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Oracle® Business Intelligence Answers, Delivers, and Interactive Dashboards User Guide > Using Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards >

Working with Oracle BI Briefing Books

If your organization licensed Oracle BI Briefing Books, you can store a static snapshot of dashboard pages or individual requests in one or more briefing books. You can then download and share briefing books for viewing offline. Briefing books and their content can also be updated, scheduled, and delivered using Oracle BI Delivers.

NOTE:  Oracle BI Publisher reports cannot be saved in briefing books.

The following topics explain how to work with briefing books.

Creating an Oracle BI Briefing Book

The following procedure explains how to create a briefing book.

To create an Oracle BI Briefing Book

  1. Navigate to a dashboard in Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards and then perform one of the following actions:
    • Click the Add to Briefing Book button, located near the bottom of the dashboard page.

      NOTE:  This button is not available on an empty dashboard page.

    • Click the Add to Briefing Book link that appears with an individual request on the dashboard.

      The Save Briefing Book Content page appears.

  2. Click the following button:

    Create New Briefing Book

    The Create New Briefing Book page appears.

  3. Type a name and a description for the briefing book, and then save the briefing book.

    The briefing book appears in the Current Briefing Books list at the Save Briefing Book Content page.

  4. Click the Cancel button to return to Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards.

    This creates an empty briefing book. The briefing book folder appears in the selection pane in Oracle BI Answers and Oracle BI Delivers.

  5. To add additional briefing books, click the Add to Briefing Book link or button, and then create them using the preceding steps.

Adding Content to an Oracle BI Briefing Book

Use the following procedure to add the content of a dashboard page or an individual request to a briefing book.

To add content to an Oracle BI Briefing Book

  1. Navigate to Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards and then perform one of the following actions:
    • To add the contents of a dashboard page to a briefing book, navigate to the dashboard and click the Add to Briefing Book button:

    • To add the results of an individual request to a briefing book, locate the request on the dashboard and click the following link:

      Add to Briefing Book

      NOTE:  This link appears only if the request was added to the dashboard with the option to show the link Add to Briefing Book.

      The Save Briefing Book Content page appears.

  2. Choose the briefing book from the Current Briefing Books drop-down list.
  3. Make your selections for the Save Options area.
    1. For Content Type, choose one of the following options:
      • Snapshot. This adds the content in its current state. Snapshot content preserves the original data and is not updated when the briefing book is rerun. Snapshot content will not be updated using Oracle BI Delivers.
      • Updatable. The content is refreshed whenever the briefing book is downloaded, or when it is specified as the delivery content for an iBot in Oracle BI Delivers.
    2. For Follow Briefing Book Navigation Links, choose one of the following options:
      • No. Briefing book navigation links will not be followed.
      • Yes. Briefing book navigation links will be followed.
    3. If you specified Yes for Briefing Book Navigation Links, choose the number of links to follow in the briefing book.

      The default value for the maximum number of links to follow is 5.

      NOTE:  A briefing book navigation link is a special type of link that can be added to a dashboard using the Dashboard Editor. When a briefing book navigation link is found in content included in a briefing book, the destination content for that link is also included in the briefing book. For more information, see Adding a Briefing Book Navigation Link to an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard Page.

Editing, Downloading, or Printing an Oracle BI Briefing Book

A saved briefing book is shown in the selection pane in Oracle BI Answers and Oracle BI Delivers. On the Catalog tab, the briefing book is shown in the My Briefing Books list. In the Presentation Catalog, briefing books are saved in the _briefingbook folder.

You can reorder and delete briefing book content, change the properties for the content type and briefing book navigation links, print the briefing book, and download the briefing book to your computer. You can also add a list of your briefing books to your dashboard page.

To edit, download, or print an Oracle BI Briefing Book

  1. Access your corporate network and log in to Oracle BI.
  2. Navigate to the briefing book in the selection pane in Oracle BI Answers, and then click it.

    The right pane displays the contents of the briefing book.

  3. To reorder content, click the Move Up and Move Down arrows.
  4. To delete content, click the Delete button.
  5. To change the content type, navigation link properties, or the description, click the Properties button.

    The Page Properties dialog box appears.

  6. Make any desired changes for the content type, briefing book navigation links, and the description, and then click OK.
  7. To download the briefing book, click the Get Now button and specify the location in which to save it.

    Downloaded briefing books are saved with an .ssb file extension. You can then email or share the briefing book.

    NOTE:  The Oracle Business Intelligence Briefing Book Reader application is required to view a downloaded briefing book. For more information, see Viewing an Oracle BI Briefing Book.

  8. To generate a PDF of the briefing book, click the Print Now button.

    The system generates a PDF file, which appears in the right pane. From this pane you can click the icon to print the briefing book.

    NOTE:  The Adobe Reader application is required to view or print a briefing book PDF.

  9. When you are done, click the Finished button to save any properties you changed.

To add a list of your briefing books to your dashboard page

  1. Navigate to Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards and click the Edit Dashboard link.

    The Dashboard Editor page appears.

  2. From the Dashboard Objects list, drag and drop a folder object into a section.
  3. Click the Properties button for the folder.

    The Folder Properties dialog box opens.

  4. Browse to locate the folder labeled My Folder, click the folder _briefingbook, and then click OK to return to the Folder Properties dialog box.
  5. Click OK, and then click the Save button.

    A folder labeled My Briefing Books is added to your dashboard:

    • To see a list of your briefing books, click the folder.
    • To edit the properties of a briefing book, click its link.

Using Oracle BI Delivers to Deliver an Oracle BI Briefing Book

If your organization licensed Oracle BI Delivers, you can use Oracle BI Delivers to specify a briefing book as the delivery content for an iBot.

To use Oracle BI Delivers to update briefing book content

  1. Navigate to Oracle BI Delivers, and create or modify an appropriate iBot.
  2. At the Delivery Content tab, click the Select Content button and navigate to the briefing book to which you want content delivered.

    When the iBot runs, the updatable content in the briefing book is delivered.

Viewing an Oracle BI Briefing Book

Use the Oracle BI Briefing Book Reader application to view downloaded briefing books. Consult your Oracle BI administrator if you need the Oracle BI Briefing Book Reader application.

To view an Oracle BI Briefing Book

  1. Click the briefing book to open it.

    NOTE:  Briefing books have an .sbb file extension.

    This launches the Oracle BI Briefing Book Reader application. The briefing book opens in the browser.

  2. Use the arrows or the menu options to navigate the content.

    If briefing book navigation links were included, you can also click them to navigate.

  
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