Optimizing the Value of Information Technology Investments

Recently, a client ask me if I consider using Open Source software for support “Business Intelligence” needs, which question I answer: it’s possible, but the Open Source system provides less functionalities to specific problems. 

As it’s well known, OBIEE is, for me, the Flagship of Flagships that continues its strong growth year over year. So, thanks to acquisition of Siebel, Oracle provides a friendly and high quality application that stay on top of “Business Intelligence” technologies.
 
Anyway, needless to say that the licensing is an intangible cost involved in commercial products. In this way, I focus on reaching ways of cutting costs, ensuring that information system is efficient according business requirements.
 
The usage of Open Source software as alternative for commercial products may cause nightmare, not only because of support that you can expect after buying a license, but also because of software requirements of businesses.
 
Notice that a solution could be combining  commercial  software with open-source applications. So, “Pentaho Report Design” (OpenSource) allows create custom reports using Oracle Database (commercial product).

In this way, within “Pentaho Report Design” include the SELECT statement, such as in the screenshot below:

 

Once is included and customized, click on “Print” > “PDF” and you could save the Report as PDF, just as in the screenshot below.

Best wishes.
Joan Martí Peraire.

Time to look back

I devote almost 8 years to working on Oracle Applications. Now it’s time to involves a topic that as a student I gave special emphasis: heat transfer.

So, in this post, I would like to involve Oracle BI as well as Heat transfer over volumes. In this sense, based on first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy), methods are given for the calculation of the distribution temperature.

Key aspect: Methodology followed allows to evaluate the values of Temperatures given time instant.

For this purpose, a brief explanation of 2D space-time problem are given.  In concret, looking for approximate solutions to partial differential equations using numerical methods (finit element analysis). To sum up, below (within a slide) are presented involved aspects.

Key aspect: Discretisation of time derivatives.

As has been commented before, taking into account the first law of thermodynamics, we present a methodology in order to solve the governing equations of heat transfer (convection and diffusion are considered).

Key aspect: We are assuming that diffusion is the difference in the heat per unit area through two planes (separated dx). In particular, as presented in the following slides, are taken into account three situations such as:

-          Extrem (i=1): Convection and diffusion.

       Intern  (1 < i < n ): Diffusion.

      Extern (i = n): Convection and diffusion

Once we have obtained equations where T_pⁿ⁺¹ only depends on T_pⁿ, then not only initials conditions (t=0) are required but also bounday conditions needs to be taken in account.

Key aspect: time-step Δt can’t be chosen arbitrarily.

So, all values are known and T_pⁿ⁺¹ can be obtained. As a result:

Now it’s required to verificat the solution obtained!

Best wishes.

Joan.

Can't see the forest for the trees

Go ahead means improve little by little, so just now (once I attended “IBM SPSS Statistics within Windows” course in Seville University) not only I would like to organize but also share some of my findings, in order to involve SPSS results as a complement in Oracle Business Intelligence Dashboard. 

In another words, once people keep well informed of what’s going on (based on access to accurate information i.e.: OBIEE), then is required deliver conclusions (make sense of information i.e.: IBM SPSS Statistics ). 

In this way, as soon as I noticed about IBM SPSS Statistics results,suddently I wondered which one is the best way in order to display such results within OBIEE in a single screen. Because I realized that make sense what otherwise would have remained hidden in the numbers (like a forest would have remained hidden in the trees).

And out of frustation, as a result , conclusions are displayed within OBIEE as a single picture, by properly enconding information using SPSS:

 

So, in this post, let’s talk about analysis of variance (ANOVA) as an useful tool focus on independence between a response variable (variable that are measured) and factors (variable that can be controlled).

Anyway, in this case, let me say that a background is required, in order to get knowledge about what SPSS delivers as a result.

In concret, we focus on one factor analysis of variance, which involves a single factor. Each factor includes different levels i.e. as it shows the next slide:

Once assumptions are validated (using SPSS), then contrast can be helpful in order to determine if the null hypotesis is accepted: 

H0: α₁ = α₂ = α₃

H1: α_i ≠ α_j where i ≠ j so not all are equal

Remember:

Analizar\Comparar medias\ANOVA de un factor

Small p-value: We reject Ho. Anyway, whether Ho is rejected, we can’t considere that all means are different. So rejecting Ho means that at least two means have different values. Then we need tools to perform a multiple comparison procedure (Post Hoc), such as:

 

We can conclude that Channels 1 and 2 are considered equals.

Now, we are available to present our conclusions as an “Image”, such results are a complement that can be easy incorporate to a Dashboard within Oracle Business Intelligence, using: fmap:Images/[Image.Name].[Image.Extension] (selecting "Link or Image" in the Dashboards Objects).

Another posibility (in order to display an Image) is using of calculated column within a metric performed with Oracle Answers, such as:

'img src="Images/'|| [Column with Image.Name and Image.extension] || '"/'

And as a result:

 

Hope it helps!

Best wishes.

Joan Martí Peraire.

Tracking Users Complaints using Statistical Quality Control: Control Chart

Welcome to the new post as part 2 in our series on mechanisms to include statistics within Oracle Business Intelligence (first part see previouspost).

A control chart is a graph used to monitor quality and in this article we focus on monitoring the number of complaints per month. So, using Oracle Business Intelligence, after setting the Preferences for the chart, we can observe that the results are such as:

In our case, a process is in control when the number of complaints per month  are subject only to common cause variation (such as environment, methods,...). Anyway, a proces is out of control  when data points fall outside of the control limits, that means that the process are subject to variation because of assignable causes of variation.

Background: Using control charts can be measured: variables (continuous of values)  and attibutes (discretes values). Our case, number of complaints per month are considered as attributes, where the average number of number of complaints per month, c̄, is the Center line (within the Control Chart), and then let’s obtain the Upper and Lower Control Limits as it’s shown below:

If the process is in control, data points (in our case number of complaints/month) will fall inside 3-sigma limits  99,73% of the time (within control limits). Moreover, each data point(in our case number of complaints/month)  is a Hypothesis test, so:

Ho: μ = c̄

Ha: μ ≠ c̄

α = 0,0027

We reject Ho cases outsite the limits.

Hope it helps!

Best wishes.

Joan Martí.

Integration of Oracle Analytical tool (OBIEE) in external portals or applications

The purpose of this article is to discuss the integration (as consistently as possible)  of Oracle Analytical tool (OBIEE) in externals portals or applications , in order to take it into account when choosing your best option.

As a first step, you need to understand what capabilities are offered by OBIEE, only then can the necessary comparasions be made.

So, where we need them, it’s far better to retrieve the precise numbers to analyze data (detailed below as Integrate using WebService API). Anyway in contrast to use tables in order to analyze data, visual form of analysis becomes meaningful reducing time on analysis. By these specifications, the information available at OBIEE Reports can be integrated, not just precise numbers but also graphs (detailed below as Integrate using GO URL).

Now, take a look at the comprehensive explication of the two consistent methodologies:

1. Integrating OBIEE into an External Portal using WebService API.

Well, note that in certain situations, the end user may need retrieve results from a query. In this case, you can integrate an external portal  with the help of WebService provided by OBIEE as it's detailed below:

First of all, let me say that Oracle BI provides many Webservice, have an eye for details in:       

  http://Server_IP:9704/analytics/saw.dll?WSDL

So, firstly the thing to check would be the logon. 

In this way, we could use WebService to invoke “logon” function within SAWSessionService. Once we send a Request, we obtain a “SessionId” as a Response. As it’s shown below:

Once Session Id is returned, in this  case (based on  XML representation of the analisis), we  want to retrieve values included in a table provided by OBIEE, such as:

So, let’s look at XML request (Note: navigate to “Advanced” section in order to obtain xml request):

Once Session Id and xml report are retrieved, the let’s use Web Service to invoke: getResults within XmlViewService

In other words, as you see avobe, as a result (once WebService  invoked) we obtain the precise values!:

Importantly, one thing to be aware is that this methodology allows having data stored on Analytical DDBB rather than OBIEE Dashboard reports.

2. Integrating OBIEE into an External Portal using GO URL.

GO URL command can be used in order to incorporate Oracle Analytical results within other applications or portals. Truth be told, Oracle Analytical tool (OBIEE) is integrated into Operational Siebel CRM using this methodology (GO URL).  Well, below are detailed instructions on how structure of the GO URL is:

Syntax for accessing an OBIEE Dashboard:

http://Server_IP:9704/analytics/saw.dll?Dashboard&NQUser=X&NQPassword=X

Syntax for accessing OBIEE Dashboard reports:

http://Server_IP/analytics/saw.dll?GO&Path=/Shared/Catalog_Path&NQUser=X&NQPassword=X

(Note: Authentication parameters are required, unless Analytics Web Site is provided by Single Sign On)

There are other parameters that can be used in the GO URL, such as:

• Printing Report Results: &Action=print

/saw.dll?GO&Path=/Shared/Catalog_Path&NQUser=X&NQPassword=X&Action=print

• Printing Report Results in concret format: &Action=print&format=X

/saw.dll?GO&Path=/Shared/Catalog_Path&Action=print&format=pdf

Once again, hope it helps!

Arreveure.

Joan Martí.

Marketing Module – Oracle Business Intelligence

This article provides a high level overview of a marketing automation mechanism (using Oracle BI) that could be so useful. 


As it’s well known, a segment is used in order to identify groups by one or more characteristics. That’s an useful and efficient tool for many different purposes, such as a Marketing campaign. As it’s said, Oracle BI provides a marketing automation system, so after my own findings, I’m  ready to write about them.

So, let’s give some advice on how to configure the Oracle BI in order to retrieve some results from the proper analytical database. That makes sense, although marketing automation system implies an analytical enviroment in order to access data needed.

First of all, within OBI Repository, It’s required to modify the rpd and create:

-       Target Level: entity which a marketer would like to count.

-       List Catalog: subject area which is enabled for List Format design.

-       Qualified List Item: Information that can be exported.

Then, we should open the BI Client and navigate to More Products > Marketing > Create a List Format. In order to define the columns we would like to export.

(Make sure that we check the “Re-qualify list results against original segment criteria”)

 Next, it’s time to create a simple segment from our target level and associate it with the list format. In our case, as a Result 8 Records. 

 We click the button “list generation” in order to share output list files, such as it’s shown below:

 If you are interested in the details about the result, a link is available. In this way, below  it’s also a 
screenshot for better understanding:

Finally, click the “8” hyperlink available at the bottom of the page (final result), in order to  look at details.

Hope it helps!

Best wishes.

Joan Martí.

Monitoring what’s going on

With an increasing maturity of Business Intelligence support for CRM processes, it is a fact that specific Business Intelligence solutions will be oriented much more on usage stastical
techniques like linear regression. In other words, once we understand how data is represented on a graph, then,  for evaluating the collected values, the next step is to perform statistical analysis.

In this way, the discussion of this article focuses on how you can fit (in a Dashboard) a linear regression, which has many applications for analysing trend.

By the way, I’ll begin by clarifying that out of frustration I have found a way to achieve a regression line in Oracle Business Intelligence. As a result:

It’s well known that, in order to model the relationship between two variables, linear regression line has the equation of the form Y = b + mX, where where b (intercept) and m (slope) are continuous functions of x.

First of all, it is consedered to be necessary to give a background in statistics (oriented to the subject of this article).  In this way, in order to calculate the slope (m) of the line we obtain:

m (slope) = SP /SS_x

Where the sum of products equals (SP) is:    SP = (∑x.y) – ( (∑x) . (∑y) /  n )

And for X, the sum of squares (SS_x) is:         SS_x = (∑x²) – ( (∑x)²  / n )

To sum up:

m (slope) = ( n . (∑x.y) – (∑x) . (∑y) ) / ( n . (∑x²) – (∑x)²  )

In order to calculate the b (intercept) of the line we obtain:

b (intercept) = ( (∑y) – m . (∑x) )  /  ( n )

After that, following the above steps , linear regression can be achieved on Oracle BI dashboard.In this way, derived calculations can be obtained in Oracle Answers using expression builder, such as:

 (In this case: we obtain sum(x^2) and ANSI SQL functions used: MAX(RSUM(POWER(RCOUNT((“Variable X”.”Value”),2)))))

 Once invoked, ANSI SQL functions return a single value each time. In this way, Oracle Answers provides 99 standard ANSI SQL functions that can be used to manipulate dates, strings and numbers, as well as retrieve system information.

 Functions fall into the categories listed in: Aggregate, Running Aggregate, String, Math, Calendar/Date, Conversion, System and Expressions.

 As it’s said, we create as derived calculations as we need in order to achieve our goal:

 Bon courage!

Best wishes.

Joan.

Computers don’t think, people do

This article provides an overview of the Dashboard potential, focus on what works, what doesn’t and why.

First of all, let me say that Dashboard design is not an exact science, anyway obviously, the purpose of a Dashboard is not to entertain and also is not to provide dashboard developers a chance to astonish people with their artistic talents. That means that a Dashboard should be designed with appropriate consideration, which enable see what is meaningful and think without distraction.

As it’s well known, a decision is something that is done by people and a Dashboard is merely a tool that provides you with a mechanism to retrieve information and display it structured. In another words, a Dashboard provide personalized views for communication of information, in order to monitor and track Processes, providing criteria for taking a Decision.

Now, let me analyse the following sentence: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” by Leonardo da Vinci

I wonder why people sometimes assume that simplicity means lack of complexity. In fact, people would know without asking that simplicity is focused on the essence and essence imply needed complexity.

Oracle provides a complete data management product, which is also a so comprehensive set of Business Intelligence solutions. Below it’s shown an illustrative example of a customized Dashboard using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) technology:

Business Intelligence

It’s a waste of time to think about unthinkable. In this way, Business Intelligence tools are designed to take exposure and to track transactional system, using Cubes. A Cube is a logical schema that contains fact and dimensions.
When I first noticed Oracle BI, it surprised me and astonished me, how this useful tool increase process efficiency and effectiveness. I said to myself that I need an extra- effort to understand key lessons.

Well, seven month or more run along, and after all, I forgot all about difficulties, on accounts of being glad and full of thinking. Now, Oracle BI, it’s a tool that I know mighty well and sure enough.

As it's well known, in order to guarantee that service levels are not affected, transactional module is meant for operations, not for analysis. In this way, analyzed process activities and supporting performance metrics can be based by an analytic module such as Oracle BI.

Within an Business Intelligence tool, two factors are often useful to create business value:

• 
  
  Automated action-taking ( into the Operational enviorment).


• 
  
  Provide an User-friendly business intelligence application.

Architecture as it's shown below, consist of:

1. Oracle BI:

We enable end-user receives feed-back from transactional system. In this way, OBI displays details about front-office eficiency, where we can include KPIs, reports and alerts. In concret, consist of the following lays:

• Physical layer: We define physical tables and connections.


• Logical layer: We define relationship between facts and dimentions.


• Presentation layer is where data is presented.

2. Informatica Power Center:

Focus on inform the analytical system, we define a set of instructions (called a workflow) in order to extract, transform and load information that receives from transactional system (executing mappings defined in the Designer). We can also monitor workflows (that we may want to perform) in the Workflow Monitor.

Best regards.
Joan.

Business Intelligence Platforms:

Markets offers so many Business Intelligence Platforms. In this way, bellow is detailed a product analysis, elaborated by one of the main technology observatory market analysis:



Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms




Source: Gartner (January 2011)

At a high level, the Business Intelligence Aplication consists of:

• An analytical database that store analytical information.


• ETL process that manage the analytical data, in order to provide information from different sources.


• Oracle BI that enables end-user access into the analytical data.

Below we identified costs involved. In concret, three year total cost of license and support by vendor and scenario:

Hope it helps.

Best Wishes.

Joan.