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December 5, 2008 1
Dashboard Reporting: Design Tips and Tricks
Melinda RojoKathy Kimball
December 5, 2008 2
Session Overview
OBIEE offers a rich array of “widgets” for use in designing and developing
dashboards, from dashboard prompts to view selectors to column selectors. This
session will share the tips and tricks we’ve discovered on how best to use the powerful
capabilities.
December 5, 2008 3
Session Topics
■ Overall Design Tips & Tricks■ Dashboard Tips & Tricks■ Answers Tips & Tricks■ Dashboard Terminology■ Usage Tracking■ Resources
December 5, 2008 4
Overall Design Tips & Tricks
■ Develop and implement standards for both dashboards and requests
■ Summarize and then drill to detail■ Make prototypes■ Make use of visual indicators where appropriate and
useful■ Reuse! Reuse! Reuse!
– Prompts– Requests– Filters
■ Document requests and filters to facilitate reuse and maintenance
December 5, 2008 5
Dashboard Tips & Tricks
■ Prompts ■ Section Properties■ Request Properties■ Saved Selections■ Branding■ Download Options■ Printing
December 5, 2008 6
Dashboard Prompts
■ Use prompts to filter results on either an entire Dashboard or the current Dashboard page
December 5, 2008 7
Dashboard Prompts
■ Tips & Tricks– Select from many operators available– Use SQL Results to set choices shown– Use Server Variables to set defaults– Set Presentation Variables– Use constrain– Use multiple prompts
■ Example– Only show departments and funds that a user is
interested in. But still allow them to search on any.
December 5, 2008 8
Dashboard Prompts
December 5, 2008 9
Dashboard Section Properties
■ Guided Navigation– Can guide users to a related set of results either by
static or conditional links
■ Drill in Place– Shows the new results directly in the dashboard
rather than replacing the entiredashboard page
■ Arrange Horizontally– Displays all requests in this section
horizontally
December 5, 2008 10
Dashboard Report Properties
■ Show View– Option shows available views
of a report– Default is Compound Layout
■ Report Links– Option controls links displayed
under reports
December 5, 2008 11
Dashboard Saved Selections
■ Use saved selections to allow users to view dashboard pages with the their most frequently used choices
■ Applies to many aspects of a dashboard page– Filters– Prompts– View selections
■ Stored on BI Server Web Catalog in /root/users/username/_selections
December 5, 2008 12
Dashboard Saved Selections
■ Tips & Tricks– Add a button to all dashboard pages
allowing users to clear their selections
December 5, 2008 13
Dashboard Branding
■ OBIEE can be customized to your institution using styles, skins, and custom images
■ Tips & Tricks– Name your dashboard (bg_banner.jpg)
http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2008/09/obiee-portal-customization-part-1.html
– Change “Powered by Oracle” on page footer (siebelbug.gif)http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2008/10/obiee-replacing-siebelbuggif-powered-by.html
December 5, 2008 14
Dashboard Download Options
■ Download to Excel and Download to Excel 2000 behave a little differently depending on the platform and browser used
■ We recommend Mac users use the Firefox browser and the Excel 2000 link
■ Excel and Excel 2000 file format is really *.mht; *mhtml though the extension is .xls
■ You’ll want to save the file as a Microsoft Excel Workbook before editing the file
December 5, 2008 15
Download to Excel or Excel 2000■ Formulas are not downloaded. The value in a cell is downloaded as that value, not as a
formula. ■ Monetary columns download as numbers. Values with commas are formatted as numbers
and retain formatting that was displayed on the Dashboard, i.e., if two decimal places are shown then those appear in Excel.
■ Monetary columns without a comma are formatted as general, which is a number but with no specific number format. The value does not change but decimal places are suppressed if zeros appear to the right of the decimal place.
■ Columns that are numeric and contain values with leading zeros lose the leading zeros when downloaded to Excel.
December 5, 2008 16
Conditional Formatting Indicators
■ We’ve had inconsistent results using conditional formatting indicators such as a flag or bubble and the image may move when the rows are sorted
■ Conditional formatting indicators appear as a broken images when Download to Excel 2000 is used in both Firefox and IE 7 on Windows/PC
■ No testing has been done on Macs yet
December 5, 2008 17
Download to Data
■ Download to Data creates a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file, which includes all of the columns included in the Answers request (not just the view displayed on the screen)
■ Formatting from the screen will not be carried over to the file
■ Additional download results have been documented on our website: http://polydata.calpoly.edu/dashboards/faqs.html
December 5, 2008 18
Dashboard Printing
■ PDF or HTML of displayed view
■ Headers or Footers appear in PDF if added to the Compound Layout
December 5, 2008 19
Headers and Footers
■ Cal Poly footer includes: – Saved Name (name of the
request)– Print Date– Page Number– Author Name (person
running the dashboard request)
December 5, 2008 20
Answers Tips & Tricks
■ Column Selector View■ View Selector View■ Narrative View■ Compound Layout■ Saved Filters■ Saved Data Formats■ Value Interaction (Navigation)
December 5, 2008 21
Column Selector View
■ Use column selectors view to allow users to dynamically change which columns appear in a request
December 5, 2008 22
Column Selector View
■ Tips & Tricks– Standardize on label text such as “Show Column:”– Color code column selector to make visible to end users– Standardize on “common” columns and sort in same order on
all requests» Used Advanced Tab to edit XML and copy/paste
– Include all members of hierarchies in column selectors so they can “jump” to level
– Add column selector to a hidden field on a Pivot to sort results (otherwise only available on table view)
– Uncheck “automatically refresh when a new column is selected” so users have GO button
December 5, 2008 23
View Selectors View
■ Use view selector view to select a specific view of the results from among the saved views
December 5, 2008 24
View Selectors
■ Tips & Tricks– Standardize on label text such as “Select a
View:”– Create view to display filters– Create view with instructions before
displaying data– Create view to easily download data
December 5, 2008 25
Narrative View
■ Use narrative view to combine text with the results of a request
■ Useful for referencing variables
December 5, 2008 26
Compound Layout View
■ Use compound layout view to assemble different views for display on a dashboard
■ Tips & Tricks– Remove the Title view– Know your boundaries (upper, lower, left, right)
» View Boundaries» Report Boundaries
– Use multiple compound layouts for requests with multiple layouts but the same criteria
December 5, 2008 27
Compound Layout
December 5, 2008 28
Saved Filters
■ Use saved filters so they may be shared with multiple requests
■ Document shared filters in a flow chart to show dependencies on specific saved filters
December 5, 2008 29
Saved Filters
My Revenue andExpense Transactions Page
My POTransactions Page
My Trial BalanceTransactions Page
My BudgetTransactions Page
Revenue and Expense Summary
Source: Fact Summary, Filters: 4, 5
Revenue and Expense Summary by Period – Actuals
Source: Fact Summary, Filters: 5, 6
Revenue and Expense Summary by Period - Budget
Source: Fact Summary, Filters: 5, 6
Revenue and Expense Summary by Period - Encumbrance
Source: Fact Summary, Filters: 5, 6
Transactions – ActualsSource: Fact Actual, Filters: 7
Transactions – BudgetSource: Fact Budget, Filters: 7
Transactions – EncumbranceSource: Fact Encumbrance, Filters: 7
Open PO SummarySource: Fact Encumbrance, Filters: 1, 3
Open PO DetailSource: Fact Encumbrance, Filters: 1, 2, 3
Trial BalanceSource: Fact Summary, Filters: 8, 9
Trial Balance Summaryby Period
Source: Fact Summary, Filters: 8, 9, 10
My TrialBalance Page
My OpenPOs Page
My Revenue andExpense Page
Filters Legend:1: Encumbrances Criteria2: Encumbrances Drill3: Encumbrances Prompt4: Revenue and Expense Criteria5: Revenue and Expense Prompt5a: Revenue and Expense Prompt without FY6: Revenue and Expense Summary by Period7: Transactions Prompt8: Trial Balance Criteria9: Trial Balance Prompt10: Trial Balance Summary by Period11. Five Years Back Prompt12. Projects Criteria13. Projects Prompt
VisioDocument Rev. 12/3/2008
PolyData Dashboards: Finance
Activity Summary by YearSource: Fact Summary, Filters: 4, 5a, 11
Transactions – Trial Balance
Source: Fact Actual, Filters: 7, 8
Project SummarySource: Fact Summary, Filters: 12, 13
My Projects Page
December 5, 2008 30
Saved Filters
■ Tips & Tricks– Create to match all columns in a dashboard
page prompt– Create to match all columns in the criteria– Create to match all columns in standard
column selectors– Create to use for “development” while
building new requests– Order of filters matters!
December 5, 2008 31
Saved Data Formats
■ Use saved data formats to apply, save, and re-use column properties on Value Format tab, Column Format tab, and Conditional Format tabs
■ Scope of save can vary– For a specific column– As a system-wide default for this column– As a system-wide default for this data type
■ Stored in an XML file in the Web Catalog in the /root/system/metadata folder
December 5, 2008 32
Saved Data Formats
■ Tips & Tricks– Save the email
address field to display system-wide using mail-to format
– Will display on all requests using that column
December 5, 2008 33
Value Interaction
■ Use value interaction to specify what should happen when a user clicks on a column heading or column value
■ Allows users to navigate to multiple requests or dashboards– If multiple navigation paths, pop-up
window displays caption
■ Provides drill-to-detail capability
December 5, 2008 34
Value Interaction
■ Source Request– Set Interaction
Type to Navigate– Add Navigation
Target to an Answers request
– Add caption (if multiple targets)
December 5, 2008 35
Value Interaction
■ Target Request– Use filter with operator of
‘Is Prompted’– Include all possible
columns» Columns in Pivot Axis» Columns in Prompts» Column Selectors
■ Column names must match source request EXACTLY
December 5, 2008 36
Dashboard Elements
December 5, 2008 37
Dashboard Terminology
■ Dashboard – content separated by Functional Areas■ Dashboard Pages – one or more related requests■ Dashboard Page Prompt – controls requests on dashboard page■ Narrative text – allows static and variable text■ Request – query■ Hyperlinks - hierarchical drills, drill to detail options, and links to
related information■ Filter – selection criteria for request■ Column Selector – view different columns of data■ View Selector – select different reports within the same request■ Conditional formatting using green, yellow, red symbols■ Presentation Catalog Folder – list of content related requests
December 5, 2008 38
Usage Tracking
■ OBIEE provides a usage tracking system with the standard installation
■ Usage Tracking includes– SQL statements to create tracking user and
tables/views– RPD containing Usage Tracking models– Web Catalog for Usage Tracking
dashboard
December 5, 2008 39
Usage Tracking
■ Installing the Usage Tracking components includes:– Creating a database user to host the Usage
Tracking objects– Creating the Usage Tracking database objects– Merging master RPD with Usage Tracking RPD– Altering NQSConfig.ini to enable– Importing Usage Tracking web catalog
components■ Reference Blog for step-by-step instructions
http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2008/08/obiee-setting-up-usage-tracking.html
December 5, 2008 40
Usage Tracking
December 5, 2008 41
Usage Tracking
December 5, 2008 42
Resources
■ Oracle Metalink 3.0http://metalink3.oracle.com
■ Oracle Business Intelligence obiee-101http://obiee101.blogspot.com
■ Business Intelligence – Oraclehttp://oraclebizint.wordpress.com
■ FAQs for PolyData Dashboardshttp://polydata.calpoly.edu/dashboards/faqs.html
December 5, 2008 43
Questions?
December 5, 2008 44
Contact
■ OBIEE Technical Conference:http://polydata.calpoly.edu/dashboards/obiee_conf/index.html
■ Email: [email protected]