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Friday, 12 June 2015

OBIEE Interview Questions SET 4

Define pipeline. Did you use it in your projects?
o Yes, pipelines are the stages in a particular transaction. assessment, finance etc.
How do you create filter on repository?
o Where condition on content tab.
How do you work in a multi user environment? What are the steps?
o Create a shared directory on the network for Multi-user Development (MUD).
o Open the rpd to use in MUD. From Tools->Options, setup the MUD directory to point to the above directory.
o Define projects within the rpd to allow multiple users to develop within their subject area or Facts.
o Save and move the rpd to the shared directory setup in point 1.
o When users work in the MUD mode, they open the admin tool and start with
o MUD ->Checkout to checkout the project they need to work on (not use the File open as you would usually do).
o After completely the development, user checkin the changes back to the network and merge the changes.
Where are passwords for userid? Ldap,external table authentication stored respectively?
o passwords for userid are in siebel analytics server repository Ldap authentication in Ldap server external database in a table in external database
Can you bypass siebel analytics server security ?if so how?
o yes you can by-pass by setting authententication type in NQSCONFIG file in the security section as:authentication_type=bypass_nqs.instanceconfig.xml and nqsconfig.ini are the 2 places
Where can you add new groups and set permissions?
o you can add groups by going to manage>security>add new groups> You can give permissions to a group for query limitation and filter conditions.
what are the things you can do in the BMM layer?
o Aggrigation navigation,level base matrics,time series wizard,create new logical column,comlex join.
what is Ragged hierarchy? and how do u manage it
o Ragged Hierarchy is one of the different kinds of hierarchy.
o A hierarchy in which each level has a consistent meaning, but the branches have inconsistent depths because at least one member attribute in a branch level is unpopulated. A ragged hierarchy can represent a geographic hierarchy in which the meaning of each level such as city or country is used consistently, but the depth of the hierarchy varies.
o For example, a geographic hierarchy that has Continent, Country, Province/State, and City levels defined. One branch has North America as the Continent, United States as the Country, California as the Province or State, and San Francisco as the City. However, the hierarchy becomes ragged when one member does not have an entry at all of the levels. For example, another branch has Europe as the Continent, Greece as the Country, and Athens as the City, but has no entry for the Province or State level because this level is not applicable to Greece for the business model in this example. In this example, the Greece and United States branches descend to different depths, creating a ragged hierarchy.
What is the difference between Single Logical Table Source and Multiple Logical Table Sources?
o If a logical table in BMM layer has only one Table as the source table then it is Single LTS.
o If the logical table in BMM layer has more than one table as the sources to it then it is called Multiple LTS.
o Ex: Usually Fact table has Multiple LTS’, for which sources will be coming from different Physical tables.
Can you let me know how many aggregate tables you have in your project? On what basis have you created them?
o As per resume justification document
How do you bring/relate the aggregate tables into the Siebel analytics Logical layer?
o One way of bringing the Aggregate Tables into the BMM layer is by bringing them as Logical Table sources for the corresponding Fact table.
o This is done by dragging and dropping the aggregate table into the corresponding fact table. After doing that establish the column mappings and the set the aggregation levels.
How do you know which report is hitting which table, either the fact table or the aggregate table?
o After running the report, go to Administration tab and go to click on Manage Sessions. There you can find the queries that are run and in the View Log option in the Session Management you can find which report is hitting which table.
Suppose I have report which is running for about 3 minutes typically. What is the first step you take to improve the performance of the query?
o Find the sql query of the report in Admin->manage Session-> run the sql query on toad ->read the explain plan output ->modify the SQL based on the explain plan output
Suppose you have a report which has the option of running on aggregate table. How does the tool know to hit the Aggregate table and for that what the steps you follow to configure them?
o Explain the process of Aggregate navigation
Have you heard of Implicit Facts? If, so what are they?
o An implicit fact column is a column that will be added to a query when it contains columns from two or more dimension tables and no measures. You will not see the column in the results. It is used to specify a default join path between dimension tables when there are several possible alternatives.
o For example, there might be many star schemas in the database that have the Campaign dimension and the Customer dimension, such as the following stars:
Campaign History star. Stores customers targeted in campaign.
Campaign Response star. Stores customer responses to a campaign.
Order star. Stores customers who placed orders as a result of a campaign.
In this example, because Campaign and Customer information might appear in many segmentation catalogs, users selecting to count customers from the targeted campaigns catalog would be expecting to count customers that have been targeted in specific campaigns.
To make sure that the join relationship between Customers and Campaigns is through the campaign history fact table, a campaign history implicit fact needs to be specified in Campaign History segmentation catalog. The following guidelines should be followed in creating
segmentation catalogs:
Each segmentation catalog should be created so that all columns come from only one physical star.
Because the Marketing module user interface has special features that allow users to specify their aggregations, level-based measures typically should not be exposed to segmentation users in a segmentation catalog.
What is aggregate navigation? How do you configure the Aggregate tables in Siebel Analytics?
o Aggregate tables store precomputed results, which are measures that have been aggregated (typically summed) over a set of dimensional attributes. Using aggregate tables is a very popular technique for speeding up query response times in decision support systems.
o If you are writing SQL queries or using a tool that only understands what physical tables exist (and not their meaning), taking advantage of aggregate tables and putting them to good use becomes more difficult as the number of aggregate tables increases. The aggregate navigation capability of the Siebel Analytics Server, however, allows queries to use the information stored in aggregate tables automatically, without query authors or query tools having to specify aggregate tables in their queries. The Siebel Analytics Server allows you to concentrate on asking the right business question; the server decides which tables provide the fastest answers.
(Assume you are in BMM layer) We have 4 dimension tables, in that, 2 tables need to have hierarchy, then in such a case is it mandatory to create hierarchies for all the dimension tables?
o No, its not mandatory to define hierarchies to other Dimension tables.
Can you have multiple data sources in Siebel Analytics?
o Yes.
How do you deal with case statement and expressions in siebel analytics?
o use expression builder to create case when…then.. end statement
Do you know about Initialization Blocks? Can you give me an example where you used them?
o Init blocks are used for instantiating a session when a user logs in.
o To create dynamic variable you have to create IB to write sql statement.
what is query repository tool?
o It is utility of Seibel/OBIEE Admin tool
o allows you to examine the repository metadata tool
o for example: search for objects based on name,type.
o Examine relationship between metadata objects like which column in the presentation layer maps to which table in physical layer
what is JDK and why do we need it?
o Java Development Kit (JDK), A software package that contains the minimal set of tools needed to write, compile, debug, and run Java applets.
Oracle doesn’t recommend Opaque Views because of performance considerations, so why/when do we use them?
o an opaque view is a physical layer table that consists of select statement. an opaque view should be used only if there is no other solution.
Can you migrate the presentation layer to a different server.
o No we have to migrate the whole web & rpd files
How do you identify what are the dimension tables and how do you decide them during the Business/Data modeling?
o Dimension tables contain descriptions that data analysts use as they query the database. For example, the Store table contains store names and addresses; the Product table contains product packaging information; and the Period table contains month, quarter, and year values. Every table contains a primary key that consists of one or more columns; each row in a table is uniquely identified by its primary-key value or values
Why do we have multiple LTS in BMM layer?What is the purpose?
o to improve the performance and query response time.
what is the full form of rpd?
o there is no full form for rpd as such, it is just a repository file (Rapidfile Database)
how do i disable cache for only 2 particular tables?
o in the physical layer, right click on the table there we will have the option which says cacheable
How do you split a table in the rpd given the condition. ( the condition given was Broker and customer in the same table) Split Broker and customer.
o we need to make an alias table in the physical layer.
What type of protocol did you use in SAS?
o TCP/IP
Did you create any new logical column in BMM layer, how?
o Yes. We can create new logical column in BMM layer.
o Example: Right click on fact table -new lgical column-give name for new logical column like Total cost.
o Now in fact table source,we have one option column mapping, in that we can do all calculation for that new column.
Can you use physical join in BMM layer?
o yes we can use physical join in BMM layer.when there is SCD type 2 we need complex join in BMM layer.
Can you use outer join in BMM layer?
o yes we can.When we are doing complex join in BMM layer ,there is one option type,outer join is there.
What are other ways of improving summary query reports other than Aggregate Navigation and Cache Management
Indexes
Join algorithm
Mat/view query rewrite
Web proper report design its optimal by making sure that it is not getting any addition column or rows
What is level-base matrics?
o Leval-base matrics means, having a measure pinned at a certain level of the dimension. For Example, if you have a measure called Dollars, you can create a Level Based Measure called Yearly Dollars which (you guessed it) is Dollars for a Year. This measure will always return the value for the year even if you drill down to a lower level like quarter, month… etc. To create a level based measure, create a new logical column based on the original measure (like Dollars in the example above). Drag and drop the new logical column to the appropriate level in the Dimension hierarchy (in the above example you will drag and drop it to Year in Time Dim
o A LBM is a metric that is defined for a specific level or intersection of levels.
o Monthly Total Sales or Quarterly Sales are the examples.
o You can compare monthly sales with quarterly sales. You can compare customer orders this quarter to orders this year
What is logging level?Where can you set logging levels?
o You can enable logging level for individual users; you cannot configure a logging level for a group.
o Set the logging level based on the amount of logging you want to do. In normal operations, logging is generally disabled (the logging level is set to 0). If you decide to enable logging, choose a logging
o level of 1 or 2. These two levels are designed for use by Siebel Analytics Server administrators.
o Set Logging Level
1. In the Administration Tool, select Manage > Security.
2. The Security Manager dialog box appears.
3. Double-click the user.s user ID.
4. The User dialog box appears.
5. Set the logging level by clicking the Up or Down arrows next to the Logging Level field
What is variable in sieble?
o You can use variables in a repository to streamline administrative tasks and modify metadata content dynamically to adjust to a chainging data environment.The Administration Tool includes a Variable Manager for defining variables
What is system variable and non system variable?
o System variables
o System variables are session variables that the Siebel Analytics Server and Siebel Analytics Web use for specific purposes. System variables have reserved names, which cannot be used for other kinds of variables (such as static or dynamic repository variables, or for nonsystem session variables).
o When using these variables in the Web,preface their names with NQ_SESSION. For example, to filter a column on the value of the variable LOGLEVEL set the filter to the Variable NQ_SESSION.LOGLEVEL.
o Nonsystem variables.
o A common use for nonsystem session variables is setting user filters. For example, you could define a nonsystem variable called SalesRegion that would be initialized to the name of the user.s sales region. You could then set a security filter for all members of a group that would allow them to see only data pertinent to their region.
o When using these variables in the Web, preface their names with NQ_SESSION. For example, to filter a column on the value of the variable SalesRegion set the filter to the Variable NQ_SESSION.SalesRegion.
What are different types of variables? Explain each.
o There are two classes of variables:
1. Repository variables
2. Session variables.
Repository variables.
A repository variable has a single value at any point in time. There are two types of repository variables:
static : This value persists, and does not change until a Siebel Analytics Server administrator decides to change it.
dynamic:The values are refreshed by data returned from queries. When defining a dynamic repository variable, you will create an initialization block or use a preexisting one that contains a SQL query. You will also set up a schedule that the Siebel Analytics Server will follow to execute the query and periodically refresh the value of the variable.
Session Variables
Session variables are created and assigned a value when each user logs on. There are two types of session variables:
1.system
2.nonsystem.
What are the cache management? Name all of them and their uses. For Event polling table do u need the table in your physical layer?
o Monitoring and managing the cashe is cache management.There are three ways to do that.
o Disable caching for the system.(INI NQ config file), Cashe persistence time for specified physical tables and Setting event polling table.
o Disable caching for the system.(INI NQ config file :
You can disable caching for the whole system by setting the ENABLE parameter to NO in the NQSConfig.INI file and restarting the Siebel Analytics Server. Disabling caching stops all new cache entries and stops any new queries from using the existing cache. Disabling caching allows you to enable it at a later time without losing any entries already stored in the cache.
o Cashe persistence time for specified physical tables :
You can specify a cachable attribute for each physical table; that is, if queries involving the specified table can be added to the cache to answer future queries. To enable caching for a particular physical table, select the table in the Physical layer of the Administration Tool and select the option Make table cachable in the General tab of the Physical Table properties dialog box. You can also use the Cache Persistence Time settings to specify how long the entries for this table should persist in the query cache. This is useful for OLTP data sources and other data sources that are updated frequently, potentially down to every few seconds.
o Setting event polling table :
Siebel Analytics Server event polling tables store information about updates in the underlying databases. An application (such as an application that loads data into a data mart) could be configured to add rows to an event polling table each time a database table is updated. The Analytics server polls this table at set intervals and invalidates any cache entries corresponding to the updated tables.
o For event polling table ,It is a standalone table and doesn’t require to be joined with other tables in the physical layer
What is Authentication? How many types of authentication.
o Authentication is the process by which a system verifies, through the use of a user ID and password, that a user has the necessary permissions and authorizations to log in and access data. The Siebel Analytics Server authenticates each connection request it receives.
Operaing system autentication
External table authentication
Database authentication
LDAP authentication
What is object level security?
o There are two types of object level security: Repository level and Web level
o Repository level : In presention layar we can set Repository level security by giving permission or deny permission to users/groups to see particular table or column.
o web level:thisprovides security for objects stored in the siebel anlytics web catlog,such as
dashboards,dashboards pages,folder,and reportsyou can only view the objects for which you are authorized. For example,a mid level manager may not be granted access to a dashboard containing summary information for an entire department.
What is data level security?
o This controls the type an amount of data that you can see in a report.When multiple users run the same report the results that are returned to each depend on their access rights and roles in the organization.For example a sales vice president sees results for alll regions, while a sales representative for a particular region sees onlu datafor that region.
What is the difference between Data Level Security and Object Level Security?
o Data level security controls the type and amount of data that you can see in a reports.Objectlevel security provides security for objects stored in the siebel analytics web catlog, like dashboards,dashboards pages,folder,and reports.
How do you implement security using External Tables and LDAP?
o Instead of storing user IDs and passwords in a Siebel Analytics Server repository, you can maintain lists of users and their passwords in an external database table and use this table for authentication purposes. The external database table contains user IDs and passwords, and could contain other information, including group membership and display names used for Siebel Analytics Web users. The table could also contain the names of specific database catalogs or schemas to use for each user when querying data
o Instead of storing user IDs and passwords in a Siebel Analytics Server repository, you can have the Siebel Analytics Server pass the user ID and password entered by the user to an LDAP(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ) server for authentication. The server uses clear text passwords in LDAP authentication. Make sure your LDAP servers are set up to allow this.
If you have 2 fact and you want to do report on one with quarter level and the other with month level how do you do that with just one time dimension?
o Using levelbase matrics.
Did you work on a stand alone Siebel system or was it integrated to other platforms?
o Deploying the Siebel analytics platform without other Siebel applications is called Siebel analytics Stand -Alone .If your deployment includes other siebel Analytics Application it called integrated analytics -You can say Stand-Alone siebel analytics
How to sort columns in rpd and web?
o Sorting on web column, sort in the rpd its sort order column
If you want to create new logical column where will you create (in repository or dashboard) why?
o I will create new logical column in repository.because if it is in repository,you can use for any report.If you create new logical column in dashboard then it is going to affect on those reports ,which are on that dashboard.you can not use that new logical column for other dashboard(or request)
What is complex join, and where it is used?
o we can join dimention table and fact table in BMM layer using complex join.when there is SCD type 2 we have to use complex join in Bmm layer.
If you have dimension table like customer, item, time and fact table like sale and if you want to find out how often a customer comes to store and buys a particular item, what will you do?
o write a query as SELECT customer_name, item_name, sale_date, sum(qty) FROM customer_dim a, item_dim b, time_dim c, sale_fact d WHERE d.cust_key = a.cust_key AND d.item_key = b.item_key AND d.time_key = c.time_key GROUP BY customer_name, item_name, sale_date
You worked on standalone or integrated system?
o Standalone.
If you want to limit the users by the certain region to access only certain data, what would you do?
o using data level security.
o Siebel Analytics Administrator: go to Manage -> Security in left hand pane u will find the user, groups, LDAP server, Hierarchy
What you can do is select the user and right click and go to properties, you will find two tabs named as users and logon, go to user tab and click at permission button in front of user name you have selected as soon as u click at permission you will get a new window with user group permission having three tabs named as general ,query limits and filter and you can specify your condition at filter tab, in which you can select presentation table ,presentation columns ,logical table and logical columns where you can apply the condition according to your requirement for the selected user or groups.
If there are 100 users accessing data, and you want to know the logging details of all the users, where can you find that?
o To set a user.s logging level
1. In the Administration Tool, select Manage > Security.
The Security Manager dialog box appears.
2. Double-click the user.s user ID. The User dialog box appears.
3. Set the logging level by clicking the Up or Down arrows next to the Logging Level field
How do implement event polling table?
o Siebel Analytics Server event polling tables store information about updates in the underlying databases. An application (such as an application that loads data into a data mart) could be configured to add rows to an event polling table each time a database table is updated. The Analytics server polls this table at set intervals and invalidates any cache entries corresponding to the updated tables.
Can you migrate the presentation layer only to different server
o No we can’t do only presentation layer. And ask him for more information and use one of the above answers
o Create a ODBC connection in the different serve and access the layer.
o Copy the Rpd and migrate it to other server
What is single LTS and multiple LTS?            

The logical table created at the BMM layer can be based on the data from a single physical layer table, when it is called single Logical Table source. When the specific logical layer table is dependent on the columns of different physical layer tables, it is called Multiple LTS. Most of the time we will be dealing with Multiple LTS.
If we have 5 different dimension tables and we need to have hierarchies for only one table, is it mandatory to have hierarchies implemented for all the tables?      E-mail
No, it is not mandatory to create the hierarchies for all the tables, we can just define hierarchies to those tables that need to have it.
How is the Query repository tool used?
●     The Query repository tool gives the option to search and analyse the data from the database according to the name, type and other attributes that are describing the database.
●     The relationship between the different view layer data and the corresponding the physical layer columns.
What are opaque views in database? When is it advisable to create one?
The opaque views are tables that are created with join or other query data that contain “SELECT” query output. The opaque views make the logical understanding simple for implementation but there are heavy performance constraints. They are only used when there is no other way to get to the final solution.
How does the user of Aggregate tables help you in speeding up query responses? How is Siebel Analytics Server advantageous in this aspect?
The Aggregate tables are the ones that get values initialized in them as and when the related fields in the other tables get updated. This type of automatic updates to frequently used measures help you in speeding up the queries. If there is a column for number of products produced for every month and you often want to have the summation of the number per year and average for every year often for all the queries, the aggregate table created will have the option to give you that value without computations every time.
Siebel Analytics server gives the added advantage that the queries need not be aware of the readily available aggregate table names. If this was the case the SQL queries and the entire design might become complex.

What is an implicit fact column?
The implicit fact column is the one that is created due to the join, combinations from the different data or columns from the different tables. There may not be the exact data in form of the column in the result or even in the physical layer of database. These are implied from different data and can just be a temporary layer which help us in getting the required result.
How can you map each of the reports across to the different tables that are being accessed?  E-mail
OBIEE Interview Questions and Answers
The Admin tool has the “Manage Sessions” tab which gives you the access to the logs that are being generated for each session.After the report generation sessions, you can easily view the log to map each requests to the corresponding tables and databases.
How can you migrate the presentation layers across to different servers?
The presentation layer is dependent on the database that is underlying in the each server. Therefore the presentation layer alone cannot be migrated as a stand-alone aspect of the database. What we can do instead is have a ODBC or similar database connection established across from the different servers to the particular main system and then carry over the presentation semantics from the other server with that database oriented changes in the logic layer
How will you impose access limitation to the database according to the region of access?
●     The Data level security imposed according to data in certain column can be used to limit access depending on the regions.
●     The Siebel Analytics admin tool will give you the control over user access to the different data according to conditions supplied by you.
Which is preferable? Creating the new logical column in the repository level or the Dashboard level of view?
Creation of the logical column on the higher level of dashboard will have effect on the tables only on that view level and not on the other dashboards and other requests. The logical columns created on the repository level will in turn gets its effect on all the other requests and reports from different view levels. So it is always preferable to have the logical column created at the repository level.
What are the different deployment cases for the Siebel Analytics server?
The Siebel Analytics server can be deployed as a stand alone system or can be deployed as an integrated server which interfaces and communicates to the different Analytics server.
What are the External table based and LDAP based security?
The user ID and password need not be stored in the repository of the Siebel Analytics server. The external tables and LDAP offer the other possibilites. The userID and password for user authentication are stored in the external table. The information on different tables and the access information for each user are stored in this external table. The other way is the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. This is similar to imposing a access limitation to all the different directories and folders thereby having the limitations to the data viewable for the different users
Differentiate Object level security against the Data level security.
●     The Object level security is a higher level of security that allows/disallows the access for user to specific table, row or column according to his access level. The Data level security level is about restrictions that are concerned about the different data that are used to generate the report of other view level information.
●     The Object level of security are permissions corresponding to the objects in the database (like database reports, dashboards, folders etc) and such permissions are set in the view level, logical level or data level. The Data level security mostly set in the database level and related logic table level.
What are the various levels of access authentications?
There are four levels of authentication that can restrict access to the different tables and databases:
Operating level authentication: This is the overall higher level access restriction to the application. Without this one cannot get access to the application.
Table authentication: The table level authentication is the access permissions set for each physical table.
Database authentication: The Database user and password, corresponding previleges can let someone to access specific db or can just give him only partial access. This authentication is the main thing for the application that coordinates different databases.
LDAP authentication.
What are the different types of caching?
The cache management can be done in three different ways:
●     Cache disabled: The NQConfig.INI file has the ENABLE parameter that can be set to NO. This disables the cache for the server. After the change the server needs a restart. The disable cache will prevent any queries to use/update cache. This may lead to slower performances, but will be useful in the case of lesser accesses that are being expected. Enabling of the cache will not be concerned about the cache updates and synchronization.
●     Caching set for each physical table: The admin tool has the option “Make cache-abble” for the tables. You can click that and go into the general settings. This has the cache persistence in the option. This will make the queries to and fro from the physical table to use the cache. This can also be set according to specific time interval. This will help you in getting a good interactive response on the view layer. Any table that is frequently updated can have this setting on for reasonable amount of time.
●     Event Polling data: The event polling data table keeps track of the different updates that are done on the different tables. The application is going to updated this event polling table for each query of update into the physical table. This stand-alone table can get the required frequency statistics for each table to maintain the cache policies as required.
What are two main categories of variables overall?
There are two types of variables, namely the session variables and the repository variables. The session variables are pertaining to each session that is created for every login of a user. They may be System or Non-system variables.
The repository variables are the ones that are specific to a repository/database. The repository variables contain the parameters that are corresponding to different attributes of the respository and queries. They are again classified as static and dynamic variables. The static variables are the ones that are having permanent values through out. The administrator can change it whenever needed. The dynamic variables are the ones that have values that are corresponding to the SQL queries and data fetches. The dynamic variables can take up values depending on the scheduled updates that are started by the administrator. They can also take up values fue to the SQL queries that have been recently executed from the user side. Initialization blocks run at specific time or triggered according to specific condition.
What are the different types of session variables that you are aware of?
There are 2 different types of variables that we deal with in the Siebel architecture:
●     System variables: The system variables are the ones that are used by the analytics server and web to manage and coordinate the sessions and related data. Such names cannot be used for non system variables or other repository variables. You can try naming such variables with a prefix to identify their nature and content. This will make it easier for classification within each session.
●     Non-System variables- The non system variables are always used to have user-defined aspects of data stored at a specific place. If you have a data called “numberOfPersons” in a specific data from the user space, you can then use this to classify the entire database according to the numberOfPersons etc.
When using the variables from the Analytics Webserver, you can just prefix the variable name with NQ_SESSION.(Varaiblename) to narrow down the scope to the present session.
How can you use the Siebel variables to cope up with dynamic data environments?
The Siebel variable are the storage parameters that we can link within the metadata and other configuration parameters in the Siebel. With the help of the variable manager, all the confguration parameters can be loaded into the specific variable depending upon the different environments we are trying to have. This can help us in making the administrative tasks simpler.
How do you set the logging level as an administrator in Siebel?
The Siebel Analytics Sever has the “Security” configuration in the Manage section of the admin tool. This dialog box has the settings for each user id. Click the specific user id. You can then get the logging level selection inside this settings. You can choose the appropriate level and save the changes.
In Siebel Analytics, what are the logging levels used for?

The logging levels refer to the amount of information that has to be printed out for the verification or informative purposes. A completely stable and well defined system need not have the logging to be switched on at all. But when the administrator want to know more about the activities from a specific user, he can set the logging level to be 1 or 2, according to the depth of information he is requiring. We cannot set a logging level for a group, it is pertaining to single user always.
What is LBM? How are they helpful?
The Level Based Metrics are the classification of the specific measure according to a dimension. If we have number of products as one of the measures and timeline as one of the dimensions we can have number of products per year or per month gotten out as a LBM. We can do this by creating a logic column for the specific measure and then dragging it onto the specific dimension say month or a year. The LBM can be pertaining to specific dimension or intersecting dimensions. You can get comparative data against different levels of the dimension
How can you improve and quicken the way of dealing with summary query reports?
●     Having indexes set out for the different values.
●     Implementing algorithms for joins at the business layers help you get a better speed.
●     Rewriting the views and other related queries according to your specific requirement.
●     The report designs should be pertaining what is exactly needed, nothing more and nothing less.
Explain the Siebel Architecture. How is the analytical model generated?
The Siebel architecture which presents the Siebel answers to the answer, consists of the following 5 parts:
●     Siebel clients.
●     Siebel Webserver for analysis.
●     Analytics server.
●     Analytics scheduler.
●     The database.
The Analytical model for the Siebel are created using the Siebel Analytics Administration tool.
How does the data pass through the three layers of view?
The three layers that are involved in the data accesses and modeling are:
●     Physical layer: This is the layer where the actual raw data is stored in the form tables. These are very descriptive data and are meant for use by the business layer of logic.
●     Business layer: The more higher level of interface to the data sources, that makes the logical interpretation much feasible and easy.
●     Presentation layer: This is what is given out to the user. All the processed and categorized data give the clear picture of the real world entities using the raw/combination of multiple data from the physical sources through the business layer logics.
How can time series wizard informations be put into good use at the presentation reports? What are the procedures followed?
The comparative data between the different periods of time is of great importance in the reports. You can compare the revenue, sales, pending status analysis across the different sets of timeline. This can be obtained by the time series wizard. Here are the steps:
●     First thing is to decide the time periods that have to compared.
●     Create the period tables with keys to the specific column data from the fact tables. Fact tables are the ones that contain the total/cumulative data statistical information that we are about to compare.
●     Create the Time series wizard in the business model.
●     Configure the Time Series wizard with appropriate keys from the period table and intended measures for comparison.
After this setup, you can run the Time Series wizard and it will give you all the processed information in the form of the logical table sources that have been created, the period tables used and the alias tables that have been created and used and the comparison details. These comparison details can then be used in the reports.
Is it possible for inserting a new column in the BMM layer? How does it help?
The new column can be added to the fact table in the BMM layer by right clicking the specific table and selecting “add New logical Column”. This comes in handy when we are dealing with same standard calculation for all the rows in the table. The data fetches can be made quicker with the already stored calculated data in the logical layer.
Life cycle of the OBIEEE.
The OBIEEE life cycle consists of the following phases.
●     Requirement gathering phase.
●     The study of the different systems and platforms for databases.
●     Data Warehousing requirements and ETL (which has to be done when we database is not available for access).
●     Defining and designing the entire repository.
●     Dashboard setup.
●     Security measures design.
●     The performance oriented tweaks to the system accesses including the correlation of data etc.
●     Quality analysis and testing phase.
What would you do if you are provided with multiple dimensions and multiple fact tables to connect to?
We create the logical fact table on the higher level BMM layer. This logical table will have the source pointing to the multiple fact tables. This logical table will be used to be connected with the multiple dimensions.
What is meant by a connection pool? When do we create multiple connetion pools and why?

Each database connection we establish from the application and the corresponding information regarding the connection and link is stored in the connection pool. Physical tables and databases are many in an application and we will be dealing with quick fetches for every instance of every database. In such a case we create multiple database connection pools. This will increase the interactivity as there are different connection pools for different database accesses.
What exactly are Alias tables? Give some uses for the same
The Alias tables are more or less duplicates that we create for the tables in the database. It is the concept of creating references or links to the tables and all the properties of the original table like the columns, rows and other properties are inherited by the aliases. When we are performing complex querying operations over the tables in the databases, the alias tables come in handy- say, for example the inner joins.
The design of the business model and the physical layers can be made simpler if we have the alias tables to reference a table multiple times.
What are Alias tables and what is the use of Alias table?
Alias tables is also a physical table but with the type of Alias. It is basically a reference to the logical table source and it will inherit all the column definitions of the logical table source.
An Alias can a be a reference to any of the logical source systems such as stored procedures, physical tables, sql statements etc..
Alias tables are very important in designing a physical layer.
We use Alias table when we need to use an existing table more than once.
If you know sql inner joins, you will understand easily, how we use there same table like sales a, sales b.
Also we use alias tables when we need to use different column names, keys, joins etc..
To help star or snowflakes structures in the Business model layer.
What is Repository in OBIEE?
Repository is one important term in OBIEE. It basically stores the meta data
information. Each meta data repository will store many business models.
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence or BI are the protocols / rules / techniques that are used to finding out, digging and analyzing the current & historical business data. Most of the times it is for sales data, revenues, different products related data, etc..
The important functions in any BI tool are reporting, analysis, Analytics, data modelling, business performance, future analysis of the business.
BI aims on better business decision making. That is why it is also called as Decision support system.
BI uses many technologies, applications to analyze the data.
What is OBIEE ?
Well, here we will discuss something about OBIEE.
OBIEE stands for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.
It is a complete suite of enterprise products of BI. This is mainly used for Analysis and reporting solutions.
Oracle BI EE Plus bundles Oracles Hyperion's reporting products and this is mainly for integrating oracles Hyperion inancial applications.
What are the uses advantages and benefits of OBIEE ?
There are many benefits / advantages of using OBIEE tool over other. But here we will discuss few of them.
1)Excellent Business Intelligence (BI) functionality built on a unique infrastructure that includes Interactive dashboards, Complex queries, Analysis, quite intelligent deliver and alerting system, financial reporting, Online Analytical processing (OLAP), Presentation, Huge volume reporting in production environment, and  integrated with Microsoft.
2) It provides good in depth insight to every one in the organization depending on their role.
3) Unified Business model as it is built on enterprise infrastructure.
4) Integrates very easily with any data source, extraction, transformation, ETL tool, major business application, application server, security, portal, and many other front end tools and also from database side, can integrate with IBM's DB2, Teradata, sql server, SAP business information warehouse BW, flat files, xml etc.., .
]5) Customer have flexible change management system, such as leverage the compliance of SOX acts (Sorbanes oxley).
6) Good performance.
http://prashanthobiee.blogspot.in/p/obiee-interview-questions-part-2.html

http://prashanthobiee.blogspot.in/p/obiee-interview-questions.html

http://prashanthobiee.blogspot.in/p/obiee-interview-questions-part-3.html


OBIEE Interview Questions SET 3

1. What is the default location of a repository file?
2. How many repository files can be loaded to a BI Server simultaneously? Assume its a single server with single instance of BI Server running just to keep things easy 
3. If you have more than 3 repository files mentioned in your NQSConfig.ini file as default, which one gets loaded to the memory when the BI Server is started?
Ex:
Star = SamplerRepository1.rpd, DEFAULT;
Star = SamplerRepository2.rpd, DEFAULT;
Star = SamplerRepository3.rpd, DEFAULT;
4. How do you import Essbase Cubes into your repository?
5. Whats XMLA and where is it used for in OBIEE context?
6. Can you change the location of your rpd file in your OBIEE Configuration? If Yes, Where would you mention the new location of this rpd file for Bi Server?
7. What kind of joins would you perform in the physical layer of the repository file when opened with Administration tool?
8. 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?
9. Can you use an OLTP backend database for creating a dashboard?
10. How many tables are needed in minimum to pass through the Consistency Checking in Logical Layer (Business Mapping and Modeling Layer) of the repository?
11. Can you create new views in the database using OBIEE Administration tool? Can you explain the procedure for doing this?
12. What is a complex join in OBIEE and why, where is it used?
13. Is it mandatory to have hierarchies defined in your repository? If Yes, where does it help? If No, what happens in the reports?
14. How do you create outer joins in physical layer?
15. What does Consistency Checking perform; What are the minimum criteria to pass consistency checking for a given repository?
16. Does OBIEE store physical sql ? How is physical sql generated in OBIEE environments?
17. Are there any occasions where physical sql is not generated when running against a backend database like Oracle, SQL Server or any other relational database?
18. What is the best default logging level for production users?
19. What is the difference between logging level 1 and 2?
20. What are the different places (files) to view the physical sql generated by an Answers report?
21. Where does the BI Server logs its start, stop and restart times in the file system?
22. You have two tables Table 1 and Table 2 joined by a foreign key in the database? They are imported together from the database into your physical layer. Is this relationship still preserved in the OBIEE physical layer?
23. Same as question 22 but what happens if you import each table seperately?
24. If Table 1 and Table 2 are dragged from physical layer to BMM layer, which table becomes a Fact Table and which table becomes a Dimension Table?
25. What if the tables (Table 1 and Table 2) are not joined, then what happens in BMM layer?
26. What is the difference between logical table and logical table source?
27. How many LTS (Logical Table Sources) can a logical table have? Whats the minimum and maximum?
28. How many server instances can coexist in an OBIEE cluster?
29. Whats a dimension only query in OBIEE?
30. Aggregation rules are set on top of …………… columns (Physical Columns or Logical Columns or Both)
Lets get to questions that are little more complex in my opinion 
31. What is alternative drill path? How do you set alternative drill path in OBIEE?
32. What are the pre-requisites for using aggregate persistence wizard? What does aggregate persistence wizard create and what does it help with?
33. Can you import data in multiple sheets from an Excel file? How do you import data from an Excel sheet? (Forget about csv files for now)
34. What are the uses of “Execute Direct SQL” feature in Answers? Is it a good practice to allow this feature for production users?
35. How do you disable “Execute Direct SQL” feature for all the users of your repository?
36. I want to store the value of the last time the respository was updated and show it in the dashboard? What type of variable can be used for this purpose?
37. Is there any way to see a list of all the repository variables defined in your repository using Answers tool?
38. What are Chronological Keys in OBIEE? How are they different from Logical Keys?
39. You want to use a database built-in function bypassing the functions defined in OBIEE? What OBIEE function helps in achieving this? Whats the syntax for this function?
40. What are the different ways to authenticate an user in OBIEE system? Can OBIEE authenticate a user passing through multiple authentication methods?
41. How do you resolve M:M relationship between tables in OBIEE? Explain a scenario where this would help?
42. Does OBIEE support ragged hierarchies? What is the procedure to import ragged hierarchies from Essbase?
43. You are trying to open a repository using Admin tool and when you click to say “Open Online”; a dialogue box pops up saying “Your rpd is available in read-only” mode. How can you edit this repository by opening online?
44. How do you set up usage tracking in OBIEE? Is the Usage Tracking mechanism in OBIEE configurable to capture new identified metrics by your department?
45. What is the default configuration for caching in NQSConfig.ini file? How method does the OBIEE use for clearing its cache?
46. Table 1 and Table 2 are joined together in an Answers query. Table 1 is defined as cachable and Table 2 is defined as not cachable? What happens to the resultset used in the Answers tool? Is the result cached or not cached?
47. What is MUDE/ MUD in OBIEE? On what basis would you create projects?
48. Two people (Developer A and Developer B) are assigned to the same project inside MUD and opened the same project simultaneously. Developer A made some changes to the project and merged his changes to the original repository. Developer B also made some changes and commited his changes to the original repository? Does the MUD environment preserve both Developer A and Developer B changes?
49. In MUDE, Can two resources checkout the same project simultaneously?
50. In MUDE, what happens if the physical tables are shared between projects?
51. What are the different types of utilities provided in OBIEE? Explain any two utilities used in your previous projects and what are they used for?
52. What are the different documentation mechanisms available in Admin tool? How do you create documentation for your Answers users against all objects available in your subject areas?