Report Interactivity BI Publisher: Highlighted New 11g Functionality to Leverage

Planning to Upgrade from Oracle BI 10g to BI 11g 1-39 BI Publisher 11g introduces the data model editor to create report data models. The data model editor enables you to combine data from multiple data sets from different data sources, such as SQL, Excel files, Web services, HTTP feeds, and other applications into a single XML data structure. You can build queries, link data, group data, create calculations, and define the data structure all in the data model web user interface. The data model editor saves the data model as an independent catalog object that can be used by multiple reports.

1.4.3.4 Support for Additional Data Sources

The BI Publisher 11g data model editor can retrieve data from the following sources that were not available in 10g: ■ Excel workbooks Upload the Excel workbooks to a central location that BI Publisher can connect to, or simply upload the workbooks from the local client directly to the data model editor. You can link the data from the workbook to the data from other data sets or modify the output structure. ■ LDAP directories This release supports queries against Lightweight Directory Access protocol LDAP data sources. You can query user information that is stored in LDAP directories and then use the data model editor to link the user information with data retrieved from other data sources. ■ View Objects BI Publisher enables you to connect to custom applications built with Oracle Application Development Framework and use view objects in the applications as data sources for reports. ■ CLOB XML The data engine can now extract well-formed XML data that is stored in a database column as a character large object CLOB data type and maintain its structure. This feature enables you to use XML data that is generated by a separate process and stored in the database as input to a BI Publisher data model.

1.4.3.5 Scheduled Jobs Management Enhancements

The updated architecture of the BI Publisher Scheduler uses the Java Messaging Service JMS queue technology. This architecture enables you to add multiple BI Publisher servers to a cluster and then dedicate each server to a particular function: report generation, document generation, or specific delivery channels. This increases the flexibility to scale up BI Publisher for high-volume scheduled jobs. In addition, the status and current load of all processors can be viewed in real-time using the new Scheduler Diagnostics tool.

1.4.3.6 Auditing and Monitoring Capabilities

The 11g auditing framework enables administrators to collect data to audit and monitor user activities and interaction with BI Publisher. In addition, 11g includes a new framework to store all the data into database tables so that you can also use BI Publisher to visualize and analyze it. The auditing enhancements enable administrators to go beyond compliance requirements to improve customer service by understanding what users like to do, how they access and view reports, and when the usage times peak.