OBIEE Varaibles Overview

OBIEE Interview Questions And Answers

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What is Chronological Key?

Chronological key uniquely identifies the data at particular level. Chronological key is mostly used in time dimensions where time series functions are used.

What is Logical Key?

Logical key is the key which is used to define the unique elements in each logical level. A logical level may have more than one level key. When that is the case, specify the key which is primary key of that level. It is used to specify the column which is used for drill down and which is used as primary keys.

What is level Based measure?

Level-based metrics means, having a measure pinned at a certain level of the dimension.

Briefing Book

·         A briefing book is a collection of static or updatable snapshots of dashboard pages, individual analyses, and BI Publisher reports.

·         Add the content of dashboard pages (including pages that contain BI Publisher reports) or individual analyses to new or existing briefing books.

·         Download briefing books in PDF or MHTML format for printing and viewing. The PDF version of a briefing book contains an automatically generated table of contents.

·         Update, schedule, and deliver briefing books using agents, if your organization licensed Oracle Business Intelligence Delivers.

Content Type

·         Updatable — Refreshes the data whenever the briefing book is downloaded, or when it is specified as the delivery content for an agent.

·         Snapshot — Adds the content in its current state. Snapshot content preserves the original data and is not updated when the briefing book is rerun. Snapshot content is not updated when using agents.

Note: 

If you have ever used the Briefing Books feature in OBIEE 10g you might remember the necessity to install the OBI Briefing Book Reader software in order to open the .sbb (Siebel Briefing Book) files.

In OBIEE 11g, there is no briefing book reader and no .sbb output anymore.

Instead we can now download briefing books as PDF (as in 10g) or MHTML.

Edit Execution Precedence

This Option we can find in Initialization block setup.

a.       When a repository has multiple initialization blocks, you can set the order (establish the precedence) in which the blocks will be initialized.

b.       First, you open the block that you want to be executed last and then add the initialization blocks that you want to be executed before the block you have open. For example, suppose a repository has two initialization blocks, A and B. You open initialization block B, and then specify that block A will execute before block B. This causes block A to execute according to block B's schedule, in addition to its own.

Implicit Fact Column in OBIEE

In case we have multiple Fact tables under one Subject Area, then it is a best practice to set an implicit fact column. Setting an implicit fact has two benefits.

ü  An implicit fact column help BI Server choose the join path when multiple join paths are available between facts and dimensions.

ü  When a report is generated only from dimension tables, it will result in an error as an Analyses should always consist of at least one fact or measure. To overcome this error we define an implicit fact column. This ensures that a fact is always included in the SQL generated by BI Server.

To set an implicit fact column:

•      In presentation layer, double click the presentation catalog/ go to properties of presentation catalog.
•               In the general tab, find the Implicit Fact Column section.
•               Click on Set… button, this will open the browse window to select a fact column from the fact tables available in the presentation catalog.
•             Select the column.
•             Click OK.

Purging Options in OBIEE

Invoking ODBC Extension Functions

The following ODBC functions affect cache entries associated with the repository specified by the ODBC connection. You can call these functions using the nqcmd.exe command-line executable.

The syntax of the call will be as follows:

nqcmd -d "Analytics Web" –u administrator –p sadmin –s purge.txt.

Where purge.txt contains the call (for example, call SAPurgeAllCache())

ü  SAPurgeCacheByQuery()

Purges a cache entry that exactly matches a specified query.The following call programmatically purges the cache entry associated with this query:

Call SAPurgeCacheByQuery(‘select lastname, firstname from employee where salary >
100000’ );

ü  SAPurgeCacheByTable()

Call SAPurgeCacheByTable(‘DBName’, ‘CatName’, ‘SchName’, ‘TabName’);

Additionally,DBName and TabName cannot be null. If either one is null, you will receive an error message.

ü  SAPurgecacheByDatabase()

Purges all cache entries associated with a specific physical database name.

Call SAPurgeCacheByDatabase( ‘DBName’ );

ü  SAPurgeAllCache()

Purges all cache entries. The following is an example of this call:

Call SAPurgeAllCache();

OBIEE 10G & 11G DIFFERENCES

                              

ü  OBIEE 11g uses the WebLogic Server as the server application and in 10g it is OC4J (Oracle Connector for J2EE).

ü  Clustering process is much easier and automated in OBIEE11g.

ü  We can have model lookup tables in repository.

ü  The new UI call Unified Framework combines Answers, Dashboards and Delivers.

ü  A new column called the Hierarchical column is introduced.

ü  BI Publishers is fully and seamlessly integrated with OBIEE 11g.

ü  New Time series functions PERIOD ROLLING and AGGREGATE AT are introduced.

To_DATE(<Measure>, <Level>)

Ago (<Measure>, <level>,< No.of Periods>)

PeriodRolling(<Measure>,<Starting Period Offset>,<Ending Period Offset>)

periodRolling(<Measure>,-2,0)  à 3 PeriodRolling Sum

A measure with the PERIODROLLING function calculates results based on the query grain(if u select month in criteria it will calculate last 3months, if u select year it will calculate last 3years rollingsum).In your criteria if u have qtr, month and week it will calculate based on week. (It always takes low granularity)

ü  In OBIEE 11g we can create KPIs to represent business metrics.

ü  The Aggregate persistence wizard creates indexes automatically.

ü  The session variables get Initialized when they are actually used in OBIEE11g unlike 10g where they are initialized as soon as a user logs in.

ü  OBIEE11g supports ragged (unbalanced) and skipped hierarchy.

ü  You can also define parent child hierarchy in OBIEE11g.
ü  OBIEE 10g need to install the OBI Briefing Book Reader software in order to open the .sbb (Siebel Briefing Book) files. Where as in OBIEE 11g there is no briefing book reader and no .sbb output anymore. We can download briefing book as pdf or MHTML format.
ü  In OBIEE10g you have to install Event pooling table (S_NQ_EPT) manually in database where as in OBIEE11g it will be installed while creating RCU (Repository Creation Utility) in BIPLATFORM schema.
ü  In OBIEE 11g Presentation variable can hold more than one value. Where as in OBIEE 10g it can hold only one value at a time.

ü  SELECT_PHYSICAL command is supported in OBIEE 11g.(in 10g we have directdatabase request only.Here we will mention database columns …SELECT_PHYSICAL will get the data from rpd physical layer. here we will mention physical layer alias tables and columns.

Benefits of using SELECT_PHYSICAL

 By using SELECT_PHYSICAL, the developer can:

•     Create queries using the alias names, simplifying the query readability
•         Simplify the query, in case of using opaque views created in the Physical Layer of the RPD
•     Join tables from multiple data sources
•     Access the data sources without need of knowing the login credentials