Obiee 11g - Overview of Action Framework

Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Overview of Action Framework
Antony Heljula Technical Architect

Peak Indicators Limited
Agenda
Action Framework Overview

Types of Action Navigate to BI Dashboard Conditions Action Links Invoke a Web Page (Run a Google Search) Invoke a Browser Script (Get Google Directions)
Further AF Examples
OBIEE Web Services Securing Web Services
Action Framework
Action Framework is an exciting new feature of OBIEE 11g that provides the facility to invoke a wide variety of actions or processes directly within the UI This is a major enhancement, since OBIEE 10g is great for analysis but has limited capability for performing actions once your analysis is complete OBIEE 11g Action Framework enables you to:
Navigate to related Oracle BI content Invoke operations, functions, or processes in external systems
Actions can be initiated from:

Analyses Dashboard pages Agents (iBots in 10g) Balanced Scorecard objectives and initiatives KPIs
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Creating Actions
Actions can be created as re-usable objects:
Or you can create inline actions:
If you only want to use an Action once, you can define it directly within an analysis, dashboard page, agent, scorecard objective, scorecard initiative, or KPI. These inline actions are not re-usable
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Actions Types of Action
There are various things an Action can do!
Note: When integrated with Siebel CRM it is also possible to Navigate to Siebel CRM (Appears by default with 11.1.1.5)
Examples Navigate to BI Content
This supersedes navigation in OBIEE 10g:
Examples Conditions
It is possible to configure Action Links to appear conditionally
e.g. View Sales Order Details only appears if there are <500 Orders
Vision Nordics has >500 orders so it is only possible to navigate to a summary analysis
Vision UK and Ireland has <500 orders so it is possible to navigate to a detail analysis
Examples Confirmation
You can also configure Action Links to request confirmation before invoking the action:
Examples On Dashboards
Dashboard Pages can consist of Action Links and Action Link Menus
Examples On Dashboards: Action Links
An Action Link dashboard object will show an individual Action
NOTE: The Action Link can be displayed conditionally
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Examples On Dashboards: Action Link Menus
An Action Link Menu dashboard object allows you to display a menu of multiple Action Links:
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Examples On KPIs
KPIs can be configured with multiple Action Links
The KPI Status can be used to determine which Action Links appear
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Examples On Balanced Scorecards
Balanced Scorecards can also be configured with multiple Action Links
The Objective or KPI Status can be used to determine which Action Links appear
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Examples Delivers Agents
You can initiate multiple Actions once a Delivers Agent has completed:
The Actions can be initiated for every row returned by the Agent!
You can map the columns returned by the Agent to each of the Actions parameters
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Further Examples
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Example 1 : Navigate to a Web Page
In this example, we will demonstrate how to initiate an Action to navigate to a web page and run a Google search for a customer!
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Example 1 : Navigate to a Web Page Notes
The first thing to do is build a sample URL that achieves what you need For example, the following URL will run a Google search on Oracle Corporation:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Oracle Corporation
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Example 2 : Invoke a Web Service
In this example, we will demonstrate to how to create an Action that will invoke a web service directly from a Dashboard
The Action will be called Adjust Sales Forecast will invoke a web service to modify a Sales Reps forecast target:
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Example 2 : Invoke a Web Service Notes
In order to invoke a web service, you typically need the URL for its Web Service Description Language (WSDL)
The owner of the site hosting the web service should be able to provide you with his
The WSDL returns an XML file providing details on all the web services that are available, such as the operations available and the parameters that need to be passed For example, our web service has the following WSDL:
http://obiee11g:7001/Adjust_Sales_Forecast-Adjust_Sales_Forecast-contextroot/Adjust_Sales_ForecastPort?WSDL
NOTE:
It is possible for the OBIEE administrator to set up a Registry containing a list of available web services, this means you dont need to provide the WSDL URL Setting up of this Registry will be discussed during a later topic
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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script
In this example, a Get Directions Action will be used to invoke a piece of browser script (Javascript) that will open Google Maps and show you the directions between your chosen location and the customer!
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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script Notes
The following URL can be generated to get directions using Google Maps:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?&saddr={p1}&daddr={p2}
Parameters p1 and p2 can be anything such as a postcode or a set of Lang/Long co-ordinates (in the format Lat,Long)
In our example, we will pass 3 parameters to our javascript function:
Your location Latitude of customer Longitude of customer
The javascript function will concatenate the Lat/Long coordinates together and pass them to Google Maps as a single parameter
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There is a UserScript.js file provided on the OBIEE server in which you must place your custom Javascript functions
UserScript.js is located in the following location on the OBIEE server:
[bi_server1] \bi_server1\tmp\_WL_user\analytics_11.1.1\xxxxx\war\res\b_mozilla\actions
NOTE: the [bi_server1] path is the following location:

[Middleware Home]\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\bi_server1
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There is a special syntax for the UserScript.js file
For each Action you actually provide two separate Javascript functions!
The 1st function contains the actual code:

The function accepts a single array of input parameters
Function name must be prefixed with USERSCRIPT.
USERSCRIPT.getdirections = function(params) { var googleURL = "http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?&saddr=" + params.your_loc + "&daddr=" Your refer to input + params.dest_lat parameters in the format: + "," array.parameter + params.dest_long; window.open(googleURL,"GetDirections");
};
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The 2nd function is used to define your input parameters
OBIEE uses this to automatically know which parameters are required
It has the following format (in this case we are defining 3 input parameters):
The function has the same name as before, but has the postfix .publish
Each parameter has 3 elements: 1) Variable name 2) Description 3) Default Value
USERSCRIPT.getdirections.publish = { parameters:[ new USERSCRIPT.parameter("your_loc" , "Your Location" ,""), new USERSCRIPT.parameter("dest_lat" , "Latitude Destination" ,""), new USERSCRIPT.parameter("dest_long", "Longitude Destination",""), ] };
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OBI EE Web Services
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OBIEE Web Services
OBIEE 11g comes equipped with a wide range of web services There are two different types:
Session based web services Web services for SOA
(new with OBIEE 11g)
Refer to the OBIEE 11g Integrators Guide for detailed information:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14571_01/bi.1111/e16364/toc.htm
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Session Based OBIEE Web Services
There are a variety of OBIEE session based web services are available:
HtmlViewService iBotService MetadataService ReplicationService ReportEditingService SAWSessionService SecurityService WebCatalogService XMLViewService
- obtain HTML to render BI dashboards/reports - initiate iBots - Retrieve info on Subject Areas, Tables, Columns - Replication between Presentation Catalogues - Add filter and other conditions to BI requests - Login, Logoff, Impersonate authentication functions - Identify BI EE accounts and privileges - Browsing and Managing the Presentation Catalogue - Retrieve Oracle BI query results in XML format
Each of these web services contain one or more methods They are referred to as session based because you have to establish a session with OBIEE first before you can use them (you need to pass in a valid Session Id) The Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) format for Oracle BI web services can be obtained using the following example URL:
http://localhost:9704/analytics/saw.dll?WSDL
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Session Based OBIEE Web Services XML Results
When returning results in XML format, the structure is as follows:
It is also possible to specify a parameter to return the meta-data for each column of data returned e.g. name, data format, length etc
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Session Based OBIEE Web Services Encapsulating into Workflows
To satisfy a particular requirement, normally a number of BI EE web services will have to be called in sequence e.g.
Log in / Authenticate Obtain results in XML format Log off
(SAWSessionService) (XMLViewService) (SAWSessionService)
This means you have to programmatically call the web services one after the other
You log in to obtain the Session Id You call the next web service and pass the Session Id in as a parameter You call the next web service
These session based web services are therefore not too compatible with Action Framework on their own
Action Framework initiates individual Actions with no connection between them

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Session Based OBIEE Web Services Encapsulating into Workflows
It could be advisable therefore to encapsulate the sequence into a BPEL workflow:
BPEL workflow will orchestrate the initiation of the BI EE web services
The BPEL workflow will itself then be presented as a web service
Action Framework can then initiate this single Action
This is where Oracle BPEL and SOA Suite come into play....we will discuss more about this later.
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA
OBIEE Web Services for SOA are quite different to the Session Based web services. There are three actions available:
Execute Agent Execute Condition Execute Analysis
You dont need to pass in a valid Session Id to use them
They are still secured using a username/password in the credential store
Prompted filters and presentation variables included in the business intelligence objects are supported
For example: if your Analysis has 3 Is Prompted filters then you can pass values in for these at run-time
Only XML results are returned

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OBIEE Web Services for SOA WSIL..not WSDL
Instead of being provided with a WSDL URL, you are in fact provided with a WSIL (Web Service Inspection Language) URL:
http://localhost:9704/biservices/inspection?wsil
This allows OBIEE to dynamically build up the set of web services available based upon the objects in the BI Presentation Catalogue. If you open up the WSIL URL in a browser, you can see that you are able to browse through the catalogue structure and youll find a web service for each Analysis, Condition and Agent!
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Example
Consider this example where we have an Agent called Sales History Agent We want to use Action Framework to invoke it
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Create Action : Invoke a Web Service

Create a new Action of type Invoke a Web Service You can then browse through the catalog and invoke the web service associated with your Agent!
The path to our Agent is: /shared/Agents/Sales History Agent Here is the web service associated with the Agent
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Configure Parameters
There are two parameters to configure, you can leave them Optional:
Session Country Session Language
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Execute the Action!
Execute the Action and see the Alerts! link appear:
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Configuration
There is some configuration required in order to use OBIEE Web Services for SOA
Firstly, you have to configure the FMW credential store with the username/password that will be used to browse the web services available
This account will always be used for browsing the web services, so users can only execute Actions on objects stored in Shared folders
Secondly we will configure the ActionFrameworkConfig.xml file with details such as:
The WSIL URL to use for browsing the web services The authentication policy to determine what credentials etc are required to invoke the web services
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Configuration : Step 1
Open up Enterprise Manager and navigate to:
WebLogic Domain > bifoundation_domain
Then choose the menu option Security > Credentails
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Within the oracle.bi.enterprise map, create a new credential key:

Key: Username: Password:
wsil.browsing weblogic welcome1
} for example }
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Create a new file called wss_username_token_policy.xml and paste in the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <oracle-webservice-clients> <webservice-client> <port-info> <policy-references> <policy-reference uri="oracle/log_policy" category="management"/> <policy-reference uri="oracle/wss_username_token_client_policy" category="security"/> </policy-references> </port-info> </webservice-client> </oracle-webservice-clients>
Save the file in the following location:
[Middleware Home]\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\config\fmwconfig\biinstances\coreapplication
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Within the same folder, open up the ActionFrameworkConfig.xml file for editing
Configure the <Registries> tags to contain the following registry:
You should ensure the ?WSIL path is correct

<registries> <registry> <id>WS4SOA</id> <name>OBIEE Web Services for SOA</name> <content-type>webservices</content-type> <provider-class>oracle.bi.action.registry.wsil.WSILRegistry</provider-class> <description></description> <location> <path>http://localhost:9704/biservices/inspection?wsil</path> </location> <service-access> <account>wsil.browsing</account> <policy>wss_username_token_policy</policy> <propagateIdentity>false</propagateIdentity> </service-access> </registry> </registries>
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Then configure the <Accounts> and <Policies> tags to contain the following configuration
You should not need to edit anything

<accounts> <account> <name>wsil.browsing</name> <description>Account for BI WS for SOA</description> <adminonly>false</adminonly> <credentialkey>wsil.browsing</credentialkey> <credentialmap>oracle.bi.enterprise</credentialmap> </account> </accounts> <policies> <policy> <name>wss_username_token_policy</name> <policyfile>wss_username_token_policy.xml</policyfile> </policy> </policies>
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Save the ActionFrameworkConfig.xml file Restart the following processes:
BI Presentation Services Weblogic managed server bi_server1
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Test! You should now be able to create an Action and see that the web services are automatically available for you to choose and execute:
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OBIEE Web Services for SOA Important Note!
Without further configuration, all the Web Services for SOA will be invoked as the same wsil.browsing account
Everyone has the same visibility of the common Shared Folders area Everyone has the same visibility of the users own My Folders area Common data visibility for all users
However, with further configuration it is possible to secure the web services to run as the user who is invoking the web service rather than the common wsil.browsing account We will be dealing with securing web services in a later topic.
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Securing Web Services
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Securing Web Services
The securing of web services is obviously a very important topic
If youre not careful, by default your custom web services will have no security so anyone can invoke them from anywhere!
You can secure web services within OWSM or within WebLogic. You secure a web service by assigning one or more WS Policies
In the example below, the ExecuteAgent web service has a security policy which enforces authentication using a username and password (Token):
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Securing Web Services Policies
There are two types of policy that can be attached to web services:
Oracle Web Services Manager (WSM) Policy

Policy provided by the OWSM You can only attach OWSM security policies to JAX-WS Web services You manage OWSM policies from with Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control
WebLogic Web Service Policy

Policy provided by WebLogic Server A subset of WebLogic Web service policies interoperate with Oracle WSM policies You manage WebLogic Web service policies from the WebLogic Admin Console
NOTE:
It is recommended that you use OWSM policies over WebLogic policies whenever possible. You cannot mix your use of Oracle WSM and WebLogic Web service policies on the same web service
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Securing Web Services Predefined Policies
OWSM and WebLogic come with many predefined policies! The one to use largely depends on the customers needs:
As a general rule though you can simply consider the policies mentioned on the next slides
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Securing Web Services Username / Password (Token)
By default, all the OBIEE Web Services for SOA are configured with a policy that requires a valid Username / Password credentials to be passed through:
The credentials are checked against whatever Identity Provider(s) is configured in WebLogic (by default, it will be its own embedded LDAP store)
In the case of OBIEE 11g, the credentials passed are stored in the Credential Store administered within Enterprise Manager (WebLogic Domain > Security > Credentials):
50
Securing Web Services Username / Password (Token)
Although the policy wss_username_token_service_policy secures authentication, it does not cover all security aspects:
Confidentiality:
There is no use of public/private keys so the messages are not encrypted (usernames/passwords are not even encrypted)
Integrity:
The messages are not digitally signed, so you cannot guarantee the authenticity of the messages
NOTE: a private key is actually used to digitally sign messages
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Securing Web Services Username / Password (Token) with Message Protection
OWSM provides another policy wss_username_token_with message_protection_service_policy:
This security policy is much more secure:

Username/password credentials must be supplied XML Messages are encrypted using public/private key XML Messages are digitally signed using the private key
The downside is that you always have to supply a password!
You can use the Credential Store for this purpose, but it means you are always passing over the same credentials no matter which user is invoking the service
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Securing Web Services SAML Token with Message Protection
OWSM provides alternative policy wss11_saml_token_with message_protection_service_policy:
Instead of requiring a password, the client passes over a certificate which is then verified by the server (the server has a key store containing all the valid certificates) This security policy is also very secure:

Only clients with a trusted certificate are allowed XML Messages are encrypted using public/private key XML Messages are digitally signed using the private key
The benefit is that the username of the invoking user is propagated, so this policy supports the need for a service to run as different users. The downside is that the server has to trust that the user is valid. This method is commonly used by partners who need to integrate across the web and can trust each other NOTE: The propagated user must have an entry in the recipients LDAP store
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Securing Web Services X509 Token with Message Protection
OWSM provides alternative policy wss11_saml_token_with message_protection_service_policy:
Instead of requiring a password, an X.509 certificate is passed over to the server to verify that the user has been authenticated and can be trusted (X.509 is commonly used in SSO applications) This security policy is also very secure:

Only clients with a valid X.509 certificate allowed XML Messages are encrypted using public/private key XML Messages are digitally signed using the private key
The username of the invoking user is propagated, so this policy supports the need for a service to run as different users. X.509 is a stronger and more secure form of SSO compared to SAML. Each user has a certificate which is tied to an individual entry in the companys LDAP store
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Obiee 11g - Overview of Action Framework

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Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Overview of Action Framework

Antony Heljula Technical Architect

Action Framework Overview

OBIEE Web Services Securing Web Services

Peak Indicators Limited

Actions can be initiated from:

Peak Indicators Limited

Actions can be created as re-usable objects:

Or you can create inline actions:

Peak Indicators Limited

Actions Types of Action

There are various things an Action can do!

Peak Indicators Limited

Examples Navigate to BI Content

This supersedes navigation in OBIEE 10g:

Peak Indicators Limited

It is possible to configure Action Links to appear conditionally

Peak Indicators Limited

Peak Indicators Limited

Peak Indicators Limited

Examples On Dashboards: Action Links

An Action Link dashboard object will show an individual Action

NOTE: The Action Link can be displayed conditionally

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Examples On Dashboards: Action Link Menus

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KPIs can be configured with multiple Action Links

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Examples On Balanced Scorecards

Balanced Scorecards can also be configured with multiple Action Links

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Examples Delivers Agents

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Example 1 : Navigate to a Web Page

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Example 1 : Navigate to a Web Page Notes

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Example 2 : Invoke a Web Service

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Example 2 : Invoke a Web Service Notes

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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script

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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script Notes

Your location Latitude of customer Longitude of customer

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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script Notes

UserScript.js is located in the following location on the OBIEE server:

NOTE: the [bi_server1] path is the following location:

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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script Notes

There is a special syntax for the UserScript.js file

The 1st function contains the actual code:

Function name must be prefixed with USERSCRIPT.

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Example 3 : Invoke a Browser Script Notes

The 2nd function is used to define your input parameters

OBIEE uses this to automatically know which parameters are required

Each parameter has 3 elements: 1) Variable name 2) Description 3) Default Value

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OBI EE Web Services

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