System Design for Oracle9i OLAP

With the Oracle9i Release 2 database you have the relational and OLAP functionality
combined in one environment. Warehouse Builder allows you to model your warehouse
in a logical environment and translate this design into relational fact tables and OLAP
cubes.
The logical design can be deployed to both the relational and the OLAP schema. To
deploy the relational data structures you use the Deployment Manager. As the OLAP
structures need some special parameters, a separate wizard outside of the Deployment
Manager guides you through this process.
Steps for Adding an OLAP Environment
With the current release of Warehouse Builder 9.0.4 you will need to do the following to
add an OLAP environment to any relational warehouse:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Review your current warehouse and adjust objects to suit the OLAP requirements
Deploy and load the relational objects
Create a collection
Deploy the OLAP objects
Create the load routines for the OLAP objects
Deploy the load routines

Note that you do have to design a completely new environment. Using your existing
warehouse you can, with these few easy steps, create the OLAP environment. Let's look
at these steps.

Steps for Adding an OLAP Environment

1. Review your current warehouse and adjust objects to suit the OLAP
requirements.
In order to create all appropriate objects within the OLAP catalog it is required to follow
some naming conventions within dimensions.
The Time Dimension
Time is a crucial dimension to the OLAP queries and system, and must conform to the
following rules:

The dimension name has to end in _TIME or has to be TIME

A column END_DATE is required at each level
A column TIME_SPAN is required at each level

In addition it is common practice to add a START_DATE column. Review the T_TIME

dimension (Warehouse Builder's predefined default time dimension) to see all of these
rules applied in the default dimension.
Generic Dimensions
OLAP has a concept of short and long descriptions. To make use of these at least one
object per level must end on _NAME or should be called NAME.

Steps for Adding an OLAP Environment (continued)

2. Deploy and load the relational objects.
This step is often already done in a production environment. The OLAP objects in the
database will be derived from their relational counterparts. Therefore, you must deploy
the relational objects first. Make sure your dimensions and cubes are deployed using the
regular process. If you made changes to naming of objects, simply re-deploy these
objects.
3. Create a collection.
To be able to create OLAP cubes and dimensions, you will have to select them and group
them in a logical entity called a collection (Business Area in previous releases). This
collection forms the basis for the transfer of metadata to the OLAP catalog. The transfer
is the actual deployment of the OLAP cubes and dimensions. In subsequent releases of
Warehouse Builder this will be done from the deployment manager.

Steps for Adding an OLAP Environment (continued)

4. Deploy the OLAP objects.
Deploying objects to the OLAP catalog is slightly different from the regular object
deployment. To deploy to the OLAP catalog you will use the metadata transfer wizard.
To deploy the OLAP objects to the OLAP catalog do the following:
1. Start the metadata transfer wizard (Export using Bridge).
2. Choose Oracle 9i OLAP as the target.
3. Enter the detailed transfer parameters:
OWB Exported
Collections:

OWB_OLAP

OWB Translated

American

Languages:
Deploy to AW:

Yes (AW is Analytic Workspace)

AW Name:

OWB_AW (or use any other name)

AW Object Prefix:

AW_ (AW objects will be prefixed to avoid name clashes)

Generate View
Definitions:

Yes (Generate the relational views to provide relational

access)

Generated View
Prefix:

OWB_ (To distinguish the views and avoid naming clashes)

Access Type:

OLAP (OLAPI is currently the only access type supported;

Discoverer should follow)

Generate
Yes [To enhance performance you can generate materialized
Materialized Views: views]
Generated View
Directory:

C:\OLAP (Directory that stores the script to create the

materialized views)

Deploy PL/SQL in
database:

No (This allows you to create a script and run this at a later point
in time, choosing Yes will directly deploy the objects)

Connect
information:

Enter the connect information to your system, use for example

OWB_TGT as the user

PL/SQL output file: C:\OLAP\AW.SQL (The script that creates the OLAP objects)
Log Level:

Trace (This gives you maximum logging)

4. Complete the wizard.

5. Locate the generated files and inspect them.
6. Run the generated files in the OWB_TGT schema to create the metadata entries and
the actual objects.
Running this script (AW.SQL) will create the materialized view script on the server using
PL/SQL. This means that your UTL_FILE_DIR in the init.ora must be set to C:\OLAP
(or to *).
7. To view the deployed result go to for example OEM and go to the Warehouse - OLAP
node. Here you should see the deployed cube.
You can only create analytic workspaces via this routine on Oracle 9i R2 with patch
9.2.0.3.

Steps for Adding an OLAP Environment (continued)

5. Create the load routines for the OLAP objects.

To load data into OLAP dimensions and cubes you can use the Process
Flow Editor to build a complete process flow. There are predefined
WB_OLAP_LOAD_DIMENSION and WB_OLAP_LOAD_CUBE
transformations.
6. Deploy the load routines.
You can now deploy the process flow to Workflow.
In summary, it is fairly simple to extend a system with OLAP capabilities. Most activities
involve supplementing existing structures. Using Warehouse Builder you can do these
activities within the normal scope and knowledge of a data warehouse project.
Click Show Me to see a demo of the OLAP integration.

Summary
In this module, you learned the concepts behind locations and connectors, and how they
work in conjunction with the new Deployment Manager.
You also learned about the new OLAP integration capabilities for modeling OLAP
environments in your warehouse.