Preface

The Oracle Retail Analytics User Guide helps Retail Analytics users to build, use, and modify reports using the Retail Analytics repository in Oracle Business Intelligence (Oracle BI). It includes a user reference to the dimensions, attributes, metrics, and terminology of the Retail Analytics metadata. The guide also provides minimal introduction to the Oracle BI user interface.

This guide does not include:

End user documentation for Oracle BI. This is provided through the Oracle BI documentation library and user training.
Details of the Retail Analytics data model. The Oracle Retail Analytics Data Model contains this information.
Information about tasks and responsibilities of system administrators, systems analysts, operators, and programmers who install, configure, and support the Retail Analytics software. This information is provided in the Oracle Retail Analytics Implementation Guide, Oracle Retail Analytics Installation Guide, and Oracle Retail Analytics Operations Guide.

Audience

This user guide is for use by business analysts, the primary end users of Retail Analytics, as well as for merchandising and finance executives who rely on those reports on a daily basis. The principal users of this guide are those who have responsibility to create and modify Retail Analytics reports. They may study these reports themselves, and they may also prepare reports for distribution to other users such as managers, buyers, and other analysts who study and plan business activities. The particular user group for Retail Analytics depends on each retailer's unique organization structure and individual job assignments.

This guide assumes that the user knows how to use the Oracle BI user interface. End user documentation is provided in the Oracle BI documentation library, and this guide provides references to pertinent documents.

End users need the following prerequisite skills:

An understanding of data warehousing
Knowledge of business intelligence concepts
Oracle Business Intelligence training

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Customer Support

To contact Oracle Customer Support, access My Oracle Support at the following URL:

https://support.oracle.com

When contacting Customer Support, please provide the following:

Product version and program/module name
Functional and technical description of the problem (include business impact)
Detailed step-by-step instructions to re-create
Exact error message received
Screen shots of each step you take

Review Patch Documentation

When you install the application for the first time, you install either a base release (for example, 14.1) or a later patch release (for example, 14.1.1). If you are installing the base release and additional patch releases, read the documentation for all releases that have occurred since the base release before you begin installation. Documentation for patch releases can contain critical information related to the base release, as well as information about code changes since the base release.

Improved Process for Oracle Retail Documentation Corrections

To more quickly address critical corrections to Oracle Retail documentation content, Oracle Retail documentation may be republished whenever a critical correction is needed. For critical corrections, the republication of an Oracle Retail document may at times not be attached to a numbered software release; instead, the Oracle Retail document will simply be replaced on the Oracle Technology Network Web site, or, in the case of Data Models, to the applicable My Oracle Support Documentation container where they reside.

This process will prevent delays in making critical corrections available to customers. For the customer, it means that before you begin installation, you must verify that you have the most recent version of the Oracle Retail documentation set. Oracle Retail documentation is available on the Oracle Technology Network at the following URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/oracle-retail-100266.html

An updated version of the applicable Oracle Retail document is indicated by Oracle part number, as well as print date (month and year). An updated version uses the same part number, with a higher-numbered suffix. For example, part number E123456-02 is an updated version of a document with part number E123456-01.

If a more recent version of a document is available, that version supersedes all previous versions.

Oracle Retail Documentation on the Oracle Technology Network

Documentation is packaged with each Oracle Retail product release. Oracle Retail product documentation is also available on the following Web site:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/oracle-retail-100266.html

(Data Model documents are not available through Oracle Technology Network. These documents are packaged with released code, or you can obtain them through My Oracle Support.)

Documentation should be available on this Web site within a month after a product release.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic	Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
`monospace`	Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.