Siebel Essentials

Want to take a tour with me?

Have your Oracle BI EE instance started? Ready to explore something new? Here we go:

1. Go to Start > Programs > Oracle Business Intelligence > Systems Management

2. Log in as oc4jadmin. If you can not remember the password, here is a blog post describing how to reset it.

3. Click the Applications tab. This is the place where you find all registered applications in your OC4J, such as good ol' xmlpserver (also known as BI Publisher), bioffice (the BI Office integration, which - funny enough - is only supported on OC4J, not on IIS), analytics (Presentation Services) and - the focus of this post - Oracle BI Management

4. Click the icon in the Application Defined MBeans column for Oracle BI Management.

5. Spend the next 10 minutes exploring this page. What you see here are the management beans for Oracle BI services. You can view and modify all parameters for Oracle BI Server and Oracle BI Presentation Server as well as see some performance information.

You can use the search option to query for specific parameters.

What is exceptionally nice, is that almost every parameter possible is shown (which is not the case in NQSconfig.ini or instanceconfig.xml) and sports a useful description.

When you set a parameter, you have to click the Apply button and restart the respective service. The MBean changes the respective .ini or .xml file for you, but does not restart the service or refresh it's cache.

Why the tour?

Hope this promotes the idea of a centrally managed BI enterprise environment.

Have a nice day

I am often engaged in discussions how the "Excel users" or "Office users" should participate in an Oracle BI EE project. This user group is often characterized as "not needing Oracle BI", "wanting to stick to their beloved spreadsheets" and "not willing to switch to more advanced BI technologies". Sometimes an argument for continuing to use Excel is the mere fact that Excel supports more chart types than Oracle BI (which is true, for example for the Pie of Pie chart - see image below -, one that was on a list of required chart formats once).

Many people have been exposed to slick demos of BI for Office which is of course a very sophisticated and useful solution. But some project teams don't want to install additional software on the client PCs. To please them, I have compiled a list of options that you have - even with older versions such as Siebel Analytics 7.8.

In order to solidify the discussion, I have created a small, maybe incomplete compilation of options that we have to integrate office suites (not necessarily limited to MS Office) with Oracle BI. Just to prepare you: Might be a lot more than you expected.

Click here to download the file

Lemon Curry?

Being a Siebel guy, BI Publisher was a new product to learn when I ramped up upon Oracle BI EE 10g, the successor of Siebel Analytics. I really love the integration between the "classic" BI EE and BI Publisher.

As some of you might recall, Siebel had it's own version of pixel-perfect reporting with Siebel Analytics 7.8.4. In that version, Actuate was integrated with Siebel Analytics and some parameters in instanceconfig.xml are quiet reminders of those times, which of course are over now.

Recently, I was preparing a demo for the BI Publisher integration. It is a quick task and I use to do this demo on the fly - just to impress the customer, how easy it is, even I can do it ;-)

But I wanted to to something more than just to create a new dashboard page, drag in the BI Publisher Report object and link to the sample report provided with the sample application (be it paint or Sample Sales).

So I decided to show how stunningly easy it is to bring an interactive pivot report into a BI Dashboard.

BI Publisher incorporates a shy but powerful interactive Analyzer which you can invoke when you are in the BI Publisher Enterprise portal and viewing a report. Just click the Analyze button and you are in the midst of a drag'n'drop pivot-style tool.

Cool, I'd say.

What's even cooler is that you can save your Analyzer report as a new template, so it adds to your reports layout options. You can then use that template and direct the output to all formats supported (like HTML, PDF, PPT, etc...).

These templates are .xpa (Xml Publisher Analyzer) files which can be downloaded, customized (they're plain xml) and uploaded again.

Now let's do the trick and click the Link to this report link in the upper right corner. This feature allows you to create a direct URL to that report, maintaining the current layout options. You can do this for any option you choose, so if you're currently viewing a PDF output, you'll get a URL which allows you to download the PDF report (voice from off: "Alright, they got it now.")

Next we can use the Embedded Content object in the dashboard editor and paste the URL there and save the dashboard layout.

The result: A dashboard page which allows an end user to interact with the data using simple drag and drop pivot patterns.

Cool, I'd say again.

The new major release of Siebel CRM is still stirring up the blogosphere and newswires and while it's of course worthwhile watching Anthony Lye's webcast and reading the several news articles and blog posts, the question is still there:

• New: Fusion Applications: eCommerce and eSupport
• New: BI Publisher Integration for Reporting
• New: Gateway Name Server Authentication
• New: Contact Center Chat
• New: Helpdesk Integration with Oracle Enterprise Manager
• New: Siebel Management Framework API
• Enhanced: PRM View Visibility and Web Services
• Enhanced: Sales Forecasting
• Enhanced: Global Account Hierarchy
• Enhanced: Integration Objects (EAI)
• Enhanced: ST Script Engine – Script Performance Profiler
• Enhanced: Siebel Workflow and Task UI
• Enhanced: Marketing Automation
• Enhanced: Siebel Loyalty
• Enhanced: Application Deployment Manager (ADM)

It has been a view years or Siebel versions that a nice little feature named "Rapid Unit Test" has been introduced. If memory serves me correctly it was 7.5.3.2xx. The feature allows you to start a compile in Siebel Tools while the Developer Web Client (siebel.exe) is still running.

The effect is such that the browser closes and siebel.exe releases the srf. When the compile process completes, siebel.exe starts up again from its suspended mode (gray icon in the system tray becomes colorful again) and the browser launches AND navigates to the previously opened view.

So developers can continue testing without having to shut down the Siebel client and restart it, hence "Rapid Unit Test".

So far so good.

Then - out of a sudden in version 7.8 - a bug prevented this feature to work. Most of us are familiar with the gruesome error message of wrong username and password.

I am not sure if the bug has been fixed in the latest patch release, but there is a generation of developers who either do not know about that feature or have a version running which contains the bug.

I have developed a workaround (it is nothing more) which goes as follows (the following being a script you can run on your windows workstation after applying the correct installation folders):

rem rename sscfsaodbc.dll to sscfsaodbc.dll.orig
ren %SIEBEL_INSTALL_DIR%\client\bin\sscfsaodbc.dll sscfsaodbc.dll.orig
rem make a backup copy of sscfsadb.dll to sscfsadb.dll.backup
copy %SIEBEL_INSTALL_DIR%\client\bin\sscfsadb.dll %SIEBEL_INSTALL_DIR%\client\bin\sscfsadb.dll.backup
rem rename sscfsadb.dll to sscfsaodbc.dll
ren %SIEBEL_INSTALL_DIR%\client\bin\sscfsadb.dll sscfsaodbc.dll

Basically, we have to swap the database connectivity dll files.

All I can say is that it works for me, you have to try it for yourselves and of course download and install the latest patch.

have a nice day

@lex

Change

After giving good ol' Free Download Manager (yes this is an official editor's choice recommendation for really cool freeware - see below for more kudos) a sleepless night, I was able to embark on a rather ritual ride of uninstalling the old version of my typical 3-pack of Siebel Developer Web Client, Sample Database and Tools (that is 8.1.0 - dot zero) and replacing it with the latest (8.1.1 - dot one) to have a first sniff.
There are some remarkable differences between those two versions which I would like to share with all you early adopters out there.

Given the fact that 8.1.0 was never released under general availability, only a few selected humans might ever had an eye on it. Another fact is that 8.1.0 was available under certain limitations for selected customers for example to prepare an upgrade to 8.1 or to evaluate the revamped Loyalty module (now the fourth pillar of Siebel CRM among Sales, Service and Marketing).

I also downloaded the fresh-from-the-oven 8.1.1 bookshelf and made my way through some very recommended literature, the "What's New in this Release" chapters of the guides that are relevant to you (e.g. Installation Guide).

These are the first details I am posting on 8.1.1 and I am quite sure that more posts will follow.

SIA (Siebel Industry Applications aka Verticals) and SBA (Siebel Business Applications aka Horizontals) released separately

The Network Image Creator, which you still need to launch after unpacking all those .jar files does not allow you to choose between SBA and SIA. The package you download from edelivery.oracle.com is limited to one of the two. 8.1.1 is a SIA release (containing the Loyalty pillar).

Oracle Universal Installer for Developer/Mobile Web Client and Siebel Tools

The first thing you will have to say "Hello" to is the oui.exe which launches Oracle Universal Installer. OUI now takes care of installing and configuring the Siebel Developer/Mobile Web Client and Siebel Tools. Not too weird as it prompts for the same parameters as the old Installshield wizard did. However oui leaves a mark of several directories in the client's and tools' installation folders.

Oracle Universal Installer busily installing Siebel Developer Web Client, the ad to the right is for Database 11g, not for the Client ;-)

Actuate replaced by BI Publisher

When I browsed through the Installation Guide for Windows, I noticed a statement that left me somewhat worried:

"The Actuate products formerly provided as Siebel Reports Server are no longer shipped with or supported by Siebel CRM version 8.1 or later. Reporting functionality is now available using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher."

This two-sentence statement means a lot of work ahead for all those customers who invested (sometimes heavily) in Actuate reports. Oracle announced its decision to say goodbye to Actuate quite early and version 8.1.0 actually supported both reporting tools side by side.

But this short-lived and rarely known coexistence is now over and I feel a little worried about the projects with hundreds of heavily scripted Actuate reports given the fact that an automated migration from an Actuate rol/rod/bas/rox mix to a BI Publisher template is highly impossible. If anyone has more positive news on migrating from Actuate to BI Publisher please share your knowledge in a comment.

[Update 2]: The Siebel CRM 8.1.1 Planned Features/SOD document (login required for metalink3) states the planned availability of an Actuate to BIP Migration Tool as part of the BI Publisher server. Stay tuned for updates on that.

[Update 3]: As Anonymous points out in his/her comment to this post, Actuate is still supported for existing Siebel customers. I hope there will be more official clarification on that as there might be the need for some extra patches for existing customers (as the installers from edelivery have no Actuate binaries with them - neither for the Mobile/Developer Web Client nor in form of the Siebel Report Server). As the Siebel CRM 8.1.1 Planned Features/SOD document (login required for metalink3) points out, there will be support for Actuate 8 until end of 2009. The document mentions "Post-2009", see below. Customers with earlier Actuate versions will need to upgrade to Actuate 8.

I haste to state that I'm a big fan of BI Publisher and consider it the ideal choice but maybe the decision to cut the support for Actuate so quickly was a bit hasty.

In version 8.1.0 it was possible to set the System Preference ReportEngineType to BOTH (which is still the default setting in the sample database for 8.1.1) but in 8.1.1 there are no Actuate binaries available, so BIP is the only thing left to create reports.

The already obsolete ReportEngineType System Preference is still set to BOTH in the sample db.

Let me conclude this post with two more statements from bookshelf and join me in saying farewell to the Siebel Update Server and the CTI simulation.

"Siebel Update Server and Siebel Update Client are no longer shipped with or supported by Siebel CRM version 8.1 or later."

"Siebel CTI Connect is no longer supported as of the current release. CTI Simulation, which used the CTI Connect driver and configuration data, is also no longer supported."

Casey Cheng is no longer able to demonstrate CTI functionality, note the error message

Introduced in Siebel 7.7 and greatly enhanced in 7.8, the Quick Print feature allows end users to bring the data they see in the Siebel view to paper (or Excel, HTML or - if a pdf writer is installed - to PDF).

Quick Print seems to be somewhat neglected in most projects, as it comes with default settings that are not very attractive. The screenshot below shows the result of pressing the Quick Print toolbar button in the Account > Orders view.

Not very impressive indeed, but let's set the user preferences for Printing as follows (note that we use HTML output which also allows to print form applets; Excel output is only supported for list applets).

Now you're talking

As we see, Quick Print is capable of producing a fully featured report-style printout of the entire view, even if it contains HTML icons or side-by-side applets.

Hierarchical list in quick print

Side-by-side applets in quick print

Have fun

This is an update to a previous post on data lineage in Oracle BI EE.

As Erik Eckhardt describes in his blog, there is a not so widely known - and unsupported(!) - command line feature in the Oracle BI Administration Tool.

It can be used to automate activities such as creating rpd files, importing physical layers, updating connection pools, exporting subsets from projects (which is used during installation of Oracle BI Applications btw) and more.

As described in my post on Oracle BI data lineage, we have to export a csv file in order to get data we can use.
Here is a way to use the admintool.exe /command syntax to automate this.

1. Create an input file with the following content. Save the file on your drive (example: D:\input.txt)

Open samplesales.rpd Administrator Administrator
Hide
DescribeRepository D:\samplesales.csv UTF-8
MessageBox "Repository description exported successfully"
Close
Exit

This file contains commands to Open the samplesales.rpd using Administrator as username and Administrator as password.
The Hide command hides the Administration Tool window.

The happy command is DescribeRepository which triggers an export of the rpd metadata to the D:\samplesales.csv file in UTF-8 codepage. This is similar to using the Administration Tool utility manually.

The MessageBox command is just given as an example.
Then we Close the file and Exit from Administration Tool.

2. Open a command prompt and type (or write the following into a shell script):

D:\OracleBI\server\Bin\admintool /command d:\input.txt

and execute the script.

The admintool.exe will now open the input file and execute the commands, thus producing a metadata export file in an automated manner.

In Erik's post you can find more commands.

You can also run the Metadata Dictionary export using the GenerateMetadataDictionary command. The syntax for the input file is:

GenerateMetadataDictionary

Please note that using the /command switch is not documented and obviously not supported by Oracle Support, so please use it carefully and at your own discretion.

once and for all

Hierarchical picklists in Siebel CRM... It's a long story. There are numerous approaches (even in the standard repository) and myths out there how to implement them. A hierarchical picklist is one that allows a user to pick a value for the first field and then shows only values for the second field that are dependent on the first one and so on.

Here is a cookbook style example (tested on Siebel Industry Applications 8.1) how to implement a hierarchical picklist with indefinite levels:

1. Create the list of values data

Use the Siebel Web Client to enter the data for the picklist. You should use the same TYPE and distinguish the levels using the Parent field.

Note that the first level does not have a parent

2. Create the business component fields

Create one field for each level. For all levels but the lowest set the property Immediate Post Changes to true (for resetting the lower fields when changing the value in the applet).

3. Create picklist objects

Use the Picklist wizard to create a static bounded picklist object for the new fields. Create separate picklist objects for the first level and all subsequent levels (you will use 2 different picklist objects). When the wizard is finished, navigate to the picklists and make the following changes manually:

For the first level picklist, change the Business Component property to PickList Hierarchical and set the Search Specification property to [Parent Id] IS NULL.

For the second (and subsequent) level picklist, change the Business Component Property to PickList Hierarchical.

PickList Hierarchical is a standard BC used for example in the BC Service Request to implement the Product, Area and Sub-Area hierarchy.

4. Edit pick maps

Navigate to the Pick Map specifications for the new fields and set the following:

For the first level field add pick map records for all dependent fields and enter Dummy as the picklist field. Dummy is a calculated field (evaluating to an empty string) in the PickList Hierarchical BC.

For the subsequent fields add the Dummy mapping for all remaining dependent fields and add an additional record for the upper level field where you set the Picklist Field to Value and the Constrain flag to true.

Do not add a dummy mapping for the last field in the hierarchy. The screenshot should give you the general idea:

5. Expose the new fields as controls/list columns in an applet

Do the UI work as usual and test.

The dropdown for field 1 should only display the highest level values and lower level fields should be constrained to the child values of the higher level field value. When changing an upper level field, the lower level fields should be reset to empty strings. Users should not be able to select values in "wrong order".

have a nice day

@lex