Real Scenario Issues in OBIEE for Administrators or Developers

  1- 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- How to overcome nQSError – 27005 issue?

Ans – Edit nQSConfig.ini file Security section

Attribute: PROJECT_INACCESSIBLE_COLUMN_AS_NULL = YES;
You will be able to access report, but column with security restriction will appear with no data.

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

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

    4- Users Report Performance Issue with all reports pertaining to specific Subject Area. What needs to be done?

Ans – Update Session & Repository Init Blocks to rectify the issue.

    5- Analytics Application login issue even after all components are up & running fine. What could be issue?

Ans – DB Password of Connection Pool may be changed. Updating them in console will solve the purpose.

    6- Schedular component not coming up of opmn components? What can be the reason?

Ans – Repository schema password might be locked or expired. Enabling the same will solve the purpose.

    7- Graphs & Charts are not working & showing warning in OBIEE?

Ans – Restarting Javahost component will solve the issue if datatype settings are fine.

  8- While Executing report you get View Display Error - Cube Definition is invalid (Measure out of bounds). With Error Codes: GOA4AK7Z.
Ans - Issue due to Pivot Table view having no measure column. Either add measure column to measure segment or add Table View & remove pivot view if no measure column exists. Your issue will be resolved.

  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.

 10 - Analytics showing error 404 however all java & opmn components are up. But while checking status from weblogic console, you found bi_server component to be in admin state.
Ans - You need to select bi_server component - goto control tab & apply resume button & select yes when prompted to set bi_server component to running state. Your issue will be solved then.

 11- All java & opmn components are up & running fine, still you see status of all / some components in down status in Enterprise Manager Oracle Fusion Middleware.
Ans - Click Here For Solution

12- User unable to see Some Subject Area Tables or Columns.
Ans- Its Authorization issue. Setting Proper Permission for the object will resolve the issue.

13- Unable to Login to OBIEE Analytics Page, due to Error as : Failure of server APACHE bridge:
No backend server available for connection: timed out after 10 seconds or idempotent set to OFF or method not idempotent. What action is required to resolve it?
Ans- AdminServer or Bi_Server would either be down or in warning ( hung ) state or Health is not ok. Bouncing it will solve the issue.

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.

15- OBIEE Analytics page is working fine. But you cannot login Fusion Middleware OEM & weblogic console. How to resolve such issue?
Ans- Click Here For Solution

16- User Faces Error while executing report modification in analysis as : Exceeded Configured Maximum Number Of Allowed Output Prompts, Prompts, Sections, Rows or Columns Error Codes : IRVLJWTA:OI2DL65P

Ans- You need to update parameter values in instanceconfig.xml file of obiee presentation component for the view type causing issue

17- What happens when you face Error Codes: OPR4ONWY:U9IM8TAC:OI2DL65P, while executing results in OBIEE?

Ans- This happens due to datatype mismatch of calculated column used in report wrt column in repository. Make changes to datatype & your issue will be resolved.

:)

Answers to Interview Questions OBIEE

Answers to Interview Questions OBIEE

Questions Available in - http://faqobiee.blogspot.in/2012/05/interview-questions-obiee.html

1-      Functional ( Based on your Exp. )

2-      Client < -> Presentation Server <-> BI Server <-> Data source

3-      

v  Difference of Siebel & OBIEE
a. In OBIEE, we can use Evaluate fn
b. Time series wizard s used in Siebel whereas ago & todate functions added in OBIEE
c. OCI call interface connection is available in OBIEE
d. Presentation variables are introduced
e. Meta data dictionary is there in obiee
f. Multi select feature ( contains any, begins with, ends with, wildcards like %) are available in obiee

v  Difference of OBIEE 10g and 11g
a. In 10g OC4J (Oracle container for java) . In 11g its Weblogic server
b. Security is managed by RPD in 10 g. In 11g the security is managed by the welogic server.
c. In 10g we had Foreign key join (physical layer) & complex key join (BMM). We only have a New Key Join in case of 11g , which is used at both the BMM & Physical layer.
d. 11g supports cross join hierarchies example we can move from customer dimension to product dimension during drilling down. Supports ragged hierarchies etc.
e. 11g also has column hierarchies available in the presentation services, which are created simply by dragging the dimension hierarchies from the BMM layer to the presentation layer in RPD. when column hierarchies are used to build an analyses the default view is Pivot table.
f. The time series functions Ago & ToDate which where only available in the RPD with 10g are now also available in the presentation services along with a new function RollingPeriod.
g. The analyses can now by reconstructed at run time, that means we can move column attribute from the x-axis to the y-axis and reverse as well.
h.KPI’s are available in the 11g along with KPI Watchlist on which they are deployed to be viewed by the end user. Key Performance indicators (metrics very essential for the business)
i. Concept of scorecards is available in 11g, which can measure the goal/mission by using KPI’s as the building blocks for the same
j. concept of Seletions is now available in the presentation services in 11g.
k. There is a single portal for the bi publisher/bi intelligence. The reports that are built in the BI Publisher are stored in the same catalog, as the analyses created using the bi intelligence.
l. 11g has Action Framework which can by used to invoke, existing analyses, html, java procedures.

4-     Functional ( Based on your Exp. ).

5-     Steps as mentioned below :

v  Login to Fusion Middleware ( EM )

v  Navigate to (Business Intelligence > coreapplication > Deployment>Scheduler & Mail

v  Do editing & save by activate changes.

v  Login to OBIEE Web (http://yourservername:7001/analytics)

v  Click New in the Global header and then select Agent and Actionable Intelligence

v  Navigate to Different Tabs & do relevant updates.

v  Save the agent and Run it.

6-     Rpd : Merging Changes & Migration & Webcat (files & folders movement)

7-     Security Types ( Object Level & Data Level ), implemented through Init Blocks & variables.

8-     Edit NQSConfig.ini security section ( 3^rd Authentication type remove # ), bounce services, open offline rpd & change password.

9-     If query fetching ok at DB, then update connection pool settings or creating separate con pool for authentication / authorization, will solve the purpose to some extent. Cache Seeding or aggregation also solves the purpose.

10-  In short Authentication ( Login Access ) Authorization ( Access Rights ). Done by configuring Session Variable Initialization Blocks.

11-  Cache Management – Process to maintain cache for performance & update at certain duration. Auto Cache Mgmt can be attained by setting EPT ( event pooling table ).

12-  Functional ( Based on your Exp. )

13-  In BMM Layer.

14-  In BMM Layer done by Expression Editor.

15-  Implement Time Series Calculations in BMM Layer.

16-  Done in Presentation Layer ( Prefix – [in 10g] / -> [in 11g] before table name)

17-  Types ( Section/ link or image/ folder/ embedded content/ guided navigation/etc.). Example ( Exp.)

18-  Table / Pivot / Charts/ Narrative/ static text/ ticker/ filters/ title/ legend/ funnel/ gauge/ No Result/ etc.

19-  3 way merge process ( Original, Modified {latest}, current {older to be updated}.

20-  Functional ( Based on your Exp. )

21- (a) In Rpd Presentation Catalog --> Properties --> Permission                              & (b) In Analytics --> Administration --> Manage Dashboard (Set as per Roles & groups)

22- By Manage Catalog Feature

23- In Rpd Presentation Catalog --> Properties --> Permission

24- Table – First Row is heading, Pivot – Headings in Rows & columns (Cross Table) Measures within them. , Gauge – Graphical data view in form of Dial or bulb & measure fields have pointer / values associated to it.

25- Narrative – Use the narrative view to show the results as one or more paragraphs of text. You can type in a sentence with placeholders for each column in the results, and specify how rows should be separated.

Ticker - Use the ticker view to show the results of the request as a ticker or marquee, similar in style to the stock tickers that run across many financial and news sites on the Internet. You can control what information is presented and how it scrolls across the page.

Static Text - Use the static text view to include static text in the results. You can use HTML to add banners, tickers, ActiveX objects, Java applets, links, instructions, descriptions, graphics, and so on, in the results.

26- From No Results View

27- In Dashboards - From Prompts & in Reports from Filter --> Variables option.

28- Guided Navigation - Certain data display based on specific condition of report. Example, based on your experience.

29- Bins – Available in Filter dialog & are used to fragment data as per business requirement.

30- To remove complexity or converting physical snowflake to star business model schema.

31- See - http://obieetutorialguide.blogspot.in/2012/03/creating-aggregate-tables-in-obiee.html

32- “Long Process Will Update Later”

33- See similar process as in 31

34- Tracking changes in dimension with respect to time is referred as slowly changing dimensions.

35- Confirmed Dimension - Dimension directly linked to multiple fact tables.

36- See - http://obieetutorialguide.blogspot.in/2012/03/time-series-functions-obiee.html (Example Based on Experience)

37- Level Based Measures – Measure columns associated to certain levels of dimensional hierarchy. (Settings done in LTS)

38- Logical Table Source – It’s one of the most important part of BMM designing & is used for Joining multiple tables, fragmentation, aggregation, formulation, filtration of data, etc.

39- Set Language Preference settings from My Account

40- Implicit Fact Column – From Rpd  Presentation Catalog --> Properties --> Set (Implicit Fact Column). Used to increase query response time for dimension only queries.

Interview Questions OBIEE

1)      Tell me your experience in OBIEE, along with your roles & responsibility in projects?

2)      What is the architecture of OBIEE?

3)      What is the difference between Siebel Analytics, OBIEE 10.x & OBIEE 11.x

4)      Have you worked in BI Publisher? if yes, tell me the process of generating published report?

5)      Have you scheduled reports? If yes tell me the process (from scratch) of creating scheduled reports.

6)      How do you migrate development environment changes to QA / production?

7)      What are the types of Security, how do you implement them?

8)      If you forget administrator password to access your repository, what corrective actions you would be taking?

9)      If your client addresses performance issue in some most prominent reports, accessed by many end users, what corrective actions you would be taking?

10)   What is Authentication / Authorization? What process you follow to implement authentication for end users?

11)   What is Cache Management? How do you implement auto cache management?

12)   What was the most challenging task you handled in you obiee project. What action you took to overcome that?

13)   How you implement dimensional Hierarchy?

14)   Can you create calculated column in rpd. If yes tell me the process.

15)   What you need to do to create trend based reports?

16)   How can you reorder & club multiple tables / columns, based on client requirements? (Nesting of Folders)

17)   What types of dashboard objects you have worked. Give me the examples?

18)   What type of views you have created, while generating reports?

19)   Tell me the process of merging Repository?

20)   How to create dashboard?

21)   How to restrict / grant access rights to various presentation services features.

22)   How can you move dashboard report from one dashboard to other?

23)   How to apply web based object level security?

24)   Difference between Table / Pivot & Gauge View?

25)   Difference between Narrative, Ticker & Static Teat?

26)   How to customize no result data display?

27)   How to apply presentation Variables to Dashboards & Reports?

28)   What is guided navigation used for, give me some practical example you implemented guided navigation?

29)   What is the scope of bins, how you implement them?

30)   What is the process of merging multiple physical tables to single logical table?

31)   How do you create Aggregate Tables?

32)   How do you Implement Usage Tracking?

33)   If you want to aggregate your data (Product Revenue based) on monthly basis & display data w.r.t fiscal years & country. How you will generate report?

34)   What is Slowly Changing Dimension? How do you implement them?

35)   What is conformed dimension?

36)   Have you worked in Time Series Function, Give me the practical example?

37)   How to implement level based measure?

38)   What is Logical Table Source used for?

39)   How do you localize your dashboard settings?

40)   How to implement implicit fact column. Why it is required?

41)   What is Alias Table & why it is used?

42)   How to implement MUDE (Multi User Development Environment)?

43)   What types of Dimensional Hierarchy are there? How you implement them?

44)   What is gauge view? Where it is used?

45)   How to you implement partitioning in presentation layer? (Bins)

46)   How to implement Fragmentation from rpd? (LTS, Fragmentation in content tab)

47)   How do you calculate number of elements at any level of hierarchy?

48)   How to implement non system session Variable?

49)   Can you specify expression in complex join? If yes how?

50)   How to design time dim. Hierarchy. What are mandatory constraints?

51)   How do you build Data Template?

52)   How to build RTF Template?

53)   How to configure Dillivers

54)   How to configure Scheduler

-------------------------------------

Based on Requirement Posting Answers to Above Questions.

Solutions Available in http://faqobiee.blogspot.in/2013/05/answers-to-interview-questions-obiee.html

OBIEE Interview Questions

OBIEE Interview Questions

1-      What are Alias tables? Why they are used?

Ans: Physical Table that inherits all properties of its parent table are Alias Tables. They are important in many aspects like:

a)      For multiple use of physical table.

b)      To avoid circular join.

2-      What settings you can do in physical layer to enhance end user query response time?

Ans: For Performance Enhancement, most of the settings are performed in connection pool.

Some of the important tasks handled by Connection pool are :

a)      Updating Maximum Connection (default =10) based on : No. of concurrent users to No. of reports per dashboard. Eg. If a dashboard contains 5 reports per dashboard page & number of concurrent users are 100 then, Max. Connection will be

= 20% * (No. of concurrent users)*(No. of reports per dashboard page).

=.2*100*5 = 100

b)      You must also use separate connection pool for Aggregate Tables / Initialization Blocks / Data Tables that effect execution time of other randomly used DB tables. This also enhances overall query response time.

3- How to perform time series calculations?

Ans : Time Series Calculations are performed with measure columns (Columns in fact table) with respect to time dimensional heirarchy (make sure time dimension heirarchy is configured properly, with chronological keys set at the levels). Time Series Functions are available in functions & can be configured in Business Model & Mapping Layer.
Type of Time Series calculations you can perform are :

Ago()
Todate()
periodrolling()

4-      What operations can be performed in Business Model & Mapping Layer, that cannot be performed from physical layer.

Ans: Business Model & Mapping (Semantic) Layer is the most important layer in Metadata Repository, that task performed includes:

a)      Dimensional Hierarchy Creation.

b)      Creating New Logical Columns (Based on certain calculations).

c)       Updating Dimensional Modeling (to enhance performance).

d)      Creating Level Based Metrics (Measures).

e)      Aggregating Tables.

f)       Time Series Calculations.

g)      Fragmenting Data (Content Tab of LTS).

h)      Filtering Data (Content Tab of LTS).

5-      What are the common tasks performed in Presentation Layer?

Ans:

a)      Rename Tables / Columns.

b)      Reordering Tables.

c)       Nesting Tables.

d)      Setting Object Level / Data Level Security.

e)      Setting Variables (Session / Repository).

f)       Authentication / Authorization Settings.

g)      Manual Cache Management.

6-      What are common task performed in Analytics?

Ans: Task performed includes:

a)      Adhoc Report Creation / Modification.

b)      Dashboard Creation / Modification.

c)       Publishing Reports.

d)      Scheduling Reports.

e)      Setting KPI.

f)       Manage Web Catalog.

7-      Which utility you need to run to execute & generate Aggregate Tables in Database & Metadata Repository?

Ans:

 nqCmd.exe Utility ( available in OracleBI\Server\Bin for 10g & OBIEE_Home\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\server\bin folder for 11g ). However run the utility through command prompt.

8-      How to open a repository, without knowing its Password?

Ans: Update NQSConfig.ini file (available in OracleBI\Server\Config folder for 10g ) Security Section & unhash (remove # - sign)  [AUTHENTICATION_TYPE = BYPASS_NQS; ]
Unfortunately - This feature is not available in 11g, however alternative option is there for changing password. Open Rpd in offline mode then File->Change Password.

9-      Which utility is used to run disconnected Analytics?

Ans:

sadis.exe available in OracleBI\Server\Bin folder.

10-    What a DBA needs to do, to enhance query response time (Performance Enhancement)?

Ans: Most of the time, it is Database which is responsible for  Query execution time. So DBA need to take corrective actions to enhance query performance. Most important task that a DBA can perform includes:

a)      Bitmap Indexing (Fact Foreign Key / Bitmap Join Index)

b)      Partitioning Dimensional Attributes (Eg. Time Key).

c)       Compressing Data.

Frequently Asked Questions OBIEE (Reports / Dashboard)

Section-B (Reports / Dashboard)

1-      Other than Adhoc reporting & dashboards, what other features (for creating) are possible in recent version of obiee?

a)      Published Reporting

b)      Disconnected Analytics

c)       Actionable Intelligence

d)      Marketing

2-      For Performance Management you need to design?

a)      Agents

b)      KPI

c)       Segment Tree

d)      Data Model

3-      Default Layout of adhoc report in results tab is?

a)      Title & Table View

b)      Table View

c)       Title & Pivot View

d)      Chart Pivoted view

4-      You can assign Administration & management rights to users / groups for answers/ dashboards or more products from?

a)      Manage Sessions

b)      Manage Interactive Dashboard

c)       Manage Privilege

d)      Manage Presentation catalog group or users

5-      Which Filter Operator is not valid type?

a)      Is blank

b)      Contains any

c)       Is in top

d)      Is in bottom

6-      Default Dashboard is set from?

a)      Administration

b)      My Account

c)       Dillivers

d)      BI Publisher

7-      How you can display two separate reports in same section to appear parallel.

a)      By Guided Navigation

b)      By Arranging Horizontally

c)       By Collapsible

d)      By Formatting Section

8-      Which of the following is not Dashboard object?

a)      BI Publisher Report

b)      Briefing Book Nav. Link

c)       Marketing

d)      Embedded Content

9-      Which is not valid type of set operation for combine with similar request?

a)      Union

b)      Intersect

c)       Minus

d)      SubSet

10-   Invalid Report View Type?

a)      Logical SQL

b)      Guided Result

c)       Create Segment

d)      Create Target List

11-   Localization (Language Preferance Setting) of dashboard is possible by?

a)      Administration

b)      My Account

c)       Login

d)      Dashboard

12-   How can you show updated changes made to online rpd, without restarting BI Services?

a)      Restart Java Host Services (Weblogic / oc4j)

b)      Reload EPT

c)       Reload Server Metadata

d)      Refresh Display

13-   How can you merge two separate reports from different subject area.

a)      Adding both reports in dashboard in same section.

b)      Clubbing two reports by OR logic

c)       By Combine with Similar Request Operation

d)      By Updating Request XML of Advanced Tab.

14-   If you successfully update any report in development environment, how you can generate same report with similar properties easily?

a)      By Pasting Request XML & SQL Issued from dev Advanced Tab to Prod / QA Advanced Tab.

b)      By creating report & updating all required functions/ filters from criteria tab.

c)       By Replacing prod / qa attribute files to dev atr files.

d)      Simply copying Request XML data from Dev & pasting to prod / qa.

15-   If you want to create any column (in criteria tab) based on certain calculation, you should:

a)      Use Filter option

b)      Use Function Option

c)       Use Column Format Option

d)      Use Sorting Option

16-   If you want to limit / restrict data based on some dimension attribute, you should:

a)      Use Filter option

b)      Use Function Option

c)       Use Column Format Option

d)      Use Sorting Option

17-   How can you update your date type dimension column to custom format (format of your choice).

a)      Use Filter option

b)      Use Function Option

c)       Use Column Properties Option

d)      Use Sorting Option

18-   How can you hide your criteria column?

a)      Use Filter option

b)      Use Function Option

c)       Use Column Properties Option

d)      Use Sorting Option

19-   How can you groupby your column data:

a)      Use Filter option

b)      Use Function Option

c)       Use Column Properties Option

d)      Use Sorting Option

20-   Bins created in function are similar to:

a)      Case Statement of Expression Function

b)      Cast Statement of Conversion Function

c)       Count Statement of Aggregate Function

d)      RCount of Running Aggregate Function

21-   Which is not valid filter variable

a)      Session

b)      Repository

c)       Presentation

d)      Request

22-   You Can Customize Heading in Results Tab (edit mode) through:

a)      Compound View

b)      Pivot View

c)       Title View

d)      Chart View

23-   What is mandatory for creating pivot table?

a)      Section

b)      Columns

c)       Measures

d)      Pages

24-   Which Chart Type is used to compare many measure columns?

a)      Bar Chart

b)      Bubble Chart

c)       Scatter Chart

d)      All of the Above

25-   Which View Can Change Dimension Attribute of a table, according to our setting

a)      Row Selector

b)      View Selector

c)       Legend

d)      Column Selector
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Answers :

Section-B
1-(a): Through BIP
2-(b)
3-(a)
4-(c)
5-(a)
6-(b)
7-(b)
8-(c)
9-(d)
10-(b)
11-(b)
12-(c)
13-(c)
14-(a)
15-(b): Apply Function
16-(a)
17-(c): Column Properties - Data Format
18-(c): Column Format - Check Hide
19-(c): Column Format - Supress
20-(a): Case Statement are Expression Functions
21-(d)
22-(b): Only Possible through Pivot Table
23-(c)
24-(d)
25-(d)