How many dimension can we create on a table?

One Dimension
1) Date format issue while export to excel format

Answers>column propeties>custom CSS style options(bottom of the window)>check the

custom css style >Give the following date format

-mso-number-format:mm\/dd\/yyyy\ hh\:mm\:ss AM\/PM or mso-number-format:\@

Change the format based on you requirement.
2) Tell me About yourself?

This is the major interview question for freshers and experienced. Everyone should prepare
before going to the interview.
Experienced:Tell ur name with experience what you have with current and previous

organization and then explain the porject what you done. If they expecting more then give
your educational details but no need to mention the family back ground.
3) What are your roles and responsibilities in your current project?

As a OBIEE developer,the reponsibilities like repository configuration and reports generation

based on the client requirements. At the end we need to implement the security.
4) From where you start your work in daily routine?

Daily i got a mail from my reporting manager with a attached document. It includes all the
requirements and details of the work.

5) What is the difference between Obiee 10g & 11g?

OBIEE 10g:

We have 2 joins, foreign key join and complex join.

We have only level-based hierarchy in the logical layer.

All the configuration settings will be done at NQSconfig file.

OBIEE 11g:

we have only 1 join, new join.

We have different hierarchies; level-based hierarchies,parent-child hierarchies,ragged

hierarchies,skipped hierarchies.

All the configuration settings will be done at the enterprise manager.

we have option like look-up table.

In answers,the chart view renamed as graph.

6) which version of OBIEE you are using?

Go to help in the repository of your project. There we can get the exact version of OBIEE.

7) What is the difference between OCI and ODBC?

OCI will be specific to the oracle database but the ODBC connection, we can use with any data
source.

8) Can i import the data directly from other sources to repository?

yes, we can directly import the data to repository
9) How to set the logging level in repository?

manage->identity->goto the user->set the logging level

The logging level for developer:min 2

The logging level for Administrator:upto 7

In production phase the logging level should be disabled. We can set the logging level for a
specific request at answers

10) Have you ever worked with ETL-tools?

As a reporting developer, i know the flow of ETL process. I never worked on that.The ETL
people takecare of everything.

11) Which type of schema you are used in your project?

Actually most of the projects are designed like a star-schema.My project is also used starschema as a data model.

12) What is the flow of your porject?

Every project must follow the software development life cycle.

Generally,the porject flow may like requirements gathering, Development(ETL and Report),
testing and Production.The flow of project may differ from project to project based on domain
like retail, telecom, healthcare, construction etc.
13) Rate yourself in SQL?
OBIEE developer must have the knowledge on sql because he need to test his own

stuff.Minimum knowledge of SQL is required for dataware housing developers.The rating

should be dependent on the person knowledge.
14) What you did in physical layer,BMM layer and Presentation layer?

Ans: Physical layer:Physical layer is a connection between database and repository by using
connection pool.We can import the data from the different data sources, no.of connection

pools, aliases like tables and columns, duplicate tables, opaque views and physical joins etc.
BMM layer:Also called as Logical layer, Actually we implemented the logic here.We can do the
calculations, create the logical tables and columns, establish the joins like physical and logical
or complex joins, dimensions, level-based-metrics etc.

Presentation layer:We can show only the content which we want to show the end-user, We can
implement authorization and authentication, Implicit fact column and sort order column etc.

15) What is Sort order columns?

Ans: We can sort the columns at 2 levels

1. Repository:At the presentation layer,sort the one column values based on another column
2. Answers:At the criteria tab->columns->sort the column values either ascending or
descending order based on the requirement.
16) Can we handle the nulls?

Ans: Yes,we can handle either in repository and answers.

ifnull(column_name,0)->at expression of the measure column

.Handling NULL in the OBIEE 10g
Posted on March 3, 2013 by oracletechnotalk Leave a comment
Hi,

I have created the new logical column with

sum(column_name)/sum(count column name)
i enabled

prevent_divide_by_zero=yes
enable_db_hints=yes

in the NQSconfig.INI
When i create a column rpd handles with nullif(sum(count column name),0)
it means again if the column value returns null then replace with 0.

In answers i have concate a string to the new logical column..If the column returns null then
it is only showing that string..

But my concern is i want to show 0 if i dont get any result .

Solution:ifnull(new logical column,0) Then concatenate the value to string.
17) Did you work on a stand alone Siebel system or was it integrated to other platforms?

o Deploying the Siebel analytics platform without other Siebel applications is called Siebel
analytics Stand -Alone .If your deployment includes other siebel Analytics Application it called
integrated analytics -You can say Stand-Alone siebel analytics
18) You worked on standalone or integrated system?

o Standalone.

19) If you have dimension table like customer, item, time and fact table like sale and if you

want to find out how often a customer comes to store and buys a particular item, what
will you do?

o write a query as SELECT customer_name, item_name, sale_date, sum(qty) FROM

customer_dim a, item_dim b, time_dim c, sale_fact d WHERE d.cust_key = a.cust_key AND

d.item_key = b.item_key AND d.time_key = c.time_key GROUP BY customer_name, item_name,

sale_date
Define pipeline. Did you use it in your projects?

Yes, pipelines are the stages in a particular transaction. assessment, finance etc.

Suppose I have report which is running for about 3 minutes typically. What is the first step you
take to improve the performance of the query?

Find the sql query of the report in Admin->manage Session-> run the sql query on toad >read the explain plan output ->modify the SQL based on the explain plan output
How do you deal with case statement and expressions in siebel analytics?
use expression builder to create case whenthen.. end statement
what is query repository tool?

It is utility of Seibel/OBIEE Admin tool

allows you to examine the repository metadata tool
for example: search for objects based on name,type.

Examine relationship between metadata objects like which column in the presentation layer
maps to which table in physical layer
what is JDK and why do we need it?

Java Development Kit (JDK), A software package that contains the minimal set of tools needed
to write, compile, debug, and run Java applets.

How do you identify what are the dimension tables and how do you decide them during the
Business/Data modeling?
o Dimension tables contain descriptions that data analysts use as they query the database. For
example, the Store table contains store names and addresses; the Product table contains product
packaging information; and the Period table contains month, quarter, and year values. Every
table contains a primary key that consists of one or more columns; each row in a table is
uniquely identified by its primary-key value or values
what is the full form of rpd?

o there is no full form for rpd as such, it is just a repository file (Rapidfile Database)
.What are the Key Configuration Files in OBIEE?
NQSConfig.ini, NQSCluster.ini, odbc.ini, instanceconfig.xml
Q20.How to configure an OBIee environment ?

ANS: In OBIee 11g, main configuration items are managed in Enterprise Manager (web
interface).

However, some configurations are still located in configuration files, like NQSConfig.ini,
NQSCluster.ini, odbc.ini, and instanceconfig.xml.
Q47.Can you change the location of your RPD file in your OBIEE Configuration? If Yes, Where
would you mention the new location of this RPD file for Bi Server?

ANS: Read the NQSConfig file Repository Section. You will easily find the answer. The answer
for this is It cant be changed.

The repository location can be changed, this must be done when clustering the BI Server. The
parameters in the NQSCONFIG.INI file are

What are the Key Configuration Files in OBIEE?

The key configuration files in OBIEE 11g are NQSConfig.ini, NQSCluster.ini, odbc.ini,
instanceconfig.xml

- A user generates adhoc analysis report with some columns which have object level security &
user do not belong to authorized group. What will happen?
Ans nQSError 27005 will occur

2-

3- User Report performance & Login slowness concern. What needs to be done?

Ans Do Configurational Changes (NQSConfig.ini & instanceconfig.xml) to solve the issue.

9 - Server component goes down from init state after some time & no information is added in
nqserver

log

Ans - It would be due to huge rpd size which required more time for server component to start.
Changing timeout parameters from opmn.xml file will solve the purpose.

14- Many times you encounter the error due to connectivity issue with error as below:
[nQSError: 17014] Could not connect to Oracle database. [nQSError: 17001] Oracle Error code:

12154, message: ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified.
What

needs

to

be

done

to

resolve

this?

Ans- Validate Connection pool credentials, with tnsnames.ora entry & your DB credentials.
Make them sync to each other & your issue will resolve.

3. If you have more than 3 repository files mentioned in your NQSConfig.ini file as default,
which one gets loaded to the memory when the BI Server is started?

Ex:

Star = SamplerRepository1.RPD, DEFAULT;

Star = SamplerRepository2.RPD, DEFAULT;
Star = SamplerRepository3.RPD, DEFAULT;

If we dont specify comment the last repository will be loaded online, so in this case

SamplerRepository3.rpd will be loaded.

6. Can you change the location of your RPD file in your OBIEE Configuration? If Yes, Where
would you mention the new location of this RPD file for Bi Server?

Read the NQSConfig file Repository Section. You will easily find the answer. The answer for
this is It cant be changed.

The repository location can be changed, this must be done when clustering the BI Server. The
parameters in the NQSCONFIG.INI file are
REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY =

REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY = YES;
19. What are the different places (files) to view the physical sql generated by an Answers
report?

A quick way to see the content of the Nqquery.log to grab the SQL information is to follow
these quick instructions.
Click Settings > Administration > Manage Sessions > View Log to view the query log and
examine the Physical SQL generated by the request.

To be able to see the log, you must set the log level at least with the level 2.
20. Where the BI Server does logs its start, stop and restart times in the file system?
NQServer.log can be located from the path ORACLEBI/server/log/NQServer.log.This log consists
of BI Server Start up issues and Subject areas loaded and the data sources connected from

within the RPD. If the NQSConfig.ini has errors or if RPD has version issues or if proper RPD is
not loaded, the BIServer fails to start and this will be recorded in the BIServer

21. You have two tables Table 1 and Table 2 joined by a foreign key in the database? They are
imported together from the database into your physical layer. Is this relationship still
preserved in the OBIEE physical layer?

NO. Need to join them again with their foreign keys (Elaborate it more later)
22. Same as question 22 but what happens if you import each table separately?

Same. Need to Join them in Physical Layer (Elaborate it more later)

25. What is the difference between logical table and logical table source?
A logical table contains one or more logical table source. The mapping between physical
columns and logical columns are done in this element.

27. How many server instances can coexist in an OBIEE cluster?

Maximum 16

29. Aggregation rules are set on top of columns (Physical Columns or Logical
Columns or Both)

Logical columns

32. Can you import data in multiple sheets from an Excel file? How do you import data from
an Excel sheet? (Forget about csv files for now)

Yes.
37. What are Chronological Keys in OBIEE? How are they different from Logical Keys?

The chronological keys are used in the hierarchies where the dimension attributes referred in
the same keep on increasing in a particular fashion. The best example of the same is the date

dimension. The chronological key is referred to as the attribute which keeps on increasing. This
helps in using the time series functions and the YTD and MTD measures calculation.
You can also declare the other hierarchy attributes as chronological key if their value keep on
increasing in a certain fashion.
*

The Chronological Key should be the date itself. The unique identifier is the date/time itself,
there can be many dates in a year, month, etc. If the key is structured as you have said

yyyymmdd you can use it as the key. The chronological key has to increase sequentially, so
yyyyddmm wouldn't work. The reason is that the query generated by date specific functions in
OBI like AGO use the chronological order in building the query, as mentioned in an earlier
response.

38. You want to use a database built-in function bypassing the functions defined in OBIEE?
What OBIEE function helps in achieving this? Whats the syntax for this function?

Evaluate function

42. You are trying to open a repository using Admin tool and when you click to say Open

Online; a dialogue box pops up saying Your RPD is available in read-only mode. How
can you edit this repository by opening online?

One of the reasons you get this message because: If you are getting problem, because last time
when RPD is open you restarted the BI Server. Never ever restart the server when the RPD is

open in ONLINE or OFFLINE. However as a best practice close the RPD whenever you want to
restart the BI services, every time.

Business/Data modeling?
Dimension tables contain descriptions that data analysts use as they query the database.
For example, the Store table contains store names and addresses; the Product table

contains product packaging information; and the Period table contains month, quarter,
and year values. Every table contains a primary key that consists of one or more

columns; each row in a table is uniquely identified by its primary-key value or values.
50. What are the different types of utilities provided in OBIEE? Explain any two utilities used
in your previous projects and what are they used for?

Check Utilities
51. What are the different documentation mechanisms available in Admin tool? How do you

create documentation for your Answers users against all objects available in your subject
areas?

Check Utilities

. What are the new features in OBIEE 11.1.1.7.0?

Enhancement to Dashboards
o
o

The new default style is FusionFX.

The ability to export an entire dashboard or a single dashboard page to

Microsoft Excel 2007+.

Enhancements to Graphs
o

Waterfall graph. A waterfall graph lets you visualize how a value increases or
decreases sequentially and cumulatively.

Stacked graph as a new subtype to the area graph.

100% stacked graph as subtypes to the bar graph and the area graph. A 100%
stacked graph, like the stacked graph subtype, lets you compare the parts to the
whole. But while the stacked graph shows cumulative total in the units of the

measure, the 100% stacked graph always shows units as percentages of the total,
and the axis scale is always zero to 100 percent.

Zoom to data range

Hide sliders in graph views that listen to master-detail events.

Enhancements to Views
o

A new view type named performance tile. This view type displays a single
aggregate measure value in a manner that is both visually simple and
prominent.

Enhancements to Prompts
o

Limit values by

How to get sql from obiee for reports?

There are many ways to get the sql

a. Modify the request and click Advanced in that you get xml code and also the actual
sql.

b. In the catalog Manager click Tools >Create Report .In the Create Report Window
> Click Request SQL and save the sql to the physical path in your PC.

c. Enable Loglevel to 2 in the OBIEE Admin Tool from Mange-> Security and enable the
log level to 2 by clicking properties for the user, then go to the NQQuery.log in
BI_HOME/OracleBI/Server/Logs.You will find the SQL for that User.
d. By clcking Administration->Manage sessions-> view sql.

How the users Created Differs From RPD/Answers/Dashboards Level?

RPD users can do administrator tasks like adding new data source, create

hirarchies, change column names where as Answers users may create new charts, edit
those charts and Dashboard users may only view and analyse the dashboard or can edit
dashboard by adding/removing charts objects.
What is SCD type 1 and 2?

SCD is slow changing dimensions. in type 1 we replace the changed dimension

with old dimension. in type 2 we use surrogate keys and keep both the records(rows).
Advantage of SCD2 is we keep history of the old dimensiont.
Define repository in terms of OBIEE

Repository stores the Meta data information. OBIEE repository is a file system and the extension
of the repository file is .RPD

All the rules needed for security, data modeling, aggregate navigation, caching, and

connectivity is stored in metadata repositories.

Each metadata repository can store multiple business models. BI Server cannot access multiple
repositories.
NQSConfig.ini, NQSCluster.ini, odbc.ini, instanceconfig.xml

Can you change the location of the OBIEE Repository?

No, Not in Standalone OBIEE Install. you can give shared location in NQSCluster.ini if the
OBIEE is clustered
What are the key configuration files in OBIEE?

NQSConfig.ini ,NQSCluster.ini, odbc.ini, instanceconfig.xml

What are different log files in OBIEE?

NQServer.log, NQQuery.log, NQSAdminTool.log

What are different ways to view the physical sql generated by an Answers report?
You can see the SQL at C:\OracleBI\server\Log\NQQuery.log
And using administrator , Settings ->Administration ->Manage session->View log

How do you know which report is hitting which table, either the fact table or the aggregate
table?

After running the report, go to Administration tab and go to click on Manage Sessions.
There you can find the queries that are run and in the View Log option in the Session
Management you can find which report is hitting which table.

You can see the SQL in the C:\OracleBI\server\Log\NQQuery.log.

What are the Key Configuration Files in OBIEE

NQSConfig.ini,

DBfeatures.ini,

NQSCluster.ini,

odbc.ini,

instanceconfig.xml

What are the different Log files in OBIEE?

NQServer.log

NQSQuery.log

NQSAdministration.log

NQS Scheduler.log

What are the folders available in OBIEE?

Oracle BI(Administration)

Oracle BIdata(analytics)

The

What

folder

is

names

the

location

may

of

change

the

with

administration

the

OBIEE

11g.

configuration

files?

drive:\OBIEE11g\instances\instance1\config\oracleBIservercomponent\

coreapplication_obis1\file
What

is

name
the

location

of

the

repository?

drive:\OBIEE11g\instances\instance1\bifoundation\oracleBIservercomponent\
coreapplication_obis1\repository
What

is

the

location

of

the

presentation

services

configuration

drive:\OBIEE11g\instances\instance1\config\oracleBIpresentationservices

files?

component\coreapplication_obis1\instanceconfig.xml
What

is

the

location

of

the

administration

log

files?

C:\OBIEE11g\instances\instance1\diagnostics\logs
Configuration and Log files in OBIEE

Configuration files:These are the default files for every tool, it will store the default settings of
the tool. We can change the settings based on the requirement. Configuration files of OBIEE are
Configuration files of RPD:
NQSconfig.ini: We can configure the RPD into BI server, setting-up the cache parameters,
security by-passing, usage-tracking, setting up the time-zone, date, time-format,language and
buffer stack size properties.

DBfeatures.ini: We can enable/disable the database features.

NQSCluster.ini: Maintains the servers in the machine(When multiple servers existed on the
same machine).By default in disable mode.
Log files of RPD: Log files are Informative files of anything.
NQServer.log: It will give the information about the BI server like when server starts and stops
and why server is not started.
NQSQuery.log:Information about the query manger like how much time it will take to execute
the query and performance of the query.
NQSAdministration.log:Information about the administration tool like problems with
administration tool and all.
NQS Scheduler.log:Information about the schedulers like administration tool and analytics.

23) Modify parameter in FMW_UPDATE_ROLE_AND_USER_REF_GUIDS parameter in

Ans) NQSConfig.INI:

What is weblogic?
Weblogic server is the J2EE application server where your OBI will run on. Without the J2EE
container you can only install the standalone agent.

Oracle WebLogic Server is a scalable, enterprise-ready Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java
EE) application server. The WebLogic Server infrastructure supports the deployment of many
types of distributed applications and is an ideal foundation for building applications based on
Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). SOA is a design methodology aimed at maximizing the
reuse of application services.
Configuation files of Analytics :
Instanceconfig.xml: It will store all the settings of presentation service or Analytics like reports,
dashboards and all the elements .

Web-catalog: Web catalog is a folder,it will store the all the settings of a application.Maintains
an individual catalog for application is the best-practice for deploying the application.

In OBIEE 11g,all the configuration settings will be done at enterprise manager. Enterprise
manager is a third-party server, here all the settings are manages like configuration of RPD,
cache management, users and groups, web catalog settings.
How you generally Approach to ur Analytics Project?
Answer: Any project should start from defining the scope of the project and the approach
should be not to deviate from the scope.

Then the project should be functionally divided into smaller modules generally done by
project managers along with technical and functional leads.
The functional leads then decide on majorly three things:

1. According to the defined scope of the project they start gathering requirements while
interacting with the clients.

2. They had a discussion with the technical leads and try to reach a solution.
3. Technical leads decides what schemas to create and what requirements are going to
fulfill by that schema.

Technical leads discuss all this with the developers and try to close requirements.
Simultaneously testing and deployment is planned in a phased manner.

How we are going to decide which schema we are going to implement in the data warehouse?
Answer: One way is what is mentioned in Question above.

If one ask you to blindly create schemas for the warehouse without knowing any requirements,
You can simply first divide the schemas on the basis of functional areas of an Organization

which are similar to the modules in an ERP like sales, finance, purchase, inventory, production,
HR etc.

You have to broadly describe the expected analysis an organization would like to do in every
module. This way you would be able to complete at least 40-50 % of the requirements. To move
ahead, study the data and business and you can create few more schemas.
What are the Challenges You Faced while making of Reports?
Answer: Making of an report has never been a difficult task. But problem comes when users are
reluctant to adopt a new system. Many developers have experienced that if they are not able to
create the report in exactly the way they used to see, they will keep asking for the changes.
Developers approach should be to first show them what they want to see and then add more
information in the report.

What you will do when your Report is not Fetching Right Data?
Answer: This is the biggest problem in report creation and verification. There could be two
reasons for report not fetching the right data.

1. Mostly clients do not have correct data in their database and on top of that to correct
the results they make some changes at the report level to bring the desired result which
you may not e aware of while creating the reports. Clients try to match the data with their
existing reports and you never get the correct results. you try to discover the things and
at later stage come to know of all these problems and you are held responsible for this
delay. Hence always consult the SPOC(Single Point of Contact) and try to understand the
logic they have used to generate their reports.

2. If the database values are correct, there there could be a problem with the joins and

relations in the schema. You need to discover that analyzing and digging deep into the
matter.
How analytics Process Your Request When you Create your Requests?
Answer: Oracle BI server converts the logical SQL submitted by the client into optimised
physical SQL which is then sent to the backend database. Also in between it performs various

tasks like converting the user operations like user selections to form a logical SQL, checking
and verifying credentials, breaking the request into threads(as Oracle BI is a multi threaded
server), processes the requests, manages the cached results, again converting the results
received from the database into user presentable form etc.
.

8) If you reconfigure Oracle Business Intelligence to use Oracle Internet Directory (OID), you
can view and manage users and groups in Oracle Web Logic Server Administration Console
Ans) False.

9) Oracle Business Intelligence Release 11g supports the use of SA System Subject Area, in
combination with the BI Server initialization blocks, to access user, group and profile
information stored in database tables.
10) True or False: In Oracle Business Intelligence Release 10g users and groups could be
defined within a repository file using the Oracle BI Administration Tool. In Oracle Business
Intelligence Release 11g users and groups can still be defined within a repository.
Ans) false

11) Oracle Business Intelligence 11g is tightly integrated with

the________________ architecture and delegates core security functionality to components of
that architecture.

Ans) Oracle Fusion Middle ware Security

14) If you want user Fred to be a Sales dashboard author, you might create a ______ called
Sales Dashboard Author that has permissions to see Sales subject areas in the repository and
edit Sales dashboards.
Ans) application role

15) A list of application roles that a user is a member of is available from the Roles and Groups
tab in the ______ dialog in Presentation Services.
Ans) My Account
16) A (n) _______ defines a subset of policies in the policy store. The Oracle Business
Intelligence instance is named obi.

Ans) application stripe

17) Oracle Business Intelligence components communicate with each other using TCP/IP by
default. Configuring ___ between the Oracle Business Intelligence components enables secured
network communication.
Ans) SSL

20) Assigning an application role to be a member of a Presentation Services Catalog group is

considered a best practice.
Ans) false

21) Assigning an application role to be a member of a Catalog group creates complex group
inheritance and maintenance situations and is not considered a best practice.
22) You use ________ in the Oracle BI Administration Tool to manage permissions for
application roles, and set access privileges for objects such as subject areas and tables.

Ans) you use Identity Manager in the Oracle BI Administration Tool to manage permissions for
application roles, and set access privileges for objects such as subject areas and tables.
24) The default application roles are BI Administrator, BI Consumer, and BI Author.
25) When a user acts as proxy user for a target user, which mode of access allows only read
only access to the target user's objects?

Ans) The following list describes the proxy levels:

Restricted Permissions are read-only to the objects to which the target user has access.
Privileges are determined by the proxy user's account (not the target user's account).
For example, suppose a proxy user has not been assigned the Access to Answers privilege, and
the target user has. When the proxy user is acting as the target user, the target user cannot

access Answers.

Full Permissions and privileges are inherited from the target user's account.

26) If a user belongs to two application roles or Catalog groups and both are granted

permissions (neither denied), then the most restrictive permissions are given to the user.
Ans) false

27) If a user belongs to two application roles or Catalog groups and both are granted
permissions, then the least restrictive permissions are given to the user. The exception to this is
if one of the two application roles or Catalog groups is explicitly denied the permissions, in
which case the user is denied.
28) If you log in to the Administration Tool in online mode, then you can view all users from
the Web Logic Server. If you log in to the Administration Tool in offline mode, then you can
only view users that are stored in the repository.
Ans) true
.

32) OPSS is the underlying platform on which the Oracle Fusion Middleware security
framework is built. What does OPSS stand for?
Ans) Oracle Platform Security Services (OPSS) is the underlying platform on which the Oracle
Fusion Middleware security framework is built.

33) True or False: In Oracle Business Intelligence Release 11g the entire repository is encrypted
using a key derived from a user supplied password.
Ans) true
34) In Oracle Business Intelligence Release 11g the entire repository is encrypted using a key
derived from a user supplied password.
Note: A Release 11g repository can only be opened with the password. There is no mechanism
for recovering a lost password.

35) If you want to enable user Fred to perform BIAuthors and BI Administrator duties, you

might create a new ________ called BI Manager, which has both BIAuthors privileges and BI
Administrators privileges

Ans) if you want to enable user Fred to perform BIAuthors and BI Administrator duties, you
might create a new application role called BI Manager, which has both BIAuthors privileges
and BI Administrators privileges
36) True or False: The BI System Role must exist (with the BI Administrator role), for Oracle
Business Intelligence to function correctly.

Ans) True.
Note: The BI System Role must exist (with the BIAdministrator role), for Oracle Business
Intelligence to function correctly.

38) True or False: Explicitly denying a Presentation Services privilege takes precedence over
user access rights either granted or inherited as a result of group or application role hierarchy.
Ans: True

39) Presentation Services privileges can be granted to users both explicitly and by inheritance.

However, explicitly denying a Presentation Services privilege takes precedence over user access
rights either granted or inherited as a result of group or application role hierarchy.
40) The Oracle Business Intelligence default credential store is file-based, also known as being
wallet-based, and is represented by the file _____
Ans) the Oracle Business Intelligence default credential store is file-based, also known as being
wallet-based, and is represented by the file cwallet.sso.

41) To enable high availability of the default embedded Oracle WebLogic Server LDAP identity
store in a clustered environment, you configure the _______ attribute.
Ans) to enable high availability of the default embedded Oracle WebLogic Server LDAP identity
store in a clustered environment, you configure the virtualize attribute. When you set the

virtualize attribute value to true, Managed servers are able to use a copy of the embedded
default Oracle WebLogic Server LDAP identity store.
42) If you are deploying the default Policy Store, then Oracle recommends that you make a
copy of the original ________ policy file and place it in a safe location.
Ans) system-jazn-data.xml

43) Embedded LDAP Server Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console, Policy Store,
Credential Store Oracle Fusion Middleware Control, RPD Oracle BI Administration Tool ,
Web catalog Presentation Services Administration --- Correct

Ans) Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console: LDAP Server

Oracle Fusion Middleware Control: Policy Store, Credential Store

Oracle BI Administration Tool: RPD

Presentation Services Administration: Web catalog

What is a federated query? How does OBIEE develop these federated queries?
A.)Federated queries are queries where data is being brought frommultipledatabases and
consolidated/joined in the business layer/logical layer. OBIEE does this quite a lot no matter

where the data is. All it needs is a relation between the tables coming from muliple databases.
What are the Major Challenges You Faced While Creating the RPD?

Every now and then there are problems with the database connections but the problem
while creating the repository RPD files comes with complex schemas made on OLTP
systems consisting of lot of joins and checking the results. Th type of join made need to
be checked. By default it is inner join but sometimes the requirement demands other
types of joins. There are lot of problems with the date formats also.

How analytics Process Your Request When you Create your Requests?
Oracle BI server converts the logical SQL submitted by the client into optimised physical
SQL which is then sent to the backend database. Also in between it performs various
tasks like converting the user operations like user selections to form a logical SQL,

checking and verifying credentials, breaking the request into threads(as Oracle BI is a
multi threaded server), processes the requests, manages the cached results, again
converting the results received from the database into user presentable form etc.
What you will do when your Report is not Fetching Right Data?

This is the biggest problem in report creation and verification. There could be two

reasons for report not fetching the right data.

1. Mostly clients do not have correct data in their database and on top of that to correct

the results they make some changes at the report level to bring the desired result which
you may not e aware of while creating the reports. Clients try to match the data with
their existing reports and you never get the correct results. you try to discover the
things and at later stage come to know of all these problems and you are held

responsible for this delay. Hence always consult the SPOC(Single Point of Contact) and
try to understand the logic they have used to generate their reports.

2. If the database values are correct, there there could be a problem with the joins and
relations in the schema. You need to discover that analyzing and digging deep into the
matter.

What are the Challenges You Faced while making of Reports?

Making of an report has never been a difficult task. But problem comes when users are

reluctant to adopt a new system. Many developers have experienced that if they are not
able to create the report in exactly the way they used to see, they will keep asking for
the changes. Developers approach should be to first show them what they want to see
and then add more information in the report.

How we are going to decide which schema we are going to implement in the data warehouse?
One way is what is mentioned in Question above.

If one ask you to blindly create schemas for the warehouse without knowing any
requirements,

You can simply first divide the schemas on the basis of functional areas of an
Organization which are similar to the modules in an ERP like sales, finance, purchase,
inventory, production, HR etc.

You have to broadly describe the expected analysis an organization would like to do in
every module. This way you would be able to complete at least 40-50 % of the
requirements. To move ahead, study the data and business and you can create few more
schemas.

Components of OBIEE :
OBIEE can be divided into 3 parts
i. Repository or Administration Tools
ii. Reports/ Dashboards
iii. Ibots/Agents(11g)/Delivers

OBIEE has two types of components

1.

Server Component

2.

Client Component
1. Server Components :
a. Oracle BI Server (can be considered as heart for OBIEE)
b. Oracle Presentation Server

c. Application Server
d. Scheduler

e. Cluster Controller
Oracle BI Server: It is a core engine acts as a heart of entire OBIEE software which performs
following operations. It controls/coordinates all reporting/repository building operations by

communicating/coordinating with other server components. It takes the logical SQL requests
from Presentation server and generates the optimized queries against the report request. These
queries are send to physical database for execution. It manages cache to redirect queries to

cache /purge cache ..etc. It is also responsible for security implementation, online repository
building, Multi user development..etc. following are the other components which BI server
controls/coordinates.

Repository: Repository is a meta data of physical data warehouse structures which were

converted to Logical dimensional structures. Presentation Layer of the repository contains the
objects which needed to exposed to users for report generation. This repository stores in a file
with extension .rpd.
NQSConfig:

This file is key configuration file from where OBIEE server reads the initial

parameters information before it starts. It is by default located at

x:\OracleBI\server\Config(for

10g) and x\Oracle\Middleware\instances\instance1\bifoundation\OracleBIServerCompone

nt\coreapplication_obis1\repository(for 11g). In 11g you can change the repository using EM
Log files: All the log files are placed by default at x:\OracleBI\server\Log(For 10g) and in 11g
you can directly find them from EM
I
NQCluster: Logs OBIEE clustering information if it is configured as cluster.
NQQuery: Records all the step by step process of each and every report/query activity in
OBIEE. We can see all physical and logical queries in this log.

Logical query can be understood only by OBIEE server. These queries are generated based on
the reports/answers criteria which executed from OBIEE presentation services.
Example;
SELECT PROD_NAME from PRODUCTS saw_0

FROM "Sales1" ORDER BY saw_0

Physical Query: OBIEE server will convert logical queries to database specific physical queries
which can be executed on DW database. Logical queries are converted to physical queries
based on logical/physical model metadata definitions in repository file.
A repository is a collection of data definitions. Or data about data (Metadata).
Cache: Caching is a process of storing the Info on separate layer after fetching data from
physical warehouse. This helps to reuse the Information which is frequently going queried by
users without hitting the database for every request.
Presentation Server:

Presentation service is a Single application that provides Oracle BI Answers, Dashboards,

delivers etc via web browsers.

Take the request form the client tools and pars the request to OBIEE server.

Since presentation services are service components, in order to work on presentation

services it requires a application server.

Application Server:
Application Server is the server which provides the 3-tier Architecture features and helps to
work on web based client components and by default oracle provides oc4j(10g) application

server along with OBIEE s/w. These can be changed in case organization wants to go with diff
app. Servers like IIs or web sphere. OBIEE provides a default application server by name OC4J.
In the real production servers we can replace this by any other
OBIEE 11g uses weblogic server
OBI Scheduler:

Is a server component helps to schedule a job. To install and configure BI Scheduler requires a
relational repository. We need to create a empty user and configure to BI scheduler. While

creating repository OBIEE will create required tables in this user. It stores all schedule related
information. For running iBots this components is mandatory. The jobs which are schedule by
BI Scheduler can be monitored by job manager.
iBots are known as Agents in 11g
Client Components :

OBIEE has two types of client components

Browser (Web )based client

Non web based client

Non web based client components :

OBIEE Administration tool is used to build a repositories (metadata model) on top of

physical data ware house It contains three layers.

Physical layer

Business layer

Presentation This helps to easily navigate unix folder structures via graphical interface.
ODBC Client: allows to connect to a database and execute SQL commands. Mostly BIEE testers
will use this tool to test the repository/reports.

Browser based Clients : These tools will wok only on any internet browser. Following the tool.
1.

Interactive Dashboards : Dashboard is a logical container of components developed by OBIEE

like answers, other web pages, other dashboards. This provides additional features like
prompts, guided navigation etc.

2.

Answers : Oracle BI Answers also called as reports provides a highly Interactive user

interfaces to generate reports/analytics with complex calculations and multiple views and
filters etc.s

3.
4.
5.

Oracle Delivers : Create proactive alerts with the help of a engine called iBots. It also helps to

deliver the contents in various formats to different. Destinations.

Disconnected Analytics : Simulated online working environment even though not connected to
data ware housing.

MS_Office Plugin : Integrates the OBIEE generated data with all MS_Office product which can

further analyzed on local desktop Office products.

6.
7.

BI presentation Service Administration : Client component helps to admin the activities which

are being in progress within presentation services.

BI Publisher : OBI publisher which was knows as XML publisher allows to create reports

based on the layouts created in MS word or Excel. The report output can be published/bursted
to various media and various people.
What is Online and Offline mode in OBIEE?
In OBIEE reposirtory can be opened in two modes

1. Online mode
2. Offline mode
1. Online mode: To open a repository in online mode is to make changes to the
repository which is already loaded in the server. In this mode the user can only edit the
repository which loaded in the memory.

Applying the changes at front end after editing in online mode:

Save the changes
check for consistency

In the front end reload the server metadata

2. Offline mode: To open a repository in Offline mode is to make changes to any

available repository irrelevant to the server. The user can edit any repository that is
available
Applying the changes at front end after editing in online mode:
Save the changes

check for consistency Restart the services

What is NQSConfig.ini? Where is it located?
NQSConfig.ini is the initialization file used by Oracle BI server to set parameters on start up.
Each instance of Oracle BI Server has ots own NQSConfig.ini file.

The Oracle BI Server reads the NQSConfig.INI file each time it is started.
The path for NQSConfig.ini is
In OBIEE 10g:
Drive:/OracleBI/Server/Config/
In OBIEE 11g:
Drive:\OBIEE11G\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_ob
is1/

ODBC and OCI

What is ODBC and OCI?
ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity and is also known as Universal Data
Connector. ODBC can be used to connect to any type of data source
OCI stands for Oracle Call Interface and is used to connect only to Oracle data source
What are the different utilities available and explain them in detail
How can I export all the available tables into an excel sheet?
Using the Repository Documentation Utility

What you will do when your Report is not Fetching Right Data?
This is the biggest problem in report creation and verification. There could be

two reasons for report not fetching the right data.

1. Mostly clients do not have correct data in their database and on top of that to correct

the results they make some changes at the report level to bring the desired result which
you may not e aware of while creating the reports. Clients try to match the data with
their existing reports and you never get the correct results. you try to discover the
things and at later stage come to know of all these problems and you are held

responsible for this delay. Hence always consult the SPOC(Single Point of Contact) and
try to understand the logic they have used to generate their reports.

2. If the database values are correct, there there could be a problem with the joins and
relations in the schema. You need to discover that analyzing and digging deep into the
matter.

How analytics Process Your Request When you Create your Requests?
Oracle BI server converts the logical SQL submitted by the client into optimised

physical SQL which is then sent to the backend database. Also in between it performs
various tasks like converting the user operations like user selections to form a logical

SQL, checking and verifying credentials, breaking the request into threads(as Oracle BI
is a multi threaded server), processes the requests, manages the cached results, again
converting the results received from the database into user presentable form etc.
Is it possible to create a report based on two subject areas (example : Sales and Supply chain) ?

ANS: Theoretically, yes. In practice, the two subject area must come from the same business
model in the repository, which is quite useless. Then, we can consider the two following
alternatives :

Create an analysis with combine request: one subrequest by subject area. Note that its tricky
to implement for standard users.

Set up a transverse subject area, that will gather tables from both business topics.In a
troubleshooting perspective, how can I see log files ?

ANS: Old method in 10g version consisted in opening log files on the server.
Now, in 11g, log information is consultable in Enterprise Manager.
Oracle doesnt recommend Opaque Views because of performance considerations, so
why/when do we use them?

An opaque view is a physical layer table that consists of select statement. an opaque view
should be used only if there is no other solution.

Can you migrate the presentation layer to a different server?

No we have to migrate the whole web & RPD files
Q24.How do you identify what are the dimension tables and how do you decide them during the
Business/Data modeling?

ANS: Dimension tables contain descriptions that data analysts use as they query the database.
For example, the Store table contains store names and addresses; the Product table contains

product packaging information; and the Period table contains month, quarter, and year values.
Every table contains a primary key that consists of one or more columns; each row in a table is
uniquely identified by its primary-key value or values
Q26.What is the full form of RPD?
ANS: There is no full form for RPD as such, it is just a repository file (Rapidfile Database)
Q28.How do you split a table in the RPD given the condition?

ANS: (The condition given was Broker and customer in the same table) Split Broker and
customer.

We need to make an alias table in the physical layer.

Q46.Whats XMLA and where is it used for in OBIEE context

ANS: The Provider Services tool that comes with Essbase is used to provide the interface, with
Oracle BI Server talking to Essbase through its XMLA interface. (Need to find the answer still)
XML for Analysis (abbreviated as XMLA) is an industry standard for data access in analytical
systems, such as OLAP and Data Mining. XMLA is based on other industry standards such as
XML, SOAP and HTTP.

REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY =

REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY = YES;
Q53.Have you ever tried with de-normalized Database to build reports? If yes, How to handle?
ANS: Building reports on de-normalized data is not a best practice it leads to performance
issues but we can build the reports. These are reports cant be used for business analysis
because the data will fluctuate non regular intervals.

1. Explain the Architecture of OBIEE 11g and function of each components?

OBIEE Comprises Presentation Services,Oracle BI Server:
The user constructs sql and passes it to the Analytic Engine and then the Oracle BI

(Analytic Engine) describes the physical sql to the Datasources and recover the data
back to the Engine and presents to the presentation Services .
2. How we can extract sql from OBIEE for reports?
There are many ways to extract the sql:

a. Change the request and click Advanced in that you get xml code and also the actual
sql.

b. In the catalog Manager click Tools-Create Report . In the Create Report Window >
Click Request SQL and save the sql to the physical path in your PC.

c. Enable Loglevel to 2 in the OBIEE 11g Administration Tool from Manage-> Security
and enable the log level to 2 by clicking properties for the user, then go to the
NQQuery.log in BI_HOME/OracleBI/Server/Logs.You will find the SQL for that User.
d. By clcking Administration->Manage sessions-> view sql.

How we are going to decide which schema we are going to implement in the data
warehouse?

One way is what is mentioned in Question above.

If one ask you to blindly create schemas for the warehouse without knowing any
requirements,

You can simply first divide the schemas on the basis of functional areas of an
Organization which are similar to the modules in an ERP like sales, finance, purchase,
inventory, production, HR etc.

You have to broadly describe the expected analysis an organization would like to do in
every module. This way you would be able to complete at least 40-50 % of the

requirements. To move ahead, study the data and business and you can create few more
schemas.
What are the Challenges You Faced while making of Reports?

Making of an report has never been a difficult task. But problem comes when
users are reluctant to adopt a new system. Many developers have experienced that if

they are not able to create the report in exactly the way they used to see, they will keep
asking for the changes. Developers approach should be to first show them what they
want to see and then add more information in the report.

Performance Tuning at real time

Performance Tuning is the huge topic to answer;

lets take step by step approach as follows

Check whether the same query is running or anyone update the query.If the same query is
running then follow the steps given below,

When you open the dashboard page, first figure out whether Prompt or Report is taking
more time.

If it is prompt, check for any multi select prompts which are taking time to load all
values.. (best practice is set default values).

If Report is taking longer time, set some default filters and query for just couple of
records and check the report performance.

Take physical SQL from the session log (if SQL is not generated check for log level
whether it is less than 2).

Run this Physical SQL in the TOAD or any SQL Editor.

Check Explain plan for the cost of the query.

Hash Joins/Cartesian Joins are always kills performance.

Some-times, Force Inner-join also helps to force the tables to have inner-join between
two tables.

Check are there any Full Table Scans happening instead of Index Scan.
Consult your DBA for the Stats.

Explain the Architecture of OBIEE and what each components do?

Server

OBIEE Consists of Presentation Services(Web),Oracle BI (Analytics Engine)

The client (Answers) constructs sql and passes it to the Analytic Engine and then the
Oracle BI (Analytic Engine) parses the physical sql to the Datasources and retrieve the
data back to the Engine and presents to the presentation Services .

Can you change the location of your rpd file in your OBIEE Configuration? If Yes, Where would
you mention the new location of this rpd file for BI Server?

In OBIEE 10g you need to specify it in the NQSConfig.ini

In OBIEE 11g repository is managed using EM (Enterprise Manager). We can directly specify
the path to load the rpd

You have two tables Table 1 and Table 2 joined by a foreign key in the database? They are
imported together from the database into your physical layer. Is this relationship still preserved
in the OBIEE physical layer?
Yes
Same as the above question but what happens if you import each table separately?
Keys will be affected but not the joins
How do we upload new file into BI server in 10g and 11g?
In 10g using NQSConfig.ini
In 11g using EM(EM manages NQSConfig.ini)
34. You are trying to open a repository using Admin tool and when you click to say Open
Online; a dialogue box pops up saying Your rpd is available in read-only mode. How can
you edit thisrepository by opening online?

A.)We can avoid this error by deleting the .log and .sav in repository directory and restarting
the services.

35.What is the default configuration for caching in NQSConfig.ini file? How method does the
OBIEE use for clearing its cache?
A.)To disable in rpd In NQSConfig.INI file(OracleBI\server\Config) set ENABLE = NO under
Cahce section.

If you make it as NO cahce will never save cahce again in rpd.

Does OBIEE store physical sql ? How is physical sql generated in OBIEE environments?

Yes, physical SQL is generated by the query compiler during the query processign of the logical
sql

Are there any occasions where physical sql is not generated when running against a backend
database like Oracle, SQL Server or any other relational database?

When the logging level is 0(zero) or when the query log file reaches maximum limit
What are the different places (files) to view the physical sql generated by an Answers report?
NQQuerylog

Administration > Manage Sessions > View Log

Where does the BI Server logs its start, stop and restart times in the file system?
NQServer.log
28. Can you import data in multiple sheets from an Excel file? How do you import data from

an Excel sheet? (Forget about csv files for now)

A.)Yes we can import data from multiple sheets from an excel file
Steps to follow:

1.Create system DSN for Excel file

2.After creating ODBC Connection for system DSN , Go to Administration tool > File > Import
> From Database > Select Data source > select the files which you want to import.

29. What are the uses of Execute Direct SQL feature in Answers? Is it a good practice to allow

this feature for production users?

A.)Check physical connectivity to the database and Check report or dashboard performance
(Performance Tuning) ..etc.No,it will overload Production Users.

Making of an report has never been a difficult task. But problem comes when users are
reluctant to adopt a new system. Many developers have experienced that if they are not
able to create the report in exactly the way they used to see, they will keep asking for

the changes. Developers approach should be to first show them what they want to see
and then add more information in the report.
This is the biggest problem in report creation and verification. There could be two
reasons for report not fetching the right data.
1. Mostly clients do not have correct data in their database and on top of that to correct

the results they make some changes at the report level to bring the desired result which
you may not e aware of while creating the reports. Clients try to match the data with
their existing reports and you never get the correct results. you try to discover the
things and at later stage come to know of all these problems and you are held

responsible for this delay. Hence always consult the SPOC(Single Point of Contact) and
try to understand the logic they have used to generate their reports.

2. If the database values are correct, there there could be a problem with the joins and
relations in the schema. You need to discover that analyzing and digging deep into the
matter.
Oracle BI server converts the logical SQL submitted by the client into optimised physical
SQL which is then sent to the backend database. Also in between it performs various
tasks like converting the user operations like user selections to form a logical SQL,
checking and verifying credentials, breaking the request into threads(as Oracle BI is a
multi threaded server), processes the requests, manages the cached results, again
converting the results received from the database into user presentable form etc.
The logical SQL generated by the server can be viewed in BI Answers.
e Major Challenges You Faced While Creating the RPD?
Every now and then there are problems with the database connections but the problem
while creating the repository RPD files comes with complex schemas made on OLTP

systems consisting of lot of joins and checking the results. Th type of join made need to
be checked. By default it is inner join but sometimes the requirement demands other
types of joins. There are lot of problems with the date formats also.
.
We can hide a column in Application access level security
Do not add the column in the report

Do not add the column in the presentation layer.

How to startup OBIEE in Linux?

./run-sa.sh start #starts obi server

./run-saw.sh start #start saw server
./run-sch.sh start #start scheduler

Any project should start from defining the scope of the project and the approach should
be not to deviate from the scope. Then the project should be functionally divided into
smaller modules generally done by project managers along with technical and
functional leads.

The functional leads then decide on majorly three things:

According to the defined scope of the project they start gathering requirements while
interacting with the clients.They had a discussion with the technical leads and try to

reach a solution.Technical leads decides what schemas to create and what requirements
are going to fulfill by that schema.Technical leads discuss all this with the developers
and try to close requirements.Simultaneously testing and deployment is planned in a
phased manner.
warehouse?
One way is what is mentioned in Question above.

If one ask you to blindly create schemas for the warehouse without knowing any
requirements, You can simply first divide the schemas on the basis of functional areas of
an Organization which are similar to the modules in an ERP like sales, finance,

purchase, inventory, production, HR etc. You have to broadly describe the expected
analysis an organization would like to do in every module. This way you would be able
to complete at least 40-50 % of the requirements. To move ahead, study the data and
business and you can create few more schemas.
What is write-back in obiee ?

In Reports of Answer you can give a column as updatebale and then view the
reports,this option is called write back.
By clicking Direct Database Request below the subject area in Answers.
From the Criteria Pane of the Report Created from First Subject Area come to the bottom
of the page and click combine request. but the options are limited for combining like
union etc..

Check whether the table is already existing if so add in physical layer ,then BMM and
then Presentation layer, then reload server metadata ,then it will be visible to all users.
.

If you want to connect two tables where there is no relation ship you can use a thrid
bridge table for connecting them which will have common columns in both tables, this
is used in BMM Layer.

system is very slow(dasboards). what is your approach to resolve the issue?

Mainly check NQServer.log and in Admin Tool -> click Session Manager. check if there
is any bottleneck and accordingly resolve.
Following are the different log files inOBIEE NQServer.log , NQQuery.log,
NQSAdminTool.log etc.

There are mainly 25 Configuration files available in obiee.

By changing its port in instanceconfig.xml
To Scale up the Performance by clustering and distributing the services across multiple
Servers ClusterServices are used.
.
16
s in a Single OBIEE Instance?

No . you should create another instance in the same server , then its possible.
Explain OBIEE Application Development Life-Cycle.
There are 4 phases in the life-cycle
1. Requirement gathering.
Business analyst (BA) who is the mediator between the client and the organization.

First Business Analyst is going to interact with the client to know about the client
business and pain-areas, from that business analysis BA will prepare the

document called as Business requirement document or BRD or FSD(Functional

Specification document) or SPEC.

From the BRD, the development team will prepare the HLD and LLD.

HLD(High-level-document): Divide the BRD into different modules for

requirement analysis, prepared by developers.

GAP Analysis: This is the comparison between client requirement and reporting
tool features like is the tool fulfill all the requirements of the client or not.

POC(Proof of Concept): This is the dummy or a duplicate model where the

development team will work and prepares a sample model which is going to
send for the clients approval. The end product should be same with the POC.

2. Development

There are 2 parts in development,

ETL development: ETL developers will prepare a data-model with all dimensions
and facts. Also build an integrated data warehouse from the heterogeneous data
sources.

Reporting development: Once the DWH is built, the reporters will configure the
repository and generate the reports as per the clients requirement.

3. Testing:

Testing is the major part in any application or product development. There are 3 types of
testing in the OBIEE application development.

Unit Testing: The developer will test the own stuff.

Peer-Reviews: Test the application within the organization as the application

developed.

UAT(User Acceptance Test):This is a client test testing, the application will be

tested by some other company.

4. Production or Support

The company needs to give the application support for one month at least. After that based on
the clients decision, the development company or some other company will give the
production support.

4. How OBIEE Developer can create report from two subject areas?
From

the

Criteria

Pane

of

the

Report

Created

from

First

Subject

Area

come to the bottom of the page and click combine request. By this we can create report from
two subject areas.

Adding Database Hints to your reports to improve OBIEE performance

1. There is no option to add database hints at the presentation level (i.e. Answers), however, you
can set 'hints' in the repository for each physical table. You can do this by opening up the

properties of the physical table and entering the hint (without '/*' and ' */') in the "Hint" field.

If you need different hints on the same physical table, then you can create 'aliases' of the
physical table and model them separately.
2. In the connection pool, you can issue an 'ALTER SESSION' command to change a database
parameter on log in.
3. You can use the 'Direct Database Request' functionality. That way, a user with the

appropriate privileges can construct the request using SQL, and you can add hints to the
SQL. The drawback of this solution is that any user that needs to run the request will need to
be granted the "Execute Direct Database Requests" privilege in the OBI Presentation Server
Catalog ('Administration > Manage Privileges > Answers'). Also, the OBI Server Metadata

"Security Manager > Permissions > Query Limits > Execute Direct Database Requests" option
must be set to 'Allow' as well.