Rittman Mead - Delivered Intelligence

Michael Armstrong-Smith, author of the
forthcoming Oracle
Discoverer 10g book and a regular
OTN Discoverer
Forum contributor, recently posted the
slides and

white paper from his IOUG Live! 2005 session on the
learndiscoverer.com
website. One interesting concept that Michael has come up with for these presentations is that of a
"Discoverer Library".

Michael explained how this worked in a

recent OTN Discoverer Forum posting :

"The concept of a Discoverer library is a mechanism that
I invented to help my clients better manage Discoverer. It is not restricted
to 10.1.2 although the 10.1.2 Plus lends itself ideally working with a
library.

You can think of a library as being a collection of Discoverer workbooks all
based around a common theme. For example you could have workbooks dedicated
to Human Resources, Accounting, Order Entry, Managing Flights, Handling
Bookings and so on. Each library has a dedicated, generic user account such
that you will create accounts called HR Library, OE Library, Bookings
Library and so on.

Next you would create two sets of roles, or responsibilities if using Apps.
One set would be for the library managers, with names such as HR Library
Manager, OE Library Manager, and Bookings Library Manager. The second set is
for end user access, with names such as HR User, OE User, and Bookings User.
Using Discoverer Administrator you would assign these roles access to the
required business areas.

Next, you would assign the Library Manager role(s) to designated users.
These users would be responsible for maintaining the workbooks inside their
library. Logging in to Discoverer Administrator, the library manager would
then SHARE workbooks with the user roles, such that a person with the HR
Library Manager role would share the HR Workbooks with the HR User role.

Now all you have to do is grant that role to a real user and they
automatically have access to all of the workbooks in that library.

The use of libraries maintains sets of corporate workbooks that adhere to
corporate standards, are documented and guaranteed to work. End users cannot
modify these workbooks because they are not the owner. Only the library
manager has the power to add or remove workbooks. The manager also decides
which workbooks get shared and which do not.

As you can see, therefore, the Discoverer library is a means of centrally
managing and maintaining Discoverer workbooks. The concept is not restricted
to Drake and can be used with every release of Discoverer."

It certainly sounds a useful idea and a good way to get
around the traditional issue with Discoverer, where there is no concept of
subject folders or organisation within an End User Layer. More details on
Discoverer libraries, and general OracleBI Discoverer 10.1.2 administration, can
be found in Michael’s IOUG Live! 2005
slides and

white paper.

Posted in Oracle Discoverer |