OAC /OAS Local Subject Area vs. Oracle Applications based Connection

 In both OAC (Oracle Analytic Cloud) and OAS (Oracle Analytic Server), enterprise editions we have a very powerful data model (RPD) developed and maintained by the System managers. We use it's Subject Areas to build Analysis, Workbooks... We can also create a dataset based on specific subset of the model. It is done mostly to give additional power to the users, without changing the master data Model. 

It can be created using either the build-in Local Subject Area option, or by creating a new connection based on Oracle Applications. Those are 2 (mostly) similar options:

In both cases we can create a dateset that uses the system data model (RPD) and treats it in a Database like fashion.

When creating a dataset that is based on Local Subject Area we can enter Manual Query or Select a Subject area and next select specific column from that Subject Area and create a dataset:

 

When creating a dataset based on Oracle Application connection, it is similar, except we can also select an Analysis from the catalog as a source:

Yet they are several differences in behavior of the datasets that are created based on the above 2 options.
 

In Both cases we can create a dataset that is based on one subject area. Then add more Subject Areas and connect them with Right Click and Join. Later we can also join them with other datasets or Subject Areas on Workbook level.

If you want it to be interesting, you can even have a mix of Subject Area and Analysis as a source for Application based data set.

When looking at the definition screen we can see the first difference. For local SA (Subject Area) based DS (Dataset) we can select if we want it Live or Cached:

Such data set can later be scheduled for cashing (Naturally it would work for Live datasets): 

 

There is no such option in Application connection based DS. It is cashed by default and can be refreshed manually or as Scheduled as described above.

Explain and Insights:

Both type of data sets support Explain feature. Yet Local SA based DS can't do insights, just like a regular Subject Area. Application connection based DS can do both.

Data Options

At the Project level we can join both types with additional datasets and Subject Areas.

 

We can use both types of datasets in Data Flows

Summary

Group	Capability	Local SA	Applic based
Data Source	Manual SQL	Ö	Ö
	Subject Area	Ö	Ö
	Catalog	×	Ö
Refresh	Live	Ö	×
	Cached	Ö	Ö
Special	Explain	Ö	Ö
	Insight	×	Ö

Oracle Analytics Server 2022 (OAS 6.4) is available

 The new release of Oracle Analytics Server 2022 (OAS 6.4) is available from Oracle since the beginning of March 2022. 

You can get it from the standard link: https://www.oracle.com/solutions/business-analytics/analytics-server/analytics-server.html, if you do, make sure to download the proper 12.2.1.4 weblogic and not the default 14.1.1.0.

 Or even better, download from edelivery here and search "Oracle Analytics Server 6.4". Edelivery on the other hand does not include links to required patches, JDK and Client.

 

 See the list of new features here and the post by Qubix here.

 

See the documentation here.

The installation guide is here.

The migration/upgrade guide is here.

 

You can even get the new release in the cloud from Oracle Marketplace, if you don't want the OAC (Oracle Analytic Cloud) for some reason (hope the things Gianni didn't like about the previous version were fixed).

Or even a docker image by the same Gianni here. 

Granting Service Administrator privilege to OAC instance

 When working with Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) certain users need the super user privileges. The Service Administrator. The user that created the instance gets it by default. The standard setup of inside OAC (Console->Users and Roles->Application Roles->BI Service Administrator) is not enough.

One of the major problems is connecting to Data Modeler Client and getting an Error while all parameters seems fine.

 Most of what we need can be found in the A-Team blog, Provisioning Oracle Analytics Cloud Natively in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. I will summarize the relevant parts.

When creating OAC instances, if the user is not OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) Admin, the user should be assigned to a group and the group should get a privilege to manage analytics-instances in the relevant compartment  see here for more about privileges.


allow group <IAM Group> to manage analytics-instances in compartment <Compartment>

 

Next we should get to the IDCS screen. Find the relevant Oracle Cloud Service and assign the User, Group or Application Role to the ServiceAdministrator Application Role.

This the detailed description of the above paragraph:

From Burger menu on the left select Identity & Security and Federation:

There click on the Identity Provider

 

And press the Oracle Identity Cloud Service Console link:

There select the burger menu and Oracle Cloud Services:

You might have one or many services there. Find the ANALYTICSINST that is relevant to you and click on it.

Now find the Application Roles tab. There click on the menu (on the right) for Service Administrator and assign User, Group or Application Role to it.

Once you select an option, a search screen with all possible values appears.

Select who you want to add to Service Administrator Application Role.

If you are interested in the relationship between "Application Roles Available in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console" and "Permissions in Oracle Analytics Cloud", you can find it here:

 https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/paas/analytics-cloud/acabi/users-and-groups.html#GUID-811DEC21-ECF8-4E98-86F3-8BC2088A11A4

 Basic table from documentation:

Application Roles Available in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console	Permissions in Oracle Analytics Cloud
ServiceAdministrator	Member of BI Service Administrator, BI Data Model Author, and BI Data Load Author. Allows users to administer Oracle Analytics Cloud and delegate privileges to others. The user who creates the service is automatically assigned this application role.
ServiceUser	Member of BI Content Author and DV Content Author. Allows users to create and share content.
ServiceViewer	Member of BI Consumer and DV Consumer. Allows users to view and explore content.
ServiceDeployer	Not used in Oracle Analytics Cloud.
ServiceDeveloper	Not used in Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Detailed table from Analytics perspective: 

Predefined Application Role in Oracle Identity Cloud Service	Default Members	Description	Predefined Application Roles in Oracle Analytics Cloud
ServiceAdministrator	Administrator who created the service	Allows users to administer Oracle Analytics Cloud and delegate privileges to others using the Console.	BI Service Administrator
ServiceAdministrator	BI Service Administrator	Allows users to manage data models in Oracle Analytics Cloud using Data Modeler	BI Data Model Author
ServiceAdministrator	BI Service Administrator	Allows users to load data.	BI Data Load Author
ServiceUser	BI Service Administrator	Allows users to create visualization projects, load data for data visualizations, and explore data visualizations.	DV Content Author
ServiceUser	BI Service Administrator DV Content Author	Allows users to create analyses and dashboards in Oracle Analytics Cloud and share them with others.	BI Content Author
ServiceViewer	DV Content Author	Allows users to explore data visualizations.	DV Consumer
ServiceViewer	DV Content Author BI Content Author BI Data Load Author	Allows users to view and run reports in Oracle Analytics Cloud (projects, analyses, dashboards). Use this application role to control who has access to the service.	BI Consumer
ServiceDeployer ServiceDeveloper			Not used