Replacing Oracle Discoverer – What Are The Options?
Replacing Oracle Discoverer– What are the Options?Session ID: 10540We’ll cover the Oracle and nonOracle options to replace this criticalfree applicationPrepared by:Art DowdConsulting DirectorO2Works LLC
Introduction Art Dowd, Consulting Director, O2Works– Former VP of IT for Hospitality Company– Extensive business background prior to moving to theIT side of the house– Implemented / Upgraded Oracle eBus Suite– 17 years with Oracle Applications– Experience with Oracle Consulting and two wellregarded Oracle Applications consulting firms2
Overview / Agenda What is DiscovererWhat’s the deal on DiscovererDiscoverer support dates documentationReplacement options1.2.3.4.5.Pros and cons of staying on 11g DiscovererPros and cons of “migrating” to OBIEEConvert from Discoverer to APEXOracle BI CloudEvaluating 3rd party options Questions and Answers3
What is Discoverer The Problem Support dates
What is Oracle Discover A free ad-hoc query and analysis reporting tool thatprovides end users with easy access to relationaland multi-dimensional data. Allows direct access to transactional data residing inthe EBS database . Real time data. It is heavily used for transactional queries andenables users to capture a business view of datawhile hiding the complexity of the underlying datastructures. It has a HUGE install base5
What is the problem? Oracle is “sun-setting” Discoverer and “transitioning”to the Oracle Business Intelligence FoundationSuite. The March, 2014 Oracle Business IntelligenceDiscoverer Statement of Direction documentprovides details behind the move. It can be foundat: df Discoverer will no longer be offered after versionDiscoverer 11gR1. (11.1.1.7 is the terminalrelease). Support information for Discoverer is found in theMiddleware Lifetime Support document (p. e-support-middleware069163.pdf6
Discoverer Support DatesGA gSupport Ends9iAS R2 (9.0.2)Apr 2002Jul 2005Not AvailableJul 20089iAS R2 (9.0.3)Oct 2002Jul 2005Not AvailableJul 2008Application Server 10g (9.0.4)Dec 2003Dec 2006Dec 2008Dec 2009Application Server 10gR2 (10.1.2.x) *Jan -Oct 2005Dec 2011Not AvailableIndefiniteContent Management SDK 10gR2(9.0.4.2.x)Jan -Oct 2005Dec 2013Not AvailableIndefiniteContent Database 10gR2 (10.2.x)Jan -Oct 2005Dec 2013Not AvailableIndefiniteFusion Middleware 10gR3 (10.1.3x) **See belowSee belowSee belowSee belowFusion Middleware 11gR1 (11.1.1.x) ***See belowSee belowSee belowSee belowPortal 11gR1, Forms 11gR1, Reports11gR1 and Discoverer 11gR1 (11.1.1.x)Jun 2009Jun 2014Jun 2017IndefiniteForms and Reports 11gR2 (11.1.2.x)Oct 2011Dec 2016Dec 2018IndefiniteDec 2011 -Feb2015Dec 2017Dec 2019IndefiniteReleaseFusion Middleware 12c (12.1.x) *****7
Discoverer SupportReleaseGA DatePremierSupportEndsPortal 11gR1,Forms 11gR1,Reports 11gR1 andDiscoverer 11gR1(11.1.1.x) ****Jun 2009Jun 2014ExtendedSupportEndsSustainingSupportEndsJun 2017Indefinite**** Until December 2012, support will be provided for restricted use of OracleSingle Sign-on (10.1.4.x) & Delegated Administration Services (10.1.4.x) when usedwith Oracle Internet Directory 11gR1 for user authentication of Portal 11gR1 ,Forms 11gR1, Reports11gR1 and Discoverer 11gR1 application users. Customersare advised to migrate to Oracle Access Management 11gR1 as soon as it iscertified with their particular product.Oracle’s Lifetime Support Policy defines the support levels and dates for Oracle chure/lifetime-support-middleware.pdf8
Support InformationOracle Lifetime Support PolicyOracle Fusion MiddlewareGo to: www.Oracle.comQuery: “lifetime-support-middleware”Fill in: annoying Oracle sign in screen9
Options 1. Stay on Discoverer 11g
Discoverer replacement options1. Stay on Discoverer pre 11g or upgrade to11.1.1.7.0. Extended support goes through June,2017 and Sustaining support is indefinite.2. “Migrate” to Oracle’s recommended strategicarchitecture that includes:a) Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)BI toolb) Informatica/ODI data warehousing and pre-packageapplications including OBIA3. Transition from Discoverer to APEX4. The Oracle BI CLoud5. Evaluate 3rd party products.11
1. Stay on Discoverer 11g Easiest route Extended Oracle supportthrough June, 2017 No new licensing No changes for users If upgrading from priorversion, Oracle supportsthe upgrade No new features orenhancements will bemade to Discovererbeyond 11.1.1.7.0– Delays eventual migrationproject to another BI tool– Oracle recommendsmigrating to OracleBusiness IntelligenceFoundation Suite, by June2015.12
Options 2. “Migrate” to Oracle’s strategic architecture
2. “Migrate” to Oracle’s strategic architecture Oracle’s strategicdirection reportingarchitecture Oracle’s reportingsolution is in the GartnerPlatforms and AnalyticPlatforms Magicquadrant again Designed for directintegration and drillthrough from OBIA toOracle EBS License Depending uponArchitectureconfiguration, data maynot be Real Time Multiple offerings can beconfusing. Need to knowwhat you really want. Understand otherpotential systemrequirements. (i.e. OBIAvs. Data Warehouse andEssbase)14
2. “Migrate” to Oracle’s strategic arch. Integration w/ BI Publisher,Essbase, and HyperionPre-built, packaged datawarehouse solutions(Analytics by subject area)Migration tool for meta-data(Discoverer end-user-layer)Pro-active intelligence forquick identification ofvariances and exceptionsConfigurable dashboards Requires development timeDiscoverer data modelsources not already in aStar-schema structure willnot automatically migrate.– will need to be adjusted intoOBIEE’s required facts-anddimension structure within therepository (meta data)– Workbooks/reports will need tobe re-built in OBIEE. Oracledoes not provide a migrationtool for Discovererworkbooks/reports15
2. Migrate to Oracle’s strategic arch. Forces review ofexisting reportingenvironment– Useraccess/security– Report authoring– Duplication/redundancy of reports– Obsolescence ofreports Forces review ofexisting reportingenvironment– Useraccess/security– Report authoring– Duplication/redundancy of reports– Obsolescence ofreports16
Oracle BI Applications Architecture Oracle BIPresentationServicesDashboards by RoleReports, Analysis / AnalyticWorkflowsOracle BIServerMetadataLogical Model / Subject AreasPhysical MapData Warehouse /Data ModelDirect Accessto SourceDataLoad ProcessStaging AreaETLDACAdministrationMetrics / KPIsExtraction ProcessOracleSAP R/3SiebelPSFTFederated Data SourcesEDWOtherRole Based DashboardsAnalytic WorkflowGuided NavigationSecurity / VisibilityAlerts & Proactive Delivery Logical to Physical AbstractionLayer Calculations and MetricsDefinition Visibility & Personalization Dynamic SQL Generation Abstracted Data ModelConformed DimensionsHeterogeneous Database supportDatabase specific indexing Highly Parallel Multistage and Customizable Deployment Modularity17
Beware: Oracle’s Battery Not IncludedOracle’s “strategic” BI Architecture is multi-facetedquagmire comprised of:BI Server: Common enterprise business model and abstraction layerBI Answers: Ad-hoc query and reportingBI Interactive Dashboards: Highly interactive dashboardsBI Delivers: Proactive business activity monitoring and alertingBI Publisher: Enterprise reporting and distribution of "pixel-perfect"reportsOffice Plug-in: embed, interact, and create BI content from within OfficedocumentsHyperion Interactive Reporting: Intuitive and highly interactive ad-hocreportingHyperion SQR Production Reporting: High volume, presentation-qualityformatted report generationHyperion Financial Reporting: Formatted, book-quality financial andmanagement reportingHyperion Web Analysis: Web-based online analytical processing(OLAP) analysis, presentation, and reporting18
And that doesn’t include OBIAOracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA) are optionalprebuilt Business Intelligence solutions that run on top of the BIArchitecture – Oracle Financials– Fixed Assets Analytics– Budgetary Control Analytics– Oracle Project Analytics– Resource Management Analytics– Project Subledger Reconciliation– Perspective based dashboards– Oracle Human ResourcesAnalytics– Time and Labor Analytics.– Payroll Analytics– Workforce Gains and Losses– Oracle Procurement &Spend Analytics– Sourcing Analytic– Oracle Supply Chain andOrder ManagementAnalytics– Enhanced Inventory Analysis– New Item Cost History– Oracle CRM Analytics– Oracle Price Analytics– Oracle Service Analytics– Oracle Sales Analytic– Oracle StudentInformation Analytics AND there is Essbase also for serious data warehouse enthusiasts
Converting Discoverer to OBIEE Oracle Discoverer Metadata Conversion Assistantprovides minimal metadata conversion support You need to manually convert (Rebuild) otherDiscoverer objects to their OBIEE equivalents.These include:––––WorkbooksBusiness AreasFolders and ItemsJoins and Hierarchies There is no migration tool for Discovererworkbooks/reports. They must be rebuilt.20
Bonus Slide #1 – Accessing“Real time” data from OBIEEDuring the presentation Q&A , a BI Practice Director from aconsulting firm that specializes in Oracle BI made the pointthat there is a way access real-time data from OBIEE. Thatis correct. To do that you must – Write SQL code from OBIEE that accesses the correctOracle EBS database tables and pulls the data out anddelivers it to OBIEE.– The tool he uses for this is BI Publisher which can takeinformation from any source, convert it to XML and deliver itto a variety of publishing options. He embeds the SQLcommands in the BI Publisher.– These BI Publisher reports can be used to createDiscoverer-like reports . The down side is that like APEX, the Discoverer queriesthat had previously been modifiable are now static andmust be adjusted by developers going forward.So if you purchased OBIEE and you don’t want to waitfor daily data refreshes, you can hire a developer to buildreal time queries / reports from OBIEE using SQL and BIPublisher.21
Options 3. Convert from Discoverer to APEX
3. Convert from Discoverer to APEX What is APEX?– Oracle Application Express is a FREE developmentenvironment that runs on an Oracle database.– Fully supported and comes with all Oracle Databaseeditions Why does it matter?– Discoverer reports can be converted to APEX reports– Once the initial template is built and proficiency isestablished, conversion should take approx. 15minutes per report. PROBLEM: After conversion, queries becomereports and end users lose the ability to use Ad Hocquery tools23
3. Convert from Discoverer to APEX9 Steps to Migrate From Discover to APEX1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.Extract Discover QueryCreate a DB View to Hold QueryGrant Select and Create Synonym for ViewCreate Views for LOV’s for Non-Interactive Reports (optional)Create APEX Page to Query ViewAdd APEX Security to PageCreate EBS Form Function for APEX PageAdd EBS Form Function to EBS MenuTestOnce you have the base infrastructure in place and are proficient,this should take about 15 minutes per report to completeTaken from M igrate your Discover R eports to Oracle APEXCollaborate 15 presentation by John Peters24
3. Convert from Discoverer to APEX Where to find additional information:– John Peter’s Collaborate 15 presentation can befound at:http://jrpjr.com/paper archive/collab15 disco to apex.pdf– A WebEx including a demonstration can be found oracle-apex If you have trouble accessing either one, please email me at adowd@o2works.com.25
Bonus Slide #2 – More on APEXDuring the presentation Q&A , a Sr. Product Manager from Oracle whospecializes in Oracle Application Express wanted to let people knowthat the new 5.0 release of APEX has greatly improved their reportingcapabilities. That is absolutely correct and the improvement isimpressive. The downside is that the reality is APEX is a feature of the Oracledatabase and typically falls under the DBA’s domain.DBA’s who are held accountable for system performance are notknown to be receptive to adding users who will have access to runqueries and reports against the production database.– Access is typically reserved for DBA’s, developers, or somequalified super-users APEX is a declarative development platform not easily intuitive fora non-technical user.Functional users will need to be moderately versed in SQL and willneed to invest time learning in order to become proficient.For more information on APEX and to sign up for a free APEXworkspace, check ls/apex/overview/index.html26
Options 4. Oracle BI Cloud
4. Oracle BI CloudCloud? Are you kidding?Oracle offers a BI Cloud– Due to the complexity of the OBIEE / OBIA code, theOracle BI Cloud does not offer the same features andfunctionality as on-premise OBIEE.– It is likely that there will never be an identical CloudOBIEE offering.– Oracle is working with Partners who are interested indeveloping custom applications for potential Oracle BICloud customersData refreshes from Cloud to on-premise (or on-premiseto Cloud) drive the Cloud cost since it is based on datamovement.– Most Cloud refreshes are done once per day.– Refresh speeds are dependent upon networkconnection and that is an additional cost.While Discoverer reporting capability could be rebuilt inthe cloud using both Software as a Service (SaaS) andPlatform as a Service (PaaS), they will not have real-timedata capabilities.28
Options 5. 3rd Party Products
5. Evaluate 3rd party productsThere are a variety of tools aimed at differentReporting aspects. Some things to consider Is a reporting architecture change required?– Discoverer reports slowing down the Oracle ERP?– Discoverer reports performing poorly?– Does it have the ability to map to multipleheterogeneous data sources? Is integration with the Oracle ERP productsrequired?––––Drill through to Oracle OLTP transaction detail?Out-of-the-box EBS reports by module?BI Publisher integration?Hyperion integration? Is ad-hoc functionality required?30
5. Evaluate 3rd party products (cont.)Things to consider Do you have advanced analytical requirements?– Aggregation of large amounts of data?– Time variation trend and variance analysis? Is dashboard functionality required? Do you need Real Time data?– For most current installations, Discoverer runs off ofthe EBS database tables and is real time What data refresh parameters can you live with?– Does a nightly refresh work for most days?– What about during month end close?31
5. Evaluate 3rd party products (cont.)Other things to consider Where does the product land on the Gartner BIPlatforms and Analytic Platforms Magic Quadrant? How current is the vendor with its productintegration with Oracle. (i.e. is it up to the 12.2platform changes?) How responsive is the vendor to Oracle changes? How financially viable is the vendor ? Does the product have Oracle Validated Integrationcertification? How often does the vendor upgrade the product? What are the licensing costs?32
5. Evaluate 3rd party products (cont.)Some potential vendors based onrecommendations from our customer base VendorCertifiedInsight Software (nowHubble)Global ort-replacementExcel 4 swand/documents/RW-Discoverer Comparison.pdfEIS x / MagnitudeSoftwarehttp://noetix.com/products/API Wizardhttp://www.api-wizard.com/*Oracle Validated Integration33
Presentation AvailableO2Works – Knowledge Base:www.o2works.comAny Questions?Thank you!Art DowdConsulting DirectorO2Works LLCOracle Applications ConsultingDallas – Chicago - Denver214-725-2828adowd@o2works.comWeb: www.o2works.com34
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Oracle Lifetime Support Policy . Oracle Fusion Middleware . Go to: www.Oracle.com . Query: “lifetime-support-middleware” Fill in: annoying Oracle sign in screen . 9 . Options 1. Stay on Discoverer 11g . Discoverer replacement options . 1. Stay on Discoverer pre 11g or upgrade to
Logging On To Discoverer To open your Oracle Discoverer, double-click the Oracle Discoverer icon on your desktop, or click the button on your desktop, and select Oracle Discoverer 3.1 User Edition from your Programs Menu. If you're Oracle Discoverer application is properly installed, you will briefly see the Oracle Discoverer
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