In the previous chapters, we have installed a new system, learned how to administer the system, and developed the metadata (the .rpd
file) for a brand-new project. This chapter is the culmination of all that work in that we are finally ready to develop reports that can be delivered to our end users.
We will cover creating analyses, and how to group them in Dashboards. We will also look at the various ways of representing and formatting data that are available, along with advice on best practices gained from implementation experience.
The drive behind OBIEE and other BI tools is to create analytical reports where we are focused on gaining insights that are difficult to pick up on in our daily dealings. This often means that we are looking for patterns or information over a historical period in an aggregated format. Using the operational examples, we might want to look at call volumes over a whole Year, so that we can make better choices about the staff numbers needed. In retail, we might want to see what types of products sell better in certain countries over a certain time period. So in essence, we are looking at giving ourselves information that drives more strategic or longer-term decisions rather than those that concern day-to-day matters. This also means that we traditionally would be looking at a dataset that changes less often than that used for operational reporting.
Time to get stuck into creating some content. We will now create a simple analysis.
http://[servername]:[port]/analytics
. In our case, this is http://obiee:9502/analytics/
:
After log in, you are taken to the Home page. In the left-hand panel, you will see the Create... section:
You are now presented with the designer window. On the left side, you will see all of the columns you can choose from in your analysis.
Time
folder:
Base Facts
folder.Revenue
column:
Revenue
by year:
We can also add columns whilst in the Results view.
Time
folder.Revenue
column:
Let's add a Graph to the results view.
You are now presented with the View Designer page. Note the three separate panels:
Notice that the Year
column was placed into the Sections box and that the Display as Slider is ticked.
You can move the columns around, for example you could put the Year
column into the Graph Prompts box. This would present you with a drop-down column on the Graph so that you choose which Year
to view. You could also move the Year column to the horizontal axis (by dragging and dropping onto the Line box). This would give you all Years on one Graph:
Year
column is in the Sections box.At this stage, you go back to the results view, but your Graph is nowhere to be seen! We have to put the Graph onto the page ourselves.
Shared Folders
(in the left-hand panel)Book
). Click OK:
Book
folder:
We have now created our first analysis called Analysis One
. We put a Graph on the results page and saved it in a folder called Book
.
This is a simple example which introduces the basic concepts involved.
Let's just have a quick look in the Catalog
folder to see what we have just created:
Book
folder in the left-hand panel.
So, you now know how to create an analysis, save it in a folder of your choice, and find it in the catalog.
Take a minute to look at the options available when you click on the More link under your analysis.
Later in the chapter we will explore more options when creating analyses, but for now, in the next section, we will put your first analysis onto a new Dashboard.
3.144.89.2