obiee 101 - dashboard fundamentals coursework.pdf

BICG University

Course 101 Dashboard Fundamentals

Version 01.21.09

2008 BICG University2

CopyrightCopyright 2008, BI Consulting Group, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the authors.

BICG training materials are intended for the use of students who have paid for and have attended BICG training. Please contact BICG for information on receiving additional training materials: http://www.bicguniversity.com


Course WelcomeCourse Welcome

BI Consulting Groups comprehensive training program reflects the best practices developed after more than 200 implementations of Oracle BI Enterprise Edition (formerly Siebel Analytics). Our curriculum is designed to not only provide a functional understanding of the variety of Oracle BI and data warehousing tools, it also provides a wealth of advice, tips, and tricks designed to fully take advantage of all aspects of OBIEE before, during and after a project.Our classes operate in an immersion environment, designed to allow the student to become fully engaged in all aspects of the class curriculum through a series of real world exercises. Unlike other trainingorganizations that use trainers who have never actually implemented the software or built a data warehouse, BI Consulting Group taps into our wealth of experienced consultants to act as trainers and mentors. The best practices, tips and tricks developed by our team will allow you to push your data warehouse and Oracle BI Enterprise Edition implementations to the limit.

Mike Jelen[Vice President of BICG University][email protected]

Welcome to BI Consulting Groups Dashboard Fundamentals class!


The Key to our Exercise

Throughout our exercises, youll occasionally see yellow Post-it notes sprinkled throughout. These are topics that we may call out and discuss in class, or we might suggest that you review others on your own time. These notes are designed to further your knowledge about the Oracle BI Enterprise Edition; on BI Best Practices; on Tips and Tricks to enable you to rapidly develop applications using OBIEE; and other notable topics. We strongly believe that the better educated you are on each of these topics, the better prepared youll be.

Our notes key is below:

Light Bulb: These notes will provide advice, tips or tricks that weve developed over the years, or points to ponder.

Question Mark: These are questions that well be debating in class. Many of these will have no single correct answer, instead, theyre designed to expand your thinking about pertinent topics.

Drafting Table: These are exercises that well be working on in class. At BICG we believe in following standards and best practices, but we dont believe in limiting creativity. These exercises are your chance to flex your creative muscles!


AgendaTime Topic

15 minutes Introductions and Overview

20 minutes Exercise #1 Dashboards and Pages Page 6

20 minutes Exercise #2 Sorting Page 15

20 minutes Exercise #3 Drilling Page 21

30 minutes Exercise #4 View Selectors Page 30

15 minutes Exercise #5 Column Selectors Page 51

25 minutes Exercise #6 Prompts Page 57

25 minutes Exercise #7 Selections Page 65

30 minutes Exercise #8 Printing and Downloading Page 79

Tips and Tricks Cheat Sheet Page 93

Glossary Page 94

6Exercise #1Exercise #1

Dashboards and Pages

1.66

Dashboard FundamentalsDashboard Fundamentals


Exercise #1Exercise #1

Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of logging in and navigating through dashboards and using dashboard pages.

Content:1. Logging into OBI EE.2. Viewing Dashboards.3. Using Dashboard Pages.


Logging into OBI EE

Go to the following URL to get to the training website:

https://obiee.bicguniversity.com/analytics/

You will see the following login screen. Your User ID and Password will be provided by the instructor at the start of the course.

When using OBI EE within your organization, if Single Sign-on (SSO) has been implemented you will not need to enter a User Id and Password since OBI EE will use the Username and Password you used to login to your computer.


Dashboards

A dashboard is made up of sections of information that can contain items suchas results from Oracle BI Answers which are requests. A request provides answers to business questions. It allows you to explore and interact with information, and present and visualize information using charts, pivot tables, and reports. You can save, organize, and share the results. Requests that you create with Oracle BI Answers can be integrated into any Oracle BI home page or dashboard. Results can be enhanced through charting, result layout, calculation, and drilldown features. For this course we will be mostly working with requests.

Dashboards can also contain external Web content, HTML text, graphics, embedded objects, and links to other sites.

You can set a certain dashboard to be your default dashboard so that when you log in you will be taken to that dashboard. The dashboards that you have access to will be listed across the top of the screen.


My Dashboard

Typically, you will be defaulted to the My Dashboard dashboard. This is similar to a sandbox where you can customize your Dashboard as you see fit. No other user can view the layout and customization made to the My Dashboard. Click any of the other Dashboard links to view the Dashboard Pages on that particular Dashboard.

Remember, clicking a Dashboard link to the right of My Dashboardwill open that particular Dashboard.


Dashboard/PagesPages (sometimes referred to as tabs) are a simple way of organizing similar content, whether for viewing or printing. You may navigate from page to page by simply single-clicking the page name.

Clicking the Page (tab) will navigate to another page that contains a grouping of similar content.


1. Log into the OBI EE training web site: https://obiee.bicguniversity.com

2. Enter the User Id and Password provided by your instructor.

3. The two dashboards that you have access to are My Dashboard (displayed) and Dashboard Fundamentals.

4. Click Dashboard Fundamentals to open that dashboard.

Step 1: Open Dashboard

4


1. This dashboard has two pages Sales Performance (displayed) and Usage Tracking.

2. Click Usage Tracking to open that page.

Step 2: Navigate Dashboard Pages

2


The Result!


Sorting

1.1515



Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of using sorting to customize your dashboard page.

Content:1. Sorting a request in descending order.2. Sorting a request in ascending order.



SortingSorting is yet another way to customize each request. A column can be sorted if a hand appears when you mouse over it. Click the column once to sort ascending; click it again to sort descending. A small gray arrow will appear to indicate visually which column is being sorted.

Heres the same request re-sorted by Dollars.


Step 1: Re-sort Request

1. Open the Dashboard Fundamentals dashboard.

2. Navigate to the Sales Performance page.

3. Find the Exceptions! Top and Bottom Performers request.

4. Click the Market column two times.


The Result!

1. Click the Year Ago Dollars column one time.

The request is now sorted by Market in descending order.


The Result!

The request is now sorted by Year Ago Dollars in ascending order.

21


Drilling


21


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of using drilling to customize your results on the dashboard page.

Content:1. Drilling on a field.2. Drilling on a column heading.

3. Using the Return link.


2008 BICG University23 23

Drilling is another way to customize your results, and will enable you to see successive layers of information within a single section of the dashboard page.

Drillable column values are easy to identify because they are blue and the mouse cursor will turn into a hand when hovering over these values. To drill down, simply single-click on the value and the report will rerun one level down in the hierarchy.

Drilling

Drill on a column value.

All Districts within the CENTRAL REGION are displayed.The use of green bar styling is a best practices standard for tabular views and pivot table views, however, in versions prior to 10g (10.1.3.2) and the current version (10.1.3.3.1) adding green bar turns off suppression of repeated row elements, so green bar is best used on list style tabular request, rather than those that should have some type of grouping.

All Districts within the CENTRAL REGION are displayed


You can also perform drilling on a chart. When a chart is drillable, the mouse cursor will turn into a hand when hovering over the chart.

Chart Drilling

Drill on a chart


If a column heading is blue it is drillable and will explode the selection. This means that all of the rows for the next level in the hierarchy will appear.

Column Drilling

Drill on a column heading.

All Districts for each region are displayed.


When youd like to back up to the previous level of hierarchy, it is recommended that you not use the browsers back button. Instead, single-click either the Return or Back links that will be displayed at the bottom of the drilled report (below the gray filter box). The Back link will take you back one step, and the Return link will take you back to the beginning.

Returning from Drilling

Starting back at the beginningNot sure where youve drilled or navigated yourself to? You can always back up to the beginning by clicking the Dashboard link at the top of the page. Clicking the Dashboard Fundamentals link will start you from the beginning.




3. Find the Performance by Dollars, Units, and Percent to Plan request.

4. Click on the Central Region column value.

Step 1: Drill On Column Value


1. All Districts within the CENTRAL REGION are displayed.

2. Click the Return link.

3. Click the Region column heading.

The Result!


The Result!

All districts for all regions are displayed.

30


View Selectors


30


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of using view selectors to customize your dashboard page.

Content:1. Choosing an alternate view in the view selector.2. Using the view selector to choose other views.

Exercise #4


View Selectors

View Selectors are another way to customize your dashboard to quickly get the information that you need. A view selector will be located at the top of a report. When you see Select a view:, click the down arrow for a list of options.

In this example there are eight different views that can be selected. Sometimes each view will give you different data; sometimes it will show the same data in different formats.


Step 1: Select A View


2. Navigate to the Sales Performancepage.

3. Find the Region Summary request.

4. Click the down arrow to the right of Select a View.

5. Choose Tabular Data.


The Result!

1. Use the view selector to choose other views on the Region Summary request.


Other Views Available Within OBI EE

Views use the presentation capabilities of Oracle BI Presentation Services to help you look at results in meaningful, intuitive ways. You can add a variety of views to results, such as charts and pivot tables that allow drilling down to more detailed information, explanatory text, a list of filters that were used to limit the results, and more.

The next several pages highlight the wide variety of views available to you within OBI EE.


Table View

The table view shows results in a standard list table. You can add totals, customize headings, add green-bar styling, etc. You can also controlthe appearance of a column and its contents, and specify formatting to apply only if the contents of the column meet certain conditions.


Pivot Table View

A pivot table view consists of row(s), column(s) and data (fact) fields. It is useful for large amounts of data to quickly summarize information. It also allows you to quickly reorganize the table and view it from different perspectives.


Gauge ViewUse the gauge view to show results as gauges, such as dial, bar, and bulb-style gauges. Gauges are useful for showing performance against goals.


Pie Chart

A pie chart shows data sets as percentages of a whole. Pie graphs are useful for comparing parts of a whole.


Horizontal Bar Graph

A horizontal bar graph can be used to compare facts by showing bars in a horizontal direction.

Horizontal bar graphs are useful for comparing differences among like items; for example, competing product sales, same product sales over different time periods, or same product sales over different markets.


Vertical Bar Graph

A vertical bar graph compares facts using vertical columns.

Vertical bar graphs are useful for comparing differences among like items.


Stacked Bar Graph

Stacked bar graphs visualize various items as percentages of the whole for ease of comparison and contrast


Line Bar Combo Graph

A line bar combination graph plots two sets of data with different ranges, one set as bars, and one set as lines overlaid on the bars. Line bar combination charts are useful for showing trend relationships between data sets.


Line Graph

A line graph can be used to plot multiple facts.

Line graphs are useful for showing patterns and trends in data.


Area Graph

An area graph is similar to a line graph, but with the areas under the lines filled in. Area graphs show the percentage of the whole that each variable comprises.

Area graphs are useful for observing changes in cumulative value or percentage over time; for example, by comparing groups on certain measurements such as outcome, and displaying group trends.


Bubble Graph

A bubble graph is a variation of a scatter graph that displays data elements as circles (bubbles). It shows three variables in two dimensions. One value is represented by the location of the circle on the x-axis. Another value is represented by the location of the circle on the y-axis. The third value is represented by the relative size of its circle.

Bubble graphs are useful for plotting data with three variables, and for displaying financial data over a period of time.


Pareto Graph

A pareto graph is a form of bar chart and line chart that displays criteria in descending order. In this graph type, the line shows a cumulative total of the percentages.

Pareto graphs are useful for identifying significant elements, such as best and worst or most and least.


Radar Graph

A radar graph plots the same information as a bar graph, but instead displays data radiating from the center of the graph.

Each data element has its own value axis.

Radar graphs are useful for examining overlap and distribution.


Scatter GraphA scatter graph displays x-y values as discrete points, scattered within an x-y grid. It plots data points based on two independent variables. This allows you to plot large numbers of data points and observe the clustering of data points.

Scatter graphs are useful for observing relationships and trends in large data sets.


Step Graph

A step graph is used to plot and compare facts.Step charts are useful for illustrating trends in data where values change discontinuously.

51


Column Selectors


51


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of using column selectors to customize your dashboard page

Content:1. Replacing one column in a request.2. Replacing two columns in a request.

Exercise #5


Column Selectors

Column Selectors are another way to customize your results. You are able to dynamically change which columns appear in a request. You can also specify the order of the columns.

One column selector can be attached to each column in a specific request, and multiple columns (attributes) can be attached to each column selector.

This example shows a column selector on the first and second columns in the request. Each column selector contains multiple attributes that you can choose from.


Step 1: Change Column #1



3. Find the Region Summary request.

4. Click the dropdown by Column #1.

5. Choose District.

6. Click the Go button.


Step 2: Change Column #2

1. Click the dropdown by Column #2.

2. Choose Brand.


Now District is the first column in the request.


Now District is the first column and Brand is the second column in the request.

The Result!

57


Prompts


57


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of dashboard prompts

Content:1. Using single-value prompts.2. Setting default values.3. Using multi-value prompts.4. Viewing filters on requests.

Exercise #6


Prompts are a way to customize your dashboard page. By selecting prompt values and clicking the Go button, the requests on the page will return data based on the value(s) selected in the prompts. You can assign a default value to a prompt. You can also specify if a prompt should allow one value to be chosen or multiple values.

The example below is a single-value prompt:

Prompts

A multi-value prompt will have an ellipse button which indicates that multiple values may be chosen. The example below is a multi-value prompt:

When you click the ellipse button the box to the right is displayed. The right side will list all of the choices. You may choose one value or more than one. As you make your selections, the values will be displayed in the Values box on the left side.


Default Values and Filters

All requests on the Usage Tracking page are filtered to only show 2006 data because the Year prompt has 2006 as a default value:

At the bottom of each request, you will notice a gray box. This contains the filters for the report.

If you make prompt selections at the top of the page, this is where you can check to ensure that the report has been re-run based on your selections.


1. Open Dashboard Fundamentals dashboard.

2. Navigate to the Usage Tracking page.

3. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Year prompt.

4. Choose 2007.


Step 1: Choose Single Value


The Result!All requests on this page are now filtered to only show 2007 data. The filters have been updated to reflect this.




3. Click the ellipse button next to the Region prompt.

4. Choose CENTRAL REGION and EASTERN REGION.

5. Click the OK button.


Step 2: Choose Multi Value


The Result!All requests on this page are now filtered to only show data from the Central and Eastern regions:

65


Selections


65


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals of using selections to customize your dashboard page and store those customizations for future use.

Content:1. Create a saved selection.2. Apply a saved selection.3. Clear a saved selection.4. Delete a saved selection

Exercise #7


Creating a SelectionSelections provide a way to save your customizations to a dashboard page. After you make selections in prompts (drill into reports, column selectors and view selectors) you can then save those customizations as a Saved Selection.

While viewing a dashboard page, after you have made all of the selections and changes you can click Page Options and choose Save Current Selections. When you choose For Me you will be prompted to enter a name for the saved selection. Also, you have the option of making this the default for this dashboard page; meaning every time you view the dashboard page this saved selection will be applied automatically.


Applying a Saved Selection

If you navigate to a page that you have previously created a saved selection, click Page Options and select Apply Saved Selections. All of your saved selections will be displayed in a list.

If you had specified a saved selection to be the default for the dashboard page you are viewing the selection would be applied automatically.

To choose a selection as a default for a dashboard page or to re-name or delete selections, click the Page Options button, highlight Save Current Selections and choose Edit Saved Selections and Defaults.


Viewing a Page with Selections

The dashboard page is re-displayed with your selections saved in the chosen Saved Selection.

You can remove your selections and re-set the dashboard page by clicking the Page Options button and then choosing Clear Selections.


Step 1: Make Selections



3. Set the Year prompt to 2006.

4. Set the Region prompt to CENTRAL REGION

5. Select Tabular Data from the view selector on the Region Summary request.

6. Select Brand Comparison from the view selector on the Brand Summary request.

7. Drill in on the Valspar brand on the Brand Comparison view in the Brand Summary request.


Step 2: Create Saved Selection

1. Click the Page Options button in the top right of the screen.

2. Choose Save Current Selections.

3. Choose For Me.

4. OBI EE will provide a default name for this selection. Accept the default name of 2006 Central Region by clicking OK.

4

1


Step 3: Apply Saved Selection

4

1. Open the My Dashboard dashboard.

2. Go back to the Dashboard Fundamentals dashboard.

3. Navigate to the Sales Performancepage.


5. Choose Apply Saved Selections.

6. Choose 2006 Central Region.


The Result!

The dashboard page is re-displayed after applying all of the settings in the Saved Selection.


Step 4: Clear Selections


2. Choose Clear My Selections.

2


The Result!

The dashboard page is displayed using all of the default settings.


Step 4: Delete Selection


2. Highlight Save Current Selections.

3. Choose Edit Saved Selections and Defaults.


Step 4: Delete Selection

1. Click the red x icon by the 2006 Central Region saved selection.

1

You can set any of your saved selections to be your default selection for this page by clicking the radio button next to theselection.


The Result!The Saved Selection is deleted and removed from the list.

1. Click the OK button when finished.

79


Printing and Downloading


79


Exercise Objectives:In this lesson we will review the fundamentals the Print and Download functions. We will also review the options for printing and entire page.

Content:1. Printing a request to Adobe.2. Downloading a request to Excel.3. Downloading a request to PowerPoint4. Printing a page to HTML.5. Printing a page to Adobe.

Exercise #8


Printing and Downloading a RequestAt any time you may print or download any request by selecting links at the bottom of the request.

Print will allow you to print as an HTML or PDF page (that will shrink to fit the page).

Download will allow you to export the data to Excel. Download to Excel will download the formatted report to Excel. Download Data will send unformatted data to Excel.


Step 1: Print Request to Adobe




4. Click the Print link.

5. Choose PDF

3


The Result!

The request is displayed in Adobe Acrobat reader.


Step 2: Download Request to Excel




4. Click the Download link.

5. Choose Download to Excel.

6. When prompted to Open or Save, choose Open.

4


The Result!

The request is displayed in Excel.

Once the data is in Excel in the 'raw data' format, any Excel function or formula can be used to further analyze the data. However, there's no automated way to programmatically update thedata from OBI EE without starting over.


Step 3: Download Request to PowerPoint




4. Click the Download link.

5. Choose Download to PowerPoint.

6. When prompted to Open or Save, choose Open.

4


The Result!The request is displayed in PowerPoint.

Once the request is in PowerPoint, the image can be moved and formatted as desired.


Printing a Dashboard Page

At any time you may print an entire dashboard page by clicking the Print icon at the bottom left of the page.

When you click the printer icon you can choose HTML to print to a web page or PDF to create a document in Adobe.


Step 4: Print Dashboard Page to HTML



3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the printer icon.

4. Choose HTML

3


The Result!The entire dashboard page is displayed in a web page, ready to be printed.


Step 5: Print Dashboard Page to PDF



3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the printer icon.

4. Choose PDF

3


The Result!

The entire dashboard page is displayed in an Adobe document. The document can be printed or saved.


Tips and Tricks Cheat Sheet

Weve collected the top tips and tricks that should help you to navigate your way to success!

1. Starting from the Beginning. If youre not sure where youve gotten yourself to (either because youve drilled down; filtered the contents of the Dashboard by using the Prompts; using view selectors, etc.) you can always start at the beginning by selecting the Dashboard name at the very top of the page called Dashboard Fundamentals. This link is above the tabs, and above the Welcome statement.

2. Customizing the page contents. Dashboards will really only be pertinent to you after youve confirmed that the selects in the Prompt at the top of the page have selections that are pertinent to you. Our advice is to make your selections from left to right (because the selection in one list may filter the contents of the next list). Once youve made appropriate selections, dont forget to hit the Go button. If in doubt as to the current filtering thats occurring within any report, check the report content by checking out the gray box at the bottom ofthe report. This will show you what dates, channels, products, etc. that this report is filtered on.

3. Saving your favorite settings. Once youve set prompt settings to show meaningful content, and have selected your favorite view from the selections under Select a View, you can save these settings by using the Save Current Selections option under the Page Options link in the upper right hand corner. When saving your settings, you can give it an appropriate name like Retail Stores / All Chart View. You can save as many settings as youd like, kind of like saving a bookmark!

4. Sorting. Most tabular layouts allow you to sort the report by single-clicking the heading of the column. A small up or down arrow in the lower right of that column heading will indicate the sort. Clicking the column again will switch from ascending to descending, and visa-versa.

5. Drilling down, and backing up. Most reports and charts can be drilled down to a lower level of hierarchy by single-clicking on a channel name, or a time bucket (such as a year, quarter, month or week name). On charts, you can drill-down by clicking on a bar, a pie wedge, or even the legend. After drilling down one or more levels, if youd like to back up, dont use the browsers back button, instead, select the link Back or Return which will have appeared under the report.


Glossary

1. Dashboard A collection of customized information on an interactive web dashboard that provides analysis of key trends, exceptions, and key performance indicators. Multiple dashboards allows you to organize your information according to your companys needs.

2. Dashboard Page Dashboard content is organized into pages similar to tabs on a web page. The pages appear as tabs across the top of the dashboard. Multiple dashboard pages allow you to organize requests within a dashboard.

3. Request A request provides answers to business questions. It allows you to explore and interact with information, and present and visualize information using charts, pivot tables, and reports. You can save, organize, and share the results.

4. Dashboard Prompt A prompt allows you to filter data on the dashboard page by selecting the value(s) you want filtered.

5. Drilling Provides the ability to analyze your information at different levels of granularity.

6. View Selector Allows you to select from multiple views of the information associated with a request.

7. Column Selector Allows you to replace and re-order columns in a request.

8. Business intelligence - The ability to use data to provide the right information to the right people at the right time. It gives organizations the ability to analyze, understand, and manage key performance indicators.

9. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise - A suite of enterprise Business Intelligence tools that provide interactive dashboards which allow organizations to analyze, customize, and deliver information.


BICG Best Practice Dashboard Design Conventions

Purchase book at http://www.biconsultinggroup.comTheories for the Pervasive Use of DashboardsFatal MindsetsBest Practice Tips, Tricks, and ShortcutsDesign Standards


Thank you for taking the Dashboard Fundamentals Course!!

Please check out the BICG University site at http://www.bicguniversity.com for information on additional courses.

BI Consulting GroupBI Consulting Group


About BI Consulting GroupAbout BI Consulting Group

Contact Information:

For more info on BICG please visit http://www.biconsultinggroup.com

97

Oracles premier BI consulting partner for Oracle BI EE

Collectively completed more than 280 Oracle BI Enterprise Edition projects

End-to-end Oracle BI provider with implementation, education, support, and product-based services.

Average consultant has 4+ years of Oracle BI Enterprise Edition expertise, and more than 10 years of BI/DW experience.

Experts at Oracles Pre-Built Analytic Applications including Financial, HR, Supply Chain, Sales, Service and Marketing Analytics.

Participant Oracle Partner Advisory Council


Project MethodologyProject Methodology

Takes advantage of the products ability to prototype easily; connect to data early and easily; and keep up with data model changes and growth.Iterative methodology that ensures business insight is being met, rather than just building reports.Predefined set of deliverable documents and knowledge transfer.


Notable BICG ReferencesNotable BICG ReferencesDeployed Oracle RMW

for Service Analytics

after failed deployment

by other Systems

Integrator.

Deploying Service

Analytics and a custom

data warehouse

across international

divisions.

Multiple projects

deployed across

multiple divisions,

including a Price

Scenario

application allowing

what-if

forecasting.

Sales Analytics

application

against existing

EDW.

Deployment of

Oracles Pharma

Analytics, after failed

implementation by

another Systems

Integrator.

Deployment of Order

Analytics against a

new, custom EDW.

Redeveloped dozens of

existing Dashboards using

BICGs best practices

methodology; and

developed several new

custom data warehouses.

Integrating

multiple source

systems together

in a unified front-

end Dashboard.

Other Notable Customers:

American Express

Fidelity

Cbeyond

Shopzilla

Bayer

Medtronic Emergency

Response

RBC Dain

UBC

Pharmaceutical

Life Fitness

Benderson

Development

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