In the September 2018 release of Oracle Analytics Cloud ( aka OAC5 or 18.3.3 ) BI Publisher receives a substantial number of enhancements including read receipts, digital signatures, etc. One interesting enhancement is the ability of BI Publisher (BIP) to be able to create ‘pixel perfect’ reporting using from a Data Visualization Data Set. So now for the first time, BIP can consume all the enriched datasets that organisations have created in OAC. In this short blog we will run through an example of how to do this with a use case of having Oracle Cloud ERP as a data source, consuming some AP Holds data and creating a BIP report based on that data.
Now let us select a connection to use as a data source. I already have one called ‘BeyondCloudERP’ that connects to a Cloud ERP system. Let us inspect it and check we can connect to it as we can use that to select some AP data to report upon.
The setup is shown below. Enter the appropriate password and we can save the connection.
OK; now we have a connection to a Cloud ERP system so let’s select it and create a data set.
Our connection to the Cloud ERP system allows us to see all of the subject areas available. We will select the ‘Payables Invoices Holds Real Time’ subject area.
Let us select some interesting columns such as the Hold Count, etc.
Thus we can create a data set of holds data sourced from the Cloud ERP system. The enhanced DV capabilities of enrichment and obfuscation are available to be used here.
As we now have the data set we could just use that as the basis for the report, but it is worth noting that we can create a data flow and further process the data.
Select the data set and then use the ‘Select columns’ to remove a column. I know, I could have been more inventive (!) but we’re just looking at the concept.
Remove the ‘Hold Release Code’
Run the data flow and save the new data set called ‘Clouds Holds Filtered’ and this is what we will use to create our data model.
Create a BI Publisher data model. Now we have the option to select ‘DV Data Sets’.
Let us select the ‘Cloud Holds Filtered’ dataset that we created earlier.
All of the elements from the data set are selected and made available in the model.
We can save the model, and create a report based on it.
Increasing the breadth and capability of OAC by integrating the abilities of the constituent components really does bring us closer integration and also provides alternative methods for reporting on data from other cloud systems such as Oracle Cloud HCM/ERP.
