Siebel Reports Guide > Overview of Siebel Reports >

About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports

Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) is an authoring tool that allows you to use native formatting features of Microsoft Word to design layout templates for reports. The application includes documentation, demos, and samples.

NOTE:  Siebel Reports allows you to use a subset of the functionality and features the Oracle BI Publisher Desktop provides. Only the features documented in this guide are supported.

Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word provides separate layout, query, and language capability in one interface. Because data logic is separate from the layout, and the layout is not dependent on the needs of a particular language, this feature allows for flexibility in deployment and reduced maintenance costs.

When you open Microsoft Word after installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, the Oracle BI Publisher toolbar appears, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Example of Oracle BI Publisher Menu and Toolbar in Microsoft Word

Figure 1 shows the following new elements in Microsoft Word:

• A new application-level menu entitled Oracle BI Publisher
• The Oracle BI Publisher toolbar with the following menu options:
  • Data
  • Insert
  • Preview
  • Tools
  • Help

For information about installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications.

NOTE:  It is recommended that you use the same versions of Oracle BI Publisher Server and Oracle BI Publisher Desktop in your deployment.

Advantages of Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word as a Report Authoring Tool

Advantages of using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word for creating layout templates and customizing reports include:

• Users can build the layout and rules for reports themselves or reuse their existing company documents. Even if your users do not have the skills to create their own layout templates, they can begin creating the template in Microsoft Word. Then the report developer can use that same document to finalize the template and report.
• Deployment is more efficient, because users can build the report that they want without having to depend on an engineer to interpret their requirements.
• Testing cycles are reduced because users can implement changes to the report rather than tying up valuable development resources.
• Report developers can concentrate on extracting only data.
• Report developers can extract data from diverse sources.
• Both report developers and report administrators can build and maintain reports.
• Interoperability with other standards-based reporting engines, such as Oracle's enterprise reporting tool that is used in Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, BI EE (Business Intelligence Suite, Enterprise Edition Plus), and so on.

Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word Features

Some of the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word features that are especially helpful in Siebel Reports template creation and customization include:

• Template Builder. Facilitates the development of RTF (Rich Text Format) layout templates for reports.

  Using Template Builder, users create how they want their report to look, and then a report developer can use this same document to determine how to extract data from the database in the most efficient manner. Because both report users and report developers use the same report authoring tool, there is much less chance for misinterpretation of the requirements.

• Template Viewer. Allows you to preview report layouts with sample data in multiple output formats at any stage of development. Template Viewer is a feature of Template Builder.
• Excel Analyzer. Oracle BI Publisher Analyzer for Excel facilitates the development of Excel templates that export data to an Excel spreadsheet. It allows you to:
  • Export the results of a report query to an Excel spreadsheet
  • Log in to Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word from Excel to refresh your data, apply new parameters, and apply a template to the report data
  • Create templates in Excel, upload them to the Oracle BI Publisher repository, and then access and generate reports from an Excel session

    NOTE:  The Analyzer for Excel feature is available only in connected mode. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see About the Siebel Reports Architecture.

For more information about using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Report Designer's Guide available on Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/documentation/index.html).

NOTE:  Not all features mentioned in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher documentation are currently integrated in the Siebel Reports solution; only the features documented in this guide.