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,thetechnologyproductsarealsocomingtogethertodeliverend-to-endbusinessintelligence
applicationsfootprints. ThispaperwilladdressbothoftheseaspectsofOraclescompleteandintegratedstrategy.
AThumbnailDescriptionoftheKeyComponents
Oracleoffersanintegratedsolutionacrossbusinessintelligenceapplications,tools,database,andserverandstorage
platformandprovidesacompleteend-to-endsolutionfromasinglevendorasshowninthefollowingillustration:
Thekeycomponents,workingourwayupthesolutionstack,areasfollows:
DATE:October2010 1












































ORACLEWHITEPAPER
TheOracleExadataDatabaseMachine
AlsoreferredtoastheSunOracleDatabaseMachine,theOracleExadataDatabaseMachineconsistsofSundatabase
servernodes,SunExadataStorageServerCells,andahighbandwidthInfiniBandnetworkallpackagedwithinsingle
frames. Thenodes,cells,andInfiniBandbandwidtharescaledinapre-definedandbalancedfashion. TheOracle
ExadataStorageServerSoftwareenablesqueryprocessingtypicallyhandledintheOracledatabaseservernodesto
occurinstorageresultinginsignificantqueryperformanceimprovement. TheDatabaseMachineisdesignedtoscale
fordatawarehousingandtransactionprocessingapplicationsanddatasetsintothehundredsofTerabytes(ormore)and
alsoserveasadatabaseserverandstorageconsolidationplatform.
OracleDatabaseEnterpriseEdition11gRelease2
Oraclesmarketleadingdatabasefordatawarehousingandtransactionprocessingfeaturesanextensivenumberof
queryandanalysisfeaturesandoptionsincludingparallelization,staticbitmaps,star-jointechniques,materialized
views,embeddedSQLaggregationandanalyticfunctions,embeddedOLAP,andembeddeddatamining. Thedatabase
alsoincludesembeddedextraction,transformation,andload(ETL)functionsandextensiveself-managementand
optimizationthroughEnterpriseManager/GridControlfeaturesandoptions.
OracleBusinessIntelligenceEnterpriseEdition11g
OraclesBusinessIntelligenceofferingisamiddlewaresolutionthatincludestheBIServercontainingtheCommon
EnterpriseInformationModel. TheBIServerprovidesacentralizedbusinessmodelview,canserveasanadvanced
calculationandintegrationengine,andprovidesnativedatabasesupportforavarietyofdatabasesincludingOracle.
Front-endcomponentsinOBIEE11gprovidead-hocqueryandanalyses,highfidelityreporting(BIPublisher),
strategyandbalancedscorecards,dashboards,andlinkagetoanactionframeworkforautomateddetectionandbusiness
processes. AdditionalintegrationisalsoprovidedtoMicrosoftOffice,mobiledevicesandotherOraclemiddleware
productssuchasWebCenter.
OracleBusinessIntelligenceApplicationsforERPandCRM
OraclesBusinessIntelligenceApplicationsprovidepre-defineddatamodelsandkeyperformanceindicatorsthatare
displayedinpre-builtreportsforsuchareasassalesanalytics,serviceandcontactcenteranalytics,marketinganalytics,
financialanalytics,supplychainanalytics,projectanalytics,andworkforce(humanresources)analytics. Pre-builtETL
scriptsarealsoavailableforcommonsourcessuchastheOracleE-BusinessSuite,PeopleSoft,JDEdwards,andSiebel
CRM.
OracleIndustryBusinessIntelligence/AnalyticsApplications
SpecificdatamodelsandOBIEEpre-definedreportsandanalyticsareavailablefromOracleforavarietyofindustries
includingcommunications,financialservices,healthcare,retail,andutilities. Oracleisalsoworkingwithavarietyof
systemsintegratorpartnerswhooffersuchmodelsandsolutionsbuiltuponkeyOracletechnologycomponentsfor
businessintelligenceanddatawarehousing.
TechnicalIntegrationPoints
Bydesign,theOracleExadataDatabaseMachineisatightlyintegratedSunserver,storageandOracledatabase
softwaresolution. TheOracleExadataStorageServerSoftwareperformsqueryoffloadprocessinginstorageandis
uniquelyavailableforthisplatform. Thesesmartscansgreatlyspeedqueryperformancewhileeliminatingmuchofthe
needforindexingthatwascommonpracticebydatabaseadministrators(DBAs)previously. TheintroductionofFlash
technologyasaSmartFlashCacheintheDatabaseMachineenablesfurtherperformancespeed-upforavarietyof
workloads. Inaddition,theentireplatform,includingtheExadataStorageServer,ismanagedthroughOracles
DATE:October2010 2












































ORACLEWHITEPAPER
EnterpriseManager/GridControlandsupportshardwarestatusalertingthroughSunsIntegratedLightsOut
Management(ILOM)capabilities. ThereisanextensivelibraryofOracletechnicalwhitepapersdescribingthese
conceptsandintegrationpoints.
However,aquestionthatissometimesaskedregardsthelevelofintegrationbetweenOBIEE11gandtheOracle
databasegiventheiropennature. Thetechnicalintegrationoccursinanumberofways.
OBIEE11gQueryRequest&DataAccessOptimizedfortheOracleDatabase
TheBIServercomponentofOBIEE11gsupportsthefollowingdatabaseoptimizationtechniques:intelligentquery
generation,intelligentfunctionshipping,multi-passanalysesoptimization,intelligentaggregatenavigation,intelligent
caching,andoptimizationwheredistributeddataisaccessed. SpecificOracleSQLoptimizationandcapabilitiesare
providedbytheBIServerduringSQLquerygeneration. IncontrasttothirdpartyBItoolsthatrelyonODBC
connectivity,theSQLthatOBIEE11ggeneratesusestheOracledatabasesnativecalllevelinterface(OCI)to
communicatewithit. OBIEE11gperformsextensivefunctionshippingtotheOracledatabasetotakeadvantageof
optimizationswithinthedatabaseandqueryoffloadprocessingprovidedbyExadata. Forexample,theSQLthatis
generatedtakesadvantageoftheOracledatabasesabilitytohandlefullouterjoins,hierarchicaloperators,UNION
ALL,andSQLanalyticfunctions,justtonameafew. OCIsupportalsoenablestransparentOBIEE11gqueryfailover
toastand-byOracledatabaseshouldtheprimaryOracledatabaseplatformfailinahighlyavailableserver
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,next-likelyproducttopurchase,andotherparameters. With
Oracle,allthedataminingandadvancedanalysisandresultsstayinsidethedatabaseprovidingasimplerarchitecture,
bettersecurity,betterscalabilityandasinglesourceoftruth.
AnotherexampleofOBIEE11ganalyticscapabilitiestiedtotheOracledatabaseistheabilitytogeneratequeries
againstdataresidinginOracleOLAPOptioncubes. BusinessanalysthavetheabilitytoperformrobustOLAPstyle
analytics,includingmemberselection,raggedhierarchynavigation,andpivottablesfromthesameinterfaceusedfor
relationalqueryandanalysis.
OBIEE11gSecurityIntegrationwiththeOracleDatabase
DATE:October2010 3













































ORACLEWHITEPAPER
GiventhedatabaseconsolidationsmadepossiblebytheOracledatabaseandExadata,itshouldcomeasnosurprisethat
providingadvancedlevelsofsecurityfordiverseusercommunitiesisoftendesired. OBIEE11gcanleverageOracle
databasesecurityinseveralkeywaysthatprovideamuchmoremanageablesolutionthanatools-centricsecurity
approachwouldprovide. Forexample,theVirtualPrivateDatabase(VPD)supportintheOracledatabaserestrictsuser
accesstodatauniquelyrelevanttothemwithinschema. OBIEE11gismadeawareofVPDsthroughtheenterprise
semanticlayerintheBIServerandVPDsarerespectedbyqueriescachedintheBIServer. Othersecuritytechniques
includeencryptionofdatabasedataattherowandcolumnlevelanddatamasking,allmadepossiblesinceOBIEE11g
communicateswiththedatabaseusingOCI.
SystemManagement&Administration
OBIEE11gsharesacommonmanagementframework,EnterpriseManager,withtheOracledatabaseandExadata.
SimilartootherOracleplatforms,EnterpriseManagerisusedtoperformkeymanagementtasksforOBIEE11g
includingperformancemonitoring,diagnostics,tuning,scaleoutandon-lineclustering,anddynamiccapacity
managementduringthedevelopment,testing,and/ordeploymentprocessoftheBIServer. Thiscommonmanagement
frameworkensuresthatallelementsofthebusinessintelligenceanddatawarehouseenvironmentareoptimizedto
worktogethertoensurethehighestperformance,scalability,reliability,andavailability.
ApplicationsFootprints
Abusinessintelligencesolutionismorethanjusttheserver,storage,database,andbusinessintelligencetools
technology. Adeployedsolutionalsoincludesadatabasedatamodeldeployedonthedatabaseserverandmetadata
drivenreportsandad-hocquerytoolsinthemiddletierthatmaketheinfrastructureusefultobusinessanalysts. Oracle
offerspre-definedsolutionscontainingdatamodelsandbusinessintelligencefoundationmetadatatoaddresshorizontal
businessareas(theERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceapplications)andforavarietyofindustries. Thedatamodels
andreportsgenerallyserveasastartingpointindeployingacompletesolutionforspecificbusinessandtechnicalneeds
asmodificationisusuallynecessary. But,suchstartingpointscangreatlyspeedtheinitialdeployment.
TheERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceanalyticsapplicationsanalyticsdatamodelsaredesignedasstarschemawith
conformeddimensionsenablingqueriesacrosshorizontalbusinessareas. Forexample,aquerymightrequiredata
residinginthehumanresourcesandfinancialanalyticsschematodeterminethecostsassociatedwithemployees.
Altogether,thereareover360pre-definedmetrics,over30dashboards,andover200reportsdefined. Themodelsare
supportedonOracleDatabase11gRelease2andRACandhavedemonstratedexcellentscalabilityindeploymenton
theOracleExadataDatabaseMachine. Alsoincludedwiththeseofferingsispre-definedETLfromover3000tables
presentinpopularERPandCRMdatasources.
Theindustryenterprisedatamodelsaregenerallythirdnormalformbutsuchofferingsalsocanincludestarschemaand
/orOLAPcubesforanalytics. JustaswiththeERPandCRMbusinessintelligenceapplications,whereanalytics
modelsareprovided,samplereportsandbusinessintelligencemetadataareincluded. Asanexample,theOracle
RetailDataModelIntelligentWarehouseofferingincludesover1200retailmeasuresandkeyperformanceindicators,
morethan15OLAPcubes,andmorethan12dataminingmodels. Retailbusinessareassuchasstoreoperations,point
ofsale,lossprevention,merchandising,ordermanagement,inventory,categorymanagement,workforcemanagement,
customersegmentation,andpromotioneffectivenessareaddressed.
DATE:October2010 4








































ORACLEWHITEPAPER
FutureDirections
WhileOracleremainsfirmlycommittedtoprovidingopendatabaseandbusinessintelligencesolutions,youcanalso
expecttoseeincreasinglevelsofintegrationwithintheOracletechnologyandapplicationssolutionsstack. AsLarry
Ellison,OracleCEO,statedjustaftertheOracleacquisitionofSunwasapproved,Byhavingallofthepiecesinthe
stackfromthesiliconallthewayuptotheapplication,wellbeabletodeliversystemsthatrunfaster,arefault-
tolerant,arehighlysecuremuchmoresecure,muchmoreperformance,muchmorecost-effective,mucheasiertouse
thanweevercouldhavedeliveredbysimplydeliveringcomponents. Oracleiswellpositionedtodeliversuch
completeandend-to-endbusinessintelligencesolutionsgivenOraclesarrayofdatamodelsandbusinessintelligence
tools,database,andOracleExadataDatabaseMachineavailablefordeployment. Thesesolutionsholdthepromiseof
muchfastertimetovalueandmoreeffectivedeploymentwhilemitigatingtheriskofprojectfailure.
Copyright2010,Oracle.Allrightsreserved.
Thisdocumentisprovidedforinformationpurposesonlyandthecontentshereofaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.
ThisdocumentlastupdatedandauthoredbyRobertStackowiak,TobinGilman,GeorgeLumpkin,andCharlieBerger,
October2010.
Thisdocumentisnotwarrantedtobeerror-free,norsubjecttoanyotherwarrantiesorconditions,whetherexpressed
orallyorimpliedinlaw,includingimpliedwarrantiesandconditionsofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticular
purpose.Wespecificallydisclaimanyliabilitywithrespecttothisdocumentandnocontractualobligationsareformed
eitherdirectlyorindirectlybythisdocument.Thisdocumentmaynotbereproducedortransmittedinanyformorby
anymeans,electronicormechanical,foranypurpose,withoutourpriorwrittenpermission.
OracleisaregisteredtrademarkofOracleCorporationand/oritsaffiliates.Othernamesmaybetrademarksoftheir
respectiveowners.
DATE:October2010 5