Reports
May 29, 2016 | Author: ilsaggio | Category: N/A
Short Description
Download Reports...
Description
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D May 2011
Copyright © 2005, 2011 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice and is not warranted to be errorfree. If you find any errors, please report them to us in writing. If this is software or related documentation that is delivered to the U.S. Government or anyone licensing it on behalf of the U.S. Government, the following notice is applicable: U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS Programs, software, databases, and related documentation and technical data delivered to U.S. Government customers are "commercial computer software" or "commercial technical data" pursuant to the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency-specific supplemental regulations. As such, the use, duplication, disclosure, modification, and adaptation shall be subject to the restrictions and license terms set forth in the applicable Government contract, and, to the extent applicable by the terms of the Government contract, the additional rights set forth in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software License (December 2007). Oracle America, Inc., 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065. This software or hardware is developed for general use in a variety of information management applications. It is not developed or intended for use in any inherently dangerous applications, including applications that may create a risk of personal injury. If you use this software or hardware in dangerous applications, then you shall be responsible to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy, and other measures to ensure its safe use. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates disclaim any liability for any damages caused by use of this software or hardware in dangerous applications. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. This software or hardware and documentation may provide access to or information on content, products, and services from third parties. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates are not responsible for and expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind with respect to third-party content, products, and services. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates will not be responsible for any loss, costs, or damages incurred due to your access to or use of third-party content, products, or services.
Contents
Siebel Reports Guide 1
Chapter 1:
What’s New in This Release
Chapter 2:
Overview of Siebel Reports
About Siebel Reports
21
About Using Siebel Reports
22
Siebel Reports Output File Types Who Can Use Siebel Reports?
22
23
About Controlling Access to Reports About Oracle BI Publisher
23
24
About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports 24
Chapter 3:
Siebel Reports Development Environment
About the Siebel Reports Architecture
27
Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode
28
Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode Siebel Reports Directory Structure Siebel Reports File Types
29
31
32
About the Oracle BI Publisher Server in Siebel Business Applications How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact
Chapter 4:
32 33
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
About Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications About Upgrading Siebel Reports
37
38
Where to Find Documentation for Previous Versions of Siebel Reports Requirements for Using Siebel Reports
38
38
Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
40
3
Contents ■
Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
43
Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications 44 Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications 44 Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word 46 Copying JAR Files to the Oracle BI Publisher Server 47 Disabling External File References on the Oracle BI Publisher Server 48 Starting and Stopping OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher 49
Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch
50
Configuring an Outbound Web Service for the Siebel Application Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
50
51 52
Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
53
Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports 53 Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports Using LDAP 58 Configuring Siebel Reports in a Web Single Sign-On Environment 58
Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server
58
Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server 60 Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling
61
Setting Up the Database Schema for the Oracle BI Publisher Server 61 Configuring the Data Service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server 62 Verifying Symbolic URL Arguments That Embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel Application 63
Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports
64
65
Upgrading to Oracle BI Publisher Version 10.1.3.4.1 from Version 10.1.3.4.0
Chapter 5:
66
Administering Siebel Reports
Deploying Report Layout Templates to the Siebel Web Client from a Disconnected Client 69 Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments 70 Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System
71
Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server
72
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports
4
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
73
Contents ■
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Creating a Custom XML File 73 Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Replacing a JVM Property Name 74 Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Changing the Absolute Path to the Repository 75
Copying Fonts for Report Generation
75
About Working with Multilingual Reports Designing Multilingual Reports
75
77
Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates About Report Translation
78
79
80
Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports
80
81
Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports 82 Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports
82
Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes 84 Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports 84 Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports 86 Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports 87
Chapter 6:
Generating Reports
About Generating Reports
89
Scenario for Generating Reports Generating Reports
90
92
Example of Generating an Opportunity Report
94
Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports Viewing Generated Reports Deleting Reports
94
96
97
Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports
Chapter 7:
97
Creating Reports
Scenario for Creating Reports
99 Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
5
Contents ■
About Integration Objects in Siebel Reports
100
About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects
101
Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application About Registering and Sharing Report Layout Templates About Multiorganizational Report Templates
104
104
Scenario for Report Template Visibility Across Organizations
105
Should You Clone an Existing Report or Create Custom Reports? Process of Creating Custom Reports
102
105
106
Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports 109 Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports 110 Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports 112 Creating Report Layout Templates Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word 113 Registering Report Layout Templates 114 Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report 117 Sharing Report Layout Templates 118 Defining Report Layout Templates for Selected Records 119 Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views 120 Changing the Report Sequence Order in the Reports Menu 120
Chapter 8:
Scheduling Reports
About Scheduled Reports Scheduling Reports
123
124
Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports
127
Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports Deleting Scheduled Reports
Chapter 9:
126 128
129
Using Master-Detail Reports
About Master-Detail Reports
131
Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template 132 Creating a Master-Detail Layout Template in Microsoft Word
Chapter 10: Migrating Reports Requirements for Migrating Reports
6
139
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
136
Contents ■
Process of Packaging and Migrating Reports
140
Packaging the Report Files in the Source Environment 140 Migrating the Report Files to the Target Environment 141 Packaging Report Database Records in the Source Environment 142 Migrating Report Database Records to the Target Environment 143
Process of Migrating an Integration Object for a Report
144
Process of Migrating New Reports after Creating New Integration Objects
145
Chapter 11: Parameterized Reports About Parameterized Reports
147
About Report Parameter Types and Attributes
148
About Referencing Parameters in the Report Layout Template About Defining Report Parameters in the Siebel Application About Report Parameter Validation
149 150
152
Process of Creating Parameterized Reports
152
Defining Report Parameters in the Siebel Application Example of Generating a Parameterized Report
153
155
Chapter 12: Troubleshooting Siebel Reports Enabling Logging for Siebel Reports in the Siebel Application About Enabling Logging for the Oracle BI Publisher Server
157 159
Enabling and Disabling Debugging for Siebel Reports in Disconnected Mode
159
Guidelines for Resolving Class Not Found Errors When Previewing Reports in Microsoft Word 160 Resolving Class Not Found Errors When Previewing Reports in Microsoft Word Troubleshooting Error Messages for Siebel Reports
161
162
Chapter 13: Report Business Service About the Report Business Service
171
Configuring the Report Business Service
172
Index
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
7
Contents ■
8
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
1
What’s New in This Release
What’s New in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. D Table 1 lists the changes described in this version of the documentation to support this release of the software.
Table 1.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. D
Topic
Description
Chapter 4, “Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications”
New chapter. It provides updated content and reorganized topics to reflect the latest integration and configuration tasks.
Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports”
Modified chapters. They reflect the latest report features and topics have been reorganized accordingly.
Chapter 11, “Parameterized Reports” “About Controlling Access to Reports” on page 23
New topic. Reports access is based on standard Siebel responsibility-based visibility as well as access granted by others.
“About Oracle BI Publisher” on page 24
New topic. It describes the Oracle BI Publisher, OC4J (Oracle Application Server Containers for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition), and Oracle BI Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop).
“Siebel Reports Directory Structure” on page 31
Modified topic. The naming convention for XLIFF files requires that all languages have the same file name as the report layout template, only the extension differs.
“About Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 38
New topic. Provides an overview of Siebel Reports upgrades.
“Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40
New topic. It provides a high-level roadmap for integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications.
“Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports” on page 53
Modified topic. You replace the existing address of the Service Ports subview with the URL used to access the EAI Object Manager.
“About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 52
New topic. Describes the various security models available for Siebel Reports.
“Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65
New topic. It provides instructions for upgrading to the latest Siebel Reports features.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
9
What’s New in This Release ■
Table 1.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. D
Topic
Description
“Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78
New topic. It describes how to upload multilingual reports to a Siebel application.
“About Report Translation” on page 80
Modified topic. Added a caution that each translated report must have a unique name, otherwise errors can occur.
“Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
New topic. It describes how to set the default report language and locale by setting user preferences.
“About Multiorganizational Report Templates” on page 104
New topic. It describes the logic for how an organizationspecific report template appears in the Reports menu.
“Scenario for Report Template Visibility Across Organizations” on page 105
New topic. It provides an example of how you might use report template visibility across organizations.
“Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128
New topic. It describes how to suspend and resume scheduled reports.
“Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template” on page 132
New topic. It provides an example of using a master-detail report.
“Syntax and Description of the Fields for an Example Template” on page 134
New topic. It provides additional information for the example of using a master-detail report.
“About Parameterized Reports” on page 147
Modified topic. It describes how parameterized reports are generated.
“About Report Parameter Types and Attributes” on page 148
New topic. It provides a description of the report parameter types and attributes.
“About Defining Report Parameters in the Siebel Application” on page 150
New topic. It provides information about parameter definitions and how to use them.
“About Report Parameter Validation” on page 152
New topic. It provides an overview for checking for report parameter inconsistencies between the report layout template and definitions for the template in the Siebel application.
“Process of Creating Parameterized Reports” on page 152
New topic. It provides instructions for defining report parameters.
“Defining Report Parameters in the Siebel Application” on page 153
New topic. It describes how to define report parameters in the Siebel application. The parameters govern how the reports appear so that users have options when generating reports.
10
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
What’s New in This Release ■
Additional Changes This version of Siebel Reports Guide includes: ■
■
The following screen names and other user interface (UI) elements have changed: ■
The Administration - BIP Reports screen is now the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen.
■
The BIP Reports Server is now BI Publisher Reports.
■
The Purge Administration view is no longer available in the UI.
■
The My Jobs view is now the Scheduled Reports view.
■
The Report Template Registration view is replaced with two new template views: ❏
Reports - Customer Templates
❏
Reports - Standard Templates
■
The Generate Sample Data File button in the Integration Objects list of the template views is now Generate Sample XML.
■
Start Date and End Date replace Active Start Date and End Date, respectively.
The following view names have changed: ■
All Template View is now All Report Template View
■
Manager’s Template View is now Manager’s Report Template View
■
Several topics in Chapter 4, “Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” were relocated to either other chapters or 880452.1 (Article ID) Siebel Maintenance Release Guide on My Oracle Support.
■
The procedures in Chapter 4, “Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” now indicate which steps are applicable to a first-time installation or upgrades (or both).
■
The following topics were relocated to Chapter 5, “Administering Siebel Reports”: ■
“Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments” on page 70
■
“Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports” on page 73
■
“Copying Fonts for Report Generation” on page 75
■
Updated diagram and steps in “Generating Reports” on page 92.
■
You can generate reports in MHTML (MIME HTML) format in connected mode only.
■
A diagram was added to “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
■
Mentions of upgrading to Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.1 from Siebel CRM version 8.1.1 were removed because they are no longer applicable.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11
What’s New in This Release ■
What’s New in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. C Table 2 lists the changes described in this version of the documentation to support this release of the software.
Table 2.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. C
Topic
Description
Chapter 6, “Generating Reports” Chapter 7, “Creating Reports” Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports”
Modified chapters. Topics in these chapters were modified to reflect the new user interface that allows for sharing of reports and includes other new features.
“About Using Siebel Reports” on page 12
Modified topic. Access control to generated reports is based on standard Siebel responsibility-based visibility.
“Copying JAR Files to the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 37
Modified topic. Two additional JAR files must be copied.
“Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 56
Modified topic as follows:
“Configuring Security and Authentication Using the Siebel Security Model” on page 67
■
Added a note advising that the path of the JVM DLL Name parameter is automatically read from the Windows registry.
■
Corrected the JVL DLL Name setting for UNIX.
■
Corrected the path for the LIBPATH environment variable for UNIX.
■
Corrected the JVM classpaths for UNIX and Windows.
Modified topic. You replace the existing address of the Service Ports subview with the URL used to access the EAI Object Manager.
“Configuring Security and Authentication Using the LDAP Security Model” on page 70
Modified topic. Replaced procedure with a cross reference to 974509.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
“Configuring Siebel Reports in a Web Single Sign-On Environment” on page 71
New topic. It describes how to configure Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher in a Web Single Sign-On (SSO) environment.
“Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments” on page 78
New topic. It describes how to register new or modified report definitions for multiple Siebel Server environments.
“Purging Reports from the Siebel File System” on page 66
Removed topic. This feature is no longer applicable.
“Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System” on page 59
New topic. It provides instructions for administrators to set up an automated process for purging reports from the Siebel File System.
12
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
What’s New in This Release ■
Table 2.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. C
Topic
Description
“About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 63
New topic. It describes how Siebel Reports determines the report language at run time.
“About Report Translation” on page 65
New topic. It describes report translation.
“Designing Multilingual Reports” on page 65
Modified topic. Added an optional step to the procedure.
Chapter 6, “Generating Reports”
Modified topic. Added a note advising this chapter is not applicable to scheduled reports.
“About Generating Reports” on page 75
Modified topic. Access to reports is based on standard Siebel responsibility-based visibility.
“Workflow for Generating Reports” on page 77
Modified topic. You can choose a different language and locale rather than accept the default choices when generating a report.
“Generating Reports” on page 80
Modified topic. You can:
“Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 85
■
Grant others access to your reports.
■
Select multiple records when generating reports.
■
Override the default report language and locale settings.
New topic. It describes how to override the default report language and locale by setting user preferences.
Additional Changes This version of Siebel Reports Guide includes: ■
The following screen names and other user interface (UI) elements have changed: ■
The Administration - BIP Reports screen is now the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen.
■
The BIP Reports Server is now BI Publisher Reports.
■
The Purge Administration view is no longer available in the UI.
■
The My Jobs view is now the Scheduled Reports view.
■
The Report Template Registration view is replaced with two new template views:
■
■
❏
Reports - Customer Templates
❏
Reports - Standard Templates
The Generate Sample Data File button in the Integration Objects list of the template views is now Generate Sample XML.
You can generate reports in MHTML format in connected mode only.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
13
What’s New in This Release ■
What’s New in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. B Table 3 lists the changes described in this version of the documentation to support this release of the software.
Table 3.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. B
Topic
Description
“Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode” on page 18
Added a caution about not modifying parameters for the XMLP Report Server component.
“Where to Find Documentation for Previous Versions of Siebel Reports” on page 28
New topic. It provides pointers to integration instructions for other releases of Siebel Reports.
“Requirements for Using Siebel Reports” on page 28
New topic. It provides prerequisites before deploying Siebel Reports.
“Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 33
New title for topic. Modified topic to reflect high-level integration tasks.
“Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 34
New topic. It consolidates several of the Oracle BI Publisher installation and configuration tasks previously located elsewhere in this guide.
“Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 34
Modified topic: ■
Added a note to make it clear that the instructions are for a first-time installation rather than an upgrade from a previous version.
■
Removed the optional step of downloading the Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Documentation Media Library.
■
Added a step to have users download Oracle BI Publisher Desktop.
“Upgrading to Oracle BI Publisher Version 10.1.3.4.1 from Version 10.1.3.4.0” on page 42
New topic. It describes how to upgrade Oracle BI Publisher to version 10.13.4.1 from 10.1.3.4.0. The content was relocated from Appendix C and rewritten to correct inaccuracies and to differentiate from a first-time installation.
“Copying JAR Files to the Oracle Publisher Server”
Modified topic to remove steps for enabling external file references because those steps belong to another task.
“Disabling External File References on the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 38
New topic. It describes how to enable external file references on the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
14
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
What’s New in This Release ■
Table 3.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. B
Topic
Description
“Process of Configuring the Siebel Application for Integration with Oracle BI Publisher” on page 53
Modified topic: ■
The tasks in this process were added, removed, and reorganized, as needed.
■
Step 3 of the process was rewritten to make sure the XMLP Report Server component is enabled and a caution was added about not changing this component’s parameters.
“Process of Authenticating User Access to the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 66
Tasks were added, removed, and reorganized as needed. Subtopics were also rewritten.
“Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations”
New topic. It provides instructions for testing your configurations.
“Deploying Report Layout Templates to the Siebel Web Client from a Disconnected Client” on page 57
New topic. It provides instructions for moving reports from a disconnected client to a Siebel Web Client so that reports are available for generation in connected mode with the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
“Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 60
Modified topic to make it clear that the purging instructions are for scheduled reports.
“Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports” on page 67
Modified topic to reflect that this task is applicable to performance optimization of reports with more than 100 records rather than 2000 records.
“Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports” on page 70
Corrected directory path in Step 1 of the procedure.
“Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports” on page 72
Corrected directory path in Step 1 of the procedure.
“Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 82
Added a tip about the timestamp of a report.
“Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 97
New topic. It describes how to extend an integration object to add a new field to a report.
“Scheduling Reports” on page 112
Added a note at the end of the procedure advising that the My Jobs view is an embedded Web page from the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application.
“About Parameterized Reports” on page 135
Removed the last paragraph in the topic. No preconfigured parameterized reports ship with Siebel Business Applications.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
15
What’s New in This Release ■
Table 3.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. B
Topic
Description
“Enabling Debugging for Siebel Reports in Disconnected Mode” on page 145
Corrected the procedure.
“Troubleshooting the CLASSPATH Settings Using Siebel Server Manager” on page 155
Modified topic to correct the command syntax.
Additional Changes ■ Replaced references to Oracle application servers with ORACLE_HOME. ■
Replaced references to the Oracle BI Publisher installation directory with ORACLE_HOME/oc4j_bi.
■
Replaced references to OracleMetaLink 3 with My Oracle Support.
■
Retitled Chapter 4, “Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” to clarify that tasks are integration tasks rather than installation and configuration tasks. Also made structural changes to the content, including: ■
Topic additions, deletions, renaming, and reorganization
■
Revisions to procedures
■
New and revised index entries
■
Added new requirements for implementing Siebel Reports.
■
Modified steps in roadmap for integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications.
■
Provided a better example for the “Configuring the Outbound Web Service for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” topic.
■
Reworded note at the end of the “Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports” topic for clarity.
What's New in Siebel Reports, Version 8.1, Rev. A Table 4 lists the changes described in this version of the documentation to support this release of the software.
Table 4.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. A
Topic
Description
Chapter 4, “Installing and Configuring Siebel Reports”
Modified chapter. It describes how to install and configure Siebel Reports version 8.1.1.1.
“Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Siebel Business Applications” on page 31
Modified topic. It describes how to install Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher version 10.1.3.4.1.
16
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
What’s New in This Release ■
Table 4.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Guide, Version 8.1, Rev. A
Topic
Description
“Purging Reports in the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 51
New topic. It describes how to purge reports permanently in the Oracle BI Publisher repository.
“Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes” on page 57
Modified topic. Added a note about not executing reports with large data volumes as an immediate report request.
“Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports” on page 58
Modified topic. Added a note advising when not to enable scalable mode.
“Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports” on page 60
New topic. It describes how to configure a temporary directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for use with complex reports.
“Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports” on page 60
New topic. It describes how to increase the default sleep time to improve performance when generating complex reports or against large data sets.
Chapter 7, “Scheduling Reports”
New chapter. It describes how to schedule reports to run at a later date and with recurring frequency.
Chapter 9, “Using Master-Detail Reports”
New chapter. Content in this chapter was relocated from Chapter 5, “Administering Siebel Reports.”
Chapter 10, “Parameterized Reports”
New chapter. It provides the additional tasks you must perform when creating parameterized reports.
“Resolving Class Not Found Errors When Previewing Reports in Microsoft Word” on page 118
New topic. It describes how to resolve errors encountered when previewing reports in Microsoft Word.
Appendix B, “Report Business Service”
New appendix. It describes the Report Business Service and how it is used.
Appendix C, “Upgrading to Siebel Reports Version 8.1.1.1”
New appendix. It describes how to upgrade to Siebel Reports version 8.1.1.1.
Additional Changes This version of Siebel Reports Guide includes: ■
Several new preconfigured reports are available in this release. For a comprehensive list of the preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications, see 876284.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
■
Changes made throughout the guide to reflect the new features and functionality for the current release of Siebel Reports.
■
Structural changes to the content, such as topic organization and heading arrangement, revisions to procedures, and an expanded index.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
17
What’s New in This Release ■
What's New in Siebel Reports, Version 8.1 Table 5 lists the changes described in this version of the documentation to support release 8.1 of the software.
Table 5.
New Product Features in Siebel Reports Administration Guide, Version 8.1
Topic
Description
Chapter 2, “Overview of Siebel Reports”
New chapter. It describes Siebel Reports.
Chapter 3, “Siebel Reports Development Environment”
New chapter. It describes the Siebel Reports architecture and report generation, the Oracle BI Publisher Server, and how Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) interacts with Siebel Business Applications.
Chapter 4, “Installing Siebel Reports”
New chapter. It describes the preinstallation, installation, and postinstallation tasks for Siebel Reports.
Chapter 6, “Administering Siebel Reports”
New chapter. It describes how to purge reports and create multilingual reports.
Chapter 8, “Running Reports”
New chapter. It describes how to run Siebel Reports from a user perspective.
Chapter 9, “Creating Reports”
New chapter. It describes the report layout templates, integration objects, and master-detail reports.
Chapter 12, “Migrating Reports”
New chapter. It describes how to migrate reports from one environment to another (applicable only to disconnected clients).
Appendix A, “Troubleshooting Siebel Reports”
New appendix. It describes how to enable logging for the various components of Siebel Reports, and how to respond to error messages.
Additional Changes ■ Removed all Actuate-related chapters and content. For information about integrating Siebel reports with Actuate, see Siebel Reports Administration Guide version 8.0 on the Siebel Bookshelf. NOTE: The Siebel Bookshelf is available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN), Oracle E-Delivery, or it might be installed locally on your intranet, or on a network location. ■
Reports and the Reports Menu are no longer available in Siebel Tools. Siebel Reports are now accessed using the application views in the Siebel clients.
■
Several reports are no longer available. Of particular note, the following reports are no longer available: ■
18
Application Upgrade Object List. Provided object differences between repository versions.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
What’s New in This Release ■
■
Application Upgrade Attributes List. Provided attribute differences between repository versions.
NOTE: The data provided in these reports is still accessible using the Screens menu. For more information about using the Screens menu, see Using Siebel Tools. ■
The following reports have been relocated to the application administration views in the Siebel clients instead of Siebel Tools: ■
Tables. Provides selected properties and lists the columns for each table. For more information about the Tables report, see Siebel Data Model Reference.
■
EIM Interface Tables. Provides various properties for each EIM interface table. For more information about the EIM Interface Tables report, see Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide.
■
The location for the follow documentation has changed: ■
Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
■
Siebel Business Applications Third-Party Bookshelf is available on Oracle E-Delivery.
■
Other Siebel CRM documentation (Release Notes, Maintenance Release Guides, Alerts, Technical Notes, Troubleshooting Steps, FAQs, Error Messages) is located on My Oracle Support.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
19
What’s New in This Release ■
20
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
2
Overview of Siebel Reports
The reporting module for Siebel Business Applications is Oracle® Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher). This chapter provides a brief introduction to Siebel Reports and the reporting tools used to create reports. It includes the following topics: ■
About Siebel Reports on page 21
■
About Using Siebel Reports on page 22
■
Siebel Reports Output File Types on page 22
■
Who Can Use Siebel Reports? on page 23
■
About Controlling Access to Reports on page 23
■
About Oracle BI Publisher on page 24
■
About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports on page 24
About Siebel Reports Oracle’s Siebel Business Applications ship with preconfigured reports and layout templates. You can choose to use these reports, modify these reports, or create your own custom reports. For a comprehensive list of the preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications, see 876284.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support. You work with Siebel Reports in the following locations: ■
In the Siebel application to generate, schedule, and view reports. The views are also used for Siebel application administrative tasks. For more information about generating reports, see Chapter 6, “Generating Reports.” For information about scheduling reports, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.”
■
In Microsoft Word by using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word to create and customize layout templates. For more information about using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24.
■
In Oracle BI Publisher to manage report scheduling, report users, and other Oracle BI Publisher administration tasks. Information about these administrative tasks is documented throughout this guide.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
21
Overview of Siebel Reports ■ About Using Siebel Reports
About Using Siebel Reports In the Siebel clients (Siebel Web Client, Siebel Mobile Web Client, and Siebel Developer Web Client) you use views to generate reports. While in a view, you typically perform a query, and then select the report that you want to generate from the application-level Reports menu. From the Reports menu, you can choose to either generate a report immediately or schedule a report to generate at a later time. You can monitor your long-running and scheduled reports, view previously generated reports, or delete reports from the Reports and the Scheduled Jobs views. TIP: The reports that are available to you while in a Siebel view are based on standard Siebel position-based visibility. For more information about using Siebel reports from a user perspective, see Chapter 6, “Generating Reports.” For more information scheduling reports from a user perspective, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.” For information about positions and visibility, see Siebel Security Guide. NOTE: The new report features (report scheduling, parameterized reports, and the new security protocol) are available only in connected mode.
Siebel Reports Output File Types Siebel Reports supports the following output file types: ■
PDF (Portable Document Format)
■
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
■
RTF (Rich Text Format)
■
XLS (Microsoft Excel format)
■
PPT (Microsoft PowerPoint format)
■
MHTML (MIME HTML)
NOTE: The PPT and MHTML report output file types are available only in connected mode. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27. The report output file types that are available to you for a specific report are determined by the report developer when registering a report in the Siebel application. For more information about registering reports, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114.
22
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Overview of Siebel Reports ■ Who Can Use Siebel Reports?
Who Can Use Siebel Reports? This topic describes the users and the tasks they are allowed to perform. Siebel Reports users include the following: ■
Report user. Users can generate, view, monitor, and schedule reports that they are granted access to in a Siebel application. Users can also delete reports that they have personally generated. Additionally, users who have Microsoft Word and Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word installed on their computers can also modify existing templates or create custom layout templates. For more information about Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24. In a sales organization, typical report users might be sales representatives, sales managers, and sales executives. NOTE: Report scheduling is available only in connected mode. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27.
■
Report developer (or business user). Developers are responsible for determining how best to extract data from various sources and are granted permission to perform administrative tasks. These administrative tasks include generating translatable XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) files, uploading and registering templates in the Siebel clients, associating reports with Siebel application views, and so on. In a sales organization, report developers might be sales managers, business analysts, and so on. NOTE: A sales manager might be a report user or a report developer depending on the responsibility assigned. Your business requirements determine which views are made available to certain users for reports development and administration. Restrictions are implemented using the standard Siebel access controls. For more information about access control in general, see Siebel Security Guide.
■
Report administrator. The report administrator might perform tasks typically performed by report developers, but the administrator is also responsible for installation and configuration tasks, purging reports, and managing the translation of reports from one language to another.
About Controlling Access to Reports Standard Siebel Business Applications access controls apply to Siebel Reports, that is, position-based visibility. However, visibility to reports might also be based on access granted by others. For more information about user access in relation to Siebel Reports, see “About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 52. For more information about access granted by others, see “Sharing Report Layout Templates” on page 118. For general information about access controls, see Siebel Security Guide.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
23
Overview of Siebel Reports ■ About Oracle BI Publisher
About Oracle BI Publisher Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) is the reporting module for Siebel Reports. Siebel Business Applications integrate with Oracle BI Publisher for report generation and management. For more information about Oracle BI Publisher, see the documentation suite available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). For more information about Oracle BI Publisher and Siebel Business Applications integration, “How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact” on page 33.
Oracle BI Publisher Server and OC4J When you install Oracle BI Publisher, OC4J (Oracle Application Server Containers for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition) and the Oracle BI Publisher Server are installed as part of this installation. During report generation, which is triggered from the Siebel application, data is pushed from the Siebel Database to the Oracle BI Publisher Server to generate reports. When handling a report request, the Oracle BI Publisher Server merges the data with the report layout template from the Oracle BI Publisher repository, and then sends the report to the Siebel application. For more information about OC4J, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide, Release 10.1.3 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). For more information about the Oracle BI Publisher Server, see “About the Oracle BI Publisher Server in Siebel Business Applications” on page 32.
Oracle BI Publisher Add-In for Microsoft Word Oracle BI Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) is the report authoring tool for Siebel Reports, which allows you to author and preview layout templates using Microsoft Word. For more information about using this tool, see “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24.
About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) is an authoring tool that allows you to use native formatting features of Microsoft Word to design layout templates for reports. The application includes documentation, demos, and samples. NOTE: Siebel Reports allows you to use a subset of the functionality and features the Oracle BI Publisher Desktop provides. Only the features documented in this guide are supported. Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word provides separate layout, query, and language capability in one interface. Because data logic is separate from the layout, and the layout is not dependent on the needs of a particular language, this feature allows for flexibility in deployment and reduced maintenance costs.
24
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Overview of Siebel Reports ■ About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports
When you open Microsoft Word after installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, the Oracle BI Publisher menu toolbar appears, as shown in Figure 1.
Oracle BI Publisher Toolbar
Figure 1.
Oracle BI Publisher Menu
Example of Oracle BI Publisher Menu and Toolbar in Microsoft Word
For information about installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see “Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. NOTE: It is recommended that you not use Oracle BI Publisher Desktop version 10.1.3.4.1 with Oracle BI Publisher version 10.1.3.4.0.
Advantages of Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word as a Report Authoring Tool Advantages of using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word for creating layout templates and customizing reports include: ■
Users can build the layout and rules for reports themselves or reuse their existing company documents. Even if your users do not have the skills to create their own layout templates, they can begin creating the template in Microsoft Word. Then the report developer can use that same document to finalize the template and report.
■
Deployment is more efficient, because users can build the report that they want without having to depend on an engineer to interpret their requirements.
■
Testing cycles are reduced because users can implement changes to the report rather than tying up valuable development resources.
■
Report developers can concentrate on extracting only data.
■
Report developers can extract data from diverse sources.
■
Both report developers and report administrators can build and maintain reports.
■
Interoperability with other standards-based reporting engines, such as Oracle’s enterprise reporting tool that is used in Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, BI EE (Business Intelligence Suite, Enterprise Edition Plus), and so on.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
25
Overview of Siebel Reports ■ About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word Features Some of the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word features that are especially helpful in Siebel Reports template creation and customization include: ■
Template Builder. Facilitates the development of RTF (Rich Text Format) layout templates for reports. Using Template Builder, users create how they want their report to look, and then a report developer can use this same document to determine how to extract data from the database in the most efficient manner. Because both report users and report developers use the same report authoring tool, there is much less chance for misinterpretation of the requirements.
■
Template Viewer. Allows you to preview report layouts with sample data in multiple output formats at any stage of development. Template Viewer is a feature of Template Builder.
■
Excel Analyzer. Oracle BI Publisher Analyzer for Excel facilitates the development of Excel templates that export data to an Excel spreadsheet. It allows you to: ■
Export the results of a report query to an Excel spreadsheet
■
Log in to Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word from Excel to refresh your data, apply new parameters, and apply a template to the report data
■
Create templates in Excel, upload them to the Oracle BI Publisher repository, and then access and generate reports from an Excel session
NOTE: The Analyzer for Excel feature is available only in connected mode. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27. For more information about using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Report Designer's Guide available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). NOTE: Not all features mentioned in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher documentation are currently integrated in the Siebel Reports solution; only the features documented in this guide.
26
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
3
Siebel Reports Development Environment
This chapter describes the Siebel Reports development environment and how Siebel Reports interacts with Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) to generate reports in Siebel Business Applications. It includes the following topics: ■
About the Siebel Reports Architecture on page 27
■
Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode on page 28
■
Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode on page 29
■
Siebel Reports Directory Structure on page 31
■
Siebel Reports File Types on page 32
■
About the Oracle BI Publisher Server in Siebel Business Applications on page 32
■
How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact on page 33
About the Siebel Reports Architecture For Siebel CRM version 8.1 and later, Siebel Reports supports two architectures: one for connected mode, and one for disconnected mode. From the perspective of the user when requesting reports in the various Siebel clients, there is no apparent difference. However, executing report requests using the Siebel clients differs depending on the connection mode: ■
Disconnected mode. Requesting reports in disconnected mode runs Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) through the XMLP Report Business Service using the embedded Oracle BI Publisher libraries. For more information about the architecture for disconnected mode, see “Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode” on page 29.
■
Connected mode. Requesting reports in connected mode to a server or through the Siebel Web Client integrates directly with the Siebel XMLP Report Server component and the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For more information about the architecture for connected mode, the XMLP Report Server component, and the Oracle BI Publisher Server, see “Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode” on page 28. TIP: For some Siebel Business Applications, the Siebel Web Client is not required. It is possible to generate Oracle BI Publisher reports with the embedded Oracle BI Publisher libraries, such as is the case with Siebel Loyalty. Another instance of when a Siebel Web Client is not required is when report generation is requested using a workflow by way of the business services in the XMLP Report Server Component. These two instances, however, are not documented in this guide. The instances are mentioned so that you know there are other reporting capabilities available for Siebel Reports.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
27
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode
Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode The Siebel Web Client and other connected clients allow you to generate reports in connected mode. When you select a report from the Reports menu in a Siebel application view, the XMLP Report Server component processes the request and extracts the relevant data from the Siebel Database. The XMLP Report Server component converts the data to XML, then issues an outbound Web service call to a standalone Oracle BI Publisher Server. The Oracle BI Publisher Server accepts the XML data file, generates the layout template, and merges the layout template with the XML data. The Oracle BI Publisher Server then sends the report output file back to the XMLP Report Server component using an outbound Web service call. The report is stored in the Siebel File System and then displayed in the Siebel application. Figure 2 illustrates both the architecture and workflow for generating reports in connected mode. NOTE: Oracle BI Publisher was recently renamed; previously Oracle BI Publisher was called XML Publisher or XMLP. For this reason, some software elements retain the XMLP naming convention.
Figure 2.
Siebel Reports Architecture and Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode
The following text provides a high-level description of Figure 2:
1
A report generation event is triggered from a Siebel application view.
2
The Siebel Application Object Manager (AOM) routes the event to the Siebel Database.
3
The Server Request Broker (SRBroker) and the Server Request Processor (SRProc) monitor the request and pass it to the XMLP Report Server component through the XMLP Driver Service.
28
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode
4
The XMLP Driver Service makes a call to the XMLP Data Service.
5
The XMLP Data Service fetches data from the Siebel Database through the EAI Siebel Adapter, and then returns the control back to the XMLP Data Service.
6
The XMLP Data Service passes control back to the XMLP Driver Service.
7
The XMLP Driver Service makes a call to the XMLP Adapter Service.
8
The XMLP Adapter Service makes a call to the proxy PublicReportService business service.
9
The proxy PublicReportService business service makes a Web service call to the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
10 The Oracle BI Publisher Server executes report generation and returns the generated report binary data by way of a Web service call back to the proxy PublicReportService business service.
11 The proxy PublicReportService business service returns control to the XMLP Adapter Service. 12 The XMLP Adapter Service then downloads the report, and creates the file in the Siebel File System, which is displayed in the Siebel application.
Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode The mobile clients (Siebel Mobile Web Client and Siebel Developer Web Client) allow you to generate reports interactively in disconnected mode. In disconnected mode, the Oracle BI Publisher Server is a logical component that uses the Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine to manage generating reports. The XMLP Report Business Service is the interface to this logical component that instantiates the EAI Java Business Service to load the JAR files to the JVM (Java Virtual Machine). The Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine then processes the XML data, XSL template, and XLIFF files to generate the report. For more information about the EAI Java Business Service and JVM, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. The XMLP Report Business Service and the Oracle BI Publisher core libraries (XDO JAR files) are available as part of a Siebel mobile client installation. These core libraries are located in the SIEBEL_CLIENT_ROOT\CLASSES directory. For information about client installation, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
29
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode
Figure 3 illustrates both the architecture and workflow for generating reports in disconnected mode. NOTE: Oracle BI Publisher was previously known as XML Publisher or XMLP. For this reason, some software elements retain the XMLP naming convention.
Figure 3.
Siebel Reports Architecture and Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode
Figure 3 illustrates the following:
1
A report generation event is triggered from a view in the Siebel application.
2
Data is retrieved from the Siebel Database using the EAI Siebel Adapter and stored as XML in the XMLP\DATA folder in the Siebel client installation (SIEBEL_CLIENT_ROOT\CLASSES) directory.
3
A call is routed to the XMLP Report Java Business Service.
4
The XMLP Report Business Service instantiates the EAI Java Business Service, and loads the JAR files to the JVM (Java Virtual Machine).
5
The Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine loads the XDO classes from the JAR files, and then the XML, XLIFF, and XSL template are given as input to the XDO classes for generating the report. The report is temporarily stored in XMLP\REPORTS, and then sent to the Siebel File System.
6
The control then goes back to the Siebel user interface where the generated report appears.
30
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ Siebel Reports Directory Structure
Siebel Reports Directory Structure Siebel Reports files reside in the Siebel Server installation XMLP directory (SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP). Table 6 provides descriptions of these directories.
Table 6.
Siebel Reports XMLP Directory Structure
XMLP Path
Description
\DATA
Contains the generated XML files from the integration object definition.
\FONTS
Contains the prepackaged .ttf (TrueType format) font files. NOTE: The administrator must copy the font files from the C:\WINDOWS\Fonts directory to the $JRE_HOME\fonts directory to make sure that reports are displayed and print properly. For more information about copying font files, see “Copying Fonts for Report Generation” on page 75.
\REPORTS
Contains the temporary files for generating reports.
\TEMPLATES
Contains the RTF (Rich Text Format) layout templates. Users can download these report files to a local drive. This directory also contains the XSL files necessary for disconnected mode. For information about how these files are used for generating reports, see “How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact” on page 33.
\xliff\lang
Contains the XLIFF files for localization. XLIFF is the XML format for exchanging localization data. If multiple languages are supported, a separate xliff subdirectory is provided for each language and is identified by its language code. For example, XLIFF files for German reside in xliff\deu and XLIFF files for French reside in xliff\fra. The naming convention for XLIFF files requires that all languages have the same file name as the corresponding report layout template, only the extension differs. For example, if the template name is aclist.rtf, then the XLIFF file must be named aclist.xlf. NOTE: After a report template is registered, the XLIFF file (or files) is stored in the relevant xliff\lang directory (or directories) on the Siebel Server. When you upload the report template, all the XLIFF files from each language folder and the RTF file are placed on the Oracle BI Publisher Server in their appropriate locations. For more information, see “About the Oracle BI Publisher Server in Siebel Business Applications” on page 32. TIP: Siebel Language Packs are installed as part of the Siebel installation process. For more information about installing languages, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
31
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ Siebel Reports File Types
Siebel Reports File Types Siebel Reports uses or generates files of the following types: ■
XML (Extensible Markup Language). XML is a metalanguage that is a simplified version of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) used for describing markup languages. A markup language is a mechanism to identify structures in a document. XML allows you to define a standard way to add markup to documents and provides a facility to define tags and the structural relationships between them.
■
XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language). A language for expressing style sheets. An XSL style sheet is a file that describes how to display an XML document of a given type. Used in disconnected mode only. For more information about the connection modes for Siebel Reports, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27.
■
XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format). A format to store extracted text and carry the data from one step to another in the localization process.
Siebel Reports uses the following languages for generating reports: ■
XSL-FO (Extensible Stylesheet Language-Formatting Objects). An XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics.
■
XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation). A language for transforming XML documents.
■
XPath (XML Path Language). An expression language used by XSLT to access or refer to parts of an XML document.
Siebel Reports also supports various report output file types. For more information about these report output types, see “Siebel Reports Output File Types” on page 22.
About the Oracle BI Publisher Server in Siebel Business Applications This topic provides a high-level overview of the how the Oracle BI Publisher Server interacts with Siebel Business Applications to generate and schedule reports in connected mode. For more information about generating reports in connected mode, see “Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode” on page 28.
About the Oracle BI Publisher Server The Oracle BI Publisher Server is installed as part of the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) installation. For information about installing Oracle BI Publisher, see “Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44.
32
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact
The Oracle BI Publisher Server uses a push-pull mechanism to transfer XML data between the Siebel application and the Oracle BI Publisher Server. During report generation, which is triggered from the Siebel application, data is pushed from the Siebel Database to the Oracle BI Publisher Server to generate reports. When handling a report request, the Oracle BI Publisher Server merges the data with the report layout template from the Oracle BI Publisher repository, and then sends the report to the Siebel application. The following subtopics describe the Oracle BI Publisher Server functionality in relation to Siebel Reports in greater detail.
About the PublicReportService Web Service The PublicReportService Web service is a Web service that is exposed by Oracle BI Publisher. This service is the mechanism that Siebel Reports uses in connected mode to upload and pass reports to the Siebel application. The PublicReportService Web service supports the following operations: ■
Validates privileges
■
Gets information about reports and the Oracle BI Publisher repository
■
Generates reports
■
Creates and manages reports
■
Gets information about the Oracle BI Publisher Server
About the Oracle BI Publisher Repository The Oracle BI Publisher repository resides on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. The Oracle BI Publisher repository is a collection of reports that is installed as part of the Oracle BI Publisher Server installation. The repository stores the preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications and new reports you create. In the SharedFolder directory in the Oracle BI Publisher repository, the SIEBELCRMREPORTS directory stores all reports. Each report stored in the SIEBELCRMREPORTS directory has its own folder. The layout template (RTF) and XLIFF files necessary for generating that report are in that folder. You upload the layout template files (RTF and XLIFF) to the Oracle BI Publisher Server by registering the template in the Siebel application. The Oracle BI Publisher Server then requests report generation using a Web service to generate the report. For more information about uploading layout templates to the Oracle BI Publisher repository and registering layout templates, see “Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application” on page 102.
How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact Siebel Business Applications integrate with Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) for report execution. However, depending on your connection mode, layout templates are merged with XML data differently to render reports in the Siebel user interface.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
33
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact
Figure 4 compares report execution in connected mode with disconnected mode.
Figure 4.
Comparison of Report Execution in Connected and Disconnected Mode
Figure 4 illustrates the following:
1
A report generation request is initiated from a Siebel application view, and then routed to one of the following to generate the report: ■
Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine in disconnected mode
■
Oracle BI Publisher Server in connected mode
2
The RTF Processor converts the RTF layout templates to XSL for input to the BI Publisher-FO Processor.
3
The BI Publisher-FO Processor merges the XSL and the XML data files to produce the following output formats: ■
34
XML and XSL formats are converted to HTML.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact
■
XML, XSL-FO, are XLIFF formats are converted to: PDF, HTML, RTF, EXCEL, PPT, and MHTML.
NOTE: The PPT and MHTML output file types are available only in connected mode. Template Builder, a feature of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, is used to modify and customize layout templates. Template Builder uses form fields to encapsulate XSL instructions for parsing XML data. Form fields are a feature of Microsoft Word and are the building blocks for layout templates in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word. You use form fields in template design wherever data is required. Template Builder generates these form fields using the Siebel application and the information specified in the layout template.
Report Execution in Disconnected Mode The XMLP Report Business Service provides XML files to the Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine to merge the layout templates with XML data. One of the required inputs for the XDO Engine is an XML file. XML files are generated by way of the EAI Siebel Adapter, using the EAI Java Business Service for connecting a Siebel application to the XDO Engine. The EAI Java Business Service is the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) interface between the XDO Engine and the Siebel application. The XML data file is merged with the layout template, then Oracle BI Publisher exposes the completed report document to the user in the Siebel application after storing the file in the Siebel File System. Oracle BI Publisher provides the XML file to the engine using the EAI Java Business Service. The XML contains the data that populates the resulting document. The data comes from the results of the internal queries run against various data sources. Oracle BI Publisher uses XSLT and XPath to extract data from the XML data and incorporates that data into an RTF-formatted layout template during run time. XSL comprises three standards (XSLT, XPath, and XSL- FO) for manipulating XML data. The XMLP Report Server component uses the XDO Engine to convert the RTF templates into XSL format, and then using the BI Publisher-FO Processor, converts the files to the published report formats.
Report Execution in Connected Mode Oracle BI Publisher uses XSLT and XPath to extract data from the XML data and incorporates that data into an RTF-formatted layout template during run time. The XMLP Adapter Service invokes the PublicReportService Web service to generate reports. The PublicReportService Web service is the interface between the Siebel application and the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
35
Siebel Reports Development Environment ■ How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact
36
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
4
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
This chapter provides instructions for administrators on how to integrate Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) with Siebel Business Applications for report generation. It includes the following topics: ■
About Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications on page 37
■
About Upgrading Siebel Reports on page 38
■
Where to Find Documentation for Previous Versions of Siebel Reports on page 38
■
Requirements for Using Siebel Reports on page 38
■
Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications on page 40
■
Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications on page 43
■
Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications on page 44
■
Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch on page 50
■
Configuring an Outbound Web Service for the Siebel Application on page 50
■
Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports on page 51
■
About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports on page 52
■
Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports on page 53
■
Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server on page 58
■
Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server on page 60
■
Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling on page 61
■
Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations on page 64
■
Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports on page 65
About Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications Siebel Business Applications integrate with Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) for report execution. Each new Siebel CRM release typically introduces new report features and functionality. However, before you can use these latest features, you must perform several installation and configuration or upgrade tasks. The tasks you perform are contingent on whether you are deploying Siebel Reports for the first time or you are already using Siebel Reports. If you are deploying Siebel Reports for the first time, see “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. You might also want to review “How Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher Interact” on page 33. If you already have a Siebel Reports environment and want to upgrade, see “About Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 38.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
37
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ About Upgrading Siebel Reports
About Upgrading Siebel Reports If you have an existing Siebel Reports environment and you want to use the latest report features, you must upgrade to the latest Siebel CRM Fix Pack 8.1.1.x and perform additional configuration tasks for both the Siebel application and Oracle BI Publisher. For instructions for upgrading, see “Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65.
Where to Find Documentation for Previous Versions of Siebel Reports Each Siebel CRM release has specific Siebel Reports setup instructions and features for that particular release that may not be applicable to earlier or later releases. To find the documentation for your deployment, see 1172844.1 (Article ID) on my Oracle Support.
Requirements for Using Siebel Reports The reporting module for Siebel Business Applications is Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher). This topic provides the requirements you must meet before you can use Siebel Reports. These requirements are applicable whether you are deploying Siebel Reports for the first time or you are upgrading from a previous Siebel CRM release. The following requirements must be met before using Siebel Reports: ■
The latest Siebel CRM version. If not, follow the guidelines provided in “About Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 37. For information about supported Siebel CRM versions, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. Some of the requirements include: ■
A Siebel Server (or servers)
■
A Siebel Web Client for connected mode
■
A Siebel mobile client (MWC or DWC) for disconnected mode
■
Siebel Tools
■
(Optional) ADM You might want to use ADM to migrate reports from one Siebel environment to another (for example, migrating reports from the development to the production environment). For more information about ADM, see Siebel Application Deployment Manager Guide.
■
Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.6 or later and JAVA_HOME system environment variable points to JDK
■
Siebel Server components enabled: ■
38
Siebel Application Object Manager (AOM), for example, SCCObjMgr_enu for Siebel Call Center
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Requirements for Using Siebel Reports
■
EAI Object Manager
■
XMLP Report Server
■
(Optional) Workflow NOTE: Enable this component if you plan to use workflow, the Reports Business Service, or the XMLP Purge Records workflow.
■
Oracle BI Publisher software ■
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
■
Oracle BI Publisher Add-In for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop)
For information about which version to use, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. For information about Oracle BI Publisher, see “About Oracle BI Publisher” on page 24. For information about installing Oracle BI Publisher as a firsttime installation, see “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. If you are upgrading Oracle BI Publisher, see “Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
39
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications Figure 5 on page 41 provides a roadmap for integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications. This integration is a requirement for deploying Siebel Reports. It is recommended that you print this roadmap to use as a checklist as you work your way through the integration.
40
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Figure 5.
Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
41
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Figure 5 illustrates the high-level tasks you perform to integrate Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications.
1
“Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 43
2
(First-time installation only) “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44
3
“Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch” on page 50
4
Apply repository, schema, and seed data changes for ACR 633. For instructions, see 880452.1 (Article ID) Siebel Maintenance Release Guide on My Oracle Support.
5
(First-time installation only) “Configuring an Outbound Web Service for the Siebel Application” on page 50
6
“Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports” on page 51
7
“Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 53 ■
“Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports” on page 53
■
“Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports Using LDAP” on page 58
■
“Configuring Siebel Reports in a Web Single Sign-On Environment” on page 58
8
“Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 58
9
“Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 60
10 “Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling” on page 61 a
(First-time installation only) “Setting Up the Database Schema for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 61
b
“Configuring the Data Service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 62
c
“Verifying Symbolic URL Arguments That Embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel Application” on page 63
11 “Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations” on page 64 Click the links to navigate to detailed instructions for that topic. Tasks are applicable to both Siebel Reports first-time installations and upgrades unless otherwise indicated. NOTE: If you are upgrading from previous versions of Siebel Reports, see the instructions in “Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65.
42
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications
Preparing for Integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications The reporting module for Siebel Reports is Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher). To deploy Siebel Reports, you must install and configure both Siebel Business Applications and Oracle BI Publisher. This topic provides the necessary preparation tasks for a new deployment and supports the latest reports enhancements. NOTE: If you are upgrading from a previous Siebel Reports deployment, do not perform the steps described in this topic. Instead, see “Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40.
To prepare for integration of Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications 1
Make sure you have met the requirements for Siebel Reports. For the requirements, see “Requirements for Using Siebel Reports” on page 38.
2
Review Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. Also check for applicable alerts, bulletins, or other documents on My Oracle Support.
3
Install the appropriate Java Development Kit (JDK) version and point the JAVA_HOME system environment variable to the JDK, if you have not already done so. To find the JDK version applicable to your deployment, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
4
(First-time installation only) Install the following Oracle BI Publisher software: ■
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher For installation instructions, see “Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44.
■
Oracle BI Publisher Add-In for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) For installation instructions, see “Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word” on page 46.
For the applicable version for your deployment, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. For more information about Oracle BI Publisher, see “About Oracle BI Publisher” on page 24 and “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Addin for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24.
5
Before using Siebel Reports, make sure that the Siebel Server is running and the Siebel clients and Siebel Tools can connect to the server data source.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
43
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications This topic describes how to install Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) as a first-time installation for integration with Siebel Business Applications. NOTE: Do not use this process if you are upgrading from a previous deployment of Siebel Reports. Instead, follow the instructions provided in “Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports” on page 65. This process is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. To install Oracle BI Publisher for integration with Siebel Business Applications, perform the following tasks:
1
“Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44 For information about which versions of this software to use for your specific deployment, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
2
“Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word” on page 46 For information about which versions of this software to use for your specific deployment, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
3
“Copying JAR Files to the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 47
4
“Disabling External File References on the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 48
5
(Optional) “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports” on page 73
6
“Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch” on page 50 NOTE: This task is applicable to both first-time Siebel Reports deployments as well as upgrades.
Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise for Integration with Siebel Business Applications Use the following procedure to install Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise for integration with Siebel Business Applications and Siebel Reports. This task is a step in “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. This task is not applicable if you are upgrading.
44
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
To install Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise 1
Log in to Oracle E-Delivery available at: http://edelivery.oracle.com
2
Choose a language, or click Continue to download with English (US) as the default language.
3
Enter the export validation information, accept the license terms and export restrictions, and then click Continue.
4
Select Oracle Business Intelligence as the product pack, and an operating system (for example, Microsoft Windows [32-bit]). Then click Go. NOTE: You must select an operating system compatible with the computer on which the Oracle BI Publisher Server is installed. For information about which platforms are supported for Siebel Reports, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
5
Select the Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.3 Media Pack for your operating system, and then click Continue. For example, you might select Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit).
6
Download the appropriate Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.1 installer for your deployment. For example, if you chose Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) in Step 5, you download the following: Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise 10.1.3.4.1 for Microsoft Windows NOTE: Typically administrators download and install Oracle Business Intelligence Desktop (also known as Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word) during the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise installation, however, you can install it any time.
7
Install Oracle BI Publisher by doing the following:
a
Decompress the installer into a directory of your choice. If you chose Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) in Step 5, you decompress the V16384-01.zip file. CAUTION: You must extract the .zip file to a directory whose name does not contain spaces. If the directory name contains spaces, the installation fails.
b
Follow the instructions about installing Oracle BI Publisher on Oracle Application Server for OC4J 10.1.3.1 in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide, Release 10.1.3 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). NOTE: OC4J is installed and the Oracle BI Publisher Server starts automatically as part of this installation.
c
8
Verify the installation by making sure you have an Oracle - BIPHomeX entry in the Start Programs menu, where X is an incremental number depending on the number of Oracle installations you have.
Create a local Superuser for the Oracle BI Publisher Server by doing the following:
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
45
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
a
Start Oracle BI Publisher (for example, http://BIPServerHostName:9704/xmlpserver), and then log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server with administrator credentials. NOTE: The URL for launching Oracle BI Publisher resides in the BI_Publisher_readme.txt file located in the Oracle BI Publisher installation folder. Administrator credentials are case sensitive.
b
Click the Admin tab, and then select Security Configuration (in the Security Center section).
c
Check the Enable Local Superuser checkbox, enter a Superuser name and password of your choice, and then click Apply.
After creating a local superuser, administrators can log in directly to the Oracle BI Publisher Server when the Siebel Server is not running.
Installing Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word Use the following procedure to install Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) for integration with Siebel Business Applications and Siebel Reports. For more information about this software, see “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24. This task is a step in “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. It is not applicable if you are upgrading.
To install Oracle BI Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word 1
Log in to Oracle E-Delivery available at: http://edelivery.oracle.com NOTE: This software is listed on Oracle E-Delivery as Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Desktop.
2
Choose a language, or click Continue to download with English (US) as the default language.
3
Enter the export validation information, accept the license terms and export restrictions, and then click Continue.
4
Select Oracle Business Intelligence as the product pack, and an operating system (for example, Microsoft Windows [32-bit]). Then click Go. NOTE: You must select an operating system compatible with the computer on which the Oracle BI Publisher Server is installed. For information about which platforms are supported for Siebel Reports, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
46
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
5
Select the Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.3 Media Pack for your operating system, and then click Continue. For example, you might select Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit).
6
Download the appropriate Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.1 installer for your deployment. For example, if you chose Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) in Step 5, you download the following: Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Desktop 10.1.3.4.1 for Microsoft Windows NOTE: Typically administrators download and install Oracle Business Intelligence Desktop (also known as Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word) during the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise installation, however, you can install it any time.
7
Install Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word by doing the following:
a
Decompress the appropriate .zip file according to the Media Pack you chose in Step 4. For example, if you chose Oracle Business Intelligence (10.1.3) Media Pack for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) in Step 5, you decompress the V16380-01.zip file. CAUTION: You must extract the .zip file to a directory whose name does not contain spaces. If the directory name contains spaces, the installation fails.
b
Run the installer.
c
Verify the installation by making sure you have an Oracle BI Publisher Desktop application in the Start Programs menu.
For more information about installing this software, see the post-installation topics in Oracle BI Publisher on Oracle Application Server for OC4J 10.1.3.1 in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide, Release 10.1.3 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
8
Make sure that applicable users install Oracle BI Publisher Desktop on a computer where Microsoft Word for Windows is installed.
Copying JAR Files to the Oracle BI Publisher Server To successfully generate reports, you must copy the custom Siebel Java classes associated with individual reports to the corresponding directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. By default, these Java functions are not available on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. This topic describes how to add custom Siebel Java archive (JAR) files to the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) Server. This task is a step in “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. It is not applicable if you are upgrading.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
47
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
To copy JAR files to the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
Copy the following files from the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\CLASSES directory to the ORACLE_APPSRVR_HOME/ oc4j_bi/j2ee/home/applications/xmlpserver/xmlpserver/WEB-INF/lib directory where ORACLE_APPSRVR_HOME is an Oracle application server: ■
XSLFunctions.JAR
■
SiebelCustomXMLP.JAR
■
SiebelCustomXMLP_SIA.JAR
■
Siebel.JAR
■
SiebelXMLP.JAR
■
(Optional) InkToolsLib.jar
■
(Optional) iSignBmp.jar
NOTE: Typically, ORACLE_APPSRVR_HOME is the C:\OraHome_X\oc4j_bi directory where oc4j_bi is the Oracle BI Publisher installation directory for Windows. The InkToolsLib.jar and iSignBmp.jar files are required whenever signatures must appear in a Siebel report that are captured by way of the Siebel signature capture feature.
2
If there are additional custom Java extensions, you must copy those JAR files as well.
Disabling External File References on the Oracle BI Publisher Server This topic describes how to disable external file references on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. This task is a step in “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. It is not applicable if you are upgrading.
To disable external file references on the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
Start Oracle Application Server Containers for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (OC4J) and the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For instructions, see “Starting and Stopping OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher” on page 49.
2
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server with administrator privileges by doing the following:
a
Click Start, Programs, Oracle - BIPHomeX, and then BI Publisher Server.
b
Enter your administrator credentials (such as Administrator for the login and Administrator for the password). NOTE: Administrator credentials for the Oracle BI Publisher Server are established during installation and are case sensitive.
3
48
Click the Admin tab, and then select Properties under Runtime Configuration.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications
4
Change the default value for the Disable External Reference attribute to FALSE, and then click Apply.
5
Restart OC4J to make the changes take effect. For instructions, see “Starting and Stopping OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher” on page 49.
Starting and Stopping OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher There are many instances where you must start, stop, or restart Oracle Application Server Containers for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (OC4J) and Oracle BI Publisher.
Starting OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher Use the following procedure to start OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher.
To start OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher 1
Click Start, Programs, Oracle - BIPHomeX (where X is a number automatically assigned when you install Oracle BI Publisher), and then Start BI Publisher. A command window appears. NOTE: You must leave this command window open while the Oracle BI Publisher Server is running.
2
Confirm the Oracle BI Publisher Server is started. When the server is started, a statement appears in the command window indicating the Oracle Containers are initialized.
Stopping OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher Use the following procedure to stop OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher.
To stop OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher 1
Click Start, Programs, Oracle - BIPHomeX (where X is a number automatically assigned when you install Oracle BI Publisher).
2
Click Stop BI Publisher.
Restarting OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher Use the following procedure to restart OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
49
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch
To restart OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher 1
Click Start, Programs, Oracle - BIPHomeX (where X is a number automatically assigned when you install Oracle BI Publisher).
2
Click Stop BI Publisher.
3
Click Start BI Publisher.
Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch To use the latest reporting features, you must upgrade to the latest Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher). For instructions, see 797057.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
Configuring an Outbound Web Service for the Siebel Application The PublicReportServiceService outbound Web service is the mechanism that uploads reports from the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) Server and passes the reports to the Siebel application in connected mode. For this functionality to work, you must set a WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) definition for the Siebel outbound Web service to the actual address of the Oracle BI Publisher Server. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. It is not applicable if you are upgrading.
To configure an outbound Web service for the Siebel application 1
Log in to the Siebel application as a Siebel administrator.
2
Navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, then the Outbound Web Service view.
3
In the Name field, query for PublicReportServiceService.
4
Make sure that the service port address corresponds to the Oracle BI Publisher Server. The format is: http://host.domain:port/xmlpserver/services/PublicReportServiceService where: ■
50
host.domain is the full path for the Oracle BI Publisher Server
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports
■
port is the port that the Oracle BI Publisher Server uses
For example, the address might be: http://BIPServerHostName:9704/xmlpserver/services/PublicReportServiceService TIP: Other than in this specific procedure, there is typically no need to change this address because it is automatically populated when you configure the business service and the Web service in Siebel Tools using the Web service wizard.
5
Click Clear Cache to make sure that the changes are propagated to run-time memory.
Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports Before you can work with Siebel Reports, you must make sure several Siebel Server components are enabled. This task is applicable to first-time installations and upgrades, unless otherwise indicated. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40.
To enable server components for Siebel Reports 1
Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, Enterprises, then the Component Definitions view.
2
(First-time installation only) Enable the following server components: Component Name
Component Alias
Component Group
XMLP Report Server
XMLPReportServer
XMLP Report
EAI Object Manager (ENU)
EAIObjMgr_enu
Enterprise Application Integration
NOTE: If you are upgrading, you only need confirm these components are active. Additionally, the XMLP Report Server component might already be enabled depending on how you configured your original Siebel Server installation.
3
(Optional) Enable the Workflow server component. NOTE: Enable this component if you plan to use workflow, the Reports Business Service, or the XMLP Purge Records workflow.
For information about enabling Siebel Server components, see Siebel System Administration Guide.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
51
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports When the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) Server receives a request from a Siebel user to perform report functionality on the server, the Oracle BI Publisher Server queries the Siebel application to retrieve the user privileges associated with that particular user from the Siebel application. This retrieval is accomplished by invoking a Web service that is exposed by the Siebel application. There are several options to choose from for configuring security and authentication for Siebel Reports. This topic provides a high-level description of each option and provides links to the instructions for implementing each option.
Siebel Security Model The Siebel Security model retrieves authentication information through the Siebel EAI Object Manager (EAIObjMgr) and authenticates logins for report users against the Siebel Database one time only, then a session token is provided for the Oracle BI Publisher Server authentication. Because every user executing reports has their own credentials and roles, users have private visibility on the Oracle BI Publisher Server when scheduling reports. The reporting responsibilities in the Siebel application correspond to roles and permissions on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. The names of these responsibilities must exactly match the corresponding set of roles on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. NOTE: It is recommended that you use this model because it was designed specifically for use with Siebel Reports.
LDAP In an implementation using LDAP authentication, an LDAP security adapter provided with Siebel Business Applications authenticates users against an LDAP-compliant directory. The directory stores information that is required to allow users to connect to the database and the Oracle BI Publisher Server and this information is retrieved by the security adapter when users try to run a report. When users log into a Siebel application that uses LDAP authentication, they are already authenticated for the current session.
Web Single Sign-On Authentication This model allows you to use a non-standard security model, such as Siteminder or some other type of custom single sign-on.
52
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports This task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. For more information about security and authentication for Siebel Reports, see “About Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 52. NOTE: Perform the following procedure only if this is a first-time Siebel Reports deployment. It is not applicable if you are upgrading.
To configure security and authentication for Siebel Reports ■
Perform one of the following: ■
“Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports” on page 53
■
“Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports Using LDAP” on page 58
■
“Configuring Siebel Reports in a Web Single Sign-On Environment” on page 58
Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports To set up the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports, the address field on the service port of the Siebel Server must reflect the name of the computer hosting the Oracle BI Publisher Server. You must also make sure certain responsibilities are assigned users and associated to the correct views. If this is a first-time Siebel Reports installation, you must also enable the Siebel Security Model. NOTE: It is recommended that you use this security model. It is designed specifically for use with Siebel Reports. This task is a step in “Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 53.
To set up and enable the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports 1
(First-time install only) Create the inbound Web service for the Siebel application by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, then the Inbound Web Services view.
b
Import the BIPSiebelSecurityWS.XML file from the SIEBEL_TOOLS_ROOT\REPPATCH directory (where Siebel Tools is installed) to create a new inbound Web service.
c
In the Name field, query for BIPSiebelSecurityWS.
d
Change the host and port number of the server port’s address to that of the Siebel Server. For example, you might replace the existing address with: http:/computer.domain.com/eai_enu/ start.swe?SWEExtSource=WebService&SWEExtCmd=Execute
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
53
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
e 2
(Upgrade only) Change view names in the Siebel application to reflect repository changes:
a
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the Views view.
b
In the View Name field, query for the following views and rename them:
c 3
Clear the cache and restart the Siebel Server.
Existing View Name
New View Name
All Template View
All Template Report View
Manager’s Template View
Manager’s Report Template View
Clear the cache, log out of the Siebel application, and then log back in.
(First-time installation only) Create four new responsibilities and add appropriate users to each by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the Responsibilities view to create the responsibilities described in the following table. Responsibility
Description
XMLP_ADMIN
Administrator role for the Oracle BI Publisher Server with no access limitations.
XMLP_DEVELOPER
Assign this responsibility to allow for uploading reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server to the Siebel application.
XMLP_SCHEDULER
Assign this responsibility to allow for scheduling of reports.
XMLP_SIEBEL_GUEST
Assign this responsibility to limit access to reports. This responsibility only allows for generation, viewing, and deletion of user’s own reports.
NOTE: The reporting responsibilities in the Siebel application correspond to roles and permissions on the Oracle BI Publisher Server. The names of these responsibilities must exactly match the corresponding set of roles on the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
b 4
54
Add appropriate users to each of the new responsibilities.
(Upgrade only) Verify the following responsibilities exist and confirm each are assigned the appropriate users: ■
XMLP_ADMIN
■
XMLP_DEVELOPER
■
XMLP_SCHEDULER
■
XMLP_SIEBEL_GUEST
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
5
Make sure the scheduling views are associated with the appropriate responsibilities and users by doing the following:
a
Associate the XMLP_ADMIN responsibility to all scheduling views, then assign that responsibility to just administrators.
b
Associate the XMLP_SCHEDULER responsibility to the Report Job List View, and then assign that responsibility only to those users who run scheduled reports.
c
Assign the XMLP_DEVELOPER responsibility to the following views, and then assign that responsibility only to users who register report templates (typically, report developers):
d
❏
My Template View
❏
All Template Report View
❏
Manager’s Report Template View
❏
Report Standard Template Registration Admin View
Assign responsibility XMLP_GUEST responsibility to the following views, and then assign that responsibility to any user running reports: ❏
All Report Output List View
❏
Manager’s Report Output List View
The following table shows a matrix for which views to associate with each responsibility. Responsibility View
XMLP_ ADMIN
XMLP_ SCHEDULER
XMLP_ DEVELOPER
XMLP_ SIEBEL_GUEST
Report Job List View
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
All Report Output List View
Yes
No
No
Yes
My Template View
Yes
No
Yes
No
All Template Report View
Yes
No
Yes
No
Manager’s Report Output List View
Yes
No
No
No
Manager’s Report Template View
Yes
No
Yes
No
Report Standard Template Registration Admin View
Yes
No
Yes
No
All Report Template Across Organization View
Yes
No
No
No
6
If changes are necessary, clear the cache, log out of the Siebel application, and then log back in.
7
(First-time installation only) Verify your configurations by doing the following:
a
From the Reports drop-down list, select My BI Publisher Reports.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
55
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
b
Confirm a new Scheduled Reports link was added to the My BI Publisher Reports screen. The Scheduled Reports link in the Siebel application is an embedded user interface to the Oracle BI Publisher Server that allows users to view their scheduled reports. Before you can use this link, you must perform further configuration to embed the Scheduled Reports view in the Siebel application.
c
8
56
Confirm the views were added to the appropriate screens as shown in the following table. View
Screen
All Report Output List View
Reports Server
All Template Report View
Report Administration
Manager's Report Output List View
Reports-Custom Templates
Manager's Template View
Report Administration
My Template View
Report Administration
Report Standard Template Registration Admin View
Reports-Standard Templates
All Report Template Across Organization View
Reports-Standard Templates
(First-time installation only) Enable the Siebel Security Model by doing the following:
a
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application with administrator privilege.
b
Click the Admin tab, and then select Security Configuration (under Security Center).
c
In the Security Model section, perform the following, and then click Apply: ❏
Set the model to Siebel Security
❏
Enter the host name and port as the Web Service Endpoint
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports
❏
Enter the Siebel administrator credentials
NOTE: The address of the Web Service Endpoint parameter in the Oracle BI Publisher Server is the same address as the inbound Web service used by the Siebel Server. The following table provides sample parameter values for a Siebel Security model configuration. Parameter
Value
Security Model
Siebel Security
Siebel Web Service Endpoint
http:/host.domain.com/eai_enu/ start.swe?SWEExtSource=WebService&SWEExtCmd=Execute
Administrator Username
username
Administrator Password
password NOTE: The password for an account cannot be the same as the user name for that account.
NOTE: Siebel administrator credentials are necessary for the Oracle BI Publisher application to log into the Siebel EAI object manager. These credentials are case sensitive and must match the Siebel database specifications.
9
Restart the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For information about restarting the Oracle BI Publisher Server, see “Restarting OC4J and Oracle BI Publisher” on page 49.
10 (First-time installation only) Verify that the Siebel Security Model has been implemented by doing the following:
a
Start the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application (from the Start Menu, choose Start BI Publisher).
b
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application using the Siebel administrator credentials.
The Siebel Security Model was successfully implemented if you are able to login using the Siebel credentials.
11 Add an explicit classpath and add a new wlfullclient.jar file to the XMLPJvmSubsys profile for the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For instructions, see “Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 58.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
57
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server
Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports Using LDAP This topic describes how to implement LDAP security adapter authentication to manage user access to the Oracle BI Publisher Server in a Siebel Reports connected environment. When implementing LDAP authentication for Siebel user access to the Oracle BI Publisher Server, you implement LDAP authentication for your Siebel application, and you must use the same LDAP directory for the Oracle BI Publisher Server. This task is a step in “Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 53.
To configure security and authentication for Siebel Reports using LDAP ■
Follow the instructions in 1103065.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
For more information on implementing LDAP for Oracle BI Publisher, refer to the Oracle BI Publisher documentation. For more information on setting up an LDAP directory, see the topic on setting up the LDAP or ADS Directory in Siebel Security Guide.
Configuring Siebel Reports in a Web Single Sign-On Environment This task is a step in “Configuring Security and Authentication for Siebel Reports” on page 53.
To configure Siebel Reports in a Web single sign-on environment ■
Follow the instructions in 1117126.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
For more information, see the topic about Web single sign-on authentication in Siebel Security Guide.
Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server You must add an explicit reference to the Siebel JAR files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server to upload templates and run immediate reports. This is because when a report is scheduled, a new .xdo file is sent to the Oracle BI Publisher Server that contains the schedule job information. The task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. NOTE: If you are upgrading, you only need add the new wlfullclient.jar file to the explicit classpath (see Step 3 on page 59), and then restart the Siebel Services.
58
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server
To add an explicit reference to JAR files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, Enterprises, and then the Profile Configuration view.
2
Select the XMLPJvmSubsys profile.
3
In the Profile Parameters subview, provide a reference to each of the JAR files in the CLASSES directory in the Siebel application root directory and set the JVM DLL Name. Some of the values are provided in the following table. Make sure that the paths correctly locate the required files. Parameter
Value
JVM Classpath
/classes/Siebel.jar;/classes/ SiebelXMLP.jar;/classes/wlfullclient.jar where:
SIEBSRVR_ROOT is the actual path where the Siebel Server is installed. NOTE: For UNIX, replace with ${SIEBEL_HOME}. Alternatively, you can set the CLASSPATH using the Siebel Server Manager (srvrmgr program). For information about using the srvrmgr program to set the CLASSPATH, see “Troubleshooting the CLASSPATH Settings Using Siebel Server Manager” on page 169. CAUTION: An error might occur if the value of the CLASSPATH parameter is too long (must be less than 1024 characters). To avoid this, copy the CLASSPATH folder to the root directory, and then point CLASSPATH to this path. JVM DLL Name
For AIX, Linux, and Oracle Solaris: For HP-UX: For Windows: For example, c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_xx\jre\client\bin\jvm.dll NOTE: For Windows, the path to the JVM DLL file is automatically read from the Windows registry setting of the JRE installed on the Siebel Server. For more information on setting the values of the JVM DLL Name and JVM Options parameters, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
4
For UNIX, the following steps are required:
a
Set the JVM DLL Name similar to the following: /usr/jdk1.6.0_xx/jre/bin/j9vm/libjvm.so
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
59
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server
b
Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable. For example: /usr/java
c
Set the LIBPATH ${LIBPATH} environment variable. For example: /usr/jdk1.6.0_xx/jre/bin:/usr/jdk1.6.0_xx/jre/bin/j9vm
Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server Siebel Business Applications ship with preconfigured report layout templates. To make these report layout templates accessible to users in connected mode, you must upload them to the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For a comprehensive list of the preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications, see 876284.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support. NOTE: The instructions in this topic are not applicable for new reports you create or modify while in disconnected mode. Such reports require deployment to the Siebel Web Client. For instructions, see “Deploying Report Layout Templates to the Siebel Web Client from a Disconnected Client” on page 69. Additionally, if you have a multiple Siebel Server environment, see “Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments” on page 70. CAUTION: If the report layout templates are not uploaded to the Oracle BI Publisher Server, when a user attempts to run a report, an error occurs and the report fails. For more information about this failure, see Error Message SBL-OMS-00203 in “Troubleshooting Error Messages for Siebel Reports” on page 162. The task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40.
To upload preconfigured report layout templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Reports - Standard Templates view.
2
From the application-level menu, select Edit, and then Select All.
3
Click Upload Files.
4
Set the proper access permissions to the SiebelCRMReports folder by performing the following:
a
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application with administrator privilege.
b
Open a new browser window and navigate to the Oracle BI Publisher Server at http://BIPServerHostName:port/xmlpserver
60
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling
c
Click the Admin tab, select Roles and Permissions, and then locate the XMLP roles (XMLP_*). TIP: These roles begin with XMLP and are listed in alphabetical order.
d
For each report responsibility, click Add Folders to grant permission to the shared SiebelCRMReports folder.
e
Restart the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling Before you can use report scheduling, you must perform several configuration tasks for both the Siebel application and Oracle BI Publisher. For information about how to schedule reports, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.” This task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40. To enable and configure report scheduling, perform the following tasks:
1
(First-time installation only) “Setting Up the Database Schema for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 61
2
“Configuring the Data Service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 62
3
“Verifying Symbolic URL Arguments That Embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel Application” on page 63
Setting Up the Database Schema for the Oracle BI Publisher Server The task is a step in “Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling” on page 61.
To set up the database schema for the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
■
Create the scheduling database on the Oracle BI Publisher Server by following the instructions in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Administrator's and Developer's Guide, Release 10.1.3.4 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN) to: ■
Set up a new database instance.
■
Create a user with privileges to add tables.
■
Create the database connection.
Install the schema by doing the following:
a
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application with administrator privilege.
b
Click the Admin tab, and then select Scheduler Configuration.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
61
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling
c
Select the database type applicable to your deployment and provide information as shown in the following table. Database
Enter
Oracle
Connection String->jdbc:oracle:thin:@[host]:[port]:[SID] dbtableowner is nothing but user name and password host-is nothing but databaseserver port-is nothing but LM_DB_port [SID]-is nothing but dbinstance Data base driver class: oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
MSSQL
connection string:jdbc:hyperion:sqlserver:// databaseserver:LM_DB_port;DatabaseName=databasename username:username password:password Data base driver class: hyperion.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver
db2
Connection String: jdbc:hyperion:db2:// BIPServerHostName:port;DatabaseName= username:username password:password
d
Click Test Connection to make sure that the connection works.
e
Click Install Schema.
The tables are automatically created.
2
Restart both the Oracle BI Publisher Server and the Siebel Server (or servers).
Configuring the Data Service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server The Oracle BI Publisher Server uses a Web service to pull data from the Siebel application when a report is scheduled and executed. The WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) provides a definition of this Web service. The Oracle BI Publisher Server must know where this WSDL file is located. The task is a step in “Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling” on page 61.
62
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling
To configure the data service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server 1
Log in to the Siebel application as a Siebel administrator.
2
Navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, then the Inbound Web Services view.
3
Configure the address for the BIPDataService Web service with the host name and port number of the Siebel Server and modify the credentials to correspond to the username, login, and password used for logging in to the Siebel EAI object manager.
4
Select BIPDataService, and then click Generate WSDL.
5
Save the WSDL as a new data service file named dataservice.wsdl in a directory in the Oracle BI Publisher home directory (by default, this is the \OraHome_X\oc4j_bi\bin directory). For example, you might save the file as: D:\OraHome_1\oc4j_bi\bin\dataservice.wsdl NOTE: You must use lower case to match existing references. The WSDL is now available for importing.
Verifying Symbolic URL Arguments That Embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel Application The Scheduled Reports view in the Siebel application is for managing scheduled reports. This view is an embedded Web page from the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application. To configure this view, you implement a symbolic URL to display external contents in the Siebel user interface by specifying how to construct the external application and define arguments and values that are passed to the Siebel client. For more information about working with symbolic URLs, see Siebel Portal Framework Guide. For information about how to schedule reports, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.” The task is a step in “Process of Enabling and Configuring Report Scheduling” on page 61.
To verify symbolic URL arguments that embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel application 1
Navigate to the Administration - Integration screen, WI Symbolic URL List, and then the Host Administration view.
2
Query for BIPReportJobListPage.
3
In the Symbolic URL Arguments subview, verify the following arguments to the symbolic URL.
Argument Name
Required Argument
Argument Type
Argument Value
PreloadUrl
Yes
Command
http://biphost/xmlpserver/signout.jsp
PreloadUrlPerSession
Yes
Command
True
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
63
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations
Argument Name
Required Argument
Argument Type
Argument Value
uid
Yes
Field
BIPUser
anyname
Yes
Command
PostRequest
passwd
Yes
Field
BIPPassword
_xuil
Yes
Field
BIPLanguage
Yes
Constant
hide
NOTE: For upgrades only, you must rename this argument to uid from id.
NOTE: This argument is applicable only for nonEnglish deployments. pgheader
4
Log out of the Siebel application, and then log in again.
5
(Upgrade only) Confirm the new monthly scheduling List of Value (LOV) is available by doing the following:
a
Log in to the Siebel application as a Siebel administrator.
b
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, then the List of Values Explorer view.
c
In the List of Values view, make sure there is Monthly value for the XMLP_RPT_SCHEDULE_MODE type.
Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations It is recommended that you test your integration configurations by registering a preconfigured Oracle BI Publisher report layout template in the Siebel application, then generating a report for that template. The task is a step in “Roadmap for Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications” on page 40.
To test your Siebel Reports integration configurations 1
Log in to the Siebel application as an administrator.
2
Register a preconfigured Oracle BI Publisher report layout template.
64
a
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the relevant template view (Reports - Custom Templates or Reports - Standard Templates).
b
Select the Account List report layout template, and then click Upload Files.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports
c
Navigate to the View Association view to associate the Account List report to the Account List view.
The Account List report layout template is now available to the Siebel application for use in generating reports.
3
Generate an Oracle BI Publisher report (or reports) by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
b
Perform a query that returns approximately 30 records, and then click Reports.
c
In the BI Publisher section, choose Account List.
d
Select the report output type, and then click Submit. The report is generated after you choose to open the report.
e
Generate the report in a different format or click Close to close the output type dialog box.
NOTE: When you create your own custom reports, you must upload the report template and associate it with a view before you can use that report. For more information about generating reports, see Chapter 6, “Generating Reports.”
Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports If you currently have an existing Siebel Reports environment and you want to use the latest reporting features, you must perform several upgrade tasks. It is recommended that you print out the following process to use as a checklist as you work your way through the upgrade. To upgrade Siebel Reports, perform the following tasks:
1
Prepare for the upgrade by doing the following:
a
Make sure you have a Siebel CRM version 8.1.1 or later environment and have applied the latest Siebel CRM Fix Pack 8.1.1.x.
b
Upgrade to the appropriate Java Development Kit (JDK) version and make sure the JAVA_HOME system environment variable points to the JDK.
For the applicable versions for your deployment, see version 8.1.1.x Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
2
Make sure you have the appropriate Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher software installed: ■
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
■
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop)
For the applicable version for your deployment, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. NOTE: If you are currently using Oracle BI Publisher Version 10.1.3.4.0, you must upgrade. For instructions, see “Upgrading to Oracle BI Publisher Version 10.1.3.4.1 from Version 10.1.3.4.0” on page 66.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
65
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports
3
“Upgrading to the Latest Oracle BI Publisher Patch” on page 50
4
Apply repository, schema, and seed data changes for ACR 633. For instructions, see 880452.1 (Article ID) Siebel Maintenance Release Guide on My Oracle Support.
5
(Optional) Enable the Workflow server component. For instructions, see “Enabling Siebel Server Components for Siebel Reports” on page 51.
6
Perform the following:
a
Change view names in the Siebel application to reflect repository changes.
b
Verify XMLP responsibilities, report views, and user assignments.
For instructions, see “Setting Up and Enabling the Siebel Security Model for Siebel Reports” on page 53. NOTE: Many of the steps in this task are applicable only to first-time installations. Make sure to perform only steps indicated for upgrades.
7
Add a new wlfullclient.jar file to the XMLPJvmSubsys classpath for the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For instructions, see “Adding an Explicit Reference to JAR Files for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 58.
8
“Uploading Preconfigured Report Layout Templates to the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 60
9
Configure report scheduling by doing the following:
a
“Configuring the Data Service WSDL for the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 62
b
Change the id symbolic URL argument name to uid and create a new pgheader argument. For instructions, see “Verifying Symbolic URL Arguments That Embed the Oracle BI Publisher Scheduling Views in the Siebel Application” on page 63.
10 “Testing Your Siebel Reports Integration Configurations” on page 64
Upgrading to Oracle BI Publisher Version 10.1.3.4.1 from Version 10.1.3.4.0 You upgrade the Oracle BI Publisher Server by deploying a new Enterprise Archive (EAR) file. An EAR file represents a Java EE application that is deployed in an application server. EAR files are standard Java Archive (JAR) files. A JAR file aggregates many files into one, for example, JAR files are used to distribute Java classes and associated metadata. A Web Application Archive (WAR) file is a file used to distribute a collection of JavaServer Pages (JSP), servlets, Java classes, XML files, tag libraries, and static Web pages (HTML and related files) that together constitute a Web application. Java EE bundles applications into EAR files for distribution. The EAR files contain JAR files and WAR files but might also contain: ■
One or more Web modules
■
One or more Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) modules
66
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports
■
One or more application client modules
■
Additional JAR files required by the application
■
Any combination of the above
NOTE: The instructions in this topic are not applicable if you are installing Oracle BI Publisher for the first time. To install Oracle BI Publisher as a first-time installation, see “Process of Installing Oracle BI Publisher for Integration with Siebel Business Applications” on page 44.
To upgrade to Oracle BI Publisher version 10.1.3.4.1 from version 10.1.3.4.0 1
Upgrade Oracle BI Publisher by doing the following:
a
Follow the instructions as described in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide (Release 10.1.3.4.1) available on Oracle Technology Network. NOTE: The steps are the same for upgrading to version 10.1.3.4.1 from version 10.1.3.4.0 with the exception that you do not need to test the login page or install the fonts.
b 2
Follow the instructions in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Release Notes (Release 10.1.3.4.1) available on Oracle Technology Network.
Upgrade to Oracle BI Publisher Desktop version 10.1.3.4.1 For installation information, see the topic on installing BI Publisher Desktop tools in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide available on Oracle Technology Network. The instructions contain information for uninstalling current installations. NOTE: It is recommended that you do not use Oracle BI Publisher Desktop version 10.1.3.4.0 with Oracle BI Publisher version 10.1.3.4.1.
3
Make sure that your users upgrade to Oracle BI Publisher Desktop version 10.1.3.4.1. For information about using Oracle BI Publisher Desktop with Siebel Reports, see “About Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word with Siebel Reports” on page 24.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
67
Integrating Oracle BI Publisher with Siebel Business Applications ■ Roadmap for Upgrading Siebel Reports
68
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
5
Administering Siebel Reports
This chapter describes some of the administrative tasks for Siebel Reports. The tasks in this chapter are for administrators only and are applicable to both connected and disconnected modes unless otherwise indicated. This chapter includes the following topics: ■
Deploying Report Layout Templates to the Siebel Web Client from a Disconnected Client on page 69
■
Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments
■
Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System on page 71
■
Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server on page 72
■
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports on page 73
■
Copying Fonts for Report Generation on page 75
■
About Working with Multilingual Reports on page 75
■
Designing Multilingual Reports on page 77
■
Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application on page 78
■
Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates on page 79
■
About Report Translation on page 80
■
Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports on page 80
■
Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports on page 81
■
Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports on page 82
■
Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports on page 82
■
Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes on page 84
Deploying Report Layout Templates to the Siebel Web Client from a Disconnected Client Siebel reports are typically developed on a disconnected client, such as the Siebel Developer Web Client. After you test and verify a report layout template, you must move that report to the Siebel Server to deploy the report to the Siebel Web Client. The report is then available for generation in connected mode with the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) Server. This topic describes how to deploy reports to the Siebel Web Client from a disconnected client.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
69
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments
To deploy a report to the Siebel Web Client from a disconnected client 1
Copy the following report files from the Siebel Developer Web Client (or other disconnected client) directory to the Siebel Server directory: ■
Report layout template file (.rtf)
■
XLIFF (.xlf) files
NOTE: It is recommended that you locate your report layout template files in the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\Templates directory and the XLIFF files in the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\xliff\language directory.
2
Register the report by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then one of the following template views: ❏
Reports - Custom Templates
❏
Reports - Standard Templates
b
Create a new record and assign the template and integration object to the record.
c
In the XLIFF field, assign the associated .xlf file to the report.
NOTE: The Generate XLIFF button is disabled in the Siebel Web Client and that is why you must explicitly select the .xlf file.
3
Assign the report to a Siebel view or views. For information about assigning reports to Siebel views, see “Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views” on page 120.
4
5
Upload the report to the Oracle BI Publisher Server by doing the following:
a
Navigate back to the applicable template view.
b
Click Upload Files.
Verify the report was successfully uploaded by doing the following:
a
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server with administrator privilege.
b
Click the Reports tab, expand Shared Folders, and then click SiebelCRMReports.
c
Verify that the new report layout template and associated files were uploaded.
Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments This topic describes how to upload new or modified report layout templates in a multiple Siebel Server environment.
70
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System
To upload new or modified report layout templates for a multiple Siebel Server environment 1
For each of the Siebel Servers, copy the new or modified RTF file to the following directory:
SIEBSRVR_ROOT\TEMP\XMLP NOTE: Overwrite any existing files.
2
For each of the Siebel Servers, copy the .XLF (XLIFF) file to the appropriate language folder in the following directory:
SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\XLIFF For example, the language folder for English (U.S.) is as follows:
SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\XLIFF\ENU
3
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server as administrator and manually delete the report layout template from the SiebelCRMReports folder.
4
Log in to the Siebel Web Client and upload the new or modified report layout template by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the relevant template view (Reports - Custom Templates or Reports - Standard Templates).
b
Click Upload Files.
Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System Administrators must periodically purge reports from the Siebel File System. You purge reports by using filters or by running a workflow process. For more information about workflow processes, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide. This topic describes how to set up reports to automatically purge after the reports meet certain criteria. NOTE: Administrators are also responsible for purging reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server. For information about this purging, see “Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 72. You can set up Siebel Reports to automatically purge reports from the Siebel Database after a specified time interval. The BIP Delete After Days system preference allows you to specify a nonzero positive value that executes the Auto Purge workflow to purge the reports. The reports are purged from the database after the number of days specified. CAUTION: It is recommended that only administrators perform this task, because you run the risk of inadvertently depleting or contaminating the report repository. Report developers and other users can delete reports, but they must not purge reports. For information about deleting reports, see “Deleting Reports” on page 97.
To automatically purge reports from the Siebel File System 1
Log in to the Siebel application as a Siebel administrator.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
71
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server
2
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the System Preferences view.
3
In the System Preferences list, select BIP Delete After Days, and change the value to a positive, nonzero value. By default, the value is set to -1 (minus 1). NOTE: It is recommended that you set this value in relation to your daily report volumes, especially for large-scale implementations where many reports are generated. The -1 setting prevents the Siebel File System from increasing to an unmanageable size.
4
Navigate to the Administration - Server Management screen, then the Jobs view.
5
Add a new job entitled Workflow Process Manager.
6
Add a parameter to the job as follows:
7
a
Enter Workflow Process Name as the name.
b
Give the parameter a value of XMLP Purge Records.
Click Submit.
You can also schedule this job to generate periodically using a workflow. For more information about scheduling workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server Scheduled reports that users have generated are stored in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) scheduling database. Administrators can periodically purge scheduled reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server by removing Oracle Business Intelligence Scheduler job instances from the database. TIP: You cannot purge scheduled reports from the Siebel application or by using the Oracle BI Publisher administration application. This topic describes how to purge reports using either the Job Manager Instances List or the Job Manager Purge Instances Window.
To purge scheduled reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server ■
Follow the instructions provided in the Purging Oracle BI Scheduler Job Instances topic in the Oracle Business Intelligence Scheduler Guide on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
CAUTION: It is recommended that only administrators purge scheduled reports, because you run the risk of inadvertently depleting or contaminating the report repository. Report developers and other users can delete reports, but they cannot purge reports. For information about deleting reports, see “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129. NOTE: Administrators are also responsible for purging reports from the Siebel File System. For information about this purging, see “Automatically Purging Reports from the Siebel File System” on page 71.
72
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports This topic describes how to change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher repository for use with Siebel Reports. By default, the location of the Oracle BI Publisher repository is stored in the Oracle home JVM property with a value of ${oracle.home}/xdo/repository. The Siebel application uses this JVM property to access the Oracle BI Publisher repository. If Oracle BI Publisher is running on an Oracle Application server or an Oracle Application Server Containers for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (OC4J) standalone, this oracle.home property value is automatically set by the OC4J container. For more information about OC4J, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Installation Guide, Release 10.1.3 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). If you do not want to use ${oracle.home}/xdo/repository as the location of your Oracle BI Publisher repository, there are three different ways you can change it: ■
Create a custom XML file For instructions, see “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Creating a Custom XML File” on page 73.
■
Replace a JVM property name For instructions, see “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Replacing a JVM Property Name” on page 74
■
Change the absolute path to the repository For instructions, see “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Changing the Absolute Path to the Repository” on page 75.
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Creating a Custom XML File Use the following procedure to change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by creating a custom XML file. This task is a step in “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports” on page 73.
To create a custom XML file to change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher repository 1
Copy the xmlp-server-config.xml file and paste it to a folder where Oracle BI Publisher can read it. For example, in an Oracle AS/OC4J 10.1.3 deployment, you copy the configuration file from: OC4J_HOME/j2ee/home/applications/xmlpserver/xmlpserver/WEB-INF/xmlp-serverconfig.xml
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
73
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports
2
Edit the newly created .xml file to reflect the new path. The default configuration for the xmlp-server-config.xml file is:
3
Start the application server by adding the following JVM option: -Dxdo.server.config.dir=/home/BIP
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Replacing a JVM Property Name Use the following procedure to change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by replacing a JVM property name. This task is a step in “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports” on page 73.
To change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher repository by replacing a JVM property name ■
In the WEB-INF/xmlp-server-config.xml file, replace oracle.home with some other JVM property name. NOTE: You must set the value of the new JVM property to the correct repository path.
74
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Copying Fonts for Report Generation
Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by Changing the Absolute Path to the Repository This task is a step in “Changing the Location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository for Siebel Reports” on page 73. Use the following procedure to change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher Repository by changing the absolute path to the repository.
To change the location of the Oracle BI Publisher repository by changing the absolute path to the repository ■
In the WEB-INF/xmlp-server-config.xml file, change the absolute path to the repository that you want.
Copying Fonts for Report Generation Fonts used in reports are obtained from the computer on which the report is generated. If a report is generated from a computer where the fonts in the report are not available, the output might not be as expected when trying to generate, view, preview, or schedule reports. This topic describes how to resolve this unexpected behavior. NOTE: It is the responsibility of the report designer to make sure that fonts are selected that match the data that is likely to be included in a report. For more information about fonts in Siebel Business Applications, see Siebel Global Deployment Guide.
To copy fonts ■
On the Siebel Server where the XMLP Report Server component is enabled, do one of the following: ■
For Windows, copy the fonts in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts directory to the fonts directory in the Java installation directory for your deployment (typically this is JAVA_HOME\lib\fonts).
■
For UNIX, copy the fonts in the /Fonts directory to the fonts directory in the Java installation directory for your deployment.
NOTE: This task is typically performed as part of the Siebel application installation. However, administrators can perform this task at any time.
About Working with Multilingual Reports The Siebel Reports architecture supports generating reports in multiple languages from a single object manager for a variety of needs. Siebel Reports allows you to: ■
Configure reports that are generated for a specific language and locale.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
75
Administering Siebel Reports ■ About Working with Multilingual Reports
■
Make sure that a report is generated against a particular Siebel record with a preference for a specific document language and locale for that record. For example, you might have a preference for a document language for a specific Quote report.
■
Let users set a default language and locale preference for their own report generation.
■
Let users override the default language and locale values when generating reports.
■
Execute report generation using the default language and locale settings of the user’s session object manager.
Table 7 provides details of how this logic is implemented in Siebel Reports. The order defines the logic applied at run time to determine which default language preferences to use.
Table 7.
How Siebel Reports Determines the Report Language at Run Time
Default Preference
Order
Description
Template specific
1
If a default language and locale are specified in the report layout template, then these values appear as the default selection for the report output. However, users can override these settings at run time for an individual report (see Run-time Selection in this table).
Entity related (business service)
2
The Report Business Service is configurable for language and locale as optional inputs. If the language and locale are specified at the template level, then the template parameters are used rather than those specified for the input. If no parameters are passed to the Report Business Service, the default application object manager values are used. NOTE: Only use language and locale values as business service inputs when these values are not set at the template level.
User preferences
3
If the report layout template does not have a default language and locale, and the user has set a language and locale property in their user preferences, the user preference values are used. Otherwise, the values in the report layout template prevail. For information about setting user preferences for report generation, see “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97.
Run-time selection
4
Users can override the default language and locale values when generating a report.
No language or locale specified
5
If no default language and locale are specified in the report layout template level or in the user preferences, then the current application object manager values for the session are used.
Related Topics “Designing Multilingual Reports” on page 77 “Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78 “Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates” on page 79
76
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Designing Multilingual Reports
“About Report Translation” on page 80
Designing Multilingual Reports Designing multilingual reports is the same as designing a standard report. The only difference is that you must externalize the user interface elements for localization in the languages that you want. For more information about externalizing the user interface elements, see “About Report Translation” on page 80. For more information about designing reports, see Chapter 7, “Creating Reports.”
To design a multilingual report 1
Design a report in the default language, for example, ENU (English U.S.).
2
Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, redesign the layout template for the new language.
3
In the Siebel application, register the report. For information about registering reports, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114. NOTE: How translation files are uploaded from Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word to generate reports differs depending on the connection mode; that is, whether it uses connected or disconnected mode. For more information about uploading files, see “Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application” on page 102.
4
(Optional) Add a default language and locale to the report template.
Related Topics “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75 “Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78 “Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates” on page 79 “About Report Translation” on page 80
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
77
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application
Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application This topic gives one example of uploading multilingual reports to the Siebel application. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model. To upload multilingual reports to the Siebel application, perform the following:
1
In the TEMPLATES directory, make sure of the following: ■
The report layout template file (filename.rtf) is located in the TEMPLATES directory. In this example, let us say the name of the template is opptylist.rtf.
■
There are subdirectories in the XLIFF directory for English and other supported languages.
NOTE: Typically, the TEMPLATES and XLIFF directories are located in the Siebel Server installation XMLP directory (SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP).
2
Create the XLIFF file for English with the same name as the report layout template file (opptylist.xlf) and put it in the ENU subdirectory (SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\ENU\opptylist.xlf).
3
Create a non-English XLIFF file by doing the following:
a
Copy the opptylist.xlf file (from the ENU directory) to the target language directory. For example, if the target language is French, you would copy opptylist.xlf to the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\FRA directory.
b
In the target directory, edit the opptylist.xlf file to modify the file target-language attribute from EN-US to the target language. For example, file source-language="EN-US" target-language="FR-FR"
c
Change the elements from source to the desired language. For example, the source is English, the target element is French, therefore the element is translated to French: Name Nom
d
Repeat Step a through Step c for each supported language.
For more information about XLIFF creation, see “About Report Translation” on page 80.
4
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server to review the structure of the registration. Each XLIFF is registered using the format TemplateName_language code_TERRITORY CODE.xlf. For more information about translation naming conventions, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Report Designer's Guide on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
5
After the report layout template is in the TEMPLATES subdirectory and the XLIFFS are in the language subfolders, then you can upload the report to the Siebel client.
6
Register the report, add the languages to the XLIFF translation applet, and then click Upload. The report layout template and the associated XLIFF translation files are now registered.
78
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates
7
Log in to the Oracle BI Publisher Server to review the structure of the registration. Each XLIFF is registered using the format TemplateName__.xlf.
Related Topics “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75 “Designing Multilingual Reports” on page 77 “Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates” on page 79 “About Report Translation” on page 80
Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates This topic describes how to add and delete languages from report templates.
Adding a Language to a Report Use the following procedure to add a language to a report template.
To add a language to a report 1
Log in to the Siebel application.
2
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then to one of the following template views: ■
Reports - Custom Templates
■
Reports - Standard Templates
3
In the appropriate Template list, select the report to which you want to add a language.
4
In the Translations subview, click New.
5
In the Language field, add a new language, and then click OK.
Deleting a Language from a Report Use the following procedure to delete a language from a report template.
To delete a language from a report 1
Log in to the Siebel application.
2
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then to one of the following template views: ■
Reports - Custom Templates
■
Reports - Standard Templates
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
79
Administering Siebel Reports ■ About Report Translation
3
In the Report Template Registration list, select the report from which you want to delete a language.
4
In the Translations list, choose a language, and then click Delete. NOTE: This step removes only the language from the report; it does not remove the report.
Related Topics “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75 “Designing Multilingual Reports” on page 77 “Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78 “About Report Translation” on page 80
About Report Translation To translate reports, you must externalize the user interface elements for localization in the languages that you want. To externalize the user interface means to separate the localizable attributes from the nonlocalizable attributes of the user interface elements for each translation. In the case of reports, strings are externalized to an XLIFF file. The XLIFF format separates localizable text from formatting, allowing the translator to work only on the text to be translated. For more information about XLIFF files related to Siebel Reports, see “Siebel Reports Directory Structure” on page 31. Typically, an administrator manages report translations; a third party usually performs the actual translation. NOTE: For a list of the languages that Siebel Reports supports, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network. CAUTION: Each translated report must have a unique translated display name. If there are duplicate names for translated reports, when those names pass from the browser to the Siebel Server, the server cannot differentiate which report to generate.
Related Topics “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75 “Designing Multilingual Reports” on page 77 “Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78 “Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates” on page 79
Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports There are several tasks you can perform to optimize the performance of Siebel Reports. It is recommended you perform these tasks as part of the Siebel Reports installation process. However, you can perform them later. These tasks are not implemented in a particular order.
80
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports
■
“Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports” on page 81
■
“Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports” on page 82
■
“Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports” on page 82
■
“Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes” on page 84
NOTE: Most of these tasks are applicable only when the client is in connected mode unless noted otherwise.
Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports To optimize the performance of reports with more than 100 records, it is recommended that you limit the wait time for report execution. The BIP Report Wait Time system preference allows you to set a threshold value in seconds. When a low waiting period is specified, a message appears soon after report generation begins noting that the time taken to generate the report exceeds the waiting period. To monitor and view the report, go to the My Reports view. For information about the My Reports view, see “Generating Reports” on page 92. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports” on page 80.
To set the report execution waiting period for reports 1
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the System Preferences view.
2
In the System Preferences list, select BIP Report Wait Time, and then change the value to a number greater than 100.
Related Topics Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
81
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports
Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports To optimize the performance of Siebel Reports, it is recommended you change the Database Polling Interval parameter for the Server Request Processor (SRProc) server component. This parameter defines how long to wait before SRProc polls the database again when the current polling does not get requests. NOTE: This parameter is hidden by default and does not appear in either the Siebel Server Manager GUI or the Siebel Server Manager command-line interface program. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports” on page 80. Use the following procedure to set the Database Polling Interval server component parameter.
To set the Server Request Processor database polling interval for Siebel Reports 1
Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, Servers, and then the Components view.
2
In the Components list, select Server Request Processor (alias SRProc).
3
Scroll down, click the Parameters subview, and then click Hidden.
4
In the Parameter list, select Database Polling Interval, and change the value from 10 to 1. The Value on Restart and Default Values are updated as well.
5
Restart the Siebel Server. Alternatively, you can use the srvrmgr command-line interface to restart the SRProc component For more information about setting the server component parameters and restarting the Siebel Server and server components, see Siebel System Administration Guide.
Related Topics Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports To optimize the performance of Siebel Reports, it is recommended that you change the values of the Maximum Tasks (MaxTasks) and the Maximum MT Servers (MaxMTServers) parameters. Perform one of the following procedures on the computer where the XMLP Report Server component is enabled. You configure the concurrency parameters for Siebel Reports by using the Server Manager GUI or the Server Manager command-line interface program (srvrmgr program).
82
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports
This task is a step in “Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports” on page 80.
Setting Concurrency Parameters Using a Siebel Application Use the following procedure to set the concurrency parameters using a Siebel application.
To set concurrency parameters using a Siebel application 1
Log in to the Siebel application as a Siebel administrator.
2
Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, Servers, and then the Components view.
3
In the Components list, select XMLP Report Server.
4
Click the Parameters view tab, and perform the following:
a
For the Maximum Tasks parameter, change the Value on Restart to 100.
b
For the Maximum MT Servers parameter, change the Value on Restart to 2.
Setting Concurrency Parameters Using the Server Manager Use the following procedure to set the concurrency parameters using the Server Manager (srvrmgr).
To set concurrency parameters using Server Manager ■
Execute the following Server Manager (srvrmgr) commands to increase the MaxTasks parameter to 100 and the MaxMTServers parameter to 2: change param maxtasks=100 for comp xmlpreportserver server XmlpServer change param maxmtservers=2 for comp xmlpreportserver server XmlpServer where: XmlpServer is the name of the Siebel Server.
Related Topics Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
83
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes To optimize Siebel Reports generation performance with large data volumes (greater than 10,000 records), it is recommended that you adjust the DSMaxFetchArraySize profile parameter. This task is a step in “Roadmap for Optimizing the Performance of Siebel Reports” on page 80 and is applicable to connected mode. CAUTION: It is recommended that you perform the following procedure on a separate named subsystem (for example, reportsdatascr) that is used only by the XMLP Report Server component. Otherwise, the Application Object Manager (AOM) on the client computer might fail when retrieving large amounts of data. To optimize the generation performance of Siebel Reports for large data volumes, perform the following tasks:
1
Set the DSMaxFetchArraySize profile configuration parameter value to -1. For instructions for setting this parameter, see 1064043.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
2
“Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports” on page 84.
3
“Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports” on page 86.
4
“Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports” on page 87.
For more information about setting server profile parameters, see Siebel System Administration Guide. NOTE: It is recommended that you not execute reports with large data volumes as an immediate report request. Instead, schedule these reports on the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
Related Topics Setting the Report Execution Waiting Period for Reports Setting the Server Request Processor Database Polling Interval for Siebel Reports Setting Concurrency Parameters for Siebel Reports
Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports To optimize Siebel Reports generation performance, you can enable the scalable mode parameter by configuring the Oracle BI Publisher xdo.cfg file in the jre\lib directory.
84
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
This task is a step in “Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes” on page 84 and is applicable to connected mode. NOTE: It is recommended that you only enable scalable mode when viewing large reports online with a high concurrent report usage because this mode consumes more resources and might impact overall performance. If large reports are more common than not in your deployment, then set the scalable mode for all reports. Setting the scalable option prepares the FO processor to handle large data, longer processing times, time-outs, and so on. Although scalable mode is a relatively slower process, this mode makes sure there is no data loss even if the report is complex.
To enable scalable mode for Siebel Reports 1
Navigate to the ORACLE_HOME\xmlp\XMLP\Admin\Configuration directory.
2
Open the xdo.cfg file, and in the tag, use the following syntax to set the Scalable Mode parameter to true (if it is not already set): true NOTE: You can set scalable mode to either true or false.
3
Save the xdo.cfg file. The following is a sample xdo.cfg file:
D:\Temp true
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
85
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
Related Topics Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports
Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports To benefit reports generation, configure a temporary directory for the Oracle BI Publisher Server. This temporary space allows you to build complex reports that you can clean up after the reports are generated. This task is a step in “Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes” on page 84 and is applicable to connected mode.
To configure a temporary directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports 1
Navigate to the ORACLE_HOME\xmlp\XMLP\Admin\Configuration directory. NOTE: The path for the Java installation folder varies depending on where you installed JRE.
2
86
Open the xdo.cfg file, and in the tag, use the following syntax to set the temporary directory:
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
d:\tmp NOTE: Make sure the location of the temporary directory has adequate space for the temporary files.
3
Save the xdo.cfg file.
Related Topics Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports
Increasing EAI HTTP Transport Sleep Time for Siebel Reports You can optimize report generation for complex reports by increasing the default sleep time for the EAI HTTP Transport business service. This is especially helpful when generating complex reports or against large data sets, that might take longer than a couple of minutes to generate. This task is a step in “Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes” on page 84 and is applicable to connected mode. To increase EAI HTTP transport sleep time for Siebel Reports, see 859193.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
Related Topics Enabling Scalable Mode for Siebel Reports Configuring a Temporary Directory on the Oracle BI Publisher Server for Siebel Reports
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
87
Administering Siebel Reports ■ Process of Optimizing the Generation Performance of Siebel Reports for Large Data Volumes
88
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
6
Generating Reports
This chapter describes how to generate, view, monitor, and delete reports in Siebel Business Applications from a user perspective. It includes the following topics: ■
About Generating Reports on page 89
■
Scenario for Generating Reports on page 90
■
Generating Reports on page 92
■
Example of Generating an Opportunity Report on page 94
■
Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports on page 94
■
Viewing Generated Reports on page 96
■
Deleting Reports on page 97
■
Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports on page 97
NOTE: This chapter is not applicable to scheduled reports.
About Generating Reports You use the Reports menu to generate reports. The Reports menu is a drop-down list that appears after clicking Reports on the Siebel application toolbar while you are in a Siebel view. The reports available to you for that view are based on standard Siebel responsibility-based visibility and access granted by others. For more information about visibility and data access control in Siebel Business Applications, see Siebel Security Guide. For information about granting access to reports, see “Sharing Report Layout Templates” on page 118. You also use the Reports menu to schedule reports in connected mode. For information about scheduling reports, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.” Figure 6 shows a sample Reports menu drop-down list, which displays the names of the reports available for the current view—such as Opportunity List and Pipeline Report By Rep—as well as a link to a user’s own previously generated reports (My BI Publisher Reports) and a link for scheduling reports.
Figure 6.
Sample Reports Menu Drop-Down List
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
89
Generating Reports ■ Scenario for Generating Reports
Related Topics “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
Scenario for Generating Reports This topic gives a scenario of how you might use Siebel Reports in Siebel Business Applications. You might use Siebel Reports differently, depending on your business model. This scenario describes one example of a sales representative generating reports. In this example, the representative chooses a report and the report output type, then the report generates and appears in the chosen format. While generating, the representative can monitor or view the status of the report and after successful completion, she can access the report immediately or a later time. NOTE: The process for scheduling reports is similar, however, you choose Schedule Report from the Reports menu instead of selecting a report from the drop-down list. For information about scheduling reports, see Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.”
Choosing a Report to Generate A sales representative generates a series of account and opportunity reports periodically. These reports include: Account List, Pipeline Analysis, and Opportunity Marketing Events Summary. They provide a view of her current pipeline and other account-related activities. Today, the sales representative decides to generate the Account List report. She navigates to the Accounts view, and then clicks Reports. From the resulting Reports menu, she can choose a report. In this case, she chooses Account List in the BI Publisher (BIP) section of the Reports menu.
Choosing the Report Output Type and Monitoring Status Next, the sales representative is prompted to choose a report output type. In this case, she chooses PDF, which automatically triggers the report to start generating data. After successful completion, the report appears in the chosen format, where she can either open or save the report. However, if the report takes a while to render, a message appears indicating that she must access the report from the My Reports view. From the My Reports view, she can monitor the status of the report and eventually access the report when the status shows Success.
90
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Generating Reports ■ Scenario for Generating Reports
Accessing a Generated Report After several weeks, the sales representative decides she wants to take another look at this Account List report. She accesses the report directly from the My Reports view by drilling down on the report that she wants to see. After she drills down on the Account List report, the File Download dialog box appears from which she can choose to open the report, save the report, or cancel the request. If she chooses to open the report, the report appears.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
91
Generating Reports ■ Generating Reports
Generating Reports You generate reports using the Siebel application views and the Reports menu. Figure 7 shows the tasks for generating Siebel Reports.
Figure 7.
Report Generation
Figure 7 illustrates the following:
1
(Optional) Override the default report language and local by setting user preferences. For information about overriding user preferences for report generation, see ““Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97. For information about how languages and locale settings are implemented in Siebel Reports, see “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75.
2
Navigate to the Siebel application view from which you want to generate a report, run a query to limit the number of returned records, and then click Reports. TIP: It is strongly recommended that you perform a query before generating a report. Performing a query will limit the number of returned records for the report.
3
92
From the Reports menu, you choose to either generate a report or schedule a report.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Generating Reports ■ Generating Reports
4
If you choose to: ■
Generate a report from the BI Publisher listing, you designate a report output file type, and then click Submit. Additionally, if this is a parameterized report, you have the option to select more criteria before selecting the report output file type. NOTE: Optionally, you can choose a different language and locale rather than accept the defaults.
5
■
Select My BI Publisher Reports, you can choose a report that you previously generated by drilling down on it from the My Reports view.
■
Schedule a report, you choose the report name, the output type, and other scheduling criteria from the Schedule a Report dialog box.
If you chose a report from the BI Publisher section or drilled down on a report from the My Reports view, from the File Download dialog box, you can choose to: ■
Open the report. The report downloads and appears in a browser window in the format you chose in Step 4. The report output file types are: PDF, HTML, RTF, EXCEL, PPT, and MHTML. The PPT and MHTML output file types are available only in connected mode. For more information about the report output file types, see “Siebel Reports Output File Types” on page 22.
■
Save the report. You can save the report to a destination of your choosing, and then Open it for viewing immediately or at a later time.
If you chose to schedule a report, you can view or monitor the report job in the Scheduled Reports view. NOTE: The actual report is stored in the Oracle BI Publisher repository.
6
You can continue to generate or schedule reports in other formats or click Close to end.
NOTE: If a report encounters errors while generating, a log file is created that the report developers or administrators can use to troubleshoot the problem. For more information about troubleshooting reports, see Chapter 12, “Troubleshooting Siebel Reports.”
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97 “Scheduling Reports” on page 123
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
93
Generating Reports ■ Example of Generating an Opportunity Report
Example of Generating an Opportunity Report This topic gives one example of generating a Siebel report. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business needs. In this example, assume you want to generate the By Sales Rep opportunity report in PDF format.
To generate the By Sales Rep Opportunity report 1
Navigate to the Opportunities screen, My Opportunities, and then the Opportunity List view. TIP: The predefined query for this view shows only your current opportunities. If you want to see all of your opportunities, click Query, and then click Go.
2
Run a query to limit the number of records returned, and then click Reports.
3
From the BI Publisher section of the Reports menu, select the By Sales Rep report.
4
In the Select the Report Output Type dialog box, choose PDF, and then click Submit. The By Sales Rep report Opportunity appears in a browser window, prompting you to open, save, or cancel the request.
5
Click Open. The By Sales Rep Opportunity report appears in PDF format in a new browser window, from which you can choose to print, save, or cancel the report.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports This topic describes how to monitor the status of currently generating reports. NOTE: This topic is not applicable to scheduled reports. For information about monitoring scheduled reports, see “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127.
94
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Generating Reports ■ Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports
To monitor the status of a generated or currently generating report 1
Log in to the Siebel application.
2
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then one of the following Reports views:
3
■
My Reports
■
My Team’s Reports
■
All Reports
In the appropriate reports list, look for the report that you want to monitor, and then review the Status field for that report. The status indicators are: In Progress, Success, and Error as described in the following table. Field
Description
Owner
User ID of the person who generated the report.
Status
Indicates: ■
In Progress when a report is currently generating.
■
Success when a report generates successfully.
■
Error when a report encounters errors while generating. To troubleshoot, see Chapter 12, “Troubleshooting Siebel Reports.”
TIP: The timestamp for a report is the submit time on the Siebel Server. If a user submits a report when the XMLP Report Server component is not enabled, the report appears with a blank status in the My Reports view. Then, when the XLMP Report Server component is enabled, the report immediately shows a status of In Progress. However, the status might not appear long enough for you to view it. This behavior is because typically the In Progress status disappears after only a few seconds and is replaced with a status of Success. The My Reports view allows you to monitor the progress of a currently generating report.
4
If the report shows a status of Success, you can drill down on the report to view it or save it.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
95
Generating Reports ■ Viewing Generated Reports
Viewing Generated Reports After a report is generated, the report is saved in the Siebel File System. The report shows data as of the time the report was run. You can view reports that: ■
You have personally generated
■
Your team members have generated
■
All generated reports
Position-based visibility applies to generated reports, that is, a user’s position specifies which reports that user has access to. For more information about positions and visibility in Siebel Business Applications, see Siebel Security Guide. NOTE: This topic is not applicable to scheduled reports. For information about viewing scheduled reports, see “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127.
To view generated reports 1
2
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then one of the following Reports views: ■
My Reports
■
My Team’s Reports
■
All Reports
In the appropriate reports list, drill down on the report name that you want to view. TIP: You can perform a query on any of the fields to find multiple reports.
3
In the File Download dialog box, do one of the following: ■
Click Open to view the file. The report appears in a new browser window where you can print or save it.
■
Click Save to save the file. The Save As dialog box appears where you can browse to find a location to save the file.
■
Click Cancel to cancel the request.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Deleting Reports” on page 97 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
96
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Generating Reports ■ Deleting Reports
Deleting Reports This topic describes how to delete unwanted reports. You can delete reports that you have personally generated or have been granted access to. After a report is deleted, it is no longer available in the Siebel File System. NOTE: This topic is not applicable to scheduled reports. For information about deleting scheduled reports, see “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129.
To delete a report 1
2
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then to one of the following views: ■
My Reports
■
My Team’s Reports
■
All Reports
In the appropriate reports list, select a report, and then click Delete.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports” on page 97
Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports When generating a report, you can override the default report language and locale by setting user preferences. For example, assume the default language for your deployment is English U.S. (ENU), you can choose to generate the report in another language, such as Japanese (JPN) or German (DEU). NOTE: If a default report language and locale are not specified in the report template, and a user has set the language and locale properties in their user preferences, the user preferences settings are used when the report is generated. For detailed information about how Siebel Reports determines the report language at run time, see “About Working with Multilingual Reports” on page 75.
To set language and locale user preferences for reports 1
Navigate to the User Preferences screen, then the Report Parameters view.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
97
Generating Reports ■ Setting Language and Locale User Preferences for Reports
2
Change the Locale and Language properties to the language of your choice.
NOTE: Setting user preferences allows you to generate reports in the language and locale you specified as long as there is no default language or locale set in the report layout template.
Related Topics “About Generating Reports” on page 89 “Scenario for Generating Reports” on page 90 “Generating Reports” on page 92 “Example of Generating an Opportunity Report” on page 94 “Monitoring the Status of Currently Generating Reports” on page 94 “Viewing Generated Reports” on page 96 “Deleting Reports” on page 97
98
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
7
Creating Reports
This chapter describes how to create reports. It is intended only for those who have report developer or administrator privileges. NOTE: Most users do not typically have access to the administration views in the Siebel application, and as such, are not able to perform the tasks in this chapter. For information about reporting from the user perspective, see Chapter 6, “Generating Reports” and Chapter 8, “Scheduling Reports.” This chapter includes the following topics: ■
Scenario for Creating Reports on page 99
■
About Integration Objects in Siebel Reports on page 100
■
About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects on page 101
■
Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application on page 102
■
About Registering and Sharing Report Layout Templates on page 104
■
About Multiorganizational Report Templates on page 104
■
Scenario for Report Template Visibility Across Organizations on page 105
■
Should You Clone an Existing Report or Create Custom Reports? on page 105
■
Process of Creating Custom Reports on page 106
Scenario for Creating Reports This topic gives a scenario of how you might create reports in Siebel Business Applications. You might use reports differently, depending on your business model. This scenario describes how a sales manager works with a report developer to create a custom opportunity report.
Sales Manager Generates Daily Sales Reports A sales manager has a team of five sales representatives for the western region of a company. Every day he generates a series of reports, including Opportunity by Sales Rep, Account List, and Forecast Analysis Details to get the latest, current-account activities, and forecasted revenues for his sales representatives. These reports are view-based and available from the Reports menu in the Siebel application.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
99
Creating Reports ■ About Integration Objects in Siebel Reports
Sales Manager Modifies an Existing Sales Report to Hand Off to the Report Developer These reports give the sales manager a good understanding of the opportunities in the pipeline for each sales representative on his team, and allows him to monitor how they are progressing through the sales cycle. Towards the end of the quarter, he wants to know how much potential revenue his team might be able to close for the quarter. To learn that information, he wants to see a revenue breakdown for the team’s opportunities by probability and sales stage. He knows, however, that no such report is currently available, but realizes that the reports developer can create such a report for him. Because the sales manager wants the report to have a certain look, he starts creating a preliminary opportunity report himself using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word. When he is satisfied with the report layout template design, he hands off the template to the report developer.
Sales Manager Generates the New Sales Report After the reports developer finalizes the custom report, the sales manager can choose the report from the Reports menu while in an Opportunity view. After choosing a report output type, the report appears in a browser window, from which the sales manager can open or save the report. However, if the report takes a while to render, a message appears indicating that he must access the report from the My Reports view. From this view, he can monitor the status of the report and eventually access the report when the status shows Success. For more information about report output file types, see “Siebel Reports Output File Types” on page 22. For more information about the My Reports view, see “About Using Siebel Reports” on page 22.
About Integration Objects in Siebel Reports Integration objects are metadata objects in Siebel Business Applications that provide the ability to obtain Siebel data in XML format. Typical Siebel integration involves transporting data from an external application to a Siebel deployment, using Siebel EAI and integration objects. In the context of Siebel EAI, data is transported in the form of an integration message. A message, in this context, typically consists of header data that identifies the message type and structure, and a body that contains one or more instances of data, for example, orders, accounts, or employee records. Siebel integration objects are used to define which Siebel data is integrated. A typical business object contains several business components and fields. In most integrations, only a subset of this data is necessary for generating reports. Siebel integration object definitions specify the components and which fields to integrate, and facilitate the integration by exchanging integration data as XML files. For more information about: ■
Adding custom fields to existing integration objects for Siebel reports, see “Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 109.
■
Creating new integration objects for Siebel reports, see “Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports” on page 110. NOTE: It is recommended that you request the assistance of a Siebel Tools developer to create new integration objects for Siebel Reports.
■
Viewing integration object definitions, see Using Siebel Tools.
100
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects
■
Integration objects in general, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects Siebel Reports provides the ability to generate reports across multiple, unrelated Siebel business objects without having to build the relationships into a single business object. To generate reports across multiple business objects, you create a report based on multiple integration objects. NOTE: Siebel Business Applications ship with standard integration objects for creating reports. However, if there is no appropriate integration object available, you can either extend an existing integration object or create new integration objects. For information about extending integration objects, see “Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 109. For information about creating new integration objects, see “Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports” on page 110. The following conditions and restrictions apply to reporting on multiple integration objects: ■
When specifying the integration objects in the report template in the Integration Objects list, nonprimary integration objects must have a valid search specification value. For more information about the report template in the Integration Objects list, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114. For more information about nonprimary integration objects, see “Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report” on page 117.
■
At run time, the query from the current view in the Siebel application is captured and passed to the primary integration object. However, for integration objects other than the primary (sometimes referred to as secondary integration objects) that are associated with a report, queries are not passed from the user interface. The secondary integration objects are passed according to the expression provided in the object’s search specification. For this reason, a valid search specification value is required to filter the data for nonprimary integration objects. NOTE: Position-based visibility is automatically applied.
■
If no search specification value is entered for nonprimary integration objects, or the expression is incorrect, the integration object returns all data from the relevant business components. This omission returns potentially unwanted data, and also has a negative impact on performance.
NOTE: It is recommended that you test search specifications for multiple integration objects in a relevant application view to make sure the search specification is valid before applying the specification to a report in the applicable report template view. For information about adding multiple integration objects to reports, see “Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report” on page 117.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
10 1
Creating Reports ■ Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application
Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application This topic describes how Siebel Business Applications support Oracle BI Publisher report layout templates for report generation. After a report layout template is created using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, the report layout template and translation files must be uploaded to the Siebel application before you can generate reports. Figure 8 shows how the uploading of these files differs depending on the type of connection mode (connected or disconnected).
Figure 8.
102
How the Layout Template and Translation Files Are Uploaded from Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word to Generate Reports
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application
Figure 8 illustrates the following:
1
From the report template views (My Templates and All Templates Across Organizations), the RTF report layout template and translation (XLIFF) files are uploaded using an upload business service to the Oracle BI Publisher repository as follows:
a
In connected mode, the upload service occurs by way of the PublicReportServiceService Web service. For more information about connected mode, see “Siebel Reports Architecture and Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode” on page 28. To upload the report to the Oracle BI Publisher repository, the following must occur: ❏
The report layout template must have been saved in RTF format using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word.
❏
You must click Upload Files in the report template views in the Siebel application. The RTF and XLIFF files are uploaded and an XDO report definition file is created when the reports are generating.
❏
The report layout template (RTF) and language (XLIFF) files are attached to the report during the registration of the report layout template.
NOTE: The Generate XLIFF button is disabled (grayed out) in connected mode. ❏
b
Before moving to the Oracle BI Publisher repository, the layout template (RTF) and XLIFF files are attached to the report during the registration of the layout template.
In disconnected mode, the upload service is not applicable. All files (RTF, XLIFF, and XSL) are local to the Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine when generating reports after. For more information about generating reports in disconnected mode, see “Siebel Reports Architecture and Workflow for Generating Reports in Disconnected Mode” on page 30. For disconnected mode, you must click Generate XLIFF to create XSL. (Whereas in connected mode, XSL is generated at run time by the Oracle BI Publisher Server.) NOTE: The Upload Files button is disabled (grayed out) in disconnected mode.
2
For connected mode, the RTF and XLIFF files are stored in the Oracle BI Publisher repository by way of the PublicReportServiceService Web service.
3
In disconnected mode, the report templates and XLIFF files are stored in the Siebel client installation folder (that is, SIEBEL_ROOT_CLIENT\xmlp\templates and SIEBEL_ROOT_CLIENT\xmlp\XLIFF, respectively).
For more information about uploading from Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
10 3
Creating Reports ■ About Registering and Sharing Report Layout Templates
About Registering and Sharing Report Layout Templates Siebel Business Applications allow users to register and share report layout templates with others. Access to report templates is controlled using position-based visibility. NOTE: Standard Siebel responsibilities control which reports views users can access. If you want to prevent users from creating their own report templates and executing them from the Siebel application, then do not grant access to the relevant template views. For example, you might want to limit access to the Reports - Standard Templates view only to administrators. The two views you use for report template registration are: ■
Reports - Standard Templates. This view contains the standard (preconfigured) report templates provided with the Siebel application and any custom templates that you want to be accessible enterprise-wide (that is, not based on position-based visibility). These templates are visible within the Siebel application. The templates are based on the standard association of Siebel views; that is, users can execute reports if they have access to the relevant views. CAUTION: It is strongly recommended that you limit access to standard templates only to administrators. Otherwise, you run the risk of users inadvertently modifying the standard report templates (or other templates that are visible to all users in the enterprise).
■
Reports - Custom Templates. This view contains report templates that are filtered by positions. Users with visibility to the My Templates view can create their own custom report templates. Only these users can see or execute the custom report templates in the Siebel application. However, they can share templates if other users have visibility to the relevant application views. The All Templates Across Organizations view allows managers and administrators to see the report templates of their subordinates. For more information about shared report layout templates, see “Sharing Report Layout Templates” on page 118.
About Multiorganizational Report Templates The basic logic for how an organization-specific report template appears in the Reports menu is as follows: ■
When a user logs into the Siebel application, that user sees organization-specific reports where the Active Position Organization equals the organization or organizations on a custom template.
■
Users with more than one organization can change their Primary Active Position Organization during a single session. After making this change, the reports that user can view is different from the original access.
104
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Scenario for Report Template Visibility Across Organizations
Scenario for Report Template Visibility Across Organizations This topic gives one example of how report template visibility across organizations might be used. You might use template visibility differently, depending on your business model. A sales representative and his manager have visibility to the same Siebel view. However, the reports they can see differ depending on their organization settings. Let us consider that the user is the Holland organization, and his manager is in the Benelux organization. Benelux is the parent organization of both the Holland and Belgium organizations. When accessing the reports menu: ■
Both the sales representative and his manager can see any report that is defined in the Standard Templates view and that is associated to the view.
■
The sales representative sees:
■
■
Custom templates he has created in the My Templates View. These templates have only a default organization.
■
Custom templates that are explicitly associated to the Holland organization, given his current active position organization is Holland.
The manager sees: ■
Custom templates he has created in the My Template View or templates his subordinates have created that appear in the My Teams view. These templates have only a default organization.
■
Custom templates that are explicitly associated to the Benelux organization, given his current active position organization is Benelux.
■
Custom templates created by both Holland and Belgium organizations because the manager can see report templates created by his subordinates regardless of whether the subordinate is in a different organization.
Should You Clone an Existing Report or Create Custom Reports? The following are some situations in which you might want to clone an existing report: ■
When you add new fields to a report layout template
■
When differences between your new report and an existing report are minor
■
When you want multiple versions of the same report showing slightly different data to different categories of users
When your requirements are not satisfied by an existing report and there are significant differences between the report that you want and an existing report, create a custom report. The following are some situations in which you must create a custom report: ■
When the report requires a new integration object
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
10 5
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
■
When the report requires a new integration component for an existing integration object. For example, you create a new report for a view that belongs to the same business object.
Process of Creating Custom Reports Siebel Business Applications allow you to create new reports based on preconfigured report layout templates, or you can create custom reports and report layout templates. NOTE: For suggestions as to when to modify versus create a report layout template, see “Should You Clone an Existing Report or Create Custom Reports?” on page 105. You create custom reports in three locations: ■
In Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop) by modifying the existing or creating new report layout templates.
■
In the Siebel clients by using the Siebel Reports administration views to upload and register report layout templates, associate reports with Siebel application views, and other administrative tasks.
■
(Optional) In Siebel Tools by either extending an existing integration object or creating new integration object definitions that execute at run time. NOTE: Siebel Business Applications ship with standard integration objects. You create new integration objects only when existing integration objects do not suffice.
106
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
Figure 9 shows the process of creating custom reports. The roadmap is applicable to both connected and disconnected modes. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see Chapter 3, “Siebel Reports Development Environment.”
Figure 9.
Process of Creating Reports
Figure 9 illustrates the high-level tasks you perform when creating custom reports:
1
(Optional) “Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 109
2
(Optional) “Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports” on page 110 NOTE: Create new integration objects only when no appropriate integration object exists.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
10 7
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
3
“Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports” on page 112 Using the Sample Data File Generation view in the Siebel client, in this step the following tasks are performed:
a
Select an integration object for the report.
b
Generate the sample XML data file, and then save it.
NOTE: The XML data file is typically saved to the XMLP\DATA directory in the Siebel File System. You can however, save the XML to another location. For more information about the Siebel Reports directory structure, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27.
4
“Creating Report Layout Templates Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word” on page 113 In this step, you either modify an existing report layout template or create a new one, and then do the following:
5
a
Assign the Siebel fields in the report layout template.
b
Save the report layout template to RTF.
c
Periodically preview the report layout template to verify it appears as designed.
“Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114 Using the template views (Reports - Custom Templates or Reports - Standard Templates), in this step do the following:
6
a
Create a new report.
b
Select a report layout template.
c
Assign an integration object.
d
Select an output file type.
e
(Optional) Select a default language and locale, report access control, and so on.
(Optional) “Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report” on page 117 In this step, you add new integration objects to a report, and the generate sample XML.
7
(Optional) “Sharing Report Layout Templates” on page 118 In this step, you grant report access to others by adding positions.
8
(Optional) “Defining Report Layout Templates for Selected Records” on page 119 In this step, you click the Selected Records field to configure a report template to display only the currently selected records in a Siebel application view when a report is generated.
9
“Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views” on page 120
10 (Optional) “Changing the Report Sequence Order in the Reports Menu” on page 120 Using the Association View, in this step you can define the way reports are ordered or prevent them from appearing in the Reports menu.
108
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports Siebel Business Applications ship with preconfigured reports and each of these reports references an integration object that serves as the report schema. This topic describes how to extend an existing integration object to add new fields for a report. NOTE: It is recommended that you seek the assistance of a Siebel Tools configurator for integration object modification. It is also recommended that you consider this option before creating new integration objects for your reports. For information about creating new integration objects for Siebel reports, see “Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports” on page 110. This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
To extend an integration object to add a new field 1
In the Siebel client, identify the integration object by doing the following:
a
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the relevant report template view (either the Reports - Custom Templates view or Reports - Standard Templates view).
b
Select the report for which you want to add a new field.
c
In the Primary Integration Object Name column, identify and make note of the integration object for this report. NOTE: Integration objects for reports begin with BIP.
2
Add a new field to the integration object by doing the following:
a
Log in to Siebel Tools.
b
In the Object Explorer, select and expand Integration Object. TIP: Integration objects do not appear in the Object Explorer by default. Click the View menu, Options, and then the Object Explorer tab to add the integration objects to the Object Explorer view.
c
Query for the integration object associated with the report.
d
Expand the Integration Component and Integration Component Field object types to view the existing fields associated with this integration component.
e
Create a new integration component field record and copy the Name, Data Type, and Length properties from the underlying business component field whose data you want to display in the report.
f
Set the XML-related properties to construct the XML file when data is extracted. NOTE: You must follow the convention for naming XML tags, that is, remove all spaces and special characters. However, it is not a requirement that you use the ss_ prefix convention.
3
Deploy the modified integration object by doing the following:
a
While still in Siebel Tools, navigate to the Integration Objects List.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
10 9
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
b
Right-click the integration object you want to deploy, and then select Deploy to Runtime Database. NOTE: This action overrides the object definition in the SRF file.
c
In the Siebel client, Navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, then the Deployed Integration Objects view.
d
Query for the integration object to verify it was deployed.
e
Navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, Inbound Web Services view.
f
Click Clear Cache to update the run-time database.
The extended integration object is now available for generating a new sample data file. For information about generating sample data files, see “Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports” on page 112. For more information about working with and deploying integration objects, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports Siebel Business Applications ship with preconfigured integration objects that you can use for customizing your reports. However, you might want to create new integration objects, given no applicable integration objects are available in the Siebel Repository. Using Siebel Tools, you can create new integration objects. For more information about the role of integration objects in Siebel Reports, see “About Integration Objects in Siebel Reports” on page 100. NOTE: It is strongly recommended you seek the assistance of a Siebel Tools developer for integration object creation. It is also recommended that you consider extending an existing integration object to add new fields before creating new integration objects for your reports. For information about extending existing integration objects, see “Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 109. This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106. After new integration objects are created and deployed, you can use the integration objects to register a report layout template. For more information about registering a report layout template, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114. NOTE: When creating custom integration objects for Siebel Reports, make sure that the fields used for dynamic queries in the applet of the master business component are also contained in the integration component. Dynamic queries are specific, customized queries that you create.
To create a new integration object for Siebel Reports 1
Log in to Siebel Tools.
110
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
2
Use the Integration Object Builder wizard to create the new integration object, making sure to name the new object definition with the prefix, BIP. By default, you must add the BIP prefix so that integration objects appear in the Sample Data File Generation view. NOTE: It is recommended that if you use this wizard for creating integration objects, that you deactivate only the required business component fields for the report. By default, the wizard automatically adds all business component fields in the integration component. A large amount of fields in an integration component might affect performance. Typically, you add to an integration component only the fields that are required in the report. You must also add to the integration component fields in the user interface that are required for querying and filtering the data before executing the report.
3
4
Deploy the integration object to the run-time database by doing the following:
a
In the Object Explorer in Siebel Tools, select Integration Object.
b
In the Integration Object list, right-click the integration object you want to deploy, and then select Deploy to Runtime Database.
c
In the Siebel client, navigate to the Administration - Web Services screen, then the Inbound Web Services view.
d
Click Clear Cache to invalidate the integration object and Web services definitions in the run-time database.
(Optional) Generate a new sample data file for the integration object for use when designing your report templates.
This newly created integration object is now available in the Sample Data File Generation view for creating custom reports. For information about generating sample data files, see “Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports” on page 112. For more information about integration objects and deploying an integration object without compiling an SRF, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11 1
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports This topic describes how to generate and save XML files for use in a report. You use the Sample Data File Generation view in the Siebel application to choose an integration object that seeds the data for a new report. Integration objects are metadata objects in Siebel Business Applications that provide the ability to obtain Siebel application data in XML format. XML data is used to create the report layout templates in RTF format and to generate reports at run time. When an XML data file generates successfully, it is used by the Siebel XMLP Report Server component in connected mode, and by the Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine in disconnected mode to merge with the report layout template to construct the report. The produced document is then stored in the Siebel File System. NOTE: It is recommended that you consider extending an existing integration object to add new fields before creating new integration objects for your reports. If, however, there is no existing integration object that fits your requirements, you can create new integration objects using Siebel Tools. For information about extending existing integration objects, see “Extending Integration Objects to Add New Fields for Siebel Reports” on page 109. For information about creating new integration objects for reports, see “Creating New Integration Objects for Siebel Reports” on page 110. This task is a step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
To generate a sample XML data file for a report 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Sample Data File Generation view.
2
In the Sample Data File Generation list, select the integration object for which you want to generate a data file, click Generate Sample XML, and then save the file to the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\DATA directory. An XML file is generated with the name of the integration object followed by .xml. For example, if the integration object name is BIPLiteratureFulfillment, the file name for the XML file is BIPLiteratureFulfillment.xml. NOTE: When you generate sample XML data, only a subset of the I/O data is exported into the XML file. If some fields (such as multivalue fields) are not populated, these fields do not appear when loaded into Microsoft Word using Oracle BI Publisher Add-In for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop). If this occurs, export the schema using Siebel Tools (from the Tools menu, select Integration Object, and then Generate Schema). Rename the file with an .xsd extension, and then load this schema into Microsoft Word using the Oracle BI Publisher menu. All fields are now available for use in the template. For more information about XML schema generation, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
You can now create report layout templates based on this XML data. For information about creating report layout templates, see “Creating Report Layout Templates Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word” on page 113.
112
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
Creating Report Layout Templates Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word This topic describes how to create report layout templates for reports using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word. This task is a step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106. NOTE: It is recommended that you use Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word to create your custom RTF-formatted report layout templates. If you use other RTF-formatted templates for creating your reports, you must manually code the XSL statements and references to the data fields. Coding XSL is out of scope for this documentation. CAUTION: Oracle BI Publisher does not support report names containing special characters. The following are some situations in which you must create a new report layout template: ■
When a layout template requires that you add new fields or design a different layout
■
When a layout template requires association with a different integration component for the specified integration object
■
When a layout template requires association with a different or multiple integration objects
The following procedure assumes you have installed Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word (also known as Oracle BI Publisher Desktop). This procedure provides only quick reference information for creating report layout templates. For detailed information, see Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher User’s Guide, which is available from the Oracle BI Publisher Desktop program menu (click Start, Programs, Oracle BI Publisher Desktop, and then BI Publisher Users Guide).
To create a report layout template using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Addin for Microsoft Word 1
Start Microsoft Word.
2
From the application-level menu in Microsoft Word, select Oracle BI Publisher, Data, and then Load Sample XML Data.
3
In the Select XML Data window, select the XML data file. NOTE: Typically, the XML data files reside in the XMLP\DATA directory on which the Siebel Server is running.
4
Define the format of the report and the Siebel fields that you want to appear in the report, using the Template Wizard as follows:
a
From the Microsoft Word toolbar, choose Insert, Table/Form, and then Wizard.
b
In the Template Wizard, choose the report format, and then click Next. You can choose one of the following: Table, Form, or Free Form.
c
(Optional) Change the XML data grouping, and then click Next.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11 3
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
d
Select the Siebel fields that you want to appear in your report, and then click Next.
e
If the data is to appear in Table format, decide the grouping and sorting, and then click Next.
f
Label the Siebel fields as you want them to appear in the new report, and then click Finish.
g
Save the report layout template in RTF format. The following files are created and stored in the Siebel File System for retrieval by the Siebel application as follows:
5
❏
The report layout template (RTF) and XLIFF files in connected mode
❏
The XSL and XLIFF files in disconnected mode
Periodically preview the report layout template by doing the following:
a
In Microsoft Word, open the RTF template file (if not already open). NOTE: Typically, the template files are stored in SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\TEMPLATES.
b
From the application-level menu, select Oracle BI Publisher, Preview Template, and then choose the output file format. The report appears in the chosen format with the data substituted.
c
(Optional) Continue to preview different output file formats.
d
Save the file in RTF format.
If you are currently creating a report for which you want to use this report layout template, you must register the report layout template in the Siebel application, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114. NOTE: Additional report template creation information is provided in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Report Designer's Guide in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Documentation Library 10.1.3.4 available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Not all features mentioned in the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher documentation are currently supported in Siebel Reports; only the features documented in this guide.
Registering Report Layout Templates You must register report layout templates so that users have access to reports using the Reports menu in the Siebel application. To generate reports, report layout template files created using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Add-in for Microsoft Word, must be uploaded. How these files are uploaded differs depending on the connection mode; that is, whether the Siebel application is in connected or disconnected mode. This topic describes how to upload and register layout templates from the Siebel application for both connection modes. NOTE: Each report can have only one report layout template, but you can register the same report layout template for many reports. This task is a step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
114
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
In connected mode, the Oracle BI Publisher Server requires the RTF and XLIFF files in its folder structure. If the files are not available, the report is not generated. When the upload is successful, a new folder structure is created in the Oracle BI Publisher repository. This folder has the same name as the report selected and contains the report layout template (RTF), XLIFF, and .xdo files. The Oracle BI Publisher Server creates the XSL file during run time. In disconnected mode, the RTF, XLIFF, and XSL files must be made available (by uploading the files to the Oracle BI Publisher XDO Engine) before the reports are generated. For more information about uploading report layout templates to the Siebel application, see “Workflow for Uploading Report Layout Templates to a Siebel Application” on page 102. NOTE: If you are uploading new or modified report layout templates in a multiple Siebel Server environment, see also “Uploading New or Modified Report Layout Templates for Multiple Siebel Server Environments” on page 70. If you are uploading multilingual reports, see also “Example of Uploading Multilingual Reports to the Siebel Application” on page 78.
To register a layout template for a report 1
Make sure the Oracle BI Publisher Server is running.
a
Click Start, Programs, and then Oracle - BIPHomeX.
b
Choose Start BI Publisher. A command window appears. NOTE: You must leave this command window open while the Oracle BI Publisher Server is running.
2
In the Siebel application, navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then one of the following template views: ■
Reports - Custom Templates
■
Reports - Standard Templates
3
In the appropriate templates list, click New.
4
Register the report layout template for the report by doing the following:
a
Type a report name and optionally a description.
b
Select a report layout template.
c
Select an output type.
d
(Optional) Select an existing XLIFF file.
e
(Optional) Assign a position or positions in the Report Access field. NOTE: The Report Access field is available only in the Reports - Custom Templates view to allow for sharing of generated reports.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11 5
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
f
Fill in the rest of the fields. The fields are described in the following table. Field
Description
Start Date1
A start date and time for the report. For preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications, there is no start date. For reports that you create, the Start Date field automatically populates with the current date and time when the report layout template was registered. However, you can change these values any time.
End Date1
An end date for the report. After the end date passes, the report no longer appears in the Reports menu. By default, this field is NULL.
Primary Integration Object Name
The primary integration object for the report. This field is read-only and is automatically populated when you select an integration object in the report template Integration Objects subview.
Template
The RTF report layout template that is used to generate the report. Templates are stored in the following folder:
SIEBSRVR_ROOT\XMLP\TEMPLATES Output Type
The format of the generated report, which can be one of the following: PDF, HTML, RTF, XLS, PPT, MHTML, or All. NOTE: If a report is saved with only one report output type, the Report Output Type dialog box does not appear when the user selects that report in the Reports menu. Instead, the report begins generating in the assigned format. Typically, the output type is set to All. PPT is applicable only in connected mode.
Default Language
The default language for the template.
Default Locale
The default locale for the template.
XLIFF
XLIFF files contain the strings of the report column, field labels, and captions that are used for translation purposes. NOTE: If you change a report layout template and upload the template to a Siebel client, you must regenerate the report.
Report Access
Controls access to generated reports using positions. NOTE: The Report Access field is available only in the Reports Custom Templates view to allow for sharing of generated reports.
Selected Records
1.
116
Indicates that only the currently selected records in a Siebel application view are included in the report at run time. For more information about how to use the selected records feature, see “Defining Report Layout Templates for Selected Records” on page 119.
The start and end dates determine the period that a report is available for use. If you choose a start date, you must also choose an end date. Conversely, if you choose an end date, you must also choose a start date.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
5
Associate a primary integration object with the report by doing the following:
a
In the relevant Integration Objects subview, click New.
b
Fill in the fields in the new record. The fields are described in the following table. Field
Description
Integration Object Name
The integration object that you want to associate with the report layout template.
Search Specification
A query data filter. When you create a nonprimary integration object for a report, you must enter a search specification value. For example, the value of the search specification might be the following expression: [Status] = 'Closed' NOTE: This field is not required for primary integration objects, because queries are taken from the Siebel application views. For more information about multiple integration objects with regard to Siebel Reports, see “About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects” on page 101.
Primary
Indicates that this integration object is the primary integration object. The Primary Integration Object Name field in the template views are automatically populated when you select a primary integration object. NOTE: The first integration object that you associate with a report is automatically indicated as the primary integration object.
c
(Optional) Click Generate Sample XML for use when designing reports.
6
(Optional) If you want to generate reports for multiple business objects, perform the tasks as described in “Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report” on page 117.
7
(Optional) Assign a language or languages to the report layout template. For information about assigning languages to report layout templates, see “Adding and Deleting Languages from Report Templates” on page 79.
You must now associate the registered report with the views in which you want the report to be available. For more information on associating reports, see “Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views” on page 120.
Adding Multiple Integration Objects to a Report This topic describes how to create a Siebel report that reports across multiple, unrelated Siebel business objects. For more information about reporting across multiple business objects, see “About Reporting Across Multiple Siebel Business Objects” on page 101. This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11 7
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
The following procedure assumes that you have registered or are in the process of registering a report layout template, as described in “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114.
To add multiple integration objects to a report 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, and then one of the following views: ■
Reports - Custom Templates
■
Reports - Standard Template
2
In the relevant report template view, select a report (if not already selected).
3
In the Integration Objects subview, click New. NOTE: Custom integration objects previously created appear as well as the preconfigured integration objects that ship with the Siebel application. One of the integration objects is indicated as primary. This Primary field is automatically indicated when associating an integration object with a report for the first time.
4
Fill in the fields in the new record. The fields are described in Step 5 in “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114.
5
Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 of this procedure for each additional integration object that you want to add.
6
Click Generate Sample XML. One XML data file is generated for the multiple integration objects. NOTE: This step is similar to what occurs in “Generating Sample XML Data Files for Siebel Reports” on page 112, but in the Sample Data File Generation view, you can generate XML for only one integration object.
If you are currently creating a report, you must now associate the registered report with a Siebel application view. See “Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views” on page 120.
Sharing Report Layout Templates Siebel Business Applications allow you to share report layout templates. If a report template is registered in the Siebel application, you can define the visibility of the report template for use by others using the Templates views. This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106. The Report Access field on the report record controls access to the report templates that are executable. After a user is granted access to the report template, the template appears in the Reports menu when a user navigates to the relevant view.
118
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
To share a report layout template 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Reports - Custom Templates view.
2
Perform one of the following: ■
Query for an existing report.
■
Click New to register a new report. For information about registering a new report, see “Registering Report Layout Templates” on page 114.
3
Grant access to the report by doing the following:
a
Click the Report Access field to display the Position dialog box.
b
In the Position dialog box, select the positions that you want to grant access to the report, and then click Add. NOTE: You can select multiple positions by using the CTRL key.
You can define multiorganizational templates by adding a specific organization or organizations to the report template in the organizations multi-value group (MVG). You select multiple records using the shift or control keys. NOTE: By default, custom templates belong to the default organization. However, for standard templates, no default organization is defined. You must manually define visibility for standard templates.
Defining Report Layout Templates for Selected Records You can configure a report template to display only the currently selected records in a Siebel application view when a report is generated. When you implement the selected records feature, any query a user might perform is rendered irrelevant. The report is generated, using the selected records. This feature applies to any level of hierarchy visible in the view; that is, this feature is applicable to parent-child views and parent-child-grandchild views. NOTE: If you encounter problems using this feature, you might need to perform additional Siebel Tools configuration. For instructions, see 1180903.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support. This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
To define a report layout template for a selected record 1
2
In the Siebel application, navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then one of the following template views: ■
Reports - Standard Templates
■
Reports - Custom Templates
In the appropriate templates list, select the report for which you want to enable the single or multiselect feature, and then click the Selected Records field.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
11 9
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
Associating Registered Reports with Siebel Application Views After registering a report, you associate the report with one or more Siebel application views. The context-sensitive report appears in the Reports menu only in the views that are associated with the report. This task is a step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106.
To associate a registered report with a Siebel application view 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the View Association view.
2
In the Views list, select a view with which you want to associate a report.
3
In the Reports List subview, click Add.
4
In the Views dialog box, do the following:
a
Choose a report name and optionally a description.
b
(Optional) Assign a sequence number.
c
Click OK.
The report is now available in the Reports menu when a user is in a view with which the report is associated and the user has visibility to that view.
5
Test the newly created report by generating it. For information about generating reports, see Chapter 6, “Generating Reports.” NOTE: If a report encounters errors while generating, a log file is created that report developers and administrators can use to troubleshoot the problem. For more information about troubleshooting reports, see Chapter 12, “Troubleshooting Siebel Reports.”
Changing the Report Sequence Order in the Reports Menu This task is an optional step in “Process of Creating Custom Reports” on page 106. You can define the way reports are ordered or even hide a report from appearing in the Reports menu by setting the Sequence field on the report record. You can define this field when creating a report (or change the sequence later) to a numeric value that determines the sort order of the reports. The sort order is calculated with the lowest value appearing higher in the list of reports. The Siebel application calculates the order. The calculation is based on the following logic: ■
The sequence value can be any positive integer including 0 (zero) or NULL.
■
When the sequence value is set to 0 (zero), the report does not appear in the Reports menu.
■
If the field value is blank or NULL, the report is generated using the standard sort order (that is, according to the report name). This setting is the default.
120
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
■
Reports with a positive integer sequence value are sorted by the sequence value and ordered before any report with a NULL sequence value.
■
If two or more records have the same sequence value, the records are sorted by name.
TIP: Because the Sequence field is a standard, numeric-business component field, you can add your own business logic for how reports appear in the application. For more information about configuring business components, see Configuring Siebel Business Applications.
To change the report sequence order in the Reports menu 1
Navigate to the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen, then the View Association view.
2
Select the view for which you want to define the report order.
3
In the Report List, use the sequence field to assign a sequence to some or all of the reports.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
12 1
Creating Reports ■ Process of Creating Custom Reports
122
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
8
Scheduling Reports
This chapter describes how to schedule reports in Siebel Business Applications from a user perspective. It includes the following topics: ■
About Scheduled Reports on page 123
■
Scheduling Reports on page 124
■
Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report on page 126
■
Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports on page 127
■
Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports on page 128
■
Deleting Scheduled Reports on page 129
About Scheduled Reports You schedule reports using the Schedule Report menu item from the Reports menu. This menu item opens a dialog box from which you select a report to schedule and the criteria for generating the report (such as when to generate the report, how often you want the report to generate, and whether the report generates with a recurring frequency). After a report job is scheduled, you can monitor and view the report using the Scheduled Reports view. The Scheduled Reports view is an Oracle BI Publisher Web page that is embedded in the Siebel application user interface. The Siebel application and Oracle BI Publisher exchange data by way of a Web service to produce the report. For more information about using the Schedule Reports view, see “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127. NOTE: Report scheduling requires the Siebel Web Client in connected mode. For more information about report scheduling in connected mode, see “Workflow for Generating Reports in Connected Mode” on page 28.
Related Topics “Scheduling Reports” on page 124 “Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report” on page 126 “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127 “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128 “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
12 3
Scheduling Reports ■ Scheduling Reports
Scheduling Reports You schedule reports by selecting the Schedule Report menu item from the Reports menu while in a Siebel application view. If you have been granted scheduling privileges, you can schedule reports using various criteria. Report scheduling is available only in connected mode. For more information about the connection modes in relation to Siebel Reports, see “About the Siebel Reports Architecture” on page 27. CAUTION: If you are unable to schedule reports, you might not have the appropriate access controls assigned. Ask your administrator to grant you the XMLP_SCHEDULER responsibility. NOTE: You cannot schedule parameterized reports. For information about parameterized reports, see Chapter 11, “Parameterized Reports.”
To schedule a report 1
Navigate to the Siebel application view from which you want to schedule a report, and click Reports.
2
From the Reports menu, select Schedule Report. A scheduling dialog box appears.
124
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Scheduling Reports ■ Scheduling Reports
3
Enter the schedule criteria for the report, and then click Schedule. Some fields are described in the following table. Field
Description
Report Name
The report you want to schedule.
Job Name
Enter a name for the job you are scheduling. NOTE: Any descriptive text for the job name is acceptable, the job name does not have to be unique. However, for search purposes, you might want to adopt a naming convention.
Output Type
The output file format for the report. For information about the available output file types, see “Siebel Reports Output File Types” on page 22.
Report Locale
The locale for the report.
Report Language
The language for the report.
Frequency
The recurrence of the report. Choices are: Run Immediately, Run Once, Run Daily/Weekly, or Run Monthly. If you choose to run the report: ■
Immediately, the job is triggered as soon as you click Schedule.
■
Only one time, you must enter the exact date and time to run the report.
■
Daily or weekly, you must enter the day (or days) of the week, specify the run time for the selected day (or days), and a start and end date.
■
Monthly, you must enter the month (or months), the day (or range of days) to run, and a start and end date.
See also Run Time below. Public
If checked, the output of the job is viewable by all users. By default, this field is not checked.
Save Data
If checked, the XML data of the job is saved and is viewable in the Scheduled Reports view. By default, this field is checked.
Save Output
If checked, the output of the job is saved and is viewable in the Scheduled Reports view. By default, this field is checked.
Run Date
The date and time the report generates when you choose the run once frequency.
Run Time
The time the report generates when you choose a daily/weekly or monthly frequency. NOTE: For a run once frequency, time is converted to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). For daily, weekly, or monthly frequencies, the date, time, and time zone are based on the Oracle BI Publisher Server.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
12 5
Scheduling Reports ■ Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report
Field
Description
Start Date and End Date
If a date is set in either of these fields, then it restricts the dates for which scheduling is active. By default, the start date is the date you schedule the report and the end date is NULL. A start and end date are required for the daily/weekly and monthly frequencies.
Day(s)
The day (or days) of the week or date range you want the report to generate when you choose a daily/weekly frequency.
Month(s)
The month (or months) you want the report to generate when you choose a monthly frequency.
Date(s)
The day (or days) of the week or date range you want the report to generate when you choose a monthly frequency.
A message appears indicating the report (with Job ID) has been scheduled.
4
(Optional) Schedule another report with different criteria.
5
Click Close to exit the scheduling dialog box. NOTE: The scheduling dialog box remains open until you close it.
6
To view or monitor the report, do the following:
a
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Scheduled Reports view. NOTE: The Scheduled Reports view is an embedded Web page from the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application.
b
Drill down on the Job Name for more information, and then click Back if you want to view additional scheduled reports.
Related Topics “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123 “Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report” on page 126 “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127 “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128 “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129
Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report This topic gives one example of scheduling a Siebel report. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business needs. For more information about report scheduling, see “Scheduling Reports” on page 124. In this example, assume you want the By Sales Rep opportunity report to generate in HTML format each Tuesday and Thursday at 10:15 a.m. for a two week period from August 2-15, 2009.
126
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Scheduling Reports ■ Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports
To schedule the By Sales Rep Opportunity report 1
Navigate to the Opportunities screen, My Opportunities, and then the Opportunity List view.
2
Run a query to limit the number of records returned, and then click Reports.
3
From the Reports menu, select Schedule Report.
4
In the Schedule a Report dialog box, enter the following schedule criteria for the report, and then click Schedule: ■
Report Name is By Sales Rep Opportunity
■
Job Name is
■
Output Type is HTML
■
Time is Run Daily/Weekly
■
Day of the Week is Tuesday and Thursday
■
Start Date is 8/2/2009
■
End Date is 8/15/2009
■
Run Time is 10:15:00 AM
For descriptions of these and other fields in this dialog box, see “Scheduling Reports” on page 124.
5
(Optional) Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Scheduled Reports view to monitor the scheduled report. For information about monitoring and viewing your scheduled reports, see “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127.
Related Topics “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123 “Scheduling Reports” on page 124 “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127 “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128 “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129
Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports Using the Scheduled Reports view, you can view scheduled jobs and completed job history for reports that you have generated or have been given access to. In this view, you can also suspend, resume, or delete scheduled reports. For more information, see “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128 and “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
12 7
Scheduling Reports ■ Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports
To monitor the status of a scheduled report 1
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Scheduled Reports view. NOTE: The Scheduled Reports view is an embedded Web page from the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application.
2
Monitor the status in Oracle BI Publisher by doing one of the following: ■
Click the Schedules tab to view the report jobs you have scheduled and their status. Drill down on a report to view detailed information about the report job.
■
Click the History tab to view a history of your report jobs.
Related Topics “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123 “Scheduling Reports” on page 124 “Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report” on page 126 “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128 “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129
Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports Using the Scheduled Reports view, you can suspend and resume scheduled reports you have previously generated or have been granted access to.
To suspend or resume a scheduled report 1
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Scheduled Reports view. NOTE: The Scheduled Reports view is an embedded Web page from the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise application.
2
Click the Schedules tab.
3
Click the checkbox next to the applicable report, and then click Suspend or Resume.
Related Topics “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123 “Scheduling Reports” on page 124 “Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report” on page 126 “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127 “Deleting Scheduled Reports” on page 129
128
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Scheduling Reports ■ Deleting Scheduled Reports
Deleting Scheduled Reports This topic describes how to delete reports that you have personally scheduled. You use the Scheduled Reports view to delete the scheduled reports that you no longer want. For more information about the Scheduled Reports view, see “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123.
To delete scheduled reports 1
Navigate to the BI Publisher Reports screen, then the Scheduled Reports view.
2
Click the checkbox next to the report you want to delete, and then click Delete. NOTE: This step removes the report from the report list; it does not remove the report from the Oracle BI Publisher repository. Only administrators can purge Siebel reports from the Oracle BI Publisher repository. For more information about purging scheduled reports, see “Purging Scheduled Reports from the Oracle BI Publisher Server” on page 72.
Related Topics “About Scheduled Reports” on page 123 “Scheduling Reports” on page 124 “Example of Scheduling an Opportunity Report” on page 126 “Monitoring and Viewing Scheduled Reports” on page 127 “Suspending and Resuming Scheduled Reports” on page 128
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
12 9
Scheduling Reports ■ Deleting Scheduled Reports
130
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
9
Using Master-Detail Reports
This chapter describes master-detail reports as well as how to create a master-detail layout template. It includes the following topics: ■
About Master-Detail Reports
■
Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template
■
Creating a Master-Detail Layout Template in Microsoft Word
About Master-Detail Reports This topic describes master-detail reports in Siebel Business Applications. A master-detail report displays a list of detail business component records for each record in a master business component, to which the master and detail business components have a one-to-many relationship. It is similar to a master-detail view in a Siebel application, in that detail records are displayed for each master record. Unlike a master-detail view, however, a master-detail report lists detail records for all master records at the same time, rather than for one master record at a time. Figure 10 shows an example of a Service Request Activity - All report in Siebel Service, which is a master-detail report.
Figure 10. Example of a Master-Detail Service Request Activity (All) Report In this example, the master-detail reports provide master information for each service request, followed by a list of activities for that service request. Each service request begins on its own page. For further analysis of the Service Request Activity - All master-detail report, see “Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template” on page 132. A master-detail report can also have multiple detail elements. In this case, a list of detail records appears for several business components for each master record. For example, the Account Service Profile report provides three lists for each account master record: customer survey responses, opportunities, and service requests. A report with two detail elements is described in “Creating a Master-Detail Layout Template in Microsoft Word” on page 136. Many of the preconfigured reports that ship with Siebel Business Applications are master-detail reports.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
13 1
Using Master-Detail Reports ■ Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template
A master detail report incorporates a parent business component and related child and grandchild business components as defined in the business object definition that the integration object is based on. When executing a report, the UI context is captured and passed to the primary integration component of the integration object. If a multivalue field (MVF) is included in a report, only the first record is displayed. To display all the records from an MVF in the report, an integration object must have been created in Siebel Tools under the associated integration object based on the business component that contains the MVF to be displayed. This information is also valid for indirect MVFs. For example, consider the case where the business address (an MVF) of an account associated with an opportunity appears in the report. The business addresses in the MVF are not directly related to the opportunity, but they are related to the account that it is associated with it. To display all the records in the business address MVF as a detail section, first create a link between the Business Address business component and the Opportunity business component using Account Id as the source field. Include the Business Address business component under the Opportunity business object, and then create an integration object with the Business Address business component under the integration object, and include the necessary MVF. For more information about master-detail reports, see “Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template” on page 132 and “Creating a Master-Detail Layout Template in Microsoft Word” on page 136.
Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template This topic gives one example of how master-detail reports work by comparing a specific layout template with its corresponding report. You might use the feature differently, depending on your business model. This example compares the Service Request Activity (All) report and its corresponding layout template.
To compare the Service Request Activity (All) report in Siebel Service with its corresponding layout template 1
Generate the Service Request Activity (All) report in Siebel Service by performing the tasks:
a
Open the Siebel Service application.
b
Navigate to the Service screen, then All Service Requests across Organizations view. NOTE: My Service Requests is the default view.
c
In the All Service Requests across Organizations list, select an account, click Reports, and then from the Reports menu, select Service Request Activity (All).
d
Choose a report output type, and then click Submit.
e
In the File Download dialog box, select Open. The Service Request Activity (All) report appears in the browser window. To view this report, see Figure 10 on page 131.
132
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
Using Master-Detail Reports ■ Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template
2
Open the layout template for the Service Request Activity (All) report using Microsoft Word:
a
Navigate to the \XMLP\TEMPLATES folder (or the equivalent on your computer), and then open srvreqaa.rtf. Notice the following features of this template as shown in the following figure:
❏
There is a table (form) for the master record.
❏
There is a table (list) for each set of child records.
❏
There is a for-each loop (over all master records) that includes the parent form and all the child lists.
❏
There is a condition on the IF statement () for the Activity section, which prevents the Activity section from displaying header information if there are no activities for the service request.
NOTE: To identify the layout template associated with a report, use the appropriate Template view (either Reports - Custom Templates or Reports - Standard Templates in the Administration - BI Publisher Reports screen).
b
From the Oracle BI Publisher menu, select Tools, Field Browser, and then Show All. The Field Browser dialog box appears, which allows you to view and modify the template logic.
For more information, see “Syntax and Description of the Fields for an Example Template” on page 134.
Siebel Reports Guide Version 8.1, Rev. D
13 3
Using Master-Detail Reports ■ Example of Comparing the Service Request Activity (All) Report with its Corresponding Layout Template
Syntax and Description of the Fields for an Example Template Table 8 provides details of the Oracle BI Publisher syntax and description for the fields defined in the example template.
Table 8.
Oracle BI Publisher Syntax and Field Definitions for the Service Request Activity (All) Report Template
Syntax
Oracle BI Publisher Code
Description
If
An IF condition that checks for service request records. If there are no service request records, no records are displayed.
for-eachgroup: ssServiceRequest
The start of a group section which iterates for each record in the Service Request data set.
ssSrNumber ssAccount ssStatus
If condition that does not display the ssCreated field if null.
ssCreated
View more...
Comments
