Oracle Utilities Analytics Visualization is included in the cloud service subscription, available via a separate URL for each environment.

Analytics Publisher is available and included in the service as a reporting/query tool only.

Oracle Database Actions is also available and included in the service for querying the database (see Chapter 21: Oracle Database Actions for more information).

Data extraction is supported via the Generalized Data Extract and Specialized Data Extract functionality, and/or DataConnect (CCS & MSCS only) may be a starting point for extraction of data for a BI/reporting tool such as Cognos.

Analytics Publisher can only access the primary database that is provisioned with the associated cloud service (such as CCS, MSCS, WACS, BCS, and so on). External data sources (such as xml data models, and so on) are currently NOT supported.

Analytics Publisher, as part of your cloud service, is not intended to be used directly as a bill/letter print system, however, it can be used to create reports based on extracted data. Billing/letter data can be extracted from Customer Cloud Service, Customer Care and Billing Cloud Service, and Billing Cloud Service via batch processing with target output files to be stored in Cloud Object Storage. The output file can then be uploaded into Analytics Publisher via an API for bill/letter data reporting.

Analytics Publisher can be configured to write output files to Cloud Object Storage (via Analytics Delivery Channel). This requires configuration of a value for the File Storage Configuration (F1-FileStorage) extendable lookup with the following settings:

The following diagram outlines this process:

Refer to the following Knowledge Base articles on My Oracle Support for additional information about using Analytics Publisher for generating bills.

Analytics Publisher is part of Oracle Utilities SaaS cloud service offerings with limited resources and is provided to support operational reports ONLY. Operational reports are reports that extract low to medium data volumes from the Production database to avoid performance-related issues.

High-volume data reports such as Bill and or Letter Print include four steps:

Mass bill/letter generation is always the responsibility of the cloud service application (for example CCS, CCS for Retail, CCBCS and BCS). No reporting tool including Analytics Publisher can be used as a replacement.

Once the bills/letters are generated, the cloud service application provides the bill/letter extract batch background processes that reads the bill/letter tables and create an output file (XML) to cloud object storage. NO reporting tool including Analytics Publisher should be used to extract the bill/letter data from the production database.

The next step is to READ the bill/letter xml files from cloud object storage and perform the bill/letter formatting. Analytics Publisher CANNOT read cloud object storage; the bill/letter xml file should be PUSHED to Analytics Publisher via API. The Analytics Publisher API writes the output file into Analytics Publisher database. After that, Analytics Publisher can be used to format the bill/letter file as per the layout defined in the Bill/Letter Print Report template. The output of the report can be pushed to cloud object storage.

Bill/letter printing is the step where the Analytics Publisher report output file can be sent to the bill/letter print vendor for printing.

Below are some scenarios of what Analytics Publisher can and cannot be used for.

Scenario 1: Analytics Publisher to be used for monthly AR reporting.

Yes, AR reporting is considered as medium data volume report and Analytics Publisher can be used. Furthermore, reports like online bill / letter display (covering single account) are also considered as operational reports.

Scenario 2: Analytics Publisher to be used as bill/letter generation tool.

No. Bill and or Letter generation is always the responsibility of the cloud service and performed via batch background processes (such as BILLING batch process).

Scenario 3: Analytics Publisher to be used as mass data extraction tool.

No. Extraction of mass data cannot be performed via Analytics Publisher. Base Product provides batch background processes (such as POSTROUT) and or Generalized / Specialized data extracts to extract the data out from production database. We also now support GoldenGate replication to synch the Production data with the customer reporting database.

Scenario 4: Analytics Publisher to be used for Bill Printing.

No. Bill Printing is always considered as Bill Print vendor responsibility and out of the scope from SaaS services.

Scenario 5: Analytics Publisher to be used as a Bill formatting tool:

Yes, Analytics Publisher can be used to read the bill/letter print output file and perform the formatting. The report processing time varies based on the complexity of the bill print layout report. Customers / partners may need to adjust the bill generation and extraction process in the edge application to address performance-related issues and to speed up the bill / letter processing time in the Analytics Publisher.

Scenario 6: External and third-party applications like Doc/1, Documaker etc. can be used for Bill formatting.

Yes, Bill print extract output file (available on cloud object storage) can be downloaded and any external/third-party application like Doc/1, Documaker can be used for bill formatting and printing.