Data Visualization for Oracle Business Intelligence 11g / Edition 1

by Dan Vlamis, Tim Vlamis

Overview

Cowritten by an Oracle ACE Director and an expert in data visualization design specializing in BI and analytics, Data Visualization for Oracle Business Intelligence 11g reveals best practices for presenting data-driven insights with graphs, tables, maps, dashboards, and other methods that will immediately enhance corporate decision-making. Throughout the book, the principles of effective design are emphasized. Leverage the power of this comprehensive business intelligence platform to deliver rich visualizations of business information across the enterprise.

• Create well-organized tables and pivot tables
• Convey data insights with line, bar, pie, waterfall, radar, and other graphs
• Configure MapViews so that you can provide interactive maps and spatial analysis capabilities
• Build advanced visualizations, including trellis charts, gauges, R images, jQuery sparklines, and more
• Use Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher to create pixel-perfect reports from various data sources
• Design effective, interactive BI dashboards
• Use the Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management module to measure, evaluate, and manage key performance indicators
• Make smart color choices using data science tools

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071837262
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	02/13/2015
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dan Vlamis, Oracle ACE Director, is a customer advisory board member for Oracle Business Intelligence and OLAP-related products and an Oracle Business Intelligence Warehousing and Analytics board member. After leading a development team in multi-dimensional database design, he founded Vlamis Software Solutions in 1993 and has led more than 200 implementations of Oracle Business Intelligence and analytics systems. Dan is coauthor of Oracle Essbase & Oracle OLAP. He graduated from Brown University with a major in Computer Science.

Tim Vlamis, MBA, has decades of experience in business modeling, forecasting, and scenario analysis and is an active speaker on BI and data visualization topics as well as marketing and business development. He is an instructor for Oracle University in Oracle Data Mining and Oracle R Enterprise and works extensively in the intersection of predictive analytics and business intelligence. In addition to holding a Professional Certified Marketer designation from the American Marketing Association, Tim is an adjunct professor of Business and teaches in Benedictine College’s Traditional and Executive MBA programs. He has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from Yale University.

Tim Vlamis is an expert in the visualization of data and the design of business intelligence dashboards. Tim combines a strong background in the application of business intelligence (BI), analytics, and data mining with extensive experience in business modeling and valuation analysis, new product forecasting, and new business development processes and scenario analyses. Tim earned his Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) designation from the American Marketing Association and is an active speaker on BI and data visualization topics as well as marketing and business development. In addition to a life-long study of business processes, systems, and theories, Tim is a passionate student of complexity theory, the history of mathematics, and the principles of design. Tim earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from Yale University. As an Adjunct Professor of Business, Tim teaches in Benedictine College’s Traditional and Executive MBA programs.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

1 Introduction 1

About Oracle Business Intelligence 11g 2

Business Intelligence System Goals 2

Humans Evolved to Sense the World, Not to "Do Numbers" 4

Basic Principles of Bl Dashboards 5

Bl Systems Need Training 6

Dashboard Best Practices 7

Motion Demands Attention and Cannot Be Ignored 7

Color Is Powerful 7

Alignment and Position 7

A Little Bit about Tables 8

Background Thoughts on Graphs 9

Data Visualization Graph Views 10

Map Views Communicate Effectively 11

Dashboard Design Examples 11

Oracle's OBIEE SampleApp 12

The Sample Dashboard Is a Good Start 12

Improving a Dashboard from SampleApp 14

Where the World of Business Intelligence Data Visualization Is Headed 16

Summary 18

2 Tables 19

Understanding Table Design 20

Table Views vs. Pivot Table Views 23

Stating a "Need" Sentence 24

Table Views 24

The Criteria Tab Sets the Basic Properties 25

The Column Properties Dialog 25

Table Views-Results Tab 38

Editing Table Views 39

Pivot Table Views-Results Tab 44

Organizing Dimensions in Pivot Table Views 46

Conditional Formatting 48

Table and Pivot Table Right-Click Interaction Menus 54

Performance Tiles 55

Summary 56

3 Graphs 59

Types of Graphs and When to Use Them 60

Line Graphs 60

Time Series Line Graphs 68

Bar Graphs 69

Line-Bar Combo Graphs 77

Waterfall Graphs 80

Pie Graphs 81

Area Graphs 84

Scatter Plot Graphs 85

Bubble Graphs 88

Radar Graphs 89

Pereto Graphs 90

Summary 91

4 Maps 93

Justification for Maps and When la Use Them 94

Maps, Layers, and Spatial Basics 96

Geocoding 98

MapViewer Basics 99

MapViewer and OBIEE 99

MapViewer Administration 100

Using Maps with OBIEE 101

Creating Choropleth Maps 101

Interacting with Maps 104

Map Color Choices 106

Bubbles and Variable Shapes on Maps 108

Placing Graphs on Maps 113

Placing Lines on Maps 115

Combining Data Sets on Maps and Using Map Feature Layers 117

Custom Integration of Maps in OBIEE 121

Summary 121

5 Advanced Visualizations 123

Trellis Charts 125

Simple Trellis Charts (Type 1 Trellis Charts) 128

Advanced Trellis Charts (Type 2 Trellis Charts) 131

Gauges and Dials 132

Extending Native OBIEE Data Visualization Views 136

Showing Data Distributions Using Tricks with OBIEE Stacked Bar Graphs 136

Oracle ADF Visualizations 141

Using R Visualizations in OBIEE Dashboards 142

Using the Third-Party Visualization Engine D3 147

JQuery 152

Summary 156

6 Bl Publisher 157

The Power of Pixel Perfect Visualizations 158

Bl Publisher Contrasted with OBIEE 158

Bl Publisher Report Components 160

Data Model 160

Template 160

Properties 161

Layout Editor Is the Major Interface 161

Interacting with Bl Publisher 162

Bl Publisher Dual-Y Graph Types 169

Bursting Reports 174

Summary 176

7 Dashboard Design and Mechanics 177

Roles of Dashboard Users 180

Common Roles in Organizations 182

Importance of Dashboards Depends on Roles and Usage 184

Dashboard Content Can Vary by User 184

Dashboard Standards and Style Guides 185

Important OBIEE Dashboard Considerations 186

Basic Layout 186

Include Contextual Information on Dashboards 188

Dashboard Format and Placement of Contents 189

Form Follows Function 191

Alignment, Grids, and Structure 191

Dashboard Layout Mechanics 191

Dashboard Property Page Size 193

Laying Out Dashboard Columns 194

Laying Out Dashboard Sections 200

Summary 203

8 Dashboard interactions 205

Users Already Know about Interactions 206

Dashboard Interactions Are about Engagement 207

Master-Detail Linking 209

Configuring Master-Detail Linking 209

Formatting Views with Master-Detail Linking 212

Slider Prompts with Master-Detail Linking 213

Map Views as Detail Views 213

Dashboard Prompts 215

Standard Prompts 216

Calendar Prompt 219

Slider Prompt 221

Image Prompt 221

Cascading Prompts 224

Creating and Applying Saved Customizations 225

Navigation 225

Primary Navigation Actions 226

Action Link Menus and Navigation Dashboards 230

Summary 231

9 Scorecard and Strategy Management 233

Oracle Score Card and Strategy Management Objects 235

KPIs 235

Objectives 236

Initiatives 236

Scorecards Defined 236

OSSM Visualizations 237

KPI Watch list 238

Strategy Tree 239

Strategy Wheel 240

Strategy Map 241

Cause-and-Effect Map 242

Custom View 243

Summary 244

10 Mobile 245

Three Main Methodologies for Viewing OBIEE Dashboards and Content on Mobile Devices 247

Web Browser 247

Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile HD and Oracle Bl Mobile 248

Bl Mobile App Designer 249

General Principles for Effective Data Visualization on all Mobile Devices 249

Smaller Screen Resolution 249

Design Dashboards with a Specific Role in Mind 250

Prefer Small Tables 250

Prefer Performance Tiles 251

Prefer Visualizations That Show an Overall Pattern in the Data 251

Eliminate Unnecessary Visual Noise 252

Include Fewer Prompts and Limit Prompt Selections 252

Consciously Organize Catalog Structure and Folders 254

Encourage Users to Capitalize on Mobile Navigational Features 254

Dashboard Layouts and Gestures for Mobile 255

Mobile Layout 256

Original Layout 256

Gestures 258

White vs. Black Dashboard Backgrounds 258

Maps on Mobile 259

Bl Mobile App Designer 261

Summary 267

11 Other Visualization Topics 269

Principles of Design 270

Unity 270

Harmony 271

Balance 271

Rhythm 271

Proportion and Scale 271

Emphasis or Dominance 272

Variation 272

Color 272

ColorBrewer 2.0 274

iWantHue 276

W35chools HTML Color Picker 279

Changing the Default Colors for Graphs in OBIEE 280

Defining OBIEE's User Interface Through Skins, Styles, and Messages 281

Skins 281

Styles 282

Messages 283

Alerts 284

Best and Recommended Visualizations 286

Data in the Real World 288

Controlling What Data You Show 289

Filters 289

Selection Steps 290

Grouping Values: Bins and Groups 292

Top/Bottom 10: Exception Analysis 293

Label Visualizations Appropriately 294

Sorting 295

Significant Digits 295

Null Values 295

Interactions 296

Hover-Over 296

Click Events 296

Summary 297

12 General Advice 299

Working with BI Catalog 300

Organizing the Bl Catalog 300

Copying Dashboards for Modifying 302

Using Save As 303

Keeping the Catalog Clean 304

Search to the Rescue 305

Development Standards 305

Why Have Development Standards 306

What to Include in Development Standards 306

Working the Project 307

Working with Executives 308

Working with IT and DBAs 308

Whole Organization 309

Developing Trust in Bl Systems 309

Getting Started 311

Workshops 311

Assessments 312

Training 312

Metadata Communication and Documentation 313

The Long Road 313

Summary 314

Index 315