http://usableapps.oracle.com/DPG/OBIEE/guidelines/tech_guide/designing_db_elements/page_properties.

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Views Basic Principles

Maintain only the minimum number of views needed for the report; remove any unused views from the re deleting them.

Removing a view from compounded view does not delete that view; instead, it merely hides that view with report. To delete a view, open it, and click the properties button to the right of the view name, and then sel Delete.

Table Views For table views, select or enter these settings:

Paging Controls: Bottom Rows per Page: 15 Enable alternating row "green bar" styling: Clear Enable column sorting in Dashboards: Select

Queries Design Basic Principles Formatting of new reports and views must be in harmony with the existing reports and dashboard content. Keep these principles in mind: Maintain optimum number of columns required in report definition; remove all extra columns that do not have an identified purpose in the report. Continue all aggregations at the report level, and not in views, unless specifically required. Continue all column formatting at the report level, and not in views, unless specifically required. Here is a dashboard description example: Column Properties Set column properties for every column in the request:

Style Font Size: 9 Style Font Style: Regular Style Font Color: White Column Format Column Heading Size: 9 Column Format Column Heading Style: Bold Column Format Column Heading Background Color: #E7E7F7 Data Format, Override Default Data Format option: Select to preserve the report formatting even when there is a global setting change for that data type

Never save data formats as system-wide defaults for your specific metric or as systemwide defaults for this data type. Always save data formats at the report column level.

Filters

Presaved Filters

Do not use presaved filters in Oracle Business Intelligence Application (OBIA) content. Hard-Coded Values Do not include hard-coded values (dates, attributes, values) in report filters, unless the nature of the report requires them. "Is Prompted" Filters:

"Is prompted" filters must be explicit (no via presaved filters) and kept to the minimum required for each report to operate Consider the need for an is-prompted operator filter on each report in the light of the dashboard prompts on which this report depends and on the navigation paths that this report may be part of

Query Validation Extra Columns Remove or do not include columns in your queries if they are not explicitly required to get the correct results. Physical SQL Statements: IMPORTANT: Always validate physical SQL statements generated by each request and validate that the structure of the SQL statements exactly match the functional value.

Check for fact and dimensions tables that are being hit Check for filters that are being applied Check for how many distinct SQLs are being generated

To view physical SQL statements:

Select Setting, Administration, Manage Sessions

In the list of log sessions, find the report that you just ran (use the information column and the time run to recognize your report) Click View Log URL for this query In the log, find the middle section where you can see "Sending query to database named..."

There may be many of these queries. Consider all the available physical SQLs and proceed to the checks previously listed. Troubleshoot as follows:

If you receive the message "No Log Found," your user or session variable log level must be set to at least level 2. Contact your system administrator to have this set If there is no physical SQL, but instead "Cache hit...," the cache is turned on and OBI EE did not need to query the database to return your results

Either purge or disable cache (see administrator) or rerun your report with some filtered value that is likely not stored in cache already. Query Naming Do not include any special characters in the saved name of your query. In particular, do not use the ampersand (&), semicolon, @, %, $, *, commas, plus, or minus signs. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Report-Level Help and Documentation Provide help for each report within a dashboard page as shown. The help link appears within a title view of that report.

The help content for a report is a view within the report. Create a static text view for the report and include the help content in that view. Example: [b][u]

Win Loss Trend Help [/u] [/b] [br/][br/] [b]Purpose:[/b] [br/] Provides a user with the ability to review the organization's overall win / loss progress. Shows the overall # of wins, # of losses, and closed revenue by quarter for their organization. [br/][br/][b]User Focus: [/b][br/] Sales Executives and Managers [br/][br/] [b]Source:[/b][br/] Sales CRM Pipeline Subject Area

You provide the link to the help content as shown:

Use the following syntax for the help URL: saw.dll? GO&Path=/shared/796_Webcat_Refresh_Project/Sales/Competitors/Common/Win %20Loss%20Trend&ViewName=htmlview!1 i.e. saw.dll?GO&Path=<path to the report>&ViewName=<name of view with help content> You should name the help view content ViewName=htmlview!1 unless existing text views are already present in the report. In that case, increment the number 1 by the number of text views already present in the report. Consider removing obsolete views as described in the Basic Principles section of this document. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Drills and Navigation Multi-Target Navigation Whenever possible, you should set up navigation with two or more distinct target paths. By setting up two paths, you enable users to see where they are about to navigate before they complete the decisive click.

Set one of the paths to Detailed Report, which takes the user to a report that shows the most detailed information for the subject area You can set other target paths to business-process-oriented navigations or to different types of analysis that already exist in the dashboard (for example, Top Ns, History, and so on)

When you can identify only one target path for navigation, then you should set up a second path with a dummy address and a blank description (a single space, for instance) so that the description for the first real path still shows up in navigation.

Hierarchy Drills You must test every report for the default hierarchy drills that appear in it. When drills result in wrong reports or bad layouts, you should deactivate them from the column properties in the report.