21 copyright 2009, oracle. all rights reserved. working with oracle business intelligence answers

21Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Working with Oracle Business Intelligence Answers

Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.21 - 2

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to construct, modify, and save requests.


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


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


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


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


Starting Oracle Business Intelligence Answers

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3


Oracle Business Intelligence Answers:Start Page

This page appears after you click the Answers link.

A

B


Oracle Business Intelligence Answers: Start Page

This page appears after you click the Answers link.

CD


Answers Selection Pane

• Accesses saved requests and dashboards

• Shows columns and filters to construct requests

• Organizes content into presentation folders, tables, and columns


Answers Workspace

Provides an area to create, modify, and save requests and filters


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


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.


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.


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.


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.


1. Select a subject area.

After logging in, select a subject area to navigate to the Oracle Business Intelligence Answers workspace.

Select subject area.


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)


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


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.


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


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


3. Modify request criteria (conditional format).

Directs attention to a data element that meets a certain condition

Click Add Condition for each condition.


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.


4. Change column order.

Drag columns to change column order.

Drag a column to another location to reorder the

columns.


5. Display request results.

• Click the Results tab to see the results of a request.• A request can be displayed in many formats.


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.


6. Modify the results layout.

Change views to control the appearance of the results.

Choose a result view.


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


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.


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


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


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


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.


Practice 21: Overview

This practice covers the following topics:• Creating a request• Formatting the request

21 copyright 2009, oracle. all rights reserved. working with oracle business intelligence answers

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