interview questions on OBIEE

Interview questions on OBIEE

Tell me About yourself?
This is the major interview question for freshers and experienced. Everyone should prepare before
going to the interview.
Experienced: Tell ur name with experience what you have with current and previous organization
and then explain the porject what you done. If they expecting more then give your educational
details but no need to mention the family back ground.
What are your roles and responsibilities in your current project?
As a OBIEE developer,the reponsibilities like repository configuration and reports generation based
on the client requirements. At the end we need to implement the security.
From where you start your work in daily routine?
Daily i got a mail from my reporting manager with a attached document. It includes all the
requirements and details of the work.
What is the architecture of OBIEE?
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/search?q=OBIEE+architecture
Explain the 3 layers of the repository?
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/search?q=OBIEE+architecture
What is connection pool and how many connection pools you have in your project?What is the
purpose?
Actually connection pool is a link between repository and database. For more details use the link
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/search?q=connection+pool
We can use multiple connection pools for to increase the performance. The no.of connection pools
may dependent on the project. We created different connection pools for
security implementation,users and variables creation etc.
What is the difference between Obiee 10g & 11g?
OBIEE 10g:
We have 2 joins, foreign key join and complex join.
We have only level-based hierarchy in the logical layer.
All the configuration settings will be done at NQSconfig file.
OBIEE 11g:
we have only 1 join, new join.
We have different hierarchies; level-based hierarchies, parent-child hierarchies, ragged
hierarchies, skipped hierarchies.
All the configuration settings will be done at the enterprise manager.
we have option like look-up table.
In answers,the chart view renamed as graph.
which version of OBIEE you are using?
Go to help in the repository of your project. There we can get the exact version of OBIEE.
What is the difference between OCI and ODBC?
OCI will be specific to the oracle database but the ODBC connection, we can use with any
datasource.
Have you ever worked on Joins?If yes how?

Yes, In physical layer i worked on joins based on the data-modelling document.

Did u get the data from any other data sources? If yes how?
Yes,ofcourse client will provide the data in different formats like excel sheets, files, cubes etc. We
can import the data by creating the drivers for data sources.
Can i import the data directly from other sources to repository?
yes, we can directly import the data to repository
How to set the logging level in repository?
manage->identity->goto the user->set the logging level
The logging level for developer:min 2
The logging level for Administrator:upto 7
In production phase the logging level should be disabled. We can set the logging level for a specific
request at answers
Have you ever worked with ETL-tools?
As a reporting developer, i know the flow of ETL process. I never worked on that.The ETL people
takecare of everything.
Which type of schema you are used in your project?
Actually most of the projects are designed like a star-schema.My project is also used star-schema as
a data model.
What is star and snow-flake schema?
For complete details about star and snow-flake schema
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/2012/04/what-is-datawarehouse-datawarehouse-is.html
What is fact and dimension table?
The detailed description of fact and dimension tables
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/2012/04/what-is-datawarehouse-datawarehouse-is.html
What is the flow of your porject?
Every project must follow the software development life cycle.
Generally,the porject flow may like requirements gathering, Development(ETL and Report), testing
and Production.The flow of project may differ from project to project based on domain like retail,
telecom, healthcare, construction etc.
The complete knowledge on SDLC
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/2012/04/obiee-application-development-life.html
What is Dataware housing?
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/2012/04/what-is-datawarehouse-datawarehouse-is.html
Rate yourself in SQL?
OBIEE developer must have the knowledge on sql because he need to test his own stuff.Minimum
knowledge of SQL is required for dataware housing developers.The rating should be dependent on
the person knowledge.

1.What you did in physical layer,BMM layer and Presentation layer?

Ans: Physical layer:Physical layer is a connection between database and repository by using
connection pool.We can import the data from the different data sources, no.of connection pools,
aliases like tables and columns, duplicate tables, opaque views and physical joins etc.
BMM layer:Also called as Logical layer, Actually we implemented the logic here.We can do the
calculations, create the logical tables and columns, establish the joins like physical and logical or
complex joins, dimensions, level-based-metrics etc.
Presentation layer:We can show only the content which we want to show the end-user, We can
implement authorization and authentication, Implicit fact column and sort order column etc.
2.What are Level-Based-Metrics(LBM)?How you use in your project?
Ans: Level-based-metrics show the measures at different levels based on the dimension hierarchy.
Generally LBMs will use to display the data at month, week and day level. To show this we will

create the alias measure columns. Explain more details from your project.
3.What is Dimension Hierarchies?Explain the procedure to create the Hierarchy?
Ans: Below link give the complete procedure for creating the dimension hierarchy..
http://oracletechnotalk.blogspot.in/2012/04/creation-of-hierarchy-in-obiee.html
4.What is Sort order columns?
Ans: We can sort the columns at 2 levels
1. Repository:At the presentation layer,sort the one column values based on another column
2. Answers:At the criteria tab->columns->sort the column values either ascending or descending
order based on the requirement.
5.Rate yourself in SQL?
Ans: Here you need answer very carefully because based on your rating they are ready to fire the
questions on SQL. You have the minimum knowledge in SQL like select statement, joins,
performance concepts etc.
6.What is Implicit fact table and Implicit fact column?
Ans: A common fact table for dimension tables is called as Implicit fact table. An Implicit fact column
is a column in a Implicit fact table, we can select the best path between the dimensions. Implicit fact
column is decided in presentation layer.
7.Can we handle the nulls?
Ans: Yes,we can handle either in repository and answers.
ifnull(column_name,0)->at expression of the measure column
8.What is the use of connection pool?
Ans: We can create different no.of connection pools in the project. It has the database connection
details, no.of minimum users can access the application.
9.What is security in OBIEE?
Ans: Security in OBIEE can be implemented in 2 ways.
1. Authentication:Verify and validate the users against the system.
2. Authorization:Validate the users against the Data.
10.What is Authentication?How can we implement?
Ans: Verify and validate the users against the system.We can implement the Authentication in 4
ways
1. External table
2. Operating system
3. Data base
4. LDAP
11.What is Authorization?How can we implement?
Ans: Validate the users against the Data. Data can be limited the users by
1. Object level
2. Data level
3. Reports/Dashboard level
OBIEE architecture interview questions and answers
What are the major components in the OBIEE architecture?
a. Client
b. Presentation services(along with cache)

c. Repository
d. Database connection
e. Enterprise datawarehouse
f. Scheduler(along with cache)
What are the different layers of OBIEE Repository?
a. Physical Layer
b. Business Model and Mapping Layer
c. Presentation Layer
What are the folders available in OBIEE?
Oracle BI(Administration)
Oracle BIdata(analytics)
The folder names may change with the OBIEE 11g.
What are the Key Configuration Files in OBIEE
NQSConfig.ini,
DBfeatures.ini,
NQSCluster.ini,
odbc.ini,
instanceconfig.xml
What are the different Log files in OBIEE?
NQServer.log
NQSQuery.log
NQSAdministration.log
NQS Scheduler.log
What are the minimum services needed to load a repository file onto memory and view a dashboard
which has reports that have been refreshed on a scheduled basis?
BI server (Administration Tool)
Presentation Server (Analytics or Answers)
Scheduler server (Scheduling the jobs)
What is the location of the administration configuration files?
drive:\OBIEE 11g\instances\instance1\config\oracleBIservercomponent\
coreapplication_obis1\file name
What is the location of the repository?
drive:\OBIEE 11g\instances\instance1\bifoundation\oracleBIservercomponent\
coreapplication_obis1\repository
What is the location of the presentation services configuration files?
drive:\OBIEE 11g\instances\instance1\config\oracleBIpresentationservices
component\coreapplication_obis1\instanceconfig.xml
What is the location of the administration log files?
C:\OBIEE11g\instances\instance1\diagnostics\logs