Oracle Fusion Transaction Business Intelligence (OTBI) in Fusion HCM- Part 2
In this second installment of our Oracle Fusion HCM OTBI series, we delve deeper into the intricacies of Transaction Business Intelligence, building on the foundational concepts we explored in the first part.
As highlighted in the previous part, Oracle Fusion Transaction Business Intelligence (OTBI) provides a real-time, self-service reporting solution integrated with all Oracle Fusion applications. It enables users to execute constructed queries in real time against the transactional schema, supported by a view object layer. OTBI includes numerous pre-built reports that can be further customized by users. Additionally, it retains all the application and data security features of Fusion Applications.
Subject Areas, Folders, and Attributes Overview
Subject Areas
Subject areas are centred around specific business objects or facts. In Oracle Fusion Transaction Business Intelligence, subject areas are typically identified with the suffix “Real Time.” As of Version 8, Fusion HCM includes a total of 39 subject areas, though this number may vary with each release. The distribution of subject areas across different products is as follows:
- Benefits: 5
- Compensation: 4
- Payroll: 6
- Goals: 4
- Workforce Management: 9
- Performance: 4
- Profiles: 3
- Succession: 3
- Talent Review: 1
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Folders
Each subject area includes one fact folder along with several dimension folders. In Fusion HCM, there are a total of 181 unique folders. Fact folders consist of measurable attributes, which are typically numerical values like headcount or salary. Additionally, a special folder known as a Degenerate Dimension is linked to the fact folder. Dimension folders are connected to the fact folder within each subject area.
Some folders, such as Grade, Department, and Job, are present in multiple subject areas and are known as common folders or common dimensions. Fact folders generally appear at the end of the list and are typically named according to the subject area.
Attributes
Each dimension folder includes attributes like job title, employee gender, and other related details.
Extending the Presentation Layer
The physical layer is developed through the following steps:
- Fusion HCM generates view objects.
- Oracle BI incorporates these view objects into the physical layer using BI Administrative Tools. Note that this tool requires a download and is not available for Oracle HCM Cloud service customers. Additionally, you can create joins in the business model layer and then integrate them into the presentation layer.
To extend the presentation layer, consider these points:
- In a typical Oracle Cloud implementation, customization of the presentation layer is not possible. You are limited to a predefined set of presentation layers and subject areas. Oracle HCM Cloud Services customers can only modify the presentation layer in OTBI by adding flex fields.
- On-premise customers can extend the presentation layer by downloading the BI Administration Tools. They can then add new objects to the physical layer, create appropriate joins with existing objects, and bring these additions into the presentation layer for end-user access.
- Upgrades may affect any customizations made to the presentation layer, though Flexfields customizations are not impacted by upgrades.
The BI Catalog includes the following layers:
- Presentation
- Business Model
- Physical Layer
