Rittman Mead Blog - Oracle BI Suite EE

Fixing* Baseline Validation Tool** Using Network Sniffer

Learn how to use Wireshark network sniffer to debug Oracle BI and BVT

Enabling Concurrent OBIEE RPD Development - for free

One of the most common and long standing problems with developing in OBIEE is the problem of multiple developers working on the RPD at the same time. This blog explains the problem and explores the solution that we’ve developed and have been successfully using at clients over the last

Technical

OBIEE 12c – Extended Subject Areas (XSA) and the Data Set Service

One of the big changes in OBIEE 12c for end users is the ability to upload their own data sets and start analysing them directly, without needing to go through the traditional data provisioning and modelling process and associated leadtimes. The implementation of this is one of the big architectural

Technical

Changes in BI Server Cache Behaviour in OBIEE 12c : OBIS_REFRESH_CACHE

The OBIEE BI Server cache can be a great way of providing a performance boost to response times for end users - so long as it's implemented carefully. Done wrong, and you're papering over the cracks and heading for doom; done right, and it's the 'icing on the cake'. You

Technical

Under the Covers of OBIEE 12c Configuration with sysdig

OBIEE 12c has changed quite a lot in how it manages configuration. In OBIEE 11g configuration was based around system MBeans [https://docs.oracle.com/middleware/11119/biee/BIESG/configsettings.htm#BIESG1643] and the biee-domain.xml as the master copy of settings - and if you updated a configuration directly

Technical

New OTN Article - OBIEE Performance Analytics: Analysing the Impact of Suboptimal Design

I’m pleased to have recently had my first article published on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) [http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/index.html]. You can read it in its full splendour and glory(!) over there [https://community.oracle.com/docs/DOC-993649], but I thought I’d give a bit

Technical

Use OBIEE to Achieve Your GOOOALS!!! - A Presentation for GaOUG

Background A few months before the start of the 2014 World Cup, Jon Mead [https://twitter.com/jonmead], Rittman Mead's CEO, asked me to come up with a way to showcase our strengths and skills while leveraging the excitement generated by the World Cup. With this in mind, my colleague

Technical

OBIEE Performance - Why Metrics Matter (and…Announcing obi-metrics-agent v2!)

One of the first steps to improve OBIEE performance is to determine why it is slow. That may sound obvious—can’t fix it if you don’t know what you’re fixing, right? Unfortunately, the “Drunk Man anti-method [http://www.brendangregg.com/methodology.html]”, in which we merrily stumble

Technical

OBIEE 12c - Repository Password Corruption Issue

Here at Rittman Mead we’ve been working with OBIEE 12c for some time now, as part of the beta programme and more recently with clients looking to get the most out an upgrade to OBIEE 12c [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2016/01/obiee12c-three-months-in-whats-the-verdict/]. We’ve also been hard

Big Data

The Best OBIEE 12c Feature that You're Probably Not Using

With the release of OBIEE 12c we got a number of interesting new features on the front-end. We’re all talking about the cleaner look-and-feel, Visual Analyzer, and the ability to create data-mashups [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2015/06/new-in-oracle-bi-cloud-service-oracle-visual-analyzer-and-data-mashups-in-va/] , etc. While all this is incredibly useful, it’s

Big Data

OBIEE 12c - Three Months In, What's the Verdict?

I’m over in Redwood Shores, California this week for the BIWA Summit 2016 conference [http://www.ioug.org/p/cm/ld/&fid=992] where I’ll be speaking about BI development on Oracle’s database and big data platforms. As it’s around three months since OBIEE12c came out

Technical

Becky’s BI Apps Corner: Oracle BI Applications, where art thou?

Hello! I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Becky Wagner and I’ve been working with Rittman Mead America since the beginning of the year. I have a background in data warehousing and ETL with a state government agency, where I was part of

Technical

An Alternative Front-End for OBIEE using Web Services and D3

Working with OBIEE, it is common to get requests to add visualisations or otherwise improve the UI. Typically this has been done by using narrative views to embed HTML and Javascript to provide data driven, custom visualisations [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2013/06/embedding-a-d3-visualisation-in-obiee/]. To cope with the former,

Technical

Driving OBIEE User Engagement with Enhanced Usage Tracking for OBIEE

Measuring and monitoring user interactions and behaviour with OBIEE is a key part of Rittman Mead’s User Engagement Service [http://ritt.md/ue]. By understanding and proving how users are engaging the system we can improve the experience for the user, driving up usage and ensuring maximum value for

Technical

Rittman Mead at UKOUG Tech'15 Conference, Birmingham

This week Rittman Mead are very pleased to be presenting at the UK Oracle User Group’s Tech’15 Conference [http://tech15.ukoug.org] in Birmingham, delivering a number of sessions around OBIEE, Data Integration, Cloud and Big Data. If you’re at the event and you see any of

Technical

Oracle OpenWorld 2015 Roundup Part 1 : OBIEE12c and Data Visualisation Cloud Service

Last week saw Oracle Openworld 2015 [https://www.oracle.com/openworld/index.html] running in San Francisco, USA, with Rittman Mead delivering a number of sessions around BI, data integration, Big Data and cloud [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2015/10/rittman-mead-at-oracle-openworld-2015-san-francisco/]. Several of us took part in Partner Advisory

Technical

Introducing the Rittman Mead OBIEE Performance Analytics Service

Fix Your OBIEE Performance Problems Today OBIEE is a powerful analytics tool that enables your users to make the most of the data in your organisation. Ensuring that expected response times are met is key to driving user uptake and successful user engagement with OBIEE. Rittman Mead can help diagnose

Big Data

Forays into Kafka - Logstash transport / centralisation

The holy trinity of Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana (ELK) are a powerful trio of tools for data discovery [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2015/04/using-the-elk-stack-to-analyse-donors-choose-data/] and systems diagnostics [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2014/10/monitoring-obiee-with-elasticsearch-logstash-and-kibana/] . In a nutshell, they enable you to easily search through your log files,

Technical

Using the BI Server Metadata Web Service for Automated RPD Modifications

A little-known new feature of OBIEE 11g is a web service interface to the BI Server. Called the “BI Server Metadata Web Service [https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E28280_01/bi.1111/e16364/bi_server_web_services.htm#BIEIT3235] ” it gives a route into making calls into the BI Server

Technical

Managing the OBIEE BI Server Cache from ODI 12c

I wrote recently about the OBIEE BI Server Cache and how useful it can be [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2015/09/obiee-bi-server-cache-management-strategies/], but how important it is to manage it properly, both in the purging of stale data and seeding of new. In this article I want to show

Technical

OBIEE BI Server Cache Management Strategies

The OBIEE BI Server cache can be one of the most effective ways of improving response times of OBIEE dashboards. By using data already in the cache it reduces load on the database, the network, and the BI Server. Should you be using it? I always describe it as the

Technical

Security patches released for OBIEE 11.1.1.7/11.1.1.9, and ODI DQ 11.1.1.3

Oracle issued their quarterly Critical Patch Update [http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujul2015-2367936.html] yesterday, and with it notice of several security issues of note: * The most serious for OBIEE (CVE-2013-2186 [https://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2013-2186]) rates 7.5 (out of 10) on

Technical

Essbase Studio checkModelInSyncExternal Error

This week I am back at one of my favourite clients to assist with some issues since the latest upgrade to 11.1.1.9. These guys are seriously technical and know their stuff, so when issues pop up I'm always ready for an interesting and challenging day in the

Technical

How Engaged Are Your OBIEE Users?

Following on from Jon's blog post “User Engagement: Why does it matter?” [https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2015/06/user-engagement-why-does-it-matter/], I would like to take this one step further by talking about measurement. At Rittman Mead we believe that if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. So how

Big Data

Rittman Mead at ODTUG KScope'15, Hollywood Florida

ODTUG KScope’15 [http://kscope15.com] is running in Hollywood, Florida next week and Rittman Mead are running a number of sessions during the week on OBIEE, Essbase, ODI and Big Data. I’ve personally been attending ODTUG KScope (or “Kaleidoscope”, as it used to be known) for many years