2 Overview of Oracle Business Intelligence Applications

This chapter provides an overview of Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, and contains the following topics:

• Section 2.1, "What is Oracle Business Intelligence Applications?"

• Section 2.2, "Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Overview"

• Section 2.3, "Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Architecture"

• Section 2.4, "Roadmap To Installing, Configuring, and Customizing Oracle Business Intelligence Applications With ODI"

• Section 2.5, "Using Oracle BI-EE Repository Documentation"

2.1 What is Oracle Business Intelligence Applications?

Oracle Business Intelligence Applications is a prebuilt business intelligence solution. Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Version 7.9.5.2 supports Oracle EBS 11.5.10 source systems, and uses Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Version 10.1.3.5 as its E-LT environment.

If you already own an Oracle EBS 11.5.10 source system, you can purchase Oracle Business Intelligence and Oracle Business Intelligence Applications to work with the application.

Oracle Business Intelligence Applications deployed with Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) consists of the components shown in the table below.

Table 2-1 Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Components (with ODI)

Component	Description
Oracle Data Integrator	This is the Oracle data integration tool (E-LT tool) that performs the extract, load, transform operations for the data warehouse. Oracle Data Integrator works in conjunction with Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager.
Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager	This is a Web tool that enables you to set E-LT parameters, create and execute Execution Plans, and monitor ELT executions. Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager works in conjunction with Oracle Data Integrator.
Prebuilt ODI content	This content includes Extract-Load-Transform (E-LT) repository objects (that is, scenarios, packages, and interfaces), which are contained in the ODI repository.
Prebuilt metadata content	This metadata content is contained in the Oracle Business Intelligence Applications repository file (OracleBIAnalyticsApps.rpd).
Prebuilt reports and dashboard content	This content is contained in the Oracle BI Presentation Services Catalog.
Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse	The prebuilt data warehouse that holds data extracted, loaded, and transformed from the transactional database (for more information, see Section 2.2, "Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Overview").

2.2 Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Overview

The Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse is a unified data repository for all customer-centric data, which supports the analytical requirements of the supported source systems.

The Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse includes the following:

• A complete relational enterprise data warehouse data model with numerous pre-built star schemas encompassing many conformed dimensions and several hundred fact tables.

  For more information about the data warehouse data model, please see the Oracle Business Analytics Fusion Edition Data Model Reference.

• An open architecture to allow organizations to use third-party analytical tools in conjunction with the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse using the Oracle Business Intelligence Server.

• Prebuilt data extractors to incorporate data from external applications into the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse.

• A set of E-LT (extract, load and transform) processes that takes data from an Oracle EBS 11.5.10 source system to create the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse tables.

• A set of easy-to-use tools for the set up, configuration, administration, loading, and monitoring of the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse. For example, ODI Designer, and Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager.

Tip:

Once you have installed Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, use the Repository Documentation option in Oracle BI Administration Tool to create a list of the repository objects in a text file (for more information, see Section 2.5, "Using Oracle BI-EE Repository Documentation".

2.3 Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Architecture

High-level analytical queries, like those commonly used in Oracle Business Intelligence, scan and analyze large volumes of data using complex formulas. This process can take a long time when querying a transactional database, which impacts overall system performance.

For this reason, the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse was constructed using dimensional modeling techniques to allow for fast access to information required for decision making. The Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse derives its data from operational applications, and uses Oracle Data Integrator to extract, transform, and load data from various supported transactional database systems (OLTP) into the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse.

2.3.1 Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Architecture Components

The figure below illustrates the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse architecture when deployed with ODI.

Figure 2-1 An example Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse architecture with ODI

The figure above shows the following Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse components:

• The Client Tier contains the ODI Client Tools, Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager, and database client tools.

• The Server Tier contains the ODI Server and Repository, Oracle BI-EE server components, and Oracle Business Intelligence Applications server components.

• The Database Tier contains the OLTP (source) and OLAP (data warehouse) databases.

2.4 Roadmap To Installing, Configuring, and Customizing Oracle Business Intelligence Applications With ODI

To install, configure, and customize Oracle Business Intelligence Applications with ODI, do the following:

• Optimize your Oracle database, as described in Chapter 3, "Pre-installation and Predeployment Requirements for Oracle Business Intelligence Applications".

• Install and set up the Oracle Business Intelligence Applications components and Oracle Data Integrator components as described in Chapter 4, "Installing and Setting Up Oracle Business Intelligence Applications".

  Note: For an example that shows a typical deployment topology for Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, see Section 4.1, "About Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Topologies".

• (Optional) Perform any required configuration steps for the applications that you deploy, from the appropriate chapters below:

  • All applications - see Chapter 5, "Configuring Common Areas and Dimensions".

  • Procurement and Spend applications - see Chapter 6, "Configuring Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics".

  • Financial applications - see Chapter 7, "Configuring Oracle Financial Analytics".

  • Supply Chain and Order Management applications - see Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Supply Chain and Order Management Analytics".

  • HR applications - see Chapter 9, " Configuring Oracle Human Resources Analytics".

• (Optional) If you want to modify the out-of-the-box Oracle Business Intelligence Repository (RPD file), see Chapter 10, "Configuring the Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Repository".

• (Optional) If you want to customize the out-of-the-box Oracle Business Intelligence Applications functionality, follow the steps described in Chapter 11, " Customizing the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse".

• (Optional) If you want to modify the out-of-the-box Oracle Business Intelligence Applications security, follow the steps described in Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Security Guide.

Once you have installed and configured Oracle Business Intelligence Applications components, configured the modules (optional), and customized Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (optional), you are ready to start running ELT processes. For more information about performing ELT, see Section 4.7, "Loading Source Data Using an Execution Plan".

For a detailed example of how to run an E-LT process for Oracle Financials with an Oracle EBS OLTP data source, see Section 4.7.4, "Example of Running A Full Load E-LT in Oracle BI Applications Configuration Manager".

2.5 Using Oracle BI-EE Repository Documentation

When you deploy Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, you can use the following documentation and tools to manage your metadata:

• Oracle BI-EE Repository Documentation

  Using Oracle BI Administration Tool, you can generate repository documentation that lists the mapping from the presentation columns to the corresponding logical and physical columns. You might use this information for gap-analysis, or to create a record of your repository that you can use to compare with other repositories.

  To generate Repository Documentation into a text or comma-separated file, log into Oracle BI Administration Tool and choose Tools, then Utilities, then Repository Documentation.

  For more information about generating repository documentation, see Oracle Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide.

• Oracle BI-EE Presentation Services Catalog

  Using the Catalog Manager, you can view the names of the prebuilt dashboards and requests in the Presentation Services Catalog.

  To view the Presentation Catalog, select Catalog Manager from the Windows\ Start\Programs\Oracle Business Intelligence menu.