Infosys-Oracle Blog

1. KPI - My first take is ability to build KPI. Building KPI on the fly means taking first step towards new generation performance management and thinking beyond operational reporting and spread sheet analysis. Let us see what you can do with this functionality:
   • Set goals : In terms of target value and actual.
   • Dimensionalize  KPI: Analysis by associated dimensional attribute
   • Drill down on KPI : to see why the KPI is off target or doing excellent job
   • Define various thresholds: For example if
        o Sale is above $1M per quarter then it is okay. KPI is green and business is on track.
        o Sale is between 600k and 700 K then there is some worry. KPI is yellow and you need to be cautious.
        o Sale is below 500k then business is on critical. KPI is red and you need to take drastic actions.
   • Take Action:  With Action Links, you can take action if the KPI is off target or there is something is going wrong seriously. You can trigger workflow, you can send mails and take necessary actions.
   Now the next question which comes to our mind - "Can I have a look at just one KPI at a time or can I look at multiple KPIs at the same time?" Here comes another feature: KPI watch list.
2. KPI Watch List - Very useful feature where you can track multiple KPIs at the same time and you can collect interrelated KPIs and make their list and keep them on dashboard for ready reference. Let's take one practical example - You have defined the following 5 KPIs to see whether business is on track:
   • Sales should be above $1 M ,
   • Average order price should be more than $5K ,
   • Quote to order conversion rate should be more than 70%,
   • Un-realized revenue should be less than $200K ,
   • Inventory in hand should not be more than 100 pieces for less inventory carrying cost.
   What you need to do is define all the 5 KPIs and get them in KPI list. This will enable user to get quick overview of your business health by looking at KPI list. Consider a scenario where un-realized revenue is increasing and also the inventory in hand is also increasing. This means that business is not getting paid for sale as well as inventory in hand is increasing. This situation warrants really quick action. In this scenario KPI Watch list will bring enormous value and control on how you do business. Next question in your mind would be "Why is there just a static list? Can we do something more with KPI?"  Answer is "Yes".
3. OBIEE Scorecards - This is a revolutionary feature in OBIEE 11g in my opinion. You can build Strategy tree /Strategy map as well as Cause & effect maps (Fishbone diagrams). This is visual representation of series of KPIs/measures or objectives to see if it is in line with business's strategic vision or expectation. This is used to showcase visually where the performance deviates from expectations and encourage managers/users to focus on particular areas which are alarming or in warning status. 
   Let's see what more has been added in OBIEE 11g in terms of user experience.
4. Hierarchies and In-place Drill - In earlier version interacting with dimensional hierarchy meant drilling down from one level to next which added a new column to output. In addition to this behavior, OBIEE 11g has provided for interacting with the hierarchy by expanding and collapsing individual levels within the same report column using the plus (+) and minus (-) icons adjacent to the displayed member values. This way you can easily navigate across various dimensions. This is more of a paradigm shift from static hierarchical experience to dynamic hierarchical experience.
5. Sliders - Next take is a jazzy feature which has been introduced in OBIEE 11g: Chart Sliders. This feature gives you a great visual experience with charts and provides the ability to slide through a dimensional attribute. In addition, OBIEE 11g gives you a slider bar with animation capabilities through which you can animate for a bunch of years and the chart will show you how your measures performed over last 5 to 6 years in one go. Animation plus charting at its best and a great experience for users who love animation.

In my next blog entry, I will cover the enhancements to OBIEE Answers and Administration. I would love to hear your feedback on this blog entry.