How To Connect OBIEE To Tableau With UnifyBI - US-Analytics
How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with UnifyBI Everything You Need to Know About Bringing the Best BI Tools Together US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 1
When it comes to business intelligence, there are a lot of tools out there. There are also a lot of products to help you optimize those business intelligence tools. This is where Unify comes in. Unify is a connector for Oracle’s Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) and Tableau. If you’re new to this business intelligence space, you’re probably wondering — “why do I even need both OBIEE and Tableau?” The best way to answer that is to start with an overview of these tools and their use cases. In this eBook, we’ll cover: 1. OBIEE — What It Is and Why You Should Use It I. Interactive Dashboards II. Ad Hoc Analysis and Interactive Reporting III. Actionable Intelligence IV. Microsoft Office Integration V. Spatial Visualizations and Analytics 2. Tableau — What It Is and Why You Should Use It 3. The Best of Both – Why You Need to Connect OBIEE and Tableau I. Why We Made It II. How Unify Works III. The Server vs. the Desktop Version 4. The Ease of Unify I. How to Install II. Using Unify 5. Conclusion US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 2
OBIEE — What It Is and Why You Should Use It For large organizations with a vast amount of data, OBIEE is the solution that gives you a full range of business intelligence capabilities. This tool is made for high workloads in complex environments so that you can get timely insight into your enterprise. OBIEE is the most comprehensive business analytics product that Oracle offers. This solution is designed to give the largest possible audience, from HR to finance, access to the value of a BI application. Its scalability makes it the ideal choice for an organization wanting to reduce total cost of ownership and maximize efficiencies. Joining multiple departments under one roof also means you spend less on multiple systems and servers and you only need to deal with one support channel. OBIEE offers all the benefits of an enterprise product: fewer silos across the organization, streamlined systems management, and top-of-the-line functionality. Functionality includes: Dashboards with drill-through analysis, reports, and alerts Enterprise-wide users Features o Highly interactive dashboards o Powerful operational reporting o Just-in-time alerts o Content and metadata search o Strategy management o Native access to big data sources o Sophisticated in-memory computing US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 3
Interactive Dashboards The starting point for analysis and insight for most users, Interactive Dashboards provide a fully interactive collection of dashboards and reports with a variety of visualizations. Users can drill, pivot, and filter their data directly on a dashboard, while a set of prompts and powerful right-click interactions open up even more advanced analysis capabilities. Users see information filtered and personalized based on their identity, function, or role — based on predefined security rules. Alerts, guided navigation links, and actions accelerate exception-based discovery of insight. With just one click, users can navigate to other interfaces in the suite. For example, they can export their data to various Office formats, open a strategy map, or add content to a list of favorites for quick access. Ad Hoc Analysis and Interactive Reporting OBIEE gives business users full ad hoc query and analysis capabilities, allowing them to create new analyses from scratch or modify existing analyses in dashboard pages. To free business users from data structure complexity, the metadata layer of OBIEE offers a logical view of metrics, hierarchies, and calculations expressed in understandable concepts. Business users do not need to understand physical data storage to combine data from multiple enterprise information sources. Actionable Intelligence The OBIEE Action Framework turns insights into actions with the ability to invoke business processes from within the business intelligence dashboards and reports. The integration of business process management technologies within the business intelligence platform makes this possible. Invoked actions include initiating a business process, a web service, or simply calling another dashboard or report. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 4
Microsoft Office Integration OBIEE users can use desktop tools like Excel to create ad hoc analyses, using the common metadata model of OBIEE and the power of the Oracle BI Server. They can combine and use this data with other Smart View providers like Hyperion Planning or Hyperion Financial Management (HFM). Spatial Visualization and Analytics Any data that has a spatial attribute (e.g. country, state, highway, airline route, postal address, plant location) can be visualized on a spatial visualization known as a Map View. These maps are fully interactive, and data on the maps can be visualized using numerous formatting options, such as color fills, variablesized markers, custom image markers, percentile binning, value binning, and continuous color-fill options. Users have the full complement of multi-touch and gestural interactions as well the benefits of location intelligence when viewing these map views on the Oracle BI Mobile app. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 5
Tableau — What It Is and Why You Should Use it Tableau is the business analyst’s answer to an easy-to-use business intelligence platform. This is a solution for analysts still trying to understand trends with a vast amount of data using Excel. Tableau has several different products, including: Tableau Desktop Tableau Server Tableau Online Tableau Mobile Tableau Desktop Tableau Desktop gives you access to interactive dashboards so you can fully understand your data through visualizations. With this capability, you’re able to easily spot visual patterns — giving you those “eureka” moments a lot more often. Sure, you can create visualizations in Excel, but there’s no way to truly validate that data. And Tableau can create your visualizations as easily as dragging and dropping, then performing a few simple clicks. You can also connect to various data sources — whether on-prem or in the cloud — ensuring that your data is validated. Tableau also gives you the ability to ask new questions, showing you trend analysis and correlations to give you an even better understanding of what your data means. But when it comes to sharing your data with your team, company, or even customers — you need another product. Tableau Server For sharing your visualizations and dashboards with everyone in your organization, you need Tableau Server. The server can be deployed on-prem or in the cloud. You can also connect the server to any on-prem or cloud-based data source and share those data sources with your entire organization. The server also integrates with your existing security protocols so that the security of your database stays the same. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 6
Tableau Online Tableau Online is exactly what you would think it is. Through a SaaS model, you can get Tableau fully hosted — no managing servers or upgrades. Everything you get with Tableau Desktop, you get with Tableau Online, just in the cloud. You’re still able to connect to on-prem databases or cloudbased databases. Tableau Online is accessible from any browser or mobile device. Tableau Mobile That brings us to Tableau Mobile. Just as it sounds, Tableau Mobile enables you to easily interact with your data and dashboards on any mobile device. You can tap to add calculations and filters, and you can ask new questions and see different views of the data. If you’re using an iPad, you even have editing capabilities. Tableau Mobile securely connects to Tableau Online and Tableau Server. If you deploy this product across your enterprise, you get mobile device management support for iOS. And, if you’ve created a dashboard on Tableau Desktop, it already includes optimized views for your phone or tablet. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 7
The Best of Both — Why You Need to Connect OBIEE and Tableau We’ve talked about OBIEE and we’ve talked about Tableau, so you’re probably wondering, “why do I need both?” We get a lot of different types of people who take OBIEE training. Most are heavy users of OBIEE looking to take their skill up a notch. We also get those who are excitedly transitioning to this powerful reporting tool. But, within the excitement, there’s always a group who’s not so excited. These are the folks who feel they’re being forced to move from something they’re comfortable with to something overly complicated. And they want to know why — what benefits could they possibly receive? Whether you’re using OBIEE, Tableau, or some other business intelligence tool, most do a great job at answering your questions. But with OBIEE, you get something extra — a repository database, known as a RPD file, defines the entire OBIEE application. The RPD is where the business intelligence magic happens. In the RPD, developers spend a vast amount of time connecting the data, deriving complex metrics and hierarchies, joining hundreds of tables, and making everything a drag-and-drop dream for report writers. You’re probably thinking, “other tools allow you to work with metadata, too.” Though that’s true, most of the time you have to redefine the metadata every time you need a new report or a report has different criteria. The RPD requires a lot of upfront work, but it’s good for years. You never lose your previous work, and you build a giant pool of knowledge for your company for years to come. Most impressively, it’s all saved as a file. We can almost definitely say OBIEE is the most powerful business intelligence tool for large enterprises. So that brings us back to the “why.” US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 8
Why We Made Unify Tableau is a great tool. It’s easy to use and has everything an end user would want in a business intelligence tool — except for the RPD. You’re not getting this repository with the ability to do things like save join definitions and calculations. You’re also missing out on the overall intelligence that you can use for all your future reports. We’ve seen a lot of organizations with OBIEE who have done a lot of work on the back end to the RPD. Unfortunately, many end users don’t want to learn how to use OBIEE on the front end, so these users turn to Tableau. Tableau gives power back to the report builder, but this can cause issues like inefficient or incorrect queries. We built Unify knowing that there are some users out there that use self-service tools as purely a visualization engine — simply dropping pre-made datasets into it. But if you’re wanting to produce sustainable, scalable, and accessible reporting systems — you must tackle the issues at the data acquisition stage and the communication stage at the end. Many companies have both OBIEE and Tableau, but they’re using them separately. Unify bridges the gap between the tools. Your end users get the intuitive Tableau platform that they love, but it’s connected to the OBIEE system to ensure they’re getting accurate data. The Server Vs. the Desktop Version With Unify, you can get either the desktop or the server version. The difference is the server version lets you upload Tableau workbooks with OBIEE data to your Tableau Server and refresh. The server option is ideal for an organization that has a large Tableau user base, or they’re already using a Tableau Server. In the desktop version, you’re only able to upload the static workbooks you’ve created. However, with the server version of Unify, you can actually tell your Tableau Server to refresh data from OBIEE based on a schedule. And, even though Unify was created to source data from OBIEE, with the server version you can still source data from any other source you choose. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 9
The Ease of Unify Many Tableau users at organizations with OBIEE still get their data from OBIEE but in a roundabout way. Unify ensures that you no longer have to worry about database connection credentials, Excel exports, or any of your other tricky ways of obtaining data to use in Tableau. With Unify, your data is where it needs to be, and it’s easy to place it where you want it to go. How to Install Installing Unify on a local desktop is easy and only requires a small amount of configuration. 1. Click on the provided installer. For Windows, this is an .exe file. For Macs, this is a .dmg file. 2. Once the installation is complete, you can start the Unify application by double-clicking “Unify.” When it’s started for the first time, you’ll see a configuration screen. You’ll need to enter your: OBIEE address and version User login and password (the same login and password that you use for OBIEE) Activation key (this will be sent via email if you’ve purchased the desktop version; for the server version, a sales representative will provide you the activation key after you purchase Unify) 3. After entering in the information, you’ll click the green Test Configuration button. When your credentials and activation key are activated, you’ll see a URL that you can use to access the Unify application via the Tableau Web Data Connector. To view the step-by-step instructions, watch the video. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 10
Using Unify Now that Unify is installed, you can start using it immediately. To start extracting data from OBIEE with Unify, you need to create a new Web Data Connector Data Source in Tableau. The data source you create will prompt you for the URL you received during your installation. When you enter in the URL, you’ll see an authentication screen. The screen allows you to authenticate OBIEE, once again, using your OBIEE login credentials. You then see a welcome window where you can create an OBIEE query. On the left side of the app, you can select the “Subject Area” you want to query. You’ll be shown a list of tables and columns in your selected Subject Area. You’ll also see additional options along the top of the window and you can see all the saved queries on the right side of the window. In the center window, you can see the current query and preview the query results. In Unify, you can either build a new query from scratch or select an existing OBIEE report. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 11
Building New Queries To build your own query, select a Subject Area. You can drag columns, double click them, or add them to your current query. If you want, you can create new columns by defining a column name and column formula. You can even modify existing column formulas for your query. To modify existing column formulas, click the gear icon on the specific column, or double click the great bar at the top of the query window. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 12
Additionally, you can add filters to your data set. Click on the Filter icon at the top of the window and you can view the current filters for your query. You can then add the filters in the same way you add columns — double clicking or dragging and dropping. With your columns selected and filters defined, you can execute your query and see a preview of the result. Click the Table icon at the top of the window to preview your results. Once you have the results you need from the query, you can export those results to Tableau. Note: Your preview data is trimmed to 500 rows by default — It might look like something is missing, but it’s not. You can then click on the green Unify button at the top right corner of the window. Once you click the button, your Unify window will close and your query will be executed. You’re then taken to a new Tableau Workbook where your results are. You can now use your query as a data source in Tableau, just like you would with any other data source. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 13
Using Existing Reports The awesome part about Unify is that you don’t have to redo any work. You have existing reports in OBIEE you want to use in Tableau? No worries. You won’t have to rebuild it from scratch in the web data connector. To pull existing reports, you can select the Open icon, which allows you to select an existing report. Then, just as before, you can export that report to Tableau. Performing Joins Between Data Sources Unfortunately, OBIEE doesn’t have the capability of executing queries across Subject Areas that don’t have common tables in the business model. However, Tableau can perform joins between two data sources — as long as we select the correct join conditions. You can use Unify to pull two queries from OBIEE from different Subject Areas and then perform a data mashup with those two Subject Areas in Tableau. Following the instructions above, you can build the two queries, hit the Unify button, and pull both queries into Tableau. Those queries are still two different data sources. If your queries contain the same column, Tableau will automatically join the data sources. Refreshing Data Your exported data sources are published as data extracts. To refresh the data, all you need to do is select the data source and click the refresh button. However, if you’re not authenticated with OBIEE or your session has expired, you’ll be required and prompted to re-authenticate. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 14
Conclusion By now, you probably get the picture: Unify allows you to get the very best of the very best BI tools out there. You’ll no longer need to rebuild reports from scratch if they already exist in your system. OBIEE is a powerful tool and important to your data integrity, but you shouldn’t need to sacrifice Tableau — a powerful tool that your end user is comfortable with. Now that you know what a great product Unify is, you’re probably eager to see it in action. Download the free demo here. Don’t have a Tableau license? No worries. Unify is compatible with Tableau’s free offering, Tableau Public. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 15
About US-Analytics US-Analytics is a full-service consulting firm specialized in Enterprise Performance Management and Business Analytics solutions. Applying decades of experience along with advanced degrees and certifications, our team of functional and technical experts have helped hundreds of the nation’s largest and brightest companies bridge the gap between business goals and IT deliverables. To ensure end-to-end coverage of your technology, we provide a complete range of services: process and advisory, infrastructure, implementations, upgrades and migrations, training, and managed services. Dallas, Texas 600 East Las Colinas Blvd. Suite 2222 Irving, TX 75039 Houston, Texas 2500 CityWest Blvd. Suite 300 Houston, TX 77042 info@us-analytics.com 877.828.USAS Learn more at www.us-analytics.com. US-Analytics How to Connect OBIEE to Tableau with Unify 16
1. OBIEE — What It Is and Why You Should Use It I. Interactive Dashboards II. Ad Hoc Analysis and Interactive Reporting III. Actionable Intelligence IV. Microsoft Office Integration V. Spatial Visualizations and Analytics 2. Tableau — What It Is and Why You Should Use It 3. The Best of Both - Why You Need to Connect OBIEE and Tableau I. Why We Made It II. How Unify Works
Server OBIEE Administration tool and OBIEE software certified with the release Client Workstations Internet Explorer 6.0, Win2K/Windows XP 1.3 Deployment in OBIEE 10g There are two major steps in deploying an OBIEE Dashboard, first we need to create the data object metadata (.rpd file) in the OBIEE Administration tool.
OBIEE 12c, Oracle has given the capability of mashing OBIEE data with Excel data where a user can upload a spreadsheet to the server and mash it up with OBIEE data. However, there are few drawbacks to OBIEE 12c mashup: a) First, you need to upgrade to
OBIEE Data Security/Access Currently, Oracle BI Application does the authentication via Oracle EBS, object level security via OBIEE groups and data level security via OBIEE group (Ledger only). Users who login into OBIEE through EBS are able to see all the assigned ledger data irrespective of
1.3 Deployment in OBIEE 10g There are two major steps in deploying an OBIEE Dashboard, first we need to create the data object metadata (.rpd file) in the OBIEE Administration tool. Then, using the OBIEE Web, we create the Answers based on the .rpd file and assemble them in a Dashboard.
currently uses Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) version 11g software. This three-part training course will deal with using OBIEE, including how to write your own queries and create your own dashboard reports. Specifically, the sessions will cover: 1. Creating Analyses in OBIEE 2. Viewing Analysis Results in OBIEE 3.
currently uses Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) version 11g software. This three-part training course will deal with using OBIEE, including how to write your own queries and create your own dashboard reports. Specifically, the sessions will cover: 1. Creating Analyses in OBIEE 2. Viewing Analysis Results in OBIEE 3.
object metadata (.rpd file) in the OBIEE Administration tool. Then, using the OBIEE Web, we create the Answers based on the .rpd file and assemble them in a Dashboard. If the OBIEE server is present in Linux machine then merging of module specific repositories should be done using OBIEE Administration Tool installed on Windows machine and the .
OBIEE security layer. Once the user is authenticated the user is presented a list of subject areas from which they can do their analysis and visualization in Tableau. All of OBIEE data level security rules are retained while the user is using Tableau to connect live to OBIEE.
