oow2009 essbase and obiee integration deep dive 101221050609 phpapp02

7/31/2019 Oow2009 Essbase and Obiee Integration Deep Dive 101221050609 Phpapp02

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T : +44 (0) 8446 697 995 or(888) 631 1410 (USA) E : [email protected] W: www.rittmanmead.com

Session #S308723, Oracle Open World 2009 San FranciscoMark Rittman and Venkat Janakiraman, Rittman Mead

Oracle BI EE and Essbase Integration Deep Dive

Saturday, 10 October 2009
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T : +44 (0) 8446 697 995 E : [email protected] W: www.rittmanmead.com

Who Are We?

Mark Rittman is Technical Director at Rittman Mead

Oracle ACE Director, 12 Years+ of Oracle BI experience

Author of forthcoming Oracle Press OBIEE+ book

Consultant and Trainer, based in the UK

Blog at http://www.rittmanmead.com/blogVenkatakrishnan Janakiraman is Principal Consultant, Rittman Mead

Over 6+ Years of Oracle BI Implementation/Training experience

Principal Consultant, Rittman Mead

Blog at http://oraclebizint.wordpress.comand now at

http://www.rittmanmead.com/blog

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Rittman Mead Consulting

Oracle BI&DW Project Specialists providing consulting, training and support

Clients in the UK, USA, Europe, Middle-East

Voted UKOUG BI Partner of the Year 2008

Consultants in Europe and North America

Regular speakers at user group and Oracle events



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What Do We Do?

Consulting, mentoring and support for Oracle BI projects

Technical design, project management, QA

Deliver entire project or just supplement your team

Advise on Oracle BI technology strategy

On-site training

Event organization

Support



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Rittman Mead Blog

Longest-running Oracle (BI) Blog

Ten authors including Mark Rittman, Borkur Steingrimsson, Stewart Bryson, Peter Scott

and now Venkat J (ex-http://oraclebizint.wordpress.com)

Articles on OBIEE, OWB, DW, Hyperion etc

All past presentations and articles



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T : +44 (0) 8446 697 995 E : [email protected] W: www.rittmanmead.comT : +44 (0) 8446 697 995 E : [email protected] W: www.rittmanmead.com

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus

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Oracle BI Server

Calculation and Data Integration Engine

Virtual Data Warehouse

Allows reporting across multiple sources

Data accessed though metadata layer

Connects to RDBMS and OLAP data

Oracle Database (including Oracle OLAP)

IBM DB2

Microsoft SQL Server

Teradata

Microsoft Analysis Services (OLAP)

SAP BW 'info cubes'

Security, Summary Management

Translates incoming logical SQLin to optimized, physical SQL or MDX

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Data Access and the Semantic Object Layer

Reporting data may be sourced from

multiple databases, applications

Oracle Database (including Oracle OLAP)

IBM DB2

Microsoft SQL Server

Teradata

Microsoft Analysis Services (OLAP)

SAP BW 'info cubes'

SAP, Peoplesoft, Siebel, E-Business Suite

Oracle BI Server joins this sourcedata together and presents a

logical business model Facts, Dimensions, Calculations

Joins, Presentation folders



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Essbase Overview

Standalone OLAP server now owned by Oracle

Acquired as part of the Hyperion Acquisition

Adds a fully-featured OLAP server, separate

to the database, as part of theFusion Middleware family of products

End-User focused, very popularwith business users

Used to power many of the

Hyperion performancemanagement applications

Similar capabilities to

Oracle OLAP Supports MDX and XML/A

rather than SQL access



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Essbase and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition

Essbase is a key part of Oracles Business Intelligence Foundation Layer

Essbase and Hyperion EPM can play several roles in this architecture

As a data source

As a data consumer

As a portal for all Oracle BI

As a MS Office integration point

Essbase can benefit from Oracle BIEnterprise Semantic Model

OBIEE can benefit from Essbase

calculations and analytics



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Technical Implementation



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OBIEE to Essbase Connectivity

The Oracle BI Server connects to Essbase via the Essbase Client API

Low-level access, potential support for writeback

Precludes the use of Provider Services (implications for clustering)

Essbase Client needs to be installed on the BI Server server

And potentially on the workstation running Oracle BI Administrator

BI Server generates MDX which is sent to Essbase

Able to leverage Essbase MDX functions

OBIEE 10g+Essbase integration is a

work in progress, some issues to be aware of



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Importing Essbase Data into Oracle BI Enterprise Edition: Step 1

Essbase cube metadata (Outline) is imported into BI Server Semantic Model using

Oracle BI Administrator tool

Connection is via the Essbase Client API

Enter connection details (typically admin account for import, switch later on)

Select application and database to import



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Importing Essbase Data into Oracle BI Enterprise Edition: Step 2

Import process creates the Physical Model within the Semantic Layer

This is then dragged and dropped into the Business Model and Mapping Layer, and then the

Presentation Model layer

Logical tables anddimensions are

automatically created Measure aggregations

set to AGGR_EXTERNAL

Essbase generationsconverted to dim columns

Essbase measures

converted to fact measures



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Creating Federated (Hybrid) Models

One of the most powerful features in the BI Server it is ability to combine data sources

Multiple data sources presented as a single business model

Works across both relational and non-relational sources

Oracle BI Server converts non-relational sources into relational views

In terms of Essbase integration there are two main use-cases:

1.Vertical Federation : Providing drill-down from an Essbase-based model to detail-levelrelational data (Supported by Essbase natively through HOLAP)

2.Horizontal Federation : Combining MOLAP and relational measures into a single business

model (not available in Essbase. Possible only through BI EE Integration)



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Vertical Federation (Drill-Down from Essbase to Relational)

Relies on the ability to map OBIEE logical columns, tables to multiple table sources (LTS)

Columns are mapped in to Essbase and relational sources at the same time

These logical table sources are mapped in at different levels in logical table dimensions

BI Server switches between table sources depending on level of detail requested

Essbase used for summary data, relational used for detail (transaction-level)

Transparent to the end-user

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Summary-Level Queries are Directed to Essbase Server

Reports that then run at the aggregated level will automatically use Essbase

This is because the Essbase source is the one mapped in highest in the table dimension

Withset [Channel3] as '[Channel].Generations(3).members'set [Customers5] as '[Customers].Generations(5).members'

select{ [Measures].[Amount]} on columns,NON EMPTY {crossjoin ({[Channel3]},{[Customers5]})} properties

ANCESTOR_NAMES, GEN_NUMBER on rowsfrom [SH.SH]



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Detail, Transaction-Level Queries are Directed to Relational Source

Reports where the user drills to transaction level then switch the relational source

This happens because the relational source is the only one that can provide

table data at the required level

select D1.c1 as c1,D1.c2 as c2, D1.c3 as c3, D1.c4 as c4,D1.c5 as c5, D1.c6 as c6, D1.c7 as c7

from(select T1915.COUNTRY_NAME as c1,

T1927.CUST_CITY as c2,T1927.CUST_EMAIL as c3,T1927.CUST_CREDIT_LIMIT as c4,concat(concat(T1927.CUST_FIRST_NAME, ' - '),T1927.CUST_LAST_NAME) as c5,T203.CHANNEL_CLASS as c6,sum(T1960.AMOUNT_SOLD) as c7,T1927.CUST_ID as c8

fromCOUNTRIES T1915,CUSTOMERS T1927,CHANNELS T203,SALES T1960

where ( T203.CHANNEL_ID = T1960.CHANNEL_IDand T1915.COUNTRY_ID = T1927.COUNTRY_ID

and T1915.COUNTRY_NAME = 'Australia'and T1927.CUST_CITY = 'Darwin'and T1927.CUST_ID = T1960.CUST_ID )

group by T203.CHANNEL_CLASS, T1915.COUNTRY_NAME,T1927.CUST_CITY, T1927.CUST_CREDIT_LIMIT,T1927.CUST_EMAIL, T1927.CUST_ID,concat(concat(T1927.CUST_FIRST_NAME, ' - '),T1927.CUST_LAST_NAME) ) D1

order by c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6

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Drill to Detail using Essbase and Relational SourcesDemonstration



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Data Model Federation Considerations & Limitations

Only Essbase outlines that are balanced and level-orientated can be federated Unbalanced/ragged hierarchies do not consistently map to BMM columns

Therefore Essbase cubes that look like relational cubes are the best to federate Typically sales analysis, and cubes built to support OBIEE

There is no refresh facility to bring in changed outlines into OBIEE Therefore only stable outlines are suitable for OBIEE

No issues over ASO, BSO etc Versions of Essbase supported back to 7.x



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Horizontal Federation (Combining Essbase and Relational Measures)

Again uses ability of OBIEE to map logical tables to multiple table sources

In this case though, some measures come from relational, some from Essbase

Dimensions are used to specify level of detail of each source

Either, or both, sources are then used depending on scope of query



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Multiple Queries (SQL, MDX) are Generated

In-memory stitch joins performed by BI Server using conforming dimensions.

Create a report containing a fact from Essbase and the other from BI EE

From Essbase

From Relational Source



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Leveraging Essbase Calculations

When Essbase is used as a data source, it is possible to leverage its Essbase MDX functions

Make use of cross-dimensional selections, forecasts, allocations, statistical functions

Access is provided through the EVALUATEand EVALUATE_AGGRfunctions

EVALUATE used to return dimension attributes (rank, value etc)

EVALUATE_AGGRused to return aggregated values (sum etc)

EVALUATE_AGGR('(%1,Customers.dimension.currentmember).value/Count(Customers.dimension.currentmember.children)',

"vejanaki-lap.in.oracle.com"."SH".""."SH"."Amount")

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Essbase Function Shipping Considerations

Only a few Oracle BI Server functions are automatically function-shipped to MDX

Time Series functions: AGO and TODATE

All others are performed by the BI Server

Examples include RANK, COUNT, TOPn etc

In this initial release, you may wish to perform complex analytical functions using

MDX and EVALUATE / EVALUATE_AGGR

Future releases will function-ship more to MDX?



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Adding an Essbase MDX Calculation To the Business Model

Firstly, add a new logical column to the business model

Then edit the LTS to add the EVALUATE(_AGGR) expression, using Essbase MDX function



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Essbase and Time-Series Calculations

Oracle BI Administrator enables you to mark a dimension as a Time Dimension

Makes it then possible to use Time-Series calculations

AGO provides the value of a measure by a time offset

TODATE gives you the value of a measure from a time offset to now

The Oracle BI Server function-ships these to the

appropriate Essbase MDX function

Generally more efficient than the equivalent SQL query

Withset [Times5] as '{[Times].[01-Apr-1998], [Times].[02-Apr-1998]member [Measures].[MS1] as 'SUM({ParallelPeriod([Times].

[Gen5,Times],1,

[Times].currentmember)},Measures.[Quantity])'

select

{ [Measures].[Quantity],

[Measures].[MS1],

[Measures].[MS2]

} on columns,

NON EMPTY {{[Times5]}} properties ANCESTOR_NAMES, GEN_NUMBER on

rows

from [SH.SH]

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Essbase MDX Calculations and EVALUATEDemonstration



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Leveraging Shared Services and Essbase Security from BI EE

2 types of Essbase security

Native Essbase authentication

Hyperion Shared Services (HSS) authentication

From BI EE, 2 points to consider while integrating with Essbase

Integration with Essbase alone (using both Security models above)

Integration with Essbase along with EPM SSO



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Security Integration Considerations

Essbase userIDs and filters can be used, but only from OBIEE 10.1.3.4 (patched) or 10.1.3.4.1

Issue where @NativeDirectory is appended to SSO name

Needs workaround - use init block to capture :USER prior to HSS authentication

SSO can be set up across EPM Workspace and OBIEE tools

Issue where SSO works but BI Server does not pass Essbase login through connection pool

Patch now available?

Best practice is either to

Use OBIEE filters if SSO across whole stack is required

Use Essbase filters if SSO from EPM not used, or more complex security is required



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Clustered Essbase Servers and Oracle BI EE

Currently no out of the box support

Work around using a custom database function

Database function returns the active Essbase Server

The server name is stored in a session variable

Your responsibility to maintain accurate list

of active Essbase servers



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Conclusions

Essbase can significantly add to the capabilities of Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

The Oracle BI Server can report against Essbase in isolation, or integrated with relational data

MOLAP and ROLAP measures and dims can be combined into a single federated model

The Oracle BI Server provides access to native Essbase MDX functions

However, there are many issues and bugs to be aware of, this is an unfinished work

Works best when your Essbase cube looks like a ROLAP cube, has a stable outline andsecurity is handled by OBIEE

Security can be integrated across both platforms

Workarounds exist for clustering and high availability

For more information, check out the accompanying white paper, and our blogs:

http://www.rittmanmead.com/blog

http://oraclebizint.wordpress.com

Thank you for attending this session

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Forthcoming Events

Three Days of Intensive OBIEE Training

Led by Mark Rittman, Venkat Janakiraman,

Christian Berg

London, 27th-29th October 2009

25% discount for BIRT SIG attendees

ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010

Washington DC, June 2010



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Session #S308723, Oracle Open World 2009 San FranciscoMark Rittman and Venkat Janakiraman, Rittman Mead

Oracle BI EE and Essbase Integration Deep Dive

oow2009 essbase and obiee integration deep dive 101221050609 phpapp02

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