OBIEE RPD password lost?

Is there a way around if password for OBIEE RPD is lost?

In the days of OBIEE 10g, we had an option in NQSCONFIG.ini file to bypass the authentication by changing authentication type, and setting it to bypass, using the following parameter:

When we save this file, after that RPD will open no matter what user ID / password is specified.

However, this security loophole was plugged in OBIEE 11g. If password for RPD is lost for 11g, starting from scratch might be the only option.

The above loophole can be especially dangerous, if someone can get a copy of production RPD, which points to production databases. It can be used (or misused) to build reports pointing directly to production databases (which does not require someone to know password for production database).

OBIEE 11g Scalling Vs High Availability

Scalling and High Availability go hand in hand, but they are different.

Scalling is used to achieve higher capacity of the system in terms of ability to handle more load, but it may or may not provide high availability.

High Availability on the other hand is achieved through a way of scalling out an installation.

More documentation on this topic available at following link:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E28280_01/bi.1111/e10541/part3.htm#BABBHIJB

OBIEE 11g with two RPD? Can we do that?

I get this question asked frequently, that can we deploy two RPDs to OBIEE servers?

Straight answer to that is no we cannot, however the workaround is to build two BI stacks if there is a need. For example, HR and Finance teams might have different RPD for security reasons. In most of these cases, there will also be a need to have separate development or maintenance teams. Thats why two BI stacks will make sense. In rest of the cases, a multi user development env (MUD) might be enough.

OBIEE services 11g on windows does not start

So I installed OBIEE 11.1.1.6.0 on windows, everything worked well after installation was complete.

But first time I restarted windows machine, I entered incorrect weblogic password. Now it just remembers the incorrect password and does not prompt again for right password. I keep getting following error:



#### <[ACTIVE] ExecuteThread: '0' for queue: 'weblogic.kernel.Default (self-tuning)'> <> <> <> <1365250636463>  
#### <[ACTIVE] ExecuteThread: '0' for queue: 'weblogic.kernel.Default (self-tuning)'> <> <> <> <1365250636572>  
####

<> <> <> <1365250636572> weblogic.security.SecurityInitializationException: Authentication denied: Boot identity not valid; The user name and/or password from the boot identity file (boot.properties) is not valid. The boot identity may have been changed since the boot identity file was created. Please edit and update the boot identity file with the proper values of username and password. The first time the updated boot identity file is used to start the server, these new values are encrypted.
at weblogic.security.service.CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.doBootAuthorization(CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.java:959)
at weblogic.security.service.CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.initialize(CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.java:1050)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityServiceManager.initialize(SecurityServiceManager.java:873)
at weblogic.security.SecurityService.start(SecurityService.java:141)
at weblogic.t3.srvr.SubsystemRequest.run(SubsystemRequest.java:64)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:209)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:178)
Caused By: javax.security.auth.login.FailedLoginException: [Security:090304]Authentication Failed: User weblogic javax.security.auth.login.FailedLoginException: [Security:090302]Authentication Failed: User weblogic denied
at weblogic.security.providers.authentication.LDAPAtnLoginModuleImpl.login(LDAPAtnLoginModuleImpl.java:261)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.service.LoginModuleWrapper$1.run(LoginModuleWrapper.java:110)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.service.LoginModuleWrapper.login(LoginModuleWrapper.java:106)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.invoke(LoginContext.java:769)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.access$000(LoginContext.java:186)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext$4.run(LoginContext.java:683)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.invokePriv(LoginContext.java:680)
at javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext.login(LoginContext.java:579)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.service.JAASLoginServiceImpl.login(JAASLoginServiceImpl.java:113)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.utils.Delegator$ProxyInvocationHandler.invoke(Delegator.java:57)
at $Proxy39.login(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.security.service.internal.WLSJAASLoginServiceImpl$ServiceImpl.login(WLSJAASLoginServiceImpl.java:89)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.service.JAASAuthenticationServiceImpl.authenticate(JAASAuthenticationServiceImpl.java:82)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.bea.common.security.internal.utils.Delegator$ProxyInvocationHandler.invoke(Delegator.java:57)
at $Proxy57.authenticate(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.security.service.WLSJAASAuthenticationServiceWrapper.authenticate(WLSJAASAuthenticationServiceWrapper.java:40)
at weblogic.security.service.PrincipalAuthenticator.authenticate(PrincipalAuthenticator.java:348)
at weblogic.security.service.CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.doBootAuthorization(CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.java:929)
at weblogic.security.service.CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.initialize(CommonSecurityServiceManagerDelegateImpl.java:1050)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityServiceManager.initialize(SecurityServiceManager.java:873)
at weblogic.security.SecurityService.start(SecurityService.java:141)
at weblogic.t3.srvr.SubsystemRequest.run(SubsystemRequest.java:64)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:209)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:178)
>
####

<> <> <> <1365250636635>  

####

<> <> <> <1365250636635>  

####

<> <> <> <1365250636635>  

####

<> <> <> <1365250636650>  

Solution: 

Edit the boot.properties file located at following path:

C:\MiddleWareHome\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\AdminServer\security

Update the password to right one, and you should be good to go.

How to apply case statements in where clause in OBIEE?

This could be a common reporting scenario and I just wanted to write this post, on how to create a case statement inside of a filter condition. This also works if dashboard has two or more prompts, and they should filter data using a combination of values. For example, consider the following requirement:

You have data for year 2009 and 2010. Per the requirement, you want to select quarter 1 if year is 2009, while you want to select quarter 2 if its year 2010. So, its two different sets of criteria for which data should be selected.

The case statement may be more complex than this example, the solution below will still work.

This is done per the steps below:

1. Add a filter on Year to report.

2. Edit filter > Advanced > convert this filter to SQL

3. In Advanced SQL Filter, type the filter per the expression below:


1 = case
when Date."Report Year" = 2009 and Date."Report Qtr" = 1 then 1
when Date."Report Year" = 2010 and Date."Report Qtr" = 2 then 1
else 0 end

Click results, and verify ..

Viola, it works. We are successfully able to apply a case statement in a filter criteria. This can be used in any further combinations per requirements.

Explanation:

What we are doing in the case statement is that we are bucketing records we want to select as 1, and everything else as 0. Next we have "1 = ". So for every records we bucket as 1, the condition becomes 1 = 1 which is true, while for rest it becomes 1 = 0, which is false, simple?

To demonstrate this, lets take the expression from filter, and add it as a column (remove "1 =" and add rest of the expression) as below:

Hit results:

Clearly you can see, our records are marked as 1, while things to be filtered out are 0.

Here is how BI fires the query for this:

select distinct T1161285.RPT_YEAR as c1,
     T1161285.RPT_MONTH as c2,
     T1161285.RPT_QTR as c3
from
     INVRDM.WC_CALENDAR_D T1161285 /* DIM_WC_CALENDAR_D */
where  ( case  when T1161285.RPT_QTR = 1 and T1161285.RPT_YEAR = 2009 then 1 when T1161285.RPT_QTR = 2 and T1161285.RPT_YEAR = 2010 then 1 else 0 end  = 1 )
order by c1, c3


This is a perfect way to add case statements inside the where clause.

To take is a step forward, now imagine user need to select month and quarter in the prompts. For example user wants to select year 2009 and quarters 1, 2 and 3.

In this case, we will add the year and month as filter and set them to is prompted. This is in addition to the case statement above as shown below:

Basic Information for any new 11g user

I found the link below really useful, specially to inform end users about basic functionality:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E28280_01/bi.1111/e10544/appuserinfo.htm#sthref861

OBIEE 11.1.1.7 Documentation

Follow the link below for 11.1.1.7 documentation:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E28280_01/bi.htm

or following to see documentation for older versions:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/documentation/index.html

New Features for Oracle BI EE 11g 11.1.1.7

This is directly from Oracle, here is list of new features:

New features in Oracle BI EE 11g  11.1.1.7 include:

• "Recommended Visualizations Feature for Creating Views"
  
• "Breadcrumbs"
  
• "Enhancement to Dashboards"
  
• "Enhancements to Graphs"
  
• "Enhancements to Views"
  
• "Enhancements to Prompts"
  
• "New Menu Options for Exporting Views and Results"
  
• "Total Member Placement for Hierarchical Columns"
  
• "Browse Catalog Search Results by Object Attributes"
  
• "Navigate from the Total or Grand Total in a Table or Pivot Table"
  
• "New BI Desktop Tools Available for Download"
  
• "Enhancement to Favorites"
  
• "Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System"

Recommended Visualizations Feature for Creating Views

In this release, when you create a view, you can choose a recommended view type based on the data in your analysis and, optionally, what you want to use it for (for example, to analyze trends).
You can choose a suggested "Best Visualization" as well as a "Recommended Subtype". Or you can instead choose the "Recommended Visualization" option, for which you specify your intent for the new view. For example, will the view compare values, compare percentages, visualize trends, or something else? From a list of suggested view types that is ordered with the best option at the top, you can then choose your preferred view type. See "What Is the Recommended Visualizations Feature?" for more information.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs have been added to help users understand their current location within Oracle BI content and the path that they have used to navigate Oracle BI content. Breadcrumbs display at the bottom of the page, and users can click a breadcrumb or the breadcrumb overflow button to navigate to a specific location on their breadcrumb trail. See "Navigating With Breadcrumbs" for more information.

Enhancement to Dashboards

This release provides the following enhancements to dashboards:

• The ability to create custom print layouts for high-fidelity printing of dashboard pages. See "About Creating Custom Print Layouts for High-Fidelity Printing of Dashboard Pages".
  
• The new default style is FusionFX. See the "Dashboard Properties dialog".
  
• The addition of the Freeze Column option to the Column Properties menu. This option allows you to freeze a column at an edge (top or left) of a dashboard layout. See "Properties Buttons for Objects".
  
• The addition of the following options that allow you to control the position and size of columns and sections:
  
  • Size option in the Additional Formatting Options area of the "Section Properties dialog" and the "Column Properties dialog"
    
  • Page Size option in the "Dashboard Properties dialog"
• The ability to export an entire dashboard or a single dashboard page to Microsoft Excel 2007+. See "Exporting Dashboards and Dashboard Pages".
  
• The addition of options to replace an analysis on a dashboard and to return to a dashboard from the Analysis editor:
  
  • The Replace analysis in option was added to the Save As dialog. This option displays when the user is viewing a dashboard, clicks an embedded analysis' Analyze or Edit link, edits the analysis, and selects Save As to rename and save the analysis. The Replace analysis in option allows the designer to choose to include the modified analysis on the dashboard. See "Save As dialog" for additional information.
    
  • The Return to option was added to the Analysis editor. This option displays in the Analysis editor when the user is viewing a dashboard and clicks an embedded analysis' Analyze or Edit link. The designer can click this option to easily move from the Analysis editor to the dashboard. See "Analysis editor" for additional information.

Enhancements to Graphs

In this release graphs have been enhanced in various ways.

• New graph types include:
  
  • Waterfall graph. A waterfall graph lets you visualize how a value increases or decreases sequentially and cumulatively. An initial value is summed with subsequent values (both negative and positive changes or deltas) to arrive at an end value, focusing your attention on h ow each measure contributes to the whole.
    
  • Stacked graph as a new subtype to the area graph. A stacked graph is useful for comparing the proportional contributions within a category. A stacked graph displays the relative value that each part contributes to the whole.
    
  • 100% stacked graph as subtypes to the bar graph and the area graph. A 100% stacked graph, like the stacked graph subtype, lets you compare the parts to the whole. But while the stacked graph shows cumulative total in the units of the measure, the 100% stacked graph always shows units as percentages of the total, and the axis scale is always zero to 100 percent.
  See "What Types of Graphs Are Available?" for additional information about the new graphs in this release.
  
• Zoom to data range. This option lets the system evaluate the range of values on an axis, and choose appropriate minimum and maximum values for the scale. This is useful when graphing a set of large values that are all within a small percentage of each other. See "Graph Properties dialog: Scale tab" for additional information.
  
• Hide sliders in graph views that listen to master-detail events. For graphs in master-detail relationships, if you want to simplify the appearance of an analysis or dashboard, you can hide the slider that is created to accommodate detail columns. See "Defining the Detail View" for more information.

Enhancements to Views

This release includes enhancements to various view types, including those in the following list:

• A new view type named performance tile. This view type displays a single aggregate measure value in a manner that is both visually simple and prominent. See "Editing Performance Tile Views" for additional information.
  
• Action links in trellis views. In simple trellis views, action links can now be used on inner graphs per unit, including the context of the outer edges. Action links can also be used in legends and in axis labels. In advanced trellis views, action links can be used in microcharts, where the microchart functions as a single unit (such as an aggregate number), including the context of the outer edges. For more information, see "What Are Action Links and Action Link Menus?"
  
• For map views:
  
  • Vary the width of a line by measure to accentuate a feature. See "Line (Layer) dialog" for additional information.
    
  • Link a map view as a detail in a master-detail relationship. See "Defining the Detail View" for additional information.
    
  • Auto Correct option. A map view error can occur for various reasons. If the issue appears to be related to missing layers, maps, or styles, then it might be possible to correct the map by replacing the missing map view components with similar items that exist in the spatial metadata. See "Editing Map Views" for additional information.
    
  • Legend and formatting highlighting. See "What Are the Components of Map Views?" for additional information.
• Null suppression at view and analysis levels. You can set null suppression options at the view level (which overrides the analysis level) for data views including: table, pivot table, trellis (both simple and advanced), graph, gauge, and funnel views when the entire row or column contains nulls. See "Understanding Null Suppression" for additional information.
  
• Ability to include or exclude calculated items and groups at the view level for columns and column headers. Specifically, two new options have been added: Include Custom Member and Exclude Custom Member. These interactions are available for tables, pivot tables, and trellises. See "Creating Groups and Calculated Items" for additional information.
  
• For tables, pivot tables, and advanced trellises, the ability to:
  
  • Specify the method to be used to browse data — either scrolling or paging controls. For more information, see "Table Properties dialog: Style tab", "Pivot Table Properties dialog" and "Trellis Properties dialog: General tab".
    
  • Resize rows and columns. For more information, see "Resizing Rows and Columns in Table Views, Pivot Table Views, and Advanced Trellis Views".
• Row count. If your table or pivot table view contains a grand total or subtotal on the row edge, the display totals, that is the grand total and subtotals, are now included in the Rows per Page count for content paging. In prior releases, if you had the Rows per Page count set to 10 for example, the table or pivot table would display more than 10 records if display totals were shown in the view results. See "Editing Views" for additional information.
  
• For right-click interactions, the ability to specify whether the Hide Columns interaction is available at runtime. See "Right-Click Interactions in Views" for additional information.

Enhancements to Prompts

This release includes enhancements to prompts, including those in the following list:

• This release includes an enhancement to the SQL Results prompt option. If you are working with double columns, you can now write the SQL statement so that filtering is done on code values rather than display values. For more information, see "New Prompt dialog".
  
• This release includes an enhancement to the prompt constraint option. The prompts designer can now limit a column prompt value list by more than one column. For more information, see the Limit values by component in the "New Prompt dialog".
  
• This release includes enhancements to the parameters for prompted links. For more information, see "What Are Prompted Links?".

New Menu Options for Exporting Views and Results

This release adds the Excel 2007+ and Powerpoint 2007+ options for exporting views and results.
See "Export Menu Options for Views and Results".

Total Member Placement for Hierarchical Columns

This release includes an enhancement that allows placement of total members on a hierarchy. See "Analysis Properties dialog: Data tab" for additional information.

Browse Catalog Search Results by Object Attributes

This release provides the capability to use full-text search to find catalog objects and then filter the search results by attributes. This search is available when the administrator integrates Oracle BI Enterprise Edition with Oracle Endeca Server. After the full-text search results are returned, the Catalog area displays a list of matching items, and the Search pane displays the search results grouped by attribute (that is, Type, Name, Path, and Created By). See "What Results are Returned from a Full-Text Catalog Search?" for additional information.

Navigate from the Total or Grand Total in a Table or Pivot Table

If an analysis contains a total or grand total and the associated attribute or hierarchical column contains an action link or a conditional action link, the action link (or conditional action link) is applied to both the column and the total or grand total. See "What Are Actions?" for additional information.

New BI Desktop Tools Available for Download

This release adds the following tools to the list of BI desktop tools that are available for download:

• Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office
  
• Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting Studio (if Essbase is installed)
  
• Oracle Essbase Studio Console (if Essbase is installed)
  
• Oracle Essbase Administrative Services Console (if Essbase is installed)

See "Downloading BI Desktop Tools" for additional information.

Enhancement to Favorites

This release provides the capability to organize your favorites from the Category Tree area and the Selected Category area in the Manage Favorites dialog. In previous releases, you could organize favorites from the Category Tree area, only. See "Organizing Favorites" for additional information.

Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System

With this release, Oracle BI EE is integrated with Enterprise Performance Management Workspace. See "Integration of Oracle BI EE with Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System".

OBIEE 11.1.1.7 available

Great news, OBIEE 11.1.1.7 version is available for download. 

Follow the link below:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/downloads/bus-intelligence-11g-165436.html



OBIEE 11g administration link is missing

Sometimes Administration link could be missing due to priveledges issue, at other times, its just a setting.

Try to enter following URL manually and check if this gets you to admin page:

 http://IPaddress:9704/analytics/saw.dll?Admin

If this works, easiest way to access would be to bookmark this link for future.

OBIEE 11g Patch Installation

Just to give you an idea of how easy the patch intallation is for 11g, I am writing here steps per readme.txt file for patch installation of one of the patches.

Note: Step 9 is the actual step when patch gets applied using utility "opatch". Rest of the steps are for preparation and verification.


14223977 - Patch 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 (1 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Installer
===============================================================================

Readme updated: 12 July 2012


Section 5: Patchset Installation Instructions
---------------------------------------------
1. Backup the Oracle BI System, including the following:
* the ORACLE_HOME\bifoundation\server directory
* the ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_obis1\repository
* the \bifoundation\jee\mapviewer.ear\web.war\WEB_INF\conf\mapViewerConfig.xml, if you have modified it

2. Download the following Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patch zip files from My Oracle Support into the Oracle BI Home directory:

* 14223977
* 14226980
* 13960955
* 14226993
* 14228505
* 13867143
* 14142868

Tips:
* Find all the above patches together by entering the following search criteria:
  - Product/Family = Oracle BI Suite EE
  - Release = 11.1.1.6.2 BP1

* The location of the Oracle BI Home directory will depend on where Oracle BI was originally installed, and the platform. For example:
  - on Linux, AIX or Solaris, the Oracle BI Home directory might be prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1
  - on Windows, the Oracle BI Home directory might be c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1


3. Download the following JDeveloper patch zip file from My Oracle Support:
* 13952743


4. Stop the BI System (in the order shown):
* BI system components, by typing the following at the command prompt: opmnctl stopall
* WebLogic Managed Server(s)
* WebLogic Admin Server


5. Clear the files associated with the Oracle BI EE Catalog Manager binary cache as follows:
a. Go to the /bifoundation/web/catalogmanager/configuration/ directory (using a file manager application or the command line). For example:
* on Linux, AIX or Solaris:  if the Oracle BI Home directory is prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1, go to the following directory:
       prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/bifoundation/web/catalogmanager/configuration/
* on Windows: if the Oracle Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, go to the following directory:
       c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\catalogmanager\configuration\
b. Remove the following Catalog Manager cache directories (if they exist):
* org.eclipse.osgi
* org.eclipse.equinox.app


6. In the Oracle BI Home directory, unzip each of the Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patch zip files into a subdirectory below the Oracle BI Home directory. For example:
* on Linux, AIX or Solaris: you might extract patch 14223977 into prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/14223977
* on Windows: you might extract patch 14223977 into c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\14223977


7. At the command prompt, change directory to the Oracle BI Home directory using the command appropriate for the operating system.
For example:
* on Linux, AIX or Solaris: if the Oracle BI Home directory is prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1, type the following:
       cd prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1

* on Windows: if the Oracle BI Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, type the following:
       cd c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1


8. At the command prompt, set the ORACLE_HOME, PATH, and JAVA_HOME environment variables as appropriate for the operating system.
For example:
* On Linux, AIX or Solaris: if you are using a command shell derived from the C shell, set the environment variables by typing the following:
       setenv ORACLE_HOME $PWD
       setenv PATH $ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
       setenv JAVA_HOME $ORACLE_HOME/jdk
       setenv PATH $JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
       setenv PATH $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch:$PATH

* On Windows: if the Oracle BI Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, set the environment variables by typing the following:
       set ORACLE_HOME=C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1
       set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
       set JAVA_HOME=%ORACLE_HOME%\jdk
       set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
       set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch;%PATH%


9. At the command prompt, for each of the extracted Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patch directories (starting with 1 of 7, then 2 of 7, and so on):
a. Change directory to the extracted patch directory.
For example:
* on Linux, AIX or Solaris: if you extracted patch 14223977 into prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/14223977, type the following:
       cd prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/14223977

* on Windows: if you extracted patch 14223977 into C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\14223977, type the following:
       cd c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\14223977

b. Apply the patch using the command: opatch apply
c. When the message 'Opatch Succeeded' is displayed, repeat the above steps for the next patch directory until all the patches have been applied.


10. Verify the Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patches have been applied successfully as follows:
a. At the command prompt, change directory to the Oracle BI Home.
b. Run the following command to list the patches that have been applied to the Oracle home specified by the ORACLE_HOME environment variable (currently the Oracle BI Home):
        opatch lsinventory
c. Confirm that all the Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patches shown in Section 1 appear in the list of applied patches (along with any other patches that have previously been applied to the BI System).


11.  Copy the BIPublisherDesktop32.exe and BIPublisherDesktop64.exe files from the Oracle BI Home/clients/bipublisher/repository/Tools directory to the Middleware Home/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/config/bipublisher/repository/Tools directory.


12. If you backed up mapViewerConfig.xml because it had been modified, copy the backed up file to its original location at \bifoundation\jee\mapviewer.ear\web.war\WEB_INF\conf\


13. You can now apply the JDeveloper patch 13952743 (that you previously downloaded), by following the instructions in the JDeveloper patch Readme file. Note the following:
* As described in the JDeveloper patch Readme file, you apply the JDeveloper patch to the Oracle Common Home directory. Therefore, be sure to follow the instructions in the Readme to change the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to the / directory before applying the JDeveloper patch.
* You must complete the final step to start the Weblogic Admin Server, and then to start Managed Server(s)).


14. When you have applied all the BI EE 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patches and the JDeveloper patch, start the BI system components by typing the following at the command prompt: opmnctl startall


15. Having installed the Oracle BI 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patches, you must also update the Oracle Business Intelligence Client Tools (Oracle Business Intelligence Administration Tool, Oracle Business Intelligence Job Manager, and Oracle Business Intelligence Catalog Manager) as follows:
a. Deinstall the Oracle Business Intelligence Client Tools from the Windows machine on which they have been installed, by following the instructions in chapter 5 of the "Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence".
b. Reinstall the Oracle Business Intelligence Client Tools by following the instructions in chapter 5 of the "Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence".


16. (Recommended) Minimize disk usage by:
* deleting the downloaded BI EE 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patch zip files and the JDeveloper patch zip file
* deleting the extracted patch directories (for example, C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\14223977)



Section 6: Post-Installation Instructions
-----------------------------------------

Section 7: Deinstallation Instructions
--------------------------------------

Section 8: Bugs Fixed By This Patch
-----------------------------------

Section 9: Known Bugs With This Patch
-------------------------------------

OBIEE 11g mobile development documentation

This is good stuff. Anyone looking for development of reports to cater to mobile based users can refer to following documentation:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23943_01/bi.1111/e25318/toc.htm

Note: the document seems to cater to just Apple OS devices. Im still looking for documentation to cater to Blackberry and Android devices.

Sort order and display order

It is a common requirement to display one field while sort by another. For example month names > Jan > Feb > Mar, etc should always be sorted by month number and not the month name.

Well its a simple fix to enable that:

Open RPD > Navigate to the "month name" in logical layer > open column properties > click on General Tab > Specify "Month number" in 'Sort Order Column'

Viola !! When you display Month Name in the report, it will be correctly sorted from Jan to Dec. If you see the query from session log, you will see both name and number columns used in the query.