One of your ideas has been delivered from your suggestion.Customer Data Export Capabilities

With 26A, we are introducing a new data export feature in SFA, which offers non-redundant incremental exports through newly optimized data export views. Each new export view systematically includes create and update timestamp columns for robust change tracking, supporting advanced analytics and integration needs. Export procedures are designed to minimize impact on live systems, ensuring both smooth deployment and optimal performance. The feature supports API-driven, customer-controlled exports, and uses a clear folder structure with consistent naming conventions in Oracle Analytics Server (OAS), simplifying adoption and future scaling. You can enable this upgrade through new API methods, providing a seamless transition process with no major disruptions expected.

Optimized Data Views and Reporting:

Export Views

  • All newly created Export Views include create and update timestamp columns to enable effective change tracking:
    • Create Date – Indicates when the row was originally inserted.
    • Update Date – Reflects when the row was last modified, if applicable.
    • By default, the Create and Update timestamp columns will not be populated for existing data prior to this release.
  • Unlike Reporting Views, the new Export Views are specifically designed to eliminate redundant information across multiple views.

Export Data Models

  • Data Models pull all data from the underlying Export View and are used in newly created Export Reports.
    • Location: Shared Folders > SFP Export > Export Data Models > Incremental
  • Data Models should be used to extract data from the underlying tables, then joined within your target system.

Export Reports

  • Export Reports are used to retrieve all data within the underlying Data Model via API calls.
    • Location: Shared Folders > SFP Export > Export Reports > Incremental
  • Export Reports should be used as delivered for data extraction, and data should be joined within your target  system.
  • Export reports with "_delete_incr" in the report name contain only records that have been deleted since the start date specified in your run parameters.
    • These reports only include deletions; they do not capture inserts or updates. To ensure your target system accurately reflects deleted data, be sure to process these reports in addition to standard export reports.
  • Run Parameters:
    • Start Date: Specify the date from which you want to begin extracting incremental transactional data from the database. This ensures each run retrieves only new or updated data, preventing duplicate pulls.
    • Interval in Minutes: Define the extraction interval (in minutes). For instance, you might want to retrieve packaging data for 60 minutes, while less frequently changing data, like student information can be pulled for 6 to 12 hours periods of time. Adjust the interval to match data volume and reporting needs, which helps optimize performance and prevent slowdowns or timeouts.
      • To assess data volume, execute the Export Report on-demand within the OAS UI to evaluate the size and data output.
      • If you experience a timeout or "out of disk space" error, rerun the API with the same start date but a shorter interval.
  • Monitoring frequency and recommended actions differ by Export Report, as they depend on the included data model.

API

  • Export Reports for data extraction should be run via an API, allowing you to track and control both the Start Date and Interval (in minutes) run parameters.
    • Example for the ADDRESS_EXPORT_INCR report:
curl -X POST -u file_name:password -o file_name.csv -H "Content-Type:multipart/form-data"  -F "ReportRequest={\"attributeFormat\":\"csv\",\"attributeTemplate\":\"ADDRESS_EXPORT_INCR\",\"parameterNameValues\":{\"listOfParamNameValues\":{\"item\":[{\"name\":\"p_min\",\"values\":{\"item\":\"60\"}},{\"name\":\"p_start_date\",\"values\":{\"item\":\"2025-10-12 00:00:00 +0000\"}}]}}};type=application/json" https://xyz.sfp.ocs.oc-test.com/sfp11/bip/xmlpserver/services/rest/v1/reports/SFP%20Export%252FExport%20Reports%252FIncremental%252FADDRESS_EXPORT_INCR/run
  • Running these APIs returns all rows and columns available within each report for the specified time frame.
  • The earliest start date you can use for run parameters is the date this feature was deployed to your environment. If you choose to include historical data, you may set the time frame as early as January 1, 1900, at 12:00 AM. Please refer to the "Steps to Enable" section for more details.

New Export View Documentation:

Enhanced, accessible documentation has been created to help you easily adopt the new export workflows. The Export View Documentation report contains three tabs.

  • The first tab offers a comprehensive summary of all export views, including column listings, data types, and descriptive comments for each field.
  • The second tab maps parent-child relationships between export views, clarifying data hierarchy and dependencies.
  • The final tab includes a change log tracking all modifications to export views, documenting the release version and a description of each change for full transparency and traceability.

Report Name:

  • Export View Documentation

Navigation to Reports:

  • Shared Folders > SFP Export > Export View Documentation

Suggested Monitoring Frequency:

  • Run this report after each release to identify updates to reporting views that may impact Export Reports.
  • Run on-demand to locate specific columns or review parent-child relationships.

Run Parameters:

  • View Name: Filter for the desired view(s)(This report will auto run with "All" view selected)
  • Column Name (Optional): Filter and retrieve data for a specific column in the Export View Documentation tab.
  • Release Version (Change Log) (Optional): Filter the Change Log tab to show only the selected release version.
  • Parent (Relation) (Optional, multi-select): On the Relation tab, returns data for export views that act as parents to others.
  • Child (Relation) (Optional, multi-select): On the Relation tab, returns data for export views that are children of specified parents.
  • The report is updated with each release to reflect Export View changes. Review the change log with each release to determine if updates are needed for your export process.

Business Value

Enabling efficient, incremental data extraction via OAS reduces manual effort, lowers risk, and removes reliance on outdated, duplicative reporting views.

Here's the demo of these capabilities:

Steps to Enable and Configure

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Student Financial Aid

  • Access new Export Views and Reports on Oracle Analytic Server, and determine which Export Reports you would like to extract to your back end application system
    • If you need existing data exported that was created prior to the release, please log a Service Request (SR) to populate the create date time which is needed to use the APIs to call the new Export Reports.
      • Our process generates historical exports by assigning incremental timestamps to each transaction, starting at 1900-01-01 12:00am and increasing by 10 milliseconds for each subsequent row (e.g., row 1: 1900-01-01 12:00am, row 2: 1900-01-01 12:00am plus 10 ms, row 3: plus 20 ms, etc.).

Note: These timestamps are for backfilling only and do not reflect actual data change timestamps, enabling incremental export of historical data.

  • For example, a view containing 30 million rows would have timestamps spanning approximately 3.5 days. When backfilling, you can specify a date range in your export parameters (e.g., 1900-01-01 12:00am plus 5 minutes) to return a manageable subset of data. If you set a range of 5 minutes, and with each row incremented by 10 ms, you would retrieve about 30,000 rows per request. Adjust the interval as needed to retrieve the desired number of rows per export, and repeat the process as needed to collect all historical data up to the present.
  • Create APIs for those Export Reports
  • Implement tracking of the last run timestamp and interval to determine the next run's start date.
  • Use the API to run reports via REST services and handle responses accordingly.

Tips And Considerations

  • Get acquainted with the new Export Views and Reports, available in:
    • Shared Folders > SFP Export > Export Reports
      • Consider running Export Reports for some of the larger processing areas in a test environment that has been recently refreshed with production data. This will help you assess both the size of the extract and the data being returned.
    • Shared Folders > SFP Export > SFP Export View Documentation
      • Use this report to review parent-child relationships for effective integration with your back-end systems.
  • Export Reports should be triggered with OAS APIs for data extraction to your target system.
    • Always record and use your last run date/time in the export parameters to ensure retrieval of only new or updated data.
    • Set frequency (in minutes) according to data needs using shorter intervals (e.g., every 60 minutes) for fast-changing data, and longer intervals (e.g., 6–12 hours) for slower-changing data.
  • Export Views are designed to extract only the incremental changes since your last run, based on your specified date and time interval. The extracted data should be staged in your target system, where you can then create queries to integrate it with your backend applications.

Key Resources

Access Requirements

  • Control who can view and export sensitive data by managing access in Oracle Analytics Server.
    • For more information, see "Assign Access Permissions" in Visualizing Data in Oracle Analytics Server.
  • Review permissions regularly to ensure only authorized users can view and export sensitive data.