Configuring OBIEE Report Pagelets

This chapter provides an overview of the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) within the PeopleSoft framework, and discusses how to:

• Setup the OBIEE Server.

• Configure web server files.

• Load OBIEE report definitions.

• View OBIEE report details.

• Use Pagelet Wizard to create OBIEE report-based pagelets.

Understanding OBIEE Integration Within the PeopleSoft Framework

The OBIEE analytics servlet enables the application developers to access OBIEE analytics and display OBIEE reports as embedded pagelets on application pages, portal homepages, and as template pagelets. This functionality defines the OBIEE reports as iScript-based pagelets in PeopleSoft applications. The iScript essentially acts as a client for the report request and sends SOAP requests to the OBIEE server.

PeopleSoft applications store the credentials of an OBIEE administrator—a user with adequate privileges— in the PeopleSoft database and use these credentials to login to the OBIEE server, impersonate a real OBIEE user, and establish a session. The OBIEE server returns a session ID for this user session which is sent as a query parameter with each SOAP/HTTP request being made to the OBIEE server. The OBIEE server responds to all valid requests. If the session ID is expired or is invalid, a login screen appears to the user. The OBIEE server provides a session ID and then appends a session ID in each HTTP request that is part of the HTML markup provided by the OBIEE server. If the user ID value in the PeopleSoft application is not found on the OBIEE server, an authorization error message appears to the user in the PeopleSoft application. Similarly, if the user exists in OBIEE but does not have authorization to the requested report, an authorization error message appears to the user.

If authentication passes, then the OBIEE server generates the basic HTML markup for the PeopleSoft application to display. The application uses this basic HTML to send HTTP requests to the OBIEE server from the browser. Before reaching the OBIEE server, the HTTP requests pass through the PeopleSoft bridge servlet. The bridge servlet:

1. Acts as a reverse proxy server to avoid any cross domain issues.

2. Checks the validity of the OBIEE server for each request

3. Forwards each request to the OBIEE server by copying the PeopleSoft headers—including PeopleSoft cookies.

4. Receives and unpacks the OBIEE server response.

5. Loads the unpacked server response into the client.

6. Renders the OBIEE report in the PeopleSoft system

This diagram shows the architecture and the flow of information among the PeopleSoft web server, the PeopleSoft application server, the OBIEE server, and the Integration Broker gateway.

Note. OBIEE developers design and create reports in the OBIEE system. The OBIEE server generates the complete HTML markup for the report. The PeopleSoft system does not format the report; rather the HTML passes through the PeopleSoft system directly to the pagelet to be displayed as formatted by the OBIEE developer.

You should include only one OBIEE report on any PeopleSoft page or homepage. PeopleSoft applications do not currently support the appearance of multiple OBIEE reports on the same page, whether from the same OBIEE server or from multiple OBIEE servers.

Setting up the OBIEE Server

Access the OBIEE Server Setup page (Select PeopleTools, Portal, OBIEE Setup, Server Setup).

Use the OBIEE Server Setup page to define the location and administrative information necessary to access the OBIEE reports.

Configure the Web Server Files

You must include the OBIEE server URL in the configuration.properties file.

To configure the web server files:

1. Using a text editor, open the configuration.properties file in the web server deployment folder located here: <Web_server_deployment_home>\applications\peoplesoft\PORTAL.war\WEB-INF\psftdocs\ps\configuration.properties.

2. Find OBIEEServers= and enter the server URL. If you have multiple OBIEE servers, enter the URLs as a comma separated list.

3. Save the file.

4. Stop and restart the web server.

Loading the OBIEE Report Definitions From the OBIEE Server

Access the Load Report page (Select PeopleTools, Portal, OBIEE Setup, Load Report Definition).

Report Path	Enter the directory from which to retrieve OBIEE reports. The format should be /USERS/<PS_UserID>/, for example /USERS/PTDMO..
Go	Click this button to retrieve the OBIEE reports defined in the report path directory

Folders

The PeopleSoft application retrieves this information from the OBIEE system.

Reports

Report List for Deletion

Loading OBIEE Reports into PeopleSoft Applications

To load OBIEE reports into PeopleSoft applications:

1. Check the Select check box for the reports that you want to load into the PeopleSoft application.

   Note. You may select multiple check boxes.

2. Click the Load Report button.

Note. Loading OBIEE reports into the PeopleSoft application does not remove the report from the OBIEE server.

Deleting OBIEE Reports from PeopleSoft Applications

To delete OBIEE reports from PeopleSoft applications:

1. Check the Select check box for the reports that you want to deleted from the PeopleSoft application.

   Note. You may select multiple check boxes.

2. Click the Delete Report button.

   Note. Deleting OBIEE reports from the PeopleSoft application does not delete the report from the OBIEE system.

Viewing OBIEE Report Details

Access the Report Detail page (Select PeopleTools, Portal, OBIEE Setup, View Report Detail).

Version

Click the prompt to select the version of the OBIEE report to view. Note. Each time you load the same report from the OBIEE server into the PeopleSoft application—regardless of whether the report has changed since last being loaded— the report version number increases by 1.

Access the Report Expression page (Click the Report Expression tab).

Filter Expression	This display-only field indicates whether the OBIEE report has embedded filters. The is prompted filter indicates that the preceding field—in this case Markets.Region—is context sensitive to the target page on the PeopleSoft application.
View Name	This display-only field indicates the types of views created by the OBIEE report builder as stored on the OBIEE server. See Oracle Business Intelligence documentation for explanations of the available types of views.http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-foundation/documentation/index.html

Access the Report References page (Click the Report References tab).

This table describes the fields on the Report References page.

Access the Xml Definition page (Click the Xml Definition tab).

Report XML Definition

This field displays the XML tags and embedded data for the version of the report as it is currently loaded. Place the cursor inside the field and press Ctrl + A to select the text in its entirety.

Creating OBIEE Report Pagelets

This section discusses how to use Pagelet Wizard to create OBIEE report pagelets.

Using Pagelet Wizard to Create OBIEE Report Pagelets

This section discusses how to create OBIEE report pagelets.

1. Load the OBIEE report into the PeopleSoft application.

2. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Pagelet Wizard, Pagelet Wizard.

3. Specify the pagelet information in step one.

   See Step 1: Entering Pagelet Identifying Information.

4. Specify OBIEE as the Data Type in step two. In addition, select the Report ID and Report View ID from which the pagelet will read data.

   Note. If you have not loaded the OBIEE report into the PeopleSoft application, this step fails.

   See Selecting an OBIEE Report Data Source.

5. Specify the data source parameters.

   See Specifying OBIEE Data Source Parameters.

6. Select Passthru as the display format.

7. Specify display options, such as additional text and a search capability.

   See Step 5: Specifying Pagelet Display Options.

8. Specify the publishing options.

   See Specifying Publication Options.