrills)

These features help users build queries more quickly and easily.
The item class can be created to support these features individually, or in combination The only exception is that an alternative sort must relate to a list of values

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List of Values
A list of values is the items set of unique values

The values the item class references correspond to those found in a database column.
Lists of values are used by end users to refer to values in the database and to apply conditions and parameter values. Lists of values are often generated automatically when the business area is first created (in Load Wizard: Step 4).

The Item Class Wizard provides a way to extend a list of values to other items.

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Create List of Values

Item Classes Tab> New Item Class> List of Values

Select the items that use this item class.

If you do not select the items using the item class, you will need to apply the item class to specific items later.

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Create List of Values

LOVs to be created in sample report for in put parameters: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Order Number Order Date Order Type Line Type Agreement Sales Person Customer Name Customer Number Line Category
Item Classes Tab> New Item Class> List of Values

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Alternative Sorts
Data elements to be sorted in an alternative order other than Ascending or Descending Order For example, a series of sales regions would be sorted alphabetically by default, such as East, North, South, and West. But the end user may need them sorted in this order: North, South, East, and West. No Alternate sort is used in Sample Report
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Create Alternative Sorts

Item Classes Tab> New Item Class> Alternative sort

Select the item that generates list of values. You may choose from any Business Area in the End User Layer. Selecting a Business Area displays its folders. Click the plus (+) symbol to open folders and view the items contained in them.

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Create Alternative Sorts- Contd..

Item Classes Tab> New Item Class> Alternative sort

Select the item containing the alternative sort sequence

Note that the alternative sort item must be in the same folder as the list of values.

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Create Alternative Sorts- Contd..

Item Classes Tab> New Item Class> Alternative sort

Select the items that use this item class. If you do not select the items using the item class, you will need to apply the item class to specific items later.

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Summary Folders
Summary folders are a representation of queried data that has been saved for reuse.

Created to improve query response time for end users.

Query is improved because the query accesses pre-aggregated and pre-joined data rather than accessing the database tables.

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Q&A

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