Essbase 50790294 Olap University

Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP
Electronic Presentation
D17505GC20 Edition 2.0 April 2006 D45766
Authors Brian Pottle Kevin Lancaster Nancy Greenberg Technical Contributors and Reviewers Stuart Bunby Marty Gubar Sharath Bhujani Laszlo Czinkoczki Laura Garza Sue Helmy Keith Laker Miguelangel Lopez Timothy McGlue Srinivas Putrevu Kasturi Shekhar Anthony Waite Publisher Jobi Varghese Editors Navratan Singh Richard Wallis Graphic Specialist Sanjeev Sharma
Copyright 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved. Disclaimer This document contains proprietary information and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may copy and print this document solely for your own use in an Oracle training course. The document may not be modified or altered in any way. Except where your use constitutes "fair use" under copyright law, you may not use, share, download, upload, copy, print, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, post, transmit, or distribute this document in whole or in part without the express authorization of Oracle. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems in the document, please report them in writing to: Oracle University, 500 Oracle Parkway document University Parkway, Redwood Shores, California 94065 USA. This document is not warranted to be error-free. Restricted Rights Notice If this documentation is delivered to the United States Government or anyone using the documentation on behalf of the United States Government, the following notice is applicable: U.S. U S GOVERNMENT RIGHTS The U.S. Governments rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose these training materials are restricted by the terms of the applicable Oracle license agreement and/or the applicable U.S. Government contract. Trademark Notice Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners affiliates. owners.
Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP

Student Guide
D17505GC20 Production 2.0 April 2006 D45765
Authors Brian Pottle Kevin Lancaster Nancy G N Greenberg b Technical Contributors and Reviewers Stuart Bunby Marty Gubar Sharath Bhujani Laszlo Czinkoczki Laura Garza Sue Helmy Keith Laker Miguelangel Lopez Timothy McGlue Srinivas Putrevu Kasturi Shekhar Anthony Waite Publisher Jobi Varghese Editors Navratan Singh Richard Wallis Graphic Specialist Sanjeev Sharma
Copyright 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved. Disclaimer This document contains proprietary information and is protected by copyright and y y y g other intellectual property laws. You may copy and print this document solely for your own use in an Oracle training course. The document may not be modified or altered in any way. Except where your use constitutes "fair use" under copyright law, you may not use, share, download, upload, copy, print, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, post, transmit, or distribute this document in whole or in part without the express authorization of Oracle. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems in the document, please report them in writing to: Oracle University, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, California 94065 USA. This document is not warranted to be error-free. t dt b f Restricted Rights Notice If this documentation is delivered to the United States Government or anyone using the documentation on behalf of the United States Government, the following notice is applicable: U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS The U.S. Governments rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose these training materials are restricted by the terms of the applicable Oracle license agreement and/or the applicable U.S. Government contract. Trademark Notice Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Course Objectives In this course, you learn how to use the features of online analytical processing (OLAP) to derive critical information from multidimensional data that is stored in Oracle Database 10g. This includes learning OLAP concepts, building a cube with the Oracle Database 10g Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM 10g) toolkit, enhancing analytic content, and using tools for OLAP analysis.
Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP I-2
Course Agenda On day 1 of the course, you concentrate on learning the Oracle OLAP technology, terminology, and concepts. By the end of day 1, you will have built an analytic workspace ( p y y y y p (AW) with cubes ) and dimensionality. On day 2, you use OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In (in Excel) and the Discoverer Plus OLAP tool to view the objects in the AW. You create and view calculated measures and build exception and ranking reports. The final lesson introduces you to the strengths of the OLAP DML (data manipulation language).
Tables Used in This Course The sample company portrayed by the Oracle database sample schemas operates worldwide to fill orders for several different products. The company has several divisions: p p y The Human Resources (HR) division tracks information about the companys employees and facilities. The Order Entry division tracks product inventories and sales of the companys products through various channels. The Sales History (SH) division tracks business statistics to facilitate business decisions. Each of these divisions is represented by a schema. This course primarily uses the Sales History (SH) sample schema. All scripts necessary to create the SH schema reside in the following folder: $ORACLE_HOME/demo/schema/sales_history
Sales History (SH) Schema The sample company does a high volume of business, so it runs business statistics reports to aid pp y p y y in decision support. Many of these reports are time-based and nonvolatile. That is, they analyze past data trends. The company loads data into its data warehouse regularly to gather statistics for these reports, among which are annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly sales figures by product. The company also runs reports about distribution channels through which its sales are delivered. When the company runs special promotions on its products, it analyzes the impact of those promotions on sales. It also analyzes sales by geographical area. Note: Additional information about the SH schema is available in Appendix B, Table Descriptions and Data.
Objectives In this lesson, you learn about the Oracle Database 10g OLAP (online analytical processing) option and dimensional model that is implemented in Oracle Database 10g. The goal of this p p g lesson is to describe the fundamental concepts of OLAP and the reasons why organizations use it. In addition, you learn the definitions of dimensional data model elements, such as measures, dimensions, hierarchies, levels, and attributes, in Oracle OLAP.
Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 1-2
What Is OLAP?
Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a term that has been used since the early 1990s to
describe a class of computer systems that are designed and optimized for analysis. By using this p y g p y y g term, you can differentiate the requirements of the data analyst from the requirements of the users of online transaction processing (OLTP). In the context of business intelligence today, the emphasis is more on online and analytical. Online: Although most OLAP tools and applications enable development of reports that can be saved and printed when not connected to live data, OLAP emphasizes live access to data rather than static reporting. Analytic queries are submitted against the database in real time, and the results are returned to your computer screen. l d Analytical processing: This is the key concept with OLAP. End users can: Easily navigate multidimensional data to perform unpredictable ad hoc queries and to display the results in a variety of interesting layouts Drill through levels of detail to uncover significant aspects of data Rapidly and efficiently obtain the results of sophisticated data calculation and selection across multiple dimensions of data
Typical Business Questions A standard transactional report or query might ask, When did order 84305 ship? This q y query reflects the basic mechanics of doing business. It involves simple data selection g p and little or no calculation processing. In contrast, OLAP systems are typically deployed to extend and enhance an organizations ability to answer a much broader range of business questions about the data (examples of which are presented in the slide). These questions are more analytical and complex, and the answer to one question often leads immediately to another question as the user follows a train of thought in researching a business problem or opportunity. bl t it OLAP is designed to make it easy for end users to ask these types of analytical questions without requiring: Assistance from information technology (IT) Programming skills Technical knowledge about the organization of the database The Th results of queries also need to be rapid so that the analysts t i of th lt f i l dt b id th t th l t train f thought i not ht is t interrupted and the value of the analysis is not diminished.
Examining an OLAP Question The questions that business users tend to ask are naturally multidimensional. They use a multidimensional language to ask business questions ( g g q (such as the one shown in the slide). ) OLAP Questions Are Multidimensional Queries The OLAP question shown in the slide is a common example of a multidimensional query. It describes both the data that the user wants to examine and the structural form of that data. Business users typically want to answer questions that include terms such as what, where, who, and when. For example, you find the following essential questions embedded in the sample question: What products are selling best? (top 20%) Where are they selling? (each region of the world) When have they performed the best? (percentage change in revenue)
Examining an OLAP Question (continued) A Simple Business Question but a Complex Query However, there is much more that is contained in this query: Th are two calculations (percentage change in revenue and rolling three-month total). There t l l ti ( t h i d lli th th t t l) There is a ranking element (the top 20% of products). There are aggregations (region level of the geography dimension). There are multidimensional selections (specific products, specific time periods, and specific regions). The result of the query is a multidimensional view of the data (perhaps as a tabular display on the screen, perhaps as a g p or both). p p graph, ) Many would categorize that as quite a complex query. And, for many traditional query and reporting tools and databases, it indeed is quite complex. But the complexity of this query is a technical issue rather than a business issue. Therefore, a key goal of OLAP technology is to make it very easy for end users to ask such questions about their data without placing a burden on the IT department. How Does OLAP Make This Easy? Business users think dimensionally. By design, OLAP technology stores, processes, and presents data in a dimensional way. The data model of OLAP systems reflects the users picture of their business data, making it easy to formulate queries in business terms. OLAP systems are optimised for fast retrieval of data for dimensional analysis. We will now examine the multidimensional logical model, which serves as the basis for OLAP g , systems.
Dimensional Model In this section, you learn the components of the dimensional model, which essentially comprises measures and dimensions.
Measures Measures represent factual data; they are sometimes called facts. Typical examples of measures are sales, cost, profit, and margin. p g Measures are organized by one or more dimensions. The image in the slide represents a generic measure that is organized by three dimensions. Many people visualize measures as being of a multidimensional shape, such as a cube, in which the edges of the shape are the dimensions and the contents of the shape are the measure values. Visualizing Measures There is a tendency to draw three dimensional (3D) shapes and refer to cubes (which are 3D) three-dimensional cubes simply because they are easy to visualize. Of course, measures in a dimensional model can have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or many more dimensions. Most measures in OLAP systems tend to be numeric, although some products, such as Oracle OLAP, support measures in a wide variety of different data formats, including date, Boolean (Y/N), and text.
Measure Types Measures may be stored or calculated at query time. Sto ed easu es Stored Measures Stored measures are loaded and stored in the database, or are the results of calculations that are stored. Calculated Measures Calculated measures are measures whose values are calculated dynamically at query time. Only the calculation rules are stored in the database. Common calculations include measures such as ratios differences moving totals and ratios, differences, totals, averages. Calculations do not require disk storage space, and they do not extend the processing time required for data maintenance. Note: Oracle OLAP has a library of several hundred multidimensional calculation functions that can be used in calculated measures. It is even possible for expert users of Oracle OLAP to define their own functions to perform virtually any calculation.
Example of Measures in a Report In the example, the report includes a crosstab that contains four measures: Revenue Costs PROFIT Margin % In this example, Revenue and Costs are stored measures, and PROFIT and Margin % are calculated measures. Stored and Calculated Measures Are the Same to the End User All measures are equivalent as far as the end-user interface is concerned. They appear in the same way, and all are available with consistently fast query performance, even if there is significant aggregation and calculation going on to arrive at the display requested.
Dimensions Dimensions identify and categorize your measure data. They shape measures by forming the edges of the measures. g Examples of dimensions include product, geography, time, and distribution channel.
Example of Dimensions in a Report In this example, the report includes the same crosstab shown previously in the section titled Example of Measures in a Report. The four measures are organized by the following p p g y g dimensions: Product (displayed on the row axis) Time Customer Channel Each of the dimensions may be placed on any axis in the report, including the column axis, where the measures are currently displayed. Dimensions may also be nested on any axis. h h l di l d Di i l b d i In the example, the Product dimension is displayed on the row axis. The other dimensions are all displayed in the Page Items area. In an OLAP report, you can choose any of the dimension members that have been selected for each dimension in the query.
Sharing Dimensions One of the characteristics of the dimensional model is that the dimensions and their members are shared by all measures, of whatever shape. In the example in the slide, there are three measures. y p p Sales and Units have the same shape; they are both dimensioned by the Customer, Product, and Time dimensions. The Price measure is dimensioned by Product and Time only; it does not use the Customer dimension because, in this example, the price does not vary by customer. Therefore, the Customer dimension is not used by the Price measure. Dimensions are stored once and are used repeatedly. That is, there is just one Time dimension in this example, even though it appears three times in the diagram.
Hierarchy Dimension hierarchies are optional but are common in OLAP systems. A hierarchy is a logical structure that groups like members of a dimension together for the purpose of analysis. g p g p p y For example: A Time dimension might have a hierarchy that describes how months are grouped together to represent a quarter and how quarters are grouped together to represent a full year. An Organization dimension might have a hierarchy that makes it easy for you to identify the direct reports of a specific manager. Each dimension can have multiple hierarchies if required. For example, the time dimension can have a hierarchy that represents the Julian calendar and another hierarchy that represents a fiscal calendar.
Hierarchy (continued) A dimensions structure is organized hierarchically based on parent-child relationships. These relationships enable: Navigation between levels: Hierarchies on dimensions enable drilling down to lower levels or navigating (rolling up) to higher levels. Drilling down on the Time dimension member 2005 will likely navigate you to the quarters Q1 2005 through Q4 2005. In a calendar year hierarchy, drilling down on Q1 2005 would navigate you to the months January 05 through March 05. These kinds of relationships make it easy for users to navigate large volumes of multidimensional data. Aggregation from child values to parent values: The parent represents the aggregation of its children. Data values at lower levels aggregate into data values at higher levels. Dimensions are structured hierarchically so that data at different levels of aggregation can be manipulated together efficiently for analysis and display. You learn about the aggregation capabilities of Oracle OLAP in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques. Allocation from parent values to child values: The reverse of aggregation is allocation and is heavily used by planning, budgeting, and similar applications. Here, the role of the hierarchy is to identify the children and descendants of particular dimension members for top-down allocation of budgets (among other uses). Grouping of members for calculations: Share and index calculations take advantage of hierarchical relationships (for example, the percentage of total profit contributed by each product, or the percentage share of product revenue for a certain category, or costs as a percentage of the geographical region for a retail location).
Hierarchy: Example In this example, you can do the following in the Product hierarchy: Navigate up through each level in the hierarchy from the lowest level to the highest level g p g y g Navigate down the hierarchy from the highest level to the lowest level Aggregate data from the lowest level (individual products) up through the hierarchy to the highest level (total product)
Level Each level represents a position in the hierarchy. The level above the base level contains aggregate values for the levels below it. The members at different levels have a one-to-many gg g y parent-child relationship. A hierarchy typically contains several levels, and a single level can be included in more than one hierarchy. If data for the Sales measure is stored at the Product level, then the higher levels of the product dimension enable the sales data to be aggregated correctly into Subcategory, Category, and All Products levels. If there are multiple hierarchies built over a dimension, it may be that a level would appear in more than one hierarchy or may exist in only one hierarchy.
Types of Hierarchy Level Based Most of the hierarchies are level based including the Product dimension hierarchy shown in the based, previous slide and the Time dimension hierarchy shown in this slide. In the time hierarchy example, there are Day, Month, Quarter, and Year levels in the hierarchy. Sales forces also generally have a level-based structure, as in the following example: Representative > Area > Region > Country > Continent > World Value Based Other dimensions may have hierarchies that are not strictly level based. For example, there is clearly a hierarchy in an organization chart, but all the direct reports of the President may not be at the same level. In the example, the two VPs (vice presidents) and the Presidents Admin (administrative assistant) are all direct reports of the President but are not at the same level. The VPs are not at the Admin level, and the Admin is not at the VP level.
Attributes Dimensions may also have attributes, which are used to provide more information about members of the dimension. Description Unless dimension-member IDs themselves are meaningful to end users, it is usually the case that each dimension has description attributes that store the user-visible identifiers for the dimension members. Data Selection Attributes are also useful when filtering that dimension for analysis They can be used analysis. for data selection purposes. These kind of attributes are entirely optional. Oracle OLAP permits a large number of attributes to be created if required. How Are Attributes Applied? Some attributes are valid for all the members of the dimension, regardless of level. For example, all products at all levels have a description. Others attributes are valid f certain l Oth tt ib t lid for t i levels or certain hi l t i hierarchies only. F example, only hi l For l l individual product items have a color.
Attributes and Levels: Examples In the chart in the slide, certain products are displayed together with their parent levels in the hierarchy (subcategories and categories) on the Product dimension. In addition, y( g g ) two sample attributes (Color and Product Manager) are displayed for these products. Other examples of typical attributes might include: For Product dimensions: Color, Flavor, Pack Size, Brand Manager Name, and so on For Customer dimensions: Gender, Marital Status, Date of Birth, and other types of demographic information Note: Sometimes, attributes may also be modeled as levels in an alternate hierarchy. Consider the example in the slide. If the business requirement was that measures should be aggregated by Product Manager (total for Bruce, John, Karl, Mary, and so on.) or by Color (total for Blue, Green, Red, White, Yellow, and so on) and by the ability to drill down, aggregate, allocate, or calculate data based on these values, then many designers would consider creating additional hierarchies on the Product dimension for this purpose. However, many attributes have little business use as aggregates and are used simply in filtering.
Dimensional Model Summarized In summary, the dimensional model is essentially made up of measures and dimensions. Measures contain or calculate data, and dimensions organize data. Dimensions are mandatory in a dimensional modelif you do not have dimensions, you cannot have measures. Dimensions are what describe measures: they are fundamental to dimensional analysis. Dimensions may contain the following elements: Dimensions optionally have hierarchies, which are logical structures that group like members of a dimension together for the purposes of analysis, aggregation, or allocation. Hierarchies may or may not have levels, because some hierarchies are not level based. Dimensions may also have attributes, which are used to provide more information about members of the dimension. Attributes are useful when filtering that dimension for analysis.
OLAP: A Historical Perspective Historically, multidimensional technology has been compelling because business users think dimensionally, and multidimensional technology presents data in a way that reflects the users y gy p y picture of their business data. However, organizations have always been forced to make choices, driven by technical and architectural needs, when considering how best to deliver the logical dimensional model to end users. Deploy a stand-alone multidimensional database. For many years, the most common solution was to purchase and deploy a separate specialized multidimensional database that is tuned for the dimensional model, and transfer data to it from the source systems (most of which are running on relational database management systems or flat file legacy systems). Implement a dimensional schema in an RDBMS. Other organisations, while recognising that specialized multidimensional OLAP servers had certain advantages, would prefer to standardize on their relational database of choice, and deliver the dimensional model via a star or snowflake schema. Advantages and Disadvantages g g In the next few sections some of the advantages and disadvantages of these different approaches are considered.
Deploy a Stand-alone Multidimensional Database Benefits Multidimensional databases physically implement the dimensional model with multidimensional data types. The specialized storage model is optimized for: Fast storage and retrieval of multidimensional data Ease of definition and efficiency of analytical calculations Efficient computation and increased speed of operations for calculations, aggregations, and allocations Natural conformance to the logical dimensional model favored by business people Drawbacks The extra cost of deploying, managing, and securing a separate stand-alone, proprietary database engine, and the information latency resulting from the requirement of transferring the data to it The increased learning curve for IT and business users who require different tools using proprietary APIs to access multidimensional data Stand-alone multidimensional OLAP servers could not be used for some business requirements for reasons of scalability. The best relational databases had much greater ability to handle the storage of large volumes of data.
Implement a Dimensional Schema in an RDBMS Benefits IT does not incur the costs associated with deploying a separate, proprietary system. p y g p p p y y Database administrators (DBAs) continue to use their relational skills and tools, and can manage all their business intelligence data in the familiar scalable RDBMS Because all data was in the RDBMS, organizations had a wide choice of SQL-based access tools, and the same SQL tool could access all the data. It was typically much easier to physically store large volumes of data relationally than was possible in multidimensional databases. Drawbacks D b k As the business requirement resulted in queries that were more ad hoc, less predictable, and more calculation intensive (more calculations and/or more complex calculations), query performance typically declined dramatically. It was difficult, and sometimes impossible, to implement the required business calculations required by OLAP applications with SQL on relational tables. It certainly became too complex for business users to define the calculations and q p queries they needed for their y analysis.
A Compromising Choice Because of the benefits of the multidimensional physical implementation of the dimensional model, and despite the known drawbacks of this approach, many organizations (even those with p pp y g ( skills and investment in leading RDBMS databases such as Oracle Database) invested in separate multidimensional databases, such as Oracle Express Server, to deliver high performance OLAP systems. In their judgement, the extra cost and inconvenience of using these separate technologies was worth in return for their ability to better deliver their end users business requirements. There was no one solution that met the business intelligence needs of all organizations.
Handling Multidimensional Needs with Oracle OLAP 10g With Oracle OLAP 10g, these choices and compromises are no longer necessary. Oracle OLAP uniquely combines relational and multidimensional database technology into a single database: q y gy g Oracle Database 10g. Oracles objective in developing Oracle OLAP 10g was to continue to offer not only the leading relational platform for business intelligence, but to incorporate highly advanced and powerful multidimensional technology inside the Oracle database, where it could be managed, secured, and accessed just like other data in the database. This has removed most, if not all, of the fundamental drawbacks of using multidimensional database technology in the past. With the Oracle OLAP option, you also benefit from the following: There is no need to copy and transfer data into separate specialised databases. All data is in one place. All business and calculation rules are defined and stored in one place. Data is secured and managed by the Oracle database. OLAP systems, including those based on multidimensional data types, benefit from the scalability and availability features of the Oracle database. database All data, relational and multidimensional, can be queried with regular SQL.
Handling Multidimensional Needs with Oracle OLAP 10g (continued) Access Options The OLAP option to the Oracle database provides a sophisticated OLAP API that is used by business intelligence t l th t are aware of th di b i i t lli tools that f the dimensional model. Thi OLAP API can be used i l d l This b d to query both multidimensional data types and dimensional models that are implemented in a relational star or snowflake style of schema. Likewise, with Oracle Database 10g, users and tools can query data with regular SQLnot only the relational data types, but also the multidimensional data types and calculation engine. Therefore, with Oracle OLAP, your choice of tool is not driven by your choice of database, and your choice of architecture does not result in your having to choose between separate databases or separate end-user tools with different capabilities and strengths. The same data, whether stored in a star or snowflake schema or in multidimensional form in the database, can be accessed by any tool that can query the database with SQL or via the OLAP API. This means that there is no need to duplicate data in multiple databases in order for different tools to use the data, thus reducing costs and improving the quality and consistency of reporting and analysis alike. Which Data Types and When? For business intelligence applications that are simple, with fixed or very predictable reporting patterns and simple calculations, the multidimensional data types of the OLAP option might not be required. If, however, the system must support sophisticated calculations and excellent query performance in an unpredictable query environment the performance benefits of the OLAP option can be environment, significant. Because the disadvantages of separate multidimensional databases are eliminated, and because the performance and calculation characteristics of the best multidimensional databases are preserved and extended within the Oracle database, many organisations are choosing to implement multidimensional OLAP inside Oracle Database 10g.
Query Performance Oracle multidimensional data types are designed to support the dimensional model with excellent query performance and efficient data loading, aggregation, and calculations. The q yp g gg g performance benefits increase as the calculations become more complex and numerous, and as the usage of the data set becomes more ad hoc. Query performance is generally fast, and consistently fast, as a result of a number of characteristics of the multidimensional data types in the database. More Information For details about query performance characteristics and performance tests carried out with Oracle OLAP, see the white paper at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/bi/olap/1450_olap10g_enhance_content_performan ce.pdf
Time to Prepare Data for Query Although multidimensional data types provide fast query performance, especially for multidimensional calculations, it is also true that, to a large extent, careful tuning of the g g relational implementation (through the use of partitioning and parallelism, pre-materialization of calculated data, creating many indices, fine-tuning highly optimized SQL, and using middle-tier caching strategies, and so on) can provide impressive query performance from star and snowflake schemas. However, these techniques require additional data preparation timeETL (extract, transform, load) processing is required before data is ready for users to analyze. The amount of time required to prepare data for query is important, because it is a controlling factor i determining the practical size of a data set and the frequency of updates. This graph f in d i i h i l i f d d h f f d Thi h describes the relationship between the data preparation time needed to achieve acceptable query performance and the ad hoc and calculation intensity of the application. The graph indicates that there is a higher minimal data preparation cost associated with the use of multidimensional data types. However, after data has been prepared for query, it can service the more demanding ad hoc applications without additional preparation. With a purely relational approach, approach the cost of preparation can become significant, even for applications of moderate significant complexity.
Practice 1: Overview In this practice, you review a requirements definition for a business intelligence system. From this definition, you design a logical multidimensional model. y g g
Practice 1 Requirements Definition Narrative Bruce works as a business analyst at XYZ Storesa popular clothing retail chain specializing in fashionable attire for professional men and women and their children. children XYZ stocks and sells both formal and casual wear out of 68 stores across the United States and Canada, and also in major countries in Europe. The company has recently expanded into the Asia Pacific region, opening stores in Melbourne, Australia, and in a shopping mall in Singapore. Bruce wants to build a business intelligence (BI) system to replace all of the Excel spreadsheets that he currently maintains and e-mails to users all over the world each week. He spends too much time and effort maintaining the current spreadsheet paradigm, and he wants to both automate distribution of BI reports and improve the quality of the analysis that he provides. Improved data quality is also a major short-term goal of the companys CFO, because he has been worried about valuable corporate data being e-mailed to (and duplicated and manipulated on) insecure PCs and laptops all over the company. Bruce has heard that Oracle OLAP is state of the art and so easy to use that even he can do it (no programming is required). He has decided to design his first OLAP system with Oracle. He needs to provide reporting and analysis of XYZ daily sales performance, keep track of the stock situation, and also monitor performance of sales versus the monthly sales targets that the CEO has set for each store. Other requirements for the new system include the following: XYZ regional managers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions need regional analysis so that they can see the summary for their region and compare it with those for other regions. They also need the ability to drill down into detail as required, including a country, areas within a country, and a store. big picture numbers. The CEO needs to be able to see both the big picture and the detailed numbers Therefore, the system must provide drill-down paths through the data so that the CEO can look at individual stores and product items for particular days or weeks, if necessary. XYZ stores have different profiles based on their location. Some stores are located in city centers, some in out-of-town retail parks, and some are in airport departure terminals. The marketing department needs to know how stores of different types perform based on sales and stock. It has asked Bruce to provide an easy way to select particular stores for detailed product analysis based on their store type type. The buyers at HQ are responsible for monitoring how their products are selling as compared to expectations. They also need to stock their products to the right levels in the stores. In the past, they have asked Bruce for reports that list the products they are responsible for with sales and stock figures, along with year-to-date figures and comparisons with previous time periods. In addition to these same capabilities, they want to report on all the products manufactured for them by particular suppliers, so that they can quickly identify whether poor performance is supplier related, indicating a quality or related delivery issue. Merchandisers spend considerable time coordinating displays in the stores so that the stores look attractive. In the fashion world, this means that they invest time in ensuring that the right color mix is balanced across the display. Therefore, they need reports and charts that contrast products that are of the same color.
Practice 1 (continued) Dimensional Modeling Exercise On the basis of this initial business analysis, you have offered to help Bruce with the design of his di hi dimensional model that will make it easy for him to meet all of these requirements as well as i l d l th t ill k f hi t t ll f th i t ll the unpredictable requirements that he has not yet documented. Use the following questions to aid in your dimensional model design: 1. What dimensions are needed? For each dimension, do the following: A. Identify any hierarchies that might be useful (at least one), and their levels. B. List any attributes that should be considered in the design. For each attribute, specify the level to which the attribute would be associated. associated 2. What measures are needed? Consider the following: A. First, what are the base measures that would have to be fetched from XYZ operational systems (Point of Sales, Stock Management, Buying, and Merchandise Planning systems) and stored in the multidimensional system? B. Then list the calculations that would enrich the reporting and provide better insight into the OLAP system. Dimension 1: Hierarchy 1: Hierarchy 2: Levels Levels ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Attributes: ^ ^ ^
Practice 1 (continued) Dimension 2: Hierarchy 1: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^ Attributes:
Hierarchy 2: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^
Dimension 3: Hierarchy 1: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^ Attributes:
Hierarchy 2: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^
Practice 1 (continued) Measures: Stored measures: Calculated measures:
Objectives
In this lesson, you learn about the architecture of the Oracle OLAP (online analytical processing) option and the components of Oracle OLAP that play a role in processing data. You also learn about the administrative and end-user tools with which you can explore the rich features of OLAP.
Oracle OLAP Option: Architectural View
In the lesson titled Defining OLAP Concepts, you learned that in Oracle Database 10g, all data (relational and multidimensional) is stored in one Oracle database. You also learned that Oracle OLAP provides native multidimensional data types within the database. A high-level architectural view of the Oracle OLAP option contains three parts: End-user tools, which provide access to OLAP data for a wide spectrum of analytic needs Oracle Database 10g OLAP option, which comprises: - Multidimensional data types - OLAP calculation engine - Open-access interfaces Administrative tools used to create and manage multidimensional data types. Oracle provides two administrative tools that can be used to create multidimensional data types in Oracle Database 10g: - Oracle Warehouse Builder - Analytic Workspace Manager Each part of this architectural view is examined in this lesson.
Components of Oracle OLAP
With the Oracle OLAP option, you get two powerful arenas of functionality: the OLAP API and the analytic workspace (AW). OLAP API Functionality The Oracle OLAP option provides a specialized Java API that developers can use to exploit the full power of the Oracle OLAP option by using advanced dimensionally-aware tools and applications. The OLAP API is used by Oracle business intelligence tools such as OracleBI Beans, OracleBI Discoverer, OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, and Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting. The OLAP API is designed to work with both multidimensional data types and relational data types in the Oracle database. The API enables you to directly access multidimensional data types in the AW. To access relational data types, you can register a relational physical dimensional model (such as a star or snowflake schema) to the Oracle Database OLAP Catalog. Therefore, tools that use the OLAP API can be deployed against multidimensional analytic workspaces or suitable relational schemas that are registered to the Oracle OLAP options metadata layer.
Components of Oracle OLAP (continued)
The Analytic Workspace is the container for the multidimensional data types and which leverages the multidimensional calculation engine of the OLAP Option. The AW also provides a standard SQL interface, an XML API for administration, and a programming language (OLAP DML). Multidimensional Data Store The OLAP option provides true array-based multidimensional data types within the Oracle database. These multidimensional data types are contained in special tables in Oracle called analytic workspaces. Some data types are used to store data, whereas others are calculated instantaneously using the multidimensional engine. Multidimensional Calculation Engine The OLAP Options multidimensional engine includes an impressive library of multidimensional-aware calculation functions and support for planning functionalities such as statistical forecasts, models, allocations, projections, and what-ifscenarios, in the context of Analytic Workspaces. The multidimensional engine interacts with the multidimensional data types in the analytic workspace in the Oracle database.
Query Access to the Analytic Workspace
Different users with different end-user tool requirements can all access the same data, take advantage of the same calculations, and benefit from the same security, scalability, performance, and availability of the Oracle database. Dimensionally aware tools: Oracle Business Intelligence tools take full advantage of the multidimensional query data model provided by the Oracle OLAP option through the OLAP API. They include OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, OracleBI Discoverer, OracleBI Beans, Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting, and OracleBI Reports. SQL tools: As stated previously, SQL tools and applications can access analytic workspace data. For example, Oracle Application Express (formerly known as HTML DB) is an easyto-use tool that is supplied with Oracle Database 10g for Web access to the Oracle database. Oracle Application Express is an example of a SQL-based application with no built-in OLAP knowledge that can nevertheless leverage the power of Oracle OLAP. Tools and applications from Oracle partners: Third-party tools from independent software vendors and Oracle partners, such as Arcplan, Business Objects, Cognos, and a large and growing number of business intelligence vendors throughout the world, access OLAP data through the Oracle OLAP option. Some of these vendors tools leverage the OLAP API, whereas others exploit the SQL query interface. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 2-7
OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In
OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In makes it easy to access OLAP data through the familiar spreadsheet environment of Microsoft Excel. After installation of OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, OracleBI appears as a new menu item in Excel. By using OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, you can establish a secure connection to the OLAP data source and use Excel as the front-end access tool to the data in the database. Here are some of the features of OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In: It combines the flexibility and familiarity of Excel and the power, scalability, and security of the Oracle OLAP option. OracleBI Query and Calculation Builders: After the connection is established, you can use the wizard-driven interface to drill, pivot, page through large cubes, and create reports. Excel features: You can use all the powerful data-formatting features of Excel, combine Oracle OLAP data with other Excel data, and write Excel macros that leverage all your data. You can also create formulas and graphs in Excel, thereby combining the powerful analytic capabilities of Oracle OLAP with standard Excel functions that you know and use each day.
OracleBI Discoverer OracleBI Discoverer is another Oracle Business Intelligence tool that can directly access Oracle OLAP data. Discoverer Plus OLAP is an ad hoc query, reporting, analysis, and Webpublishing tool. It enables you to: Perform OLAP query, reporting, and analysis on both multidimensional data models (analytic workspaces) and relational OLAP data models (star or snowflake schemas). Access and analyze multidimensional data from your companys database without having to understand complex database concepts. The wizards and menus of Discoverer Plus OLAP guide you through the steps to retrieve and analyze multidimensional data. Because Discoverer Plus OLAP understands the dimensional data model, you formulate your queries in the language of businessyou use dimensions, hierarchies, levels, and measures through a simple interface. You can also exploit the rich features of OLAP through dimensionally-aware query and calculation builders, thereby simplifying the tasks of defining queries and calculations. Worksheets that are authored in Discoverer Plus OLAP are published to the Web, where Discoverer Viewer and Oracle Portal users can access them. In the lesson titled Building Analytical Reports with OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP, you learn how to use Discoverer Plus OLAP to analyze data in the AW that you build before the lesson.
OracleBI Beans
OracleBI Beans is used by business intelligence and OLAP developers. OracleBI Beans is used for developing applications such as Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting and tools such as OracleBI Discoverer and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In. BI Beans is also available to third-party software developers to accelerate development of custom OLAP applications. JDeveloper Integration BI Beans is a set of standards-based Java beans that is integrated into Oracle JDeveloper. It provides analysis-aware application building blocks designed for the Oracle OLAP option of the Oracle database. Using BI Beans, you can create customized business intelligence applications that take advantage of the robust analytic capabilities of Oracle OLAP. Applications can include advanced features such as interactive user interfaces, drill-to-detail reports, forecasting, and what-if analysis. BI Beans includes Java beans for acquiring data from the Oracle database, presenting data in a variety of crosstab and graph formats, and saving report definitions, custom measures, and data selections. Using BI Beans, you can develop business intelligence applications from Oracle JDeveloper, or any Java application development environment, and deploy them through any application server as a thin or thick client.
OracleBI Reports
OracleBI Reports enables businesses to provide immediate access to information for individuals at all levels (within and outside the organization) in a scalable and secure environment. OracleBI Reports can connect to an Oracle OLAP data source by using SQL or the OLAP API (as a pluggable data source).
Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting
Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting (EPB), a part of Oracle Corporate Performance Management (CPM), is used by organizations to develop comprehensive analysis and planning processes. Like OracleBI Discoverer, EPB provides sophisticated tools for navigating and analyzing dimensional data. EPB uses definitions of business rules, tasks, and schedules to create a workflow and to plan a framework that has a focus on the budgeting and forecasting processes.
Technical Note Unlike other OLAP-enabled tools, the EPB application builds and maintains its own AWs in order to support EPB-specific functionality. Therefore, it does not use Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM) or Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) to create and maintain its OLAP data.
Oracle Application Express
The Oracle OLAP option provides a SQL interface to access multidimensional data types, thus enabling any SQL-aware tool to access data in the analytic workspace. Oracle Application Express is an easy-to-use report builder that is provided with Oracle Database 10g to simplify the creation of database-centric interactive Web pages. Thus, with the Oracle OLAP option, you can use Oracle Application Express to provide Web-based access to key performance indicators such as profitability, sales, units shipped, trends, and period-to-period comparisons and forecasts. It provides support for some interactive reporting (for example, you can use hypertext links to call more SQL queries), but it is not a fully interactive analysis system like OracleBI Discoverer or like other specialized business intelligence tools.
Tools to Build an Analytic Workspace
Two tools are available for IT and power users to easily build analytic workspaces (AWs) and load them with data (for analysis with tools such as OracleBI Beans, OracleBI Discoverer, and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In): Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM) Is packaged with Oracle Database 10g (with the Oracle OLAP option) Builds AWs from cleansed data OracleBI Warehouse Builder 10g R2 (OWB) Is an advanced end-to-end ETL tool that includes data-profiling and data-cleansing technology Builds and manages entire data warehouses, optionally including AWs
Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM 10g)
Oracle Database 10g Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM 10g) is a primary tool for developing and managing analytic workspaces. AW Life-Cycle Management By using AWM, you can define a dimensional model, implement it, and manage it throughout its life cycle. Your dimensional model might involve many different types of calculations beyond simple aggregation. AWM is simple and focuses solely on these tasks. The design focus of AWM is ease of use, dimensional modeling, and the definition of aggregations and other calculations. Source Data Requirements Generally, you build AWs from tables or views that exist in the Oracle database. You can also build AWs directly from flat files outside the database. You can use the external tables feature to access such files. Data in non-Oracle databases can be either moved into an Oracle database or accessed via an Oracle gateway.
Creating an Analytic Workspace Using AWM 10g
Analytic Workspace Manager supports the complete process of creating an AW from beginning to end in a single, dimensionally-aware design environment. The creation process includes three easy steps: 1. Design the dimensional model. 2. Map the dimensional object to the source data. 3. Load the data into the AW. After you have performed these steps, the AW is immediately available for your tools to query. In later lessons, you use AWM 10g to design and build your analytic workspace in Oracle Database 10g.
Practice 2: Overview
In this practice, you review the components of OLAP by answering questions.
Objectives In this lesson, you learn to use the Analytic Workspace Manager 10g (AWM 10g) tool to build multidimensional database objects in the analytic workspace (AW). You create a basic cube and its dependent components (dimensions and measures). You load data into the dimensions and measures, and then view that data.
Examining the Logical Model After the logical data model is designed, including the dimensions and measures that are needed in your AW, you can source data from suitable relational tables or views. In this class, the SH schema contains everything needed to source the data.
In this lesson, the following logical model is defined for the AW: Dimensions Time: Shows how data varies over time Product: Shows how data varies by product Channel: Shows how data varies according to each distribution channel Measures Budget sales shows the sales numbers for the budget Budget profit shows the profit numbers for the budget
Examining the Logical Model: Dimensions After you have identified dimensions, you can identify the levels of summarization within each dimension. Analysis requirements reveal that: There are five distribution channels: Direct Sales, Telesales, Catalog, Internet, and Partners. These values are the lowest level of detail in the data warehouse and are grouped in the Channel level. From the order of the highest level of summarization to the lowest level of detail, the levels are Total Channel, Class, and Channel. There are three Class levels: Direct, Indirect, and Others. The Product dimension has four levels (from the highest to the lowest): Total, Category, Subcategory, and Product. The Time dimension has three levels (from the highest to the lowest): Year, Quarter, and Month. Data is available for the years 20022006.
Role of Cubes Cubes provide a convenient way of collecting similar measures of the same dimensionality. It is not uncommon for many measures to have the same shape, and so by defining their shape (and other shared characteristics) for a cube, you can save time when building your AW. A cube is simply a logical object that helps an administrator to build and maintain an AW. It also aids in the definition of measures with common characteristics, such as sparsity patterns and aggregation rules. Measures in the same cube have the same relationships to other logical objects and can easily be analyzed and displayed together. The edges of a cube are defined by its dimensions. Although there is no limit to the number of edges of a cube, data is often organized for display purposes along three edges: row edge, column edge, and page edge. A single dimension or multiple dimensions can be placed on an edge. For example, budget data can be organized into a cube whose edges contain values from the Channel, Product, and Time dimensions and whose body contains profit and revenue data. Multidimensional cubes are stored in AWs. A particular AW may contain more than one cube, and each cube may describe a different dimensional shape.
Examining the Logical Model: Cubes and Measures In this lesson, you create the first cube, Budgets, containing two measures. These are base measures, which store the facts collected about your business. Each measure that belongs to a particular cube shares particular characteristics with other measures in the cube, such as the same dimensions. The Budgets cube includes: Dimensions: Time, Product, and Channel Measures: Budget Sales and Budget Profit The data for these measures, and the dimensions that organize the measures, will be sourced from tables in the SH schema, as discussed in the next slide.
Source Data The SH schema is part of the sample schemas that are shipped with Oracle Database 10g. In this lesson, you build an AW on the basis of sales history data. For this class, two additional tables have been created: BUDGET_TBL: A fact table that contains budget sales and budget profit data MONTH_STAR: Presents data from a monthly (rather than daily) perspective Note: BUDGET_TBL is not part of the sample schemas. It is created for this class.
Starting AWM You can start the AWM 10g tool by clicking the awm.exe file. This file is located in the AWM\bin directory. Alternatively, if you have created an icon on the desktop for the awm.exe executable, you can double-click the icon.
Creating a Database Connection To create a database connection, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click the database node in the left navigator. 2. Enter the connection information in the dialog box. 3. Click Create. Note: Because Oracle OLAP is part of the database, a standard database connection or authentication is used.
Connecting to a Database To connect to a database, perform the following steps: 1. Click the description name in the Databases node in the left navigator. 2. Enter the username and password in the dialog box. 3. Click OK.
Creating an Analytic Workspace To create an analytic workspace, perform the following steps: 1. Find the schema name under which you want the AW to reside. Expand that schema name. The Analytic Workspaces node appears. 2. Right-click the Analytic Workspaces node. The Create New Analytic Workspace dialog box appears. 3. Enter a name for your AW. Optionally, choose a tablespace where this AW is stored. By default, the tablespace defaults to the default tablespace for the schema. This is set up by the database administrator (DBA) when the schema is created. After you have created the AW, it appears in the navigator under the node where it is created. It is attached in read/write mode, which means that you can make changes to it. You can create a workspace from a template. A template holds the definition of objects. You can use templates to create analytic workspaces, cubes, and dimensions. Note: After you have created an AW, a table named AW$aw_name is created at the database level. (aw_name is the name that you have chosen for your AW.) This table stores all of the multidimensional objects in your AW.
Analytic Workspace: Creation and Maintenance Privileges To create an AW and perform ongoing maintenance on it, you must have the following roles and privileges: OLAP_USER role: You need this privilege to create and manage an AW in your own schema. This privilege is also required for all end users of your OLAP system SELECT privilege on the source schema tables: To build your AW from relational data sources, you need the privilege to read from those tables or views. Quota space: When you build an AW, you use disk space. You must have sufficient quota on the tablespace in which the workspace is created. SELECT, INSERT, and UPDATE privileges: To allow you to maintain an AW that is not in your own schema, the DBA can grant privileges to you for that specific AW (or directly on the AW$table_name table) The DBA, if that is not you, will be able to set this up for you. Note: Do not grant the OLAP_DBA role to any user, except the system DBA. This role is unnecessary for cube building, and grants many more privileges than are recommended.
Using Multilanguage Support A single AW can support multiple languages. This enables the users of your OLAP applications and tools to view the metadata and descriptive attributes in their native languages. The number and choice of languages is restricted only by the database character set and your ability to provide translated text. To add support for multiple languages, perform the following steps: 1. In the Model View navigation tree, expand the folder for the AW. 2. Click the Languages folder, and select the languages for the AW on the General tabbed page. 3. As you create your objects, such as dimensions, levels, hierarchies, attributes, cubes, measures, calculated measures, and measure folders, open the Translations tabbed page of the property sheet. Enter the object labels and descriptions in each language. 4. When you map the dimensions, map the attributes to columns for each language. Note: In this class, a single language is used, which is American.
Creating Dimensions Dimensions are lists of unique values that identify and categorize data. They form the edges of measures (facts). Dimensions have structure that helps in the navigation of data and the definition of calculations. This structure includes levels, hierarchies, and attributes in the logical model. You define these supporting objects, in addition to the dimension itself, in order to have a fully functional dimension. Dimension Type Most dimensions that you create are of the default User Dimension type. In the example shown, a Time dimension is created. If you explicitly set the dimension type to Time Dimension, AWM automatically prepares some additional time attributes. When populated, these attributes facilitate time series calculations on the measures that share this dimension. It is recommended that all your time dimensions are created with this setting. Other Tabbed Pages The Translations tabbed page enables you to provide labels in languages that your AW uses. The Implementation Details tabbed page enables you to identify certain dimension characteristics. The implementation details are examined in detail in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques.
Creating Levels For business analysis, data is typically summarized at various levels. For example, your database may contain daily snapshots of a transactional database. Days are thus the base level. You might summarize this data at the monthly, quarterly, and yearly levels.
Levels have parent-child or one-to-many relationships, which form a hierarchy. For example, each month summarizes days, each quarter summarizes months, and each year summarizes quarters. This hierarchical structure enables analysts to detect trends at the higher levels and then drill down to the lower levels to identify factors that contributed to a trend. To create a level for any dimension, right-click the Level icon beneath the dimension, and then select Create Level. Fill in the name, labels, and a description. The labels can be used in reports; the description enables you to comment on the object. Repeat the process for each level in the dimension.
Creating Hierarchies A hierarchy is a way of organizing dimension members. It may be value based (an Organization hierarchy) or level based (the Calendar hierarchy). You can define level-based hierarchies, where ordered levels are used as a means of organizing data. These hierarchies can be used to define data aggregation. For example, in a Time dimension, a hierarchy might be used to aggregate data from the month level to the quarter level to the year level. A hierarchy can be used to define a navigational drilldown path, regardless of whether the levels in the hierarchy represent aggregated totals. Dimensions can have one or more hierarchies. If you define multiple hierarchies, make sure to define one of them as the default hierarchy. As shown in the slide, use the following steps to define a hierarchy: 1. Right-click the hierarchy icon in the navigator. Choose Create Hierarchy. 2. Name the hierarchy. You can provide descriptive labels that can be used in reports. Select the Set as Default Hierarchy option if this is the only hierarchy for the dimension or if it is the hierarchy that will be used most frequently for analysis. Choose either Level Based Hierarchy or Value Based Hierarchy. 3. Select the levels for your hierarchy. The levels must be organized from the highest level of aggregation to the lowest.
Attributes Attributes contain descriptive information about dimension members that are used for data selection and identification. They are used for labeling cross-tabular and graphical data displays, selecting data, organizing dimension members, and so on.
AWM 10g defines basic attributes automatically. For each dimension, it creates long and short description attributes. For a Time dimension, it also creates time-span and end-date attributes. You can create your own attributes to further enrich the AW. The General tabbed page provides the most basic information about logical attributes. The Implementation Details tabbed page identifies the data type for the attribute. This data type should match the source data. Attributes are discussed in detail in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques.
Mapping Dimensions To map your dimensions to a data source, perform these steps: 1. In the navigator, select Mappings for the dimension that you want to map. A list of schemas appears. 2. Find the schema to which you want to map your dimension, click the + button, and then choose either Tables or Views (depending on what you are mapping to). 3. Find the table or view name and double-click, or drag it to the mapping canvas. When on the canvas, the structure of the table is visible. To view data, right-click the table (or view) name and choose View Data.
Mapping Dimensions (continued) 4. Drag the cursor from the column name in the relational source to the destination object name in the dimension. 5. After your mappings are complete, click the Apply button at the base of the mapping canvas to save your work. Note the following: It is perfectly valid to map the same source column to more than one of your logical dimension components. In this example, the same DESC columns for each level are mapped to both the Long and Short Description attributes of the Time dimension. If you need to remove a mapping line drawn in error, simply highlight it by clicking it and either press the [Delete] key of your keyboard or right-click and select Remove Mapping In this example, all the source information needed is in a single table. Note that other dimensions may be sourced from more than one table. To do this, select all the required tables from the source schema and do the appropriate mappings.
Viewing Mapping Options Your mappings can become cluttered in appearance. To help you organize and view mappings more clearly, use the buttons at the top of the mappings window. Clicking the buttons does the following: 1. Graphical Mapping View shows the mappings to you in a graphical format. This is the default. 2. Table Mapping View lists the relational table (or view) and multidimensional objects in a table format. 3. Auto Arrange Mappings straightens out and organizes your mapping lines between the multidimensional objects and the relational tables or views. 4. Auto Map Star Schema automatically maps the source and target objects. The source must be a star schema, and the object names must match. In a star schema, all levels and attributes are in one table. 5. Remove All Mappings deletes the mapping lines you have created between the source and target objects. 6. Type of Dimension Table(s) enables you to specify a star schema where all levels and attributes are in one source table; a snowflake schema where levels and attributes are in two or more source tables; or other table type where attributes for a level are in two or more source tables. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 3-20
Loading Data The Maintenance Wizard loads data. The same wizard is used to load data for dimensions, cubes, and measures. Loading Dimension Data You can load mapped dimension data as you build the dimensions, or you can load dimension data later when you load the measure data. In the example in the slide, data for the Time dimension is loaded. To load dimension data, right-click the name of the dimension into which you are loading data, and then select the Maintain Dimension option. The Maintenance Wizard appears and leads you through a set of steps to load data from the mapped relational objects to the multidimensional objects in the AW. In the first step of the wizard, you identify the objects into which data are to be loaded. You can choose dimensions, cubes, and measures. After selecting the source objects and moving them to the right side of the Maintenance Wizard page, click Finish to accept the default processing options and load the data immediately. Advanced options of the Maintenance Wizard, such as maintenance job scheduling, are covered in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques.
Loading the Data Report After loading data, you can view the report. In the example shown, the report displays information about the Time dimension because that is the only object selected for data loading.
After successful completion, the dimension values are available for viewing in the AWM 10g tool.
Technical Note All the maintenance logging goes into the XML_LOAD_LOG table, which belongs to the OLAPSYS user. This table can be reviewed later, if required.
Using the Data Viewer You can use the Data Viewer to examine your newly loaded data. To use the Data Viewer, right-click the object for which you want to see data, and then select the View Data option. In the example in the slide, the Data Viewer is used to display the loaded Time dimension values. Because a hierarchy is set up for the Time dimension, you can navigate through the data. Using the drill symbols (+ and ), you can drill up or down on the data to see the data in the higher or lower levels. You can choose to view the data at a specific level by choosing that level from the pulldown list at the bottom of the window.
Using Templates The template feature in AWM saves the definition of logical objects outside the confines of the database. Using a saved template, you can create a new AW, a dimension, and a cube exactly like an existing object with or without mappings. Templates do not include data.
A template contains the XML definitions of objects in a standard-form AW. Using a saved template, you can create an AW as a copy of an existing one. Or, you can use a template to import specific objects, such as dimensions.
Configuring the Template Source You can identify a default location in the file system to save your templates. Note: You can always override this default when saving a template. You can identify where your templates are stored in AWM. To configure where AWM automatically searches for template files, perform these steps: 1. From the Tools menu, select Configuration. 2. On the Template tabbed page, click the ellipses button. 3. In the Open dialog box, identify the location of your templates in the File Name field. 4. Click the Open button, and then click OK.
Creating Dimensions Using Templates To create a dimension from a template, perform these steps: 1. Right-click the Dimensions node, and select Create Dimension From Template. 2. If necessary, navigate from the template source folder to the appropriate subfolder (in this case, E:\labs\Templates\Dimensions). Select the template file, and click Create. 3. The template object definitions are imported, and the result is shown in the navigator. Templates contain the definition of an object but not the objects data. Templates can include mappings to the relational data source. When you create an object based on a template, you must load data as a separate step. Saving a Dimension Template To save the definition of a dimension to a template, perform these steps: 1. Right-click the dimension in the navigator, and select Save Dimension to Template. 2. Navigate to the appropriate subfolder, and enter a name for the template file. 3. Click Save.
Note: If you have several dimensions that you want to create from templates, you can multiselect them, and AWM will process each one in turn.
Creating Cubes What Are Cubes? Cubes are containers of measures (facts). They simply provide a convenient way of collecting up measures with the same dimensions. Therefore, all measures in a cube are candidates for being processed together at all stages: data loading, aggregation, and storage. Cubes are only visible to the cube builder (end users only see the measures they contain) and simplify the setup and maintenance of measures in AWM. Creating Cubes To create a cube, right-click the Cubes node in the navigator, and then select the Create Cube option. The Create Cube window appears. Note: You can also create a cube from a cube template if you have a template available.
Creating Cubes (continued) The Create Cube wizard provides a tabbed page interface that enables you to specify the logical model and processing options for a cube. General Tabbed Page On the General tabbed page, enter the basic information about the cube: Provide the cube with a distinct name and provide the short and long label descriptions. Identify the dimensionality of the cube by using the arrow keys to move dimensions from the Available Dimension list to the Selected Dimension list. After you define the dimensionality, all measures that you create based on this cube will have the same dimensionality. Other Tabbed Pages The Translations tabbed page enables you to provide long and short descriptions for the cube in each language that the AW supports. The Create Cube window gives you access to four other tabbed pages. These tabbed pages categorize details about your cube and enable selection of certain processing options other than the default settings. These tabbed pages are covered in detail in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques.
Creating Measures Base measures store the facts collected about your business. Logically, the edges of a measure are organized by dimensions, and the body of the measure contains data values. Each measure belongs to a particular cube, and by default all the settings for a measure (such as dimensions) are inherited from the cube. To create a measure, right-click the Measures node in the navigator, and then select the Create Measure option. General Tabbed Page On the General tabbed page, you create a name and add label information. Long labels are used by most OLAP clients for display. If you do not specify a value for the long label, then it defaults to the measures name. Other Tabbed Pages The Translations tabbed page enables you to provide long and short descriptions for the measure in each language that the AW supports. The other tabbed pages (Implementation Details, Rules, and so on) enable the selection of certain measure-specific processing options other than the settings that are applied by the definition of the cube. These tabbed pages are examined in detail in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 3-29
Mapping Measures After creating logical objects, you can map them to relational data sources in the Oracle database. Afterward, you can load data into your analytic workspace by using the Maintain Analytic Workspace Wizard.
To map your measures to a data source, perform these steps: 1. In the navigator, choose Mappings for the cube that contains the measure that you want to map. A list of schemas appears. Find the schema to which you want to map your measure, and then click the + button. 2. Select either Tables or Views, depending on what you are mapping to. 3. Find the table or view name and double-click, or drag it to the mapping canvas. When on the canvas, the structure of the table is visible. Note: If you want to see the data in the table or view, right-click the name of the table or view, and then select the View Data option.
Mapping Measures (continued) 4. Drag the cursor from the column name in the relational source to the destination object name in the measure. Note: The mapping canvas enables you to map the contents of the source data to any level of dimensions. Here, because Budgets are set by product, and by channel for each month, map them to the Month, Product and Channel levels. In the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques, there is advice on handling AWs where source data for different cubes and measures is loaded at different leaf levels of detail.
Loading Data The Maintenance Wizard loads and aggregates data as a single job. You can load: All mapped objects in the analytic workspace All mapped measures in a cube Individually mapped measures Individually mapped dimensions To load data, right-click the desired object name into which you are loading data, and then select the Maintain option. Recall that previously in this lesson, the Maintenance Wizard is used to load data for the Time dimension. Example In the example, the Budgets cube is maintained. This results in the loading of data for all the dimensions that organize the cube and all the mapped measures associated with the cube.
Loading Data (continued) The Maintenance Wizard takes you through a set of steps to load data from the mapped relational objects to the multidimensional objects in the AW. In the first step of the wizard, you identify the objects to which data is to be loaded. If you choose cubes, all the measures for the cube are selected. Alternatively, you can choose a specific measure of a cube. After a measure or cube is selected, the associated dimensions are automatically selected as well. AWM, by default, selects the related dimensions for the cube. This is because AWM is dimensionally aware, and knows that the dimensions must exist and be populated in order for measures to be loaded. The dimensions organize the measures physically not just logically in an AW, so they must be maintained before the measure data can be loaded. You can also choose to run the job immediately, enter it in the Oracle job queue, or save it as a SQL script. These options are discussed in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques. To run the maintenance task immediately and interactively, simply click the Finish button.
Loading Data Report After the loading of data is completed, you can view the report. After successful completion, the data in your AW is ready to be analyzed. Technical Note All the maintenance logging goes into the XML_LOAD_LOG table, which belongs to the OLAPSYS user. This table can be reviewed later, if required.
Viewing Measures After data is loaded, you can preview it by using the Data Viewer. To see the data, rightclick the name of the measure or cube that you want to view, and then select View Data from the submenu. A tabular report appears. If you view a cube, all measures in the cube are displayed. In the Data Viewer, you can: Drill up or down on the dimension values Pivot or rotate the view of the data by dragging the edges (rows, columns, and pages) to new positions This basic crosstab control is used extensively in Oracle Business Intelligence tools, including OracleBI Beans, Discoverer Plus OLAP, and administrative tools such as AWM and Oracle Warehouse Builder. Also, third-party tools and applications sold by Oracle partners that use the OracleBI Beans technology use this same user interface. In end-user tools and applications, more functionality (such as formatting, color coding, and cell actions) is enabled in Discoverer Plus OLAP, as you see in the lesson titled Building Analytical Reports with OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP. Note: From the File menu within the Data Viewer, or from the Query Builder tool, you can access the Oracle OLAP Query Builder. This query wizard is used throughout Oracle Business Intelligence tools. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 3-35
Viewing Measures (continued) As shown in the example in the slide, you drill down on data to the lowest levels of detail by clicking the arrow icon to the left of the dimension value. Notice that the measure appears to the user as fully aggregated at all level combinations of all dimensions. This is an important feature of the Oracle OLAP dimensional model. All data is presented to the end user as if it is already aggregated and calculated, even if some or all of the data being displayed is being calculated on the fly. For example, some of the budget data has been preaggregated during the maintenance task, and some of it is being calculated dynamically. The end user cannot tell the difference, and does not need to know. The AW contains the data and the calculation logic and presents the results that the user needs. From the technical perspective, not even the query behind this crosstab needs to know whether the measure cells being requested are precomputed or not. The query simply requests these cells from the database, and the AW engine performs any calculations required at query time.
Summary In this lesson, you learned the basics of creating an AW, defining multidimensional data in the AW, mapping relational data sources to the objects in the AW, and loading data values into the AW.
Practice 3: Overview In this practice, you build an AW with the basic components of dimensions, cubes, and measures. You map the data in the AW to the relational sources, and you load data into the AW from the relational sources.
Objectives In this lesson, you learn some of the more advanced cube-building techniques and topics. You add more data to your analytic workspace (AW) and thereby learn more about attributes. You learn about dimension implementation options and cube implementation tips, including sparsity, compressed cubes, and cube partitioning. You learn more about aggregation in Oracle OLAP. This lesson focuses on creating and building the AW for sales measures and learning about some of the advanced features of Oracle OLAP. This covers the physical implementation and loading of stored measures. Also, you are shown how Analytic Workspace Manager 10g (AWM 10g) simplifies the process of adding new data to your cubes over time and refreshing the summaries when changes occur.
Adding to the Logical Model In this lesson, you add new multidimensional data types to the AW. Three measures are added for the analysis of actual sales data. These new measures use the existing dimensions, but also need a new (fourth) dimension. Dimensions The additional Customer dimension is required for the new measures. The existing Product, Time, and Channel dimensions are reused and shared with the Budget Sales and Budget Profit measures created earlier. Cubes and Measures Earlier, you learned that cubes are logical containers for measures with the same dimensions. Typically, similarly shaped measures in the same cube are candidates for being processed together at all stages: data loading, aggregation, storage, and querying. Grouping measures in this way simplifies the design, creation, and maintenance of the AW. Therefore, you need to add a new four-dimensional cube to the AW. This cube will contain three base measures: Sales, Quantity, and Costs.
Adding to the Logical Model: Dimension and Hierarchy You learned in the previous lesson that the purpose of a hierarchy is to provide the relationships for summarization of measures in the cube and to make navigating multiple levels of data easy and intuitive for the end user. Because the same dimensions for Time, Product, and Channel that were created in the previous lesson are used, their hierarchies are also reused. The new Customer dimension has a single hierarchy: Customer. The Customer hierarchy is a level-based hierarchy. A Customer dimension is needed in the AW because the sales revenue and quantity measures are also dimensioned by Customer. Note the levels that define the Customer hierarchy in the slide. The Customer hierarchy enables you to group individual customers up through multiple levels based on where they are geographically located. Note: Although it is common for hierarchies to be level based, it is not a necessary condition.
Adding to the Logical Model: Attributes User-defined attributes can be used to simplify the selection of dimension values when you use a MATCH condition in the Query Builder or in queries submitted to Oracle OLAP via SQL or the OLAP API. In this lesson, you add two attributes to the Customer dimension: Customer gender and Customer postcode. Long and Short Descriptions AWM 10g always creates long and short description attributes for every dimension. These description attributes are displayed to the end user in reports and graphs. Most data sources use codes (without descriptions) for dimension members; such codes have little or no meaning to end users and do not result in an easy-to-use system. It is generally a good practice to populate long descriptions with commonly understood terms. For short descriptions (as the name suggests), use shorter versions of the long descriptions. Short descriptions are typically used as labels on charts and as legends on graph axes.
Source Data In this lesson, you again use the SH schema to add new data to the AW that you created in the previous lesson. Now, you create a new four-dimensional cube with Sales, Quantity, and Costs measures. The new measures share the Product, Channel, and Time dimensions already created in the lesson titled Building an Analytic Workspace (and therefore populated from the PRODUCTS, CHANNELS, and MONTH_STAR tables, respectively).
There is a new dimension table and a new fact table that are also used: For the Customer dimension, the source data resides in the CUSTOMERS_STAR table. This table uses data from the SH CUSTOMERS and COUNTRIES tables to provide a simplified source for this lesson. You can use relational views over source tables to perform simple ETL (extract, transform, load)-like processing to make them easy for you to use in your AWs. SALES_SUMMARY is a summary table that provides leaf-level data for the AW. It has columns for Sales Amount, Sales Quantity, and Cost for goods sold by Month, Customer, Channel, and Product.
Creating a Dimension: Implementation Details Surrogate Keys In an AW, members within a dimension must be unique across all levels. The source data usually does not enforce this uniqueness. Therefore, by default, AWM ensures uniqueness by enabling the Generate Surrogate Keys option on the Implementation Details tabbed page. If the source data uses the same dimension ID for different members at different levels of the dimension, the Generate Surrogate Keys option remedies this problem by prefixing the ID values read from the source data with the AW Level name. For example, if source dimension IDs for City London and Region Asia are the same (for example, 123), then using Surrogate Keys results in their dimension members in the AW being CITY_123 and REGION_123, respectively. Natural Keys If your source data maintains uniqueness, and there is no possibility of the same ID being used for different members of the dimension, then Natural Keys may be used. In this case, the AW dimension IDs will exactly match the values in the data source. Note: Value-based hierarchies are not level based and, therefore, cannot be defined on dimensions that are maintained with Surrogate Keys.
Creating User Attributes To create a user attribute, right-click the Attribute node under the appropriate dimension, and select Create Attribute from the menu. Example For the Customer dimension: 1. The Customer Gender attribute is added. The attribute type is User. It holds the gender of every customer. Therefore, it is applicable to the leaf customer level only. 2. The data type for this attribute is TEXT, as shown on the Implementation Details tabbed page.
Examining Advanced Cube Settings The next few sections cover the more advanced Cube implementation in detail. In the lesson titled Building an Analytic Workspace, you accepted the defaults when creating the BUDGETS cube. In this lesson, you learn about sparsity control, compression and partitioning features, aggregation rules, and summarization strategies. In the slide, the General tabbed page for the new SALES cube is displayed. However, before clicking the Create button, you can fine-tune the settings on the following tabbed pages: Implementation Details Rules Summarize To Cache
Creating a Cube: Implementation Details Most of the advanced options for tuning your multidimensional model are found on the Implementation Details tabbed page of the Create Cube window. Because the Sales cube represents much more data than the Budgets cube, this provides the opportunity to learn about some more advanced tuning topics. As shown in the slide, the Implementation Details tabbed page contains four important tuning features of Oracle OLAP, which are examined in detail in the following sections.
The correct use of these features ensures that your analytic workspace is very efficient and is implemented in an optimal way.
Sparsity When there are a large number of empty cells in a cube, the cube is said to be sparse. For example, if you are a manufacturer of consumer packaged goods, you do not sell one or more of every single product you make to every customer, every day, through every sales channel. Different customers buy different products, at different time intervals, and each customer probably has a preferred channel. Different products may display different sparsity patterns: Ice creams and cold drinks tend to sell faster in the summer, whereas warm arctic coats are more popular in the winter (particularly in cold locations). When using multidimensional technology, pay attention to sparsity so that you can design cubes efficiently. The effect of sparsity in data (and a badly designed cube) can result in tremendous growth in disk usage and a corresponding increase in the time taken to update and recalculate data in the cube. Inefficient sparsity control in any multidimensional data store can result in many empty cells actually being physically stored on the disk. This is something that is less of a concern with relational technology, because it is rare to store a completely null row in a table. Oracle OLAP automatically deals with sparsity up to a point. But you, as a cube builder, can provide Oracle OLAP with the information that you know about your data (and information that Oracle OLAP needs to know) to deal with that data extremely efficiently.
Sparsity (continued) Sparsity is often expressed in percentage terms. Data is said to be 5% dense (or 95% sparse) if only 5% of the possible combinations of the cells in a multidimensional measure or cube actually contain data. In many cases, data is very sparse, especially sales and marketing data. Only very aggregated data with a fairly small number of dimensions is typically dense enough for you to not consider sparsity. Sparsity tends to increase with the number of dimensions and with the number of levels and hierarchies in each dimension. As you add dimensions to the definition of a cube, the number of possible cell combinations can increase exponentially. Also, the granularity of data affects sparsity. Low-level, detailed data is much more sparse than aggregate data. Very aggregate data is typically dense. Particular combinations of dimensions typically have different sparsity from others. For example, Time dimensions and Line dimensions are often more dense than dimensions such as Product, Customer, and Channel. This is because combinations of customers and products are sparser than combinations of customers and time or sparser than combinations of products and time. For this reason, AWM 10g asks you to confirm which of the dimensions for your data are sparse dimensions and which ones are dense.
Dimension Order and Sparsity When you determine the sparsity settings for your cube, you should also consider the ordering of the dimensions. After you have decided which of your dimensions are sparse, their ordering on the Implementation Details tabbed page is important. You can improve the build and aggregation performance of your AW by tuning the order in which the dimensions are specified. Generally, it is best to: Define a relatively small, dense dimension (such as Time) first in the list, followed by a group of all the sparse dimensions. Use the up and down arrows to alter the ordering of the dimensions as shown in the slide. List the sparse dimensions in order of size from the one with the most members to the one with the least In the SALES cube, there are 56,299 customers, 100 products, and 9 channels across the various levels of aggregation, so the dimensions should be ordered in that order for optimum efficiency. When you make these choices, you impact the way that Oracle OLAP organizes data storage in the Oracle database. Note: You do not need to spend time on these guidelines if you have sparse data that would benefit from the use of the AWM compression feature (discussed in the next few slides).
Compressed Cubes Oracle OLAP 10g introduces a new, internationally patented technology in the AW. When you select the Use Compression option, this technology: Enables you to make use of an extremely powerful data storage and aggregation algorithm that is optimized for sparse data Is often dramatically faster than any previous OLAP server technology when aggregating sparse multidimensional data Can improve aggregation performance by a factor of 5 to 50 Can reduce disk storage and can also improve query performance This feature is ideal for large volumes of sparse data, but it is not suitable for all cubes. You use this feature for the SALES cube in this lesson. Note: Dimension order is unimportant when using compression. The multidimensional engine automatically determines how best to physically order the data after it is loaded. Also, if the Use Compression option is selected, then additional efficiency can often (but not always) be achieved by marking all dimensions (including Time) as sparse, especially for sparse data where there is known seasonality in the data, and especially if your AW is also partitioned on Time.
Using Global Composites A composite is an analytic workspace object used to manage sparsity. It maintains a list of all the sparse dimension-value combinations for which there is data. By ignoring the sparse empty combinations in the underlying physical storage, the composite reduces the disk space required for sparse data. When data is added to a measure dimensioned by a composite, the AW automatically maintains the composite with any new values. A global composite is simply a single composite for all data in a cube. Depending on the Compression and Partitioning choices you make, the behavior of AWM will vary. When to Specify Use Global Composites The Use Global Composites option is rarely needed. It can be beneficial to select this option in the case of a noncompressed cube that is partitioned. In all other cases, you should leave the option unselected.
Partitioned Cubes You can easily partition your AW in AWM 10g by selecting the Partition Cube option. This is another way of improving the build and aggregation performance and scalability of your AW, especially if your computer has multiple CPUs. Oracle Database 10g with the OLAP option can run on single-CPU computers and large multi-CPU computers, and with Real Application Clusters and Grid technology. With Grid technology, clusters of computers can be harnessed together and used as if they are one large computer. If you partition your AW, then when you submit the build process, you may choose to spread the tasks of updating the various partitions across the available CPUs to get the job done faster. Even when there is only a single CPU, partitioning often improves build and aggregation performance because the partitioning allows AWM to process the cube in a series of smaller steps. Also, by having to maintain smaller composite dimensions, overall efficiency can improve. Partitioning is often used together with other performance features (such as cube compression), though these features do not have to be used together. For example, cubes that are large, sparse, and running on powerful computers with multiple CPUs generally benefit from the use of partitioning and compression. If data is relatively dense and the computer has multiple CPUs, then using only partitioning is the best approach.
Creating a Cube: Rules Tabbed Page On the Rules tabbed page, you identify aggregation rules for the cube. You have many different kinds of aggregations available. This is a powerful feature of Oracle OLAP, enabling different dimensions to be independently calculated using different aggregation methods (or not using aggregation at all). In this example, the aggregation method of SUM is used. However, different aggregation methods are available to you. For example, if you have costs and price data, you may want to see this data averaged over time, answering such business questions as What is the average cost over 12 months? or What is the average price over 2 years?
Aggregation Methods Analytic workspaces in Oracle OLAP provide great calculation flexibility for aggregation. With Oracle OLAP, you have the option of preaggregating, aggregating on the fly, or partially aggregating your cubes and measures. When data is presummarized, the summarized values are physically stored. You also have the option to summarize data at query time. It is common to set the aggregation rules only once for all measures contained in a cube. However, when setting up the cube, you can specify that each measure can have its own aggregation rules if required. The default for aggregation is to use the SUM method (simple additive aggregation) for each dimension. In the previous lesson, you accepted the defaults for aggregation. For cubes or measures that have more sophisticated aggregation requirements, Oracle OLAP supports several different methods of aggregation. Note that you do not have to aggregate data. Some measures have no meaning at aggregate levels of certain dimensions. In such cases, you can specify that the data is nonadditive and should not be aggregated over those dimensions at all. Choosing the nonadditive aggregation method means that when you view the data in the analytic workspace, you find data only at the leaf levels of the dimensions for which you selected that method.
Understanding Aggregation AWM 10g enables you to set aggregation rules for each dimension independently for your cubes and measures. That is, each dimension, if required, can use a different mathematical method of generating data for the parent and ancestors. Here are some examples: SUM simply adds up the values of the measure for each child value to compute the value for the parent. This is the default (and most common) behavior. AVERAGE calculates the average of the values of the measure for each child value to provide the value for the parent. LAST takes the last non-NA (Null) value of the child members and uses that as the value for the parent. Sales quantities and revenues are usually aggregated over all dimensions using the SUM method, whereas inventory or headcount measures commonly require a different method (such as LAST) on the Time dimension and SUM for the other dimensions. More advanced aggregation methods, such as weighted average, are useful when aggregating measures such as Prices (weighted by Sales revenue).
Understanding Aggregation (continued) When you define a cube, you identify an aggregation method. Any measures that you create that belong to the cube automatically receive the aggregation methods for that cube. This is the default, and it is one of the benefits of using a cube: By setting up aggregation rules and sparsity handling for all the measures once at the cube level, you save time and reduce the scope for errors or inconsistencies. Different Aggregation for Individual Measures
However, you are not limited to specifying that all measures of a cube have the same aggregation method. When adding measures to the cube, you can specify a different aggregation method, and accept the defaults of all the other measure settings. For example, it is not uncommon for a single cube to contain measures such as Sales Revenue, Sales Quantity, Order Quantity, and Stock/Inventory Quantity. All these measures will aggregate using the SUM method over all dimensions, except for the Stock/Inventory measure, which requires a LAST method on the Time dimension (and SUM on all the others). Using the Rules tabbed page, you can specify this kind of modification for the appropriate measure. Note: The ability to override cube settings for individual measures is not supported in compressed cubes. If you use compression, and one of your measures requires a different aggregation method, you need to create it in a separate cube.
Aggregation Operators There are several different aggregation operators available to you for summarizing data in your AW. The following is a brief description of each of the operators. Average: Adds data values, and then divides the sum by the number of data values that are added together Hierarchical Average: Adds data values, and then divides the sum by the number of children in the dimension hierarchy. Unlike Average, which counts only non-NA children, Hierarchical Average counts all the logical children of a parent, regardless of whether each child does or does not have a value. Hierarchical Weighted Average: Multiplies non-NA child data values by their corresponding weight values, and then divides the result by the sum of the weight values. Unlike Weighted Average, Hierarchical Weighted Average includes weight values in the denominator sum even when the corresponding child values are NA. You identify the weight object in the Based On field. Weighted Average: Multiplies each data value by a weight factor, adds the data values, and then divides that result by the sum of the weight factors. You identify the weight object in the Based On field.
Summarization Strategy for Aggregation The amount of data that is preaggregated in batch as the data is loaded into the AW, and the amount that is left to be summarized on the fly at query time, are balanced between fast build and aggregation on the one hand and fast query performance and query scalability (many simultaneous users querying the cube) on the other. In general, the less you choose to presummarize when loading data into the AW, the more is the load placed on run-time queries. In this scenario, queries are likely to be a bit slower and the load on the server at query time is likely to be greater (for example, each user query is likely to be asking the server to do more calculation at that moment). Precalculated summaries are instantly available for retrieval and are generally faster to query. However, it does not necessarily follow that full aggregation across all levels of all dimensions yields the best query performance. In many cases, partial summarization strategies are found to provide optimal build and aggregation performance with little noticeable impact on query performance. If you are using the compressed cube implementation, the advice on the following page is less important because the engine automatically optimizes the storage and the aggregation strategy to provide a very rapid summarization, continued excellent query performance, and a compact AW in terms of disk space consumed.
Run-Time Cache Caching improves run-time performance in sessions that repeatedly access the same data, which is typical in data analysis. Caching temporarily saves calculated values in a session so that you can access them repeatedly without recalculating them each time. You have two options: Cache run-time aggregations using session cache: This is the default behavior. This option ensures that any run-time aggregations that are completed during a session are cached for the remainder of the session, improving query performance as the session progresses. This setting is ideal for a larger number of OLAP applications, namely those that allow read-only analysis where the underlying data is not changing during a session. Do not cache run-time aggregations: Select this option if the cube would be subject to what-if analysis and, therefore, it would be important that previously calculated summarizations are not reused.
Measures in Compressed Cubes With normal storage, you can optionally override some of the cube-level settings for individual measures that you create in the cube. However, with compressed cubes, all measures must have: The same data type The same aggregation rules and summarization strategy Apart from the new measure names, labels, and descriptions, all other measure settings are inherited from the cube in which the measure is contained. You cannot override measure settings for measures in a compressed cube. Note: As stated previously, if you use compression and one of your measures requires a different aggregation method, you need to create it in a separate cube.
Aggregation and Multiple Hierarchies Multiple Hierarchies Although the AW used in this course uses one hierarchy per dimension, you can have multiple hierarchies for a dimension. In the example in the slide, there are two separate hierarchies on the Time dimension. On the Aggregation Rules tabbed page, when creating a cube, you can specify which hierarchy or hierarchies should be used for aggregation for that cubes measures. You should select one or more hierarchies for each dimension being aggregated. If you omit a hierarchy, then no aggregate values are stored in it; they are always calculated in response to a query. Because this may reduce query performance, generally you should omit a hierarchy only if it is seldom used. The default behavior of AWM 10g is to select all hierarchies.
Refreshing Data You can refresh data at the AW, dimension, cube, and measure levels. To refresh data for any of the listed objects, right-click the object and select the Maintain option.
Refreshing Data (continued) When maintaining a cube or a measure, the default selection includes all dimensions. If you know that there have been no changes to certain dimensions, and if you want to save the time spent refreshing them unnecessarily, then you can remove them individually from the Selected Target Objects list. In the example, all measures in the Sales cube and the Customer dimension are maintained.
Refreshing Data Options The data processing options step in the Maintenance Wizard enables very specific processing choices for both dimensions and cubes. Each of the options for data processing is described in detail on the next page.
Refreshing Data: Task Processing Options The final step of the Maintenance Wizard enables you to control how and when the refresh tasks happen. You can choose to run the task interactively and immediately from within the AWM session. Or, you can submit the task to the Oracle Job Queue, where it can be run as a background task, freeing up your AWM session for more work. Except for small tasks, doing it via the Job Queue is generally recommended for this reason. If you or your IT department prefers to schedule tasks like this in some other way, you can save the task in the form of a script (which contains PL/SQL code) that can be run later. You can save the script even if you are also submitting the task to be run immediately. Running the task from within the AWM session is often the most convenient method, especially when developing your AWs and when testing your processing. However, it is unlikely to be the preferred method of scheduling the job after the system is running live in production. Even during development and testing, the Job Queue has advantages. Running the job via the Oracle Job Queue has two key advantages: The AWM session is not locked for the duration of the task (which, if you have a large AW or a lot of summarization to do, could take some time). You can specify the number of parallel processes for the job to use. If you have partitioned your AW, the time taken to refresh your AW can be significantly reduced, assuming that sufficient resources are available on the computer.
Reviewing the Build Log After the loading of data, you can review the build log. The build log time-stamps the refresh process. As each process starts and finishes, a description and time stamp are entered into the log. Review the log to ensure that no errors are encountered. All the maintenance logging goes into the XML_LOAD_LOG table, which belongs to the OLAPSYS user. It does not matter whether you run the maintenance interactively in AWM, or submit it to the Oracle Job Queue, or run the script that you saved in the final step of the Maintain Wizard from some other process, such as your own PL/SQL program or a third-party ETL tool or scheduler. Technical Note All the maintenance logging goes into the XML_LOAD_LOG table, which belongs to the OLAPSYS user. This table can be reviewed later, if required.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to implement user-defined attributes (such as gender) for a customer dimension. You learned about the difference between surrogate keys and natural keys when defining dimension implementation details. You also learned that how you specify your cube implementation can impact cube efficiency. Sparsity, compressed cubes, and cube partitioning are options available for your cube implementation. The AWM tool offers you many different aggregation methods for your cubes. You learned how to refresh the AW. You can refresh an entire AW, or you can refresh cubes, measures, and dimensions.
Practice 4: Overview In this practice, you build additional objects in your AW. You create a new Customer dimension by using a template, a new Sales cube, and three measures belonging to the new cube. You load data into the new objects in your AW.
Objectives In this lesson, you learn about some of the calculated measures that can be created in your analytic workspace (AW) to enrich its analytic content for end users. To organize your measures for the front-end tools, you learn how to create measure folders and place measures into the folders.
Calculated Measures One of the powerful features of the Oracle OLAP technology is the ability to efficiently and easily generate business calculations of data held in the database. Earlier, you saw that from a relatively small number of basic raw numbers, such as units, price, and cost, business users routinely report and analyze data via calculated measures and key point indicators. Some of the calculations are simple; some of them are more involved. None are complex from an enduser perspective, although many of them are challenging to traditional relational-only databases. This is especially true when the calculations are numerous, and when many of the queries are ad hoc and unpredictable in nature. Oracle OLAP contains a powerful calculation engine. You can extend the analytic content of your AW by adding into it some useful business calculations as calculated measures. Calculated measures are, as the name suggests, calculated from other measures available in the AW. They are implemented as formulas in the AW; that is, their definition is saved, but no calculated data is stored. The calculations happen at run time when a users query requires it (either for display or for use in a dimensions selection). Calculated measures are derived from the contents of other measures, including stored measures as well as measures that are calculated at run time.
Calculated Measures and Inherited Dimensionality In the example shown in the slide, the Revenue calculated measure is illustrated. The calculation in this example is simple: quantity price. Notice that the resulting dimensionality of Revenue is inherited from the two measures involved in the calculation. When you use measures with different dimensionality in a calculation, the result always contains the superset of the dimensions of the base measures. The multidimensional data model handles this automatically. As a cube builder, you do not have to worry about the possibility that different measures in your AW have different shapes or dimensionality. You specify the calculation rule in the wizard, and the engine automatically resolves the dimensionality. One requirement is that one dimension must be in common for the result to make sense. Quantity is dimensioned by Time, Product, and Customer, whereas Unit Price is not dimensioned by Customer. When Oracle OLAP is asked to calculate quantity price, it uses its knowledge of the dimensional model to automatically handle the calculation of Revenue for all customers, even though there is no separate price stored for each customer. If there is not a separate price for each customer, then there must be a single price for all customers. Price does not vary by customer. As Oracle OLAP performs the calculation quantity price, it applies the appropriate price for the particular product and time dimension intersections being calculated.
Creating a Calculated Measure To create a calculated measure using the AWM 10g tool, right-click the Calculated Measures node in the navigator, and then select Create Calculated Measure to access the Calculation Wizard. You simply follow the steps in the wizard. You can create a calculated measure in a variety of Oracle OLAP tools. For example, the same user interface is available in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, Discoverer Plus OLAP, and any application or tool developed with OracleBI Beans, including a number of Oracle partner products. This common user interface means that once you have learned the Calculation Wizard here, you will be able to use the same feature in a variety of other Oracle Business Intelligence tools and applications without additional training. Use the Calculation Builder in AWM when you want the calculated measures that you define to be available to authorized users of the AW, regardless of the access tool or method.
Calculation Templates in AWM 10g The first step in the Calculation Builder Wizard is to select the type of measure that you want to create. There are a wide range of templates covering most common business calculations, grouped into folders (as shown in the slide). Click the measure type that you want, and then click Next to complete the template for your chosen calculation type in step 2 of the wizard. The calculations are expressed in business terms, so it is easy to choose the correct template. Full descriptions of all the various calculation types are available in Help for this step in the wizard. In each case, step 2 provides you with an easy-to-use form that enables you to complete the definition of your chosen calculation. No coding or technical skills are required. In the following sections, you see examples of how to build these calculated measures into your AW: Share Percentage difference from a prior time period Moving average
Creating a Share Calculation The template for a share calculation is found in the Advanced Arithmetic calculation type folder. A share calculation is a commonly used business metric that indicates the relative importance of different products, customers, suppliers, and organizations to the business. With the Share calculated measure template, you can create a calculation that gives the ratio of a measure to the same measure value for another level or dimension member in the same dimension. Example In the example, the share calculation returns the ratio of budget profit for any product dimension member as a percentage of the total product.
Share Calculation: Example Here is an example of a report showing the Budget Profit base measure and three Share calculations: Share of Product Total, Share of Product Level, and Share of a Product Member (Hardware). Note how the % of Total, % of Level, and % of HW (hardware) category measures behave differently as the user drills down the product hierarchy. Also note that the third share measure on the report is base-lined to a specific product: the Hardware category. The report shows how Hardware compares to the other categories: Electronics, Peripherals and Accessories, Photo, and Software/Other.
Creating a Percentage Difference from a Prior Period Calculation Using the Percent Difference from Prior Period calculated measure template, you can create a calculated measure that is useful to indicate growth or decline of a business over time. This calculation template is found in the Prior/Future Time Period calculation type folder. This template accepts input for the following items to calculate the percentage difference from a prior period: Measure: Select a measure or a dimension member for which you want to calculate the percentage difference from the prior period. Over: If there is more than one time dimension, then a box appears to enable the selection of the proper Time dimension. Otherwise, the default Time dimension is used. In: Select the hierarchy for the specified dimension. From: Choose one of the following items to indicate the previous time period that the comparison is to be based on: - Year ago: Use if your measure is to compare performance with the same time period from the previous year - Period ago: Use if your measure is to compare performance with the previous period at the same level in the Time hierarchy - Number of periods or years ago: Use if your measure is to calculate a comparison with a time period of a specified number (entered in the number box) of periods ago, at a particular level (such as Year, Quarter, or Month) Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 5-11
Percentage Difference from a Prior Period: Example The example shown in the slide is a report that contains some same calculations of percentage differences from prior periods. All the measures automatically handle the situation in which the user needs to drill down into the time dimension and look at time periods at different levels. A single calculated measure in the AW can be used at any level of time, by any query tool, including SQL tools. Note the following: The Last Year calculation works at all levels of time, and compares each time period with the same time period 1 year ago. The Last Period calculation works at all levels of time, and compares each time period with the previous period at the same level. The 3 Months Ago calculation works at the appropriate levels of time (in this case, Month and Quarter because a quarter is made up of three months), and compares each time period with the same time period 3 months ago (which is equivalent to one quarter ago). Similar calculations can be easily generated for Costs, Quantity, Profit, and Budget measures.
Creating a Moving Average Calculation The Moving Average calculated measure template enables you to create moving averages over any of the measures in your AW. Moving averages are very useful when you analyze volatile data, because they smooth out the peaks and troughs and enable you to more easily visualize the trend in data. In the Moving Average template, you are asked to provide the following input: Measure: Select the measure for which you want to calculate a moving average. Over Time In: If there is more than one time dimension, then a box appears to enable the selection of the proper time dimension. Otherwise, the default time dimension is used. In identifies the hierarchy for the specified dimension. Include Previous: Enter the number of periods to be used for the calculation. An example of this calculation is as follows: Moving average of sales for the last three months = (Jan sales + Feb sales + March sales) / 3 Note: Similar pages are used for Moving Totals, Moving Maximums, and Moving Minimums.
Moving Averages: Example Here is an example of a combination graph showing how moving averages can be a useful way of smoothing out volatile data, thus enabling you to see the trends in data more easily. One line is a moving six-month average, and the other line is a three-month average.
Completing the Calculation Templates In the final step of creating a calculated measure, provide the calculation with a name and a user-visible description that end users will understand when they see it in the Query Builder of their end-user application. In the example shown in the slide, the definition of the Share calculation that is examined earlier in this lesson is completed. Note: Long labels are used by most OLAP clients for display. If you do not specify a value for the long label, then it defaults to the calculations name.
Modifying Calculated Measures Existing calculated measures can be edited from within AWM 10g. The descriptions and the calculation details can be changed. To change a calculated measure, click the calculated measure in the Model view. You see the general information displayed on the right. You can: 1. Make changes to labels and description. You can change the labels and description, but not the name. 2. Click the Launch Calculation Editor button to change the details of the calculated measure. You can change the details, but not the type, of the measure.
Using Measure Folders Measure folders are used to group measures together for easier end-user access. This includes stored measures and calculated measures. When using the Oracle OLAP Query Builder (in Discoverer Plus OLAP, OracleBI Spreadsheet Add In, OracleBI Beans, AWM, and other tools), measure folders make it easy to find the required measure from a list of potentially tens, hundreds, or even thousands of measures in the AW.
Without measure folders, measures are simply listed in a long list. It is recommended that you use this feature to improve the end-user experience.
Creating Measure Folders To create a measure folder, perform these steps: 1. Right-click the Measure Folder node in the navigator, select Create Measure Folder. 2. Enter a name for your measure folder, and an optional description. 3. Select the measures that you want grouped together in the measure folder from the Available Measures list, and then move them to the Selected Measures list. 4. Click Create. The same measure can appear in multiple measure folders, which means that you have flexibility over how you arrange your measures for users. Some examples of the design of a measure folder include: By kind of measure: Base Measures, Time Series Measures, Shares and Indexes, and so on (as shown in this lesson) By usage: Profitability Analysis Measures, Supply Chain Analysis Measures, Financial Reporting Measures, Measures for Performance Against Target, and so on.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how you can easily define calculated measures with the AWM wizard interface. There are many different functions for your calculated measures to use, enabling you to build robust calculations for your end users. You also learned how to create measure folders and organize measures in them.
Practice 5: Overview In this practice, you add calculated measures to your AW. Calculated measures created using the Calculation Wizard include the following: Budgets Cube: Budget Cost, Budget Profit %, Budget Profit % Parent Prod (Share) Sales Cube: Profit, Profit % Calculated measures created using the templates include: Budgets Cube: Budget Profit Last Year, Budget Profit Last Year Dif, Budget Profit Last Year %, Budget Profit YTD, Budget Profit % Total Prod (Share), Budget Sales Last Year, Budget Sales Last Year Dif, Budget Sales Last Year %, Budget Sales YTD Sales Cube: Cost vs Budget, Profit vs Budget, Sales vs Budget, Profit Last Year, Profit Last Year Dif, Profit Last Year %, Profit YTD, Sales Last Year, Sales Last Year Dif, Sales Last Year %, Sales YTD, Avg Sales Price Finally, you create the following measure folders to organize your measures: Base Measures Shares And Indexes Time Comparisons Last Year Variances Year To Dates
Objectives In this lesson, you learn to use OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In to quickly and easily create OLAP-focused worksheets directly in Microsoft Excel and extend the power of worksheets by using existing Excel capabilities. With OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, you can directly access data in the analytic workspace (AW) through the Excel interface. Using Excel and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In to access the AW that you created in the previous lesson, you learn to choose data from a list of values, create advanced selections, and select top/bottom and hierarchy-based values.
Using OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In is part of the Oracle Business Intelligence Tools CD set. When installed, you automatically have access to OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In through Excel. In Excel, the OracleBI menu gives you access to query and view data from an OLAP data source. Note: If the OracleBI menu is not available, you can add it through the Add-Ins submenu of the Excel Tools menu. Click the Browse button in the Add-Ins window. The executable file for the Excel add-in is located in the BIToolsHome\oraolapxl folder. The name of the add-in file is OLAP4XL.xla.
Connecting to an Oracle OLAP Data Source When you install OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, a new menu item named OracleBI is added to the Excel menu bar. Use this menu to access features that interact with Oracle OLAP, and also to connect to the OLAP data source.
To connect to an AW data source, perform these steps: 1. Select OracleBI > New Query to display the Connect (Oracle OLAP Data Source) dialog box. 2. In the Connect (Oracle OLAP Data Source) dialog box: - Use the OLAP Connection tabbed page to specify the username and password and to connect to an OLAP data source. - Use the Connection Editor tabbed page to create a new OLAP data source connection. 3. On the OLAP Connection tabbed page, enter your username and password. 4. On the Connection Editor tabbed page, enter an appropriate connection description, and then specify the host name, port number, and SID for your OLAP connection. 5. Click Connect.
Using the OLAP Query Wizard When you connect to an OLAP data source, the Oracle OLAP Query Wizard is automatically opened. This wizard enables you to specify the content and layout of your OLAP query.
You can also access the Oracle OLAP Query Wizard by opening an existing OLAP worksheet and selecting Edit Query from the OracleBI menu. Using the Oracle OLAP Query Wizard, you can: Specify the measures and dimensions to include in the query Determine the layout in which data and labels are organized in the query Select dimension members for each dimension in the query: - Select dimension members from a list. - Specify conditions that return a set of dimension members. - Choose a set of dimension members that have been previously saved. - Create saved selections. The OLAP Query Wizard makes it easy to reuse dimension selections by enabling users to save and retrieve defined selections. The next few sections cover how to create a product-ranking report to return the top five products based on Budget Revenue.
Selecting Measures In the Items step, select the measures that you want to display. The Available list contains all the measures and dimensions that can be displayed in your worksheet. In SALES_AW, you previously created five measure folders. Expanding a measure folders displays the measures and the dimensions within the folder. To choose measures for your spreadsheet, select the desired measure or measures, and then click the Add Selected Item button (>) to move the selected items to the Selected list. In the example, the Sales measure and its related dimensions are moved to the Selected list because the Automatically Add/Remove Dimensions check box is selected. If you want to remove a dimension from analysis in the final report, click the dimension name, and then click the Remove Selected Item button (<). In this example, all dimensions are displayed in the final report.
Specifying a Layout In the Layout step of the wizard, you can change the layout of data by performing the dragand-drop operation on the appropriate dimension or measure tiles. To swap dimensions interactively, drag the dimension tile that you want to swap over the dimension tile to which you are swapping. When the dimension name changes color, drop the dimension. An example of this technique is shown in the lower-left image in the slide, where the Product and Customer dimensions are swapped. To move a dimension, drag the dimension to the desired edge location. When you see a black box next to the edge location, drop the dimension. Alternatively, right-click the dimension that you want to move or swap. From the submenu choose the action, and then choose the dimension to which you are swapping or moving. When you have the layout that you want, click Next to continue in the wizard.
Specifying Dimension Members In the next several steps of the Query Wizard, select the dimension members for each dimension in the query. In this example, the Time dimension is displayed first. On the Members tabbed page of the Available list, you can use the drill symbol (+) to show the next level of values in the dimension hierarchy. In the example, the four quarters of 2005 are selected in the Available list. The Add Item button (>) is used to move the values to the Selected list. Click Next to continue specifying dimension member for each dimension in the query. Or, you can click Finish without specifying dimension members. If you click Finish, a default selection for each of the remaining dimensions is used in the query.
Using Conditions You can use the Conditions tabbed page to select and customize conditions that become steps to narrow the scope of a query. The Conditions tabbed page provides examples of various types of conditions. You modify the examples to create the exact condition that you want for a step in a query. The condition categories are the following: Exception: Conditions that select members by using comparisons of values for measures. Sample conditions are Sales > Cost and Sales <= Cost + 10%. Top/Bottom: Conditions that select the specified number of members after ranking the members by the specified measure. You can specify an exact number of members or a percentage of the total members. Sample conditions are Top 10 based on Sales and Top 5% based on Cost. Hierarchy: Conditions that select members on the basis of hierarchical relationships, such as family members and levels. A sample condition is Children of Regions of the World. Time/Ordinal: Conditions that select members on the basis of ranges of time and on hierarchical levels. A sample condition is From July 2004 to December 2005. Match: Conditions that select members on the basis of matches with text strings and attribute values. A sample condition is Name contains <xyz>.
Using Conditions to Rank Values To create a condition, click the Conditions tab in the Available list. The Conditions tabbed page provides condition templates that are organized into condition types. The condition templates can be customized to specify the condition that you require.
In the slide example, the Top/Bottom folder is opened and the Top 10 based on Sales template is selected. The condition templates derive some of their default values directly from the current queryin this case, Budget Revenue is read directly from the current query. Each element of the condition that is displayed as a hypertext link may be modified. For example, this condition is modified to return the top five products, by clicking the 10 hyperlink and changing it to 5.
Using Conditions to Rank Values (continued) You can use a condition as the only step for a dimension selection, or you can add it as a step in a multistep selection. You can also modify elements that are displayed as hypertext links when the condition is moved to the Selected list. In the example, the condition is added to the Selected list as a second step by using the Add Selected Items button (>). Then, the Add hypertext link is clicked, and the Then Keep option is selected from the list. The completed condition reads as follows: Keep Product: Top 5 based on Sales Multistep Query Model A dimension selection may be any combination of Member, Condition, or Saved Selection steps. In the example in the slide: The Peripherals and Accessories category is selected from the Members list. Then, a ranking condition is added as the second step. All multistep selections are evaluated in a top-down fashion. Therefore, this condition returns the top five products in the peripherals and accessories category, based on sales. If Add was not changed to Then Keep, the top five products for the entire dimension would be returned in addition to the Peripherals and Accessories category member.
Qualifying Ranking Conditions Click Edit Step (pencil icon) to display the Edit Step dialog box. In the Edit Step dialog box, you can view all elements of the condition in one place. The example in the slide displays the Action field, which shows the Keep option, the Level field, which indicates the hierarchy level (in this case, the Product level), and so on. Any of these fields can be modified. Qualify the Condition You can also specify the values on which you want to base your condition for each of the other dimensions in the query. In the example, the Edit Step dialog box displays the default qualification of the other dimensions: Q1-2005 (Time), Americas (Customer), and Channel Total (Channel). To change the current dimension qualification, click the Qualify button to display the Qualify Measure dialog box. In the example, the Time dimension is qualified to 2005, and the Customer dimension is qualified to Each Customer. Click OK in the Qualify Measure dialog box to update the values that are displayed in the For box of the Edit Step dialog box.
Note: The Each <Dimension> option is available only for dimensions that are displayed in the page axis of the report. This option enables a ranking or exception condition to dynamically reexecute when a new member is selected from that page axis in the report.
Completing the Dimension Selection In the example in the slide, the final dimension in the query is displayed in the Query Wizard. The Channel Total, Direct, Indirect, and Others members are selected for the Channel dimension.
After completing all steps in the Query Wizard, click Finish. The report is then generated in Excel.
Viewing the Report The OLAP query returns data for the top five Peripherals and Accessories products based on Sales, for 2005, Channel Total, and each Customer. You can select a new dimension member from each of the Page Axis dimension pull-down lists to requery the data. You can also drill down on any dimension member that contains a drilldown symbol (+) next to it. Because the Product selection for this report contains only leaf-level data, there are only drilldown symbols in the Time dimension. After they are drilled down, you can collapse a set of dimension members back to the parent level by clicking the collapse symbol (-).
Using the Report Selecting Members from the Page Axis Dimensions In the top example in the slide, Europe is selected from the Customer dimension. Because the Customer dimension has been qualified for each member, the Product ranking condition is reevaluated each time you select a new dimension member from the Customer dimension. Notice the change in the Product ranking order. Drilling Up or Down On the basis of the dimension values that you choose for your report, you have the ability to drill up or down on the data. The query is automatically reexecuted, and the correct list of top five products based on budget revenue is displayed. In the bottom example in the slide, the first quarter of 2005 is drilled down to show the first three months of 2005. The report is refreshed with the new data for the ranking report. Note: Although the report now shows new data for the months, the ranking itself remains the same because the condition specified that the ranking should be based on data for 2005.
Saving the Report To save the report based on data in the AW, you use the usual Excel file-saving command. The report is saved as an Excel spreadsheet. When you open the saved report, you see the data as a snapshot of what you last saved.
To update the report to the latest values in the AW, you must reconnect the query. Select the Reconnect Query option in the OracleBI menu. After you are reconnected, the report is updated with the latest data from the AW.
Modifying a Query You can modify an existing OLAP query by selecting OracleBI > Edit Query. The Oracle OLAP Query Editor then appears. You can use the four tabbed pages to modify different criteria for your query: Use the Items panel to select measures, dimensions, and hierarchies for a query. Use the Layout panel to rearrange data in the spreadsheet. Use the Dimensions panel to qualify dimension values for a query. Use the Hidden Dimensions panel to select a new member for a hidden dimension. Hidden dimensions are dimensions that are related to the selected measures of a query but are not shown in a report after the query is executed. One member of each hidden dimension is applied to the query. Note: The Edit Query option is available only when a cell containing an existing query is selected.
Modifying a Query: Results In the sample results in the slide, the Edit Query window is used to perform the following: On the Items tabbed page, add the Profit and Profit % calculations from the Base Measures folder. On the Layout tabbed page, swap Time and Measures on the column axis of the report. On the Dimensions tabbed page: - For Time, change the selection to the year 2005. - For Product, edit the ranking condition and use the Qualify button to select Each Channel (in addition to Each Customer) as qualifying values for the other dimensions in the query. Note The Profit % measure is formatted using the Excel Add Decimals tool. When you select a Channel or Customer member from the page axis in the report, the product-ranking condition is reevaluated. The product ranking based on Sales may be different than if the ranking was based on other measures, such as Profit, Profit %, or any other measure that is not in the report.
Inserting an Excel Chart Based on OLAP Data You can insert an Excel chart that is based on the OLAP data in your spreadsheet. Then, when you select new data for the spreadsheet, the chart updates automatically along with the crosstab.
To insert a chart based on OLAP data, perform the following steps: 1. Select the crosstab elements that you want to be displayed in the chart. In the example, the Product dimension, column headings, and data body are selected. 2. Select Chart from the Insert menu. 3. In the Chart Wizard, specify Chart Type, Data Range, Series, and any other layout options, and then click Finish.
Using the Excel Chart Because the chart is driven by the same OLAP query as the crosstab, when you change dimension selections, the chart updates automatically along with the crosstab. Notice that the chart is based on the Sales measure. In the Chart Wizard, you can select any measure from the query as the series.
Applying Excel Formatting to OLAP Data Using Excel formatting options, you can format the sheet, cells, rows, and columns. In the example in the slide: All columns in the data body are formatted with two digits after the decimal place. This can be accomplished by selecting the entire data body, and then using the Format Cell window, or by using the Format Style and Increase Decimal tools. In addition, a conditional format is added to the Profit % columns. To open the Conditional Format dialog box, select Format > Conditional Formatting from the menu. The conditional format specifies that all values below 20% be shown in red.
Creating an OLAP Calculation in Excel All three of the OLAP-enabled Oracle Business Intelligence tools (OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, Discoverer Plus OLAP, and OracleBI Beans) share the same functional ability to create calculations as does Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM) 10g. The same OLAP Calculation Wizard is shared by all products. To launch the Calculation Wizard from Excel, select OracleBI > New Calculation from the menu. Store Calculations in the AW or with the Tool? When calculation definitions are created by AWM 10g, they are stored directly in the AW. In this case, the calculation is centrally located and managed as part of the data model, and is available to all OLAP tools and application users that can access the AW schema. When you create an OLAP calculation in Excel, the information is saved with the spreadsheet. If you distribute the spreadsheet, the calculation is available in Excel to any individual who connects to the same data source.
Customizing Default Options You can customize several options by using Default Options in the Spreadsheet Add-In menu. The options are divided into three categories: General, Query, and Hierarchies. Each is shown on a separate tabbed page. For each category, you can select different options. On the General tabbed page, you identify options for creating queries. On the Query tabbed page, you specify settings for displaying data. On the Hierarchies tabbed page, you identify the formatting of values in a dimension that has a hierarchy.
Summary OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In enables you to display and navigate Oracle OLAP data from Excel. You can treat Oracle OLAP data as regular Excel datafor example, you can create formulas and graphs, or apply Excel formatting. This enables you to combine the powerful analytic capabilities of Oracle OLAP with standard Excel functionality. Using a wizard-driven interface, you can select data from an AW by choosing from a simple list of values or by creating advanced selections. For example, you can create value-based exceptions and top/bottom or hierarchy-based values. You can use OLAP calculations that are stored in the AW or create your own personal OLAP calculations using the Calculation Wizard that is accessible from the OracleBI menu.
Practice 6: Overview In this practice, you use OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In in Excel to query data in the analytic workspace that you created in the previous lessons. You create two reports: The first report uses the product share calculations for Budget Profit, which show the target contribution of each product member to the parent of each product and to total product. The second report incorporates a ranking condition in the query that enables ranking analysis of products. You insert an Excel chart that provides a graphical presentation of the OLAP data. Note: If the OracleBI menu item is not available, you can add it from the Add-Ins submenu of the Excel Tools menu. Click the Browse button in the Add-Ins window. The executable file for the Excel add-in is located in the BIToolsHome\oraolapxl folder. The name of the add-in file is OLAP4XL.xla.
Objectives In this lesson, you use OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP to create worksheets that enable analysis of OLAP data. Using the analytic workspace (AW) and its multidimensional objects that were created in previous lessons, you learn how easy it is to interact with and build analytical reports that are based on analytic data that you created in the AW. Many of the same wizard interfaces to the data in the AW are shared with OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In. This illustrates the consistency of user experience across all OLAPenabled tools in the Oracle Business Intelligence suite.
OracleBI Discoverer Components OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP is part of the Oracle Business Intelligence suite. The Oracle Business Intelligence suite contains four components of the OracleBI Discoverer product offering. OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP and OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Oracle Database 10g provides analytic services for both multidimensional and relational data sources. OracleBI Discoverer Plus enables users to create reports, perform ad hoc querying, and engage in sophisticated analysis of multidimensional and relational data sources. Discoverer Plus OLAP can be used against analytic workspace data and data warehouse schemas in star or snowflake form. Discoverer Plus Relational can be used against any relational schema. OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Using Discoverer Viewer, end users can view, change, and save reports that are created with Discoverer Plus (OLAP and Relational). As a thin HTML client, Discoverer Viewer results in smaller footprint on the hardware, and therefore can support more concurrent users. OracleBI Discoverer Portlet Provider Discoverer Portlet Provider enables users to publish Discoverer portlets integrated in a portal, along with content from other sources.
OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP Using OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP, users can leverage the Oracle OLAP engine to perform query and analysis against Oracle OLAP data sources, including analytic workspaces.
Discoverer Plus OLAP enables direct access to the power of the Oracle OLAP analytic engine while providing ease of use through the award-winning Discoverer user interface. This combination makes the Oracle OLAP option easily accessible to both power users and casual users. Creating Workbooks of OLAP Data With Discoverer Plus OLAP, users create workbooks of OLAP data. OLAP workbooks contain reports of multidimensional data in both crosstab and graph views. A workbook may contain one or more reports, which are called worksheets.
Distributing OLAP Analytics Discoverer Plus OLAP workbooks may be published for viewing and analysis by the larger Discoverer user community, thus providing for easy distribution of analysis across the enterprise.
Viewing Discoverer OLAP Workbooks in Pure HTML Discoverer Viewer users can view, change, and save reports that are created with Discoverer Plus OLAP. Discoverer Viewer contains many features to view and analyze reports, such as drilling, pivoting, and exporting data and graphs into a variety of industry-standard formats (such as XML, CSV, PDF, IQY, and Microsoft Excel). It also enables high-fidelity printing and enhanced formatting features. In addition, you can use Discoverer Viewer to send Discoverer reports as e-mail attachments. Publishing Discoverer OLAP Portlets OracleBI Discoverer is integrated with Oracle Application Server Portal (OracleAS Portal). This integration enables Discoverer content (including live access to Discoverer Plus OLAP reports) to be published on enterprise portals so that the business intelligence content can be shared with a wide spectrum of users: customers, company executives, partners, and so on.
Connecting to Discoverer Plus OLAP The officially supported way to connect to Discoverer Plus OLAP is through the Connection Manager. However, because Discoverer Plus OLAP is an applet, a desktop icon that directly accesses the applet has been created for this course.
Connection Manager To display the Discoverer Plus connection window, enter the URL for Discoverer Plus in the address line of your browser. The URL uses the following format: http://<application server host name>:<port number>/discoverer/plus
In the Discoverer Plus connection window, select OracleBI Discoverer for OLAP, enter the appropriate connection authentication information, and then click Go. Discoverer Plus OLAP Applet In this course, you directly launch Discoverer Plus OLAP by double-clicking the desktop icon. In the Connect dialog box, enter the appropriate connection information, and then click Connect.
Creating a Workbook and Worksheet Recall that Discoverer Plus OLAP analytic reports are called worksheets and that worksheets are organized into containers called workbooks. After the connection to a Discoverer Plus OLAP data source is made, the Workbook Wizard is automatically displayed. Using the Workbook Wizard, you can open an existing workbook or create a new workbook. To create a new workbook, perform these steps: 1. In the Workbook Wizard, select the Create a new workbook option. 2. Select the options to display the appropriate worksheet items. Worksheet Items The data display region of the worksheet may include a crosstab, a graph, or both. If you choose only a crosstab or a graph, you can display the other presentation later. You can select the following options to provide more information in the worksheet: Title: Provides a text-entry area above the report for a title Page Items: Displays tiles for page-item dimensions in the query Text Area: Provides a text-entry area below the report for a footer Note: The graphical example updates to reflect your latest worksheet item selections.
Selecting Measures in the Wizard In step 2 of the Workbook Wizard, select the measures for your report. This is the same interface that you used in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In. Select measures in the same way that you did with OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In: 1. From the Available list, select the appropriate measures. 2. Click Add Selected Items (>) to move the measures to the Selected list. Click Finish or Next? At this point in the wizard, you have two choices: Clicking Next enables you to specify a layout for the crosstab and then continue in the wizard to select members for each dimension in the query, just as you have done in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In. Clicking Finish exits the wizard and creates the report by using a default layout and default set of dimension member selections.
Specifying a Report Layout in the Wizard In the Workbook Wizard, you can modify the default layout of the report by using drag-anddrop techniques on the dimension tiles or measures, or by right-clicking. This is the same wizard step that you used with OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In.
Specifying Dimension Member Selections in the Wizard As you learned using OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, the creation of an OLAP query includes the selection of members for each dimension in the query. The same query wizard steps that are used for dimension member selection in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In are used in Discoverer Plus OLAP. For each dimension, you can specify a selection by choosing members using one of the following tabs: Members: Use the Members tabbed page to display a list of members for the dimension. Select the members that you want to include in the query. Conditions: Use the Conditions tabbed page to create a condition to be evaluated. The dimension members that are returned by the condition are used in the query. Saved Selections: Use the Saved Selections tabbed page to apply a saved dimension selection.
Examining the Discoverer Plus OLAP Work Area The Discoverer Plus OLAP worksheet environment enables interactive modification and formatting of reports. There are three primary regions in the worksheet environment: 1. Menu bar, Standard toolbar, and Formatting toolbar: Provide access to all of the features of Discoverer Plus OLAP 2. Available Items pane: Provides an interactive interface that enables you to modify directly the query that is associated with the current worksheet. The Available Items pane has two tabs: Members and Saved Selections. 3. Worksheet area: Displays the worksheets in the opened workbook. Only one workbook can be opened at a time. A workbook may contain multiple worksheets. A fourth region is, by default, not normally displayed: 4. Query Steps pane: Reflects the current state of the query item that is displayed in the Available Items pane. The Query Steps pane is examined later in this lesson.
Using the Available Items Pane Using the Available Items pane, you can change a query directly, without using a dialog box or wizard. Together with the Query Steps pane, it supports in-place analysisyou simply select values (dimension members, measures, calculations, or saved selections) and move them directly to the worksheet. There are several ways to move items to the worksheet: 1. Drag the items directly to the crosstab or graph. 2. Right-click the items, and select Add or Replace from the pop-up menu. 3. Use the toolbar to move the items. In the example in the slide, all quarter values for the year 2005 are selected. These members may be moved to the worksheet by using one of the methods described above. Add or Replace with the Drag-and-Drop Operation? By default, dragging an item to the worksheet performs an Add action. However, when you drag a saved selection to the worksheet, a Replace action is performed. Saved selections are discussed later in this lesson. Removing Items from the Worksheet You can also remove report items by dragging them from the worksheet.
Accessing the Edit Worksheet Wizard Discoverer Plus OLAP uses the same query wizard that OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In uses. With OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, the query wizard is called the OLAP Query Editor Wizard. In Discoverer Plus OLAP, it is called the Edit Worksheet Wizard.
To access the wizard, do either of the following: Click the Edit Worksheet button . From the menu bar, select Edit > Worksheet. Use the Edit Worksheet Wizard in the same way that you use the OLAP Query Editor Wizard in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In.
Saved Selections A saved selection is an object that contains a saved set of dimension members for an OLAP query. You typically create a saved selection for dimension members that you frequently reuse.
Creating Saved Selections Using Discoverer Plus OLAP, you can create a saved selection in two ways: Using the Edit Worksheet Wizard Using the Save button that is displayed in the Query Steps pane Reusable for Queries in Other Reports When you use Discoverer Plus OLAP, saved selections are stored in the Discoverer Catalog. The Discoverer Catalog is a repository in the Oracle database that enables storage and sharing of analytic objects that you create with Discoverer Plus OLAP. A saved selection is one of these objects. Saved selections can thus be reused in queries that are part of other reports in the same workbook as well as in other workbooks. The can also be shared with other Discoverer users.
Creating Saved Selections: Edit Worksheet After you display the Edit Worksheet Wizard, click the Dimensions tabbed page, and then do the following: 1. Choose the dimension. 2. Specify your dimension selection. 3. Click the Save button. In the Save Selection As dialog box, perform the following steps: 1. Enter a name for the saved selection. 2. Select the appropriate option: Save Steps or Save Members. These options are examined in the next section. 3. Click OK. By default, the saved selection is stored in your private user folder in the Discoverer Catalog. Example In the example in the slide, a Hierarchy condition is used to return the product items in the Photo division, and the Save button is clicked. By selecting the Save Steps option, the resulting selection is saved to the SH_AW user folder with the name Photo Cat Products.
Creating Saved Selections: Edit Worksheet (continued) You can stay in the Edit Worksheet Wizard and continue to create new saved selections before executing a query. Example In the example in the slide, a second step has been added to the Photo category product selection. This two-step selection is used to return the top 5 product items in the Photo category. You can create another saved selection for the Product dimension by clicking the Save button.
Understanding Saved Selection Options As stated previously, in the Save Selection As dialog box, you must specify one of the two options: Save Steps or Save Members. Save Steps The Save Steps option creates an object that records steps that result in dimension selection. This object can be thought of as a dynamic saved selection. For example, if you create a saved selection that contains a condition, you should choose this option. Each time the query is run, the steps in the saved selection are reevaluated. Save Members The Save Members option creates a static list of values that are specified for the dimension when the saved selection is created. Therefore, this object contains a list of dimension members that never change. Example By selecting the Save Steps option, a dynamic reevaluation of the ranking condition is enabled. Also, any new products that are added to the Photo category are considered in the ranking condition. The saved selections name in this example indicates that the product ranking condition is unqualified for the Time and Customer dimensions.
Using Saved Selections You can apply a saved selection to a report in one of the two ways: Use the Saved Selections tabbed page in the Available Items pane. Use the Saved Selections tabbed page on the Dimensions tabbed page of the Edit Worksheet Wizard. Applying a Saved Selection Interactively You can apply a saved selection to the report directly from the Available Items pane without having to open a wizard or dialog box. Perform these steps in the Available Items pane: 1. Select the Dimension that you want to change. 2. Click the Saved Selections tab at the top of the Available Items pane. 3. Navigate to the user folder. 4. Select and apply the appropriate saved selection to the worksheet. Example In the example in the slide, the Product dimension selection is modified by dragging the Photo Cat Products saved selection to the worksheet area. This action replaces the previous product selection.
Undoing or Redoing the Previous Action If you want to revert to a previous state in the worksheet (such as the previous dimension selection), you can use the undo or redo functionality in Discoverer Plus. There are two ways to perform an undo or redo operation: Select Edit > Undo (or Redo) <previous action>. Click the Undo (or Redo) button. Multiple Actions The user can undo (or redo) several actions, not only the latest (previous) one, by performing the action multiple times.
Removing Items from a Report You can remove report items by simply dragging them from the worksheet. This includes measures and dimension members. Example The crosstab shown in the slide is updated to reflect the product selection from the previous page. Notice the lack of sales revenue data for the 64MB Memory Card product. This item is removed from the report by dragging it from the worksheet area, as shown in the slide.
Viewing the Query Steps Pane In OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, you must use the Query Editor to construct multistep selections. You have the same option in Discoverer Plus OLAP, but in addition, the interactive addition and removal of dimension members in a worksheet also records these actions as steps for that dimension in the query. You can view the recorded steps for any dimension by using either the Edit Worksheet Wizard or the Query Steps pane. To display the Query Steps pane, select View > Query Steps Pane from the menu. Example In the example in the slide, the removal of the 64MB Memory Card product (from the previous slide) is automatically recorded as a step for the product dimension.
Creating Saved Selections: Query Steps Pane In addition to creating saved selections using the Edit Worksheet Wizard, you can create saved selections by using the Query Steps pane. To create a saved selection using the Query Steps pane, perform the following steps: 1. Click the Save Steps As button to display the Save Selection As dialog box. 2. Enter a name, select the appropriate option for the saved selection, and click OK. Example Notice that a third step has been added to the product selection. A Match condition has been added that keeps all products that contain the letters batt in the name. When the query is executed, the product dimension portion of the query is evaluated as follows: 1. All products in the Photo division are returned. 2. The 64MB Memory Card product is removed. 3. The Photo products that contain the string batt in the product name (that is, all battery products) are kept.
Applying User Attributes in Queries Recall that two user attributes, Postcode and Gender, were created in the AW for the Customer dimension. These attributes are associated with the lowest level in the dimension hierarchy.
You can use these kind of dimension attributes to filter your OLAP queries. To access User attributes in your query, perform the following steps: 1. Display the appropriate dimension in the Edit Worksheet Wizard. 2. Use the Match folder on the Condition tabbed page to display the attributes. Example In the example in the slide, a multistep selection for the Customer dimension uses both the Postcode and Gender attributes to return all female customers in postal code 59200.
Using the Selected Members Tabbed Page In the Edit Worksheet Wizard, you can use the Members tabbed page of the Selected list to preview the result of any dimension selection. Example In the example from the previous slide, the user really wants to see a list of Customer members that are returned by the multistep selection (all female customers in postal code 59200), rather than a view of the measure data that is associated with those members. In this case, the Members tabbed page in the Selected list is used as a preview of dimension members returned by the selection. You can also obtain a count of the member set that is returned a multistep selection by clicking the scroll bar on the Members tabbed page. You see that there are 37 female customers in postal code 59200.
Viewing the Graph Although you may choose to display only a crosstab when you create a worksheet, the graph is also available; it is merely hidden. The reverse is also true. Therefore, you can view or hide either the crosstab or graph in any worksheet.
To view the graph, select View > Graph. Most worksheet items can be displayed or hidden by using the toggle features of this menu. A check mark indicates that the item is currently displayed.
Using the Graph The graph is driven by the same query as the crosstab. Therefore, when you change data selections for the crosstab, the graph automatically updates with the same data. By default, the layouts of the presentations are also linked. Later in this lesson, you learn how to unlink the presentation layouts. Note: If you want to create a graph that uses a separate query, you can simply create a new worksheet with a new graph.
Modifying the Graph There are many ways that you can modify the graph. You can change: Graph formatting characteristics, including: - Grid lines - Gradient effect - 3D effect - Plot area Graph layout Graph type Graph position In the pop-up menu, you can also choose to hide the graph.
Adding a Title You can add a title to a worksheet by displaying the title area. You can also add individual titles to both the crosstab and the graph. To add a title to the worksheet, perform the following steps: 1. From the main menu, select View > Title to make the worksheet title area visible. 2. Double-click the title area to display the Edit Title dialog box. 3. Enter a descriptive title. You can also use the text-formatting tools to change the color, style, position, and size of the title text. 4. Click OK.
Inserting a Hyperlink You can insert a hyperlink to a title or text area of the worksheet. To add a hyperlink, click the Edit Hyperlink tool, and enter the appropriate text and destination information.
Saving the Worksheet and Workbook When you first save a workbook, you can provide a name for both the worksheet and the workbook. Naming the Worksheet To provide a name for the worksheet, perform the following steps: 1. From the main menu, select Edit > Rename Worksheet. Or, right-click the worksheet tab, and select Rename Worksheet from the menu. 2. In the Rename Worksheet dialog box, enter a short descriptive name. 3. Click OK. Saving the Workbook To save the workbook, perform the following steps: 1. From the main menu, select File > Save. 2. In the Save As dialog box, enter a name. 3. Click OK.
Note: A saved workbook is stored as an XML object inside the Discoverer Catalog in the database.
Viewing the Finished Report The saved worksheet can now be made available for viewing and analysis by other Discoverer Plus OLAP and Discoverer Viewer users. Notice that the graph type has been changed from Bar to Multi-Pie. Also, the report layout has been changed by moving the Channel dimension to the Page Items area, and Sales Profit has been added to the report.
Adding a Worksheet to a Workbook To add a new worksheet to a workbook, perform either of the following: Select File > New from the main menu. Click the New Worksheet button . The Worksheet Wizard is displayed, enabling you to choose the same worksheet items that are presented in the Workbook Wizard.
Combining Measures of Different Dimensionality Earlier in this course, combing measures of different dimensionality was examined. The Oracle OLAP engine manages this combination automatically because all measures, whatever their shape, share the dimensions.
In the example in the slide, the Profit and Budget Profit measures have different shapes: They are both dimensioned by the Product, Channel, and Time dimensions, but the Profit measure is also dimensioned by Customer. The Budget measures are three dimensional, and the Sales measures are four dimensional. The Budget measures are not dimensioned by Customer dimensionthat is, the Budgets do not vary by customer. Therefore, when viewed on their own, the Customer dimension is not present. However, in the context of this report, the Profit measure from the 4D Sales cube has been selected. Because Profit is dimensioned by Customer, notice that Discoverer has included the Customer dimension in the worksheet display. In this particular example, the only Customer value that is useful for the report is Total of All Customers. Because the analysis being performed does not vary by Customer, the Customer dimension may be removed from the worksheet display. In Practice 7-2, you learn how to remove a dimension from the worksheet display.
Combining Measures of Different Dimensionality (continued) In the lesson titled Creating Calculated Measures, you created several Variance calculations from templates. In each case, the measure elements of the equation have different shapes. Again, Oracle OLAP handles the shape difference with ease. The formula of the resulting calculation retains a superset of the dimensions of the measures. Example In the example, the Profit vs Budget calculation is added to the report. This calculation is constructed of the following formula:
PROFIT_VARIANCE = PROFIT BUD_PROFIT
Profit is four dimensional, and Budget Profit is three dimensional. So Profit vs Budget is four dimensional. This is why you added the Variance calculations to the four-dimensional Sales cube in the lesson titled Creating Calculated Measures.
Stoplight Formats Discoverer Plus OLAP supports a wide range of formatting options for reports, including report headings, report titles, and report footers. In addition, powerful cell-based formatting is also supported. These data-driven formatting capabilities highlight information in the data body of the report, enabling users to quickly identify data that meets important business criteria. Stoplight formats are one of the most common implementations of data-driven formatting. They enable report developers and end users to quickly identify overachieving and underachieving performance by color-coding data that falls into desirable, acceptable, and unacceptable ranges. Accessing Format Options All presentation and data-driven format options, including stoplight formats, can be found in the Format menu.
Creating Stoplight Formats To create a stoplight format, click the New Stoplight Format button. In the New Stoplight Format dialog box, perform the following steps: 1. Enter a name. 2. Select the measure or cells to which the format should apply. 3. Enter the upper and lower thresholds for desirable and unacceptable values. 4. Click OK. Note: You can also set up stoplight formats by using the Stoplight toolbar. This toolbar can be displayed by selecting View > Toolbars > Stoplight toolbars from the menu.
Stoplight Format Reporting The example in the slide shows the result of the stoplight format in the report. As you change dimension values for Time and Channel, the stoplight format updates automatically.
Creating OLAP Calculations in Discoverer The same OLAP Calculation Wizard that is found Analytic Workspace Manager and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In is also used in Discoverer Plus OLAP. You create calculations in each tool in exactly the same way.
Creating OLAP Calculations in OracleBI Discoverer To launch the Calculation Wizard in Discoverer Plus OLAP, click the New Calculation tool or select Tools > Calculations from the menu. When you create a calculation in Discoverer Plus OLAP, the object is stored in the end users personal Discoverer Catalog folder. The calculation can be kept as a personal object, or can be shared with other Discoverer users.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to create analytical reports that access the AW from Discoverer Plus OLAP.
Practice: Overview In this practice, you create a new worksheet and workbook. By using wizards and interactive techniques, you create a trend analysis report on sales margin performance that uses prebuilt calculations and a stoplight format.
Practice 7-2: Overview In this practice, you add another worksheet to the workbook. You create a report that compares Sales Revenue with Budget Revenue over four years, on a quarterly basis. This report is designed to identify the revenue trends, and also to see how closely the projected figures compare with actual data. The report can also be used to compare other actual and budget measures, such as profit and cost. Because all the budget measures are not dimensioned by Customer (and, therefore, are the same as having been aggregated to Customer Total), Customer is removed from the query.
Overview So far in this course, in less than two days, you have learned: The concepts and rationale for choosing OLAP (online analytical processing), and specifically Oracle OLAP, as part of your business intelligence (BI) infrastructure The elements of the logical dimensional data model, as used by Oracle OLAP How to design, map, and maintain high-performance and scalable analytic workspaces (AWs) in Oracle Database 10g, using Analytic Workspace Manager (AWM) 10g The power of the multidimensional data model and best practices of features, such as how to control multidimensional data sparsity within Oracle Database 10g Advanced performance and efficiency features of the Oracle Database 10g OLAP option, including the use of compressed cubes and logical cube partitioning with Oracle Database 10g How to build a wide range of business calculations that enrich the analytic content of your AW, increasing its business value How to use OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In to analyze your Oracle OLAP data The powerful OLAP capabilities of OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP (a component of the Oracle Business Intelligence 10g suite and a popular tool) for the access, analysis, querying, and reporting of information provided by the Oracle database with the OLAP option. This has all been achieved via easy-to-use GUI tools and wizards.
Oracle OLAP Platform: Features for IT You are now well aware that Oracle offers two administrative tools to facilitate the development of analytic workspaces: AWM 10g and Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) 10g. Both these tools use the AW API to define an AW and its contents and manage the life cycle of an AW. Analytic Workspace API The AW API is a Java API that enables the information technology (IT) developer to focus on the business model when building an OLAP-based application and working with highlevel objects such as dimensions, cubes, and measures. The physical implementation of these objects is handled by the AW API. The AW API is used by both independent software vendors and Java-savvy IT professionals to productively integrate OLAP functionality into existing solutions or to develop new ones. The AW API delivers most of the functionality required to deliver an OLAP solution. Not all of this functionality is exposed in the current release of the administrative tools, and there are certainly instances when it is useful to expose OLAP capabilities in different ways to address the requirements of a given solution. The AW API gives you this flexibility, and you see an example of this later in this lesson.
AWM 10g Viewing Options In earlier lessons, you learned how to use AWM 10g to design, map, build, and maintain AWs in AWMs Model view. All objects created in the Model view conform to the Standard Form design specification. Standard Form Characteristics An AW that is built in Standard Form has the following characteristics: Enables immediate access by OLAP tools, such as OracleBI Beans, OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, and Discoverer Plus OLAP Is required for all the preceding Oracle Business Intelligence tools and others from Oracle and third-party software providers that use the Java OLAP API to query Oracle Database 10g OLAP data Consists of a very specific style of physical implementation. AWM automatically creates and maintains metadata and supporting dimensional objects in the AWs physical storage, some of which OLAP developers may exploit to access more of the power of the multidimensional engine within Oracle Database 10g.
Using the AWM 10g Object View The Object view displays the physical objects in an AW by object type.
For example: The object definition (and perhaps data) for a measure is stored as an object type of variable and/or formula. The rules for an aggregation plan are stored in an object called an aggregation map. A logical dimension created in the AWM Model view is physically implemented in a number of objects. The dimension members are stored in an object type called a dimension. There are other supporting structures (to contain level, hierarchy, and attribute information, and so on) and metadata objects: some of which are dimensions, some are relations, some are variables, and so on. Note: You should never use the Object view to delete or modify the definitions or properties of objects that are automatically created when using the Model view. Doing so could invalidate the Standard Form implementation and could make the AW inaccessible by OLAP API-based tools. AWM 10g (actually the underlying XML-based AW API) assumes sole responsibility for maintaining this important metadata.
Using the OLAP Worksheet Interface OLAP Worksheet provides a command-line interface for advanced Oracle OLAP users and developers. OLAP Worksheet is an interface that enables enhancement and customization of the AW. You can use it to edit, test, and run OLAP DML programs and scripts. Command-Line Interface OLAP Worksheet provides a mechanism for running OLAP DML commands and programs. It also provides an interface for running SQL statements. If you are familiar with Oracle Express Server, you will recognize OLAP DML as an enhanced version of the proven Express Stored Procedure Language (SPL). OLAP Worksheet is the OLAP DML equivalent of SQL Worksheet that Oracle database users have known for many years. Note: OLAP Worksheet, like the Object view, is a very powerful tool. It gives full access to the physical objects in your AW. Therefore, you should be careful when using it. It is important that you do not delete any objects in your Standard Form AWs that are created in the Model view, or modify any metadata objects or properties. Doing so risks damaging the ability of your OLAP API-based tools and applications to interact properly with your AW.
Entering OLAP DML Commands You use OLAP Worksheet to enter OLAP DML commands and run DML programs. Within the Worksheet interface, you enter a command in the Query window and execute it. The result of your command is displayed in the Response window. The Query Log shows you a log of your most recent commands. Options for Executing Commands On the Options menu, if the Execute on Enter check box is selected, commands that you enter in the Query window are executed when you press [Enter]. If the option is not selected, then you must click the Execute button or press [F5] for your commands to be run. You can enter more than one command by separating them with semicolons. They are executed in order. If you use the Execute Commands button, you can enter a series of commands on separate lines and have them all execute, in order, with a single click. Helpful Hot Keys F1: Open the Help system F2: Open the command history (Worksheet/Command History) F4: Edit the selected code line F5: Execute commands in the Query window F10: Execute the collected code lines
Using SQL in OLAP Worksheet When working with DML, it is sometimes useful to be able to view the contents of a table or a view via a SQL statement. OLAP Worksheet can be toggled into SQL Mode to enable the user to enter SQL statements instead of OLAP DML commands without having to open a new tool, and connect once more in that tool as a new session. To execute SQL commands in OLAP Worksheet, perform these steps: 1. Select the SQL Mode option in the Options menu. 2. Execute the command by pressing either [F5] or [Enter]. Your choice depends on whether or not you have selected the Execute on Enter option. 3. The results are displayed in a new window.
Using the OLAP Worksheet Help System OLAP Worksheet offers you an extensive Help system, including full online help for OLAP DML. OLAP DML enables developers and power users to truly exploit the power of Oracle OLAP. It is beyond the scope of this course to explain OLAP DML, but it is recommended additional learning for anyone who wants to deliver more advanced OLAP systems. Accessing OLAP DML Help You can access OLAP DML Help in one of these two ways: Either use the F1 key or use the Help menu item and select OLAP DML Language Help. Viewing Help Contents You can view the contents of a help topic by selecting a topic on the Contents tabbed page. In the example in the slide, the user performs these steps: 1. Selects OLAP DML Language Help from the Help menu 2. Drills down into the contents under OLAP DML Basics and double-clicks the Expressions and Formulas link for more information. The selected topic is displayed. You can move through the Help topics by either clicking the Next button (>) to move to the next page or clicking any of the links on the page.
Using Oracle OLAP Help: Index Tab You can also use the Index tabbed page to find help. With the Index tabbed page, you can find help on the entire range of topics in an alphabetically sorted list. There is also a search facility to help you find the topic that you want.
Example Here, a user who knows that Oracle OLAP can easily calculate growth rates, depreciation, rates of return, and so on, has used the search capability to learn more: 1. The user enters the search string Financial Functions, and then presses [Enter]. 2. The middle window on the Index tabbed page displays all topics that might be helpful. By clicking the topic required, the user can open the help page for that topic. 3. The help information about the topic appears (in this example, a table of Financial Functions that are available in OLAP DML). Hypertext links are available throughout the Help system to guide you through related topics and to provide you more details.
Oracle OLAP Calculation Capabilities Oracle OLAP provides a wide range of calculation types that can be organized into two broad categories: calculations along dimensions and calculated measures. Calculations Along Dimensions Data can be calculated for one or more measures along the members of the dimensions. Oracle OLAP also supports several such methods, including the following: Aggregation: Aggregating detail data to provide subtotals and totals. Aggregations can be calculated using many different methods, including sum, average, and first. Aggregation occurs according to the parent-child relationships that define the hierarchies of a dimension. You learned about aggregation in the lesson titled Applying Advanced Dimensional Design and Cube Processing Techniques. Allocation: Creating lower-level data from summary data. The allocation process uses methods that are the inverse of the aggregate operations. Allocation is used in planning applications that employ a top-down approach to setting budgets and targets. Allocation is also based on the parent-child relationships that define the hierarchies of a dimension, together with rules that control the basis for allocating data down to childlevel members of the dimension.
Oracle OLAP Models An Oracle OLAP model enables you to define a set of interrelated equations that can assign results either to a measure or to a dimension value, across the members of a dimension, and independent of any hierarchy (no hierarchy is necessary). Some members of the dimension have data populated for them from a data source, or by an end-user application, whereas others are calculated by the modelin advance as a maintenance task, at a specific moment in time usually under control of an end-user application, or dynamically at query time. Each calculated member of the dimension can have its own calculation rules (which can be extremely sophisticated). Models are very powerful, and often used in financial and other OLAP applications with sophisticated interrelated calculation requirements. In the following example, you examine a cube in an AW that is being used for financial analysis. It includes a simple financial statement, implemented as a model over a dimension called LINE. In the example, the LINE dimension is maintained just like any other dimension, via AWM 10g. The developer has used information provided in the source table for that LINE dimension to build and populate a model in the AW. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-17
Models: An Example on a LINE Dimension In this example, it is assumed that the information needed to populate a model in a Financial Data Cube in an AW is maintained from outside of the AW by a feeder application. 1. In the example, a dimension called LINE is created, which will contain the line items for a financial statement. To calculate many of the lines in that statement, use a model. 2. Map it to a source table called LINE_TBL. The contents of this dimension are maintained just like those of any other dimension. Models can be created over any dimension. 3. In the source table LINE_TBL, the model equation, for those dimension members that are to be calculated, is being maintained via an attribute (see the MODEL_EQUATION column). 4. An additional attribute called VarianceCalcType is maintained. This is used in an example later in this lesson. After the dimension is maintained, via the AWM 10g Maintenance Wizard, the members of the dimension are available in the AW.
Using Models The MODEL equations are contained in a physical object called a model. The basic steps for using a model are as follows: 1. Create the LINE dimension and define its model calculations in a model object, programmatically via the AW API, using OLAP DML (or via a user interface in a future release of the AWM tool). 2. Load or enter data into the required measures for those dimension members that are not the results of a calculation. 3. Trigger the action to solve (or execute) the model for the selected measures. This can be performed dynamically and automatically, or on demand by an application. In the example in the slide, a model has been created for some of the members of the LINE dimension, based on the contents of LINE_TBL, and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In is used to analyze the data. A user selects the LINE dimension members required on a report and chooses to view the Actuals and Plan measures for the year 2005. Data for the input dimension values is loaded or entered first from a source system or by an end-user application. When the model is executed, the noninput dimension values are calculated for the required measures, using the calculation rules in the model. This can include any measure dimensioned by the modeled dimension (LINE in this example). Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-20
Benefits of Models Models have the following benefits: The model object is defined and stored in the AW so that all users of the AW (regardless of the tool or API) see the same results. A model automatically determines the correct order in which to evaluate the equations, even including the evaluation and solving of simultaneous equations (if required). The model can be applied to any measure that has the modeled dimension (in the example, LINE) as one of its dimensions. In the example, on the previous page, the model is solved for both the Actual and Plan measures. There could be other measures such as Forecast, and there may be different versions of plans and forecasts based on different planning assumptions or scenarios. All can be solved over the LINE dimension by using the same model. Models can be executed (solved) in a variety of ways, including: - Dynamically solved at query time. (This is similar to aggregations, which can be set to aggregate data dynamically at query time.) - In advance by running a script - On command by an application
Understanding More About Calculated Measures In the lesson titled Creating Calculated Measures, you learned how to create calculated measures in AWM 10g by using the Calculation Wizard. In this example, a new Calculated Measure called Financial Variance is created in a Financial Data cube. Having created Financial Variance using the Calculation Wizard, you can review its definition in the Model view by highlighting it in the navigation pane. Notice that the Expression of the calculation is displayed. Expressions When a calculated measure is created using the Calculation Wizard in AWM 10g, the calculation rules are assigned to the expression of the measure. In the example, the calculated measure named FINANCIAL_VARIANCE has an expression that is the equivalent of Actuals - Plan. The expression in a calculated measure refers to the Standard Form IDs of the objects that are referenced in the calculation. Note: For some calculated measures, the expressions are not visible. This can occur when the expression spans multiple lines. In these cases, the expressions can be reviewed in the Object view or in OLAP Worksheet.
Calculated Measures Using Custom Expressions The OLAP Calculation Wizard can be used to create very powerful calculations, including ratios, shares, and time series. In addition, the OLAP option enables you to create custom calculations that use the features of the dimensionally-aware OLAP DML (including use of conditional logic) and have access to a large library of sophisticated analytic functions. Because the Oracle OLAP calculation engine in the AW is so powerful and flexible, it is not possible for the AWM 10g Calculation Wizard to facilitate the creation of every possible kind of measure. However, it is possible to create more sophisticated calculated measures by adding OLAP commands into a calculation expression to define the very specific calculations for your business. In the example in the slide, you see how OLAP DML conditional logic syntax (if, then, else) is combined with Standard Form IDs for installation of the calculation via the AW API: 1. The calculation name to use as part of the equation can be found in the ID field of the measure. The syntax for the name is [CubeName].[MeasureName].MEASURE. 2. The expression is used to calculate variance. Note that in this case the equation examines the VARIANCETYPE attribute to determine the proper calculation. 3. The result is displayed in a query in OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-23
Using Custom Expressions to Alter Display Behavior Sometimes, cube designers want to control the display behavior of measures in the AW. For example, they want to display data only for particular levels of aggregation or particular members of dimensions. Here is an example that might be a useful enhancement to the measures that you created in earlier lessons. Example Consider the Sales_Variance calculation created in the lesson titled Creating Calculated Measures. Because the Budget measures in the Budgets cube are 3D (not dimensioned by Customer), whereas the Sales measures are 4D (dimensioned by Time, Product, Channel, and Customer), calculations involving measures from both cubes implicitly loop around Customer. Logically, however, Budget Sales and, therefore, the Variance measures are for the Total for All Customers. There is no Budget in fact for lower levels of detail on the Customer dimension. By default, however, if the user chose to drill down into the Customer dimension, while displaying Budgets or any of the calculations based on Budgets, then the same values would be repeated for all Customers. This is potentially confusing for the end user who may be unaware that Budgets do not vary by Customer. In this scenario, you may decide to use DML in a calculated measure implemented via the AW API to control the display behavior (without affecting the physical storage of the data).
Using Custom Expressions to Alter Display Behavior (continued) You can use the skills learned in the last example to handle this situation. By creating a calculated measure with the additional dimension over the data that is physically 3D, it is a simple job to control with precision how the base Budgets cube measures can be displayed in an application involving more dimensions. This is a powerful feature of Oracle OLAP. Notice how measures of many different physical shapes can be combined, displayed, and manipulated without compromising the efficiency of the most appropriate underlying storage. Because the display measure needs to be 4D, create the calculation in the 4D Sales cube. Customer is now in the dimensionality of its result. Next, use OLAP DML in the equation to control what the calculation result is for any particular customer or set of customers. As in the last example, a combination of OLAP DML conditional logic (if, then, else), along with the Standard Form object IDs for the AW API, is used in the AW. This measure now returns only a number (from the original measure in the Budgets cube) if you are at the Total Customer level (where the Budgets make sense). Note: SALES_AW in your SH_AW_TUTOR schema includes these calculated measures in the Fancy Calculations Measure Folder.
Using OLAP Calculations in Practice In practice, you find that any OLAP solution provides many calculated measures, and the number of calculated measures far exceeds the number of stored measures. The reason is simple: Any analysis requires comparisons to some type of benchmark. This benchmark may be previous years sales, market shares, or budget plans. The relative importance of the different type of benchmarks can depend on who is doing the analysis. For example, a sales manager may be very focused on how this quarters sales are comparing with targets, whereas a product manager examines sales growth in comparison with that in a previous period. Interestingly, if you look across the types of calculations that users need, you will find patterns. For example, nearly all business intelligence analyses have a time series component. Users want to see a measures performance year to date, year over year, period over period, and so on. It does not matter whether the data is financial, sales, or manufacturing in nature. As you have seen, Oracle OLAP calculates data very quickly, and AWM makes it very easy to define these calculations individually, using the Calculation Builder. But it is clearly useful for cube developers to have a fast and easy way of maintaining large numbers of standard calculations into an AW, without having to define them one by one in the Calculation Wizard. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-27
Using Excel to Define OLAP Calculations You can use the Calculation Builder to define all of these typical business calculations. However, the Calculation Builder is really optimized for defining a single calculation at a time, which makes creating large numbers of measures a tedious and time-consuming task.
To make it easy to define many calculations, you can use Microsoft Excel with the OLAP Spreadsheet Calculations sample that is downloadable from OTN. In this example, each row of the spreadsheet represents an OLAP calculation. The calculations may be based on a template (such as the Calculation Builder) or a free-form equation including the use of the OLAP DML for conditional logic and access to the several hundred multidimensional-aware analytic functions available within the AW. The fields in each row of the spreadsheet represent inputs into that particular calculation. For example, to define Budget Sales Prior Period, you supply the following: The calculation type (template or free-form equation) The measure name and description The cube where the calculation will be created The template to use (for example, Prior Period) or the calculation expression The measure folder where the calculation will be saved
Spreadsheet Calculations Demonstration Your class tutor will now show you the SpreadsheetCalcs tool in action. This is a sample available for download from the OLAP pages on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). From a start point of just five stored measures: Budgets cube: Budget Sales and Budget Profit Sales cube: Sales, Quantity, and Costs The use of the SpreadsheetCalcs sample tool makes it a very quick job for the tutor to build the rest of the calculations (visible) in SALES_AW. And there are many more that could be derived from these five stored measures. SALES_AW in SH_AW_TUTOR contains 126 measures in total, including 39 calculated measures in the Budgets cube and 82 calculations in the Sales cube, and every measure is organized into Measure folders also maintained from the spreadsheet.
Note: You find installed on your classroom computers, a copy of the spreadsheet that is used to add a large number of calculated measures into SALES_AW in the SH_AW_TUTOR schema. If you followed Practices 3, 4, and 5 carefully, and if your cubes and measures have the correct names, then you can use the tool to add the remaining measures into your AW.
Excel Leverages the AW API The SpreadsheetCalcs Excel sample uses the AW APIthe same API as used by OWB and AWMto maintain calculated measures in the Standard Form AW. The spreadsheet input fields reflect the API requirements for a particular calculation definition. These fields are read by an AW API-based Java program that defines the measures in the AW based on the user input. These calculations are then shared by any user of the AW. As you have seen, it is very simple to define hundreds of calculations in a matter of minutes.
Input Fields To help facilitate creation of calculations, many of the input fields in the Excel-based SpreadsheetCalcs sample provide choice lists that are data driven. For example, when defining a Prior Period calculation, you can use the choice list to select a valid AW measure (stored or calculated) to be used as the basis for the Period Ago expression. This choice list is populated by querying the AWs metadata through OLAP ActiveViews. Any tool or application that can query the Oracle database via SQL can query these views to learn about the dimensional data model of that AW. On the next page, you see some examples.
Metadata Retrieved via Views Conveniently, Oracle OLAP metadata is available through both the AW API and SQL. In the SpreadsheetCalcs sample, the metadata used to drive the input fields is queried using Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) through OLAPs Active Views.
To retrieve the list of AWs, the following query is issued by the Excel macro:
SELECT owner || '.' || AW as AW FROM all_olap2_aws WHERE sf_version IS NOT NULL;
This query returns to Excel the list of AWs (for example, SH_AW.SALES_AW) that the current user has access to. The list is used to help populate the choice list for the Target AW field in the spreadsheet. Similar queries are issued to return the list of cubes and measures. From an Oracle SQL*Plus command, a query to list the measures in the Budgets cube might be as follows:
SELECT aw_name, aw_cube_name, aw_measure_name, display_name FROM all_olap2_aw_cube_measures WHERE aw_name='SALES_AW' AND aw_cube_name = 'BUDGETS'; Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-32
User-Defined Functions The earlier examples of custom calculated measures show how OLAP DML, via the AW API, can be used inside a calculation expression to enhance the capability of the calculated measure.
In most cases, this is sufficient, especially because this technique can take advantage of the power from hundreds of OLAP DML functions for calculating data. However, sometimes there is a calculation requirement that is specific to your organization, or specific to a particular application, that cannot be easily calculated in a regular Oracle OLAP expression. That is, there is not even a prebuilt OLAP DML function that does what you need. In this case, you can use OLAP DML to create a custom user-defined function. A user-defined function is an OLAP DML program that is written so that it returns a data value every time it is executed. The program can then be referred to by a calculated measure and called for all the cells required by the query. Although this does require OLAP DML programming skills, this is an extremely powerful feature of Oracle OLAP, which means that even the most complex calculations can generally be delivered into a measure that can be used like any other in any tool that can access the AW.
Creating User-Defined Functions Here an OLAP DML program profitmargincat_program is created. This program (which is called as a custom function) may be defined and edited either with the OLAP Worksheet command line or in the AWM 10g Object view. 1. In the program, the IF/THEN/ELSE logic simply evaluates the values in the ProfitPct measure, which is created earlier in the Calculation Wizard as Profit Sales. Based on the specified thresholds, a text value of HIGH, MEDIUM, or LOW is returned from this function. Note: This example is designed to demonstrate the technique. A program object is not actually required here. For this functionality, as you have already seen, a simple formula can achieve the same result. However, this technique is extremely powerful. Examples of using this approach may include: Functions that dynamically run forecasts or allocations, and then return the desired result Functions that perform specific business calculations according to the specific calculation rules adopted by your organization
Creating User-Defined Functions (continued) 2. A calculated measure profit_margincat is created via the AW API, with the appropriate Data Type (in this case, TEXT). The calculation expression for this measure is the name of the custom function: profitmargincat_program.
Creating User-Defined Functions (continued) After the measure is created in the AWM via the AW API, it is immediately available for use in your query tool of choice (in this case, OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP). 3. The new measure, calling your user-defined OLAP DML function, is included in a report with other measures and calculations derived in the AW.
SQL Access to Analytic Workspaces Oracle OLAP, as discussed in an earlier lesson, not only provides a specialised OLAP API for the use of dimensionally aware OLAP tools and applications (such as OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, OracleBI Discoverer, OracleBI Beans, and tools and applications developed with that technology), but also provides access via simple SQL. Regular ANSI SQL, with no special syntax or knowledge, is required. This feature of Oracle OLAP is unique, and is changing the way that people think about and use OLAP. With traditional OLAP databases, data has to be copied out of the relational database and duplicated into separate stand-alone databases. After it is duplicated there, data is accessed via that particular servers proprietary multidimensional API, and separate tools that are designed specifically to work with that database, and which may not be used to access data in other databases, such as the source relational database itself. If the OLAP system is generating additional business value (perhaps simply through increased calculation capabilities, or perhaps even generating new data such as for budgets, plans, and forecasts), quite often that newly created calculated data has to be stored and copied back to a relational database where regular SQL applications can access and use the data. This can result in more duplication and more delays. With Oracle OLAP, measure datawhether stored or being calculated on the flycan be accessed by a simple SQL query. Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP 8-37
Simple SQL Access to Analytic Workspaces The slide illustrates two SQL queries. The first example is very simple. It selects some data from a single relational table or view, based on some filters on columns in that table or view. Because there is no need to get data from other tables, there are no joins. Because the user has asked to see only the sales and costs (data stored in two of the columns in the table or view), there is no requirement for any calculations to be defined in the SQL query. The query is just selecting the measures required from the appropriate columns. There is also no SUM/GROUP BY aggregations in the SQLin this query, it is not required because all the rows that are required are also already contained in that table or view. The absence of joins, calculations, and aggregations in the SQL makes it a very simple SQL.
Degrees of Interaction with the AW The SQL interface to the AW in the Oracle database is very flexible, enabling varying levels of interaction. In each case, the access is enabled by an Oracle database function called OLAP_TABLE. The OLAP_TABLE function basically enables a SQL query to connect to a specified AW, and then present the specified multidimensional objects from the AW into virtual rows and columns. To the SQL tool, they look fully solved, prejoined, precalculated, and preaggregated. In actuality, all the data and all the calculations are being managed inside the AW. The OLAP_TABLE function is very flexible. By selecting from a view built over the AW, it makes the presence of the AW transparent to the SQL application. The application needs to have no knowledge of the OLAP option. It just needs to issue the SQL. This means that existing SQL tools and applications need no modification to use Oracle OLAP. If they can generate a simple SQL query, they can use Oracle OLAP. On the following page, you can see a simple example of a view that is using the OLAP_TABLE function to present some data from an AW to the SQL tools.
SQL Access to AWs: Key Points The SQL Access feature takes full advantage of the natural ability of the AW to present dataany data that it can store, calculate, or deriveas if it is already calculated, already aggregated, and prejoined, even if the AW is actually doing some or all of that calculation on the fly, in response to the query. This promotes the use of very simple SQL to any data or calculation that the AW is capable of retrieving or calculating. Indeed, the most effective use of this feature by generic SQL tools and applications is by those that can indeed write the very simplest SQL and retrieve the columns and rows (at the appropriate level of aggregation) from a single view that logically contains everything in the AW. Thus, an Oracle OLAP AW can be used not only by specialized OLAP-aware tools such as OracleBI Discoverer OLAP and OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In, but also by general purpose SQL-based report writers, query tools, and SQL applications. All of these benefit from the power and query performance of Oracle Database 10g with the OLAP option.
Summary In this lesson, you learned about some of the advanced functionality that is available with Oracle OLAP. In particular, you learned how models can be used to extend the calculation capabilities of an AW and how OLAP DML can be used to extend calculated measures.

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Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP

D17505GC20 Edition 2.0 April 2006 D45766

Oracle Database 10g: Using OLAP

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Practice 1 (continued) Dimension 2: Hierarchy 1: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^ Attributes:

Dimension 3: Hierarchy 1: Levels ^ ^ ^ ^ Attributes:

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Practice 1 (continued) Measures: Stored measures: Calculated measures:

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Oracle OLAP Option: Architectural View

Components of Oracle OLAP

Components of Oracle OLAP (continued)

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Query Access to the Analytic Workspace

OracleBI Spreadsheet Add-In

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Tools to Build an Analytic Workspace

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Creating an Analytic Workspace Using AWM 10g

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In this practice, you review the components of OLAP by answering questions.