Post Twitter updates from delivers

A few days ago I read on a blog a question about posting to Twitter from Delivers via the advanced tab. So I ventured to try this myself and here are my results. It's very cool to be able to send Twitter updates via Delivers since this would essentially leverage Twitter's ability to notify both email and phone devices (iphone/blackberry/etc) with little to no hassle. I'm not going to get into the details on how to build the Java class, but here's how I did it:

I used Twitter4J as my library to log-in and post Twitter updates. I could create my own URL wrappers but why re-invent the lemonade right? so go and grab a copy of Twitter4J from http://yusuke.homeip.net/twitter4j/en/index.html and use your favorite IDE (I used Eclipse) to create your java class.

In order to pass the Twitter username and password I used the parameter values that you can setup in the Advanced tab of the iBot creation wizard. Then I referenced those two parameters within my java class like so:

Twitter twitter = new Twitter(jobInfo.parameter(0),jobInfo.parameter(1));

For the content to post, I used a modified version (removed HTML tags) of the Corporate Overview sample that is included with the Paint dashboard sample (Shared Folders/Paint Demo/Sales Summaries/Regional Analysis/Corporate Overview) which is a narrative view. I modified it and saved it to "My Folders". This is the text that will be posted to Twitter.

I setup the iBot as follows:

• Class Name: com.kerdock.delivers.DeliversToTwitter (the name of my Java class)
• ClassPath: kdqobiee.jar (the name of the jar containing the above class)
• Additional Class Path(s): twitter4j.jar (downloaded from the URL referenced above)
• Results: Pass delivery content to Java Program
• Other Parameters: two parameters containing my twitter username and password

Then I copied the jars (kdqobiee.jar and twitter4j.jar) to the appropriate folder (in my case is C:\OracleBI\web\javahost\lib)

Finally, when I save my iBot, my twitter status is updated with the text from the Answers view:

Migrating Brio/Hyperion IR to OBIEE

First, I will start off with a little bit of Kerdock history. Back in 2002 when Kerdock was founded we started out as a Brio Partner. Since 2002, the BI industry has experienced a lot of consolidation. As a result, Kerdock has realigned itself twice due to the acquisitions by Hyperion and then Oracle. Kerdock today is totally aligned with Oracle and has maintained Certified Advantage Partner status which is the highest partner level offered by Oracle.

As a result of Kerdock's roots, we have worked with many clients over the years who have implemented Brio and/or Hyperion IR to solve their business intelligence needs. More recently we have been engaged in OBIEE implementations and therefore have experience working with all of the OBIEE + tool sets. Today when we meet with our legacy Hyperion clients we are starting to see more interest in OBIEE for the following reasons:

1. They have implemented v 11.x of Hyperion and would like to take advantage of the tighter integration between OBIEE and the Hyperion Workspace
2. They are on an older version of Brio or Hyperion IR and are facing support issues
3. They would like to take advantage of the enterprise framework of OBIEE such as the common information model (OBIEE Repository) to reduce report maintenance
4. They would like to take advantage of he OBIEE web based infrastructure that makes it easy to integrate with other Oracle applications as well as 3rd party applications such as Microsoft Sharepoint and Adobe Flex

So recently I attended an Oracle webcast that discussed a new migration utility that converts Hyperion BQYs to OBIEE Answers Requests and therefore make the move to OBIEE less time consuming and costly. I was pleasantly surprised at the extent of the process as it goes beyond what the Discoverer to OBIEE migration accomplishes.

The Translation workbench will require clients to be on version 9.x of Hyperion and version 10.1.3.x of OBIEE. If you are a client who is pre-system 9 you will have one additional step to migrate your BQY's to a system 9 environment. The workbench will soon be a beta release and clients can work with partners such as Kerdock or Oracle to start migrating their BQYs to Answers. The migration process at a high level involves 5 steps:

1. Import data sources - physical tables, columns
2. Accumulate BQY DM dimensions and extend physical layer
3. Generate standard names, star schemas, and presentation folders
4. Regenerate BI Repository that supports BQY reports
5. Generate Answers request definitions - criteria, pivots, charts

General release of the migration utility will not be out till some time next calendar year so if you are interested in utilizing this utility within the next few months please feel free to contact me. My email address is jim.glazar@kerdock.com

Upcoming OAUG OBI SIG Webcasts

As a Board Member of the OAUG OBI SIG I would like to point out that we have 4 upcoming OBI webcasts in the run up to OpenWorld 2009. You can also view this info on the OBI SIG website at http://obisig.oaug.org/events.php?page=Events

The webcast details are as follows:

1) What's New with Oracle BI Applications 7.9.6?
Monday, August 10th, 10:00 am Pacific, 12:00 Noon Central, 1:00 pm Eastern – 1 Hour DurationSpeaker(s) : Joe Thomas, Oracle Corporation
Abstract : The 7.9.6 release of the Oracle BI Applications was the most significant since the Oracle acquisition of OBI EE and the BI Apps from Siebel. Come learn about new BI Apps such as Oracle Project Analytics and Oracle Loyalty Analytics, along with significant enhancements to other BI Applications such as Oracle HR Analytics or Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics. New integrations to JDE and well as enhanced integrations to EBS and Peoplesoft will also be discussed.Conference DetailsConference Title OBI EE SIG: What's New with Oracle BI Apps 7.9.6Conference ID 152549725Conference KeyDate and Time 10-Aug-2009 10:00 AM PST Duration 1 HourTimezone (-08:00) US Pacific TimeDial-In Number 866.682.4770 (Toll-free) or 408-774-4073 (Toll)https://conference.oracle.com/imtapp/app/cmn_jm_hub.uix?mID=152549725Audio Conference Code: 3679513, then 0988 as the security code

2)Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE) Integration Today & Tomorrow
Monday, August 24th, 10:00 am Pacific, 12:00 Noon Central, 1:00 pm Eastern – 1 Hour DurationSpeaker(s) : Jim Glazar, Kerdock Consulting
Abstract : Learn how to integrate the current version of OBIEE (10.1.3.4) with other Oracle applications as well as 3rd party applications in order to provide pervasive business intelligence throughout your enterprise. We will demonstrate current OBIEE integration points with the following Oracle applications Hyperion Workspace and Hyperion SmartView and discuss future integration plans with Hyperion HFM & Hyperion Planning. Also, we will demonstrate how to integrate OBIEE with 3rd party applications such as Microsoft Sharepoint, Adobe Flex, and Apple iPhone.
Conference Title OBI EE SIG: > Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE) Integration Today & Tomorrow
Conference ID 153230394
Conference Key Date and Time 24-Aug-2009 10:00 AM PST
Duration 1 Hour
Timezone (-08:00) US Pacific Time
Dial-In Number 866.682-4770(Toll-free) or 408-774-4073(Toll)
https://conference.oracle.com/imtapp/app/cmn_jm_hub.uix?mID=153230394

3)Maximizing your Oracle Discoverer investment with Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus
Thursday, September 10th, 10:00 am Pacific, 12:00 Noon Central, 1:00 pm Eastern – 1 Hour DurationSpeaker: Jose Villacis, Oracle
Abstract: This session covers migrating from Oracle Discoverer to Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus. Hear how Oracle Discoverer metadata and worksheet concepts correspond to Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus concepts and how to create Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus physical, logical, and presentation layers with Oracle Discoverer info.

4) Fortune 100 Company gains Efficiency with Oracle BI Solutions, Hyperion Solutions and Essbase
Monday, September 28th, 10:00 am Pacific, 12:00 Noon Central, 1:00 pm Eastern – 1 Hour DurationSpeaker(s) : Debbie Kraus, Humana - Todd Randolph, Optimum Solutions
Abstract : Learn how a Fortune 100 healthcare company planned, designed, built, and implemented an improved Incurred Financial Model process, utilizing and integrating Oracle Essbase, OBI EE and Hyperion. This organization leverages monthly operational information to estimate their claims liability, a process consisting of 3 major steps that previously used Microsoft Access Databases to manage, maintain and audit this information. Upon outgrowing this system, the company performed research, due diligence and a proof of concept in search of a new solution. The key considerations for selecting the new solution was the ability to meet current requirements and future growth, improved functionality, performance, scalability, and total cost of ownership.