Introduction to OracleBI Discoverer

Permissions were granted from Forsyth Co., N.C. Environmental to use their data in this presentation.

Beginning Note:
Just as any windows based application there
are always many different ways to accomplish the same tasks. (Copy, Paste, Save, etc) Discoverer is no different. This will point out several ways to do the different tasks but it would be too time consuming to cover each and every one.

With that being said..

This will attempt to give you, the end-user, an idea of some of the features and functionality of the OracleBI Discoverer product. You will see enough of the basic things to enable you to start using the product after viewing this introduction.

What we are going to do.

Discoverer What is it? Why use it Go over Concepts & Key Terminology of
the Discoverer product. Build several queries utilizing some different features of Discoverer. Go over additional features of Discoverer.

A little about Discoverer

It is a browser based tool. The product has three main components
Administration Edition End User edition (10g Plus) End User edition (10g Viewer)

Administration Edition
Requires an administrator who works
closely with the DBA and the End-Users to identify business area needs. Sets up business areas, folder, items, join conditions, security, etc Monitors security, query execution, and scheduling queries and reports.

End-User Editions
Made for End-Users like YOU. Requires some familiarity with the
Windows environment. Requires some familiarity with the application (Environmental). Most important, there is NO NEED for an in-depth knowledge of Oracle

Discoverer 10g Plus

Allows the end-user to: Create Workbooks Store Workbooks on the database Share access to workbooks with other users

Discoverer 10g Viewer

Allows the end-user to view workbooks
results created by a 10gPlus user.

End User with only 10g Viewer privileges

cannot create, modify, or share access to workbooks.

Why use Discoverer

To do ad-hoc queries in lieu of running or
looking through reports:
What was the score of an establishment the last
time it was inspected? How many active food service establishments? How many push cart permits issued last quarter?

Key Terminology
EUL (End-User Layer)
Interface between the end-user and the
database Contains business areas, folders, items, etc

Business Area
Set of related information with a common
purpose (Environmental)

Key Terminology (cont.)

Folders
Store details about groups of related
information (Establishments, Inspections, etc.) Usually relates to a database table or view

Items
Folders contain items (for example the
Inspections folder might contain State ID, Premise name, Score, etc.) Usually relates to a column in a database table

Key Terminology (cont.)

Workbook
Can contain one or more worksheets Somewhat similar to the Excel workbook Stored on the database Worksheet Contains 1 SQL statement (query) Shows the results of the query

ORACLE DISCOVERER OVERVIEW END USERS (Workbooks & Worksheets) End User Layer (EUL) (Business areas,Folders,Items etc)

Administrator

CDP-DataMart (Oracle 9i database)

 The queries we will build will be based on

the North Carolina Environmental business area. It is important to understand the CONCEPTS of how we are using Discoverer as opposed to the system or business area we are using.

QUERY #1
We will:

Connect & Sign on to Discoverer 10gPlus Create A New Workbook Build A Simple Table Query Apply Some User Defined Conditions Run The Query Format Column Data And Headings Add A Sort Edit User Defined Conditions Re-run The Query Rename The Worksheet Close And Save The Workbook

Connecting to Discoverer 10gPlus

Start Internet Explorer Type in the following URL:
http://discoverer.cdpehs.com/ After typing in the Discoverer URL you should be brought to the Login page.

Enter User Name Enter Password Enter Database Then click Go

You may get a Security Information pop-up. Click Yes to display the items.

The Workbook Wizard

A series of 5 steps that assists/prompts you
in creating an end result. Once you become familiar with building queries you do not have to go thru all 5 steps. You can always get to any of the wizard at a later time to edit the query.

Create/Open Workbook

Workbook Step #1 allows you to : Create a new Workbook Or Open an existing workbook Then Choose the type of workbook you want open.

Click on Create a new workbook. We will open an existing workbook later in this session.

Uncheck Title, Graph, and Text Area. Leave the default Table selected and click Next.

The Selection Process

Workbook Step #2 allows you to: Select Business Area, Folders from the
business area, and Items from the folders. Create conditions, calculations, percentages, and totals, edit & enable/disable.

Business Area
Select the business area that contains the
information (tables) that you want to use (Environmental). You will only see the business areas you are authorized to see. You will only see the data that belongs to you.

Select the Folder(s)

Select the folder(s) that contain the items
that you want to use in your worksheet (query).

Clicking the (+) sign to the left of the folder

will expand the folder to show all items contained within the folder.

Select the Establishments Folder. Click the (+) sign to the left of Establishments to see the Items.

Selecting Items

Scroll down the list of items To Select an item: Click on the item (word) to highlight it Click the (>) sign in between the 2 panes You will see the selected item displayed in the right pane

Lets select the

State Id Premise Name Est Type Est Phone

Click on the item then click the (>) arrow.

Until your screen looks like this

To de-select an item
Click on the item in the right pane to
highlight it Click the (<) sign in between the 2 panes The item will no longer be displayed in the right pane.

Once you have selected the items Click the Conditions tab.

Click New and New Condition from the drop-down menu.

Naming the condition

Conditions (tip)
It is a good idea to assign a meaningful
name to the condition if: You are going to have multiple worksheets in a workbook. You are going to save and reuse this workbook. You are going to share the workbook with other users.

We will allow to Generate name automatically. Click the arrow under Item to select the item. You will see that the 4 items we selected under on the Items tab.

If you select More Items you will see ALL the items that are in the folder(s) you are working with (Establishments) click Cancel.

The list of items.

You do not have to select the item in the
query in order to use that item in a condition But You have to at least select one item from the folder that contains it

Scroll down to and click Est Type

(Notice that the item Est Type now has the folders name in front of it.) Arrow down the Condition column and select the conditional expression =

Manually enter 1 in the Values column to select only food service establishments Click OK.

Conditions (tip)
Text values and dates are enclosed in single
quotes.

Multiple values are separated by a comma. Date format is dd-mon-ccyy

(ie; 28-FEB-2008)

We will add calculations and totals to a worksheet later click Next.

Table Layout
Workbook Step #3 allows you to re-arrange
the order the items appear on the worksheet.

To re-arrange the items: Click on the column name and drag the
column to the left or right until it is in the desired order.

Click and drag the column names to the desired locations then click Next.

Workbook Step 4 allows you to sort the worksheet by the data points. We will sort the worksheet later in the session click Next.

Workbook Step #5 allows you to add a parameter to the worksheet. This can supply values to a conditional statement. We will add a parameter to the worksheet later in the session. Since this is the last step of the Wizard lets run the query. Click Finish.

You should see the query progress bar informing you of the status of the query.

And you should see something like this.

Notice that at the end of the scroll bar (on right of query) you can click to retrieve the next 250 rows.

Lets add a sort sequence. Click Tools then click Sort.

Click the Add button to the right then select Premise Name from the drop down Column. Click OK.

The Premise Name (establishment name) should be in alphabetical sequence (numbers and special characters will appear first).

Lets disable the Est Type condition. Click on Tools then click on Conditions.

To disable the Est Type condition, click on the Est Type=1 condition in the Selected window and click the (<) arrow.

This will move the condition back to the left (and the checkmark indicating that the condition is enabled will disappear). Click OK.

Now the query will show all Est Types.

Lets edit the Est Type condition. Click on Tools and Conditions.

Highlight the Est Type=1 condition by clicking on it and click Edit.

Change the Value from 1 to 2 and click OK.

Are we ready to run the query?

No. We need to enable the condition. Click on Est Type=2 condition and click the (>) arrow to move the condition to the Selected window and enable it. (Notice that the blue check will reappear showing you that the condition is now enabled.) Click OK.

Now you will only see Type 2 Establishments (Food Stands).

Lets rename the worksheet. Click on Edit and Rename Worksheet.

Change the name from Sheet 1 to Food Stands and click OK.

Now the worksheets name has been changed.

Lets save the workbook. Click on File and Save.

Enter Training Query 1 as the new name and click Save.

Lets close the workbook. Click on File and Close.