Author: John McGale, Performance Architects
Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service or “BICS” is a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) platform that is based on the same underlying technology as the full on-premise version of Oracle Business Intelligence 12c. BICS is part of Oracle’s cloud ecosystem and is integrated with the Oracle Database Cloud Database“Schema” Service. BICS is mobile-ready at no additional cost. Content that is created in BICS does not need to be reformatted for mobile, this is all done seamlessly using Oracle’s BI Mobile HD application.
Although BICS is based on the OBIEE code base, there are a few key differences. These are summarized in the figure below:
BICS environments can be procured in a few days (depending on payment processing), for a relatively low-cost monthly subscription. You must sign up for a one to three year commitment, with an additional monthly cost for the Oracle Database Cloud Database Schema Service. In a way, you are really subscribing to both services at once. The price of your monthly subscription provides you two full instances of BICS and two instances of the Oracle Database Cloud Database Schema Service. The subscription must be purchased with a minimum of at least ten user licenses.
There is no application installation or maintenance with BICS. Upgrades and system outages are handled by Oracle in a way that produces no disruption of service for your BICS environment. All user controls are simplified and streamlined for business use. There are intuitive screens for general application administration as well as data integration.
BICS includes the following main components:
Visual Analyzer (VA Projects):Oracle BICS Visual Analyzer is a web-based tool that enables you to explore formal data stores within BICS and load data from external sources (spreadsheets) sets to give you a blended view. A project enables you to dynamically explore multiple data sets in graphical way, all within a single interface. Visual Analyzer allows you to hand pick attributes or use a search feature – which gives you a more exploratory interaction with your data.
Visual Analyzer
Analyses: An analysis (OBIEE “Answers”) is a query against your data that provides you with answers to business questions. Analyses enable you to explore and interact with information visually in graphs, pivot tables, and more traditionally in tables, and pivot tables. There are also a whole host of other specialized visualizations. You can also save, organize, and share the results of analyses with others.
Analyses (criteria tab)
Dashboards: Dashboards can include multiple analyses to give you a complete and consistent view of your company’s information across all departments and operational data sources. Dashboards provide you with personalized views of information in the form of one or more pages, with each page identified with a tab at the top. Reports within dashboards are usually parameterized and “dashboard filters” are added to drive a more dynamic user experience.
Object Catalog (Catalog): VA Projects, Analyses, Dashboards, and other objects are stored in the Object Catalog in a manner consistent with files and folders in Microsoft Windows. The Object Catalog can be accessed directly through its own interface or in some cases, like constructing dashboards, indirectly – allowing you to pick analyses to place on your dashboard. Permissions can then be set on individual objects such as reports or on a wider scale using folders.
Thin Client Modeling Tool (Modeler): A data model is a design that presents business data for analysis in a manner that reflects the structure of the business. Data models enable analysts to structure queries in the same intuitive fashion as they ask business questions. The Data Modeler tool allows you to create a semantic or logical model representing the relationship of underlying physical tables or flat files. The Data Modeler also allows you to create your own custom calculations and formatting for attributes to be represented within Analyses. Once a model is completed it is published as a new “Subject Area” which then becomes the basis for Analyses, and VA Projects.
Thin Client Service Admin Console (Console): The admin service console allows you to manage the day-to-day operation of BICS. Common tasks include reviewing session logs, inspecting SQL, clearing the BI server cache, and running logical SQL.
Thin Client Data Loader (Load): Data Loader is a wizard-driven browser-based tool for loading text files (TXT and CSV) and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (XLS and XLSX) into the Oracle Database Cloud – Database Schema Service included with Oracle BI Cloud Service. The Data Loader can handle input files of up to 500,000 rows.
BI Cloud Service Academy (Academy): The Academy provides tutorials to help you learn about BICS and get the most out of your experience with the solution. The text is broken out in to various workflows and tasks and includes many how-to videos.
