Discoverer 11G Web Services

Great to read about the Oracle Discoverer Web Services that have been released for public consumption as part of Discoverer 11G and Fusion Middleware 11G:

Here and Here

To quote from the User Guide:

The Oracle BI Discoverer Web Services are part of an Application Programming Interface (API) that enables a client to do the following:
- Obtain Discoverer connections, workbooks, and worksheets
- Execute worksheet queries
- Obtain worksheet content using the SOAP protocol (version 1.1 with JAX-WS/document wrapped format)

I've worked on a number of sites that have made a big investment in Discoverer reporting. It will be interesting to see how this new functionality will be used in the future.

Migrating a Discoverer EUL to OBI EE metadata

OBI EE 10.1.3.4 has been released today on OTN.

One of the areas of new functionality that I am very interested in is the ability to migrate certain components of Discoverer metadata to BI Server / Answers.

The New Features documentation states:

Release 10.1.3.4 includes a utility to accelerate the migration of Oracle BI Discoverer metadata (in the form of an EEX file) to Oracle BI Enterprise Edition Plus metadata (in the form of an RPD file). The utility is a command line executable file that can be found in the \OracleBI\Server\bin directory. An accompanying instruction document can be found in the \OracleBI\Server\Document directory. This release migrates only Discoverer metadata and only for relational data sources.


I'll be examining and hopefully posting further on the migration process in the next few days.

Another Quick Reminder: Linking Discoverer Reports to standard Oracle Applications Menu

Here are the steps required to link a standard Discoverer workbook to an Oracle Applications menu:

Step	Description	Tool
1	Note the value of the workbook ‘Identifier’. Open the workbook, navigate to ‘File -> Manage Workbooks -> Properties.	Discoverer Plus
2	Create a new Form Function (Application -> Function). Required values: Function: XX???_??? User Function Name: Report Name Description: ??? Type: SSWA plsql function Parameters: Workbook=Step 1 Identifier HTML Call: OracleOasis.RunDiscoverer	System Administrator
3	Link the form function to the appropriate menu (Application -> Menu).	System Administrator
4	Share the business areas used by the workbook with the responsibilities associated with the modified menu	Discoverer Administrator
5	Share the workbook with the responsibilities associated with the modified menu	Discoverer Plus

Associated Profile Options:

Profile Name	Description	Value
ICX_DISCOVERER_USEVIEWER	Determines if Discoverer Viewer or Discoverer Plus is launched when a workbook is opened from a menu	Yes or No

References:

Metalink Note: 278095.1

Quick Reminders: Steps to set up General Ledger security for Discoverer

Here’s a quick reminder of the steps required to setup GL ledger and segment value security for the seeded Discoverer General Ledger Business Area:

1. Set the profile option ‘FII: GL BIS Discoverer access’ for all GL responsibilities that will run Discoverer workbooks.
2. Ensure that the profile option ‘GL Set of Books Name’ (‘GL Ledger Name in R12) has been set at responsibility level for all GL responsibilities that will run Discoverer workbooks.
3. Ensure that the ‘Security Enabled’ flag is set to Yes for all ‘enabled’ segments of the chart of accounts. (Setup, Flexfields, Key, Segments)
   
4. Define a flexfield value set security rule for each segment in the chart of accounts that INCLUDES all possible values in the Security Rule Elements i.e. Include 000000 ZZZZZZ (Setup, Flexfields, Validation, Security, Define)
   
5. Assign the value set security rules created in Step 4 to all of the GL responsibilities that will run Discoverer Workbooks (Setup, Flexfields, Validation, Security, Assign)

Connecting to Discoverer 10G

Does this sound familiar?

Connecting to Discoverer Administrator or Desktop as an apps user for the first time on a a project and you get the error message:

"Invalid Username and Password"

You have the oracle apps user checkbox ticked and have validated that both the username and password are correct and have checked your TNS Names file.

Rather than shout at the Apps DBA, here is what you need to do:

1) Create the following 2 new environment variables (path=control panel, system, advanced, environment variables) :

FND_SECURE =\secure
FND_TOP=

for me is C:\Oracle\BIToolsHome_1\

2) Rename the application dbc file from the $FND_TOP/secure directory to the name of the connect entry in your TNSNAMES.ORA file.

For example, if your TNSNAMES entry looks like this:
MYDATA.WORLD = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(Host = myserver.myorg.com)(Port = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = MYDATA)) )

then your dbc file must be named MYDATA.DBC


Happy discovering!