In the spring of  2009 Sun Microsystems went live with their implementation of OBIEE and presented at the North California Oracle Applications User Group.  The original document is found here,

http://www.norcaloaug.com/seminar_archive/2009_05/Sun_Microsystem_OBIEE_Implementation.pdf

but I have also mirrored the file here,

http://www.artofbi.com/docs/Sun_Microsystem_OBIEE_Implementation.pdf

The document highlights some of the benefits of  bringing OBIEE into the organization along with pros and cons and usage of the BI Meta Data Repository.  At a minimum there are some great bullet-points here that could be leveraged for your next OBIEE presentation.

Indeed it shall be a happy new year!

And, what better way to kick off the new year then to recap the previous year by taking a look at ArtOfBI.com’s traffic, our most read posts, much needed off time, and what we have to look forward to this year in 2010 (w/o HAL).

ArtOfBI.com 2009 Traffic

As you can see since ArtOfBI.com started last June or so we’ve had some steady traffic.  November was an awesome month for the site.  As expected, with the holidays, traffic tapered off.

Most Read Posts

I have to say that I am still baffled (this happens often) that the Informatica Video Tutorials on ArtOfBI.com are by far the most popular posts.  Behind that are the OBIEE Google Mapping and Integrating a Web Service into OBIEE.  If you want to shout out your favorite, post a comment and share.

Much Needed Time Off

I took a few weeks off over the holiday to relax with the family, get caught-up on some side-projects, play with some new gadgets. I have also been on a killer project doing some SAP B/W to OBIEE integration and some other fun stuff with a client so that has also been consuming my days.  Somewhere in there I’ve been doing some research on my upcoming blog topics - see below.

Things to Looking Forward to in 2010

Well damn it if our number one priority isn’t going to be getting ArtOfBI.com’s traffic numbers to something more respectable. The only way to do that is by providing some more “kick ass” blog posts.  I’ve got some great topics to push out and will start putting fingers to keyboard this week.  Get ready for some great Essbase Optimization, ASO Trickle Feed, Workspace & OBIEE integration, Essbase Data Mining, Informatica and SalesForce.com integration, plus more.

And of course, aren’t we all looking forward the release of OBIEE 11 (Oracle BI 11).  I look forward to better solution for RPD merging, OLAP integration, and integration with the Oracle/Hyperion suite.

A Big Thanks to You

Thank you everyone that has been finding ArtOfBI.com through their Google searches looking for answers to their BI conundrums.  Thank you also and especially for you comments. Please keep the comments coming as they really do drive me to write better content and keep the information flowing since I know it is being viewed.   I’ll continue to keep the lights on add a lot more videos.  The goal this year is to speak at Oracle Open World 2010.  Vote for me.

Cheers, Christian.

Searching for some answers to an OBIEE issue a client was having led me through an extremely detailed excursion through the OracleBI andOracleBIData file system folder structures.  I bumped into the folder /OracleBI/Corda50/ which I hadn’t paid much attention to in the past.  This is where things got interesting.  Spelunking through that directory led me to http://www.corda.com, which low and behold is the owner of the PopChart software technology that OBIEE uses to render its charting graphics - all formats of all charts and graphs.

This PopChart technology is the core reason we have the seemingly superfluous Oracle BI Java Host service that we have all come to love/hate.  It is Java based and clearly fits directly into OBIEE’s infrastructure model.  Okay, so now that you now have that tid-bit in your arsenal, here are few questions that one could ask of their dev skills or conjecturing minds:

1. Why do the charts that PopChart show on their website look cooler than what OBIEE offers?  Could one download a trial, rip the new PopChart version binaries, and swap them in the /Corda50/ folder?
2. Why didn’t Oracle throw in the cool Corda mapping chart?  It would beat MapViewer any day.
3. Is PopChart the engine that we should expect to run graphs/charts in OBIEE 11G?
4. What licensing deal did Oracle set-up to get Corda PopChart in OBIEE?  It had to be a sweet deal for Corda.

Next up in the third party tool battery is a tool that Oracle BI leverages in a more ancillary fashion, SQLAnywhere.  If you haven’t heard of it before don’t worry, there’s only 10 Million or so copies in use  : ) .  SQLAnywhere is owned by Sybase. And as far as I know, even though Sybase had a stellar year in 2008 they have not yet been acquired by an larger firm like let’s say…Oracle.  Although Oracle did have Sybase on their acquisition list back in 2004 during the PeopleSoft takeover helmed by a younger Ellison.

For those of us that have actually completed a Oracle BI Disconnected Analytics implementation you will immediately know (well, you should) that SQLAnywhere is the database for disconnected analytics.  When installing Disconnected Anlaytics as part of a client tools install you get a folder within the OracleBI folder structure called SQLAnywhere.  I eventually plan on doing a Disconnected Analytics Tutorial just to show how it works from a client’s laptop, using Briefing Books, connecting to a local dashboard, etc in a later post.  BTW, SQLAnywhere looks for a “.db” extension for its database file. Without the .db file there is nothing in that default folder to query.

Conclusion

This post is about more that just rambling tid-bits.  It seeks to gain insight into the inner workings of OBIEE.  Let’s face the facts, the cost per license seat for Corda PopChart and SQLAnywhere are not cheap.  You can look it up yourself.   What’s more interesting is Oracle’s no to long ago purchase of Sun Microsystems who had purchased MySQL not to long before that.  Will MySQL replace Oracle BI’s use of SQLAnywhere?  I belive so.  MySQL is much more widely adopted and it is still open-source.  And, what about Corda PopChart?  We’ll soon see who gets the chart and graphs rendering job in Oracle BI 11G but I suspect that it won’t be Corda.  Why my suspicion? Just look at the screenshots from the upcoming 11G Answers preview and look at the Corda PopCharts website, if they did get the gig, they must have done some custom work which I would have brought in-house if I was Oracle BI development management.  Plus, there are some nice open source graphing tools out there, just do a Google search to find them.

All in all I think 11G will make us re-think what we know about OBIEE.  It is going to give us bloggers a lot more content to write about that’s for sure.

Credits

Screenshot for OBIEE 11G

• http://debaatobiee.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/obiee-11g-a-gospel-about-whirlpool-in-bi-space/

Sometimes I feel like I am the only evangelist out there for Essbase Studio and I wonder why that is since Essbase Studio is such a great tool.  This is especially true when you look at its ability to connect to a myriad of data source such as OBIEE, Teradata, MySQL, EPMA Dimension Server, netezza, etc.  Below is the top 10 list of why an organization should migrate their existing Essbase Integration Services models to Essbase Studio.  If your team is not an early adopter, run it in parallel.  If your team is scared of change, have them read “Who Moved My Cheese?“.  Otherwise, let’s make it happen.  Get with the program and enjoy the fruits of this fantastic toolset made for those who believe analytics are always evolving for the better.

Top 10 List

10. It has a familiar feel to EIS but its actually intuitive and user friendly.

9. It integrates with the new features of Essbase Server 11x.  Has EIS been touched since System 9x?

8. Introspection

7. There is a step-by-step tutorial on Essbase Studio Server made just for you (here).

6. Security provisioning and roles can be assigned in Shared Services.  Deliniate data modelers from administrators.

5. Essbase Integration Services is about to get sunset and Oracle Support will go bye-bye.

4. It connects to EPMA Dimension Server out-of-the-box. Ever heard of Master Data Management?

3. Essbase Studio Models are deployable with native MaXL Scripting.  Have you tried to automate a EIS deployment?

2. Essbase Studio comes with an Integration Services Catalog Migration Wizard. (hint, hint)

1. Larry Ellison wants you to.  Seriously, Oracle’s BI roadmap is taking Studio to the next frontier, not EIS.  Its a good train…get on it.

We’ve been working with Oracle for sometime now with the latest release Oracle EPM release and there has been a lot of demand for some demonstration and quick training on Hyperion Essbase Studio.  Since this is new to the 11x release there is not a lot for the general developer or user.

Check out the link to a quick 45 minute training video that was put together.  It should help you to get ramped up on the topic.

http://ilearning.oracle.com/ilearn/en/learner/jsp/rco_details_find.jsp?srchfor=null&rcoid=535889535

I plan to provide several tutorials on Essbase Studio over the next few months furthering this demo so check back or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Cheers,

Christian

Oracle has just published a new Sample Sales Analysis RPD with supporting data files for OBIEE.  This OBIEE RPD example should be a great additional demo for any OBIEE professional to demo to clients and learn some techniques.

http://download.oracle.com/technology/products/bi/files/oracle_bi_sample_analysis_setup_files.zip

This is from Oracle and link comes thanks to John Minkjan our Netherlands native OBIEE guru.  I am still not sure how he got his hands on this but thanks any way John.

I will be taking this RPD a little further in the next few days and in Part 2 of this blog let you know via screenshots some of the highlights of this RPD.

Several years back I was rather dubious about IT certification exams. Even though I had friends with PMP certs and I understood that having it in their dossier provided them with a leg up when it came to finding employment and negotiating salaries.  I thought about the cons more than the pros. For example, why should I study for something that I already know?  What benefit does it give me in my current job?  Why would I want to pay $125+ to take an exam.  And, of course, What if I fail?

Well since I have had almost 10 years to contemplate these cons since I took my first proctored IT exam, I now only look at the positives.  Aside from the “learning is fun” cliche (which I actually subscribe to), many certs latter, I can tell you that having a few purposeful certs that you can back-up with experience is a powerful combination.  Think about the resume implications.  Imagine you are an employer.  You are looking for the perfect candidate based on resumes alone.  You come across two final contestants having almost identical resumes.  The only exception is that one has 6 years experience and a certification and the other has 6 years experience and no certification.  On paper you stand out and it could be the difference between getting a gig or sitting on the bench waiting for the next opp to come along.

I just passed the Hyperion Oracle 9.3. Developer exam a few weeks back.  Did I need to take it? No.  But it really is the icing on the cake as Daniel Poon states it.

Do certifications suck?  The certifications themselves do not suck. In my humble opinion they are one of only a few delineating factors characterizing mediocre professionals from the excellent ones. 

Here are a few things that DO suck abou the process of getting a certification:

• Finding the correct study guide to study from, researching caveats of the exam topic(s), and the actually studying itself when you think you already know “this stuff”
  • Note:  This is actually the best part of a sucky process becuase you really do become better at the exam topic by researching and studying for it.  This is probably the #1 reason to take an exam.
• Having to pay for the exam yourself if not re-imbursed by your employer
• Being proctored
• Not being able to celebrate properly after you’ve passed the exam due to tight project time lines. (Usually happens when you take an exam over your lunch break)
• No getting a diploma sized certification after each certification you receive. 

Here is a little more information about the Oracle/Hyperion Essbase 9.3 Developer exam.

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=41&p_org_id=1001&lang=US&p_exam_id=1Z0_264#4

I think I’ll start getting ready for the Oracle/Hyperion Planning exam.  That is really going to suck.

I have to confess, that yes, I gave into the all appealing glow of the Apple iTunes, iStore, iPod, all things “i” machine and purchased an iPhone about 6-months ago.

Fortunately for me, its a 3G and I love it.  It was a great price at $199 and has all of the functionality that my HTC Excalibur had and more. Tying my everlasting tech-toy joy in with my BI skillset, it was always a hope to leverage the mobile interface of one of my favorite analytic applications on the iPhone.  As we all know, Oracle last year released some of their iPhone applications which interface with your Oracle data via web services (SOA).

Oracle's Lacking iPhone OBIEE App Demo

This is why I love OBIEE. The integrations just aren’t stopping. I’ll soon be writing a good article on integrating Google Maps with OBIEE, but for now let’s stay on topic.

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