migrate bi to apex 5

TH Technology

Karen Cannell

kcannell@thtechnology.com

Migrate BI to APEX5:

Are We There Yet?

What Works, What Doesn’t & Lessons Learned

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

About Me …

Karen Cannell ~ Consultant, TH Technology

Mechanical/SW Engineer - Analyzed, designed,

developed, converted, upgraded, enhanced legacy &

database applications for 25+ years

Building APEX applications for government, medical,

engineering industries since HTMLDB

Leveraging the Oracle 10g,11g, 12c suite of tools

Oracle Ace Associate

Editor Emeritus , Technical Journal

Support Your User Group!

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

APEX Books …

Expert Oracle Application Express, APress

2015 Report Printing

Beginning Application Express

4.2, APress, 2013

Agile Oracle Application Express

APress, 2012

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

About You …

APEX Version?

Experience?

Migrating From?

Why?

Important BI Features?

“Printing” ?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BI to APEX ~ Are We Nuts?

APEX 4: Are We Nuts?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

APEX is

NOT a

BI Tool.

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BI to APEX 5 ~ Better?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

APEX is

NOT a

BI Tool.

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BUT… APEX

Can Be used to

Build BI-Like

Features.

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BI to APEX 5

Leverage APEX Interactive Reports

to Mimic BI-Tool Features:

Flexibility – Column, Sort, Filter, Highlight

Grouping

Pivots

Downloads

Save, Share

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Wait for APEX 5.1 Interactive Grid

Leverage APEX 5.1 Interactive Grid

to Mimic BI-Tool Features:

Greater Flexibility – Column, Sort, Filter,

Highlight

Drag and Drop

Greater “Excel-Like” Behavior

We’ll See!

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BI to APEX 5

Universal Theme

Dynamic Actions

Interactive Reports

Re-Engineered

Multiples on One Page

Group By Enhancements

PIVOT!

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Is That

Enough?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Key Considerations:

Data

BI-Like Features

Performance

$$ Price

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

$$ Price

”Free”

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

$$ Price

Really?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

$$Price

Resources for Database

Yours or Hosted

Resources to Build

Design ~ Planning

Supporting Structures

App Itself

Features: Drills, Dyn Actions, Parameters

“Printing”

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

$$Price

Weigh Cost to Build APEX Solution

vs.

Cost BI License

Support

Annual or One-Time?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Data

Volume

Volume Per Page View

Terabytes? No.

Small-Medium Yes.

Interactive Reports

Rows Per Page

Pagination

How Much To Display At Once

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Data

What Do Users Do With Their Data?

What They Tell You

What They Really Do

Watch Them…

Volumes?

Formats?

Post-Report Activity?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Data

“This is the data I need … “

“I import that into Excel and do … “

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Data

How Much to “Display” on One Page?

Does one Need “All the Data” On One Screen?

Do They Run the Report, then Download

Everything?

Break That Habit

Filter Filter Filter

1000 Rows is optimal

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Features

Decide What Users Need

Then Decide What Tool Fits

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

BI Tool Common Features

Select Columns

Sorts

Filtering

Tabular and

Crosstab (Pivot)

Aggregates

Grouping

Drills

Highlighting (Stop-

lighting)

Multi Data Source

Downloads

Printing

Data Volumes

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

APEX Interactive Reports Features

Select Columns

Sorts

Filtering

Tabular and

Crosstab (Pivot)

Aggregates

Grouping

Drills #

Highlighting

Single Data Source*

Downloads

“Printing”

Not Really

Small-Moderate Data

Volumes

# - Have to build

* - Sort Of

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

IR Features - Options

Set Features On/Off

By Report

By Column

Authorizations for Levels of Privileges (Roles)

Who Sees What

Conditions on Report Region based on

Selections

What They See When

Condition on Report Region

Features

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Either-Or Features

Report

Group By

Chart

Pivot

Only See One of These at a Time

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Demonstration

Select

Sort

Filter

Aggregates

Grouping

Pivot

Save

Download

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Lose

Build Own Report (from Scratch)

Auto Drill, Auto Aggregates

Out-of-the-Box ROLAP, MOLAP (Must Build)

True Dynamic Interactivity

True Analysis Features

Formatted Printing

Need to Build These

(or Do Without)

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Parameters

Pre-Filter Eliminates Slow First Load

Reduce Volume of Result Set

Cascading LOV’s

Whatever is Needed for Your Parameter

Determination

Features

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IR Aggregate Behavior

Original Report Display

Region: West

************

State County City Population

CA Orange County Irvine 100

CA Orange County Orange 200

CA Los Angeles Hollywood 300

CA Los Angeles Universal City 400

Sum 1,000

Actual APEX IR Result

Region: West

************

State County Population

CA Orange County 100

CA Orange County 200

CA Los Angeles 300

CA Los Angeles 400

Sum 1,000

Intended Result Region: West

************

State County Population

CA Orange County 300

CA Los Angeles 700

Sum 1,000

Know Your Users Inform Your Users

X

Features

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Charts

W/In IR - User-Driven

Simple Charts – NOT Complex Charting

Display Chart OR Report

Chart on Base Data – NOT on GROUP BY Display

Out of IR – Full APEX Charting

Supplement the IR

in Another Region

Features

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Charting

Feature

Chart

OR

Report

OR

Group

By

OR

Pivot

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Pivots – Pivot Columns

Known Columns and Column Names

ex: Length by Month

vs.

Unknown Columns and Column Names

ex: Month by Length

Length by Year

Length by Area

Pre-APEX 5 This Is Hard …

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… Skip 17 Slides…

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APEX 5 IR Pivot

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Saved Reports

Adds Flexibility to Report Strategy

Multiple Views of Same Data

Convenience

Alternate Default Reports

Saved Public Reports

Reports Select List to Access

Features

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Drill Down Report

Features

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Features ~ Drills

Build Parent Report

Build Child Report

Build Link in Parent to Child

Passing Parameters

Must Build Each One

Features

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Drills

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Drills

Use IR_COLUMN_NAME for the Link

[STATIC_ID]COLUMN_NAME for > 1 / Page

Create RESET Button or

Automatic Way to Clear Hidden Items

Same or Different Page

Plan – Plan - Plan

Feature

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Download / Print Options

HTML

Excel

PDF

Must Configure PDF Output

(FOP or BI Publisher)

Generic

XLS (BI Publisher)

RTF (BI Publisher)

Email – Allows Sharing Results

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

…IF you Have BI Publisher

Why Are You Here?

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Download Options – User View

Feature

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Dashboard

Multi IRs on One Page

Ex: Table, Group, Chart, and Pivot

Driven by Same Parameters

OR Drill Between Report Views

Caveats:

Use the Best Tool for the Job

Multi APEX IR May Not Be the Wisest

Choice

Feature

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Deployment

Normal APEX Deployment

Feature

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Training and Documentation

Same as Required for APEX Application

Minimal Compared to Full BI Tool

Feature

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Performance

Tune SQL Query First.

Tune the Page ~ Monitor Activity

Tune Each Element on the Page

All the Usual Tuning Methods Apply

Employ Materialized Views

Employ CUBEs, ROLLUP

As Needed to Support Desired Display

and Performance

Performance

TH Technology

Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

General Tuning Tips

Set Application Processes to execute Per

Session

Set Page Process to exec Per Page vs Per

Session

Tune Page Zero Components

Use Declarative Conditions

ITEM = Value vs. PL/SQL Expression

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

IR Settings for Performance

Max Rows

1000 is optimal

Larger #s, Longer Wait

Return All Rows = Longer Wait

Use Filters to Limit Data Set

(User Training ~ Change Habits?)

Balance w/ User Requirements

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

IR Settings for Performance

Rows Display w or w/o Pagination

No Pagination – Better

Rows X to Y - Pagination

Rows X to Y of Z – Must Get All Rows and

Paginate

Balance w/ User Requirements

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

IR Settings for Performance

1000

optimal

No “of Z”

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

IR Settings for Performance, cont’d

Row Sorting

Sort adds an ORDER BY on the column

Index Sorted Columns

Limit Sorts to Essentials

Balance w/User Requirements

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Dynamic Actions

Dynamic Actions Get Confused (Slow)

With Large Data Volumes

Use Wisely

Use Sparingly

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Parameter Settings for Performance

Default Parameters ~ Ease of Use

BUT

Executes Report Once/Set on Navigation to

Page… Not OK for Long Queries.

Solution:

Clear (At Least One) Parameter on Page Load

Some Action Req’d To Display

TH Technology

Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

APEX is

NOT a

BI Tool…

TH Technology

Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Key Considerations

Data Same

Features Fewer, Ok or Not?

Performance Have to Plan, BuildS

and Tune for it.

$$ Price Down, UNLESS You Build

Too Much

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

What Works

Interactive Reports Flexibility

Simple Menus

Simple Pages

Strategic Parameter Selection

Generic Printing

No License, Support Cost

Ease of Use

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

What Doesn’t …

NOT for Unlimited Drills

Must Plan And Build

NOT for Advanced BI Functionality

None. UNLESS You Build It

NOT for Fancy Layouts

BI Publisher or XSL-FO for Formatted Reports

NOT Data Mining

NOT For Everyone!

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Lessons Learned

Know What Your Users Need

Plan Queries – Plan Layouts – Plan Features

Plan Supporting Structures for Queries

Know Your Data, How to Present It

Plan Download/Printing Approach

TRAIN USERS

Know What Users Really Do With Data

BUILD SMART

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Test Test Test Test Test

Test for Performance

Test w Full Data Volumes

Test w Full User Volume

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Closing ….

What Works – Is it Enough?

What Doesn’t – Does It Matter?

Know Your Users

Know What Users Really Do

With Data

TH Technology

Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

One the Fence?

Wait!

APEX 5.1 ~ Interactive Grid

Drag and Drop

Set Read-Only for “Report”

Improved Interactivity

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Your Call …

Data

Features

Performance

$$ Price

Good Luck!

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Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Resources

Sizing for Performance (2007!) Mike Hichwa

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2007/07-

jan/o17browser-083149.html

Best Source of APEX Help

Apexworld.com

http://www.apexworld.com

Enhanced Aggregation, Cube, Grouping and Rollup (OLAP

Reporting Embedded in SQL) Shouvik Basu http://www.orafaq.com/node/56

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Share Your Knowledge!

Call for Articles/Reviewers

Editor, ODTUG Technical Journal

kcannell@odtug.com

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Questions ?

Migrate BI to

APEX 5 WWWD and LL

kcannell@thtechnology.com

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Thank You

Migrate BI to

APEX 5 WWWD and LL

kcannell@thtechnology.com

TH Technology

Migrate BI to APEX 5 ?

Really?…