Oracle^® Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide > Completing Setup and Managing Oracle BI Repository Files > Setting up and Using the Oracle BI Multiuser Development Environment >

Setting Up a Multiuser Development Environment (Administrator)

To prepare for multiuser development, the administrator performs the following tasks:

• Creating Projects for a Multiuser Development Environment. In the repository, create the projects that your developers need.
• Set Up the Shared Network Directory. Identify or create a shared network directory that will be dedicated to multiuser development.
• Copy the Master Repository to the Shared Network Directory. After creating all projects, you copy the repository file in which you created the projects to the shared network directory where it will be used as your master repository for multiuser development.

  NOTE:  In this section, we use the phrase master repository to refer to this copy of a repository in the shared network directory.

Creating Projects for a Multiuser Development Environment

A project consists of a discretely-defined subset of the metadata. Projects can consist of Presentation layer catalogs (subject areas) and their associated business model logical facts, dimensions, groups, users, variables, and initialization blocks.

The Oracle BI Administrator creates projects in a repository and copies this repository to a shared network directory. A best practice is to create projects of manageable size based on individual logical star schemas in the business model. For Oracle BI projects that are just beginning, the best practice is to begin with a repository containing all the necessary physical table and join definitions. In this repository, you create a logical fact table as a placeholder in the Business Model and Mapping layer and a presentation catalog as a placeholder in the Presentation layer. As you add business model and presentation catalog metadata, new projects based on individual presentation catalogs and logical facts can be created.

NOTE:  Only one person at a time can create projects in a master repository.

When creating a project, the Oracle BI Administrator selects a presentation catalog or a subset of logical fact tables related to the selected presentation catalog, and the Administration Tool automatically adds any business model and physical layer objects that are related. An object can be part of multiple projects.

After you create projects, they become part of the metadata and are available to multiple developers who need to perform development tasks on the same master repository. When defined this way, projects typically become a consistent repository after a developer checks out the projects and saves them as a new repository file. For more information about creating projects, see About Extracting Metadata Subsets Into Projects.

To create a project for a multiuser development environment

1. In the Administration Tool menu, choose File > Open > Offline.
2. In the Open dialog box, select the repository that you want to make available for multiuser development, and then click OK.
3. In the Administration Tool menu, choose Manage > Projects.
4. In the Project Manager dialog box, in the right panel, right-click and then select New Project.

   The left pane contains the objects that are available to be placed in a project. The right pane contains the objects that you select to be part of the project.

5. In the Project dialog box, type a name for the project.
6. Perform one of the following steps to finish creating the project:
   • In the Project dialog box, expand the catalogs and select one or more logical fact tables within the business model that are related to the presentation catalog, and then click Add.

     The project is defined as explicitly containing the logical fact tables and implicitly containing all logical dimension tables that are joined to the selected logical fact tables (even though they do not appear in the right pane).

   • In the Project dialog box, select a presentation catalog and then click Add.

     The Administration Tool automatically adds all the logical fact tables.

7. To remove any fact table from the project, in the right pane, select the fact table and click Remove.
8. Add any Catalogs, Groups, Users, Variables, or Initialization Blocks needed for the project.

   NOTE:  You must add all developers who need to work on the project or they will not be allowed to check out objects.

9. Click OK.

Set Up the Shared Network Directory

After defining all projects and set up the shared network directory, the Oracle BI Administrator needs to identify or create a shared network directory that all developers can access, and then upload the new master repository to that location. This shared network directory needs to be used only for multiuser development. This directory typically contains copies of repositories that need to be maintained by multiple developers.

Developers create a pointer to this shared network directory when they set up the Administration Tool on their machines.

CAUTION:  The Oracle BI Administrator must set up a separate, shared network directory that is dedicated to multiuser development. If not set up and used as specified, critical repository files can be unintentionally overwritten and repository data can be lost.

Copy the Master Repository to the Shared Network Directory

Make a copy of the master repository file and paste it in the directory that you have dedicated to multiuser development. Projects from this master repository will be extracted and downloaded by the developers who will make changes and then merge these changes back into the master repository.

After you copy the repository to the shared network directory, notify developers that the multiuser development environment is ready.