Oracle Business Intelligence 11.1.1.6.

0 BI Publisher Report Bursting with SQL Based Delivery Criteria

Bursting is a process of splitting data into blocks, generating documents/output for each
block and delivering the documents/output to one or more destinations. The data for the
report is generated by executing a query once and then splitting the data based on a key
value (e.g. buyer, customer) value. A separate output/document is generated and delivered
for each block of the data.
Most of the BI products offer the report bursting option which can split a single report based
on specific key value and deliver reports driven by delivery element. Most of tools support
different template, output format and delivery method and local to each split segment of
report. Some of the practical uses of report bursting are as follows

Invoice generation and delivery based on customer-specific layouts and delivery preference
Financial reporting to generate a master report of all cost centers, splitting out individual
cost center reports to the appropriate manager
Generation of pay slips to all employees based on one extract and delivered via e-mail
The purpose of this blog is to discuss report bursting option provided by BI Publisher in
general and BI Publisher 11.1.1.6.0 in particular. There a significant difference between how
BI Publisher report bursting mechanism worked in earlier version of BI Publisher and BI
Publisher 11.1.1.6.0.
Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise Edition
The BI Publisher data to destinations architecture is shown below. The key points of BI
Publisher reporting architecture are as

Supports multiple data sources

Separate layout and translation from data logic
Supports multiple report layouts and output formats and destinations

Bursting Overview
In short report bursting is the process of generating multiple documents from the same
report and delivering each document to a different destination.

Key Concepts for Report Bursting

Split-by key element is an element from the data that will govern how the data is split. For
example, to split a batch of invoices by each invoice, CUSTOMER_ID can be used as
element. The data set must be sorted or grouped by this element. In short it determines
how data is split.
Deliver-by key element is the element from the data that will govern how formatting and
delivery options are applied. In the invoice example, it is likely that each invoice will have
delivery criteria determined by customer; therefore the Deliver By element may also be
CUSTOMER_ID. In short it determines delivery channel, document layout and output format
etc.
Bursting Query (BI Publisher Enterprise) is a SQL query that you define for BI Publisher
to construct the delivery XML data file. The query must return the formatting and delivery
details. In short it is used to retrieve bursting information from database via a SQL query.
Bursting Control File (EBS) is a control file which has been created manually; it is used to
store bursting information. It is not supported in BI Publisher Enterprise.
Report Bursting BI Publisher 10g and Earlier Versions
Report bursting option is available with EBS integrated BI Publisher and standalone BI
Publisher Enterprise Edition. In EBS integrated mode uses control files as a delivery
definition and then linked it with report. It uses concurrent manager to schedule and burst
reports. The EBS bursting is not in the scope of this blog.

In BI Publisher Enterprise Edition the Bursting (or delivery) query is defined in the
report definition. The option to burst option is selected while scheduling the report. A
sample example is shown below which has employee query which has split by department
name is used as source while the delivery query is set of parameters where Email has been
specified as delivery channel.

The delivery query supports various channels such as Email, Printer, and Fax etc. The
delivery channels and delivery query parameters supported by BI Publisher are as follows.

The bursting option is selected while scheduling the report as shown.

Major Limitations
The BI Publisher Bursting has following major limitations

Inability to assign name to the output file delivered to file system or email as attachment
Does not support event based scheduling for report bursting
The bursting query is defined at report level rather than data model level
Multiple report bursting query is not supported
The delivery status may not truly indicate the status of the document.
Report execution and delivery performance is a major problem for the substantial volumes
of outbound documents
BI Publisher 11g Report Bursting
BI Publisher Enterprise bursting query is the only bursting mode supported in 11g. The
control file based report bursting is not supported with Fusion Apps. The other major
difference from the previous version is that bursting definitions(s) are now supported at
data model level rather than report level. Multiple report bursting definitions are possible in
the same data model. The bursting is enabled at the report level and its used while
scheduling the report.
Bursting Definition
The bursting definition includes
Split-by key - Data in data model need to be sorted or grouped by split by key
Deliver-by key

Delivery query SQL query that specifies template, template type, output format, locale,
output name, delivery channel, and delivery parameters (e.g. email address, subject, email
body, etc.)
Delivery XML
A delivery XML for Oracle BI Publisher 11.1.1.6.0 is as follows
<ROWSET>
<ROW>
<KEY></KEY>
<TEMPLATE></TEMPLATE>
<TEMPLATE_FORMAT></TEMPLATE_FORMAT>
<LOCALE></LOCALE>
<OUTPUT_FORMAT></OUTPUT_FORMAT>
<OUTPUT_NAME></OUTPUT_NAME>
<TIMEZONE></TIMEZONE>
<CALENDAR></CALENDAR>
<SAVE_OUTPUT></SAVE_OUTPUT>
<DEL_CHANNEL></DEL_CHANNEL>
<PARAMETER1></PARAMETER1>
<PARAMETER2></PARAMETER2>
<PARAMETER3></PARAMETER3>
<PARAMETER4></PARAMETER4>
<PARAMETER5></PARAMETER5>
<PARAMETER6></PARAMETER6>
<PARAMETER7></PARAMETER7>
<PARAMETER8>/PARAMETER8>
<PARAMETER9></PARAMETER9>
<PARAMETER10></PARAMETER10>
</ROW>
</ROWSET>

Four new tags and 3 more parameters have been added. The four new tags and descriptions
are as follows

OUTPUT_NAME Name that will be assigned to the output file in the report job history. This
also becomes the name of the attachment when emailed.
TIMEZONEThe time zone to use for the report
CALENDARThe calendar type to use for the report
SAVE_OUTPUTTrue or false, whether or not to save the burst output
There are three more parameters have been added, the value of the parameter depends on
chosen DEL_CHANNEL. The DEL_CHANNEL and parameters definitions are
Delivery Query Parameter

Working Example of Report Bursting

Setting up bursting is a two step process.
1. Define the bursting criteria on the data model, multiple definitions can be defined in a data
model
2. Associate bursting definition with report, a report can only be assigned to one of them
To explain how to achieve the report bursting step by step, an example of customer order
detail report bursting from sample schema is depicted below.
Define Bursting Criteria on Data Model
The Customer Order Detail Data model has two SQL source data sets, customer and orders.
The master detail relationship is set by making links between the customer data and the
orders data by using data model editor. The relationship between two data sets is done
based on customer name field. The list of values is defined as customer name.
Customer Data Set Definition is as follows
select"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"as"NAME",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."ESTAB_NAME"as"ESTAB_NAME",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."ADDRESS1"as"ADDRESS1",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."ADDRESS2"as"ADDRESS2",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."CITY"as"CITY",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."STATE_PROVINCE_ABBRV"as"STATE_PROVINCE_ABBRV",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."POSTAL_CODE"as"POSTAL_CODE",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."COUNTRY_NAME"as"COUNTRY_NAME",
"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."CUST_KEY"as"CUST_KEY",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."STATE_PROVINCE"as"STATE_PROVINCE",
"SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."REGION"as"REGION"
from"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_ADDRESSES_D""SAMP_ADDRESSES_D",
"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D""SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"
where"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."ADDRESS_KEY"="SAMP_ADDRESSES_D"."ADDRESS_KEY"
and"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"IN(:P_NAME)
orderby"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"ASC

Order Data Set Definition is as follows

select"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."CUST_KEY"as"CUST_KEY",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."ORDER_NUMBER"as"ORDER_NUMBER",
"SAMP_PRODUCTS_D"."BRAND"as"BRAND",
"SAMP_PRODUCTS_D"."PROD_DSC"as"PROD_DSC",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."UNITS"as"UNITS",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."REVENUE"as"REVENUE",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."ORDER_DAY_DT"as"ORDER_DAY_DT",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."BILL_DAY_DT"as"BILL_DAY_DT",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."PAID_DAY_DT"as"PAID_DAY_DT",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."ORDER_STATUS"as"ORDER_STATUS",
"SAMP_REVENUE_F"."CURRENCY"as"CURRENCY"
from"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_PRODUCTS_D""SAMP_PRODUCTS_D",
"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_REVENUE_F""SAMP_REVENUE_F"
where"SAMP_PRODUCTS_D"."PROD_KEY"="SAMP_REVENUE_F"."PROD_KEY"

The report bursting definition for file and email deliveries are created for the Customer
Order Detail Data Model, the bursting definition and associated SQLs are below.

Burst to Email
select"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"as"KEY",
'OrdersLetter'TEMPLATE,
'XPT'TEMPLATE_FORMAT,
'enUS'LOCALE,
'PDF'OUTPUT_FORMAT,
"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"||'_'||'OrdersList'OUTPUT_NAME,
'EMAIL'DEL_CHANNEL,(DeliveryChannelEmail)
'to@nowhere.com'PARAMETER1,
'cc@nowhere.com'PARAMETER2,
'from@nowhere.com'PARAMETER3,
'SUBJECT:BIPublisherEnterpriseBurstingReport'PARAMETER4,
'BODY:EmailBody'PARAMETER5,
'true'PARAMETER6,
'replyto@nowhere.com'PARAMETER7
from"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D""SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"

Burst to File

select
"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"as"KEY",
'OrdersLetter'TEMPLATE,
'XPT'TEMPLATE_FORMAT,
'enUS'LOCALE,
'PDF'OUTPUT_FORMAT,
"SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"."NAME"||'_'||'OrdersList'OUTPUT_NAME,
'FILE'DEL_CHANNEL,
'/home/oracle/rb'PARAMETER1(FolderLocation)
from
"BISAMPLE"."SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D""SAMP_CUSTOMERS_D"

Associate Bursting Definition with Report

Now that the bursting definition has been setup, it must be associated with a report in order
to be used. Edit Customer Letter and view the Properties. By default, the bursting definition
associated with the data model for report will be selected in the Advanced section of the
report properties. The drop down beside Enable Bursting allows you to select which bursting
definition to use for the report. Remember, you can only use 1 bursting definition in a single
report.

Scheduling a Report to be Burst

To schedule a report to be burst, create a new Report Job and schedule as normal, except
on the Output tab check the checkbox labeled Use Bursting Definition to Determine Output
& Delivery Destination. When this box is checked, the output and destination input fields
are hidden as all delivery information is expected to come from the bursting query.

The result of bursting should be individual customer letter generated and stored in folder
specified or delivered to customer email address.

Bursting is an extremely powerful feature of BIP, there is no doubt. The next blog I would
like to compare the report bursting feature of BI Publisher with Oracle BI Delivers, which I
have used for report bursting for number of times.