How to calculate Week Start Date and Week End date using DAY_DT in Obiee 11g

In OBIEE 11g, many times we have to calculate on the fly, the various dates functions like Week_Start_date, Week_End_Date, Previous_Yr_Date etc,  just using the Date column. Few projects have Date Dimensions not properly structured to have all columns. So here we have the logical sql's to calculate the same:

We can calculate the week start date using the below sql:

TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY,- DAYOFWEEK(MIN(“Dim – Date”.” Date Column”)) + 1, MIN(“Dim – Date”.” Date Column”))

For Week End Date, use the below Sql:

TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, 7-DAYOFWEEK(MAX(“Dim – Date”.” Date Column”)), MAX(“Dim – Date”.”Date Column”))

DAYOFWEEK returns an integer in the range of 1 to 7. A value of 1 represents the Monday.

Courtesy: Google 

:)

OBIEE11G : conditional-formatting for rows

What is Conditional formatting? In OBIEE, its actually applying GUI formats to our analyses columns like $, %, background color etc, based on a single condition or we can say using single logical operand. In this blog, will discuss the possibility of using multiple conditions together to get 1 specific row-column formatting. In OBIEE we get many complex requirements (Table/Pivot) like highlighting the value for Year = 2015 and region = East and data range from 0-200, then orange, 201-400 then green. But using OBIEE GUI conditional Formatting this is not feasible. We can do hit/trials by writing one condition , then override it with another condition, to get our results but it does not always work. OBIEE11g GUI doesn't allow us to write complex conditions.

For example: I have a business requirement to highlight row where region = EAST, and we have to show data with different colors in different ranges (like image below) :

If i try to achieve it using OBIEE GUI, column properties-> Conditional Format option, it will be writing multiple condition to override one another like:

But if we notice the conditions, it will effect all values of table which have value between data ranges, and not specifically only row which has  value EAST, like below:

Now lets proceed to achieve our complex requirement by playing with Advanced Tab->  Analysis XML.OBIEE reports are stored in an XML format. We can read it and find lot of information about functionality the GUI doesn’t allow to perform but can be coded manually.If you take out a copy of your report you will find that conditions are written in conditional formatting blocks, using logical operators like "Equal", "Between".

 
 We can similarly apply "AND" operator and write a different format condition like below:

Now when we go to column properties of data range column and see conditional Format tab, we found different condition, like sawx:exprsawx:logicaland. This explains usage of AND Operator.
If you try to edit it from OBIEE GUI, you cannot do it as formula is not seen. Hence, if again any change required, go to Advanced XML and make changes.

 

Note: Always keep a backup of your XML , before making any changes to it, since it not a play game.

Thanks :)


 

New Features in OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 release:

 Some more new features have been introduced in latest OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 release:-

Analysis Enhancement:

1.     You can initiate a search within the subject area displayed in the subject area pane; the option is “Subject Areas Pane”.

2.     You can save columns to Presentation Catalog and reuse the same for other analysis.You can also change the properties of the new column in the Criteria tab but be aware that conditional formatting and conditional action links for the column are not saved to the catalog. Regular action links are saved for the column as well as the format properties.The saved column can be edited from the catalog pane and catalog page. All the changes that you make in the catalog are applied to every analysis that used this column. If you modify it inside a particular analysis, these changes are valid only for the analysis that you are working on.To be able to save new measures as columns you should have the Save Column privilege.

  

 

3. In this version we find a new new type of variables: the Global Variables. Global Variables can be defined in the context of an analysis and can be used in other analysis. Useful to do some intermediate reusable calculations.

4. Radio button and check box dashboards prompts can be showed horizontally. When you create a new dashboard prompt using check box or radio button under Options, you can select between horizontal or Vertical Layout appears under Options.

Export & Print options:

1.     In this version, you will find more options in the Print and Export Options dialog. You can select if you want to include charts, images and formatting or to specify column properties like the column width and to wrap the text in columns.

2.     Export menu no longer includes the Excel 2003 and PowerPoint 2003 options

3.     It is possible to set a limit to the number of rows downloading as CSV format

New RPD checkout option:

1.     If you need to check out an entire repository rather than using projects for multiuser development, you can use the Whole Rpd Checkout option

New Option in Administration Tool:

1.     Display Translation Key in presentation tree and Edit Presentation names options are now available in Administration Tool option for this release. Translation keys have been added to all presentation objects. The translation key is automatically populated and by default it matches the presentation object's name; however, you can modify the translation key. When you externalize display names in the Presentation layer and run the Externalize String utility, the results contain the translation key. You can right-click any Presentation layer object, such as a subject area, presentation table, or presentation column, and choose Externalize Display Names > Generate Custom Names or Externalize Descriptions > Generate Custom Descriptions to externalize strings.

Report/Dashboard Changes:

1.     Once you are in editing dashboard, you might see the Advanced Page properties option that set the scope of parameters in cases of Go URL, Prompted URL and Navigate to BI content:

 2. In Tables, Pivot and similar you can see Column properties from the edit window as well.

    
 















Courtesy :  Google :)

    

Steps to Replace Null Values in an OBIEE Pivot Table with 'No Data' or 'N/A' or 'No Description' using Custom Data Format

Scenario: 

Sometimes it is necessary to display numeric values in specified format or replace the null values in table or pivot table with zeros or custom text. OBIEE Answers and Dashboards give us a possibility to customize the data masks for presentation. This could be useful when we want to change the display of data for the purpose of a given report. Using Custom Data Format feature we can change the masks for numeric values, change the display of null values or show dates in custom format. 

Solution:

1) Using custom data format we can specify the custom formatting of columns used in an analysis. This formatting will be applied in report’s tables and pivot tables. To edit a data format for a given column, right click on it and choose Column Properties.

2) Click on Data Format tab and check Override Default Data Format. Select Treat Number As Custom from the list.

3) Now wrt your requirement , type the below examples in "Custom Numeric Format" tab:

a) We can display the values in thousands with K (kilo) letter

     #,#.0,K

 b) Values in millions with M

    #,#.0,,M

c) Values in billions with B

     #,#.0,,,B

d) Add a currency symbol

    £# or $#

How it works is:

‘#’ is a number sign indicating significant digits.

‘#,#’ adds a comma separator for thousands.

‘.0’  indicates the number of decimal places (‘0’ for round number, ‘.0’ for one decimal place, ‘.00’ for two, etc.).

‘,’ is a thousands separator (‘,’ for thousands; ‘,,’ for millions, ‘,,,’ for billions etc.).

‘K’,’M’,’B’, ‘$’,‘£’ are characters that can be added after or before the number mask.

The syntax for custom data formatting for numeric values is:

positive value mask ; negative value mask ; null mask

If we specify the mask without semicolon, the changes will apply to both positive and negative values.

Dealing with null values in numeric fields

Using Custom Data Format we can also specify what should be shown instead of null values, ie we can replace Null values with  '0', 'No data' or 'N/A' .

1) For showing zeros (0) instead of nulls, use the below syntax:

    #,##0;-#,##0;0

(which can be read as: number with one decimal place for a positive value, minus sign (-) and number with one decimal place for a negative value, zero (0) for a null value)

The null values will be replaced with zero.

 2) Replace Null with custom text like ‘Not available’ or ‘No data’ or  '-':

 #,##0;-#,##0;no data

#,##0;-#,##0; -

Our pivot table now shows something other than null values.

Dealing with null values in text fields

For text values the syntax for custom text format is non-null value mask, null value mask.

Set Custom Text Format to: @;No description

The null values will be replaced with ‘No description’ text.

 Cheers :)

Customize Login,Header,Images and Logos in OBIEE 11g

 

To change background image for login page in Obiee 11g we need to follow below steps:

a) Delete existing image in below three locations and rename new image with background_blue_whitegradient_ and paste it in below three locations:

1) F:\OBIEE11g\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\app\res\sk_blafp\login

2) F:\OBIEE11g\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\AdminServer\tmp\.appmergegen_1358364334516\analytics.ear\ukjjdc\res\sk_blafp\login

3) F:\OBIEE11g\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\AdminServer\tmp\_WL_user\analytics_11.1.1\silp1v\war\res\sk_blafp\login

b) delete browser cache and restart BIpresentation services in EM.

To change the Header Text next to the Oracle logo, navigate to the following path:

• E:\OBIEE11g_Home\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\msgdb\l_en\messages\productmessages.xml

 

Edit the following position in the file:

• <WebMessage name="kmsgHeaderBIBrandName"><TEXT>abc</TEXT></WebMessage>
•  Restart the services.

Courtesy : Google

Usage of Key Performance Indicators In OBIEE

To assess your business performance, you must define success via Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), benchmark metrics against which current performance can be measured.
OBIEE 11g allows you to define and customize KPIs, and to then integrate them into your dashboard. In this way you can assess current performance at a glance. Your KPI Watchlist can also be used to create analyses and agents that trigger based on certain threshold conditions and actions.

To create the KPIs, take the following steps:

1.    Log in to Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g, using your username and password. From the home page, select New -> KPI from the common header area. When prompted to select a subject area, for example select any Sales/Revenue related.
  
2. The KPI Entry screen will then appear. This screen enables you to define the actual value and target value measures for the KPI, as well as an optional time offset to show performance as a trend.

3. Then, you specify the dimensionality of the KPI,by for example making it analyzable by two levels in the store hierarchy, and two in the time hierarchy or
you want users to be able to switch the product category for which the KPI is displayed but you want the year, 2010, to stay constant (or "pinned"). To do this, click the Add button on the Dimensionality screen, select the "Times"."Year" attribute, and select 2010 for Value. Then click Add again to add the "Stores"."Product" attribute column, but leave Value as Not Pinned. Click Next to proceed to the next step in the process: defining the thresholds. 
The values used for these dimensions can either be “pinned”,so that they stay static for this KPI, or
they can be dynamic, allowing the user to change them to vary their “point of view”. As well as using
regular  “attribute” columns to define these dimensions, you can also use complete hierarchies in the
form  of hierarchical columns from the semantic model presentation layer.

4. On the Thresholds screen, you can specify values that will determine whether the performance achieved warrants an OK, Warning, or Critical indication. In this example, performance will be considered OK if it is within 90 percent of the target and critical if it falls below 70 percent.

 

5.  Click Next to proceed to the next step, where you can define related documents for the KPI. This enables users to reference other analyses, external Web pages to support the KPI. For this example, however, there are no related documents, so click Finish to move to the final steps, where you can name and save the KPI.
 You can create more KPI in similar manner.

Displaying KPIs, Using a KPI Watchlist

Now that you have defined one or more KPIs, you can give users a means of displaying these on a dashboard through a KPI watchlist. To create a KPI watchlist, take the following steps:

1.    From the Oracle Business Intelligence home page, select New -> KPI Watchlist.

2.    From the Catalog view on the left-hand side of the screen, drag and drop the  KPIs you created previously onto the watchlist on the right. The selected KPIs will then be displayed in a grid format, showing the actual and target values, along with the variance and the percentage variance.

Courtesy : google :)