Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) Weblog

I'd thought to do a post on DQ in MDM scenarios today, but ultimately time didn't permit... What got in the way, so to speak? An Oracle HQ visit from DW/data integration cognoscento Mark Rittman.

Mark came by HQ to share some thoughts on OWB with our management. Some, like myself, have had the good fortune to meet Mark before. For others, this was a first meeting, but an interesting and enjoyable one. We hope to see Mark at HQ again sometime soon.

More on OWB DQ and MDM (the main subjects of my OpenWorld talk) in a near-future post. While I won't go through everything in my OOW talk (because much of it is related to an earlier whitepaper on DQ, DW and MDM and because OOW conference attendees must be paying for something), I'll hit the high points and pass along some anecdotes about Oracle's own DQ and MDM efforts around our own customer data.

Until then...

Here is your chance, sign up now to attend the Oracle BIWA Summit 2008 Dec. 2-3.

Attend this unique two-day IOUG Business Intelligence, Warehousing and Analytics (BIWA) SIG (www.oraclebiwa.org) event to gain the knowledge and information critical for success in your work.

Attend 65 technical talks and 10 hands-on sessions, hear keynotes from Jeanne Harris, the co-author of the best-seller Competing on Analytics, and other industry leaders, learn the latest trends in data warehousing, business intelligence and analytics best practices, learn how to overcome common challenges and network with your peers.

Learn how to improve data warehouse query performance by a factor of 10x with Oracle Exadata and hear firsthand from Oracle Senior Executives and other experts about the revolutionary new HP Oracle Exadata Storage Server and HP Oracle Database Machine and how they fit into Oracle’s data warehousing strategy.

REGISTER for BIWA now using this link: http://ioug.itconvergence.com/pls/apex/f?p=316:1

Last year's BIWA Summit 2007 was sold out, so sign up now to reserve your space!

Between the U.S. holidays and hard work on OWB 11.2 Beta, it was a slow month for blog-worthy activity on OWB. But rest assured, we're still toiling away on Warehouse Builder, and we will give you plenty to talk about quite soon.

Meanwhile, OWB will be featured in the upcoming HP Oracle Exadata Roadshow in New York City:

Oracle Exadata combines industry standard hardware from HP with smart software from Oracle that overcome the limitations of conventional storage and can improve data warehouse query performance by a factor of 10x or more. In addition to industry-leading performance and scalability Oracle Database 11g offers integrated analytics and embedded data quality on a reliable, low-cost grid infrastructure. This encompasses a broad set of database features and options that allow you to:

• 
  Manage integration and loading of quality data with Oracle Warehouse Builder
  
• 
  Improve performance, availability, and manageability by partitioning large tables
  
• 
  Consolidate enterprise wide reporting, analytics and data mining
  

Join us and learn how Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database 11g provide a comprehensive platform for addressing today's data warehousing and business intelligence requirements.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Marriott Marquis at Times Square
1535 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
212.398.1900

Oracle Warehouse Builder 11.2 is currently in beta testing, as part of the Oracle Database 11.2 beta program. We are especially interested in feedback in the following areas:

• importing an OWB 10.2 or OWB 11.1 repository into OWB 11.2


• running mappings originally designed and then imported from OWB 10.2 or 11.1


• testing out our new orphan management functionality for dimensions


• using our new UI for promoting OWB repository from dev to test to production (aka Multiple Configurations)


• Testing our new UI client on Linux

Be sure to tell us as much as you can about your company, your current OWB and database versions, your current and anticipated OWB use cases-- data warehousing, general data integration, data quality, or MDM-- your data volumes, and your sources and targets (Oracle, non-Oracle, ERP applications, or what have you).

Hi, all,

OWB is of course used by customers other than DW customers, but I thought this announcement would find interested DW users here. An upcoming webcast on Oracle Exadata will provide a good close look at how Oracle provides disruptive improvements in data warehouse query performance through eliminating bottlenecks inherent in traditional architectures.

This talk is open to anyone, and provides a great way to get past any FUD you're hearing from DW appliance vendors who may be experiencing a bit of discomfort at the moment.

You can read through the abstract to find out what's on the agenda-- or you can just do as you're told and sign up now at the following link:
https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1001323&K=1AA1A1

CMP Webcast: Extreme Performance for Your Data Warehouse
Wednesday, January 28th, 9:00 am PST

Data warehouses are tripling in size every two years and supporting ever-larger databases with ever increasing demands from business users to get “answers” faster requires a new way to approach this challenge. Oracle Exadata overcomes the limitations of conventional storage by utilizing a massively parallel architecture to dramatically increase data bandwidth between database and storage servers. In this webcast, we’ll examine these limitations and demonstrate how Oracle Exadata delivers extremely fast and completely scalable, enterprise-ready systems. In addition, you’ll learn how Oracle Exadata can improve query performance for data warehouses by at least a factor of 10x.

Featured Speaker:
Juan R. Loaiza, Senior Vice President, Systems Technologies -- Oracle Corporation

Juan has been at Oracle for over 20 years and manages "systems" aspects of database development including: High Availability, RMAN, Data Guard, Oracle Secure Backup, Data and Index Management, Flashback, Performance, Streams, AQ, Exadata, Virtual Operating System, Platform Specific Development, CORE, and SAP Development.

Registration Information

Register at:
https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1001323&K=1AA1A1

We in OWB know that our customers have use cases other than those for which they use OWB today. So some in our audience may want to attend this upcoming webcast about Oracle’s Data Integration Suite offering. Please feel free to forward this to others in your organization who may be interested.

Register for the webcast here:
http://www.oracle.com/dm/09q3field/24440_ev_int_sem_etl_nxtgen_feb09.html

Going Beyond ETL, Next Generation Data Integration and Management

What if you could go beyond conventional ETL to…

• Consolidate data for improved scalability and performance?
• Ensure that your data is clean, consistent, and trustworthy?
• Make better decisions using up-to-date information?
• Better re-use data as information services?
• Leverage the IT infrastructure to make better use of what is already in place?

Join this Internet Seminar to learn how companies around the world have gone beyond convention to embrace Oracle Data Integration solutions for unmatched performance, ease of use, flexibility and lower total cost of ownership.

Learn how to promote your data to re-usable information, service-orient your data-centric architecture using Oracle’s Data Integration Suite, and how to solve critical concerns regarding data integration issues that Enterprise Architects, Data Architects, and IT Management face every day.

Monday, February 9, 2009
9:00 a.m. PT/ Noon ET

At the event, you will:

• Hear about SOA and Data Integration technologies bridges critical information gaps
• Listen to customer success stories that can help you achieve the results you need
• Learn about Oracle's strategy for Data Integration and specifically how you can better realize the benefits of going beyond ETL.

Register now for this event.

Great news, today Oracle released the Linux x86 and x86-64 versions of 11gR2 for the Oracle Database which includes Warehouse Builder (see Oracle Database 11gR2 here). Nice to finally see all the hard work eventually come to fruition. This has been an interesting few years, through acquisitions, the tough economic times, the release went on sure and steadfast, hats off to all the development group. The OWB 11gR2 release has some substantial changes all round - from the user interface to the open mapping framework to the OBIEE integration to name a few. I love pushing the envelope (common idiom, see here) with tools and seeing what can be done with them and this release of OWB lets you do LOTS!

So where is the collateral?

Keep an eye open for new collateral as it is completed there is a lot of really useful functionality from cool new stuff to basic mapping functionality people have wanted for years! For a brief write up of new OWB functionality see the new Concepts manual here the OWB OTN page has some updates already here.

Where is the software?

Oracle database download (includes OWB):
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html

OWB standalone download:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/warehouse/index.html

Watch out for new posts, fun training and active forums!

Open World 2009 is almost upon us. For those thinking about attending, there's a schedule of events and product demos around data integration on OTN, here:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle-data-integrator/events/data_integration_openworld-2009.html

This page will be updated on an ongoing basis as we get closer to the date of the conference. If you're planning to attend, join the Warehouse Builder/Data Integrator Linkedin Group and contact me, the group manager.

Busy here at HQ, preparing for Oracle Open World among other things. We will be announcing opportunities to see OWB 11.2 with the new ODI-based features at events at Open World through our LinkedIn group. Join the group now, to be sure you get the latest news:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=140609&trk=anet_ug_grppro

-Antonio

When? Thursday October 15th, 2-4 pm
Where? The W Hotel, Workroom 2
Who? OWB users, LinkedIn members, Open World attendees
How? Register using LinkedIn or send an email.

Come to this 2-hr interactive session to talk with a panel of OWB gurus about the latest release, OWB 11.2.

The spotlight will be on what many herald as the most significant enhancement to OWB in years-- hybrid mappings which combine:

• OWB's traditional ETL capabilities (dimensional modeling, data cleansing, etc.)
  
• plus a new, more flexible method for accessing heterogeneous sources
  
• plus the ability to control where transformations are performed (source vs. staging area or target)
  
• all in a single tool with one repository, one set of operators, one set of table definitions

For those familiar with Oracle Data Integrator (ODI), you'll recognize hybrid mappings as a combination of OWB technology plus ODI's knowledge module technology.
For those familiar with OWB, come to this session to learn how you can take your existing OWB mappings and leverage the new technology for heterogeneous access.

Events at Oracle Open World 2009
The following events require an Open World pass for attendance:
 

OWB @ Oracle Open World DEMOgrounds
Mon, Tues, & Wed Oct 12,13,& 14 2009
Moscone West, Pods W-093 & W-094 See map
Come chat with OWB developers and product management about our latest release.

An ETL Framework Using Oracle Warehouse Builder
Monday October 12 2009
13:00 -14:00 in Moscone South Room 270
Speaker: Ian Abramson from Thoughtcorp, Inc
Session: S307863

Case Study: Building a Data Warehouse Cost-Effectively
Tuesday October 13 2009
11:30 - 12:30 in Moscone South Room 301
Speaker: Dr. Holger Friedrich from SumIT AG
Session: S307710

Unconference on OWB
Wednesday October 14 2009
14:00 -15:00 at Moscone West, Third Floor, Overlook II
Panel discussion
Register here

Other Events
The following events are open to the public unless otherwise noted:

Warehouse Builder Goes Hybrid
Thursday October 15 2009
14:00 -16:00 at The W Hotel
Panel discussion
Register here

OWB 11.2: Enterprise-grade Data Integration for the Oracle Data Warehouse
Wednesday October 21 2009
12:00 -13:00 Eastern Time, virtual event hosted by Business Intelligence, Warehousing and Analytics SIG
Speaker: Antonio Romero, Product Manager from Oracle
Register for this webcast here

As already announced, the OpenWorld Unconference session on Oracle Warehouse Builder 11.2 is being held 14 October 2009, Moscone West, Third Floor, Overlook 2, 2-3PM.

For the convenience of attendees, here’s a floorplan.  Overlook 2 is right across from room 3018.

Mark Rittman will be presenting on OBI-EE integration and his experiences with OWB 11.2, I’ll be presenting on OWB Code Template Mappings that bring ODI Knowledge Module technology to OWB, and David Allan will be showing off some of the more advanced applications of code templates.

Hope to see you there.