I had been facing the same problem as you were. Please check the following observations as you set up your usage tracking -

1.S_NQ_ACCT – We may be using a view of this table. Make sure we give the path to where the table haas been created in the NQSCONFIG.INI file.
2.In your connection pool settings the user you define should have write access to the database where you have created your table.
3.Make sure you specify correct Database -> Schema -> Catalog -> Table names in NQSCONFIG.INI file. Best way is to import S_NQ_ACCT table into your RPD. Dont rename any database or schema.(we tend to rename as in above example). These names should go into the NQSCONFIG.INI as they appear in the RPD Physical layer after the import.
4.Please refer the server log file (NQServer) in D:\OracleBI\server\Log to get any tips as to why the Usage tracking fails.

Nice article!
I question on Usage statistics.
At what point does OBIEE insert records into the s_nq_acct table?
1) At the time user logs in and runs a report
OR
2) When the report execution is complete?

What happens during server crash or core?
Does anything go into Usage at all?

Thanks in advance,
Rama

Newbie here,

I have to create some usage statistics reports like user login count, modules accessed etc.

Can you kindly give some idea as to how can i create this?

Regards

This will enable end to end reporting on performance of the system as well as linking it to DB queries so that we can take action against the problem queries. Appreciate any pointers in this direction.

1. Import rather then merge
—————————
I’d suggest you use the Import function rather than merge (which I couldn’t for the life of me get to work). Ignore the warning about it being deprecated when you fire it up, it works just fine.
You need to
a) Copy in the usage repository from the ..\server\sample\usagetracking folder to ..\server\Repository (since it doesn’t use a windows common dialog control, but only lists the repositories in this folder, or is it those in the same folder as your open repository… whatever…)
b) Open up your repository offline (I seem to recall that the import option is disabled whatever you do if you open it online, so don’t get stuck down that path).
c) Select Tools|Options, then the General tab and check “Allow import from the repository” d) Select File|Import|From Repository
e) Select UsageTracking.rpd, the password is blank.
f) Select the Catalogs drop down
g) Select the “Usage Tracking” catalog and press “Add with Children”
h) Press Next and then finish

2. Set up the connections
————————-
I know it’s obvious, but I thought I might as well mention it while I’m about it, especially since if you are lazy like me (and you saw all those extra projects that you get faced with, thought there was maybe a whole load of stuff that the developers hadn’t bothered to take out) and only thought you need set it for the “Usage Tracking Writer Connection Pool” referenced in the config file. Well, that connection pool’s just for the write. The read uses the plain old “Connection Pool”. So set them both up, specifying your Data Source Name, User Name and Password.

Then, all that’s left to do is press save and you’re off – Log in, run some reports and then check your usage stats in answers. Marvellous, heartening stuff.

C:\OracleBI\server\Schema\SAACCT.MSSQL.sql

DROP TABLE S_NQ_ACCT;

create table S_NQ_ACCT
(
USER_NAME varchar(128),
REPOSITORY_NAME varchar(128),
SUBJECT_AREA_NAME varchar(128),
NODE_ID varchar(15),
START_TS datetime,
START_DT datetime,
START_HOUR_MIN char(5),
END_TS datetime,
END_DT datetime,
END_HOUR_MIN char(5),
QUERY_TEXT varchar(1024),
SUCCESS_FLG NUMERIC(10,0),
ROW_COUNT NUMERIC(10,0),
TOTAL_TIME_SEC NUMERIC(10,0),
COMPILE_TIME_SEC NUMERIC(10,0),
NUM_DB_QUERY NUMERIC(10,0),
CUM_DB_TIME_SEC NUMERIC(10,0),
CUM_NUM_DB_ROW NUMERIC(10,0),
CACHE_IND_FLG char(1) default ‘N’ not null,
QUERY_SRC_CD varchar(30) default ” not null,
SAW_SRC_PATH varchar(250) default ” not null,
SAW_DASHBOARD varchar(150) default ” not null,
SAW_DASHBOARD_PG varchar(150) default ” not null,
PRESENTATION_NAME varchar(128) default ” not null,
ERROR_TEXT varchar(250) default ” not null,
RUNAS_USER_NAME varchar(128) default ” not null,
NUM_CACHE_INSERTED NUMERIC(10,0) default null,
NUM_CACHE_HITS NUMERIC(10,0) default null
);

CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX S_NQ_ACCT_M1 ON S_NQ_ACCT
(START_DT, START_HOUR_MIN, USER_NAME);

CREATE INDEX S_NQ_ACCT_M2 ON S_NQ_ACCT
(START_HOUR_MIN, USER_NAME);

create index S_NQ_ACCT_M3 on S_NQ_ACCT
(USER_NAME);

2. Secondly we run the scripts located in C:\OracleBI\server\Sample\usagetracking\SQL_Server_Time
to create the tables S_ETL_DAY and S_ETL_TIME_DAY

–
– Target DBMS : SQL_Server
–

–
– TABLE: S_ETL_DAY
–

DROP TABLE S_ETL_DAY
;

CREATE TABLE S_ETL_DAY(
DAY_DT datetime null,
CAL_MONTH int null,
DAY_OF_MONTH int null,
DAY_NAME char(12) null,
DAY_OF_YEAR int null,
DAY_OF_WEEK int null,
CAL_WEEK int null,
MONTH_NAME char(15) null,
CAL_YEAR int null,
PER_NAME_MONTH varchar(50) null,
PER_NAME_QTR varchar(20) null,
FSCL_YEAR int null,
FSCL_QTR char(5) null,
DAY_AGO_DT datetime null,
WEEK_AGO_DT datetime null,
MONTH_AGO_DT datetime null,
QUARTER_AGO_DT datetime null,
YEAR_AGO_DT datetime null,
ROW_WID int null
)
;

–
– Target DBMS : MS SQL Server
–

–
– TABLE: S_ETL_TIME_DAY
–

DROP TABLE S_ETL_TIME_DAY;

CREATE TABLE S_ETL_TIME_DAY(
TIME_SLICE datetime NULL,
HOURS int NULL,
MINUTES int NULL,
HAGO datetime NULL,
MIN_SEQ smallint NULL,
HOUR_MIN varchar(5) NULL
)
;

create view NQ_LOGIN_GROUP as
select distinct USER_NAME as LOGIN, USER_NAME as RESP
from S_NQ_ACCT;

3. Populate data into the tables S_ETL_DAY and S_ETL_TIME_DAY
using the scripts

C:\OracleBI\server\Sample\usagetracking\SQL_Server_Time\SQLServer_create_nQ_Clock.sql
C:\OracleBI\server\Sample\usagetracking\SQL_Server_Time\SQLServer_create_nQ_Calendar.sql

4. Changing the configuration file C:\OracleBI\server\Config\NQSConfig.INI
related to the section [ USAGE_TRACKING ]:

[ USAGE_TRACKING ]

ENABLE = YES;

//==============================================================================
// Parameters used for writing data to a flat file (i.e. DIRECT_INSERT = NO).
//
STORAGE_DIRECTORY = “”;
CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL_MINUTES = 5;
FILE_ROLLOVER_INTERVAL_MINUTES = 30;
CODE_PAGE = “ANSI”; // ANSI, UTF8, 1252, etc.
//
//==============================================================================

DIRECT_INSERT = YES;

//==============================================================================
// Parameters used for inserting data into a table (i.e. DIRECT_INSERT = YES).
//
PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME = “OBI Usage Tracking”.”Catalog”.”dbo”.”S_NQ_ACCT” ; // Or “”.”".”" ;
CONNECTION_POOL = “OBI Usage Tracking”.”Usage Tracking Writer Connection Pool” ;
BUFFER_SIZE = 10 MB ;
BUFFER_TIME_LIMIT_SECONDS = 5 ;
NUM_INSERT_THREADS = 5 ;
MAX_INSERTS_PER_TRANSACTION = 1 ;

5. Merge the existing UsageTracking RPD into your RPD

6. Merge the existing UsageTracking web catalog

7. Others as mentioned in this article

Cheers,
Qinghe