Session ObjectivesThis presentation covers:

What’s is Discoverer ?Key Terminology in DiscovererResponsibilities of the end-userAn overview of Discoverer’s components Discoverer ArchitectureDrawback of Discoverer older versionsWhat is new in Discoverer 10gDiscoverer AdministrationDiscoverer Desktop

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Key Terminology

Tables Folders Columns Items Rows Records Queries Worksheets

Interface to database = End User Layer Grouping of Tables = Business AreaGroup of worksheets = Workbook

Responsibilities of the end-userYou cannot Create a report if you are not aware of the

data available to you, if you don’t know which folders contain the data and what the end result is that you are trying to achieve.

Therefore before you begin to explore the power of Discoverer, you will need to:1 - Understand your business,

2 - Understand your reporting requirements, and

3 - Understand your database

Discoverer ComponentsAdministration (T)Desktop (T)Plus (BI)Viewer (BI)

T = Tool, BI = Business Intelligence,

Discoverer Older Version vs. Discoverer 10g

Discoverer Older Version Discoverer 10g

•Totals do not always work •Totals not been an issue in any testing

•Parameters are always required •Parameters can be optional

•Limited customizations

•Queries may at times run slower

•Many customizations

•Queries run faster

•Issue with Page items •Page items can view one or all items

•Queries are saved on Hard Drives – must be Emailed to share with others

•Queries are saved on Dbase – easy to share with others

•Users share one logon •Users have individual logons

What’s new in 10.1.2?

Reporting EnhancementsParameter enhancements

Cascading parametersOptional and Mandatory parametersSupport for keywords and tokens

SYSDATE, NULL and USERException handling

Conditional formatting (formerly Exceptions)Stoplight formatting

Reporting EnhancementsGreatly enhanced Viewer capability

Save If enabled you can save changes This depends on individual privileges

High fidelity printing within Viewer Print to PDF Export to PDF

New calendar popup for datesEmail

If enabled, send worksheet content as an attachment to an email

Discoverer Administrations

Role of AdminEUL creation Importation of database tablesOrdering of folders and itemsHow to check folder and item propertiesThe use of item separatorsCreation of alternate sortsCreation of complex foldersCreation of hierarchiesCreation of new calculated itemsSecurity and Privileges Scheduling Workbooks Import and Export of Discoverer items

Source to DestinationWe need to think a little about what we are

going to do. We are going to take a set of data definitions from a source database and convert that into a new set of definitions – a Discoverer business area

Source – Oracle database, containing 12 tables

Destination – A star schema, better for Discoverer users to query from

Source

Destination

Creating the End User LayerBefore we can begin creating our first

business area, we need to create the end user layer itself

Launch and log in to Discoverer Administrator

Follow on screen prompts

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• End User Layer is a Metadata repository for Business areas, folders and items on which Discoverer workbooks or reports based on.

• The EUL is a set of database tables that contain information (or 'metadata') about the other tables and views in the database.

Note: A database can be Oracle, Oracle Applications or any RDBMS.

Logging On

Type the username, password and connect, then click Connect

EUL Message

Click Yes to continue

We don’t have an EUL right now, so Discoverer gives the following message:

CreatingWhen prompted, clickCreate an EUL

Create EUL Wizard Step 1

3.Click Select

1. Check existing user

2. Grant access to PUBLIC

Pick the user1. Type the user, or part of the user, and click Go

2. Pick the user from the list

3. When done, click OK

Commit Status - Part 1 of 3Discoverer first creates the tables and views

Watch the jigsaw

Commit Status - Part 2 of 3Then populates the tables with default data

Commit Status - Part 3 of 3Finally granting access to the new EUL tables

Empty EUL is created

When done, click OK

Oracle’s Video TutorialWhen prompted to install the tutorial data:

Click Yes if you want Oracle’s Video tutorial, We don’t need this for the demo, click No

EUL installed

When done, click Close

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• A Business Area is a set of folders containing related information with a common business purpose.

• Using Discoverer Administration Edition, you can tailor the grouping of data to provide users with the proper access to the precise data they need for ad hoc query, decision support, and presentation of results.

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• Business Areas:•Meet the specific data needs of the users•Usually contain data from several different tables or views•Have tables or views and their associated columns mapped to “folders” and “items” respectively•Can contain many simple folders and complex folders

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Continued…

•May contain folders from one or more physical databases

•Include conditions, joins, calculations, formatting, hierarchy structures, and other custom features

The load wizard stepsDiscoverer administrator wizard has 5 steps:

1. Create or Open a business area2. Select the schema3. Select the objects to use4. Define the import options5. Name the business area

Load Wizard 1 - create or open?

ClickCreate a new business area

Load Wizard - continued

CheckOn-line dictionary

then click Next

Wizard 2 - which schema?Pick desired link and schema

then click Next

Wizard 3 – which objects?

Take a look at the source schema

Wizard 3 - select the objects

Select desired objects, then click Next

Wizard 4 - data options

Select desired objects, then click Next

Wizard 5 – what name?

Complete the business area, then click Finish

Importing the objectsAs Discoverer loads the chosen objects, you will see the status approaching 100%

Objects importedAfter the business area has been imported, we

need to check a few things:The order of the foldersThe names of the foldersThe names of the itemsThe order of the itemsLists of valuesJoins

How to move a folder locationTo move the location of a folder, follow this workflow:

1. Left click on the folder that you want to move and hold the mouse button down

2. Move the mouse cursor to the location where you would like this folder to be

3. Wait until Discoverer highlights the destination folder4. Release the mouse button5. The folder will now move to the chosen position

Check the names of the foldersMany times, especially when importing

objects from the database, you will find that the name of the table is not user friendly

Rename all non user friendly folder namesIn our case, the folder names are ok so I will

not change them

How to rename a folderTo rename a folder, use this workflow:

1.Right click on the folder that you want to rename

2.From the pop up menu, select Properties3.Single click in the field called Name4.Enter a more business friendly name5.Check the Identifier and change if need be6.When done, click OK

Check the name of the itemsMany times, especially when importing

objects from the database, you will find that the name of the item is not user friendly

Rename all non user friendly item namesIn our case, the item names are cryptic so I

will change them

How to rename an itemTo rename an item, use this workflow:

1.Right click on the item that you want to rename2.From the pop up menu, select Properties3.Single click in the field called Name4.Enter a more business friendly name5.Optionally, provide a description6.When done, click OK

Names in Sales FolderBefore After

Leave Identifiers

unchanged

Rename other itemsGs Channel

Change Name to ChannelGs Customer

Change Custid to Cust IDChange Name to Cust NameChange Contactname to Contact NameChange Creditlimit to Credit Limit

Gs CityChange Name to City

Check the order of the itemsOpen each folder and look at the ordering of

the itemsWe need to rearrange the order to make

selections for users easierMove metrics to the top, followed by

descriptor items, dates and finally non essential identifiers

Finally, insert item separators

How to change an item’s position

To change the position of an item, use this workflow:1. Left click on the item that you want to move and

hold the mouse button down2. Move the mouse cursor to the location where you

would like this item to be3. Wait until Discoverer highlights the destination

item4. Release the mouse button5. The item will now move to the new position

How to insert an item separator

To insert an item separator, use this workflow:1. Right click on the name of the folder into

which you want to insert an item separator2. From the pop up menu, select New Item3. Discoverer opens the New Calculation dialog

box4. Give the item a separator Name such as:

*** M e t r i c s ***5. In Calculation use NULL6. Click OK to complete the calculation7. Move the item to its correct position

Sales Order folder with separators

Note how each logical group gets its own separator

Default PositionWhen Discoverer imports data items from the

database it automatically assigns the position of the items as follows:Dates – TopIntegers – TopNumbers with decimal places – Data PointStrings – Top

How to change an item’s position

To change an item’s position, use this workflow:1. Right click on the item whose position you

want to change2. From the pop up menu, select Properties3. Single click in the field called Default Position

Your options are Data Point, Page, Side, Top,Top or Side

4. Change the position5. When done, click OK

Default FormatWhen Discoverer imported the data items

from the database it automatically assigned the default format of the items as follows:Dates – DD-MON-RRRRIntegers – 9999999999Numbers with decimal places – 999999D99Strings – As defined in the database

Why change the format?To allow for leading zeros in numbersTo increase the number of decimal places

to allow for better mathematical accuracyTo increase the number of places before

the decimal to allow for summationsTo insert comma separatorsTo truncate datesTo format dates as MM/DD/YYYY

And many other reasons….

How to change an item’s format

To change an item’s default position, use this workflow:1.Right click on the item whose format you

want to change2.From the pop up menu, select Properties3.Single click in the field called Format4.Change the format5.When done, click OK

Formats to changeWe will change the following:

Cost Price and Selling PriceFrom 999999D99to 999999990D99

Increased number of places to left and inserted a leading zero

Order Qty and Ship QtyFrom 9999999999 to 99999999990

Inserted a leading zero

How to check a list of valuesTo check a LOV, follow this workflow:

1. In the Admin edition, click on an item with a LOV2. Open up the lists of values for the item by clicking on the +

along side the item name3. Discoverer will give you a warning that this could take a while.

Ignore this and continue – see note below.4. Confirm that the LOV is ok

Note: you should always open up a list of values in the admin edition before releasing to a user. This prevents the user seeing the warning message that opening up could take a while

Problems with LOVs The most common errors that occur with

LOVs and how to fix them:

1. They take too long to generate and time outa. Increase the time out limitb. Use another data item to create the LOV

2. They show the data in the wrong sort sequencea. Use an alternative sort

Alternative sortsSometimes, when we look at a list of values, we

will see that it is not in the order that we would like

To overcome this, we can use an alternative sortTo create an alternative sort we must have one

of the following:Another available 1:1 item in the same folder, orAn artificially created sequence

Month data is a candidate for an alternative sort

Natural order April August December February January July June March May November October September

Required order• January• February• March• April• May• June• July• August• September• October• November• December

Add alternative sort on MonthTo add an alternate sort, use this workflow:

1. Click the Item Classes tab2. Expand the list of item classes3. Locate the list of values that needs the

alternate sort4. Right click on the LOV and from the pop up

menu, select Edit Item Class

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• FoldersThe tables and views loaded into a Business

Area. Folder Types - Simple, Complex and Custom

• Items The Columns within a Table or View

Types of new folderWe can insert three types of new folders:

1. NewThis type of folder is the sort that we choose when we wish to create a new, complex folder. A complex folder is one that is made up from items from existing folders

2. CustomSelect this type if you want to key the SQL yourself

3. From DatabaseSelect this type if you want to create a folderbased on a database object (table or view)

Creating new foldersTo create a new folder, follow this workflow:

1. Single click on the business area such that the business area name is highlighted

2. Right click on the highlighted name – Discoverer will pop up a context menu

3. From the context pop-up menu, click on the type of folder you want to create

Note: an alternate way to step 2 is to selectInsert | Folder from the menu bar

Split the screen – Window | New Window

Move day key into the folderPopulate the new folder with Calendar

Date

Move rest of date items inRename Calendar Date, Fiscal Month, Fiscal Qtr and Fiscal Year to be more user friendly

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• A Join relates two folders using common items. • The Joins affect the combinations of items that can

be selected during the following operations:1. Creating a worksheet in Discoverer Plus.2. Creating a Complex Folder in Discoverer

Administration Edition.

Rename and make 1:N join to Sales

Right click Order Date, select New

Join

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• Conditions filter worksheet data, enabling Discoverer end users to analyze only the data they are interested.

• Conditions are applied to the folders or items

Finish the date foldersTo finish the Order date link, we hide the

original Day, Month, Quarter and Year folders so that user has to select from the new folder

To hide a folder, use this workflow:1.Right click on the folder you want to hide2.From the pop up menu select Properties3.Change Visible to user from Yes to No4.Click OK

Notes about Complex FoldersWhenever you use complex folders, note:Lists of values are copied and the item

classes are shared with the original itemsJoins are not copied, they must be created

manually

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• Groups of items that share similar properties

• Used to enable the following:

• List of Values• Alternative Sorts• Drill to Detail links

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• Hierarchies are default drill paths between item that you define in Discoverer Administrator

• There are two types of Hierarchy in Discoverer Administration Edition:1. Item Hierarchies 2. Date Hierarchies

• • A calculated item is an item that uses a formula to derive data for the item

HierarchiesA hierarchy allows a user to drill within the data.

Typically we use 1:N relationships to define hierarchies.There are two types of drill:1. Rolling Up: This expands a query by allowing a

user to include data from a higher level of the hierarchy

2. Drilling Down: This expands a query by allowing a user to include data from a lower level

In both types, Discoverer may re-query the database

Hierarchy workflow

To create a hierarchy, use this workflow:1. Click Hierarchies tab2. Right click on business area to use3. Select New Hierarchy from the drop down list4. Wizard step 1 - check appropriate hierarchy type5. Click Next

6. Wizard step 2 - locate and open foldercontaining the items

Hierarchy workflow7. Select the lowest level drill item and place in right hand

side

8. Select next items, in order

9. When all items selected, click Next

10. Wizard step 3 - give a meaningful name to the hierarchy

11. Click Finish

Source ERD – showing time folders

New Feature when creating itemsIf you are creating new items in a complex

folder, Discoverer lists all of the folders that were used to create the complex folder

It also displays all of the items in the original folders, irrespective as to whether they were used in the complex folder

This allows you to build new items on any item from the original folders, not just on theitems in the new complex folder

Complex Folder expandedOriginal folder

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•Workbook scheduling is useful in the following situations:

•The user has created a report that could take a long time to run - they can submit the report to run overnight and view the result in the morning.•The user wants to create a report that needs to be updated at regular intervals.

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• One of your most important tasks, as a Discoverer Administrator, is defining the access permissions and task privileges allowed for each user or role.

• Access permissions determine who can see and use the data in business areas.

• Task privileges determine the tasks each user or role is allowed to perform.

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•Discoverer Administration Edition enables you to export/import a business area to a file.

•This can be useful when copying business areas between EULs or when archiving data.

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Discoverer Desktop/PlusData Listing ReportsCross-Tabulation Reports (Pivot Tables)Graphs & Charts

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How To Build a Query in DiscovererConnectChoose a LayoutSelect Items

To DisplayTo Filter By

Specify Totals and other Calculations (Optional)Specify Sorting (Optional)Specify Run-Time Parameters (Optional)Run Report

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Starting Discoverer Plus

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Successful connection

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Create/Open a Workbook

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Creating a New Workbook

Use the Workbook Wizard

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Selecting Items

Select the Business Area

Scroll through list of folders

Expand a folder to see its items

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Highlight items and move them to the Selected side by clicking

on the right arrow

Selecting Items, cont’d

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Conditions

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Conditions, cont’d

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Conditions, cont’d

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Calculations

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Calculations, cont’d

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Table Layout

Click and drag headings to desired order

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Table Layout, cont’d

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Sorts

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Results

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Formatting

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Parameters

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Parameters, cont’d

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The Same Results

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Saving a Workbook

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Opening a Workbook

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Sharing a Workbook

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Sharing a Workbook, cont’d

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1. Connect to Discoverer Admin.2. Create one Business Area 3. Create one simple , one custom and one complex folder4. Create some Joins within the folders5. Connect to Discoverer Desktop6. Create a simple report by using the above folders7. Add some conditions and parameters for the report.8. Add an appropriate title 9. Save the workbook on the database10. Share your workbook with your neighbor

Exercise

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There’s lots you can do!

Discover the datawith DISCOVERERDISCOVERER!

Q & A