Oracle Discoverer an overview Brett Ford Feb 11, 2004 NorCal OAUG
What is Oracle Discoverer? A relatively user-friendly reporting tool for retrieving data from Oracle databases Can be used for both “ad hoc” and “pre- defined” reports Useful reporting tool for both casual and power users Integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite
Discoverer Reports (Common Usage) Casual users can view pre-defined reports Power users/analysts can create “ad hoc” reports IT Business Analysts or Developers create “pre-defined” reports
Ease of Use Viewing pre-defined reports Very Easy! Creating ad hoc reports Easy but problematic Creating pre-defined reports Moderate difficulty Basic data formatting options (font size, summation, breakpoints, graphs, etc)
Security/Administration Oracle Discoverer does require a system administrator to maintain an End User Layer (EUL) Security is administered via the EUL Business Folders (tables and views) are assigned to Business Areas (major groupings of Business Folders) Users/Responsibilities are granted access to Business Areas
Security/Admin Cont’d EUL can be created in “apps mode” to automatically integrate Oracle Application users and responsibilities Pre-Defined Reports can be stored in the database and secured by the creating user Creating user has the option to “share” pre- defined reports with other users Can secure which users are allowed to save reports to database
“Out of the Box Integration” User/Responsibility integration with Oracle E- Business Suite (apps mode EUL) Business View Generator customizes business views for Key and Descriptive Flexfield definitions. Auto-Creation of Business Areas and Folders from Business Views (BIS) Discoverer Web Reports can be run from personal homepage in release 11i
Some Product Drawbacks Users cannot set table/view linkages must be performed by EUL admin Multiple table linkages can cause “fan trap” problems New reports often require creation of new database view Limit on number of rows retrieved (16,000) Formatting and printing options are very basic
For Additional Information… Oracle Technology Network AppsNet