Reporting – Past,
Present, and Fusion
John Faucher
ATL OAUG
12/5/14
Agenda
Who am I
EBS Users Note
Reporting - Old School
Reporting - Today
Evolution to Analytics
Reporting - Fusion
Blurring the Lines Reporting / Business
Intelligence
Value of Fusion Measurement
Speaker Bio
Thank you Sisters of St Anne
IT Professional since 1985
Oracle Operations Manager 1989 (MPL 8 Applications
and V6 DB)
Coopers and Lybrand (1991 – 1993) MCS
Oracle Corp (1994 – 2001) – three lives
BOSS, USi, Solution Beacon, BIAS (2001 – 2013) – Oracle
Apps
EiS Technologies – Lifelong learner – the more I know
the less I know
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable.
Wisdom is knowing that you don't put one in a fruit salad.
Audience
Don’t be shy – raise your hand
Developers - Technical
Business Users - Functional
DBAs
Applications Administrators
Reporting Administrators
Infrastructure (servers, storage, networks, and propeller
hats)
11.5.10 ; R12.1.3 ; R12.2.X ; Fusion Apps
Came for free lunch / thought this was an SAP meeting
Note to EBS Users
With the “sun setting” of Discoverer and the move to OBIEE as
THE reporting tool for EBS, many of these points are quickly
becoming crucial to you.
See Oracle Lifetime Support Policy – Oracle Fusion Middleware
Oracle Discoverer 11g (Fusion Middleware 11gR1)
Oracle Discoverer 11gR1 (11.1.1.7.0)
Lifetime Support Policy, Coverage for Oracle Fusion Middleware Products – October 2014 Page 8
Line that has “Portal 11gR1, Forms 11gR1, Reports 11gR1 and Discoverer 11g R1 (11.1.1.x)”
The Party was over in June 2014 – Premier Support Ended for Discoverer
Extended Support ends June 2017
Reporting – The “Good” Old Days
Reporting and Information – often not in sync
What was out there 2007?
•Oracle Reports: Fixed format reports delivered with the 11i release were built on this tool. This is the
most used tool for reporting on Oracle Applications. Most of reports customizations are built with this tool.
Once customized the output of the report can be in Excel (Not group By Report), word, Acrobat documents
or text format.
•Oracle Discoverer: is an intuitive tool for creating reports and performing on-line analysis. Discoverer
uses the EUL (End User Layer), a meta data definition, which hides the complexity of the database from
the end user and provides easy to use wizards for creating reports to suit individual needs. The flexibility
of this tool allows the user to create cross tab reports that perform like pivot tables in Excel.
• Oracle XML Publisher: is a new Oracle tool for reporting. It enables users to utilize a familiar desktop
tool, like MS Word or MS Excel, to create and maintain their own report. At runtime, XML Publisher
merges the custom templates with the concurrent request extracts data to generate output in RTF, PDF,
HTML and EXCEL.
• RXi Report: (Variable reports) – variable format reports delivered with the E-Business 11i. With this tool
a user has the ability to print the same report with multiple layouts. The user can also choose which
columns he requires on a particular report. This tool is most used on Oracle Financials Applications
• FSG Reports (Financial Statement Generator): is a powerful report building tool for Oracle General
Ledger. Some of benefits of using this tool are that a user can generate financial reports, and schedule
reports to run automatically. The only drawback of this tool is that it is only available for the general ledger
responsibility and can be used to see only financial account balances.
• Business Intelligence System (BI): is a set of tools to provide high level information for the managers
(decision makers) to run their business such as the profitability of a particular business unit. The
information this tool provides helps managers to take the right decision with the daily data that is uploaded
on their systems.
Reporting Present – 3rd Party
Filling the gap the Oracle E-Business Suite created
EiS Technologies
Global Software
Noetix
excell4Apps / GL Wand
Polaris Associates
Tableau
Insight Software
Splash BI
Look for Oracle Validated Integration Logo for products
The Oracle Reporting & Analytics Ecosystem
Spans needs from Operational Reporting to BI to Analytics
What is the difference between Transactional
Reporting and Business Intelligence?
Which way do I go?
Fusion Reporting Architecture
Advil Please!
Traditional - Reporting Tools in Fusion Financials
Oracle White Paper – “Reporting Tools in Oracle Fusion Financials” April 2013
Usage Matrix
OTBI OBIA
Oracle Transactional
Business Intelligence
Real Time BI
No DW or ETL
Fusion Apps Only
Leverage ADF and OBIEE
No prebuilt reports or
dashboards
Fusion Fins – connect to
Essbase cubes
Oracle Business Intelligence
Applications
Based on Data Warehouse
Pre-built Adapters
Consolidate data from
multiple sources
Library of Metrics
Predefined Reports and
Dashboards
Sources – EBS, JDE, Psoft,
SAP, Fusion Apps
Common Metadata Repository & ADF for Fusion Apps
• Out of the box (OOTB) Reports are built
using Oracle BI Answers
• Existing reports can be modified using BI
Answers or BI Composer (a tool built for
modifying BI reports within Fusion
Applications)
• Ability to make changes and save to shared
folders depends on user roles and
responsibilities
OBIA: Change OOTB Reports
• Locate desired report
• Confirm user roles and privileges
• Invoke proper editing tool
• Save in place or save with alternate name
• Invoke Personalization/Customization page
editor if using new name to allow new
content to be placed on the appropriate
Fusion Applications page
OBIA: Change OOTB Reports – High Level Steps
OBIA - Using BI Answers To Modify A Report
OBIA – Using BI Composer To Modify A Report
Note that BI Composer is intended to be used for simple reports;
in some cases BI Answers is the more appropriate tool
OBIA – Extend Data Warehouse To New Sources
In the same manner as the current Applications Unlimited
BI Applications, the Data Warehouse and Reporting
framework can be extended using Informatica and OBI
infrastructure
OBIA – Extend Data Warehouse
• Determine subject area needing additional data
• Determine proper source system(s)
• Invoke Informatica PowerCenter tools to modify or create new
mapping(s) and workflow(s)
• Invoke the Data Warehouse Administration Console (DAC) to
register Informatica workflow(s) as Task(s) and an Execution Plan
• Invoke the BI EE Administration Tool to import, model, and expose
new/modified Warehouse table(s)
• Invoke BI Answers to create or modify report using new data. Edit
Dashboards as appropriate.
OBIA – Extend DW For New Sources
OTBI – Change OOTB Reports
• OTBI OOTB Reports are also built using Oracle BI Answers
• Existing reports can be modified using Answers or BI Composers (as
permissions and features allow)
• Use same steps as OBIA OOTB changes
OTBI – Compliment With Data From Another System
BI Publisher – Change OOTB Reports
BI Publisher –
Compliment With Data From Another System
So What Do We Have?
A powerful and highly flexible product set from Oracle and
plenty of 3rd party offerings
So What Do We Have?
Kerr-Newman metrics on Black Holes
Also a highly complex solution
Lots Of Tools…Maybe Too Many?
BI Platforms - What was out there 2013?
BI Platforms - More of the same for 2014
So How Do We Get Back To Simplicity?
Progression Along the BI Curve?
• Figure out where you are on the curve as Reporting and BI Converge
Standard Reports & Ad Hoc Reports
Query Drilldown
& Alerts
Dashboards, Scorecards, & KPIs
Forecasting
&
Statistical Analysis
Predictive Analytics
& Optimization
• Decide what is best for your Enterprise, plot a course, and take the first step
Strategic
Support
Operations
APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIONS
A Basic Approach – Report Creation and Modification
Today Business Analysts use…
• 3rd party solutions for Transactional Reporting
• OTBI for ad-hoc and real-time transactional reporting
• BIP for statutory reporting
• BI Composers for BI/Analytics/Predictives
• From available data sources
• New data sources require skilled developers and
administrators
Value of Fusion Applications
Do Fusion Applications provide all of the functionality needed
to enable users to enter, process, and manage transactions
productively in alignment with corporate goals?
Do Fusion Applications deliver meaningful analysis and flexible
reporting to empower management to make better business
decisions to help me reach my corporate goals?
Questions / Answers
John Faucher
www.eistech.com
Twitter.com/eistechnologies
Facebook.com/eistech
Go Navy – Beat Army!
Thank you