Discoverer Hints and Troubleshooting

General Information:

1. Instructions for obtaining access to Discoverer and Data Marts can be found at
http://discoverer.gmu.edu/ then click on the link to ‘Access to Discoverer’.

2. Oracle’s browser of choice is Internet Explorer 6.0, thus this document concentrates on
resolving Discoverer issues in relationship with this browser.

3. Elizabeth Redwine is the ITU Support Center’s liaison for Discoverer. If you encounter
problems that cannot be resolved by looking through this document, contact the ITU
Support Center at 703-993-8870.

4. The Report Support Team and the Datamart Support Team send important communications
to Discoverer and datamart users via the Datamart-L listserv. Users are encouraged to
subscribe to the listserv so that they may receive these important communications. You can
subscribe to the Datamart-L listserv by sending email to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMU.EDU and in the body of the email type SUBSCRIBE
DATAMART-L.

Access Issues:

1. Issue: When you try to log into Discoverer you obtain the following error “Failed to
connect to database – ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied”.

Resolution: You should be using your Mason user ID (the same ID that you use for your
email). You need to enter one of two passwords. If you have an Internet Native Banner
(INB) account, the password will be the one you use to access INB. If you do not have an
INB account the password will be the six-digit pin you use to access Patriot Web. If you are
entering this password but you are not successful, you will need to send email to
banner@gmu.edu and request that your password be reset to match your six-digit pin.
2. Issue: You have completed step 1 and you are successful with your password in step 2 but
no data is being displayed once you execute the Discoverer workbook.

Resolution: It is likely that your account security has not been completely established. You
need to contact your Banner Security Officer. If you are accessing DMFP (Finance and HR
Data Marts) you will need to check with Yolanda Tamayo at fast@gmu.edu. If you are
accessing DMSP (Admissions and Student Data Marts), you will need to get in touch with
Carolina Figueroa at cfiguer2@gmu.edu for Admissions access or Tim Corbett at
tcorbett@gmu.edu for Student data access.

3. Issue: You are attempting to connect to Discoverer Plus but after entering your login
information and click go, all you get is a blank page.

Resolution: Before connecting to Discoverer you need to download and install Sun’s Java
Runtime Environment (JRE). Oracle recommends using version 1.4.2_06, which can be
found at http://discoverer/gmu.edu. It is located under the option for Discoverer Plus, ‘JRE
software’. Click on the link and install the software. You do not need to restart Internet
Explorer. You can find out your installed version via your PC desktop Start|Settings|Control
Panel|Java Plug-in and clicking on “about”. If you have the correct version of the software,
click on Update and unselect ‘check for updates automatically’. This will prevent you from
being prompted to update the software. If you have a later version you will need to remove
the Sun Java Plug-in and reinstall the correct version. To remove the software from your PC
click on Start|Settings|Control Panel|Add or Remove Programs and remove the Plug-in.
Then reinstall the Plug-in via http://discoverer.gmu.edu. Note: when there is a change in the
university’s recommended version we will update this document and send communication
about the change to you.

Once you have installed the JRE software you need to ensure that you allow pop-ups. This
is because Discoverer Plus uses a Java Applet, which opens in a separate window. In
Internet Explorer go to Tools|Pop-up Blocker and allow pop-ups. You will need to do this
for all other software tool bars that you have installed on your browser such as Google,
Yahoo and/or others. Try to log in again. If you still get the blank page, in Internet
Explorer click on Tools|Pop-up Blocker|Pop-up Blocker Setting and add thetis.gmu.edu to
your allowed websites. If you still have difficulties, contact the ITU Support Center @ 703-
993-8870.

Discoverer Functionality and Known Issues:

1. Issue: When you print from Discoverer Plus your output prints a couple of columns on one
page, a couple on another, and so on. Print preview might show it as printing on one page,
but the actual output prints on multiple pages.

Resolution: This is a Discoverer Bug which eventually will be resolved by Oracle.

Meanwhile, the workaround is to contact the ITU Support Center at 703-993-8870 and
submit a work request to have Desktop Services change a BIOS setting on your PC. They
will need to disable hyper-threading.
2. Issue: Your workbook has the run date and a colon in the title (e.g. Run Date: 01/01/2007),
but after exporting to Excel the run date is not correct.

Resolution: This is a Discoverer Bug which eventually will be resolved by Oracle.

Meanwhile, the workaround is to change the Discoverer workbook title so that it does not
include the colon – i.e. change “Run Date:&Date” to “Run Date- &Date”.

3. Issue: You are working with Internet Explorer and Discoverer Plus but the browser
response time is slow (e.g. there is a delay of several seconds while navigating among
worksheets or tabs).

Resolution1: There are a few things we have noticed that can impact browser response time.
First, check to see if a tool like Zone Alarm is monitoring your internet transactions for
invasive files. Either disable this software or change the settings so that it allows Discoverer
to be trusted and not evaluated. If you need assistance you may contact the ITU Support
Center. Second, we have noticed that Discoverer Plus performance can be impacted if you
are logged in via Novell. . Last, clean up your temporary files. In Internet Explorer go the
Tools|Internet Options and delete your temporary files. The browser needs a lot of temp
space to function efficiently.

Resolution2: Configure the Java Client Memory Setting. Discoverer Plus runs a Java applet
in the browser. The maximum amount of memory that these programs are allowed to use is
controlled by the Java Runtime Environment that is installed for the browser. The Sun Java
Plug-in allocates a maximum of 64 MB of memory to an individual applet. In some cases,
this amount of memory is insufficient, especially when using larger workbooks, or if
running large print or export jobs. You might see an ‘Insufficient memory’ error message or
very slow performance.

To prevent insufficient memory errors, increase the amount memory that the applet can use.
Never increase this amount beyond 75% of the physical memory on the machine. For
example, to change the memory to 256 MB, launch the Sun Java Plug-in Control Panel via
Start|Settings|Control Panel and click on the Java Plug-in icon. Click on the Advanced tab
and type -Xmx256m in the Java Runtime Parameters entry field.

4. Issue: Using sysdate in a condition in a Discoverer Plus worksheet (e.g.

activity_date=sysdate).

Hint: Create a condition selecting your date field, conditional operator (e.g. =,>,<>, etc.),
and in the values field enter “=sysdate” (without the quotes) – i.e. include the = sign in the
values field.

5. Issue: After renaming a workbook that includes managed links, you receive an error
message stating ‘the target workbook does not exist’.

Resolution: In Discoverer, the ‘managed links’ retain the original name of the workbook.
To resolve the issue you will need to edit each of the ‘managed links’ and select the new
workbook name and the desired worksheet within that workbook.
6. Issue: When you try to establish a connection in Viewer it gives you the following error
message: Error A connection error has occurred. - OracleBI Discoverer Viewer was unable to
save the connection. Please check for other errors. - ORA-12899: value too large for column
"ORASSO"."WWSSO_PSEX_USER_INFO$"."SSO_USERNAME" (actual: 198, maximum:
80)

7. Resolution: You are encountering Oracle Discoverer Bug 6139804. The workaround is to
delete Internet Explorer’s temp files, cookies and SSL state.