Best Practice

OBIEE Best Practices

DC/ SC/ Geo/Practice: OBIEE Name of the project : Novo Nordisk IO SELAS Name of the author: Sangeeta Basavaraju Date Created: 14/01/2011

January 14, 2011

Description
Project / Context
NNIO SELAS Application is developed using Seibel and OBIEE technology. OBIEE is used for creating standard KPI reports and Ad-Hoc reports for the sales group.

Purpose
The Purpose of the document is to highlight the best practices followed in OBIEE.

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted 1. Repository physical Layer
Connection Pool Use individual database for every project and also specify the meaningful name for it Follow proper naming convention to the database object & connection pool as per the project/business unit Use optimized number of connection pools, maximum connections for each pool , shared logon etc

Highlights

Better Performance Easy Maintenance Increased Usability

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Do not have any connection pools which are unable to connect to the databases as this might lead to BI server crash as it continuously ping to the connection Others Define proper keys in physical layer Do not import foreign keys from Database

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted 2. Repository Design BMM
Hierarchy Ensure each level of hierarchy has an appropriate number of elements and level key No level key should be at Grand total level A hierarchy should only have one grand total level

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Lowest level of the hierarchy should be same as lowest grain of the Dimension Table. Lowest level of a dimension hierarchy must match the primary key of its corresponding dimension logical tables All the columns in a hierarchy should come from one logical table All hierarchies should have a single root level and a single top level

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
If a hierarchy has multiple branches, all branches must have a common beginning point and a common end point If a column pertains to more than one level, associate it with the highest level it belongs to All levels except the grand total level must have level keys

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Aggregation All aggregation should be performed from a fact logical table and not from a dimension logical table All columns that cannot be aggregated should be expressed in a dimension logical table and not in a fact logical table Nonaggregated columns can exist in a logical fact table if they are mapped to a source which is at the lowest level of aggregation for all other dimensions

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Arrange dimensional sources in order of aggregation from lowest level to highest level Logical Joins If foreign key logical joins are used, the primary key of a logical fact table should then be comprised of the foreign keys. If the physical table does not have a primary key, the logical key for a fact table needs to be made up of the key columns that join to the attribute tables Look at the foreign keys for the fact table and find references for all of the dimension tables that join to this fact table

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Create the logical key of the fact table as a combination of those foreign keys Others Modeling should not be any report specific, it should be model centric Joins between logical facts and logical dimensions should be complex (intelligent) i.e. 0,1:N not foreign key joins It is advised to have a logical star in the business model

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Combine all like attributes into single dimensional logical table. For e.g. Never put product attributes in customer dimension Every Logical Dimension should have a hierarchy declared even if it only consists of a Grand Total and a Detail Level Never delete logical columns that map to keys of physical dimension tables Explicitly declare content of logical table sources

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Proper naming convention to be followed for logical tables and columns Avoid assigning logical column same name as logical table or subject area Configure the content/levels properly for all sources to ensure that OBI generates optimized SQL Avoid to apply complex logic at the Where Clause filter

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Level based or derived calculations should not be stored in Aggregated tables Explicitly declare the content of logical table sources, especially for logical fact tables Explicitly declare the content of logical table sources, especially for logical fact tables Create separate source for dimension extensions Combine Fact extension into main fact source

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Each logical table source of a fact logical table needs to have an aggregation content defined. The aggregation content rule defines at what level of granularity the data is stored in this fact table. For each dimension that relates to this fact logical table, define the level of granularity, ensuring that every related dimension is defined Delete unnecessary physical column from here

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Rename logical column here so that all referenced presentation column would changes cascaded

3. Presentation Layer
It should be simple Break out complex logical models into simple, discrete, and manageable subject areas. All columns should be named in business relevant terms, NOT in physical table/column terms

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Expose most important facts and dimensions Proper Naming Convention for all tables and columns by Initial cap Labeling. Do not combine tables and columns from mutually incompatible logical fact and dimension tables Ensure that aliases for presentation layer columns and tables are not used unless necessary. Verify that reports do not use the aliases

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
End Users should not get any errors when querying on any two random columns in a well designed presentation layer Each Catalog should have the description which will be visible from Answers Each Presentation column should have description visible from answers on mouse hover to it Delete unnecessary columns of BMM in presentation layer

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Avoid naming catalog folders same as presentation tables If the presentation catalog is in Tree like folder structure( main and sub folders), then place a dummy measure in the main catalog folder Avoid to set permissions to tables or groups unless necessary If presentation table is in tree like structure then place a dummy column as _ to enforce proper table sorting . This also help in merging activities

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Separate numeric and non numeric quantities into separate folder sets. Mark Facts or Measures for column having Aggregation rules

4. Others
RPD Security Use Externalized security for user group association to roll out large number of users Use template groups (i.e. security filters with session variables) to minimize group proliferation

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Users should not be stored inside the repository Limit online repository updates to minor changes For major editing take backup copy of the repository, and edit the repository in Offline mode Use naming convention for initialization block and variable for ease of maintenance Follow proper migration strategies

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted 5. Performance
Should have no Global Consistency Errors and Warnings Meta data Repository size to be Reduced to the possible Extent by removing the unused Objects Optimized settings for BI server and Web server configuration file parameters Applying Database hints for a table in the Physical layer of the Repository

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Reduce the SELECT statements executes by the OBIEE Server Limit the generation of lengthy physical SQL queries by Modeling dimension hierarchies (Hierarchy ( Drill Key and Level Key) Disable or remove the unused initialization blocks and also reduce the number of init blocks in the Repository

January 14, 2011

How we did it
Process adopted
Set the correct and recommended log level in the Production, setting the Query Limits and turn off logging Push the complex functions to be performed at the database side Good Caching and Purging strategy (Web server cache and Siebel Analytic Server Cache)

January 14, 2011

Why this is a best practice

Justification
Customers were impressed with the whole application in terms of Usability and Performance.

Benefits
Customer Satisfaction in terms of Usability and Performance. Following the practices mentioned will streamline the maintenance activities of application.

January 14, 2011

How this may be adapted elsewhere

Replication
The OBIEE best practices can be used in any project that uses OBIEE technology.

Contact Info
Sangeeta Basavaraju Mailto: sangeeta.basavaraju@tcs.com

January 14, 2011