F Integrating Interactive Dashboards and Siebel Operational Applications Data

This appendix describes the additional configuration steps required for you to run an Oracle Business Intelligence application with a Siebel CRM application.

After you have configured the Oracle BI Server and are able to access the dashboards, you need to update the Siebel operational application to view Analytics dashboards from within the Siebel operational application. Completing the initialization in the Siebel operational application involves the following processes:

• Section F.1, "Updating the Siebel Operational Application"

• Section F.2, "Reapplying Customized Style Sheets"

• Section F.3, "How to Configure Oracle Business Intelligence with Oracle's Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE)"

• Section F.4, "Creating a Virtual IP Address for the SWSE and Oracle BI Presentation Services"

• Section F.5, "Testing the Virtual IP Configuration for Oracle Business Intelligence and the SWSE"

• Section F.6, "About Configuring Oracle BI Action Links"

• Section F.7, "Accessing Optional Analytics Applications"

• Section F.8, "Customizing Oracle BI Application Home Page and Dashboards"

• Section F.9, "Viewing Information About Preconfigured Dashboards"

F.1 Updating the Siebel Operational Application

The following task changes the Siebel operational application host name to the host name of the machine that runs Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services.

To update the Siebel operational application:

1. Open your Siebel operational application.

2. Navigate to View, then Site Map.

3. Click Integration Administration screen.

4. Click Host Administration view.

5. Query for NQHOST in the Virtual Name column:

   • In Windows, change the host name from <AnalyticsServerName> to the host name of the machine that runs Oracle BI Presentation Services.

   • In AIX or Solaris, change the host name from <AnalyticsServerName> to the name of the port.

     For example, servername.siebel.com:8080

     Note:

     For UNIX platforms only: You might need to add the domain name suffix to the server name in order to make sure that action links work on the Oracle Business Intelligence user interface.

6. Log out of the application and log back in.

F.2 Reapplying Customized Style Sheets

For Oracle's Siebel Business Analytics versions 7.7 and later, new styles have been appended to the following style sheets:

• Go.css

• PortalBanner.css

• PortalContent.css

• Views.css

These new classes are identified in the style sheets. In this version of Oracle Business Intelligence, new styles and files must be added to the underlying style sheet (for example, to s_Siebel7). For complete functionality, any custom styles require similar updating. In addition, views2.css and some other files have been added to the s_ directory. For custom column formatting to work properly, references to font sizes and families should also be removed from the TD Styles section in PortalBanner.css, PortalContent.css, Views.css.

Because of these changes to styles, review your deployment's customizations manually, reapply them, and test them thoroughly to ensure that there are no problems.

After you have tested them, but before you copy the default views.css files back to the implementation server, perform the following task on the server to clear the server caches.

To clear the server caches and restore your default views:

1. Shut down Oracle Business Intelligence Server, Oracle BI Presentation Service and IIS.

2. Remove your custom views.css from the directory where it has been installed.

   For example:

   $INSTALL\web\app\res\s_Siebel7\b_mozilla_4
   

   or

   $INSTALL\OracleBIData\Web.
   

3. Clear the Oracle BI Presentation Services Server Cache.

   In the C:\WINNT\Temp directory, delete the nQs_*.temp files.

4. Clear the Browser Cache.

   From the Internet Explorer menu, navigate to Tools, then Internet Options, then Settings, then View Files, and delete all the files in this directory.

5. Restore the default views.css files to the appropriate directory.

6. Restart the Analytics Server, Oracle BI Presentation Services and IIS.

F.3 How to Configure Oracle Business Intelligence with Oracle's Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE)

Whenever you run Oracle Business Intelligence and Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE) on separate machines, you must perform additional configuration steps in order for action links and interactive charts to work. If, for example, you plan to run the SWSE and Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services on different Web servers, you must use some kind of networking or load balancing mechanism to create a single logical domain (or virtual IP address) for the two machines.

When one virtual IP address is created for two machines, the Web browser accesses one IP address and is still routed to different physical machines, based on the port accessed. From the browser, it appears that both servers are running on the same IP address.

You can use any of several physical methods to create a single logical domain, such as running SWSE and Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services on a single machine if you are not load balancing the SWSE, or using a router to do the mapping, or using load balancing software. Your company must determine the best mechanism to accomplish this routing given the topology being used.

Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence to work with Siebel Web Extension includes the following tasks:

• Section F.4, "Creating a Virtual IP Address for the SWSE and Oracle BI Presentation Services"

• Section F.5, "Testing the Virtual IP Configuration for Oracle Business Intelligence and the SWSE"

F.4 Creating a Virtual IP Address for the SWSE and Oracle BI Presentation Services

You create a virtual IP address for the Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE) and Oracle BI Presentation Services in order to make it appear that all servers are running on the same virtual machine. The easiest way to do this is to configure Oracle BI Presentation Services to run on a different port (for example, port 84) from SWSE (which usually runs on port 80).

For example, SWSE is load-balanced across <machine1>:port 80 and <machine2>: port 80, and Oracle BI Presentation Services is running on <machine3>:port 84, and the virtual address is defined as http://siebel.company.com. Therefore, the network or load-balancing software should be configured to route requests like http://siebel.company.com to <machine1> and <machine2>, and to route requests like http://siebel.company.com:84 to <machine3>.

To create a virtual IP address for Siebel Web Engine and Oracle BI Presentation Services:

1. On the network, set up CSS to direct requests from <virtual domain> to <physical Siebel Web Server Extension machine>:

   • Where the acronym CSS represents the load-balancer or router used to do the virtual IP configuration.

   • Where <virtual domain> is the virtual IP prefix that users enter to navigate to the Siebel applications (in the preceding example, this is http://siebel.company.com).

2. On the network, set up CSS to direct requests from <virtual domain>:84 to <physical Oracle BI Presentation Services machine>:84.

3. In the Siebel application, using the Siebel Administration screen, set the NQHost parameters for Oracle Business Intelligence Symbolic URLs to point to the <virtual domain>:84, instead of directly to the Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services server physical machine.

   Note:

   If you are running Oracle's Siebel Business Analytics 7.5.3 instead of version 7.7 or later, perform the following additional step.

4. In the Siebel application on the Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services server machine, locate the registry setting \SOFTWARE\Siebel Systems, Inc.\Siebel Analytics\Web\7.5\Charts.

5. Add a new key, ForceFileBasedPainter, and enter TRUE into the Data string.

F.5 Testing the Virtual IP Configuration for Oracle Business Intelligence and the SWSE

Use a client browser to verify that Oracle Business Intelligence and SWSE work when accessed directly through a physical machine address, using the following procedure. For <virtualdomain>, substitute the Virtual IP address you created in Section F.4, "Creating a Virtual IP Address for the SWSE and Oracle BI Presentation Services".

To test the Virtual IP configuration with Oracle Business Intelligence and SWSE:

1. In a client browser, type <virtual domain>:84/analytics. The Oracle Business Intelligence logon appears.

2. In a client browser, type <virtual domain>/callcenter (or other Siebel application). The SWSE appears.

3. Navigate to an Analytics screen within the Siebel application to see if Oracle Business Intelligence appears.

4. Interact with Oracle Business Intelligence charts and action links.

F.6 About Configuring Oracle BI Action Links

For information about how to configure and use Oracle BI action links, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. Specifically, refer to Part III - Configuring the Action Framework, Chapter 7 "Embedding Oracle BI EE In Oracle's Siebel CRM".

F.7 Accessing Optional Analytics Applications

Depending on the options you purchased with your Siebel operational application, you must perform additional steps in order to access the corresponding Oracle Business Intelligence options. Table F-1 shows the additional options for Oracle Business Intelligence.

Table F-1 Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Options

Siebel Application	Options
Sales	Sales Analytics
Service	Service Analytics, Contact Center Telephony Analytics
Marketing	Marketing Analytics

By default, the dashboards and reports contained in these optional areas are hidden. If, for example, you purchased Sales Analytics with your Sales application, you must perform the additional steps shown in the following procedure to access the Sales Analytics.

To turn on options for Sales Analytics:

1. Log in to Oracle Business Intelligence as Administrator.

2. Navigate to Answers, then Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration and select the option to manage Presentation Services groups and users.

3. Locate the Web Group corresponding to your option.

   The Web Group options are shown in the following list.

   • No Forecasting

   • No Forecasting Lite

   • No Universal Queuing

   • No Email Response

   • No Service Agreements

   • No Partner Marketing

   • No Partner ERM

   • No Partner ISS

4. Click on the Edit icon.

5. Under the Group Membership section, click the delete icon (X) to delete Analytics Users from this group.

6. Click Finished and log out of the application.

7. Log in again to access the additional optional dashboards and reports.

F.8 Customizing Oracle BI Application Home Page and Dashboards

To customize your Oracle Business Intelligence application's home page and dashboards, do the following:

1. Configure a new Home Page to use a symbolic URL, as described in Section F.8.1, "Configure a new Home Page to use a symbolic URL".

2. Determine the Oracle BI Report path argument, as described in Section F.8.2, "Determine the Oracle BI Report Path Argument".

3. Add Views for Custom Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards, as described in Section F.8.3, "Add Views for Custom Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards".

F.8.1 Configure a new Home Page to use a symbolic URL

Oracle Business Intelligence applications are integrated with Siebel operational applications using the symbolic URL infrastructure. The following task describes how to use symbolic URLs to link a new report to a Siebel operational application home page and how to add new Analytics Dashboards to the Siebel operational application. The symbolic URL specifies how the HTTP request to the external application should be constructed and to defines any arguments and values to be sent as part of the request.

Note:

For more information on the symbolic URL infrastructure, see Siebel Portal Framework Guide. This topic assumes that you have successfully built a symbolic URL to link some external content, using the instructions given in Siebel Portal Framework Guide.

For each Analytical report on a Siebel operational application home page, there is a symbolic URL record defined that links the home page to the Analytics report. If you have not already done so, you need to create a new home page and set it up to use a symbolic URL.

The figure below shows example Inline and IFrame symbolic URL arguments.

Figure F-1 EXamples of Symbolic URL Arguments

To configure a new Home Page to use a symbolic URL:

1. Make sure the symbolic URL has been set up.

2. Launch the Siebel operational application and navigate to the Integration Administration, then Symbolic URL Administration view.

3. Query for the symbolic URL that has been set up for Analytics.

   The name of this symbolic URL should be exactly the same as the calculated value of the field that was added to the Business Component. For example, you might have a symbolic URL named HomePageAnalytics.

4. In the URL field, enter the Web URL. For example:

   http://NQHOST/Analytics/saw.dll
   

   For the Host Name, choose the Analytics Server Name from the drop-down list. The following table shows the other parameters for reports.

   Parameter	Value
   NQHOST	A virtual name in the URL that points to the Oracle BI Presentation Services machine
   Fixup Name	Inside Applet
   SSO Disposition	Inline
   Oracle BI Presentation Services application name	Select from the drop-down list

   
   

5. Create the appropriate symbolic URL Arguments.

   These arguments depend upon the particular Analytics report that you are trying to display. The Argument Values should be the same for any Analytics report you work with, except for the Path Argument Value. Use the procedure in Section F.8.2, "Determine the Oracle BI Report Path Argument" to determine the path to the Analytics report.

F.8.2 Determine the Oracle BI Report Path Argument

The Path argument provides the symbolic URL with the path to a report in Oracle BI Presentation Services. (For example, /shared/Sales/Pipeline/Overview/Top 10 Deals.) Use the following procedure to determine the path to a report.

To determine the path to the report:

1. Log on to your Oracle BI Presentation Services as an Administrator.

2. In the Siebel operational application, navigate to Answers, then Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration.

3. Select Manage Analytics Catalog, and then navigate to your report.

4. Add this path name to the Symbolic URL argument.

   The following table shows the symbolic URL path arguments for reports.

   Name	Type	Path Argument Value	Append	Sequence #
   Cmd	Constant	GO	Y	1
   Path	Constant	/shared/Sales/Pipeline/Overview/Top 10 Deals	Y	2
   Syndicate	Constant	Siebel	Y	3
   nQUser	Command	UseSiebelLoginId	Y	4
   nQPassword	Command	UseSiebelLoginPassword	Y	5
   PostRequest	Command	PostRequest	Y	6

   
   

F.8.3 Add Views for Custom Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards

This task is similar to that of adding Oracle Business Intelligence reports to the home page:

• Using Oracle's Siebel Tools, set up a new view.

• In the Siebel operational application, define a symbolic URL for that view.

For more information on how to set up a view to use Symbolic URLs, see Siebel Portal Framework Guide.

To configure the symbolic URL for Analytics dashboards:

1. Define a Symbolic URL.

   1. Navigate to Site Map, then Integration Administration, then Symbolic URL Administration.

   2. In the Symbolic URL Administration view, add a new record.

2. Define Symbolic URL arguments.

   1. Navigate to Symbolic URL Administration.

   2. In the Symbolic URL Administration list, select the Symbolic URL you want to configure.

F.9 Viewing Information About Preconfigured Dashboards

If your organization has pre-built applications installed, you can use Catalog Manager to locate and view information about preconfigured dashboards. You might have to expose the dashboards and requests.

F.9.1 Exposing Dashboards and Requests

Depending on the Oracle Business Intelligence options your organization purchased, you might need to expose these options before the associated dashboards and requests can be viewed in Oracle BI Presentation Services and in Catalog Manager. This applies to sites that have the following pre-built applications:

• Sales Analytics

• Service Analytics

• Contact Center Analytics

• Marketing Analytics

• Partner Analytics

F.9.2 Locating Dashboards, Page Names and Reports

In Catalog Manager, the Presentation Catalog distributed with pre-built applications has the following structure: Presentation Catalog > shared folder > pre-built application name > _portal folder > dashboard name > page name. The path to locate reports is Presentation Catalog > shared folder > pre-built application name > Folder name > Report name.