ORACLEWHITEPAPER

ORACLEBUSINESSINTELLIGENCE,ORACLE
DATABASE,ANDEXADATAINTEGRATION
EXECUTIVESUMMARY
Oraclebusinessintelligencesolutionsarecomplete,open,andintegrated.KeycomponentsofOraclebusiness
intelligencesolutionsincludeOracleBusinessIntelligenceEnterpriseEdition11g(OBIEE11g),businessintelligence
applications,theOracledatabase,andtheOracleExadataDatabaseMachine.TheopennessofOBIEE11gandthe
databaseareclearlyestablished.OBIEE11gisoftendeployedforbusinessintelligencewhenaccessingdatafroma
varietyofpopulardatabases.TheOracledatabaseisthemostpopulardatabaseunderavarietyofbusinessintelligence
toolsfromavarietyofvendors,evenwhereitisincreasinglydeployedontheOracleExadataDatabaseMachineserver
andstorageplatform.

ThispapersummarizesthecompleteandintegratedaspectofOraclesstrategyanddescribeswhereOBIEE11g,the
Oracledatabase,andtheOracleExadataDatabaseMachinehaveseveralkeytechnicalintegrationpoints.Collectively,
theseintegrationandoptimizationpointsprovidecustomerssuperiorperformance,fastertimetovalue,andlowercosts.
Fromabroaderstandpoint,thetechnologyproductsarealsocomingtogethertodeliverendtoendbusinessintelligence
applicationsfootprints.ThispaperwilladdressbothoftheseaspectsofOraclescompleteandintegratedstrategy.

AThumbnailDescriptionoftheKeyComponents
Oracleoffersanintegratedsolutionacrossbusinessintelligenceapplications,tools,database,andserverandstorage
platformandprovidesacompleteendtoendsolutionfromasinglevendorasshowninthefollowingillustration:

Thekeycomponents,workingourwayupthesolutionstack,areasfollows:

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TheOracleExadataDatabaseMachine
AlsoreferredtoastheSunOracleDatabaseMachine,theOracleExadataDatabaseMachineconsistsofSundatabase
servernodes,SunExadataStorageServerCells,andahighbandwidthInfiniBandnetworkallpackagedwithinsingle
frames.Thenodes,cells,andInfiniBandbandwidtharescaledinapredefinedandbalancedfashion.TheOracle
ExadataStorageServerSoftwareenablesqueryprocessingtypicallyhandledintheOracledatabaseservernodesto
occurinstorageresultinginsignificantqueryperformanceimprovement.TheDatabaseMachineisdesignedtoscale
fordatawarehousingandtransactionprocessingapplicationsanddatasetsintothehundredsofTerabytes(ormore)and
alsoserveasadatabaseserverandstorageconsolidationplatform.
OracleDatabaseEnterpriseEdition11gRelease2
Oraclesmarketleadingdatabasefordatawarehousingandtransactionprocessingfeaturesanextensivenumberof
queryandanalysisfeaturesandoptionsincludingparallelization,staticbitmaps,starjointechniques,materialized
views,embeddedSQLaggregationandanalyticfunctions,embeddedOLAP,andembeddeddatamining.Thedatabase
alsoincludesembeddedextraction,transformation,andload(ETL)functionsandextensiveselfmanagementand
optimizationthroughEnterpriseManager/GridControlfeaturesandoptions.
OracleBusinessIntelligenceEnterpriseEdition11g
OraclesBusinessIntelligenceofferingisamiddlewaresolutionthatincludestheBIServercontainingtheCommon
EnterpriseInformationModel.TheBIServerprovidesacentralizedbusinessmodelview,canserveasanadvanced
calculationandintegrationengine,andprovidesnativedatabasesupportforavarietyofdatabasesincludingOracle.
FrontendcomponentsinOBIEE11gprovideadhocqueryandanalyses,highfidelityreporting(BIPublisher),
strategyandbalancedscorecards,dashboards,andlinkagetoanactionframeworkforautomateddetectionandbusiness
processes.AdditionalintegrationisalsoprovidedtoMicrosoftOffice,mobiledevicesandotherOraclemiddleware
productssuchasWebCenter.
OracleBusinessIntelligenceApplicationsforERPandCRM
OraclesBusinessIntelligenceApplicationsprovidepredefineddatamodelsandkeyperformanceindicatorsthatare
displayedinprebuiltreportsforsuchareasassalesanalytics,serviceandcontactcenteranalytics,marketinganalytics,
financialanalytics,supplychainanalytics,projectanalytics,andworkforce(humanresources)analytics.PrebuiltETL
scriptsarealsoavailableforcommonsourcessuchastheOracleEBusinessSuite,PeopleSoft,JDEdwards,andSiebel
CRM.
OracleIndustryBusinessIntelligence/AnalyticsApplications
SpecificdatamodelsandOBIEEpredefinedreportsandanalyticsareavailablefromOracleforavarietyofindustries
includingcommunications,financialservices,healthcare,retail,andutilities.Oracleisalsoworkingwithavarietyof
systemsintegratorpartnerswhooffersuchmodelsandsolutionsbuiltuponkeyOracletechnologycomponentsfor
businessintelligenceanddatawarehousing.

TechnicalIntegrationPoints
Bydesign,theOracleExadataDatabaseMachineisatightlyintegratedSunserver,storageandOracledatabase
softwaresolution.TheOracleExadataStorageServerSoftwareperformsqueryoffloadprocessinginstorageandis
uniquelyavailableforthisplatform.Thesesmartscansgreatlyspeedqueryperformancewhileeliminatingmuchofthe
needforindexingthatwascommonpracticebydatabaseadministrators(DBAs)previously.TheintroductionofFlash
technologyasaSmartFlashCacheintheDatabaseMachineenablesfurtherperformancespeedupforavarietyof
workloads.Inaddition,theentireplatform,includingtheExadataStorageServer,ismanagedthroughOracles

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EnterpriseManager/GridControlandsupportshardwarestatusalertingthroughSunsIntegratedLightsOut
Management(ILOM)capabilities.ThereisanextensivelibraryofOracletechnicalwhitepapersdescribingthese
conceptsandintegrationpoints.

However,aquestionthatissometimesaskedregardsthelevelofintegrationbetweenOBIEE11gandtheOracle
databasegiventheiropennature.Thetechnicalintegrationoccursinanumberofways.

OBIEE11gQueryRequest&DataAccessOptimizedfortheOracleDatabase
TheBIServercomponentofOBIEE11gsupportsthefollowingdatabaseoptimizationtechniques:intelligentquery
generation,intelligentfunctionshipping,multipassanalysesoptimization,intelligentaggregatenavigation,intelligent
caching,andoptimizationwheredistributeddataisaccessed.SpecificOracleSQLoptimizationandcapabilitiesare
providedbytheBIServerduringSQLquerygeneration.IncontrasttothirdpartyBItoolsthatrelyonODBC
connectivity,theSQLthatOBIEE11ggeneratesusestheOracledatabasesnativecalllevelinterface(OCI)to
communicatewithit.OBIEE11gperformsextensivefunctionshippingtotheOracledatabasetotakeadvantageof
optimizationswithinthedatabaseandqueryoffloadprocessingprovidedbyExadata.Forexample,theSQLthatis
generatedtakesadvantageoftheOracledatabasesabilitytohandlefullouterjoins,hierarchicaloperators,UNION
ALL,andSQLanalyticfunctions,justtonameafew.OCIsupportalsoenablestransparentOBIEE11gqueryfailover
toastandbyOracledatabaseshouldtheprimaryOracledatabaseplatformfailinahighlyavailableserver
configuration.

OBIEE11gExtendedSupportforOracleDatabaseAnalyticsFeatures
OBIEE11ghasintegrationwithotherextendedOracledatabaseanalyticscapabilities.Datatiedtospatiallatitudeand
longitude,storedintheformasgeocodes,canbequeriedanddisplayedinmapviewscreatedbyOBIEE11gusers.
OBIEE11gincludestheOracleMapViewer,aspecializedtoolforthedisplayofspatialdataintheOracledatabase.
Thisintegrationenablesthecreationanddisplayofmultilayered,highlyinteractiveandanimatedmapswithinOBIEE
dashboardsandreports.

GiventhatOracle'sdataminingandadvancedanalyticsoperatenativelyinsidetheOracleDatabase,mininginsights
andpredictionsalsoremaininsidethedatabasesocanbeaccessedbySQLqueriesfromOBIEE11g.Predictivemodel
resultscanbecalledinteractivelyusingOBIEE11greportsanddashboards.Forexample,OBIEE11gmightbeused
toreviewcustomeranalyticsoflikelyloyaland/orprofitablecustomerssortedorfilteredbygender,yearsasa
customer,RFM(response,frequency,monetary),income,nextlikelyproducttopurchase,andotherparameters.With
Oracle,allthedataminingandadvancedanalysisandresultsstayinsidethedatabaseprovidingasimplerarchitecture,
bettersecurity,betterscalabilityandasinglesourceoftruth.

AnotherexampleofOBIEE11ganalyticscapabilitiestiedtotheOracledatabaseistheabilitytogeneratequeries
againstdataresidinginOracleOLAPOptioncubes.BusinessanalysthavetheabilitytoperformrobustOLAPstyle
analytics,includingmemberselection,raggedhierarchynavigation,andpivottablesfromthesameinterfaceusedfor
relationalqueryandanalysis.

OBIEE11gSecurityIntegrationwiththeOracleDatabase

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GiventhedatabaseconsolidationsmadepossiblebytheOracledatabaseandExadata,itshouldcomeasnosurprisethat
providingadvancedlevelsofsecurityfordiverseusercommunitiesisoftendesired.OBIEE11gcanleverageOracle
databasesecurityinseveralkeywaysthatprovideamuchmoremanageablesolutionthanatoolscentricsecurity
approachwouldprovide.Forexample,theVirtualPrivateDatabase(VPD)supportintheOracledatabaserestrictsuser
accesstodatauniquelyrelevanttothemwithinschema.OBIEE11gismadeawareofVPDsthroughtheenterprise
semanticlayerintheBIServerandVPDsarerespectedbyqueriescachedintheBIServer.Othersecuritytechniques
includeencryptionofdatabasedataattherowandcolumnlevelanddatamasking,allmadepossiblesinceOBIEE11g
communicateswiththedatabaseusingOCI.

SystemManagement&Administration
OBIEE11gsharesacommonmanagementframework,EnterpriseManager,withtheOracledatabaseandExadata.
SimilartootherOracleplatforms,EnterpriseManagerisusedtoperformkeymanagementtasksforOBIEE11g
includingperformancemonitoring,diagnostics,tuning,scaleoutandonlineclustering,anddynamiccapacity
managementduringthedevelopment,testing,and/ordeploymentprocessoftheBIServer.Thiscommonmanagement
frameworkensuresthatallelementsofthebusinessintelligenceanddatawarehouseenvironmentareoptimizedto
worktogethertoensurethehighestperformance,scalability,reliability,andavailability.

ApplicationsFootprints
Abusinessintelligencesolutionismorethanjusttheserver,storage,database,andbusinessintelligencetools
technology.Adeployedsolutionalsoincludesadatabasedatamodeldeployedonthedatabaseserverandmetadata
drivenreportsandadhocquerytoolsinthemiddletierthatmaketheinfrastructureusefultobusinessanalysts.Oracle
offerspredefinedsolutionscontainingdatamodelsandbusinessintelligencefoundationmetadatatoaddresshorizontal
businessareas(theERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceapplications)andforavarietyofindustries.Thedatamodels
andreportsgenerallyserveasastartingpointindeployingacompletesolutionforspecificbusinessandtechnicalneeds
asmodificationisusuallynecessary.But,suchstartingpointscangreatlyspeedtheinitialdeployment.

TheERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceanalyticsapplicationsanalyticsdatamodelsaredesignedasstarschemawith
conformeddimensionsenablingqueriesacrosshorizontalbusinessareas.Forexample,aquerymightrequiredata
residinginthehumanresourcesandfinancialanalyticsschematodeterminethecostsassociatedwithemployees.
Altogether,thereareover360predefinedmetrics,over30dashboards,andover200reportsdefined.Themodelsare
supportedonOracleDatabase11gRelease2andRACandhavedemonstratedexcellentscalabilityindeploymenton
theOracleExadataDatabaseMachine.AlsoincludedwiththeseofferingsispredefinedETLfromover3000tables
presentinpopularERPandCRMdatasources.

Theindustryenterprisedatamodelsaregenerallythirdnormalformbutsuchofferingsalsocanincludestarschemaand
/orOLAPcubesforanalytics.JustaswiththeERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceapplications,whereanalytics
modelsareprovided,samplereportsandbusinessintelligencemetadataareincluded.Asanexample,theOracle
RetailDataModelIntelligentWarehouseofferingincludesover1200retailmeasuresandkeyperformanceindicators,
morethan15OLAPcubes,andmorethan12dataminingmodels.Retailbusinessareassuchasstoreoperations,point
ofsale,lossprevention,merchandising,ordermanagement,inventory,categorymanagement,workforcemanagement,
customersegmentation,andpromotioneffectivenessareaddressed.

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FutureDirections
WhileOracleremainsfirmlycommittedtoprovidingopendatabaseandbusinessintelligencesolutions,youcanalso
expecttoseeincreasinglevelsofintegrationwithintheOracletechnologyandapplicationssolutionsstack.AsLarry
Ellison,OracleCEO,statedjustaftertheOracleacquisitionofSunwasapproved,Byhavingallofthepiecesinthe
stackfromthesiliconallthewayuptotheapplication,wellbeabletodeliversystemsthatrunfaster,arefault
tolerant,arehighlysecuremuchmoresecure,muchmoreperformance,muchmorecosteffective,mucheasiertouse
thanweevercouldhavedeliveredbysimplydeliveringcomponents.Oracleiswellpositionedtodeliversuch
completeandendtoendbusinessintelligencesolutionsgivenOraclesarrayofdatamodelsandbusinessintelligence
tools,database,andOracleExadataDatabaseMachineavailablefordeployment.Thesesolutionsholdthepromiseof
muchfastertimetovalueandmoreeffectivedeploymentwhilemitigatingtheriskofprojectfailure.

Copyright2010,Oracle.Allrightsreserved.

Thisdocumentisprovidedforinformationpurposesonlyandthecontentshereofaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.

ThisdocumentlastupdatedandauthoredbyRobertStackowiak,TobinGilman,GeorgeLumpkin,andCharlieBerger,

October2010.

Thisdocumentisnotwarrantedtobeerrorfree,norsubjecttoanyotherwarrantiesorconditions,whetherexpressed

orallyorimpliedinlaw,includingimpliedwarrantiesandconditionsofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticular

purpose.Wespecificallydisclaimanyliabilitywithrespecttothisdocumentandnocontractualobligationsareformed

eitherdirectlyorindirectlybythisdocument.Thisdocumentmaynotbereproducedortransmittedinanyformorby

anymeans,electronicormechanical,foranypurpose,withoutourpriorwrittenpermission.

OracleisaregisteredtrademarkofOracleCorporationand/oritsaffiliates.Othernamesmaybetrademarksoftheir

respectiveowners.

DATE:October2010