Limor Fledel-Vagman

BI Practice Manager
Oracle Israel


OBIEE Data Federation


OBIEE Federation
Vertical Federation
Integrating two or more disparate data source having different
levels of granularity joined by one or more conformed dimensions
Example: Essbase Sales cube to relational Sales detail data (drill-
through)

Horizontal Federation
Integrating two or more disparate data source having the same
level of granularity joined by one or more conformed dimensions
Example: Essbase Sales cube with HR relational database

LTS ???
Logical table sources (LTSs) are a key feature
within the OBIEE semantic model
OBIEE Aggregate Navigation
Why Aggregate Navigation?
Problem: Summary questions are slow
Example, All sales worldwide for last 2 years by quarter by family
This will potentially sum/group by millions of rows!
The disk spin time to scan all these rows will be very long
Solution: ETL to batch build high level aggregates
Oracle BI EE has aggregate navigation to use them
Aggregates can be in the same database as the source
They can also be in a different relational source or Essbase
Often orders of magnitude performance improvement






Oracle BI EE Architecture
Relational
Tables
BI Server
Semantic
Layer
Metadata




Oracle BI EE Aggregate Navigation
Relational
Detail
Summary
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Metadata
describes
aggregate
mappings
At query time, BI Server queries
the fastest source that has
enough detail to satisfy the user
request
Performance of highly
summarized requests is
dramatically improved
BI Server




Federation Enables External Aggregates
Relational
Detail
Summary
Semantic
Layer
Metadata


Summary
Aggregates can be in
other federated
sources
BI Server




External Aggregates Can Be in Essbase
Relational
Detail
Summary
Essbase
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Aggregate navigation
can include
multidimensional
BI Server




External Aggregates Can Be Oracle OLAP
Relational
Detail
Summary
Oracle
OLAP AW
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Aggregate navigation
can include
multidimensional
BI Server
"This information is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development,
release, and timing of any features or functionality described remains at the sole discretion of Oracle"
How is Aggregate Navigation Set Up?
Database Design time:
DBA defines aggregate stars at various grain combinations






Builds ETL to load the aggregates each night
Star Time Product
Base Day SKU
Agg 1 Month Brand
Agg 2 Qtr -
Mapping a Base-Level Physical Star
Business Model and
Mapping Layer
Physical Layer Mappings
D0 Time
D4 Product
F0 Rev Base Measures
D_Day
D_Prod_SKU
F_Bill
Adding a Moderately Aggregated Star
Business Model and
Mapping Layer
D0 Time
D4 Product
F0 Rev Base Measures
D_Day
D_Prod_SKU
F_Bill
D_Month
D_Brand
F_Bill_agg2
Physical Layer Mappings
Adding a Highly-Aggregated Star
Business Model and
Mapping Layer
D0 Time
D4 Product
F0 Rev Base Measures
D_Day
D_Prod_SKU
F_Bill
D_Month
D_Brand
F_Bill_agg2
D_Qtr
F_Bill_agg1
Physical Layer Mappings
Essbase as an Aggregate Source
Business Model and
Mapping Layer
D0 Time
D4 Product
F0 Rev Base Measures
D_Day
D_Prod_SKU
F_Bill
Physical Layer Mappings
Month
Brand
Billed Amt
Adding a Highly-Aggregated Star
Business Model and
Mapping Layer
D0 Time
D4 Product
F0 Rev Base Measures
D_Day
D_Prod_SKU
F_Bill
D_Month
D_Brand
F_Bill_agg2
D_Qtr
F_Bill_agg1
How does the query
planner decide which
FJC to use as its source
for a given request?
Physical Layer Mappings
Selecting an Aggregate or Base Star at Query Time

How does the query planner decide which star to use
as its source for a given LSQL request?
First, it eliminates sources that dont have enough
detail to answer the question

Query grain < star grain star not qualified
Query grain = star grain star qualified
Query grain > star grain star qualified

Second, it estimates the fastest/prioritized source
How BI Server Knows the Grain of a Star
At query time, the BI Server checks the available
mappings to find which ones are qualified by grain
How Does It Know Which Star is Fastest?
Number of elements
Be sure to correctly populate the
Dimension Levels Number of
elements at this level
OBIEE 10g
How Does It Know Which Star is Fastest?
LTS Priority Group Order

LTS Priority Group Order
Lower value = higher priority
LTS Priority Group becomes
main decider in which LTS to
use
OBIEE 11g New Feature
Aggregate Persistence
Aggregate Persistence Feature
Managing aggregates manually has high TCO
Oracle BI EE automates creation of aggregates
Leverages existing metadata
Orders of magnitude performance boost; low TCO





Aggregate Persistence Automates Create & Load
Define agg
navigation
metadata
Detail
Summary
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Admin Tool:
Aggregate
build
automation
wizard
Run scripts
Create Tables
Aggregation
BI Server




Aggregate Persistence Manual Option
Detail
Summary
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Admin Tool:
Aggregate
build
automation
wizard
Create scripts
Create Table DDL
Aggregation
Run scripts
Create Tables
Aggregation
DBA
BI Server
Define agg
navigation
metadata




Aggregate Persistence with Essbase & Oracle OLAP
Detail
Semantic
Layer
Metadata
Admin Tool:
Aggregate
build
automation
wizard
Define cube schema
Summary
Essbase or
AW
BI Server
Define agg
navigation
metadata
"This information is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development,
release, and timing of any features or functionality described remains at the sole discretion of Oracle"
Administration Steps
Design aggregate facts and grains
Wizard to create metadata



1 Target database for create/load
3
2
Aggregate Persistence Wizard
Aggregate Persistence Wizard
Automates the creation of physical aggregate tables and
their corresponding objects in the repository
Use wizard to build
script to generate
aggregate tables.
Script generates
physical tables,
repository objects,
and mappings.
Fact
aggregate
Dimension
aggregates
Aggregate Persistence Wizard Steps
1. Open Aggregate Persistence Wizard.
2. Specify the file name and location.
3. Select business model and measures.
4. Select dimensions and levels
5. Select connection pool, container, and name.
6. Review aggregate definition.
7. View complete aggregate script.
8. Verify script is created.
9. Create and run a batch file.
10. Verify aggregates in the Physical layer.
11. Verify aggregates in the BMM layer.
12. Verify aggregates in the database.
13. Verify results in Answers.
1. Open Aggregate Persistence Wizard
Select Tools > Utilities > Aggregate Persistence Wizard
and click the Execute button.
2. Specify File Name and Location
Specify a file and location where the output script should
be saved.
3. Select Business Model and Measures
Select business model.
Select fact table.
Select measures.
4. Select Dimensions and Levels

Select corresponding aggregate dimensions and levels.
5. Select Connection Pool, Container, and Name

Select the database object.
Select the schema.
Select the connection pool.
Name the aggregate table.
6. Review Aggregate Definition

View the aggregate
definition.
7. View Complete Aggregate Script
Confirmation of script
creation and location
Script
8. Verify that the Script Is Created
Navigate to the directory where the file was saved and
verify that the script was created as expected.
9. Create and Run a Batch File
Create and run a batch file with the following format to
drive the aggregate creation process:

nqcmd Oracle BI Server command utility
-d Oracle BI Server data
source name
-u Repository username
-p Repository password
-s Path to the create
aggregate SQL script
10. Verify Aggregates in the Physical Layer
Verify that the aggregates are created in the Physical
layer of the repository as expected.
Fact aggregate
Dimension aggregates
11. Verify Aggregates in the BMM Layer
Verify that the aggregates are created in the Business
Model and Mapping layer of the repository as expected.
Fact aggregate
Dimension aggregate
12. Verify Aggregates in the Database
Verify that the aggregates are created in the database.
13. Verify Results in Answers
Activate the aggregate tables:




Run a query in Answers:


Check the log and verify that the aggregate tables are accessed
as expected:
Considerations
Using aggregates comes with a price:
Additional time is required to build and load these tables.
Additional storage is necessary.
Build only the aggregates you need:
Look at query patterns and build aggregates to speed up
common queries that require summarized results.
Ensure that enough data is combined to offset the cost of
building aggregates.
Monitor and adjust to account for changing query patterns.
Using Partitions and Fragments
Business Challenge
Data is often partitioned into multiple physical sources for a
single logical table.
Organizations need to seamlessly and efficiently access and
process data from multiple sources to satisfy user requests.
Business applications must know where to go for what type of
data and under what conditions.
Business Solution: Oracle BI Server
Oracle BI repository can be configured so that Oracle BI Server
handles the navigation to the appropriate source.
Oracle BI Server seamlessly and efficiently accesses and
processes data from multiple sources to satisfy user requests.
Partition
Is a database element that contains part of the data for a fact or a
dimension
Combines with other data fragments as necessary
May be:
Fact-based
Value-based
Level-based
Complex
Partitioning by Fact
Data is partitioned by fact when different fact data is stored in
different tables.
Example: Actual sales versus quota targets
1000
Product
Sale
1100
Sales Rep
2000
Product
Quota
1100
Sales Rep
Actual sales Quota targets
Partitioning by Value
Data is partitioned by value when the data is split into separate
tables according to the values of the data.
Example: Invoice data is stored separately for each region.
1000
Dollars
Central 1135293
Region InvNbr
Invoices for
Central
Region
Invoices for
West Region
200
Dollars
West 114444
Region InvNbr
Partitioning by Level
Data is partitioned by level when the same facts are stored in
separate tables at different levels of aggregation.
Example: Detailed sales data is summarized and stored by
year and region.
19981010
19981001
19980105
Date
10000 1100
25000 1100
10000
Product
Sale
1100
Sales Rep
Sales detailed data Sales by year and region
Central 300000 1999
200000
Total
Dollars
Central 1998
Region Year
Complex Partitioning
Data is partitioned using more than one technique.
Example: Invoice sales data is partitioned by value and level.
Central 25000 199802
10000
Total
Dollars
Central 199801
Region Month
Invoices by month for Central Invoices by year for Central
200000
Total
Dollars
Central 1998
Region Year
Invoices by month for West Invoices by year for West
West 350000 199802
300000
Total
Dollars
West 199801
Region Month
3000000
Total
Dollars
West 1998
Region Year
ABC Example: Fact-Based (Quota)
Allow users to query for actual sales data and quota data
in a single query.
1000
Product
Sale
1100
Sales
Rep
2000
Product
Quota
1100
Sales
Rep
Actual sales Quota targets
ABC Example: Value-Based (Customer)
Replace the current, single source for customer data
with two value-based partitions.
Clifton Lunch
Name
1000
NewKey
Customers
with names
starting with
letters AM
Customers
with names
starting with
letters NZ
Tongs Wok
Name
1002
NewKey
ABC Example: Value-Based (Inventory)
Build a business model for inventory data that is
fragmented into multiple tables.
Eight quarters of
inventory data
stored in eight
separate tables
Implementation Steps
Import physical sources.
Create physical joins.
Add sources to the Business Model and Mapping layer.
Specify fragmentation content.
Test the results.
New step
Specify Fragmentation Content
Use the Expression Builder to define the type of content that the
fragment contains.
Set the flag to specify whether to combine this fragment with
other data.
Specifies that customer data
from AM is contained in
this fragment
Specifies combining this
fragment with the other
Summary

Identify reasons for segmenting data and
implement it benefit is promised!


Question:
The end user needs to know what data is contained in which
partition before submitting a query. True or false?

Real-time BI
Federated OLTP/EDW Reporting
Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI
Using horizontal fragmentation in OBIEE, we can map
a single logical fact table to multiple LTSs.

Physical fact table in our EDW called SALES_FACT
Physical fact table in our source system to represent
real-time data

One logical fact table in the BMM called Sales
Fact Realtime
Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

Fact table mapping
Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

Customer dimension mapping

Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

Use variable as the threshold between reporting against
the EDW schema and the source system schema
Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

LTS mapping using threshold date

Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

OBIEE does
the logical
union
Horizontal Federation for Real-Time BI

When the BI Server has enough information to
know that the entire result set will come from a
single source, then the SQL will be issued against
only one of the LTSs.
Oracle by Example and Relevant Blogs
Web tutorial :Oracle by Example
Federating Essbase and Relational Data Sources in OBIEE

http://www.artofbi.com/index.php/2009/07/federation-in-obiee-what-are-you-talking-about/

http://odtugspconference.com/Slides/OBIEE%20Integration%20with%20Essbase.pdf

http://www.rittmanmead.com/2011/05/real-time-bi-federated-oltpedw-reporting/