Welcome to Oracle BI applications blog! This blog will talk about various features, general roadmap, description of functionality and implementation steps related to Oracle BI applications. In the first post we start with an overview of the BI apps and will delve deeper into some of the topics below in the upcoming weeks and months. If there are other topics you would like us to talk about, pl feel free to provide feedback on that.
The Oracle BI applications are a set of pre-built applications that enable pervasive BI by providing role-based insight for each functional area, including sales, service, marketing, contact center, finance, supplier/supply chain, HR/workforce, and executive management. For example, Sales Analytics includes role-based applications for sales executives, sales management, as well as front-line sales reps, each of whom have different needs.
The applications integrate and transform data from a range of enterprise sources—including Siebel, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, and others—into actionable intelligence for each business function and user role.
This blog starts with the key benefits and characteristics of Oracle BI applications. In a series of subsequent blogs, each of these points will be explained in detail.
Why BI apps?
Demonstrate the value of BI to a business user, show reports / dashboards / model that can answer their business questions as part of the sales cycle.
Demonstrate technical feasibility of BI project and significantly lower risk and improve success
Build Vs Buy benefit
Don’t have to start with a blank sheet of paper.
Help consolidate disparate systems
Data integration in M&A situations
Insulate BI consumers from changes in the OLTP
Present OLTP data and highlight issues of poor data / missing data – and improve data quality and accuracy
Prebuilt Integrations
BI apps support prebuilt integrations against leading ERP sources: Fusion Applications, E- Business Suite, Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, SAP
Co-developed with inputs from functional experts in BI and Applications teams.
Out of the box dimensional model to source model mappings
Multi source and Multi Instance support
Rich Data Model
BI apps have a very rich dimensionsal data model built over 10 years that incorporates best practises from BI modeling perspective as well as reflect the source system complexities
Thanks for reading a long post, and be on the lookout for future posts. We will look forward to your valuable feedback on these topics as well as suggestions on what other topics would you like us to cover.
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Conformed dimensional model across all business subject areas allows cross functional reporting, e.g. customer / supplier 360
Over 360 fact tables across 7 product areas
CRM – 145, SCM – 47, Financials – 28, Procurement – 20, HCM – 27, Projects – 18, Campus Solutions – 21, PLM - 56
Supported by 300 physical dimensions
Support for extensive calendars; Gregorian, enterprise and ledger based
Conformed data model and metrics for real time vs warehouse based reporting
Multi-tenant enabled
Extensive BI related transformations
BI apps ETL and data integration support various transformations required for dimensional models and reporting requirements. All these have been distilled into common patterns and abstracted logic which can be readily reused across different modules
Slowly Changing Dimension support
Hierarchy flattening support
Row / Column Hybrid Hierarchy Flattening
As Is vs. As Was hierarchy support
Currency Conversion :- Support for 3 corporate, CRM, ledger and transaction currencies
UOM conversion
Internationalization / Localization
Dynamic Data translations
Code standardization (Domains)
Historical Snapshots
Cycle and process lifecycle computations
Balance Facts
Equalization of GL accounting chartfields/segments
Standardized values for categorizing GL accounts
Reconciliation between GL and subledgers to track accounted/transferred/posted transactions to GL
Materialization of data only available through costly and complex APIs e.g. Fusion Payroll, EBS / Fusion Accruals
Complex event Interpretation of source data – E.g.
o What constitutes a transfer
o Deriving supervisors via position hierarchy
o Deriving primary assignment in PSFT
o Categorizing and transposition to measures of Payroll Balances to specific metrics to support side by side comparison of measures of for example Fixed Salary, Variable Salary, Tax, Bonus, Overtime Payments.
o Counting of Events – E.g. converting events to fact counters so that for example the number of hires can easily be added up and compared alongside the total transfers and terminations.
Multi pass processing of multiple sources e.g. headcount, salary, promotion, performance to allow side to side comparison.
Adding value to data to aid analysis through banding, additional domain classifications and groupings to allow higher level analytical reporting and data discovery
Calculation of complex measures examples:
o COGs, DSO, DPO, Inventory turns etc
o Transfers within a Hierarchy or out of / into a hierarchy relative to view point in hierarchy.
Configurability and Extensibility support
BI apps offer support for extensibility for various entities as automated extensibility or part of extension methodology
Key Flex fields and Descriptive Flex support
Extensible attribute support (JDE)
Conformed Domains
ETL Architecture
BI apps offer a modular adapter architecture which allows support of multiple product lines into a single conformed model
Multi Source
Multi Technology
Orchestration – creates load plan taking into account task dependencies and customers deployment to generate a plan based on a customers of multiple complex etl tasks
Plan optimization allowing parallel ETL tasks
Oracle: Bit map indexes and partition management
High availability support
Follow the sun support.
TCO
BI apps support several utilities / capabilities that help with overall total cost of ownership and ensure a rapid implementation
Improved cost of ownership – lower cost to deploy
On-going support for new versions of the source application
Task based setups flows
Data Lineage
Functional setup performed in Web UI by Functional person
Configuration
Test to Production support
Security
BI apps support both data and object security enabling implementations to quickly configure the application as per the reporting security needs
Fine grain object security at report / dashboard and presentation catalog level
Data Security integration with source systems
Extensible to support external data security rules
Extensive Set of KPIs
Over 7000 base and derived metrics across all modules
Time series calculations (YoY, % growth etc)
Common Currency and UOM reporting
Cross subject area KPIs (analyzing HR vs GL data, drill from GL to AP/AR, etc)
Prebuilt reports and dashboards
3000+ prebuilt reports supporting a large number of industries
Hundreds of role based dashboards
Dynamic currency conversion at dashboard level
Highly tuned Performance
The BI apps have been tuned over the years for both a very performant ETL and dashboard performance. The applications use best practises and advanced database features to enable the best possible performance.
Optimized data model for BI and analytic queries
Prebuilt aggregates& the ability for customers to create their own aggregates easily on warehouse facts allows for scalable end user performance
Incremental extracts and loads
Incremental Aggregate build
Automatic table index and statistics management
Parallel ETL loads
Source system deletes handling
Low latency extract with Golden Gate
Micro ETL support
Bitmap Indexes
Partitioning support
Modularized deployment, start small and add other subject areas seamlessly
Source Specfic Staging and Real Time Schema
Support for source specific operational reporting schema for EBS, PSFT, Siebel and JDE
Application Integrations
The BI apps also allow for integration with source systems as well as other applications that provide value add through BI and enable BI consumption during operational decision making
Embedded dashboards for Fusion, EBS and Siebel applications
Action Link support
Marketing Segmentation
Sales Predictor Dashboard
Territory Management
External Integrations
The BI apps data integration choices include support for loading extenral data
External data enrichment choices : UNSPSC, Item class etc. Extensible
Spend Classification
Broad Deployment Choices
Exalytics support
Databases : Oracle, Exadata, Teradata, DB2, MSSQL
ETL tool of choice : ODI (coming), Informatica
Extensible and Customizable
Extensible architecture and Methodology to add custom and external content
Upgradable across releases
