Migrating Oracle BI Discoverer Metadata to Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

December 2011
Revision 10.1.3.4.1.4

Includes details of using the Discoverer Metadata Migration Assistant (DOMA)

Contents
CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................. 2 1. 2. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 3. 3.1 3.2 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 4 WHY MIGRATE TO ORACLE BI ENTERPRISE EDITION? ................................................... 5 ORACLE BI SERVER .......................................................................................................................... 5 ORACLE BI ADMINISTRATION TOOL ................................................................................................ 5 ORACLE BI INTERACTIVE DASHBOARDS ......................................................................................... 6 ORACLE BI ANSWERS....................................................................................................................... 6 ORACLE BI DELIVERS ...................................................................................................................... 6 ORACLE BI PUBLISHER..................................................................................................................... 6 ORACLE BI DISCONNECTED ANALYTICS ......................................................................................... 6 ORACLE BI APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................................... 6 DISCOVERER METADATA MIGRATION ASSISTANT ........................................................... 7 SUITABILITY OF THE MIGRATION ASSISTANT .................................................................................. 7 PRE-REQUISITES ............................................................................................................................... 8

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3

3.3 3.4

Discoverer EUL .......................................................................................................8 Installed OBI EE ......................................................................................................8 Tm-extractors-0.4.jar ...............................................................................................8

INSTALLING THE PACKAGE .............................................................................................................. 8 INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE MIGRATION ASSISTANT ................................................................ 11

3.4.1 Export Discoverer metadata ...................................................................................11 3.4.2 Using the overall command line executable ..........................................................11 3.4.3 Usage Notes ...........................................................................................................12 3.4.3.1 Editing translateMyEul.abt ....................................................................................12 3.4.3.2 Running Migrate.bat ..............................................................................................12 3.4.3.3 Running MigrateEUL.exe ......................................................................................13 3.4.3.4 Running WorkbookXMLGen.bat ..........................................................................13 3.4.3.5 Running MigrateWorkbooks.exe ...........................................................................13 3.4.4 Migration Log Files ...............................................................................................14 3.4.5 Migration exception log .........................................................................................18 3.4.6 Configuration options ............................................................................................19
4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5. PROBLEMS AND DETOURS .......................................................................................................... 20 CALC DECODE FOR CHARACTER DATA TYPES ................................................................................ 20 RPD WILL NOT CONNECT TO THE DATA SOURCE ........................................................................... 20 RPD MAY NOT RETURN ANSWERS RESULTS .................................................................................. 20 WORKSHEETS WITH AUTOGENERATE NAMES................................................................................ 20 DEPENDENCE ON VERSIONS OF DISCOVERER AND OBI EE ............................................................ 20 PRIVILEGE METADATA ................................................................................................................... 21 TITLE METADATA ........................................................................................................................... 21 TEXT FORMATTING ......................................................................................................................... 21 WORKBOOK METADATA ................................................................................................................ 21 DESCRIPTION OF RPD OUTPUT FROM THE ASSISTANT ................................................. 22

5.1.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 5.1.4

End User Layer ......................................................................................................22 Business Areas .......................................................................................................22 Simple Folders .......................................................................................................22 Complex Folders ....................................................................................................22

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5.1.5 Custom Folders ......................................................................................................23 5.1.6 Items .......................................................................................................................24 5.1.7 Joins .......................................................................................................................25 5.1.7.1 Multiple Join Paths ................................................................................................26 5.1.7.2 Circular Joins .........................................................................................................28 5.1.7.3 Duplicate Joins .......................................................................................................29 5.1.7.4 Notes on Migrating Joins .......................................................................................29 5.1.8 Conditions ..............................................................................................................30 5.1.8.1 Mandatory Conditions ...........................................................................................30 5.1.8.2 Optional Conditions ...............................................................................................30 5.1.9 Aggregate Calculated Items ...................................................................................30 5.1.10 Item hierarchies ......................................................................................................31 5.1.11 Discoverer Date Hierarchies ..................................................................................32 5.1.12 Item Classes ...........................................................................................................32 5.1.13 Summary Folders ...................................................................................................32
5.2 6. DESCRIPTION OF CATALOG OUTPUT FROM THE ASSISTANT .......................................................... 32

5.2.1 6.1.1 6.1.2 6.1.3 6.1.4 6.1.5 6.1.6 6.1.7

6.2

Workbooks .............................................................................................................32 Measures ................................................................................................................33 Facts and Dimensions ............................................................................................33 Key Columns .........................................................................................................33 Migrating Folders without Joins ............................................................................33 Creation of Alias Objects .......................................................................................34 Aggregates and Calculations..................................................................................34 User Privileges .......................................................................................................34 Use of the EUL_DATE_TRUNC function ............................................................35 Joins Involving Different Data Types ....................................................................35

HOW THE ASSISTANT TRANSLATES RPD METADATA .................................................... 33

EVALUATING THE OUTPUT FROM THE ASSISTANT ......................................................................... 34

6.2.1 6.2.2

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1. Introduction
This document provides a single source of information about translating the metadata from an Oracle BI Discoverer system to that which can be used by Oracle BI Enterprise Edition (Oracle BI EE). Oracle BI EE is an innovative and comprehensive BI platform that delivers the full range of BI capabilities on a next-generation architecture designed for true enterprise deployment. It enables organizations to define a single, logical view of all enterprise data, whether in a single data warehouse or across multiple operational and analytic sources. Business users benefit from new levels of self-sufficiency to access, interact with, and utilize this information to increase effectiveness. Pervasive Oracle BI EE offers a highly intuitive and interactive 100% Web UI that delivers rich and powerful BI from across multiple sources to any audience, providing insight where and when users need it to drive actions, decisions, and business processes. All without requiring special BI expertise or power user skills Comprehensive without Compromise Oracle BI EE offers the full range of BI capabilities, including interactive intelligence dashboards, ad hoc analysis, proactive detection and alerts, intelligent workflow, enterprise reporting, disconnected analytics, MS Office integration, real-time predictive analytics, and more. It provides innovative next-generation capabilities, including a model-driven enterprise semantic layer, heterogeneous data access and integration, modern Services Oriented architecture, and mission critical scalability and performance. Hot-Pluggable Oracle BI EE can leverage your existing IT investments, including Oracle and non-Oracle databases, applications, and custom solutions.

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2. Why Migrate to Oracle BI Enterprise Edition?

It is assumed that readers of this document will be familiar with the components of Oracle BI Discoverer. This section describes the comparable components of Oracle BI EE and highlights the functional benefits.

2.1 Oracle BI Server

The Oracle BI Server sits at the heart of Oracle BI EE generating optimized queries across multiple data sources and presenting end users with a single, easy to use, logical model of their business. This can benefit end users in many ways such as being able to present a single graph with order data, receivables data and forecast all coming from different sources. In addition, the Oracle BI Server can act as an ODBC data source, allowing querying of the metadata through tools such as Excel or other third party applications. The Oracle BI Server includes a multi-user data cache that provides high scalability and improved query performance. Cache administration is carried out from the Oracle BI Administration Tool where metadata objects can be flagged as being cacheable in the physical layer. Other benefits of the Oracle BI Server include clustering capability enabling high availability and ability to use a variety of enterprise security models.

2.2 Oracle BI Administration Tool

The metadata that is used by the Oracle BI Server is created using the Oracle BI Administration Tool. This is comparable to Discoverer Administrator. The Oracle BI EE metadata is contained within a file known as an .RPD file. This is the equivalent of a Discoverer EUL. A Discoverer business areas is roughly equivalent to a presentation layer catalog that are called subject areas within Oracle BI Answers. There is a key difference between the metadata models of the two products whereby BI EE metadata consists of three layers. A Physical Layer contains the mappings to the objects that hold the data e.g. a database, MS Excel spreadsheet, XML file etc. This layer also contains information about how the mappings relate to each other in the form of primary/foreign keys. The Logical or Business Model Layer contains mappings of how objects in the physical layer relate to each other. Key differences with Discoverer are the creation of dimensions and facts leading to the ability to define level based measures. The Presentation Layer contains the view of the metadata that the end users see. It is possible to view a diagrammatic representation of both the physical model (i.e. database model) and logical business model layers. The benefit of this is a clear and quick understanding of how the metadata objects are related. The Oracle BI Administration tool provides support for multi-user BI metadata administration (including a check in/out model) and multi-language metadata. The Oracle BI EE metadata can span multiple heterogeneous data sources, share common dimensions between multiple subject areas and therefore provides a common and consistent reporting framework across all business functions.

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2.3 Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards

Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards provide a fully interactive collection of analytic content with a rich variety of visualizations in a pure thin client. Guided navigations and alerts drive the user to greater insight to take the right actions at the right time for their business. This is comparable to the Discoverer Portlet provider. The BI Interactive dashboards are easier to use and offer a greater presentation and visualization capabilities.

2.4 Oracle BI Answers

Oracle BI Answers is a pure thin client ad-hoc query and analysis tool with a simple point and click interface for building queries. Users interact with a business friendly view of their data. This is comparable to Discoverer Plus and Viewer. In Answers, a query is known as a request. This is equivalent to a Discoverer worksheet. Answers requests are stored in a catalog either in a users personal area or in a shared area. There is full support in the catalog for organizing requests in folders and subfolders.

2.5 Oracle BI Delivers

Oracle BI Delivers enables pro-active notification, monitoring and alerting and report distribution to multiple channels such as email, dashboard alerts and mobile devices. It includes a web based interface for creation of alerts (known as iBots) and the ability to execute other iBots, scripts or Java programs to build up analytic workflows. There is no comparable alerting and distribution functionality in Discoverer other than the ability to schedule worksheets and share the results with other users of the system.

2.6 Oracle BI Publisher

Oracle BI Publisher enables pixel-perfect reports to be generated using Answers requests as the source. MS Word or Adobe Acrobat can be used to layout reports and create templates. There is no equivalent functionality in Discoverer. Note that BI Publisher also integrates with Discoverer as a source.

2.7 Oracle BI Disconnected Analytics

Oracle BI Disconnected enables the capabilities of Interactive Dashboards and Answers but available offline via data synchronization between the mobile client and central BI Server. There is no equivalent in Discoverer.

2.8 Oracle BI Applications

The Oracle BI Applications are a complete prebuilt BI solutions that deliver intuitive, role based intelligence for everyone in an organization. They consist of ETL adapters, metadata, dashboards and KPIs built to industry best practices to gain insight from applications including Siebel, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards and SAP.
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3. Discoverer Metadata Migration Assistant

This section describes and provides instructions for using the Discoverer Metadata Migration Assistant (the Assistant). This is a command line utility that greatly accelerates the translation of Discoverer metadata from the EUL to Oracle BI EE.

3.1 Suitability of the Migration Assistant

There are several types of system that Discoverer can be used to report against: Data warehouse i.e. a star or snowflake schema. This is the optimum type of metadata to use with the Assistant and due to the nature of the Oracle BI EE business model layer generates metadata that in the majority of cases needs few manual changes before being able to create queries. Custom built OLTP schema. This type of metadata will probably need manual changes after being run through the Assistant as the Discoverer metadata can contain join mappings that do not directly translate to the Oracle BI EE business model layer e.g. multiple join paths between folders and circular joins. The Assistant can cope with these scenarios by the optional creation of additional objects in the BI EE metadata logical layer e.g. alias dimension or fact tables. Further details can be found later in this document. Discoverer reporting on Oracle Applications e.g. Oracle BIS or custom built systems. Oracle recommends customers evaluate the Oracle BI Applications in these scenarios as they offer the fastest time to value using prebuilt data warehouse star schemas, ETL routines and Oracle BI EE metadata and dashboards built to best practices.

The Assistant is a free tool kit. It is made available via the Oracle Technology Network on an as is basis without any provision of support or plan for any additional enhancements. While every care has been taken with the production of the tool kit, there are no warranties of any sort made on the outcomes it produces. While Oracle BI Discoverer and Oracle BI EE are both tools that provide end users with information sourced from databases, their approach to this is significantly different, and complete translation of metadata is not possible. The Assistant provides an excellent starting point for evaluating what an OBI EE based environment can look like, but as with any move to a new environment, a direct transplantation may not provide the business benefits that the new environment can deliver. Consideration should be given as to whether aspects of the current reporting metadata design exist to suit Oracle BI Discoverer rather than the business needs that the tool serves. Often a fresh approach delivers many more benefits than a literal translation.

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3.2 Pre-requisites
3.2.1 Discoverer EUL The minimum version of Discoverer EUL that can be used with the Assistant is 10.1.2.n. If you have an older version, you should download Discoverer 10.1.2.n and create your eex file using that. 3.2.2 Installed OBI EE Oracle BI EE version 10.1.3.4.1 must be installed on the same machine as the Assistant as it depends on libraries found in the OBI EE installation. The 10g format RPD file and catalog reports that are generated can be simply upgraded to the later 11g formats for use with that level of OBI EE. : Upgrade the migrated catalog to 11g catalog using Upgrade Assistant feature available in 11g.Rpd is upgraded to 11g the instance you open it using 11g Admin tool 3.2.3 Tm-extractors-0.4.jar The Assistant also depends on the above jar file to perform its work. The file tm-extractors-0.4.jar must be downloaded into the bin folder of the Assistants release package. One source for this file is
http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/maven/org.textmining/jars/tm-extractors-0.4.jar

3.3 Installing the Package

Copy the zip file to your C:\ drive and unzip the contents. The following structure will be created by default. Both the disk location, and the name of the topmost folder can be changed, The bin folder and its contents should not be renamed.

File / Folder Bin

Description Contains all the executables released with the Assistant. This excludes the tm-extractors-0.4.jar which needs to be downloaded into this location.

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File / Folder hrsample

Description Contains a sample eex file and a set of empty subfolders for the translation of its metadata. This serves as an example that you can replicate for your own translation translateMyEUL.bat Can be double clicked in Windows Explorer to run the translation processes for the hr_sample.eex, and can be edited to allow you run your own custom translation usage.txt Describes how to execute migrate.bat for your own translation process (this is found in the bin folder)

Note:

tm-extractors-0.4.jar is not included in the release package and needs to be downloaded into this folder. File / Folder Description migrationConfig.properties If this file does not already exist in the folder <SAROOTDIR>\ server\Bin then it should copied there. It can be edited to customize the way certain OBI EE constructs will be created. See below for details.

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This folder and its contents are provided as an example. File / Folder hr_sample.eex Description Is the extracted Discoverer End User Layer and a set of Workbooks The resulting RPD file and the logs that document the actions taken during the translation of the EUL to an RPD will also be placed here Is the empty folder in which the OBI EE reports that correspond to each worksheet will be created. Note <SADATADIR>\web\config\instanceconfig.xml needs to be edited to point to this folder before the Assistant is run Is the empty folder in which the intermediate XML file that represents the workbooks and the task logs will be created

new_webcat

new_workbooks

Move to the <SADATADIR>\web\config folder

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Edit the instanceconfig.xml file for the supplied sample the change would be as shown on line 5 of the screen shot below

Save the file. You are now ready to translate the metadata in the supplied hr_sample.eex

3.4

Instructions for using the Migration assistant

3.4.1 Export Discoverer metadata The first stage in the process is to export the Discoverer metadata you wish to translate to an .eex file using the Discoverer Administration tool. This document assumes familiarity with the Discoverer product but details of this process can be found online in the section About using the Discoverer Export Wizard and Import Wizard in the Discoverer Administration Guide: http://download.oracle.com/docs/pdf/B13916_04.pdf You should export the workbooks as well as the EUL at the same time. 3.4.2 Using the overall command line executable The Assistant is provided as a set of command line executables that must be run on the same machine as an Oracle BI EE 10g installation. Oracle BI EE does not need to be running for the Assistant to work, it just needs library software from the installed environment. The release bundle includes a sample that you can use as a template and then modify. The command file translateMyEUL.bat works with the exported EUL file called hr_sample.eex, the folder hrsample and its sub-folders. Make sure that new_webcat and new_workbooks are empty and edit the file the <SADATADIR>\web\config\instanceconfig.xml as described earlier.

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After the RPD file has been generated, open this file using the Oracle BI EE Administration Tool to update the connection pool settings to point to the data source being used, run a consistency check and save these changes to the RPD file. The rpd file is named <eex_file>.rpd for the hr_sample.eex sample provided that will be hr_sample.rpd. The sequence of execution is as follows 1 <Assistant>\translateMyEUL.bat calls 1.1 <Assistant>\bin\Migrate.bat calls 1.1.1 <Assistant>\bin\MigrateEUL.exe to create the RPD 1.1.2 <Assistant>\bin\WorkbookXMLGen.bat calls 1.1.2.1 Java to generate the XML from the .eex file 1.1.2.2 <Assistant>\bin\MigrateWorkbooks.exe to create the webcat Step 1 Step 1.1 can be run after editing the bat file to make use of a different .eex file and folder structure can be run with custom initiating parameters (equivalent to the edits in Step 1) to generate an RPD and the webcat files see the usage notes later can be run separately to read the XML files and create the webcat. If some workbooks are causing a problem their XML can be selectively removed to detour any such problems

Step 1.1.2.2

3.4.3 Usage Notes 3.4.3.1 Editing translateMyEul.abt You can change highlighted items on line 13 of the command file as follows: %PROJ%\bin\Migrate.bat %PROJ%\hrsample\hr_sample.eex %PROJ%\hrsample\new_workbooks true true true 1 3.4.3.2 Running Migrate.bat You can run this command file passing it 2 required parameters and 4 optional parameters. Param Usage explanation 1 Full path to the EEX file to be migrated 2 Folder path where workbook xmls will be created 3 true / false (optional) true to create rpd (the default) false to skip rpd creation 4 true / false (ptional) true filters to be shown in Results page of Answers false filters not shown in Results page (the default) 5 true / false (optional) true Use existing discoverer Worksheet format false Use OBIEE default format (the default)

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Param 6

Usage explanation 1 / 2 (optional) 1 less logging (the default) 2 debug logging

3.4.3.3 Running MigrateEUL.exe You can run this executable passing it 2 required parameters Param Usage explanation 1 Full path to the EEX file to be migrated 2 true / false (optional) true to create rpd (the default) false to skip rpd creation 3 true / false (optiona) true Use existing discoverer Worksheet format false Use OBIEE default format (the default) You should always open the generated RPD and do the following. a) Set the credential for the data source these are not migrated b) Set the database properties to Default c) Run the consistency checker d) Save the updated RPD 3.4.3.4 Running WorkbookXMLGen.bat You can run this command file passing it 2 required parameters Param Usage explanation 1 Full path to the EEX file to be migrated 2 Folder path where workbook xmls will be created 3.4.3.5 Running MigrateWorkbooks.exe You can run this co6mand file passing it 2 required parameters and 3 optional parameters Param Usage explanation 1 Full path to the EEX file to be migrated 2 Folder path where workbook xmls are located 3 true / false (optional) true filters to be shown in Results page of Answers false filters not shown in Results page (the default) 4 true / false (optional) true Use existing discoverer Worksheet format false Use OBIEE default format (the default) 5 1 / 2 (optional) 1 less logging (the default) 2 debug logging Note: the folder in which the catalog files will be created is dictated by the setting in the instanceconfig.xml file

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3.4.4 Migration Log Files The Assistant generates two log files that contain the following information: <eex_file>.migration.log - captures the progress of metadata migration at a high level <eex_ file>.exception.log - captures the items whose metadata could not be migrated such as skipped joins and folders. For each of the business areas whose metadata is translated, these files contain the following details: The name of business area being processed Details of any joins in the Discoverer metadata that may be skipped due to the existence of multiple join paths. For each skipped join, a folder ID is generated that can be used as a reference for a second run of the Assistant with the required folder IDs added to the MigrationConfig.properties file in order to generate folder aliases. The folder IDs are listed with the configuration file option IncludePathsForFolders.

An example of the log file created by migrateEUL.exe is included below: Oracle BI SE - EE Migration Assistant Version 10.1.3.4.1 Repository creation started... **************************************************************** Business Area : HR - Current Employee Details **************************************************************** -- Processing EUL Joins.... -- Processing Folder(s) based on EUL Joins.... ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME -------------------------------------------### FOLDER CONTAINER MAPPING ### Mapping For Folder : HR: Countries : HR: Departments Mapping For Folder : HR: Departments : HR: Departments Mapping For Folder : HR: Employees : HR: Employees Mapping For Folder : HR: Jobs : HR: Jobs Mapping For Folder : HR: Locations : HR: Departments Mapping For Folder : HR: Managers : HR: Managers Mapping For Folder : HR: Regions : HR: Departments -- Processing Complex Folder(s).... -- Processing Dimension(s).... ************* CREATING PHYSICAL LAYER ************* -- Creating Database...[DONE] -- Creating Connection Pool...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Table(s)... -- Physical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Join(s)... -- Physical Join(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PHYSICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING LOGICAL LAYER *************

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-- Creating Subject Area...[DONE] -- Creating Logical Table(s)... -- Creating Logical Join(s)... -- Logical Join(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Calculation(s)... - Creating Complex Folder Calculation(s)... -- Calculation(s) creation...[DONE] -- Logical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Dimension(s)... Dimension : HR: Employees: Hire Date: Default Date Hierarchy Dimension : Geography Hierarchy -- Dimension(s) creation...[DONE] ************* LOGICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING PRESENTATION LAYER ************* -- Creating Presentation Folder(s)... Folder : HR: Regions Folder : HR: Countries Folder : HR: Locations Folder : HR: Departments Folder : HR: Employees Folder : HR: Managers Folder : HR: Jobs -- Presentation Folder(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PRESENTATION LAYER CREATION DONE ************* **************************************************************** Business Area : HR - Employee History **************************************************************** -- Processing EUL Joins.... -- Processing Folder(s) based on EUL Joins.... ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME -------------------------------------------### FOLDER CONTAINER MAPPING ### Mapping For Folder : HIST: Departments : HIST: Departments Mapping For Folder : HIST: Employees : HIST: Employees Mapping For Folder : HIST: Job History : HIST: Job History Mapping For Folder : HIST: Jobs : HIST: Jobs -- Processing Complex Folder(s).... -- Processing Dimension(s).... ************* CREATING PHYSICAL LAYER ************* -- Creating Database...[DONE] -- Creating Connection Pool...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Table(s)... -- Physical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Join(s)... -- Physical Join(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PHYSICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING LOGICAL LAYER ************* -- Creating Subject Area...[DONE] -- Creating Logical Table(s)... -- Creating Logical Join(s)...
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-- Logical Join(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Calculation(s)... - Creating Complex Folder Calculation(s)... -- Calculation(s) creation...[DONE] -- Logical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Dimension(s)... -- Dimension(s) creation...[DONE] ************* LOGICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING PRESENTATION LAYER ************* -- Creating Presentation Folder(s)... Folder : HIST: Employee Job History -- Presentation Folder(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PRESENTATION LAYER CREATION DONE ************* **************************************************************** Business Area : TEST Business Area **************************************************************** -- Processing EUL Joins.... -- Processing Folder(s) based on EUL Joins.... ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME -------------------------------------------### FOLDER CONTAINER MAPPING ### Mapping For Folder : Countries : Countries Mapping For Folder : Regions : Regions -- Processing Complex Folder(s).... -- Processing Dimension(s).... ************* CREATING PHYSICAL LAYER ************* -- Creating Database...[DONE] -- Creating Connection Pool...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Table(s)... -- Physical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Physical Join(s)... -- Physical Join(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PHYSICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING LOGICAL LAYER ************* -- Creating Subject Area...[DONE] -- Creating Logical Table(s)... -- Creating Logical Join(s)... -- Logical Join(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Calculation(s)... - Creating Complex Folder Calculation(s)... -- Calculation(s) creation...[DONE] -- Logical Table(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating Dimension(s)... -- Dimension(s) creation...[DONE] ************* LOGICAL LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ************* CREATING PRESENTATION LAYER ************* -- Creating Presentation Folder(s)... Folder : Regions Folder : Countries Folder : Region Country
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-- Presentation Folder(s) creation...[DONE] ************* PRESENTATION LAYER CREATION DONE ************* ------------------- All Business Area(s) processed -------------- Creating Security Filter(s)... -- Security Filter(s) creation...[DONE] -- Creating User(s)... DISCOVERER PUBLIC HR CONNECT DBA DELETE_CATALOG_ROLE EXECUTE_CATALOG_ROLE EXP_FULL_DATABASE GATHER_SYSTEM_STATISTICS HS_ADMIN_ROLE IMP_FULL_DATABASE PLUSTRACE RESOURCE SCHEDULER_ADMIN SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE XDBADMIN XDBWEBSERVICES -- User(s) creation...[DONE] The migrated repository is saved at C:\OracleDiscovererTranslation\hrsample\hr_sample.rpd -----------------------------------------EUL MIGRATION SUCCESSFUL -----------------------------------------An example of the log file created by DiscoWkbkXmlGen.jar is included below: Aug 3, 2011 3:22:42 PM null INFO: Creating Discoverer workbook xmls in Dir C:\OracleDiscovererTranslation\hrsample\new_workbooks\ Aug 3, 2011 3:22:42 PM null INFO: Creating C:\OracleDiscovererTranslation\hrsample\new_workbooks\HR.xml Aug 3, 2011 3:22:42 PM null INFO: [Done]

An example of the log file created by migrateWorkbooks.exe is included below: Oracle BI SE - EE Workbook Migration Assistant Version 10.1.3.4.1

Using Web Catalog : C:\OracleDiscovererTranslation\hrsample\new_webcat Request creation started...

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Discoverer Worksheet Format will be applied to Migrated Reports as per your Option: Filters will be shown in Results page of Answers as per your Option: *** Formula isEVALUATE('TO_CHAR(%1,''YYYYMMDD'' )' AS CHAR,NOW()) *** Formula isEVALUATE('TO_CHAR(%1,''YYYYMMDD'' )' AS CHAR,NOW()) *** Formula isEVALUATE('TO_CHAR(21)',) Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Job History...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Emp by Region (NOT IN)... Token Conditions in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Emp by Dept & Mgr...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Employee Salary By Dept Custom Format (__)... Token Conditions in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Employee Salary By Dept Format Currency... Token Conditions in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Currency Format Only... Token Conditions in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.CASE DECODE...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.CASE Complex...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Concatenation...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Substring...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Parameter... Token Parameters in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Condition with OR... Token Conditions in Title is not supported, it will not be migrated[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Format Tests...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Calc Item Format...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.Crosstab Analysis...[DONE] Creating Request : discoverer.HR.InitCap...[DONE] Request creation Complete --------------------------------------WORKBOOK MIGRATION SUCCESSFUL --------------------------------------3.4.5 Migration exception log An example of the exception log file created by MigrateEUL.exe is included below: Oracle BI SE - EE Migration Assistant Version 10.1.3.4.1 **************************************************************** Business Area : HR - Current Employee Details **************************************************************** ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME -------------------------------------------**************************************************************** Business Area : HR - Employee History **************************************************************** ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME
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-------------------------------------------**************************************************************** Business Area : TEST Business Area **************************************************************** ## List of Folder(s) with SKIPPED JOINS / PATHS FOLDER_ID SELECTED = ### FOLDER_NAME JOIN_NAME -------------------------------------------3.4.6 Configuration options A configuration file MigrationConfig.properties is provided for the user to control the migration behavior. The options available are as below: Property CreateAggregatedCols Settings TRUE - Columns with aggregations like SUM, MIN, MAX,
AVG and COUNT will be created for measure columns. FALSE - Aggregated Columns will be created for measure columns based on the DEFAULT AGGREGATION property set in the EUL TRUE - Separate repository is generated for each business area. FALSE - All the business areas are migrated to a single repository. A comma separated list of JOIN_ID to be skipped during migration. Any JOIN_ID listed here will get excluded during migration.

CreateSeperateRPDs

ExcludeJoins ConsiderMultiplePaths

TRUE - The migration assistant will accommodate the joins that would be otherwise skipped during migration. FALSE - The migration assistant will not accommodate the joins skipped during migration. IncludePathsForFolders A comma separated list of folder_id [available in the Filename.exception.log] for which the skipped joins must be accommodated during migration. This is used in conjunction with ConsiderMultiplePaths = FALSE. If ConsiderMultiplePaths = TRUE then by default all the skipped joins will be considered except those configured with ExcludeJoins property. Connection pool DataSourceName, Username parameters

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4. Problems and Detours

This section provides a list of known problems that are not feasible to fix and require detours

4.1 Calc decode for character data types

Operations involving columns of data type VARCHAR are permitted in Discoverer with numeric.values. OBI EE is strictedrand requires the numbers to be surrounded by single quotes. In such cases Answers will display an error such as SQL ERROR:Data type doesn't match, Char is Expected but Number The detour to this problem is to edit the column with the problem and add single quotes around the numbers.

4.2 RPD Will not connect to the data source

The Migration Assistant does not transfer database credentials to the RPD, so these have to be manually supplied. After you have done this verify consistency and save.

4.3 RPD may not return Answers results

The Migration Assistant can take an .EEX file and generate an RPD. This RPD may fail to return results to Answers even if it does return results via a right click of a physical Table in the Admin tool. To detour this problem, use the Admin tool to go to the Database properties and reset its features to Default. After you have done this verify consistency and save.

4.4 Worksheets with Autogenerate Names

Any worksheet items with names defined as AUTO_GENERATED_NAME n, cannot be migrated. Examples of this kind of worksheet are found in Video store tutorial sample workbooks. If generate column name automatically is selected in Discoverer, then the XML for the worksheet, does not contain a real column name as Discoverer dynamically generates this. Consequently a report cannot be built because there is no way to identify what RPD column to use.

4.5 Dependence on versions of Discoverer and OBI EE

The minimum version of Discover required is 10.1.2.1 the Discoverer environment must be upgraded to this level or later before the Migration Assistant can deal with the exported .EEX files. The only versions of OBI EE are 10.1.3.4.1 and 10.1.3.4.2 the RPD and Answers reports generated can then be upgraded using the upgrade tools available with OBI EE 11g.

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4.6 Privilege Metadata

No privilege metadata is migrated as OBI EE has its own specific privilege and security features and there is no simple mapping between the tools. This set of privileges includes Product, Workbook, Worksheet, Query Governor,

4.7 Title metadata

The following title meta data is not taken across to Answers reports Workbook Name, Worksheet Name, Conditions, Data points, Axis Items, Page Items, Parameters

4.8 Text formatting

The following formatting is not taken across to Answers reports Uppercase, Lowercase, Capitalized,

4.9 Workbook Metadata

The following workbook metadata will not be migrated. Options, Filter Drills, N-pass filters, PL/SQL functions

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5. Description of RPD output from the Assistant

This section describes the mappings used by the Assistant for the metadata properties in Discoverer Administrator. Where there is no equivalent property in Oracle BI EE this is indicated by n/a. It also describes any assumptions that the Assistant makes when creating the three layers that make up the Oracle BIEE metadata model. 5.1.1 End User Layer The Discoverer End User Layer (EUL) maps to a BIEE metadata repository file (.rpd file). 5.1.2 Business Areas Business Areas map to a presentation catalog also known as a subject area in BI Answers. 5.1.3 Simple Folders Discoverer simple folders are mapped against database tables or views. They correspondingly migrate to physical tables in the physical layer, logical tables in the business model layer and to presentation tables in the presentation layer. The tables only migrate to the presentation layer if they are set to be visible to users in Discoverer. The following table summarizes how the properties are migrated. Discoverer Property Name Description Visible to User Database Owner Object Optimizer Hints Target Property In Presentation Layer Table name Table description Will not appear in this layer if set to NO n/a n/a n/a n/a Target Property In Logical Layer Table name Table description n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Target Property In Physical Layer Physical table Table description n/a DB user in connection pool Physical layer schema Physical layer table Physical table hint property in general tab of table properties n/a

Identifier

n/a

n/a

5.1.4 Complex Folders Discoverer complex folders are used to combine items from multiple simple folders. The analogy often used to describe complex folders is that of a database view. From a

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Discoverer administration perspective, they are useful for combining items into logical groups to simplify the end users view of the metadata. From an end users perspective, this can make life easier as they only need to go to a single folder to get all the items they need for a report rather than multiple folders. Discoverer Property Name Description Visible to User Target Property In Presentation Layer Table name Table description Will not appear in this layer if set to NO n/a n/a Target Property In Logical Layer Table name Table description n/a Target Property In Physical Layer n/a n/a n/a

Optimizer Hints Identifier

n/a n/a

n/a n/a

Complex folders will be mapped to a logical table in the Logical Layer having a Logical Table Source that contains the base folders and the joins between them. This folder in turn will be joined to those base folders, which are Dimensions. Complex folders appear in the Presentation Layer with the following mapping: The item references of the complex folder will be picked from the respective base folders in the logical layer. For creating the Discoverer admin calculations within a complex folder, a logical table corresponding to the complex folder will be created in the logical layer.. Those calculations involving items from more than one base table will be created in the Complex Folder. The Logical Folder will then be moved to the presentation layer. However, if the admin calculations are based on a single base folder, they will be migrated to the corresponding Logical folder and not the Complex Folder.

Note that complex folders based on items from another complex folder cannot be migrated automatically. 5.1.5 Custom Folders Custom folders enable flexibility in folder creation e.g. SQL statements using set operators (e.g. UNION, INTERSECT, MINUS). On entering a SQL statement in the UI for creating a custom folder, a folder is created containing items that are referenced in the SQL statement. In Oracle BI EE the custom folders are migrated to the physical layer with a table type of select. This is also known as an opaque view. Discoverer Property Name Target Property In Presentation Layer Table name Target Property In Logical Layer Table name Target Property In Physical Layer Table name (type = select)

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Description Visible to User

Valid

Custom SQL Identifier

Description Will not appear in this layer if set to NO Will not appear in this layer if not valid n/a n/a

Description n/a

Description n/a

n/a

Only created if its valid Default initialization string n/a

n/a n/a

5.1.6 Items Items are the basic building block for queries. They are mapped to columns in database tables or views or created from calculations in Discoverer Administrator. These calculations can be based upon PL/SQL functions. Discoverer items migrate to physical columns in the physical layer, logical columns in the business model layer and presentation columns in the presentation layer of Oracle BI EE. Only items that are not hidden from end users will appear in the presentation layer. Discoverer Property Name Auto generate name Description Data type Formula Target Property In Presentation Layer Column name n/a Description n/a n/a Target Property In Logical Layer Column name n/a Description Datatype Column formula in the logical table source (LTS) physical mapping n/a n/a Target Property In Physical Layer Column name n/a Description Datatype n/a

Database column Visible to user

n/a Will not appear in this layer if set to NO n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

n/a n/a

Item class Date hierarchy Default position Default aggregate Heading Format mask Alignment Word wrap Case storage Display case Default width

n/a n/a n/a Default aggregation rule for the column. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

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Replace NULL with Content type Alternative display value Max char fetched Indexed item Identifier

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

In Discoverer, when building a query, end users are able to use either the default aggregation for an item or select from a list of available aggregation functions. In Oracle BI EE metadata, it is possible to specify the default aggregation for a particular column in the logical layer, however this aggregation cannot be changed (in a similar manner to Discoverer) during the creation of the answers worksheet. The user needs to create another column and define the required aggregation. In order to offer end users a similar experience for selecting aggregations the migration has an option to create a separate column in the logical layer for each default aggregation that is supported in Discoverer. This configuration option is CreateAggregatedCols. If set to TRUE while migrating, all aggregations supported by Discoverer will be generated. If set to FALSE then a column with its aggregation function set to the Discoverer default aggregation will be created. Discoverer calculated items based on Oracle PL/SQL functions or Oracle analytic functions will be migrated to Oracle BI EE metadata that uses the EVALUATE and EVALUATE_AGGR functions. These calculations will be created as a logical column with its formula being set in the Physical Mapping of the Logical Table Source. 5.1.7 Joins Joins in Discoverer metadata define relationships between the folders that are used for building queries. Usually joins are defined using the corresponding key columns of the underlying database objects. Due to the differences in the metadata models between Discoverer and Oracle BIEE there are some differences in the types of joins that can be migrated automatically. It is in this area of metadata that the differences between Discoverer and Oracle BIEE metadata become apparent. The main difference is that the logical business model layer needs to be based around one or more star schema models (this is a common data model for data warehouse design). A variation on the star schema model is known as a snowflake model (commonly represents the hierarchy levels of a dimension as separate tables). In these cases, the migration assistant collapses the snowflake dimensions to their lowest level of dimension above the fact table. The physical metadata layer does not need to be modeled around a star schema so this layer is created using the join information from the Discoverer metadata. Discoverer Target Property Target Property Target Property

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Property Name Auto generate name Description Master Detail Formula Outer join on

In Presentation Layer n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

In Logical Layer Logical join name n/a n/a Cardinality = 1 Cardinality = N n/a Type Default Join Type is InnerJoin OuterJoinOnDetail is mapped as LeftOuterJoin OuterJoinOnMaster is mapped as RightOuterJoin

In Physical Layer Physical foreign key name n/a n/a The master table is the one containing a primary key The detail table is the one containing the foreign key Expression for the foreign key relationship Type. It is always set automatically and cannot be changed in the Oracle BI EE Admin

Join details Join relationship

n/a n/a

n/a Cardinality. OneToOne join relationships are migrated as 1:N join since 1:1 joins are not supported DetailItemValuesAl waysExistInMaster is mapped as 1:N DetailItemValuesM ightNotExistInMast er is mapped as 0,1:N

n/a Cardinality. It is always set automatically and cannot be changed in the Oracle BI EE Admin

Identifier

n/a

n/a

n/a

5.1.7.1 Multiple Join Paths Discoverer folders having Multiple Join paths to another folder will be supported by creating object aliases that are based on the same underlying physical object but have the required alternative join paths.
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In the case of multiple joins to the same folder, the detail folder will be aliased:
CALENDAR DATE

J1

J2

SALES

Join Name J1 J2

Join Condition
CALENDAR_DATE.DATE_COL = SALES.TRANSACTION_DATE CALENDAR_DATE.DATE_COL = SALES.ORDER_DATE

This alias folder SALES_A1 is created by the Assistant to accommodate the join J2 to CALENDAR_DATE:
CALENDAR DATE

J1

J2

SALES

SALES_A1

Multiple paths exist to the same folder:

Join Name J1

Join Condition
EMPLOYEE.DEPT_NO = DEPT.DEPT_NO

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J2 J3

BONUS.EMP_ID = EMPLOYEE.EMP_ID BONUS. DEPT_NO = DEPT.DEPT_NO

The BONUS folder is aliased to accommodate the join J3 to DEPT.

5.1.7.2 Circular Joins In this case, a circular join path exists between the folders:

Join Name J1 J2 J3

Join Condition
EMPLOYEE. DEPT_NO = DEPT.DEPT_NO DEPT.REGION_ID = REGION.REGION_ID REGION.REGION_HEAD = EMPLOYEE. EMP_ID

The REGION folder is aliased (REGION_A1) to accommodate the join J3 to EMPLOYEE.

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5.1.7.3 Duplicate Joins In the case where duplicate join definitions exist in the Discoverer metadata, only one of the duplicate joins created in Discoverer will be considered for migration. Any duplicate joins that have been detected will be noted in the migration log files. 5.1.7.4 Notes on Migrating Joins This section describes how various joins are treated by the migration assistant due to differences between Discoverer and the Oracle BI Server. The join between any two folders is skipped when they share more than one common dimension, for example see below:
Table D1 Table F1 Table D2

Table F2

Table D3

This heuristic is applied to simplify the model..In the case above, table F1 and F2 are better treated as facts and D1, D2,D3 as dimensions in a classical star schema. The join between F1 and F2 is redundant for most practical situations. In the cases where it is determined to be important, it can be manually restored by aliasing table F2.

Folder A has a join to Folder B and vice-versa. In such a scenario one of the joins will be skipped randomly. The skipped join is not available for further inclusion Joins involving calculations in the join condition will not be migrated. Only one join path is available between the component folders of a complex folder

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In the case of non-equi joins in Discoverer metadata, the resulting object in the physical layer is a complex join Oracle BIEE does not support 1:1 joins

In the following cases, Oracle recommends checking the results of the migration assistant: Joins based on columns where the column in the master and the detail tables have different data type Calculations involving EUL_DATE_TRUNC function Admin mandatory conditions based on date columns

5.1.8 Conditions Discoverer allows the creation of conditions in the metadata. Conditions can be both mandatory and optional. Mandatory conditions are not visible to the end user and have the effect of limiting the data that can be queried. Optional conditions can be defined for end user convenience, i.e. the user (who may not be familiar with SQL syntax) can optionally use pre-defined conditions, perhaps containing complicated logic in their reports by dragging them into their report from a list of available conditions. 5.1.8.1 Mandatory Conditions The migration assistant translates mandatory conditions depending on whether it is a simple, custom or complex folder. For simple and custom folders, mandatory conditions are migrated as Content Filters in the where clause section of the Logical Table Source. For complex folders, all users migrated from the Discoverer metadata will be of the BI EE group everyone so mandatory conditions on complex folders will be applied to this user group as a security filter. 5.1.8.2 Optional Conditions The optional conditions that can be defined in Discoverer metadata will not be migrated to the Oracle BI EE metadata in this initial release of the migration assistant. NOTE: It is expected that Optional conditions will be persisted as saved filters in the Web Catalog when Workbook Migration is available.

5.1.9 Aggregate Calculated Items Discoverer aggregate calculations (also known as admin calcs) are calculated items that contain an aggregate function (e.g. SUM). They are represented by a different icon to other items in a folder (see below):

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The formula for the margin percentage item highlighted above is: SUM (Video Analysis Information.Profit)*100 / SUM (Video Analysis Information.Sales) These formulas will be migrated using a variation of the EVALUATE function available in BI EE. 5.1.10 Item hierarchies Discoverer item hierarchies provide end users with a drill path through related data. A simple example is drilling through a geography hierarchy using data aggregated at a country level through region and city. These item hierarchies are migrated to Oracle BIEE dimensions. The levels in the Discoverer item hierarchy are migrated to the associated dimension levels. Discoverer has the ability to allow the creation of multiple hierarchy drill paths. This migrates to entries in the preferred drill path property of the BI EE dimension level property. All hierarchies based on a folder will be migrated to a single Dimension created on the folder. Item Hierarchies based on Complex Folders will not be migrated since a Dimension in Oracle BIEE must be associated with a Dimension table. Hierarchies spanning tables will be migrated by setting the Preferred Drill Path appropriately

Discoverer Property Name Auto generate

Target Property In Presentation Layer n/a n/a

Target Property In Logical Layer Dimension name n/a

Target Property In Physical Layer n/a n/a

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name Description

n/a

Dimension description

n/a

5.1.11 Discoverer Date Hierarchies There is no equivalent in Oracle BI EE to Discoverer date hierarchy templates so these will not be migrated. However, the resulting date hierarchies will be migrated. 5.1.12 Item Classes There is no equivalent metadata object in Oracle BI EE so item classes are not migrated. When creating filters in Oracle BI Answers lists of values (LOVs) are generated at runtime. 5.1.13 Summary Folders Discoverer summary folders are not migrated to Oracle BI EE.

5.2 Description of Catalog output from the Assistant

This section describes what the Assistant generates Answers Reports from the Workbooks. 5.2.1 Workbooks A workbook contains worksheets displaying data retrieved from the database. Workbooks typically contain data that is related in some way but organized to show different perspectives. Worksheets contain the data that one wants to analyze, together with a number of Discoverer components like parameters, totals, percentages, exceptions, and calculations to help one analyze the data. Each worksheet in a workbook contains the result of a query. Workbooks that belong to a EUL are mapped to a sub folder under shared\discoverer\<workbook> folder with all the worksheets being mapped to requests under the <workbook> folder.

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6. How the Assistant Translates RPD Metadata

6.1.1 Measures Measures are identified by their placement and default aggregation settings in the Discoverer metadata. Any attribute having placement value as data point and default aggregation value that is neither none nor detail is defined as a measure. Any nonmeasure is considered a dimension 6.1.2 Facts and Dimensions A folder is a Fact folder when either it doesnt join to any folder or is joined to some folder(s) and is the Detail table in the relationship. A folder is a Dimension folder when it is involved in a relationship with some folder(s) where it is the Master table. The leaf node for any dimension is always the level containing the folder key columns. The content of a logical table source for a folder is mapped to its linked dimension levels.

6.1.3 Key Columns Keys are created for tables in the Physical layer based on the columns involved in the join. A primary key is based on the columns involved in the join in which the table acts as a Master. A foreign key is based on the columns involved in the join in which the table acts as a Detail. Logical folder key is based on: o Dimension folder columns referenced by another folder o Degenerated Dimension foreign key columns o Standalone folder all nonmeasure columns if they exist else all the columns of the folder 6.1.4 Migrating Folders without Joins The Oracle BIEE metadata requires that folders must be joined to another folder in the logical layer. In cases where the Discoverer metadata contains a standalone folder, a fact alias folder is created with just the measure columns from the standalone folder. If no measure columns exist then a COUNT column based on one of its key columns is created in the alias folder. A COUNT and COUNT_DISTINCT column is created in the logical folder for those columns that form part of the primary key and foreign key respectively.

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6.1.5 Creation of Alias Objects A dimension alias is created for a fact folder when there exists a hierarchy based on it. A fact alias is created for a dimension folder if it has measure attribute(s). An aliased folder is propagated to the presentation layer only in case of a folder having more than one join to the same folder [multiple join scenario]. The description of an aliased folder contains the usage information and the join for which it was created. The original folder must be used for all those joins which dont have an aliased folder based on it.

6.1.6 Aggregates and Calculations Aggregated columns are created for measure attributes based on the default aggregation setting in the EUL. Calculations involving columns from only one folder is created in its own folder whereas those calculations that involve columns from multiple folders are created in the complex folder. All calculations are created using either the Evaluate or Evaluate_Aggr function in the logical table source containing the column mappings. 6.1.7 User Privileges The migration of roles and privileges is limited to user creation only. All users found in the EUL export file will be migrated to the Oracle BIEE Group Everyone with a password that is username in UPPERCASE. Discoverer Admin Mandatory conditions based on simple folders are migrated as where clause for the logical table source corresponding to the simple folder. Admin Mandatory conditions based on complex folders are migrated as security filters set on the Group Everyone. This is set on the presentation folder corresponding to the complex folder.

6.2 Evaluating the Output from the Assistant

The goal of the Assistant is to accelerate the migration of Discoverer metadata to Oracle BIEE. This section describes scenarios where the results of the Assistant will need to be reviewed and validated as described below.

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6.2.1 Use of the EUL_DATE_TRUNC function The date hierarchies that Discoverer can automatically generate make use of a built in function called EUL_DATE_TRUNC. For example, the following calculation in Discoverer returns a Quarter for a date column e.g. Transaction Date. The valid values are Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 and the result is a date data type: EUL_DATE_TRUNC(Transaction Date,'"Q"Q') The result of passing this calculation through the Assistant is: Evaluate( DECODE( %1, NULL, TO_DATE('01011900','MMDDYYYY'), TRUNC( %1, 'Q')),TIMES.TRANSACTION_DATE) Again, the resultant column is a date data type. However, if this column is used in another calculation: DECODE(Times."Transaction Date: Quarter",'Q1','First Quarter',Q2,Second Quarter,Q3,Third Quarter,Q4,Fourth Quarter,Unknown) The result of passing this calculation through the Assistant is: EVALUATE('DECODE(DECODE( %1, NULL, TO_DATE(''01011900'',''MMDDYYYY''), TRUNC( %1, ''Q'')),Q1,''First Quarter'',Q2,''Second Quarter'',Q3,''Third Quarter'',Q4,''Fourth Quarter'',''Unknown'')' AS VARCHAR ( 50 ), "Test".""."VIDEO5"."TIMES"."TRANSACTION_DATE") that can result in a data type mismatch.

6.2.2 Joins Involving Different Data Types In the case of a join that involves columns of different data type, e.g. Folder A.Column 1 [number] = Folder B.Column 1 [varchar] The migration assistant will not apply any data type Translations but will migrates the join as is. The Translations need to be added as a post migration assistant step.

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