Oracle9iAS: Discoverer for

End Users
Student Guide

D10823GC40
Production 4.0
October 2002
D37370

Authors

Copyright Oracle Corporation, 2002. All rights reserved.

Nikos Psomas

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and Reviewers
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Publisher
Hamsa Venkatachalam

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Contents
Preface
1

Introduction to Oracle9iAS Discoverer for End Users

Course Objectives 1-2
Oracle9i Application Server 1-3
Oracles Business Intelligence Solutions 1-4
Oracle9iAS Discoverer Components 1-5
Oracle9i Discoverer Administrator and Discoverer Desktop 1-6
The Components of Oracle Discoverer 1-7
Data Warehouse Versus Transactional Systems 1-8
Using Discoverer with a Data Warehouse 1-10
Starting Oracle9iAS Discoverer 1-11
Creating a Discoverer Connection: Standard EUL 1-13
Creating a Discoverer Connection: Applications EUL 1-14
Creating a Discoverer Connection: Selecting the End User Layer 1-15
Editing an Existing Discoverer Connection 1-16
The End User 1-17
Where to Get Helpful Information 1-18
Wizards 1-19
Key Terminology 1-20
The Data Administrators Responsibilities 1-22
Identifying Your Requirements 1-23
The Training Database 1-24
The Video Store Business Area 1-25
Practice 1-1 Overview 1-26

Creating Ad Hoc Queries

Objectives 2-2
Creating a Query: Workflow 2-3
Report Templates 2-4
Page, Top, and Side Axes 2-5
Creating a New Workbook 2-6
Creating a Query: Selecting Items 2-7
Including Items in a Query 2-8
Find in Item Navigator 2-9
Customizing the Worksheet Layout 2-10
The Results Window 2-12
Editing a Query 2-13
Edit Worksheet Window 2-16
Summary 2-17
Practice 2-1 Overview 2-18

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3 Managing Queries
Objectives 3-2
Building and Executing a Query 3-3
Caching Data 3-4
Summary Table Redirection 3-5
Viewing SQL Statements for a Worksheet 3-6
Viewing the Execution Plan of a Query 3-7
Controlling Query Execution 3-8
Governing Queries 3-9
Workbooks Versus Worksheets 3-11
Managing Worksheets 3-12
Managing Workbooks 3-14
Opening Saved Workbooks 3-15
Administering Workbooks 3-16
Sharing Workbooks 3-17
Query Management Options 3-18
Modifying the Wizard Window 3-19
Advanced Options 3-20
Selecting a Default EUL 3-22
Summary 3-23
Practice 3-1 Overview 3-24
4 Customizing Display Properties
Objectives 4-2
Customizing Display Properties 4-3
Setting Default Worksheet Layout Options 4-4
Setting Default Format Options 4-5
Applying Custom Format Options 4-6
Formatting Headings 4-7
Editing Item Headings 4-8
Data Display Formats 4-9
Formatting Data 4-10
Formatting Data: Text 4-11
Formatting Data: Date 4-12
Formatting Data: Number 4-13
Summary 4-14
Practice 4-1 Overview 4-15
5 Applying Conditions and Using Parameters
Objectives 5-2
Conditions Overview 5-3
Predefined Conditions 5-4
Viewing Predefined Conditions 5-5

iv

User-Defined Conditions 5-6

Enabling Conditions 5-7
Conflicting Conditions 5-8
The Conditions Dialog Box 5-9
View Conditions for Box 5-10
New Condition Dialog Box 5-11
The Item Drop-Down List 5-12
The Condition Drop-Down List 5-13
Conditional Operators 5-14
Selecting Values 5-15
Categories of Conditions 5-16
Creating a Single Condition 5-17
Conditions with Calculations 5-18
Creating Multiple Conditions 5-19
Grouping Conditions 5-20
Nested Conditions 5-21
Nesting Conditions 5-22
Using the Select Condition Dialog Box 5-23
Creating Nested Condition 5-24
Using Parameterized Conditions 5-25
Creating a Parameterized Condition 5-26
Summary 5-27
Practice 5-1 Overview 5-28
6

Creating Group Sorts and Applying Summary Functions

Objectives 6-2
Sorting Output: Overview 6-3
Sorting Output in Table Queries 6-4
The Sort Table Dialog Box 6-5
Sort Table Output Example 6-6
Group Sort Output 6-7
Creating Group Sort Table Output 6-8
Sorting Data on a Crosstab Worksheet 6-9
The Sort Crosstab Dialog Box 6-10
Sort Crosstab Output Example 6-11
Sorting Data Points in a Crosstab Worksheet 6-12
Deleting a Sort 6-13
Totals and Subtotals Overview 6-14
Creating Totals and Subtotals 6-15
The Totals Tab 6-16
Creating Totals: Tables 6-17
Creating Totals: Crosstabs 6-18
Reporting Functions 6-19
SUM Versus Cell SUM 6-20
Editing Totals 6-22
Creating Subtotals 6-23

Subtotals Example: Table 6-24

Subtotals Example: Crosstab 6-25
Creating Percentages 6-26
The Percentages Tab 6-27
Creating Percentages: Tables 6-28
Creating Percentages: Crosstabs 6-29
Percentages Example: Table 6-30
Percentages Example: Crosstab 6-31
Summary 6-32
Practice 6-1 Overview 6-33
7

Creating Calculated Items

Objectives 7-2
Calculations Overview 7-3
Creating Calculations 7-4
The Calculations Tab 7-5
Creating a Simple Calculation 7-6
Building Complex Calculations 7-7
Available Functions 7-8
Overview of Analytic Functions 7-9
Ranking Function Examples 7-11
Lag/Lead Function Example 7-12
Using Calculations in Conditions 7-13
Passing a Parameter to a Calculation 7-14
Summary 7-16
Practice 7-1 Overview 7-17

Scheduling and Managing Reports in Batch Mode

Objectives 8-2
Scheduling Reports in Discoverer Plus: Overview 8-3
Scheduling Reports 8-4
Scheduling a Workbook 8-5
Opening a Scheduled Workbook 8-7
Scheduling Manager 8-8
Scheduled Workbook Status 8-9
Summary 8-10
Practice 8-1 Overview 8-11

Analyzing Data with Drills

Objectives 9-2
Types of Drilling 9-3
Displaying Drill Options 9-4

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Drill Options 9-5

Drilling Down for Detailed Information 9-6
Drilling Up for Summarized Information 9-7
Filtering Drills 9-8
Collapsing Drilled-Down Data 9-9
Examples of Drilling in a Table 9-10
Drilling to an External Application 9-11
Summary 9-12
Practice 9-1 Overview 9-13
10 Analyzing Data Graphically
Objectives 10-2
Displaying Data Graphically 10-3
Graph Wizard: Graph Type 10-4
Graph Wizard: Titles, Totals, and Series 10-5
Graph Wizard: X-Axis 10-6
Graph Wizard: Y-Axis 10-7
Graph Wizard: Plot Area 10-8
Graph Wizard: Legend 10-9
Editing Graphs 10-10
The Graph Toolbar 10-11
Resizing a Graph 10-12
Changing the Graph Type 10-13
Positioning a Graph 10-14
Customizing Graphs 10-15
Pie Charts 10-17
Deleting a Graph 10-18
Summary 10-19
Practice 10-1 Overview 10-20
11 Exporting Worksheets to Other Applications and Printing
Objectives 11-2
Exporting Results 11-3
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Select Objects 11-4
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Define File Details 11-5
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Define Graph Details 11-6
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Supervise 11-7
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Export Log 11-8
Exporting Reports and Graphs: Exported Results 11-9
Exporting to Excel or HTML 11-10
Exporting a Crosstab to Excel 11-11
Exporting to Oracle Reports 11-13
Printing a Worksheet 11-14

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Summary 11-17
Practice 11-1 Overview 11-18
12 Introducing Oracle9iAS Discoverer Viewer
Objectives 12-2
Connecting to Discoverer Viewer 12-3
Opening a Workbook Using Discoverer Viewer 12-4
Viewing Worksheet Results 12-5
Discoverer Viewer: Main Features 12-6
Drilling in Discoverer Viewer 12-7
Pivoting 12-8
Changing Layout 12-9
Sorting 12-11
Setting Query Execution Options 12-13
Setting Presentation Options 12-14
Exporting Results to Other Applications 12-15
Exporting Results to Other Applications: HTML Example 12-16
Summary 12-17
Practice 12-1 Overview 12-18
13 Integration of Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal
Objectives 13-2
Enterprise Information Portal 13-3
Portlets and Portlet Providers 13-4
What Is Oracle9iAS Portal? 13-5
Discoverer Portlets 13-6
Publishing Discoverer Content in Oracle9iAS Portal 13-7
Creating a Portal Page Using the Oracle9iAS Portal Interface 13-8
Adding and Arranging Regions on a Portal Page 13-10
Adding a Discoverer Portlet to a Portal Page 13-11
Selecting Default Portlet Settings for a List of Workbooks Portlet 13-14
Selecting Default Portlet Settings for a Worksheet Portlet 13-18
Customizing a Discoverer Worksheet Portlet 13-25
Customizing a Discoverer List of Database Workbooks Portlet 13-27
Opening a Workbook in Discoverer from Oracle9iAS Portal 13-29
Summary 13-30
Practice 13-1 Overview 13-31
Appendix A: Practice Solutions
Product Category Sales A-5
Yearly Revenue Details A-6
Stores in Regions A-7
Product Categories by Region A-12

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Appendix B: Creating Calculated Items by Using Analytic Functions

Overview of Analytic Functions B-2
The Analytic Function Template B-4
Using the Analytic Function Template B-6
Analytic Function Syntax B-7
Ranking Functions B-8
Ranking Functions Output B-9
Using Ranking Functions B-10
Banding Functions B-11
Using Banding Functions B-12
Windowing Functions B-13
Using Windowing Functions B-14
Lag and Lead Functions B-15
Using Lag and Lead Functions B-16
Appendix C: Oracle iDS Discoverer Desktop Features
Creating Worksheet Titles C-2
Saving to the File System C-3
Most Recently Used Workbooks C-4
Count All Rows C-5
The Formatting and Analysis Toolbars C-6
Creating Exceptions C-7
Creating Exceptions: Example C-8
Subqueries C-9
Single-Value Subqueries C-10
Creating a Subquery Condition C-11
Correlated Subqueries C-12
Creating a Correlated Subquery Condition C-14
Drill to Detail C-15
Drill to Detail: Example C-16
Drill to a Related Item C-17
Drill to a Related Item: Example C-18
Setting Drill Options C-19
Drilling in a Graph C-20
3D-Graph Viewing Options C-21
Exporting Subsets of Data C-22
Sending Workbooks by E-Mail C-23
Importing SQL C-24
Command-Line Interface C-25
Command-Line Examples C-27

vi