BizTech Blog

I recently read an article from Software Advice called the BI Buzzword Breakdown. The article highlighted the confusion around business intelligence (BI) terms and asked experts to provide their own definitions. While a quick visit to wikipedia will define most business intelligence terms, we as practitioners have learned that successful BI implementations require significant support and interaction with business users. The IT-led 'build it and they will come' strategy, just plain does not work. Thus, we need to be able to translate from techy terms to business terms. As a compliment to the software advice article, I would like to attempt to explain some of the key terms as if I was speaking to a fictitious business executive, who I will call Amy.

Oracle announced today that it agreed to purchase Involver, a provider of social media software tools that enable companies to interact with users on such sites as Facebook and Twitter, through customized Web pages, responses to user comments, app creation via templates, or custom development. This purchase comes on the heels of two other recent social media acquisitions by Oracle of Vitrue and Collective Intellect.

Oracle database’s ORACLE_SID can be renamed using a couple of methods. The first method, which is a tradition method, is to create a new control file using the reuse database flag and give it a new incarnation. Once this is done we can change the values in the external files (sqlnet.ora, tnsnames.ora, init.ora (spfile)) and open the database. From Oracle 9i and beyond Oracle database can be renamed using the dbnewid (or) nid utility. In this post, we will go through the steps to rename the database using the nid utility.

• Backup the database (Always a good practice before any changes are made).
• Start the database in mount state (do not open it).
• Invoke the dbnewid utility

nid TARGET=sys/password@<CURRENT_ORACLE_SID> DBNAME=<NEW_ORACLE_SID>

I had the privilege of attending the Oracle Fusion CRM Implementation Boot Camp during the week of May 14th. The event was kicked off with lights, cameras, and action - literally. Fusion CRM starred as the entire week was filmed for later release.

Oracle has de-supported Hyperion Business Rules (HBR) in the 11.1.2.2 release. Customers with HBR in the previous releases need to migrate them to Calc Manager in 11.1.2.2. Support Doc (MetaLink Doc) ID 1448421.1 - Hyperion Business Rules Statement of Direction - has an attachment that provides an overview of the changes in availability of Hyperion Business Rules. This document would help you assess any impact to your current implementation, and to plan future decisions related to integration with the Oracle's Hyperion suite of products. The steps for migrating from Business Rules to Calc Manager depends on your specific installation type and can be found in - http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/epm_install_1112200.pdf ( Page 22,23)

Fusion CRM was built on a foundation that facilitates instant visibility across platforms. Where many solutions include mobility and extensibility as an afterthought, Fusion CRM was designed with the mobile sales professional in mind. This approach manifests itself in the following areas:

When Fusion Middleware Applications are installed there is a default user (weblogic or a specific name that you provide) that is created during the domain creation which acts as a super user for all Middleware Applications. This post walks through the process of resetting the weblogic password in an event that it’s lost.

1. Shutdown Weblogic Server and all associated applications.
2. Set the Weblogic Server environment variables –
   $DOAMIN_HOME/bin/setDomainEnv.sh
3. Navigate to $DOMAIN_HOME/security and rename the DefaultAuthenticatorInit.ldift file.
4. Create an initialization file in the same directory using the below command –
   java weblogic.security.utils.AdminAccount <weblogic_user_name> <weblogic_password> .
5. This will create a new DefaultAuthenticatorInit.ldift file.
6. Navigate to $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/AdminServer and rename the data directory.
7. Repeat step 6 for all the managed servers which are part of the domain.
8. If boot.properties is used, recreate them with the username and password that was provided in Step 4.
9. Start Admin Server and make sure you can login using the new credentials.
10. Start the rest of the services

Note: This process will remove all the user accounts in the weblogic domain and only the new user that is created will be present and act as a super user.

As business intelligence software technologies have matured, organizations have begun to expand the use of business intelligence software, like Oracle Business Intelligence, beyond reporting from data warehouses. Using tools like Oracle business intelligence to report off of operational systems such as Oracle EBS has become commonplace. So the question becomes, what is the difference between analytical and operational reporting and how should an organization architect a solution for each reporting type.

Recently Mark Hurd, Oracle President and Balaji Yelamanchili, Oracle Senior Vice President, Analytics and Performance Management, unveiled the latest advances in Oracle’s strategy for analytics. The webcast focused on the latest developments in business intelligence technology and applications, advanced analytics, performance management applications, and engineered systems. Key points included how to:

• Deliver real-time intelligence to your mobile workforce globally
• Forecast and plan at the speed of business
• Accelerate your financial close and reporting process

Click this link to watch the webcast.