Multi-User Environment for Siebel Analytics/OBIEE by Alok Chowdhary on March 13, 2009 in Siebel Street

By default, only one user can edit the repository at a time, but a more efficient environment would allow developers to modify the repository simultaneously and then check in changes. Oracle BI allows multiple developers to work on objects from the same repository during group development of Oracle BI applications.

Steps for configuring Oracle BI multi-user development environment:

1)Create Project

In the Admin tool, open the Project Manager

Path:-Select Manage > Projects and then Action > New project for creating new project.

From the figure down below, you can notice two parts, in the left you can see objects that are available for the project and the right part consists of objects that can be added in projects. Select the objects from the left part that you want to add to the project and click the Add button. If you have selected the presentation catalog, all fact and dependent objects are selected in the project.

Besides the catalog, other objects such as USER, groups, Variables and initialization blocks can also be added in projects. Apart from this, you can also remove unwanted objects from project by clicking the Remove button.

2) Set up a shared network directory

Administrator needs to identify or create a shared network directory that can be accessible to developers to keep the repository file at that location. This repository is the master repository which is accessible to multiple developers to check in or check out the changes done. Developer has to point to this directory path when they use Admin tool at their machine.

Making changes in the Admin tool at the local machine to use as a multi-user development environment:

1)Point to multi-user directory:

Set up for Admin tool to point multi-user  development directory.

Path:-Select Tools > Options and then select Multiuser tab.

From the figure,  it can be seen that it is a two field, one multi-user development directory in which you have to browse the path of the shared directory where the original repository has been kept for development purposes. The other field full name  is optional,  but if the user mentions name in that field, it helps in tracking the changes made by each user and stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER part of registry and is therefore unique for each login on computer.

2. Check out project:-

After pointing to the multi-user development , the directory developer can check out desired projects.

To check out projects, go to path File > Multiuser > Checkout which will be only available when the multi-user environment is setup. After this, the developer is presented with a dialog box to select the master repository if one has more than one repository. Select the repository , then enter user name and password, it will navigate to select the project or projects to be imported. After selecting the projects,  user must enter the name of the new repository which will be stored in user’s local directory.

3.Admin tool task during checkout:-

During checkout , the admin tool performs the following task:-

• Makes a temporary copy of the master repository on the local machine.
• Saves local copy of projects in the new repository on the local machine.
• Saves second local copy of project in the new repository on the l
  local machine with prefix as “original”.
• Deletes temporary copy of the master repository from the local machine.

4. Changes done in metadata:-

Changes can be performed on logical tables, table definitions and logical table sources. Developers can work on the same project but if one developer deletes objects,  it will be migrated without any warning. So developers should keep in mind that modifications can affect others too.

5. Tasks done during check-in:-

The Admin tool perform the process of locking the master repository to prevent other developers from attempting to merge at the same time and copies the master repository to a local directory so that the developer will be merging with the latest or recent repository.

6. Check in changes:-

After performing modifications on the repository, the developer needs to check in changes and merge with the master repository in the shared path. Only one developer at a time can merge it. After selecting File > Multi-user >Merge local changes, the developer is shown a  dialog box having full name and the option to write comments if any and after clicking ok , the admin tool performs the process of copying master from shared and keeps it on the local machine.

After developers lock the master repository,  the merge process take place. After the merge process,  developers have to publish to the network.  Go to path File >Multi-user >Publish to Network to publish changes done in the repository.  This will finally merge local repository changes to the master repository and at the same time a local copy of the repository has been removed from the local machine.

Advantages:

• History menu option:-This option gives the detail of all the changes performed during the merge process. We can have the version history that tracks all the changes performed in the repository during the merge process.
• It helps to track the Project history.

Disadvantage:

• Multiuser develop environment is purely for repository development. Dashboards/Reports can be developed/managed by any no of users in the browser once the presentation server is up.

Tp know more about OBIEE 

Avoid Several Restarts of Siebel (SWSE) Web Server After Each Build

When changes made to the browser scripts, customized images, style sheets, help files these files are copied to the respective folders under Siebel root/ Siebel Server/ Webmaster. To synchronize the changes to the web server, The Siebel web server usually restarted.


Restarting the Siebel web servers after each build is tedious task when you have several builds from development to testing or other environments.

Alternatively you can use UpdateWebImages!

UpdateWebImages! Interesting, I will explain step by step below.

Type the below URL in the browser and hit the enter key. That’s it.
http://host:port/application/start.swe?SWECmd=UpdateWebImages&SWEPassword=WebUpdateProtectionKey
Host = The name of the Web server machine.
Port = The Web server listen port (not required if using the default port, 80).
Application = Any Siebel application hosted by this Web server (such as callcenter_enu, sales_enu, and so on).
WebUpdateProtectionKey = The unencrypted version of the Web Update Protection Key, which is defined in the eapps.cfg file by the WebUpdatePassword parameter.

To know more about Siebel Web Server

Ask the Expert 01

Question :

Hi,

I have been following your site for quite sometime and its great.
Wanted to have a clear idea on the Siebel EMail Response module.

I did go through the bookshelf which gives a very good idea but still wanted to know if there are some practical implementation done.

Requirement is that a service request or an activity needs to be created from an email.

Response :

From what i understand of your requirement, please find the following reply to your query. Once the email is triggered using the Outbound Communication Manager BS, an activity gets generated as per the Siebel vanilla functionality. The activity of Type Email-Inbound or Email-Outbound will get created provided the Email templates, Email server, Outbound Communication Manager component is configured properly.

If one wants to generate customized activity / SR post the email is triggered, then e-scripts or VB scripts have to be used. For e.g The email has to be sent to the customer on updation of customer’s demographic info. The e-script written on appropriate event(s) can be called. This code will further invoke an email Workflow (WF). After the WF has been invoked, another chunk of code/Workflow has to be invoked for generating activity / SR by creating a new record in the custom BC.

To know more about Ask the Expert

Introduction of External Business Component (EBC)

In almost all the implementation of Siebel Application we come across the requirement as – “Bring the data from the external source and display” well for that in Siebel the solution is External Business Component (EBC) and Virtual Business Component (VBC). In this Blog the content is specific to EBC, so let me give the defination of EBC first then the process of creating it –

Defination:

EBC is a method used when there is a need to display data which is external to siebel. The external schema is imported into siebel tables using a wizard. Once the exteranal schema is imported, to display this data in an applet, the configuartion is going to be the ame as creating a BC, an Applet,a View etc.

Steps of Creating:

1. get the DDL file for your external table.
here is how a sample ddl file will look like:

CREATE TABLE TPMS.EBC_VEC
(
demo1 VARCHAR2(20),
demo2 VARCHAR2(20),
demo3 NUMBER(10)
)

2. Use siebel object creation wizard to create this table.
File –> New Object –> External Table Schema Import

3. The wizard will ask for following inputs:

i. Select Project this table will be part of from the list -
ii. Select the database where external table resides – Enter the database, for this example it is Oracle Server Enterprise Edition
iii. Specify full path of the file where table definition resides -
iv. Specify a 3 digit batch code for this import – eg 001
v. Click on Next and then click on Finish

4. This will create your External table. with a name like EX_001_0000001. The names of External tables begin with “EX_” the next 3 characters are batch codes and the rest is just a serial number.

* The Type field will be “External” for this table.
* You will also have to map one of the table columns to the Siebel’s Id field. to do this: go to the desired table column and in the “System Field Mapping” column select “Id”

5. Changes to be made in cfg file now follow the below steps

• create an entry for a new datasource under [DataSources] section

TPMS = TPMS

• add a new section [TPMS] to describe the datasource params:

[TPMS]
Docked = TRUE
ConnectString = VECDEV
TableOwner = TPMS_INT
DLL = abc.dll
SqlStyle = OracleCBO
DSUserName = vecdev
DSPassword = vecdev

• Now that you have defined the Datasource in cfg file, go back to siebel tools and add the datasource to your external table. Go to your external table, and go to the Data Source and add a new record:
  Name = TPMS
• External table is now ready for use in a EBC.

Use siebel object wizard to create a BC based on this table. Once the BC is created, change the Data Source property of the BC to “TPMS” .You are now ready to use this BC in a applet/view.

In the above process the description is about an external data source called TPMS and we are fetching the  data from TPMS to Siebel.

But what if we come across a bit more complex requirement … suppose the data is in siebel but it should not be modified from the front end or from the back end (unless and untill one has right to do so) just like an external data source schema. Or let me put it as can we make EBC on the same database we are working i.e. Siebel Database???

The answer and solution is the same Yes we can create an EBC based on the same database but for that we need to create a different DSN and then follow the steps given above.

Please feel free to put comments/questions/ideas

To know more about External Business Component

Dynamic MTD / YTD Measures in Siebel Analytics

Definition:

MTD: Acronym for Month to Date. MTD value of a certain measure would be the aggregated total of the measure from the start of the month till the defined date. For example: For the date 15th August 2008, MTD Dollars would be the total dollars from starting of August 2008 i.e. 1st August 2008 to 15th August 2008.

YTD: Acronym for Year to Date. YTD value of a certain measure would be the aggregated total of the measure from the start of the year till the defined date. For example: For the date 15th August 2008, YTD Dollars would be the total dollars from starting of 2008 i.e. 1st January 2008 to 15th August 2008.

Situation:

The client required MTD YTD metrics for a few reports. The twist in the requirement was the calculation based on user specified dates supplied from the dashboard prompt instead of the usual current date MTD YTD metrics. This means capturing the date value entered by the user and applying its relation to the concerned request.

Solution:

After a lot of brainstorming and trying out N number of unsuccessful RPD and Answers permutations and combinations, the solution was arrived at with the help of “Filter based on other request” option in the Answers section and a dummy request to capture the prompted date.

Implementation:

Step1:  Creating the dummy report

This dummy request is used to capture the Transaction date. As seen, the Transaction Date column is prompted and the dashboard prompt date value is fed to this request. We also take Month and Year columns for MTD YTD calculation purposes.

Step2: Creating the MTD Request

The request shows Amount by Pay Type. We want to calculate MTD amount for a date specified by the user. The Date filter columns of the dummy and the main request should be same.

Step3: Creating MTD specific filters

Using the “Filter based on Another Request”, we specify the filters for MTD calculation.

Step4: Creating the dashboard prompt

It’s always a good practice to specify a default value to the dashboard prompt so that the dummy request is initialized to some value. Needless to say, the dashboard prompt, the dummy request and the main request should come from the same subject area.

Step5: Displaying and verifying the MTD metrics

The MTD request has been placed on the dashboard along with the normal reporting date request. This way one can verify the MTD results quite efficiently.

Conclusion:

• The YTD metrics can be calculated in a similar manner. The month filter won’t be applicable for YTD. Rest remains unchanged.
• Combine request feature of Answers should be used if the reporting date, YTD and MTD metrics need to be shown together in one single request.
• This dummy request feature is an excellent way of capturing the user entered prompt values of any data type and manipulating the report metrics on the fly based on the captured prompt value in the dummy request.

To summarize, via this method, we get the power of the presentation variables of OBIEE, strictly to just some extent, in Siebel Analytics.

To know more about Siebel Analytics

Toggling with the Search Specification in Applet

Working with Siebel, I have come across many challenging requirements. Keeping in mind the Siebel Best Practices, the challenge gets tougher. In this post, I will share such a requirement. 

The requirement was to put search specification in a Toggle Applet. Sounds very practical and easy but trust me it was not. About the toggle applet, Siebel Tools Help says:If two applets are defined with the same business component and both have a search specification, then the search specification for the applet in lowest sector is used.

Do not specify different search specifications where several applets in one view are based on the same business component. All of these applets should have the same or an empty search specification.

Going by the above mentioned documentation, I thought of two immediate approaches:

1. Copy the BC and Map one applet which is having the search spec.

I had already made a copy of the BC and creating a third copy, to map to the two given applets, was not an intelligent approach.

2. As per the Siebel Help content we can give the search specification in a form applet.

The Applets we were dealing with were List applets and not Form applets. So the second approach was not applicable either.

Hence the best alternative was to write a script which is as follows:

Set profile attrib in two applets when the user is going to toggle or executed query or SortAscending or SortDescending.

APPLET 1:

if (MethodName == “ExecuteQuery” ||  MethodName == “SortAscending” ||  MethodName == “SortDescending”)

{

TheApplication ().SetProfileAttr (“UserDoingQuery”, “Y”);

}

if (MethodName == “ToggleTo”)

{

TheApplication().SetProfileAttr(“Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin”, “2″);

}

APPLET 2:

Use the same code as above and,

Set Profile Attribute as “Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin” = 1.

In Event method of Business Component (BusComp_PreQuery   event)

Get the profile Attrib and give the search spec as per your requirement and clear the profile Attribute.

if ((TheApplication().GetProfileAttr(“Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin”) == “2″) || (TheApplication().SetProfileAttr(“UserDoingQuery”) == “Y”))

{

this.SetSearchSpec (“Name”, “XYZ”);

TheApplication().SetProfileAttr (“Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin”,”");

}

if ((TheApplication().GetProfileAttr(“Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin”) == “2″) || (TheApplication().SetProfileAttr(“UserDoingQuery”) == “Y”))

{

this.SetSearchSpec (“Name”, “ABC”);

TheApplication ().SetProfileAttr (“Uni Tgt Team ToggledBackToAdmin”,”");

}

This script helped in enabling the search specification in a toggle applet. Hence, another challenging requirement was successfully met.

To know more about Toggle Applet