How to Embed Contextual Oracle Business Intelligence Content in Siebel Business Applications for Versions 7.8.2

Embed Contextual Oracle Business Intelligence Content in Siebel Business Applications for Versions 7.8.2

Instructions on how to embed Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OracleBI EE) formerly known as Siebel Analytics, Requests in Siebel Business Application views, so that navigating among the records in the parent applet updates the child Analytics applet with context-appropriate content.

Siebel Business Applications 7.8.2 supports a new argument (IsRecordSensitive) for Symbolic URLs that eliminates the need for browser script to support context passing.

This example uses a view that contains the Account List Applet and an Analytics Activity Report Applet. As the user navigates among the rows in the Account List Applet, the Analytics content in the child applet will automatically refresh.

The following are the high-level steps:

• Create an OracleBI EE Analytics Report with a Prompted Filter
• Create Symbolic URL for Analytics Report
• Create a Business Component Field for the Symbolic URL
• Create an Applet to Display the Symbolic URL Content
• Test Changes and Verify Results

Create an OracleBI EE Report with a Prompted Filter

1. Login to OracleBI EE as an Administrator and navigate to Answers.

2. Choose the Subject Area relevant to the appropriate request you want to generate. For this example, choose Activities.
   

3. Construct a request with the following columns in it:  Account Profile.Account Name, Account Profile.ROW_ID, Activity.Activity Type, and Activity Facts.# of Activities.

4. Create a filter on Account Profile.ROW_ID. Set the filter to “is prompted”. This allows a value for the filter to be passed in the URL query string.

5. Note the exact column formula of the ROW_ID column. This is the column name that will need to be entered into the symbolic URL in order for it to be generated correctly according to what Siebel Analytics Web expects. The column formula is available by clicking on edit formula button, as shown in the screenshot below:

In this example, the Column Formula value is: "- Profile".ROW_ID

6. Add a pivot table or a chart to make the display of the information meaningful to an end-user.

7. Save the request as Accounts_Activities_By_Type in the Service Shared Folder.

8. Note the path where the request is stored in the web catalog. In this case, it should be:  Path=/shared/Service/ Accounts_Activities_By_Type. This path is what needs to be entered as one of the arguments in the Symbolic URL Administration Screen in order for Siebel eBusiness to navigate to the correct request in OracleBI EE.

9. The final report should look as follows:

Create Symbolic URL for Analytics Report

1. In the Siebel Business Application, navigate to View > Site Map > Integration Administration > Symbolic URL Administration.

2. Create a new Symbolic URL for Analytics content called IntAccntSymbURL:

Field	Value
Name	IntAccntSymbURL
URL	http://NQHOST/Analytics/saw.dll (or your equivalent)
Host Name	Localhost (or the location of your Siebel Analytics Web)
Fixup Name	Default
SSO Disposition	IFrame

  

3. Create the following Symbolic URL Arguments for IntAccntSymbURL:

Name	Argument Type	Argument Value for this Example	Description of Argument Value
Cmd	Constant	Go	Go
Path	Constant	/shared/Service/ Accounts_Activities_By_Type	<Path to Analytics Report>
Syndicate	Constant	Siebel	Siebel
nqUser	Command	UseSiebelLoginId	If using Single Sign On, ignore this argument.
nqPassword	Command	UseSiebelLoginPassword	If using Single Sign On, ignore this argument.
Action	Constant	Navigate	Navigate
P0	Constant	1	1
P1	Constant	eq	Operator for the filter
P2	Constant	"- Profile".ROW_ID	Function name for the column used for the filter. This is the value from step 5 in section Create an OracleBI EE Report with a Prompted Filter.
P3	Field	Id	Business component field name that will supply a runtime value for the filter
IsRecordSensitive	Command	TRUE	When true, will cause Portal Agent Applet to refresh as user scrolls through parent records
IFrame Size	Command	IFrame	Optional argument for sizing the IFRAME

NOTE: P1 provides the equal to operator, P2 provides the filter name for the Analytics report, and P3 provides the name of the Siebel field that will supply the value. In this case, the value of the Id field in the Siebel application is passed to the Analytics filter "- Profile".ROW_ID.

For more information on the IsRecordSensitive command, refer to Siebel Bookshelf 7.8 > Siebel Portal Framework Guide > Integrating External Content > Portal Agent Command Reference > IsRecordSensitive

For more information on the iFrame command, refer to Siebel Bookshelf 7.8 > Siebel Portal Framework Guide > Integrating External Content > Portal Agent Command Reference > iFrame

The final Symbolic URL Administration Screen result should look similar to this:

Create a Business Component Field for the Symbolic URL

Choose a Business Component that will pass the contextual information to the Siebel Analytics Web Server. Accounts, Service Requests, Opportunities, or any other entity that exists in the Siebel repository can be used. A new calculated field that will hold the symbolic URL needs to be created.

The Account business component is used in this example. In Siebel Tools, create a new calculated field on the Account business component to hold the symbolic URL:

Property	Value
Name	IntAccntSymbURL
Calculated	TRUE
Calculated Value	“IntAccntSymbURL”

 

Create an Applet to Display the Symbolic URL Content

Create a new applet that will serve as a container for the Analytics content. For expediency, you may copy the DNB Report Applet and modify it.

1. The new applet used in this example has the following Applet properties:

Field	Value
Business Component	Account
Class	CSSSWEFrameListWeb
Name	Account Analytics SymbURL Integrated Applet
Title	Account Integrated Analytics

 

2. Navigate to Applet > Controls. The Control object should have the following properties:

Field	Value
Name	List
Caption	List
HTML Row Sensitive	TRUE
Visible	Y

3. Navigate to Applet > List. The List object should have the following properties:

Field	Value
Name	List
Parent Name	Account Analytics SymbURL Integrated Applet

4. The List column must reference the calculated field and should have the following properties:

Property	Value
Field	IntAccntSymbURL
Name	IntAccntSymbURL
Available	TRUE
Content Fixup Name	Default
Display Name	Integrated Account Symbolic URL
Field Retrieval Type	Symbolic URL
HTML Display Mode	EncodeData
HTML Row Sensitive	TRUE
HTML Type	Field
Show in List	TRUE

5. The Applet Web Template should have the following properties:

Field	Value
Name	URL Applet
Sequence	1
Type	Base
Web Template	Analytics Applet

6. The Applet Web Template Items should have the following properties:

Field	Value
Name	IntAccntSymbURL
Control	IntAccntSymbURL
Item Identified	501
Type	List Item

7. Review the Edit layout and check the mappings when you are finished.

8. Add the applet to “Account Detail - Activities View” or a new view, if desired.

9. Compile all changes (business component, applet, and view) to the SRF.

Test Changes and Verify Results

1. Launch the application and navigate to the modified view.

2. Now, click on individual records in the parent Account List Applet. Notice that the Analytics content is updated automatically every time a different record is highlighted.
   

3. The final result should look like this:

 

Please be aware of the following with respect to the IsRecordSensitive parameter:

• Change Request 12-17PEFSY has been logged to address the product defect regarding the Symbolic URL argument ‘IsRecordSensitive’ causing drilldowns to fail.
  
• Change Request 12-1DI9SM3 has been logged to address the product defect regarding the IsRecordSensitive Parameter in the Symbolic URL arguments gets triggered during resizing of the Applet and expansion of the Column. IsRecordSensitive causes the view to reload upon every action.