What Are Analyses?

An analysis is a query against an organization's data that provides answers to business questions. A query contains the underlying SQL statements that are issued to the Oracle BI Server.

Analyses let you explore and interact with information by visually presenting data in tables, graphs, pivot tables, and so on. You can save, organize, and share the results of analyses.

Analyses that you create can be saved in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog and integrated into any Oracle BI EE dashboard. Analyses can be enhanced through features such as graphs, result layout, calculated items, and drilling.

How Do I Work with Analyses?

To work with analyses, you use one of the following editors:

The "Analysis editor" — A more complex editor that allows you to explore and interact with information by visually presenting data in tables, graphs, pivot tables, and so on. For more information, see "What Is the Analysis Editor?"

You have access to this editor only if you have been granted the Access to Analysis privilege by the administrator.
The "BI Composer wizard" — A simple-to-use wizard that allows you to quickly and easily create, edit, or view analyses without the complexities of the Analysis editor. For more information, see Chapter 14, "Using BI Composer to Work with Analyses."

You have access to this editor only if you have been granted the Access to BI Composer privilege by the administrator.

You specify which editor you want to use on the "My Account dialog: Preferences tab." However, if you have turned on accessibility mode either in the "Sign In page" or the "My Account dialog: Preferences tab," then the BI Composer wizard in accessibility mode is used as the analysis editor, regardless of your choice.

How Are Analyses Processed?

When an analysis is processed, the request is sent in the form of logical SQL statements to the Oracle BI Server. The BI Server generates queries against the appropriate data sources. When the BI Server receives the query results, they are in a format that is not yet suitable for returning to the user. The BI Server merges the results and applies any additional calculations or filters that pertain to the results. The BI Server then sends the data to Oracle BI Presentation Services to format the results for display.

Embedding an Analysis in a Dashboard

Embedding an analysis in a dashboard causes it to execute automatically and display the most current results every time the dashboard is accessed. This provides access to the most current results. For example, if you are a sales executive whose company captures sales data on a daily basis, then you might want to have the dollar volume of product that was sold today be displayed on the front page of your dashboard.

You can embed saved analyses by using the Dashboard editor. For information about the Dashboard editor, see "Adding Content to Dashboards."