Yep, I did again :-(.
After playing around with the new sampleapp107 I managed to crash the VM. After a reboot the OID refused to start up. It seemed that because there was still an active status record in the ODS schema, the OPMN couldn’t find anything to start.
Solution: truncate the "ODS"."ODS_PROCESS_STATUS" and "ODS"."ODS_GUARDIAN" tables in your database repository.
(Not sure if the "ODS"."ODS_GUARDIAN" is really necessary…. Please correct me if I’m wrong)
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One of the new feature of 11g is the AGGREGATE AT function. It uses the hierarchical level to pin the the aggregate. Problem is you can’t select a hierarchy level in the formula editor, so you have to some old school typing:
Example:
Only month 1 to 6 are selected.
Just like the BY statement you can do multiple levels from different Hierarchies:
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First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
- use a transport folder.
- Add Metadata to the folders:
This makes them better searchable.
- Add structure to the portal:
There are a number of different ways that a portal could be structure to improve efficiency to business users. For instance:
Till Next Time
First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them. I just added my own observations.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order
This is really a work in progress, will be updated soon! (Bit pressed for Time 
Dashboard Design
- Don’t crowd the dashboard
Divide your report over several pages! Check why a user really needs 25 pages…..
- Avoid scrolling
Remember that your developers screen is often bigger then the user screen
- Check for screen size
If the user has only a 1024 * 768, then make your own resolution the same!
- Check for mobile
- Animation
- Colours
Before you start using non standard colours have a look a some colour theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color, not every colour combination does well…..
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
Till Next Time!
First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order.
- First column: TIME/CALENDAR
The first column you select for your report should always a column from your time or calendar dimension. Time is often the most consistent aggregation splitter. And most database use partitioning along a time-line.
- Dimension Order:
Try to maintain the same order of the dimension across all reports build on a single presentation layer. That way the use of aggregate tables and or query rewrite can be optimally provisioned.
- Move Complex Logic to the rpd:
If you have made a nice “fancy” formula which you probably need to use in a couple of reports, consider moving it to the rpd. That way you only have to maintain it in one place.
- Less is more 1!
If the user is only interested in the “bad” records, then only show hem/her the “bad” records. To make the user scroll trough hundreds of records looking for the ones you flagged with conditional formatting isn’t very efficient.
- Less is more 2!
If a report generates more then a hundred records, changes are big that the user is going to do “download to excel”. Check with the user if he needs the report in this form. Consider using different deliver methods (agents / Bip).
- Less is more 3!
If on opening the report the user already has to scroll or navigate to other pages try opening the report on a “higher” level.
- Avoid multidimensionality on graphs:
If the human eye and brain need to pick up more then 1 dimension on graph it’s easily fooled.
- Check graph for “lost” data
2011 Paid amount is not visible…..
- Make sure the description is always entered:
A good description must be readable for a “noob”.See: http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2011/09/obiee-mandatory-description-field.html
- Give the report a sell by date!
Go back to the user every 6 to 9 months to see if the report still is required in it’s current version.
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
Till Next Time
First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
When you have multiple Subject Areas, list the common dimensions in the same order across all the Subject Areas
- Time dimension first:
Since the time/calendar dimension is often the main aggregator make it the first in your presentation layer list.
- No prefixes:
Presentation Table names within each Subject Area must not begin with “Dim – “ or “Fact –“ or “Fact Compound –“. So remove these prefixes if they are present after creating the Subject Area by dragging Logical Tables directly from the Business Model.
- Identify your facts:
The Presentation Table containing your facts should be listed right at the bottom, and the Presentation Table name should contain words like “Measures” or “Facts”
- Ensure logical relationship:
There should be absolutely no possibility whatsoever of a user selecting objects from a Subject Area that have no logical relationship. So, if there are any objects within the same Subject Area that cannot co-exist in the same report, then your Subject Area design is incorrect!
- Split over multiple subject area:
Within OBIEE11g report can be build using multiple presentation layers based on the same business layer:
- Dimension Column Order:
Try to have the column in the same order as your hierarchy: Year > Quarter > Month > Week > Date or Business Line > Brand > Product
- Special characters:
Special HTML characters {< > / } should be avoided in the object names. Not ever browser can render them correctly.
- Metadata dictionary
Have a well maintained metadata dictionary in place:
Remember in OBIEE11G you have to redeploy the metadata dictionary after each RPD deployment
Till Next Time
First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
- Prefix Logical Tables
All Logical Tables should be prefixed. There are several naming convention's in use:
- No “physical” column names
No “physical” column names should ever be seen on the Business Model layer. All naming conventions should be “business oriented”. For example use “$ Revenue” rather than “DOLLARS” .
- No Primary or Surrogate Physical Keys
Physical Primary Keys or Surrogate Keys should not be present on the Business Model layer (unless, for example, you have a Primary Key such as Order Id which will be displayed on reports)
- Logical Keys
Dimension Logical Tables must always have a Logical Key assigned. The Logical Key should be something “business oriented” such as “Employee Login” rather than “EMPLOYEE_PK”
- No Facts in dimensions
Dimension Logical Tables must only contain dimension attributes, they should never contain any measure columns (which have an Aggregate Rule)
- No Logical Keys on facts
Fact Logical Tables should not have a Logical Key assigned.
[UPDATE: ] As far as I know this is because the OBIEE optimizer uses the logical key to determine the "driving" table. No logical keys on fact tables should ensure the "correct" optimizer path. Please correct me if I’m misinformed.
- Aggregation Rules on Facts
Every Logical Column within a Fact Logical Table must be a measure column, and therefore have an Aggregation Rule assigned.
- Only Complex Joins
When defining Logical Joins between Logical Tables, only use “Complex Joins” (and use the default settings – you only ever specify a “Driving Table” when dealing with cross-database joins)
- No Snowflakes
The Business Model should only consist of logical star-schemas, there should not be any snow-flaking
- Hierarchies on Dimensions
Every Dimension Logical Table should have a corresponding Dimension Hierarchy (with “Total” as a Grand Total level, and “Detail” at the lowest level)
- Number of Elements
Each level of a Dimension Hierarchy should have its “Number of Elements” appropriately set (there is a utility in Tools that can do this automatically).
- Content Levels
Every Logical Table Source within every dimension and fact Logical Table should have its “Content Levels” appropriately set. The only time the “Content Level” is not set for a particular dimension is when there is no logical relationship existing
- Multiple facts tables
Do not merge all your measures into a single Fact Logical Table. For example, you should split “Forecast Sales” and “Actual Sales” measures into two Logical Tables e.g. “Fact – Sales” and “Fact – Forecast”
- Description fields
All available description field should have meaningful descriptions with non technical users.
Till Next Time
First of al the original inspiration for these “Golden Rules” Series are based on the “20 GOLDEN RULES FOR REPOSITORY DESIGN” from the people at Peak Indicators. Kudos to them.
The series contains:
The “rules” is this article are somewhat in random order
This is always a “work in progress” and please feel free to make any suggestions!
- Clear the cache check box
Using cache should be a last resource, reconsider your data model and ETL processes first!
- Always use “Foreign Key” joins, not “Complex Joins” on the Physical Layer
If your join looks like D_DATE = TRUNC(S_DATETIME) try add a extra column S_DATE in your DWH. Any matching processing done by the BI-server costs time and you often loose the advantage of an index in your DWH.
- Prefix your tables
When modelling a star-schema data-model, create aliases for all your physical tables (prefixed with either “Dim_”, “Fact_” or “Fact_Agg_” )
- Physical Display Folder
Use Physical Display Folder to organise your stars
- Call Interface
When possible, configure your connection pools to use a “native driver” to connect to your physical databases. For example, use OCI for connecting to an Oracle database rather than ODBC.
- Parameterize your data source name
This way you only have to change it in one place when moving from development to production.
- 3NF in DWH
Try to avoid doing 3NF to Star Schema Modelling in the Physical Layer. Flatten the table if possible during the ETL or in a view on the database.
- Connecting User
The User you use to connect to your data should by default not by the “owner” of the table, but should have only select rights trough a role.
Till Next Time
Good Sunday afternoon reading, locate you obips_config_base.xsd and open it read only in a text editor (or download the PDF here).
It' contains loads of info on the instanceconfig.xml tags.
Have a special look at the <!-- Top Secret, Do NOT Expose On Penalty Of Dismissal (throw away) –> stuff
(Kudos to the genius who left them in the normal download 
Till Next Time
