New RPD Modeling Features in OBIEE 11g

New Features in OBIEE 11gR1 for Data Modeling

• ID Columns for Descriptive Columns (“Double-columns”)

• Lookup Tables                            

• Support for Ragged, Skip-Level and Parent-Child Hierarchies

• Hierarchical Subject Area Columns

• LTS Priority Ordering

• Repository Passwords

• Deployment of Repository Files using Fusion Middleware Control

  

Lookup Tables: - LOOKUP function introduced with OBIEE 11g allows lookups on logical and physical tables

Useful for several scenarios

·         Pushing currency conversions to separate calculations

·         Accessing columns that cannot use GROUP BY (e.g. CLOB)

·         Avoiding unnecessary outer joins in LTS.

It allows you to define a logical table as being a lookup table and can be accessed via a logical calculation using SPARSE or DENSE lookup.

Ragged and Skip-Level Logical Dimensions

Level based hierarchies may have skip-levels, or ragged hierarchies. Skip levels are when members may not have an immediate parent and Ragged hierarchies are when leaf members are not all at the same level.

Ragged and Skipped Level Hierarchies are present in the underlying tables in the form of   NULL values

LTS PRIORITY GROUP ORDER

A single logical table can have multiple logical table sources defined. Usually, the selection of LTS by the BI Server is straightforward and defined by the context of the query. When multiple aggregate LTS are defined, however which one is chosen id difficult to determine.

OBIEE 11gR1 LTS Priority group order makes this more explicit.

Lower Value = Higher Priority

LTS Priority Group becomes main decider in which LTS to use.

Let’s consider an example

A logical fact table has two LTS mapped; one detailed level and one aggregate

By default aggregate source is used for aggregate queries.

This behavior will be over-ridden when LTS priority ordering is amended.

Setting it to 1 makes it lower priority than the detail-level LTS

Repository Passwords and Repository Identity Management

Repository files now have a password. They are now encrypted, and compressed. RPD password is all that required to edit RPD offline. BI admin Role is required to edit RPD online.