OBIEE 11G Action Framework – Integration with
External Applications
Action Framework
in BI EE 11g opens up BI EE to external applications for extensive integration.
BI EE, even in 10g had a lot of integration options. But one biggest drawback
had always been the lack of an ability to call external
applications/scripts/processes right within the BI EE dashboard. Only way in
10g was to either make the call through a URL (like action links to Ebusiness
Suite & Siebel) and browser based Java Scripts. In 11g, we now have a lot
more options. There are basically 2 kinds of Actions. The first one is the
Navigate action which basically enables the drill from BI EE to external
applications like EPM, Ebusiness Suite, another report/dashboard in BI EE etc.
The parameters can be passed from one application to the other easily.
The second one is
the Invoke action that provides an ability to call external Java processes,
Browser scripts, web services etc. The invoke action does not provide external
navigation. They are primarily used for triggering processes that happen
outside of BI EE like calling ETL processes, java processes etc
Both the Navigate
and Invoke actions are part of the Action Framework. Listed below are some of
the new features in Action Framework that enable integration with external
applications.
1. Integration to
external Applications through a URL –
This feature existed even in 10g and was
one of the most commonly used ways of integrating other applications with BI
EE. The biggest problem with this in 10g was, we manually had to hand craft the
URLs and the parameters. In 11g, this integration has been enhanced to
alleviate 2 important issues that we have had with 10g
a. We can specify
location aliases instead of hardcoded ip addresses (or hostnames). For example,
if you are using Go URL to call another BI EE report, then we will have to
enter the full URL including the hostname. When we migrate from environments (say
dev to prod), then we will have to manually change the hostnames in every
report that use Go URL. This is not needed anymore.
b. Its now much
easier to specify the url parameters through the UI. We can pass parameters
which can be either made visible or hidden. For example, if you want to pass
username and passwords to the url but you would like them to be invisible for
the person invoking it, then that is possible now.
2. Integration
with Web Services
–
This is a complete new feature of BI EE 11g. In 10g, web services can be
called only using Java Scripts or by calling an external JSP page. In 11g, we
have this feature natively. So, effectively if you have say ODI ETL Web
Services and you would like to kick start an ETL process from BI EE, it is easily
possible now. In addition to making calls to external web services, BI EE also
has a new type of Web Service called BI EE Web Services for SOA. This new web
service basically is for integration with Oracle FMW products like BPEL etc.
One of the big drawbacks in BI EE 10g web services was, every-time we had to
call a report or an iBot, we had to establish a session with BI Server and then
pass the session id to the individual web service methods. But in the BI EE Web
Services for SOA, there is no need to establish a session to get access to the
individual methods. I will cover this in detail in another blog post.
3. Integration
using Java Methods
–
Another interesting integration that is part of 11g is the ability to call
Java methods natively. In 10g, the only way to call java methods directly was
to use delivers and then call the java methods through the Java Host. In 11g, this method
of calling java methods (through Javahost) is not recommended. Instead the java
classes will have be wrapped inside a EJB and then this EJB can be called from
BI EE. This opens up a lot of integration opportunities like writeback to Essbase
etc. I will cover this in a separate blog post.
4. Integration
with EPM –
BI
EE 10.1.3.4 introduced the first steps of integration between BI EE and EPM. In
BI EE 10g, we could embed BI Answers, Dashboards etc within an EPM workspace.
Also, SSO capability was added between the EPM and BI Suites. But there was no
native integration between the reporting tools like Hyperion Financial
Reporting and BI EE. In 11g, this is not needed anymore. It is possible
navigate to any EPM report (HFR & Web Analysis) and we can also pass
parameters from BI EE to the target EPM report.
OBI EE 11g
provides us with a lot of potential opportunities for integration that weren’t
easily available in 10g.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMy OBIEE rely on UNIX server. Is there any way that I send the report to external systems. Right now we are using invoke Java method to send it unix server. But i want to get saved in user local machine like what OBIEE windows does.
Please let me know as soon as possible