Wagger Designs » Oracle

Expert Hyperion Interactive Reporting Guide

Jake Vose — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:30:59 +0000

Wagger Designs is delighted to announce the release of the first expert-level guide to Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting to hit the market. Wagger’s owner, Emily M. Vose, partnering with another industry leader, Edward J. Cody, and with the support of Packt Publishing, together bring this expert guide within reach of the Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting user base worldwide.

This guide is unique in that it is the first openly available resource that walks the reader through the steps required to grow a simple dashboard into a complex, enterprise-level Business Intelligence solution. Users already versed in Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting and armed with basic JavaScript knowledge will learn how Interactive Reporting’s uniquely powerful report-centric model can be structured to scale away from the maintenance nightmares traditionally emerging from complex enterprise-level environments by implementation of the Cascading Code Repository (CCR). The concept of the CCR allows JavaScript, which traditionally is embedded in the Interactive Reporting document, to be be extracted and stored externally so that developers can maintain scripts across the enterprise without managing the individual documents.

I’m very excited about the new life a guide like this can introduce to the loyal Interactive Reporting community. I hope that the ideas Ed and I have laid out in this guide inspire experimentation with this incredible Business Intelligence tool and encourage current users to rethink BI and the role Interactive Reporting plays in it.

If you are not sure if this guide is right for you, Chapter 3, which discusses creating a code-free custom Dashboard section in Interactive Reporting, is available free-of-charge and is the starting point for several additional chapters which build, each upon the last, to present layers of customization depth for Dashboard Graphics and Controls.

This guide is offered in eBook format form Packt Publishing, Kindle format from Amazon.com, and in print from both Packt and Amazon. At $18.14US, the Amazon Kindle version is a steal — making it a must-have for anyone working with Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting. For those of you starting out or who otherwise do not have the IR Studio client installed, check out Emily’s entry on how to install the Interactive Reporting Studio client and follow along with the book.

Oracle’s Hyperion Certification

Emily Vose — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:04:30 +0000

Today, several of the Hyperion certifications are still based on the System 9 architecture. As the Hyperion 11 architecture — known back in the day at Hyperion as 9.5 — is not drastically different from the 9.3 version, achieving the version 9.3 certifications with version 11 training will be time well-spent by any Hyperion professional. However, while the apps and tools may differ only slightly between versions, it is very important to note that there will be differences and, in some cases — especially with configuration and installation process — disagreements between the two versions of the software. I would recommend asking Oracle what the future holds for the Hyperion certifications – especially those that have not yet been upgraded to version 11 – prior to starting a certification path to ensure that you are seeking the most up-to-date version of the certification.

Essbase Certifications

Certification in Essbase is obviously a good idea for any professional specializing in Essbase, but it is also a good path for Planning, Hyperion Financial Reporting (HFM), and Interactive Reporting professionals.

Oracle Essbase 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of Essbase certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of Oracle Essbase 11. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Oracle Essbase 11 Essentials, should ideally follow an in-person attendance to the Oracle Essbase 11.1.1 Bootcamp. However, individuals with prior Essbase development experience may feel prepared with the self study materials or may even have enough experiences to pass the examination without preparation through Oracle Training.

Costs: Exam – $195; Essbase Boot Camp $1,650 (Self Study) – $4,000 (5 day class)

Hyperion Essbase 9.3 Developer Certified Expert

This level of Essbase certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the development activities required within an Essbase implementation. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Essbase 9.3 Developer, should be taken after an in-person attendance to the Oracle Essbase 11.1.1 Bootcamp. Individuals with prior Essbase development experience may be able to pass the examination with a content refresher from the Bootcamp self study materials. Candidates should have experience with Essbase beyond the Bootcamp class.

Costs: Exam – $195; Essbase Boot Camp $1,650 (Self Study) – $4,000 (5 day class)

Planning Certifications

As the foundation of Planning is Essbase, individuals seeking Planning certifications should also consider achieving Essbase certifications or, at a minimum, attending the Essbase Bootcamp class.

Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of Planning certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of the Planning 11 application. The preparation path for this exam, Oracle Planning 11 Essentials, is not defined by Oracle; however, the Planning Business User Learning Path for Oracle PartnerNetworks would likely provide the foundation required to take the exam for most users.

Costs: Exam – $195

Hyperion Planning 9.3 Administrator Certified Expert

This level of Planning certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the administrative and development activities required within a Planning implementation. Professionals with this level of certification must be proficient in the steps required to create and manage Planning applications and understand the basics of the Hyperion Financial Reporting tool. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Planning 9.3 Administrator I & II, should be taken after an in-person attendance to Oracle Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications and Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.1 for Essbase & Planning. Professionals with previous experience with Hyperion Financial Reporting may feel comfortable with the self study course option.

Costs: Exam – $195; Oracle Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.1 for Essbase & Planning $600 (Self Study) – $1,600 (2 Day class)

Hyperion Financial Management Certifications

As the back-end technology for Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) is either Essbase directly or Essbase through Planning, individuals seeking HFM certifications should also consider achieving Essbase certifications or, at the very least, attending the Essbase Bootcamp training session.

Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11 Certified Implementation Specialist

This level of HFM certification is the lowest level of certification offered by Oracle (Specialist) and represents individuals who have a general understanding of the installation, implementation, and management options of HFM 11. The preparation path for this exam, Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11 Essentials, has one of two optional paths: Oracle PartnerNetwork participants may choose the Oracle Hyperion Financial Management Implementation Boot Camp; those who are not member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork are encouraged to take Oracle Hyperion Financial Management 11.1.2: Create & Manage Applications, Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1 Installation & Configuration, and Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1: Create Rules Using Calc Mgr to provide the foundation required to take the exam.

Costs: Exam – $195; Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1 Installation & Configuration $2,400 (3 Day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Mgmt 11.1.1: Create Rules Using Calc Mgr $3,200 (4 Day Class)

Hyperion Financial Management Administrator Certified Expert

This level of HFM certification is an Expert level of certification used to represent individuals who have a strong grasp of the administrative activities required within an HFM implementation. Professionals with this level of certification must be proficient in all steps required to create, deploy and maintain HFM implementations. The exam required to achieve this level of certification, Hyperion Financial Management 9.3 Administrator I & II, should be taken after an in-person attendance to Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications and Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2 for Financial Management. While not explicitly mentioned by Oracle’s materials, candidates for this level of certification would benefit from the additional training classes required by the HFM Specialist certification as well.

Costs: Exam – $195; Hyperion Financial Management 9.3.1: Create & Manage Applications $4,000 (5 day class); Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.1.2 for Financial Management $1,600 (2 Day class)

Other Certifications

The Hyperion certification structure obviously favors the Essbase tools and the applications end of the Hyperion suite. While plans had been made to include certifications for the relational toolsets, only one certification pertaining to the implementation and administration of the Hyperion services was completed prior to the acquisition by Oracle.

While there are currently no direct certification paths for Interactive Reporting professionals, Oracle offers several well-organized and well-presented training classes for all levels of Interactive Reporting specialist that guide students through specific topics of interest within IR.

Hyperion BI+ Certified Expert

While Oracle still recognizes and offers this certification, it is expected that this certification will become obsolete as the Hyperion suite and other Oracle toolsets are fully integrated into OBIEE and customers migrate to those solutions. This certification represents professionals with a strong knowledge of Hyperion BI+ infrastructure administration and installation processes. The exam required, Hyperion System 9 BI+ 9.3 Administrator, can be prepared for by attending Hyperion Reporting & Analysis 11.1.2 Administration. However, it is important to note that the BI+ platform that is covered in the exam no longer exists, so it is unlikely that all examination topics will covered in the course.

How to Install Interactive Reporting 11

Emily Vose — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:09:00 +0000

Don’t be dismayed by the rumor mill! The Brio technology – gobbled up by Hyperion in 2003 and evolved into Hyperion Interactive Reporting before being assimilated into the Oracle hive in 2007 – is alive and kicking within the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) suite.

While I am not sure where the wide-spread rumor began, I can certainly understand why it continues to be propagated. Oracle’s seemingly illogical technique of burying information about Hyperion Interactive Reporting in the deepest recesses of its site does suggest that IR is on the chopping block. Couple that with how impossible the Interactive Reporting Studio installation has become for a business user to hack through, and I don’t see the rumors calming down anytime soon. Since the release of 11 (formally 9.5), the process for locating, downloading, and installing the Hyperion Interactive Reporting Studio has become so confusing, it makes me feel self-conscious and inadequate every time I have to do it. Considering how many times I have done this (a gazillion), the difficulty is concerning.

Contrary to the signs, though, Oracle’s official statement is that Hyperion Interactive Reporting will continue to play a strong role in Oracle’s future BI offerings. While this is a huge relief to me, it is also an enormous relief to the countless public and private organizations who use Interactive Reporting in their day-to-day business operations.

Hello? Anybody there?

Finding information on Interactive Reporting within any of Oracle’s sites is so painful, I’d suspect the people responsible like to make sadistic scavenger hunts where Interactive Reporting is placed on the list right next to the 25-lb. ball of dryer lint and a penny struck in 1492. Finding Interactive Reporting information and documentation these days is a serious challenge, so enjoy the quick links below.

One of Oracle’s IR information pages; I am sure there are more, somewhere.
Mark Ostroff’s Tips and Tricks Cookbook, while last updated in 2007, is an incredible resource for developers and prototype-rs.
Edward J. Cody’s book The Business Analyst’s Guide to Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting 11, which targets new Interactive Reporting Users.
My upcoming book, partnered with Ed Cody, the Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting 11 Expert Guide, which targets advanced business users and developers who want to take Interactive Reporting to the next level.

What Now?

You can color while waiting for the files to download.

Surprisingly, Oracle’s search works much better than it used to. The phrases ‘Interactive Reporting download‘ and ‘Foundation Services download‘ will get you to the files you need to download and install Interactive Reporting Studio.

Don’t know which files to ones to download? Not surprising, especially if you are a business user who is intimidated about downloading server components you don’t need and which would sap the resources of your computer if you were to accidentally install them. Anyone who installed the studio client prior to version 11 remembers that it used to be a single .exe file that you would download and run. Now, thanks to the partial homogenization of Hyperion 11 into the Oracle cluster, 6 zip files are needed. To boot, you’d better have 11.5 gigs of space free to download and extract them (!). The specific files to be downloaded are:

Now what?

Either Oracle has yet to document how to install the Hyperion Interactive Reporting Studio for business users, or it has yet put the document somewhere that someone could find. The void for Studio installation documentation has been neglected for so long that when ”how to install interactive reporting 11” is searched in Google, the highest ranking site is currently a post I made to IT Toolbox in February of 2009 asking for help. Perhaps it is just me who doesn’t find the installation process intuitive, but I hope that’s not the case. Regardless, below are instructions on how to install Interactive Reporting 11.1.1.3.

Create a new folder in the C: directory of your computer. It can be named anything as long as it does not have any spaces.
Extract all 6 files into the newly created folder.
Double click installTool-auto. Windows will likely prompt that the file could be dangerous and yadda yadda, but select Run to continue.
A command prompt will open and the scripts will check that all prerequisites have been met before launching the installer. A few times I have run into errors here, but both were related to spaces within the directory structure of the extracted files. If you cannot overcome any encountered errors, open the installTool-debug file to get more information about them.
When prompted by the Hyperion EPM System Installer Release 11.1.1.3 to select a language, do so.
Welcome: This screen isn’t really a welcome, it is legal mumbo jumbo. Click Next.
Destination: Select a Hyperion home. The default is C:Hyperion and there typically isn’t a reason to change this. Click Next.
Installation Type: By default, the installation type ‘New Installation‘ and ’Choose components by tier‘ are selected. Change ”Choose components by tier‘ to ‘Choose components individually‘ and then click Next.
Product Selection: By default, there are checkboxes next to Foundation and Interactive Reporting. Expand the Interactive Reporting components and uncheck Interactive Reporting Services. This will also uncheck the box next to Foundation. Click Next.
Confirmation: This screen should show ‘Install‘ under the column ‘Install Type‘ for only Interactive Reporting Development Studio Client and Interactive Reporting Studio Client. Click Next.
Progress: This screen shows the progress of the installation of the two components. The ‘Status‘ column will show “Completed” for other products during the initialization phase of the download. This does not mean those products are installed – only the Interactive Reporting Dashboard Development Studio Client and the Interactive Reporting Studio Client will actually be installed.
Summary: Hopefully everything went well! Since no server components were installed that need to be configured, click Finish to close the installer.

To access the software, find it in the Programs folder of the Start menu under Oracle EPM System.

Post Script

The first time I attempted to access the sample database installed automatically with Interactive Reporting, I was so frustrated over pawing through documentation to find the user name and password that I was beside myself. As it turns out, there is no user name or password for the sample.oce – just click OK when prompted.