1-38 Upgrade Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence
The layout editor is targeted for both business users and report developers. It is a new browser-based graphical design tool that provides an intuitive, drag and drop
interface for creating pixel perfect reports in PDF, RTF, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML. It also provides dynamic HTML output that supports lightweight interaction through
a browser as described in
Section 1.4.3.2, Report Interactivity . Using sample data
from the data model, the layout editor immediately updates the design with the data as you add components to the layout, so that you know exactly how that finished
product will be displayed.
1.4.3.2 Report Interactivity
Figure 1–9 shows the Interactive Viewer.
Figure 1–9 BI Publisher’s Interactive Viewer
Reports designed with the layout editor can not only generate the output in a pixel-perfect format, but the same reports can also support interaction with the data to
gain deeper insights. You can click any chart or pivot table within the report and all the data presented in the report is automatically updated and filtered based on the
item clicked. With the Interactive Viewer, you can create just one report to meet both requirements of printable output and online interactivity.
1.4.3.3 Retrieve and Structure Data with the Data Model Editor
Figure 1–10 shows the data model editor.
Figure 1–10 BI Publisher’s Data Model Editor
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.
