Oracle^® Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide > Oracle BI Administration Tool Basics >

Checking the Consistency of a Repository or a Business Model

Repository metadata must pass a consistency check before you can make the repository available for queries. The Consistency Check Manager allows you to enable and disable rules for consistency checks, navigate to and fix inconsistent objects, and limit the consistency check to specific objects.

The Consistency Check Manager does not check the validity of objects outside the metadata using the connection. It only checks the consistency of the metadata and not any mapping to the physical objects outside the metadata. If the connection is not working or objects have been deleted in the database, the Consistency Check Manager will not report these errors.

The consistency checker returns the following types of messages:

• Error. These messages describe errors that need to be fixed. Use the information in the message to correct the inconsistency, and then run the consistency checker again. The following is an example of an error message:

  [38082] Type of Hierarchy '"0RT_C41"..."0RT_C41/MDF_BW_Q02"."Product Hierarchy for Material MARA"' in Cube Table '"0RT_C41"..."0RT_C41/MDF_BW_Q02"' needs to be set.

  NOTE:  If you disable an object and it is inconsistent, you will receive a message asking if you want to make it unavailable for queries.

• Warning. These messages indicate conditions that may or may not be errors, depending upon the intent of the Oracle BI Administrator. For example, a warning message about a disabled join may be the result of the Oracle BI Administrator intentionally disabling a join, such as eliminating a circular join condition. The following is an example of a warning message:

  [39024] Dimension '"Paint"."MarketDim"' has defined inconsistent values in its levels' property 'Number of elements'.

• Best practices. These messages provide information about conditions but do not indicate an inconsistency. The message appears if a condition violates a best practice recommendation. The following is an example of a best practice message:

  [89001] The Physical Table '"XLS_Forecast"."Forecast".."Sheet1$"' has no keys defined.

NOTE:  After upgrading from a previous software version and checking the consistency of your repository, you might notice messages that you had not received in previous consistency checks. This typically indicates inconsistencies that had been undetected prior to the upgrade, not new errors.

In the Consistency Check Manager, in the Messages tab, you can sort the rows of messages by clicking the column headings. Additionally, the status bar provides a summary of all the rows displayed

Setting Up Consistency Check Manager

During installation, a default subset of rules is installed. On each workstation, users can use the default subset of rules or change the subset by adding or deleting rules. By default, all consistency check rules are enabled and all types of messages are set to display after you run a consistency check. You can disable any of the consistency check rules and change the messages list so that one or more of the messages types do not appear. However, at least one message type must be enabled.

To set up the Consistency Check Manager

1. In the Administration Tool, select Tools > Show Consistency Checker.
2. In the Consistency Check Manager, in the Messages tab, perform the following steps:
   1. Clear the check box for any message types that you do not want to display.
   2. If you want the message to show the fully qualified name of each object, select the Show Qualified Name check box.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Expand each message type.
5. To disable an enabled rule, select the rule and click Disable.
6. To enable a disabled rule, select the rule and click Enable.
7. If you do not want to check for consistency at this time, click Close.

Checking the Consistency of a Repository

Currently you can check consistency in the following ways:

• You can check global consistency of the repository from the File menu and from the Consistency Check Manager (Check All Objects). If you disabled any rules in Consistency Check Manager, those rules will not be checked.

  NOTE:  If you disable an object and it is inconsistent, You will receive a message asking if you want to make it unavailable for queries.

• You can check the consistency of a business model from the right click menu of a business model.
• You can check the consistency of some or all of the objects in the repository from the Consistency Check Manager. To limit the objects that are checked, in Consistency Check Manager, in the Options tab, you disable the rules for objects that you want to exclude.

To check the consistency of a repository

1. In the Administration Tool, from the Tools menu, select Show Consistency Checker.

   If you checked consistency in the current session, the messages from the last check appear in the Messages tab.

2. In Consistency Check Manager, click the Options tab and verify the rules are set appropriately.
3. Click the Messages tab and click Check All Objects.

   If you already have checked consistency in the current session and then change the rules, you might notice different messages.

4. To edit the repository to correct inconsistencies, perform the following steps:
   1. Double-click any cell in a row and the properties dialog box for that object opens.
   2. In the properties dialog box for the object, correct the inconsistency, and then click OK.
5. To copy the messages so that you can paste them in another file such as a spreadsheet, click Copy.
6. To check consistency again, click Check All Objects.

   When you select Show Consistency Checker from the Tools menu or Check Global Consistency from the File menu, the refresh button in the top right corner of the Consistency Check Manager dialog box checks all objects.

7. When finished, click Close.

To check the consistency of a single object in a repository

1. In the Administration Tool, right-click an object, and then select Check Consistency.

   If the object is not consistent, a list of messages appears.

2. To edit the repository to correct inconsistencies, perform the following steps:
   1. Double-click any cell in a row and the properties dialog box for that object opens.
   2. In the properties dialog box for the object, correct the inconsistency, and then click OK.
3. To copy the messages so that you can paste them in another file such as a spreadsheet, click Copy.
4. To check consistency of the object again, click the refresh button at the top right corner of the dialog box.

   NOTE:  If you click Check All Objects, all objects in the repository will be checked.