7 Best Practices for Connecting Power BI to OBIEE

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Josephine Scott
5 years ago
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2 About BI Connector Leading BI Integration Solution used by enterprise customers Product of Guidanz Inc. based in San Francisco Bay Area. Launched in Unique Patented Solution that integrates modern viz tools to legacy BI data BI Connector current solutions include: Power BI to OBIEE Connector Tableau to OBIEE Connector Qlik to OBIEE Connector Technology Partner: Microsoft, Tableau, Oracle Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 2

3 Let s kick-off with a couple of questions Which version of OBIEE are you using? We ve migrated to Oracle Analytics Cloud (or working on it) We ve upgraded to OBIEE 12c On premise (or planning to do so) We re holding on to OBIEE 11g We re still on OBIEE 10g What editions of Power BI are you using? Power BI Desktop Power BI Pro Power BI Premium Power BI On-Premise Gateway Power BI Report Server Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 3

4 Top Reasons for Connecting Power BI to OBIEE Users Speed of visualization Data Blending Power BI is the IT standard Users spend 4 to 5 hours/week/user in Export/Import of OBIEE data into Power BI Productivity Loss of $10,000 /year /user Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 4

5 Top Reasons for Connecting Power BI to OBIEE IT $$$$ invested in OBIEE/OAC already. How to reuse for Power BI users? Re-engineering is cost prohibitive = 5 months per Subject Area > $250k in new investment Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 5

6 Let s talk about your business What are your business drivers for connecting Power BI to OBIEE? We are standardizing on Power BI as the visualization platform We would like to mash-up other data sources with OBIEE data We would like to enhance the visualization for OBIEE data We would like to reuse OBIEE data without reengineering Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 6

OBIEE as a Data Source Unique Challenges OBIEE is unlike other data sources Data Volume Meta data

8 The 7 Best Practices to Follow Know your OBIEE data Start with Reports Choose the Right Connection Type Use Filters Use GZID for Subject Areas Fine tune for long running & large queries Implement Data Security in Cloud Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 8

9 Know Your OBIEE 1. Users should be both OBIEE and Power BI super users BI Connector White paper: How to get started with BI Connector Evaluation 2. Important to know the OBIEE data model and OBIEE itself 3. Follow this failsafe approach until you are comfortable 1. Keep Power BI and OBIEE side by side 2. View the report in OBIEE 3. Understand the Subject Area, Folders and Columns in OBIEE 4. Connect to the same OBIEE report/analysis from Power BI 5. Create visualization in Power BI 6. Verify the results with OBIEE Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 9

10 Start with Reports OBIEE data models are complex Connecting to reports is easier than subject areas Easier to reuse existing OBIEE reports Create analysis in OBIEE and connect from Power BI Quickly access OBIEE reports as tables in Power BI Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 10

11 Choose the Right Connection Type Direct Query for online analysis If OBIEE reports/queries perform well To minimize the data loaded into Power BI Import for offline analysis To automate data import from slow OBIEE queries When you mix connection types, verify if composite models work for your data sources Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 11

12 Use Filters Millions of rows in OBIEE Reports Performance issue when querying/importing into Power BI Use Filters to query only the required data Faster queries Shorter report creation time Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 12

Demo Connecting to Reports Visualize OBIEE Reports

14 Use GZID for Subject Areas Direct Query Connecting to Subject Areas is recommended for OBIEE Super Users who are also Power BI users GZID A BI Connector created virtual id used for reusing OBIEE joins Direct Query Use GZID to join fact table to dimension tables Cardinality: Many to One (*:1) from Fact to Dimension Cross filter direction: Single Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 14

15 Use GZID for Subject Areas Import Edit Queries before loading Launches Power Query Use Merge Queries in Power Query Use GZID with Left Outer Remove fields that you don t need to reduce number of columns Apply filters to reduce rows Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 15

16 Fine Tune for Long Running & Large Queries Query not returning any data? Check the following: Long running queries Increase http time out in BI Connector (Default - 8 mins) Automatic query cancellation Check OBIEE time-out parameters Large data volumes Data Volume = Number of Rows x Number of Columns Customize based on need & your OBIEE environment (consult your OBIEE admin) Maximum rows per report Maximum rows per fetch Maximum columns per report For C-runtime errors in OBIEE queries Increase OBIEE memory allocation Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 16

17 Implement Data Security in Cloud OBIEE Data Security not carried over into Power BI Service/Cloud Power BI Service doesn t support automatic OBIEE row level security via BI Connector at this time Implement appropriate data governance/sharing models for OBIEE datasets in Power BI Service Power BI Service Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 17

18 Recap of 7 Best Practices 1. Know your OBIEE 2. Start with Reports 3. Choose Direct Query vs. Import for the right use case 4. Use filters 5. Use GZID for Subject Areas 6. Fine tune for long running and large queries 7. Implement Data Security in Cloud Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 18

19 Simplify Data Visualization Productivity Savings of $10k per user per year Business Benefits Intuitive, Easy Visualization Faster Decisions Time Savings Avoid Errors Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 19

20 Re-use OBIEE. Avoid Re-engineering > $250K in Cost Savings IT Benefits Save Time and Money Data Governance and Security Reduce BI Backlogs Maximize Value of BI Investment Guidanz Inc All rights reserved. 20