1. 21 Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. Working with Oracle Business Intelligence Answers

2. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 2 Objectives After completing this lesson, you should be able to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to construct, modify, and save requests.

3. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 3 Oracle Business Intelligence: Architecture Scheduler Database Data source Oracle BI Scheduler Oracle BI Server BI Clients Answers Dashboards Delivers Publisher Administration Oracle BI Presentation Services Oracle BI Repository Administration Tool Oracle BI Presentation Catalog

4. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 4 Oracle Business Intelligence Answers: Overview Enables you to query an organization’s data Provides a set of graphical tools to create and execute requests for information Saves, organizes, shares, and integrates request results with other content Retrieves and displays analytical information through requests Provides the building blocks of Oracle Business Intelligence Interactive Dashboards

5. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 5 Oracle Business Intelligence Answers Request Revenue less than $100,000 is highlighted. Revenue data is formatted as dollar amounts and displayed as dollars. Request title Custom column heading

6. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 6 Key Terms Special kind of filter that restricts the result set returned by a request; can be used to populate variables Prompt Underlying SQL issued to the Oracle BI Server for the specified request Stores content created with Answers and Interactive Dashboards Oracle BI Presentation Catalog Query Filter object that filters all content on a dashboard page and can be used to populate variables Dashboard Prompt Page in a Business Intelligence application that displays contentDashboard Logical object that organizes and presents data about a businessSubject Area Output returned from Oracle BI Server for specified requestResults Set of columns and filters that are specified for a requestCriteria Mechanism that restricts the result set returned by a requestFilter Object that indicates the data that a request returnsColumn Answers a query against an organization’s dataRequest DefinitionTerm

7. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 7 Starting Oracle Business Intelligence Answers 1 2 3

8. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 8 Oracle Business Intelligence Answers: Start Page This page appears after you click the Answers link. A B

9. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 9 Oracle Business Intelligence Answers: Start Page This page appears after you click the Answers link. C D

10. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 10 Answers Selection Pane Accesses saved requests and dashboards Shows columns and filters to construct requests Organizes content into presentation folders, tables, and columns

11. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 11 Answers Workspace Provides an area to create, modify, and save requests and filters

12. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 12 Answers Tabs Contain on-screen information and buttons to create, access, and manage requests View or change columns and filters for requests View or modify results of requests Create prompts to filter requests Work directly with XML and SQL generated for a request Display compound layout Display table view Display chart view Display pivot table view

13. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 13 Subject Areas Contain information about the areas of your organization’s business Have names that correspond to the type of information they contain Select a subject area to create a new request.

14. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 14 Interactive Dashboards The Dashboards tab displays saved Interactive Dashboards in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. Click Dashboards. Select saved Interactive Dashboards to view or modify.

15. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 15 Variables There are three types of variables: –Presentation — Defined using column formulas in Answers — Preserve user context; persist for the duration of a session –Session — Defined in server repository; persist within a session –Repository — Defined in server repository; available across the server Variables are used in reports and dashboards and can be called to define filters, formulas, and conditional formatting.

16. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 16 Working with Requests in Oracle Business Intelligence Answers 1.Select a subject area. 2.Construct a request. 3.Modify request criteria. Sorting columns Style Column format Data format Conditional format Formulas 4.Change column order. 5.Display request results. 6.Modify the results layout. 7.Save a request.

17. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 17 1. Select a subject area. After logging in, select a subject area to navigate to the Oracle Business Intelligence Answers workspace. Select subject area.

18. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 18 2. Construct a request. Select columns from subject area virtual tables in the selection pane to create request criteria. Request criteria are displayed in the workspace. 1 2 3 4

19. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 19 3. Modify request criteria. Use buttons to modify request criteria: Column Properties –Edit column properties to control appearance and layout Edit Formula –Add a new function (such as ranking or moving averages) Add Filter –Limit data that appears in a column Remove Column –Remove a column from the request criteria Order By –Determine sort order (ascending or descending)

20. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 20 3. Modify request criteria (sorting columns). Use the Order By button for the desired column to select the order. Click the button to set the sort order: –Ascending –Descending –Secondary column sort This column sort occurs after the primary sort. This column sort occurs after the secondary sort and in descending sequence. Primary ascending column sort

21. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 21 3. Modify request criteria (style). Provides the ability to override defaults for: Font Cell (including alignment) Border Style sheets Click the Column Properties button. Point to custom style sheets.

22. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 22 3. Modify request criteria (column format). Provides the ability to override defaults for: Column visibility Headings Data duplication Interaction 1 2 3

23. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 23 3. Modify request criteria (data format). Provides the ability to override the way data is displayed based on the data type Text data: Treat as plain text, HTML, link, and so on Numeric data: Treat as number, percentage, currency, and so on

24. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 24 3. Modify request criteria (conditional format). Directs attention to a data element that meets a certain condition Click Add Condition for each condition.

25. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 25 3. Modify request criteria (formulas). Provide the ability to use complex formulas in your requests: Operators Functions Filters Variables Click the Edit Formula button. Calculation Builder Select a function to add it to the column formula.

26. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 26 4. Change column order. Drag columns to change column order. Drag a column to another location to reorder the columns.

27. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 27 5. Display request results. Click the Results tab to see the results of a request. A request can be displayed in many formats.

28. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 28 5. Display request results. Data is automatically sorted by the first column and then sorted by the second column. –Sorting can be specified by the user. Repeating values are suppressed. –By default, the values can be changed by the user. Click to see the next group or row. Click to see all rows.

29. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 29 6. Modify the results layout. Change views to control the appearance of the results. Choose a result view.

30. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 30 7. Save a request. On the Save Request page, you can save a request in a personal or shared folder. 1 3 2

31. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 31 Advanced Formatting Saving column settings as systemwide defaults Copying and pasting formatting attributes Using a saved request as a style template Using custom date-format strings

32. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 32 Saving Column Settings as Systemwide Defaults Settings on column properties tabs can be saved as systemwide defaults: Save defaults for particular columns or data types. User must have appropriate permissions to save. Subsequent users see new default settings. Save as defaults for column. Save as defaults for data type.

33. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 33 Copying and Pasting Formatting Attributes Copy a range of formatting attributes that are applied to an object and then paste them to an object of the same type: This is supported for rows, columns, and table cells in table, pivot table, and chart views. Restore defaults Copy Paste

34. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 34 Using a Saved Request as a Style Template Use a customized saved request as a cosmetic style template. Apply formatting from template to new or existing requests: –Supported in table, pivot table, and chart views Template formatting applied 1 2

35. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 35 Customized Date and Time Format Strings Provide additional options for formatting columns that contain time stamps, dates, and times Examples of general customized format strings: 12:00 AM 12:00:00 AM Monday, February 2, 1998 2/2/1998 Example Formats time in locale’s time format but omits seconds [FMT:timeHourMin] Formats time in locale’s time format [FMT:time] Formats date in locale’s long-date format [FMT:dateLong] Formats date in locale’s short-date format [FMT:dateShort] Result General Format String

36. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 36 Applying a Customized Format String to a Column Example: Using a customized date format string for a date column Result 2 3 4 1

37. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 37 Summary In this lesson, you should have learned how to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to construct, modify, and save requests.

38. Copyright © 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. 21 - 38 Practice 21: Overview This practice covers the following topics: Creating a request Formatting the request