OBI Request Log Handling

Note: This topic applies to OBI having licenses OPB_<version number> OBI Enterprise (OBIEE - Multiple Properties), or OPI_BUIP_<version number> OBI Standard (Single) using OLAP technology and data cubes. This topic does not apply to standalone S&C Advanced Reporting whose data is accessed directly from Opera tables via OLTP. For S&C Advanced Reporting, see S&C Advanced Reporting Subject Areas or S&C Advanced Reporting Setup.

Opera BI features a Request Log cube that stores statistics on all availability and reservation requests that have been processed in Opera. These requests have been made either directly by users through the Opera application or through OEDS and external interfaces (i.e., GDS/ADS/OWS/Expedia). By viewing the OBI Request Log cube reports, you can easily analyze market demand by criteria such as Resort, Request Date and Hour, Arrival Date, Request Type, Source and Opera User. Additionally, you can view Key Performance Indicators such as the Look to Book Ratio (how many people inquired online and then subsequently made reservations).

Note: For users who do not have the OBI license or want to export the raw request data, a copy of the raw request_log data is available in Opera which users can export and truncate. The copy of the raw request_log data will be kept if the Application Parameter>Reservations>OBI_KEEP_RAW_REQUEST_LOG is set to Y. Additionally, to enable logging of requests, the Application Parameter>Reservations>REQUEST_LOG must be set to Y. The raw request_log will be purged on a daily basis. For more information, contact the OBI Development Team.

The OBI Request Log can be accessed in OBI>Answers. You set up your desired criteria and filters and view the results, as presented in the Request Analysis example below.

Prerequisites

• Active OBI license code: OPB_<version number> OBI Enterprise (Multiple Properties), or OPI_BUIP_<version number> OBI Standard (Single)
• Active ORS license code: OPR_<version number> Opera Reservation System.
• Optional OEDS license codes OPG_<version number> GDS, OPA_<version number> ADS, OPW_<version number> OWS.
• Application Setting Reservations>Request Log>Parameter set to Y. This will enable logging of requests for the OBI Request Log table.

Background

Prior to the development of the OBI Request Log, Opera stored availability and booking request statistics in the request_log table. The size of the table caused performance issues. Users did not have access to this information from the front end and needed to export the data into their own reporting environments. With the OBI Request Log functionality, requests data is now inserted into a request_log of raw data and then summarized in a final storage table called request_log_summary. This process:

• Provides easy access and availability through OBI>Answers.
• Manages a log of all availability and reservation requests by hour and day of request.
• Minimizes impact on availability and reservation performance.
• Minimizes performance degradation, caused by full table scans on a potentially large table.
• Minimizes space usage on a table that has a high level of insert, update, delete activity.
• Minimizes changes to the existing availability and booking process.

Request Log Tables

When availability or reservation requests are made, the requests.register_request API inserts the raw data into the request_log table. The OBI Request Log functionality contains these tables:

• Request_log_even - The API inserts requests made on even days (based on the Julian date) into the request_log_even.
• Request_log_odd - The API inserts requests made on odd days (based on the Julian date) into the request_log_odd.
• Request_log_summary - The background job BI_Maintain Cubes reads and summarizes all records (up to a fixed maximum amount of rows) from the inactive table (such as from the request_log_even on odd days and request_log_odd on even days). The system then truncates the source table (request_log_even or request_log_odd) or deletes it if the maximum number of rows have been reached. The system then populates the request_log_summary.

The OBI Request Log Tables provide these advantages:

• Only summarized request log data will be permanently stored in an indexed table (Request_log_summary) This takes less space and provides better performance. The size ratio between summarized and raw data is about 1:3.
• Once the initial OBI Request Log cube is built, the system will never have more than one day of raw data on the non-indexed tables (request_log, request_log_even, request_log_odd).
• The Hour, Week, Month will be reset every day in the tables, providing accurate data for specific time periods.
• The tables and request handling process will be transparent to anyone making the availability and reservation requests or creating reports in OBI.

OBI Request Log Process

OBI Request Log Setup

After the prerequisites have been met, you will:

• Set up and activate the Request Log Cube (REQUEST_BI) in Configuration>Setup>Business Intelligence Setup. See OBI Setup for more information.
• After setup, build the BI - Request Log Cube for the first time. See OBI Cube Maintenance for more information.
• Reservation and availability requests data will be processed every hour in Opera, through the BI - Maintain Cubes background job. See OBI Cube Maintenance for more information.

  Note: If prospective users have not yet installed and activated the OBI license code, but want to start logging requests data, they must set the Application Parameter>Reservations>REQUEST_LOG to Y. After installation and activation of OBI, build the BI-Request Log Cube.

OBI Request Log Purging

Each of the tables will be truncated or purged as follows:

Table Name	Purge Days	Purging Rule
request_log	0	Truncated after initial summarization
request_log_even	1	Truncated every other day
request_log_odd	1	Truncated every other day
request_log_summary	397	Purged after 13 months by the same job.

See Also

• OBI Setup
• OBI Cube Maintenance