This preface describes new features and upgrade considerations in Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). If you are upgrading to Oracle BI EE from a previous release, then read the following information carefully, because there are significant differences in features, tools, and procedures.
This preface contains the following topics:
This section describes new features for Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7). It contains the following topics:
Note:
Information about Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.16 and later) is only applicable to customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 9 (11.1.9) and to some customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 8 (11.1.8).
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.16) include the addition of the Show Total value for all measures on unrelated dimensions check box in the Analysis editor: Advanced tab to set the ENABLE_DIMENSIONALITY variable. For more information, see "Analysis editor: Advanced tab."
Note:
Information about Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.10) is only applicable to customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 8 (11.1.8).
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.10) include:
In this release, the following terminology change has been made:
Breadcrumbs for scorecard strategy contribution wheels have been renamed to focus trails. See "Understanding a Strategy Contribution Wheel Diagram" for additional information on strategy contribution wheels.
This release provides the following enhancements to dashboards:
A new style named Skyros. See "About the Skyros Style."
Ability to align radio button and check box prompts. If the User Input Layout is either Check Boxes or Radio Buttons, then you can specify either horizontal or vertical alignment of the prompt that displays on the prompts page. See "New Prompt dialog" for additional information.
Ability to delay the execution of dashboard pages. See "Delaying the Execution of Dashboard Pages."
Ability to set and send multiple values in a dashboard prompt for request variables when the request variable is a string or numeric data type. See "What Are Request Variables?"
In this release graphs have been enhanced as follows:
Center alignment of data markers. If the Show Data Labels box is set to Always and the graph type is either a Stacked Vertical Bar or Stacked Horizontal Bar, then the data marker label displays as center aligned. See "Font Format: Item dialog: Display Options tab" for additional information.
This release includes enhancements to various view types that can assist a content designer in creating more effective analyses faster, including those in the following list:
A new button, View Properties, has been added for all view types with a properties dialog (such as a table, pivot table, and graph). This button is located on the toolbar in the view container within the Compound Layout in the Results tab for the respective view. It opens the view's Property dialog. See "Compound Layout" for additional information.
The More Options button (located in the Table, Pivot Table, Simple Trellis, and Advanced Trellis editors) contains the Column Properties option. This option allows you to edit column properties (to perform formatting and so on) for the selected column or hierarchical level. See "Additional Components Common to the Table and Pivot Table Editors" and "Additional Components Common to the Trellis Editor" for additional information.
A new button, New Calculated Measure, has been added for data view types that contain columns (such as table, pivot table, and graph). This button is located on the toolbar in the Compound Layout in the Results tab and also within the respective view's editor. It opens the "New Calculated Measure dialog." See "Working with Calculated Measures" for additional information.
A new view type named treemap. Treemap is a space-constrained, two-dimensional visualization for displaying hierarchical structures with multiple levels. The treemap is limited by a predefined, rectangular area and displays two levels of data. The size of each tile (or rectangle) is based on a measure, and the color of the tile is based on the second measure. See "Editing Treemap Views" for additional information.
Ability to add global variables. A global variable is a column created by combining a specific data type with a value. See "Using Variables" and "What Are Global Variables?" for additional information.
Ability to sort subject areas, subject area folders, and objects within the subject area folders. See "Changing the Sort Order of Subject Areas and Subject Area Folders" for additional information.
Enhancements to KPIs and Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management
This release includes the following enhancement for KPIs and scorecarding:
The ability to select multiple, concurrent values when pinning dimensions in the KPI editor and Oracle Scorecard. For more information, see "About the Point of View Area."
New My Account dialog: Mobile Preferences tab
In this release, a new tab has been added to the My Account dialog called Mobile Preferences, where users can set their preferences for Oracle BI Mobile. For more information, see "My Account dialog: Mobile Preferences tab."
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.0) include:
"Navigate from the Total or Grand Total in a Table or Pivot Table"
"Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System"
Recommended Visualizations Feature for Creating Views
In this release, when you create a view, you can choose a recommended view type based on the data in your analysis and, optionally, what you want to use it for (for example, to analyze trends).
You can choose a suggested "Best Visualization" as well as a "Recommended Subtype". Or you can instead choose the "Recommended Visualization" option, for which you specify your intent for the new view. For example, will the view compare values, compare percentages, visualize trends, or something else? From a list of suggested view types that is ordered with the best option at the top, you can then choose your preferred view type. See "What Is the Recommended Visualizations Feature?" for more information.
Breadcrumbs have been added to help users understand their current location within Oracle BI content and the path that they have used to navigate Oracle BI content. Breadcrumbs display at the bottom of the page, and users can click a breadcrumb or the breadcrumb overflow button to navigate to a specific location on their breadcrumb trail. See "Navigating With Breadcrumbs" for more information.
This release provides the following enhancements to dashboards:
The ability to create custom print layouts for high-fidelity printing of dashboard pages. See "About Creating Custom Print Layouts for High-Fidelity Printing of Dashboard Pages."
The new default style is FusionFX. See the "Dashboard Properties dialog."
The addition of the Freeze Column option to the Column Properties menu. This option allows you to freeze a column at an edge (top or left) of a dashboard layout. See "Properties Buttons for Objects."
The addition of the following options that allow you to control the position and size of columns and sections:
Size option in the Additional Formatting Options area of the "Section Properties dialog" and the "Column Properties dialog"
Page Size option in the "Dashboard Properties dialog"
The ability to export an entire dashboard or a single dashboard page to Microsoft Excel 2007+. See "Exporting Dashboards and Dashboard Pages."
The addition of options to replace an analysis on a dashboard and to return to a dashboard from the Analysis editor:
The Replace analysis in <dashboard name> option was added to the Save As dialog. This option displays when the user is viewing a dashboard, clicks an embedded analysis' Analyze or Edit link, edits the analysis, and selects Save As to rename and save the analysis. The Replace analysis in <dashboard name> option allows the designer to choose to include the modified analysis on the dashboard. See "Save As dialog" for additional information.
The Return to <dashboard name> option was added to the Analysis editor. This option displays in the Analysis editor when the user is viewing a dashboard and clicks an embedded analysis' Analyze or Edit link. The designer can click this option to easily move from the Analysis editor to the dashboard. See "Analysis editor" for additional information.
In this release graphs have been enhanced in various ways.
New graph types include:
Waterfall graph. A waterfall graph lets you visualize how a value increases or decreases sequentially and cumulatively. An initial value is summed with subsequent values (both negative and positive changes or deltas) to arrive at an end value, focusing your attention on how each measure contributes to the whole.
Stacked graph as a new subtype to the area graph. A stacked graph is useful for comparing the proportional contributions within a category. A stacked graph displays the relative value that each part contributes to the whole.
100% stacked graph as subtypes to the bar graph and the area graph. A 100% stacked graph, like the stacked graph subtype, lets you compare the parts to the whole. But while the stacked graph shows cumulative total in the units of the measure, the 100% stacked graph always shows units as percentages of the total, and the axis scale is always zero to 100 percent.
See "What Types of Graphs Are Available?" for additional information about the new graphs in this release.
Zoom to data range. This option lets the system evaluate the range of values on an axis, and choose appropriate minimum and maximum values for the scale. This is useful when graphing a set of large values that are all within a small percentage of each other. See "Graph Properties dialog: Scale tab" for additional information.
Hide sliders in graph views that listen to master-detail events. For graphs in master-detail relationships, if you want to simplify the appearance of an analysis or dashboard, you can hide the slider that is created to accommodate detail columns. See "Defining the Detail View" for more information.
This release includes enhancements to various view types, including those in the following list:
A new view type named performance tile. This view type displays a single aggregate measure value in a manner that is both visually simple and prominent. See "Editing Performance Tile Views" for additional information.
Action links in trellis views. In simple trellis views, action links can now be used on inner graphs per unit, including the context of the outer edges. Action links can also be used in legends and in axis labels. In advanced trellis views, action links can be used in microcharts, where the microchart functions as a single unit (such as an aggregate number), including the context of the outer edges. For more information, see "What Are Action Links and Action Link Menus?"
For map views:
Vary the width of a line by measure to accentuate a feature. See "Line (Layer) dialog" for additional information.
Link a map view as a detail in a master-detail relationship. See "Defining the Detail View" for additional information.
Auto Correct option. A map view error can occur for various reasons. If the issue appears to be related to missing layers, maps, or styles, then it might be possible to correct the map by replacing the missing map view components with similar items that exist in the spatial metadata. See "Editing Map Views" for additional information.
Legend and formatting highlighting. See "What Are the Components of Map Views?" for additional information.
Null suppression at view and analysis levels. You can set null suppression options at the view level (which overrides the analysis level) for data views including: table, pivot table, trellis (both simple and advanced), graph, gauge, and funnel views when the entire row or column contains nulls. See "Understanding Null Suppression" for additional information.
Ability to include or exclude calculated items and groups at the view level for columns and column headers. Specifically, two new options have been added: Include Custom Member and Exclude Custom Member. These interactions are available for tables, pivot tables, and trellises. See "Creating Groups and Calculated Items" for additional information.
For tables, pivot tables, and advanced trellises, the ability to:
Specify the method to be used to browse data — either scrolling or paging controls. For more information, see "Table Properties dialog: Style tab," "Pivot Table Properties dialog," and "Trellis Properties dialog: General tab."
Resize rows and columns. For more information, see "Resizing Rows and Columns in Table Views, Pivot Table Views, and Advanced Trellis Views."
Row count. If your table or pivot table view contains a grand total or subtotal on the row edge, the display totals, that is the grand total and subtotals, are now included in the Rows per Page count for content paging. In prior releases, if you had the Rows per Page count set to 10 for example, the table or pivot table would display more than 10 records if display totals were shown in the view results. See "Editing Views" for additional information.
For right-click interactions, the ability to specify whether the Hide Columns interaction is available at runtime. See "Right-Click Interactions in Views" for additional information.
This release includes enhancements to prompts, including those in the following list:
This release includes an enhancement to the SQL Results prompt option. If you are working with double columns, you can now write the SQL statement so that filtering is done on code values rather than display values. For more information, see "New Prompt dialog."
This release includes an enhancement to the prompt constraint option. The prompts designer can now limit a column prompt value list by more than one column. For more information, see the Limit values by component in the "New Prompt dialog."
This release includes enhancements to the parameters for prompted links. For more information, see "What Are Prompted Links?"
New Menu Options for Exporting Views and Results
This release adds the Excel 2007+ and Powerpoint 2007+ options for exporting views and results.
See "Export Menu Options for Views and Results."
Total Member Placement for Hierarchical Columns
This release includes an enhancement that allows placement of total members on a hierarchy. See "Analysis Properties dialog: Data tab" for additional information.
Browse Catalog Search Results by Object Attributes
This release provides the capability to use full-text search to find catalog objects and then filter the search results by attributes. This search is available when the administrator integrates Oracle BI Enterprise Edition with Oracle Endeca Server. After the full-text search results are returned, the Catalog area displays a list of matching items, and the Search pane displays the search results grouped by attribute (that is, Type, Name, Path, and Created By). See "What Results are Returned from a Full-Text Catalog Search?" for additional information.
Navigate from the Total or Grand Total in a Table or Pivot Table
If an analysis contains a total or grand total and the associated attribute or hierarchical column contains an action link or a conditional action link, the action link (or conditional action link) is applied to both the column and the total or grand total. See "What Are Actions?" for additional information.
New BI Desktop Tools Available for Download
This release adds the following tools to the list of BI desktop tools that are available for download:
Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office
Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting Studio (if Essbase is installed)
Oracle Essbase Studio Console (if Essbase is installed)
Oracle Essbase Administrative Services Console (if Essbase is installed)
See "Downloading BI Desktop Tools" for additional information.
This release provides the capability to organize your favorites from the Category Tree area and the Selected Category area in the Manage Favorites dialog. In previous releases, you could organize favorites from the Category Tree area, only. See "Organizing Favorites" for additional information.
Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System
With this release, Oracle BI EE is integrated with Enterprise Performance Management Workspace. See "Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System."
This section describes new features for Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6). It contains the following topics:
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.2) include:
This release includes enhancements to various view types, including those in the following list:
Trellis view is a new view type that presents multi-dimensional data laid out in a set of cells in a grid, with each cell displaying a subset of data shown as numbers or as graphs. The trellis view allows users to display multiple views all at once for quick comparison, and to display data that reveals trends.
See "Editing Trellis Views" for information.
Microchart is a new graph type that presents data as text-sized graphics appearing together within a grid. Used exclusively in the trellis view, this graph type allows users to easily discover trends.
See "What Are Microcharts?" for information.
For map views, you can include lines as a new format, you can control the transparency of certain formats, and you can set the initial view port for maps.
See "Editing Map Views" for information.
Enhancement to Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management
This releases includes the following enhancements to Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management:
The ability to reorder objects in the "Initiatives pane" and the "Strategy pane" in scorecards using cut and paste options in the right-click menu. For more information, see "Right-Click Menu for Objects in the Initiatives Pane and Strategy Pane."
The ability to create smart watchlists. A smart watchlist is a view into a particular scorecard based on criteria that you specify. For example, you might create a smart watchlist that shows the top ten KPIs in a scorecard based on best performance. For more information, see "What Are Smart Watchlists?"
Target Settings Functionality For KPIs
This release includes target settings functionality for KPIs. Target settings allow the content designer to mark a KPI's Actual Value and Target Value fields as writeable. The end user with the proper privileges and security settings can then modify and save the KPI's actual and target values. This feature is for Oracle Essbase data sources, only. For more information, see "What Are Target Settings?"
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0) include:
Auto-Complete Functionality for Prompts
This release contains auto-complete functionality for prompts. When enabled by the administrator, auto-complete suggests and highlights matching prompt values as the user types in the prompt selection field. Auto-complete can be excluded or included on dashboards, and users can turn auto-complete off for their accounts. For more information, see "What Is Auto-Complete?"
Optional Apply and Reset Buttons for Prompts
You can show or hide a prompt's apply and reset buttons. If the designer chooses to hide the apply button, then the specified prompt value is immediately applied to the dashboard or analysis. For more information, see "Dashboard builder," "Dashboard Properties dialog," and "Edit Page Settings dialog."
Miscellaneous Prompts Enhancements
The following prompts enhancements were added:
The prompt Reset button now provides three reset options: Reset to last applied values, Reset to default values, and Clear All. For information about these options, see "Dashboard Properties dialog."
In the "Dashboard builder," the dashboard designer can add the Edit and Copy links to the dashboard's prompts. These links display at runtime, and users with the proper privileges can click them to edit the prompt or copy the prompt's link.
The row-based layout prompt option was added to the prompt editor's "Definition pane." As a result, you can now specify a row-based or column-based layout for your prompts.
This release introduces Favorites, which allows you to bookmark as favorites the catalog objects that you view regularly or want to view again at another time. You can use the "Manage Favorites dialog" to organize your favorites into categories, and you can view your favorites list and open your favorite objects from the global header's Favorites menu. For more information, see "What Are Favorites?"
Customizable Global Header and Get Started .... Section of the Home Page
The order of the links on the global header can now be customized, and links to external locations can be added to the global header. The Get Started... section of the home page can also be customized to meet the informational needs of the users. The Administrator implements these customizations and when users log into Oracle BI EE, they see these customizations. For more information, see "What Is the Oracle BI EE Global Header?" and "Home page."
Oracle BI Client Installer Option Added to the Home Page
A link to the Oracle BI Client Installer has been added to the Download BI Desktop Tools option, which is located in the Get Started... section of the Home Page. User's with the proper privilege can click this option to download and install the Business Intelligence Administration Tool and the Oracle Business Intelligence Job Manager. For more information, see "Home page."
Integrated Full-Text Search Capabilities
This release provides a fully integrated full-text search. This search is available after the administrator integrates Oracle BI Enterprise Edition with Oracle Secure Enterprise Search. This method of searching allows the user to find objects by searching on their attributes such as author and column name. For more information, see "Full-Text Catalog Search."
Ability to Set Accessibility Mode in the Sign In Page
In this release, the "Sign In page" has been enhanced to include the Accessibility Mode box, which allows you to specify whether you want content for Oracle BI EE to be rendered in a browser in a way that facilitates the use of a screen reader. For more information, see "Signing In to Oracle BI Enterprise Edition."
Enhancement to Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management
This release includes the addition of a strategy contribution wheel visualization of a strategy tree, which allows you to view an objective and its supporting child objectives and KPIs hierarchically in a circular diagram. For more information, see "Understanding a Strategy Contribution Wheel Diagram."
Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile
Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile is now documented in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile.
In this release, map views have been enhanced in various ways:
You can include non-BI layers on a map view, as described in "Editing Map Views."
You can use the marquee zoom feature to zoom into a specific area of the map view, as described in "Zooming in Map Views."
The release includes the following enhancement to selections:
The ability to include selected members in hierarchy selections steps that are based on family relationships. For more information, see "Select Values dialog."
The addition of Siblings of and Leaves of options in family relationships. For more information, see "Select Values dialog."
If the content designer adds a selection step that includes a condition with a qualified data reference (QDR), the QDR now displays in the Selection Steps pane. For more information about QDRs, see "New Condition Step dialog."
The "All X values where Y = values" condition type was added. This condition type is available for attribute columns and hierarchical columns. The Column field was added to the New Condition Step dialog for this condition type. For more information, see "New Condition Step dialog."
This release includes the following enhancements to views:
The ability to rename views and compound layouts. For more information, see "Renaming Views or Compound Layouts."
The Selection Steps view was added. This view when added to an analysis, displays the selection steps in effect for the analysis. For more information, see "Results tab: Selection Steps editor."
Enhancements to Tables and Pivot Tables
In this release, tables and pivot tables have been enhanced to allow you to:
Select the measure on which to sort a column in a pivot table. For more information, see "Sorting Options Menu."
Specify how columns that are added to an analysis from the "Analysis editor: Criteria tab" after displaying the analysis results are handled. For more information, see "Analysis Properties dialog: Data tab."
Set additional interactions on the right-click menu, for example, Include column, Show Running Sum, interactions for selection steps, and so on. For more information, see "Right-Click Interactions in Views."
Specify which interactions (for example, Drill) are available when you right-click in an analysis or a dashboard at runtime. For more information, see "Analysis Properties dialog: Interactions tab."
This release includes the following enhancements to BI Composer:
The ability to use BI Composer in regular mode as well accessibility mode. (In the previous release, BI Composer was available only in accessibility mode. For more information, see "Availability of BI Composer in Oracle BI Enterprise Edition."
The ability to perform the following tasks when creating an analysis using BI Composer:
Add or remove subject areas from which to select columns
Specify column interactions, such as drill
Specify whether columns are hidden
Rename columns
Specify column formulas
Show how results look on a dashboard
Show the XML code for the analysis
For more information, see "Creating Analyses Using BI Composer."
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.5) include:
In this release, you can specify the width of each column prompt field. You can set the width when designing an individual prompt or when specifying format options for the prompts page. If you are specifying the prompt width on the prompts page, all prompts display to the width that you specify. You can also specify to wrap column labels on the prompts page.
The prompt field width and wrap prompt labels settings do not apply to the Slider user input type. For information about prompts, see Chapter 6, "Prompting in Dashboards and Analyses."
This release introduces BI Composer, a simple-to-use wizard that allows you to quickly and easily create, edit, and view analyses without the complexities of the "Analysis editor." In this release, it is available only in accessibility mode (that is, it is optimized for use with screen reader applications such as JAWS) so that users with visual impairments can easily create, edit, and view analyses.
Enhancements to the KPI Editor
This release includes the following enhancements to the "KPI editor":
The Thresholds page has been redesigned and renamed the States page. The redesign allows you to specify threshold values as percentages of the target value and to specify the status to assign to a KPI that returns no data.
A new page named Custom Attributes has been added that allows you to create custom columns for the KPI.
Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile
This release introduces Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile, which allows you to view Oracle BI EE content on supported mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad.
For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile.
New features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.3) include:
In this release, the following terminology changes have been made:
iBots have been renamed to agents (also known as intelligent agents)
Requests (or reports) have been renamed to analyses, and the term reports now refers to BI Publisher reports
Presentation columns have been renamed to attribute columns
Charts have been renamed to graphs
Security terminology and architecture has changed. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
Major User Interface Improvements
The user interface has undergone major improvements in several areas, including a new Home page and redesigned editors and panes. These improvements are intended to make working with Oracle BI EE easier and more consistent. This guide provides detailed information on working with the various pieces of the user interface.
The interface has been enhanced to better serve the needs of users with disabilities. For information, see Appendix C, "Accessibility Features."
New Column Type and Related Operations
In previous releases (prior to 11g), you included presentation columns and measure columns in analyses. With this release, presentation columns have been renamed to attribute columns and a new column type, hierarchical column, is introduced. For information, see "What Are Subject Areas and Columns?"
Along with the new column type comes new ways to do the following:
Limit the data that is displayed in an analysis. You can continue to use a filter to limit the data for an attribute column, and you can use a "selection step" to limit data for columns by specifying the criteria for a set of members. See "Working with Selections of Data" for information.
Drill in data. You can drill to expand and collapse values in views such as tables, pivot tables, graphs, and maps. For information, see "Drilling in Views."
Sort data values. You can apply sorts to members, measures, and rows in views such as tables, pivot tables, graphs, and maps. Sorting is now enabled by default. For information, see "Sorting Data in Views."
Several of the view types have been enhanced, including those in the following list:
Table and pivot table have been enhanced to function more consistently and to display hierarchical columns. In a pivot table, you can easily drag and drop columns to various edges, to rearrange the display to suit your needs.
See "Editing Table and Pivot Table Views" for information.
Graph and gauge have been enhanced with additional functionality. For example, you can define section sliders for graphs and gauges. (For information about section sliders, see "Defining Section Sliders in Graphs, Gauges, and Funnels."
See "Editing Graph Views" and "Editing Gauge Views" for information.
Map view is a new view type that presents data in spatial form. Through location context, map views allow users to easily discover trends and transactions across regions that might not be obvious in tables or graphs.
See "Editing Map Views" for information.
In addition to view enhancements, this release includes an enhanced Layout pane to accompany those views in which you can manipulate data. See "Modifying the Layout of Data in Views" for information.
In this release, you can also create master-detail relationships among certain view types. For information, see "What Is Master-Detail Linking of Views?"
You can continue to create calculated items to perform mathematical operations on members. In previous releases (prior to 11g), you could create a calculated item for an attribute column. In this release, you can create a calculated item for the members of an attribute column or of a hierarchical column.
In this release, you can create a "group" of members to display in a view. The group inherits the aggregation function of the measure column with which it is displayed.
See "Working with Groups and Calculated Items" for information.
In this release, you can work with multiple subject areas. In addition to the primary subject area that you select when you create an analysis, filter, or dashboard prompt, you can include additional subject areas that are related to the primary subject area with which to work.
For information, see:
In addition, you can view metadata information for subject areas, folders, columns, and hierarchy levels. See "Viewing Metadata Information from the Subject Areas Pane" for information.
Interaction with Other Oracle Products
In this release:
Oracle BI Publisher is a fully integrated member of the Oracle BI EE suite by default. All of the BI Publisher functionality appears seamlessly within the Oracle BI EE application, and all of the reports and related objects are created within Oracle BI EE and saved to the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog.
For information, see "How Does Oracle BI EE Interact with Other Products?"
Oracle Hyperion Smart View is available for download from the Oracle BI EE Home page.
For information, see "Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System."
The integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Business Intelligence Add-in for Microsoft Office has been enhanced.
For information, see Appendix B, "Integrating with Microsoft Office."
SQL Functions for Time Series Calculations and Level-Based Measures
The following new and revised SQL functions enable you to create time series calculations and level-based measures:
PERIODROLLING
is a new function that computes the sum of a measure over the period starting x units of time and ending y units of time from the current time.
AGGREGATE AT
is a new function that aggregates columns based on the level or levels specified.
AGO
is a time series aggregation function that calculates the aggregated value from the current time back to a specified time period. In this release, the time_level
argument is optional, and there are additional syntax changes. This function was called PERIODAGO
in the previous release (prior to 11g).
TODATE
is a time series aggregation function that aggregates a measure attribute from the beginning of a specified time period to the currently displayed time. The syntax for this function has changed in this release. This function was called PERIODTODATE
in the previous release (prior to 11g).
For more information about these functions, see "Aggregate Functions" and "Calendar Date/Time Functions."
You can create analyses by directly calling database functions from either Oracle Business Intelligence, or by using a Logical column (in the Logical Table source) within the metadata repository. Key uses for these functions include the ability to pass through expressions to get advanced calculations, as well as the ability to access custom written functions or procedures on the underlying database. Supported functions include EVALUATE
, EVALUATE_AGGR
, and EVALUATE_PREDICATE
. See "Database Functions" for information.
This release includes enhancements to the way that default formatting is handled. Conditional formatting has been enhanced to work with pivot tables and with hierarchical columns. For complete information, see Chapter 7, "Formatting Analyses, Views, and Dashboard Pages."
Enhancements to the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog
The Oracle BI Presentation Catalog is a powerful, underlying storage directory-based system that contains the objects (dashboards, scorecards, prompts, and KPIs for example) that you create. If you use BI Publisher, then the catalog also contains BI Publisher data and objects (data models and schedules, for example). Using the catalog, you can:
Perform basic tasks such as creating, deleting, and copying objects and folders.
Perform object-specific tasks (for example, modifying settings using the associated editor, or creating and assigning an agent).
Find objects by performing a search.
In addition to these tasks, administrators can:
Access the root folder that contains systemwide object and user data.
Specify permissions that determine the folders and objects that users can view.
Create folders.
Work with properties such as changing the ownership of a folder or viewing the creation date of an object.
Archive the entire catalog, folders, or objects to unzip them in another directory location.
For complete information, see Chapter 13, "Managing Objects in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog."
This release provides a mechanism for searching for objects in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog that is similar to a full-text search. You can search for objects by various attributes, such as name and description. See "Full-Text Catalog Search" for information.
In this release, you can create actions that navigate to related content or that invoke operations, functions, or processes in external systems. You can include actions in analyses, dashboard pages, agents, scorecard objectives, scorecard initiatives, and KPIs. End users can then invoke these actions, for example, as they gain insight from analyzing data in analyses or from viewing dashboards. For information, see Chapter 10, "Working with Actions."
In this release, you can create new objects called conditions. Conditions return a single Boolean value that is based on the evaluation of an analysis or of a key performance indicator (KPI). You can use conditions to determine whether agents deliver their content and execute their actions, whether actions links are displayed in dashboard pages, and whether sections and their content are displayed in dashboard pages. For complete information, see Chapter 9, "Working with Conditions."
In this release, the functionality of agents (previously called iBots) has been enhanced to incorporate support for conditions and for actions. For information, see Chapter 8, "Delivering Content."
Enhancements to Compound Layout
In this release, the use of the compound layout was enhanced. For information, see "Creating Additional Compound Layouts."
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
In this release, you can create KPIs to represent business measures or metrics (Units Shipped, Manufacturing Costs for example) that you want to monitor, improve, and use to evaluate the performance of the objectives and initiatives that comprise levels of organizational strategy. Use KPIs to perform these tasks:
Collect and present business metrics in a variety of formats such as custom views, analyses, and dashboards.
Aggregate data where KPIs intersect other metrics by specifying dimensionality. For example, a Product Sales KPI can be dimensioned by Region and Fiscal Time to view Product Sales by region and different periods of time such as financial quarter.
To proactively respond to changes in KPI performance, you can create the following:
Agents that notify you when a KPI assesses a specific performance state, such as warning.
Action links that are tasks associated with performance state.
Create a KPI Watchlist of the KPIs that you want to monitor the most frequently or closely.
See "Using KPIs and KPI Watchlists" and "Creating KPI Watchlists" for information.
Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management
In this release, you can use Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management to articulate, evaluate (scorecard), and evolve the performance of your organization or key business areas. You can use Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management to define, depict, and monitor the progress of the strategic goals and requirements (objectives) key to corporate functions, and the tasks and projects (initiatives) that are required to achieve those goals.
For information, see Chapter 12, "Scorecarding."