DAC Error Message – Error while executing : INFORMATICA TASK:SILOS:@DAC_SIL_PositionDimension_FULL_TD_CMD

Thanks to Frank Davis, I was able to solve the following error; ‘Error while executing : INFORMATICA TASK:SILOS:@DAC_SIL_PositionDimension_FULL_TD_CMD’

A patch (Patch 12968641: DAC 10.1.3.4.1 CUMULATIVE PATCH FOR BI APPS – SEP 2011) for this error can be downloaded here.

Solving the Informatica TM_6795 ERROR

When running an Execution Plan in the DAC, I ran into an error. Investigating this error led to the Informatica Workflow Monitor. The logfile returned the following error;

“TM_6795 ERROR: Session or its instance is invalidated and the Integration Service is configured not to run impacted sessions.”

The Informatica Message Reference leads to the following;

***

TM_6795 The Repository Service marked the session as impacted, and the Integration Service is not configured to run impacted sessions.
User Response: Validate the session or configure the Integration Service to run impacted sessions.

***

If this is the case check whether all the related Informatica Mappings, Mapplets and Workflows, etc. are  validated and checked in. The latter did it for me. Not all obnjects where properly checked in.

Installing Oracle BI Apps 7.9.6.3

The following is a short description of what steps have to be taken to install Oracle BI Applications (OBIA) version 7.9.6.3. This version of OBIA is the first version which runs on the new Oracle BI 11g 11.1.1.5.0 platform

This document assumes, that Oracle BI 11g has been installed already. Make sure the Weblogic Administration Server is running before the installation starts.

• Unpack the installation software
• Navigate to the folder; ‘Oracle_BI_Applications’
• Start Setup.exe
• A wizard will start

• Click Next
• Enter the installation directories — {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}
  • There are three important locations;
    • Oracle BI Home Locatie  –> {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}\Oracle_BI1
    • Oracle Instance Locatie  –> {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}\instances\instance1
    • Oracle Domain Location –> {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain

• Click Next
• Enter the Weblogic Administrator Details

• Click Next
• In the background, some examinations are performed. This could take a while
• Select the applications (default = everything), which should be installed

• Click Next
• A summary appears with the e=information about what will be installed

• Click Next

• Wait for the installer to finish

• Click Finish

After the installation has finished, one can check what has been installed. In the ‘Oracle BI Home’ there has been an additional folder (biapps) added.

You will find the new Repository RPD-file in; {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}\Oracle_BI1\biapps\repository

The Repository can be opened offline. The Repository password (Admin123) is the default.

De new Catalog resides in the; {MIDDLEWARE_HOME}\Oracle_BI1\biapps\catalog-folder.

More to come.

Oracle BI Applications – Security

I recently had to digg into the standard Oracle BI Applications Security Oracle delivers out of the box. The clients had two security requirements.

The first one was a Data Security requirement. When a user logs in he is presented with his / her organization’s data only. So a user from organization ’001′  only sees data from organization ’001′ . Organization user ’002′ only sees organization ’002′ and so on.

The second requirement was Object Security. Each function has access to a group of objects, regardless of their organization. So all ‘General Ledger Super Users’ have access to the same objects whether they are in organization ’001′ or ’002′

 

The client has the following installation:

• Oracle eBS R12 (12.1.1)
• Oracle BI Apps  (7.9.6)
• Oracle BI EE (10.1.3.4.1)

In general the standard Oracle BI Applications security solution is built around;

• Groups (Repository, Web Catalog)
• Session Variables
• Business Model Filters
• Permissions
• Priviliges

In more detail the following steps have to be performed:

Set the application context

The Oracle BI Applications session should get the same security context as Oracle eBS, where you navigate from.

 During logon the ‘EBS Security Context’-Initialization Block is called and executed. The Oracle eBS session cookie is used to set the context. The Initialization block ‘fills’ the variables with information about which user / responsibility combination is logged on. These variable will be used in other Initialiation Blocks along the road.

call APP_SESSION.validate_icx_session('valueof(NQ_SESSION.ICX_SESSION_COOKIE)')

 If all goes well, the Oracle BI Apps session will get the same context as Oracle eBS. Otherwisse there are 3 options :

• SESSION_DOES_NOT_EXIST,
• SESSION_NOT_VALID,
• SESSION_EXPIRED.

Repository Groups

There are two important Groups;

• Responsibility Groups (Should the Responsibilities in Oracle eBS)
• Security Groups (These will be used for the Data Security)  
  • –> Examples:
  • Ledger-based Security
  • Inventory Org-based Security
  • Operating Unit Org-based Security

 Variables

The security group someone belongs to is detemined by session variables, which are set during logon.

Initialization Blocks and Variables are the necessary objects to examine. If we relate to the example in the previous section, we could state that the following three Initialization Blocks are most important;

Ledgers

Inventory Organizations

Operating Unit Organizations

 

Data Security

Data Security is being set up via, Security Groups and Business Model Filters.

 

As from now on, each query which is composited with a table linked to a Security Group a “Where-clause” is added.

Presentation Catalog Groups

The groups as they are created in the repository should also be created in the Web Catalog.

 

 Object Security

You can use the Catalog Groups to grant or revoke acces to certain objects (Folders, Answers, Dashboards, etc) in the Web Catalog. The same groups an be used to mange the privilliges within the Web Catalog. Use the Security Groups in the Repository to control the Access to the Subject Area’s in the Presentation Layer.

Check my previous post about navigating from Oracle eBS to Oracle BI EE.