Repository Basics

Oracle BI Server Architecture

Oracle BI Server architecture and related

components.

Oracle BI Presentation Services

Provides the framework and interface for the

presentation

of business intelligence data to Web clients

Is a set of query clients that includes the following

components:

Analysis Editor

Set of graphical tools that enable users to build,

view, and

modify analyses that provide analytic information

Dashboards

Display the results of analyses and other items

Oracle BI Server

Is the core server behind Oracle Business

Intelligence

Provides efficient processing to access physical data

sources and structure information intelligently:

Uses metadata to direct processing
Generates dynamic SQL to query data in the physical
data

sources
Connects natively or through ODBC to a data source
Structures results to satisfy requests
Provides BI data to Oracle BI Presentation Services

Data Sources

Contain the business data that users want to

analyze

Are accessed by Oracle BI Server

Can be in multiple formats, such as:

Relational databases

Online analytical processing (OLAP) databases

Flat files

Multidimensional data sources

Oracle BI Repository

Stores the metadata used by Oracle BI Server

Is accessed and configured by using the Oracle BI

Administration Tool, which you use to:

Import metadata from databases and other data
sources
Simplify and reorganize the metadata into business
models
Structure the business model for presentation to
users who
request information

Orcale BI Adiministration Tool

Exposes the Oracle BI repository as three

separate panes called layers:

Physical

Business Model and Mapping (BMM)

Presentation

Physical Layer

Contains objects representing the physical

data sources to which Oracle BI Server
submits queries

May contain multiple data sources

Is typically the first layer built in the repository

Objects in Physical Layer

Are objects in the Physical layer, such as

connection pools, folders, tables, columns, and
keys

Expand a database object to display the objects

that it contains:

Business Model and Mapping Layer

Is where physical schemas are simplified and

reorganized to form the basis of the users
view of the data

Objects in the Business Model

and Mapping Layer

The Business Model and Mapping layer

contains business model objects.

Business Model Mappings

Business Model and Mapping layer objects map to source
data objects in the Physical layer.
Mappings are typically not one-to-one:
Business models may map to multiple data sources.
Logical tables may map to multiple physical tables.
Logical columns may map to multiple physical columns.

Measures

Are the facts that a business uses to evaluate

its performance
Can be calculations that define measurable
quantities

Are created on logical columns in the fact table

Typically have a defined aggregation rule

Presentation Layer

Contains presentation objects that provide a

customized view of a business model to users

Simplifies and organizes the business model

to make it easy for users to understand and
query
Exposes only the data that is meaningful to the
users

Presentation Layer Mappings

Presentation layer objects map to objects in

the Business Model and Mapping layer.

Presentation Layer
Defines the User Interface
Presentation layer objects define the interface
that users see to query data from data
sources.

Repository Directory

By default, repositories are stored in the

repository subdirectory where Oracle BI
software is installed:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\

OracleBIServerComponent\

bi_instance_name_obisn\repository

Repository Modes
Repository files can be opened for editing in offline mode
or online mode.
Offline mode
Repository is not loaded into Oracle BI Server
memory.
Online mode
Repository is loaded into Oracle BI Server memory.
Administrators can perform tasks that are not available in
offline mode:
Manage scheduled jobs.
Manage user sessions.
Manage the query cache.
Manage clustered servers.

Publishing a Repository

Use Fusion Middleware Control to publish a

repository and make it available for queries.

Using FMW Control to

Manage OBI Components

Reloading Server Metadata

Click the Reload Server Metadata link to

refresh the view of Oracle BI metadata.

Sample Analysis Processing

1. A user views a dashboard or submits an analysis.
2. Oracle BI Presentation Services makes a request to
Oracle BI Server to retrieve the requested data.
3. Using the repository file, Oracle BI Server optimizes
functions to request the data from the data sources.
4. Oracle BI Server receives the data from the data
sources and processes as necessary.
5. Oracle BI Server passes the data to Oracle BI
Presentation Services.
6. Oracle BI Presentation Services formats the data
and sends it to the query client.