Bookshelf v10.1.3.2: Overview of Oracle BI Delivers

Oracle BI Delivers is the interface used to create alerts based on analytics results. If your organization licensed this interface, you can use Oracle BI Delivers to detect specific results and immediately notify the appropriate person or group through Web, wireless, and mobile communications channels.

This section describes Oracle BI Delivers, provides information about how it works, and explains how to control access to Oracle BI Delivers. It contains the following topics:

About Oracle BI Delivers

Oracle BI Delivers allows you to create your own unique form of information insurance, where any information-based problem or opportunity can be detected, and the appropriate person immediately notified through the Web or by wireless, and mobile devices. Oracle BI Delivers uses intelligence agents or Bots, called iBots. iBots are software-based agents driven by schedule or events (chained iBots) that can access, filter, and perform analytics on data based upon defined criteria. iBots provide proactive delivery of real-time, personalized, and actionable intelligence throughout the business network.

iBots provide intelligence from data spanning operational and analytical sources. The result is information that is timely, complete, and in context. Upon detection of a problem or opportunity, iBots can determine the appropriate individuals to notify and deliver information to them through a wide range of devices (such as email, pager, PDA, mobile phones, and so on). Content and capabilities are automatically optimized for each recipient's device. iBots can also pass information and context to other iBots and applications, allowing automation of multistep, multipurpose analytic processes.

Table 23. Definitions of Common Terms in Oracle BI Delivers
Term	Definition
Alert	An alert is the personalized and actionable content delivered as a result of iBot activities.
Delivery Profile	Your delivery profile specifies which devices to use to deliver content to you, based on the priority of the content. You can define several delivery profiles to meet your needs, and switch among them. Oracle BI Delivers uses your active delivery profile to determine which devices should receive delivered content.
Device	A device is the medium used to deliver content to you. The content of an iBot can be delivered on a variety of devices, including plain text or HTML email, mobile phone, pager, and PDA.
iBot	An iBot is a software-based intelligent agent used to access, filter, and perform analytics on data. iBots may be event-based (chained) or scheduled. They provide constant monitoring and intelligence that spans operational and analytic sources. iBots dynamically detect problems and opportunities, determine who to notify, and how to deliver the content.

How Oracle BI Delivers Works

In the simplest format, an Oracle BI Delivers iBot automatically performs a specified Presentation Catalog request (created with Oracle BI Answers) based on a defined schedule, and examines the results for a specific problem or opportunity. If the specific problem or opportunity is detected in the results, an alert is generated and passed to people who are subscribed to the iBot, using the delivery options specified for each person.

The content of the iBot can be tailored for an associated delivery device. For example, content sent to a pager might include only a telephone number, and content sent to a Blackberry device might include an email with more detailed information such as a chart.

You may be automatically subscribed to some iBots, and iBots created by others may be available for you to subscribe to. You can also create your own iBots if you have the appropriate permissions and responsibilities. Depending on the level of authority you have, you can selectively share iBots with others or make iBots available for all users.

You can specify your account information and preferences using the My Account link (available from Oracle BI Answers, from Oracle BI Delivers, and from Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards). The Delivery Options section shows the devices and delivery profiles configured for use by Oracle BI Delivers. Oracle BI Delivers uses your active delivery profile to determine which devices should receive delivered content. You might have an In the Office delivery profile that delivers content to a Web browser and office email, and an On the Road profile that delivers content to your pager or PDA, depending on the priority of the information. You can access the My Account link to switch between available profiles as needed.

To handle more complex requirements, iBots can trigger other iBots, scripts, Java programs, or applications. Results can be passed between iBots, and to other applications or services through XML, HTML, or plain text. For example, an iBot may run a request to identify all current product orders over a specified dollar amount that cannot be filled from a regional warehouse. The results can be passed to another iBot that runs a request to locate alternative sources for these products. A final iBot may be triggered to feed information into a corporate CRM system, and notify the appropriate account representatives of the alternative sourcing.

When Oracle BI Delivers is enabled, an Alerts section is automatically added to the first page of My Dashboard if one is not manually placed there. If you want to add an Alerts section to an additional dashboard page, for more information, see the Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard Help system, or the Using Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards chapter in the Oracle Business Intelligence Answers, Delivers, and Interactive Dashboards User Guide.

Controlling Access to Oracle BI Delivers

Access to Oracle BI Delivers is available to all Oracle BI users (the Everyone group in Oracle BI Administration) by default. Granting access to specific Oracle BI Delivers functions is performed from the Privilege Administration page in Oracle BI Administration. If you have the appropriate authority, you can grant or deny explicit access to a variety of Oracle BI Delivers privileges, including the ability to perform the following actions:

For more information about the Privilege Administration page, see Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services Administration Guide.