Mark Rittman, who will present the Deep Dive session, A Technical Look at the New Features in OBIEE 11g, at COLLABORATE 10 - IOUG Forum, answered our questions about OBIEE 11g and what his Deep Dive session will cover.
1. Tell me more about Rittman Mead. What kind of services do you offer and why would I need your help?
We are an Oracle partner with offices in the UK, USA and India that specializes in Oracle business intelligence, data warehousing and performance management. We typically help organizations looking to get the most from their investment in Oracle technology, providing consulting, training and support for both projects and for shorter "troubleshooting" engagements.
2. What's new with OBIEE 11g?
This is a major new release that's been anticipated now for around three years. It provides an updated, task-focused user interface, integration with SOA and Oracle's Fusion Applications, closer integration with Essbase and Oracle OLAP, and new applications such as Oracle Scorecard.
3. What is OBIEE 11g Plus, and what's the difference compared with the standard edition?
Oracle BI Standard Edition consists of the old Discoverer, Reports and Portal BI tools that are typically used when working an Oracle-only environment. OBIEE Plus is based on Siebel Analytics technology, is architected from the ground-up to be web-based, supports heterogeneous data sources, integrates well with both relational, XML and OLAP data sources and is Oracle's strategic direction for both standalone, and integrated, business intelligence tools.
4. What will your session at COLLABORATE cover? Why should I attend your Deep Dive session at COLLABORATE?
We'll be looking at the fundamentals behind building an Oracle BI EE application, using either the 11g release if it's out by COLLABORATE 10, or the 10g release otherwise. We'll look at best practices for metadata design, importation of Oracle and Essbase data sources, handling tricky data modeling issues and best practices around dashboard design. We'll also look at integration with SOA and ERP applications, and if working with the 10g release, we'll look forward to what's coming in the 11g release.
5. Will your session be affected by the release of 11g?
It's not clear yet whether the 11g release will be out by the time of COLLABORATE. If not, we'll focus on the 10g release, but refer to what's coming in 11g and how this may improve on how we do things currently.
6. What open issues will still be unresolved with the 11g release?
We'll still be waiting to see how well OBIEE and the BI Applications platform will link into the new Fusion Applications platform, and the answer to this will probably come in the 12 months after the 11g release. Also it'd be nice if the Windows-based administration tools either move to the Web, or at least become supported under Linux, so that we can move our entire development environment over to Oracle Linux as we have done with SQL*Developer and JDeveloper.
Register for COLLABORATE 10 - IOUG Forum to attend Rittman's Deep Dive session at the discounted IOUG rate. Choose priority code GC06 during the Demographic Section - step 4 - of the conference registration process to be entered into a drawing for an iPod Touch.
Already registered, but want to add this Deep Dive to your registration? Simply e-mail ioug@showcare.com.