Editing the instanceconfig.xml File for Replication

18 Configuring and Managing Analyses and Dashboards 18-1 18 Configuring and Managing Analyses and Dashboards This chapter describes how to configure and manage analyses and dashboards and the objects that they contain, such as views. For information about how content designers work with analyses and dashboards, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Users Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. End users with appropriate privileges can modify personal and shared dashboards, including the addition of pages and content. End users cannot create analyses and dashboards. This chapter includes the following topics: ■ Section 18.1, Managing Dashboards ■ Section 18.2, Performing General Configuration Tasks for Analyses ■ Section 18.3, Configuring for Displaying and Processing Data in Views ■ Section 18.4, Manually Changing Presentation Settings ■ Section 18.5, Blocking Analyses in Answers ■ Section 18.6, Specifying View Defaults for Analyses and Dashboards ■ Section 18.7, Configuring for Write Back in Analyses and Dashboards

18.1 Managing Dashboards

Before you create shared dashboards, ensure that you have planned the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog directory or folder structure and security strategy. In general, to create a shared dashboard, you first create the dashboard and add content using the Dashboard Builder. You can also assign permissions to access the dashboard. Users who are members of multiple application roles or Catalog groups can select the dashboard that they display by default from all of the dashboards to which they have permissions. The following list provides other resources with information about dashboards: ■ Guidelines for creating a shared dashboard, within the broader context of the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog structure and security framework, are provided in Controlling Access to Saved Customization Options in Dashboards in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. ■ Information about shared folder structures in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog is provided in Chapter 17, Configuring and Managing the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. 18-2 System Administrators Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition ■ Information about permissions is provided in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. ■ Details for enabling users to act for others, which allows them to access the other users dashboards, is provided in Enabling Users to Act for Others in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

18.2 Performing General Configuration Tasks for Analyses

This section describes general tasks that you can perform to configure for the creation of analyses. It includes the following sections: ■ Section 18.2.1, Providing Access to Metadata Dictionary Information ■ Section 18.2.2, Supporting Nested Folders, Navigation, and Drill-Down

18.2.1 Providing Access to Metadata Dictionary Information

When creating analyses, content designers might need more information about subject areas, folders, columns, or levels such as relationships to other metadata objects to guide them. You can provide content designers with this information by allowing them access to the metadata dictionary for the repository. The metadata dictionary describes the metrics that are contained within the repository and the attributes of repository objects. The metadata dictionary output is a static set of XML documents. To provide access to metadata dictionary information: 1. Ensure that the metadata dictionary has been generated and the files have been stored in an appropriate location. For information, see Generating a Metadata Dictionary in Oracle Fusion Middleware Metadata Repository Builders Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

2. Set the DictionaryURLPrefix element within the ServerInstance element in the

instanceconfig.xml file to one of the following values. The value that you specify depends on the Web servers in use. ■ The prefix for the name of the directory in which you have stored the XML files. The directory must have been specified as a shared directory for the Web server, and the Web server must be the same one that is used by Oracle BI EE. For example, suppose that you stored the XML files for the metadata dictionary in a directory called demo1 under the metadictionary directory. Suppose that the metadictionary directory is specified as a shared directory for the Web server, which is also used by Oracle BI EE. Then you specify the following value for the DictionaryURLPrefix element: DictionaryURLPrefixdemo1DictionaryURLPrefix See the documentation for your Web server for information about sharing directories. ■ The URL that points to the directory in which you have stored the XML files. Use a value such as this when the files for the metadata dictionary are stored in the directory structure for a Web server that is not being used by Oracle BI EE. For example: DictionaryURLPrefixhttp:10.10.10.10metadictionarydem o1DictionaryURLPrefix Configuring and Managing Analyses and Dashboards 18-3 The following shows an example setting in the instanceconfig.xml file: WebConfig ServerInstance SubjectAreaMetadata DictionaryURLPrefixdemo1DictionaryURLPrefix SubjectAreaMetadata ServerInstance WebConfig For information about working in the Oracle BI Presentation Services configuration file instanceconfig.xml, see Section 3.4, Using a Text Editor to Update Configuration Settings. 3. Grant the Access to Metadata Dictionary privilege to the appropriate content designers. For information about privileges, see Managing Presentation Services Privileges in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. For details on how content designers can view metadata dictionary information, see Viewing Metadata Information from the Subject Areas Pane in Oracle Fusion Middleware Users Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

18.2.2 Supporting Nested Folders, Navigation, and Drill-Down

The Oracle BI Administrator can set up subject areas in ways that assist content designers who work with analyses. Oracle Fusion Middleware Metadata Repository Builders Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition provides complete information about setting up subject areas. The following list includes features of subject areas that assist content designers: ■ To make selections easy for content designers to discern in the Subject Areas pane when creating analyses, the administrator can set up the Presentation layer in the Oracle BI Administration Tool to give the appearance of nested folders. For example, the administrator can make the Sales Facts folder appear as a subfolder in the Facts folder. ■ When content designers create analyses, they can allow users to go to related analyses and content. If the Oracle BI Administrator sets up dimensions and dimensional hierarchies for the subject area, then users can drill down on data results that are presented in graphs, tables, and pivot tables to obtain more detailed information. There are no specific privilege settings that control access to navigation and drill-down features, which are available to all users. ■ Content designers can create analyses that include columns from a primary subject area and from one or more related subject areas.

18.3 Configuring for Displaying and Processing Data in Views

You can configure various options that change the display and processing of data in views. See also Section 7.3.3, Using Fusion Middleware Control to Set Configuration Options for Data in Tables and Pivot Tables and Section 7.3.4, Using Fusion Middleware Control to Set the Maximum Number of Rows Processed to Render a Table for related information.