Business Intelligence, arguably, is the most quantitative of areas in Information Technology. At a very basic level, BI deals with metrics collected about various business processes. The way the metrics have to be managed and manipulated depends on the mathematical content of these metrics. If that sounds too profound, well, it is intentional and I urge you to read on!

Any Data Warehouse data modeler will appreciate the fact that metrics collected in a fact table have to be understood in the context of the Fact Table grain, viz. A transaction grain fact table has metrics that are to be treated differently than the ones stored at a Periodic snapshot level or as an Accumulating snapshot. Think about Fully Additive, Semi-additive facts and you get the idea.

Similarly, a BI report developer deals with numbers on a daily basis. A good understanding of the numbers (can it be added or averaged or extrapolated) to be shown on a report, is essential to arriving at the right information content and also the correct way to visualize the numbers in question. As a simple example, read Ralph Kimball’s classic article on (aren’t all his articles classics!) SQL Roadblocks and Pitfalls here and we realize that to decipher an article that exposes the basic limitations of SQL in dealing with moving averages (a very common requirement in BI reporting), we need the ability to think mathematically.

Moving on to the realm of data mining, predictive analytics and its ilk, we as BI practitioners are starting to tread on areas that require a solid quantitative mindset. In one of my earlier blogs titled ‘The Esoteric World of Predictive Analytics‘, I had argued that traditional statistics is not enough to make sense of Predictive Analytics, when it comes to modeling Human Behavioral Systems which is what BI applications are all about. More fundamentally, an understanding of probabilities, central tendencies, cause and correlation, normal distributions, regression models, design of experiments etc. is becoming very important for BI practitioners and with sites like this one – Rice Virtual Lab in Statistics , it is quite possible to get a grasp on the fundamentals in a short time-frame.

Let me close this blog with a paragraph from ‘Innumeracy’. John Allen Paulos writes and I quote “In an increasingly complex world full of senseless coincidence, what’s required in many situations is not more facts – we’re inundated already – but a better command of known facts, and for this a course in probability is invaluable…..Probability, like logic, is not just for mathematicians anymore. It permeates our lives”.

BI practitioners, whose lofty ideals, relate to helping organizations make sense out of their customers’ behavior, would do well to give their “Quantitative Gene” a push or shove in the right direction.

Thanks for reading. Please do share your thoughts.

Resolution:
Option 1 – Using File list as part of Indirect File Sources in session
Option 2 – Using Parameter File and workflow variable

Implementation Details for option 1: Using File list

XML file names to be processed were read using batch script and file list was created containing XML file. This file list name was set under source properties at session level. XML file were read sequentially and data pertaining to every XML file was processed. Since the number of XML files to be processed was dynamic the need of the hour was to achieve looping in Informatica.

Challenge in using File List – Created in a session to run multiple source files for one source instance in the mapping. When file list is used in a mapping as multiple source files for one source instance, the properties of all files must match the source definition. File list are configured in session properties by mentioning the file name of the file list in the Source Filename field and location of the file list in the Source File Directory field. When the session starts, the Integration Service reads the file list, then locates and reads the first file source in the list. After the Integration Service reads the first file, it locates and reads the next file in the list. The issue using XML file names in file list was further compounded by Informatica grouping records pertaining to similar XML node together. This lead to difficultly in identifying which record belonged to which XML file.

Batch Script – batch scripts controlled over all looping in Informatica by encompassing below mentioned tasks:
• Reading XML file names from staging location and creating file list containing XML file names.
• Moving XML files from staging location to archive location.
• Verifying whether there are any more XML files to be processed and depending on the outcome either loop the process by invoking first workflow or end the process
• Using PMCMD commands invoke appropriate workflows.

Workflow Details –
There were two Informatica workflows designed to achieve looping:
• First workflow –created indirect file to be used as source in session properties and will trigger second workflow. Details of workflow are:
o Command task will execute a DOS batch script which will create indirect file after reading XML filenames from a pre-defined location on server.
o Command task which will execute the second workflow to process data within XML files.

• Second workflow will read process XML files and populate staging tables. Details of workflow are:
o A session will read XML file names using indirect file and load into staging tables.
o A command task will move the XML file just processed in file into an archive folder. Using batch script
o A command task will execute a batch script which will:
 Check whether there are any more XML files to be processed.
 If yes then it will trigger the first workflow. This will ensure all XML files are processed and loaded into staging tables.
 If no then process will complete.

Thanks for reading, pls let me know have you faced any similar situation.

Hi..I would like to install peoplesoft in my personal comp. Could you please tell how should I go about doing it.

I came accross the site edelivery.oracle.com providing the files for downloading and installation of peoplesoft.But if somebody could guide me on which files are mandatory and can i install only peopletools first ..is the HRMS/CRM package type necessary to be installed.

And I already have oracle 10g installed on my pc.Should I still download the files related to oracle database from the site.

Thank you for posting your question
Answer –

I’ll assume that you are installing the latest PeopleSoft versions (Eg: HRMS 9.1/PeopleTools 8.50) for the purpose of learning.

Download and go through the detailed Installation guide, HW/SW requirements for PeopleTools 8.50 and HRMS 9.1 from this location: http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/psftent.html
From the edelivery site, you can download the PeopleTools 8.50 Media Pack and HRMS 9.1 Media pack for your OS Platform.

Demo license codes can be obtained here: http://licensecodes.oracle.com/ent_keys_by_prod.html

If you have Oracle 10g software already installed, then you just need to follow the instructions in the installation guide for creating the PeopleSoft Database.

Thanks
Charles Praveen Janarthanan

We have to import millions of customer information from legacy system into PeopleSoft CRM. We have developed an AE which uses delivered Application Packages to do that. However, it requires 4.5 days to import 3.2 lac customer info.

1. How to develop an AE, multiple instances of which will import data in Parallel, thus reducing the import time ?
2. What will be impact (or likelyhood of deadlocks) if all the instances insert / update data for same set of records ?

Environment Details:
CRM 9.00, PeopleTools 8.49
DB: Oracle 10g Enterprise on AIX 6.1 (4 dual core Xeon / 8 GB RAM) App Server: Windows 2003 Enterprise
 
Thank you for posting your question. Answer to your second question is -

To release the deadlocks, you can use commitwork() and collectgarbage() after processing each set of data, (say count=10000 rows) in Application Engine peoplecode.

Thanks
Nithya R

Sri Lakshmi
I am using PT_WF_NOTIFICATION to send mail.In mail some part of text should be displayed as BOLD. I have used html tags but these are displayed in the mail.How to print text in bold?
I am using message catalog to display part of message.

Thank you for posting your question
Answer –

Most Possible reason is email is being sent as Text, that’s the reason HTML tag are not accepted.

In the application package PT_WF_NOTIFICATION, for the notification class there is a property called ContentType which should initialized if HTML tag are going to used.

Please refer peoplebook for sendmail function; code for content type is:

Content_Type = “Content-type: text/html; charset=utf8″

Thanks
Akash Awadhiya

Now-a-days, LDAP Directories are getting increasingly popular. Most of the Organizations with IT infrastructure has a Windows Domain Contoller (with Active Directory – Which is a LDAP Directory). Some other Organizations do not want to use their Active Directory for LDAP Directory purposes because of interoperability issues. They build a seperate Enterprise Directory infrastructure to keep their user’s Authentication related information.

In this blog entry, I am planning to write a consolidated LDAP Directory related information for the latest Peopletools Version 8.50. As you are all aware, Peopletools provided an abstract layer for the application to run. Peoplesoft has many applications such as Human Capital Management (HCM), Financials and Supply Chain Management (FSCM), Campus Solutions etc. All these applications run with Peopletools internally. Peopletools provides an Abstract layer for these applications to run on top of it.

Introduction to LDAP Directories

Many People  get confused with LDAP terminologies. Just to be clear, LDAP is a protocol – Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. If you are using the term LDAP, make sure, you are refering to a Protocol or a standard, created for accessing LDAP Directories over the network. A LDAP Directory is a software that stores information or data in a tree like format for easy access. As per my experience with LDAP Directories, these are the major LDAP directories:

• Sun Java System Directory Server (earlier Iplanet Directory Server)
• Novell’s NDS eDirectory
• Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD)
• Oracle Internet Directory (OID)

Now that Oracle and Sun got merged as Oracle, Oracle corporation may standardize their LDAP Directory offerings with Sun Java System Directory Server. It is just my prediction because Sun Java/Iplanet Directory server is used in many organizations, Oracle corp may standardize their LDAP Directory offerings for their customers.

Directory Information Tree (DIT)

In any LDAP Directory server, information/data is stored in Directory information Tree called DIT. It has a Tree like format with many parent and child leaves. A LDAP Directory’s DIT can be accessed using a standard LDAPSEARCH Utility.

LDAPBIND and LDAPSEARCH Utilities 

LDAPBIND Utility is used for checking the authentication with LDAP Directory. An Exam command usage is shown below. A “bind successful” means that you have valid authentication details for this directory server.

$ ldapbind  -h 192.168.1.11 -p 389 -D “CN=testuser,CN=Users,DC=tserver,DC=com”  -w “mypassword”
bind successful
$

LDAPSEARCH Utility can be found in many Oracle installations, I always use the one under $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory if I dont have the utility (and I have some version of Oracle Server or Client installed under $ORACLE_HOME).

Here is an example:

ldapsearch -h 192.168.1.11 -p 389 -D “CN=testuser,CN=Users,DC=tserver,DC=com”  -w “mypassword” -b “” -s base “objectclass=*” defaultnamingcontext

Result:

defaultNamingContext=DC=tserver,DC=com

-h -> Hostname or IP Address of the LDAP Directory Server

-p -> Port Number for the LDAP Directory, defaut LDAP port is 389, LDAPS port is 636.

-D -> Bind DN – LDAP DN for connecting to LDAP Directory

-w -> Password for the Bind DN.

-b -> Base DN for the search – here it starts from the top.

-s base -> Search Scope is base (other values are sub and one)

This above command provides the value of default naming context of the top level domain where all the objects are referred to. similarly you can query a lot of other parameters or atttibues as well.

LDAP Directories supported with Peopletools Version 8.50

As far as I understand, there are two scenarios for Peoplesoft Applications requiring an LDAP Directory. One for using Single Sign On (majority of the cases). The other one is for supporting Enterprise Directory for a organization-wide database for user authentication information.

For HCM, Peoplesoft has a product called Directory Interface – I assume it is an additional product and needs to be purchased seperately – that supports major LDAP Directories listed above. Earlier this product used to be called PDI (Peoplesoft Directory Interface). Now they call it just “Directory Interface”. HCM’s Directory interface allows building an Enterprise Directory for your organization. Using Directory Interface, you can populate and push Directory information from HRMS System.

For Single Sign On, major LDAP Directories are supported as well. Additionally, there is a support for Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) in Peopletools 8.50. For a complete list, I would recommend to search the Oracle Web site for Product Certifications.

Please post your comments. We will meet soon with another topic.

Until then

Vijay Chinnasamy

My previous years of Single Sign On or LDAP related experience include the following implementations:

• UNIX Single Sign On with pam_ldap and nss_ldap
• Creating an Enterprise Directory for Humar Resources Management with Sun Iplanet Directory Server
• Peoplesoft Single Sign On with Siteminder Policy Server
• Oracle EBS Single Sign On with Oracle Identity Management and WNA

I am planning to write more about these three implementations that I did during my previous years of Single Sign On or LDAP related experience. Also, I always wanted to write here about various SSO solutions available with different vendors. Also, I want to let you know how SSO and LDAP Directories are related and complimentary in these implementations. All of these items are not possible to explain in one single article, so I will be writing mutiple blogs about the same.

I want to write about the SSO implementation with Unix first. Though this does not involve any ERP products, this (unix and SSO) was my first SSO project and I wanted to write about it.

In one of our customer site, they had around 110 Unix servers, predominantly HP Unix servers, along with some servers running Linux Operating Systems. They kept all their Unix User information locally on the /etc/password file and managed seperately using native UNIX user and group administration tools such as, useradd, usermod, userdel, groupadd, groupmod and groupdel. They wanted to centralize the user information database in Active Directory. (What a weird combination – UNIX users on Active Directory?).

We successfully completed a POC for this. For this authentication to work, there are few components involved. PAM and NSS along with Active Directory and Kerberos on the Windows Domain Controller side.
PAM is Pluggable Authentication Module that provides a mechanism for authentication plugins. NSS is NetworkService Switch Plugin used for authenticating against the LDAP server. HP has a free product called LDAP-UX which includes components such as pam_ldap and nss_ldap which are necessary for LDAP Integration.

In UNIX Environment, Single Sign On was provided for authentication – using the PAM Plugin, in general. When a user enters his username and password, the password credentials are verified againt Kerberos and Active Directory. Once authentication is successful, the user is allowed to enter to the UNIX prompt. The Unix Users are Groups information can also be stores in Active Directory. However, this poses issues since Active Directory is not really meant for storing UNIX User and Group information because it was build for Windows machines primarily. However it is possible to integrate Active Directory with UNIX logins.

For Peoplesoft, Single Sign On implementation is different than how it works in the UNIX Environments because they use different ways. However, you can easily coorelate the same steps involved (first step is authentication, and then authorization).

Authentication involves checking user credentials to make sure they are correct. For example, UNIX login checks the login and password in Kerberos and Active Directory. Authorization involves what a user can do on the system. Authorization comes after authentication. Once a user is authenticated, the system (lets say Peoplesoft) will check what are the “things” the user is authorized to do.

Lets talk more about these in coming days.

Until then
Vijay Chinnasamy

• Parent Data Mart (PDM) – The Data Mart which is to get extended with the elements from another ( Child ) Data Mart
• Child Data Mart (CDM)– The Data Mart which is to be merged with the Parent Data Mart

 There are three parts to focus when we look at Information Delivery processes they are

1. Semantic Layer Integration
2. Security and User profile integration
3. Report consolidation

The key aspects that needs to be performed in the consolidation exercise across these areas are

Semantic Layer Integration

1. Collect the metadata of the objects present in the semantic layer of both PDM and CDM
2. Determine the common objects in the semantic layers
3. Determine the unused objects in the semantic layers, also confirm with users on the objects that are not required in CDM and eliminate them
4. For the required objects in CDM determine the placeholders in the PDM Semantic layer and confirm with users on the location of the new object in the PDM semantic hierarchy
5. Merge the CDM semantic with the PDM Semantic

Security and User Profile Integration

1. Determine the security definition for the required objects in CDM
2. Map the security setup in CDM and PDM, determine the gaps and work arounds
3. Determine the common users and unique users between the system
4. Create users who are not present in the PDM system
5. Apply the required security definition over the new objects in PDM

Report Consolidation

1. Collect the metadata of the objects present in the reports of CDM
2. Determine the reports in PDM that carry similar objects(physical name as well) to that present in CDM, these are reports in CDM that may not be required to be migrated from CDM to PDM
3. Determine the set of unique reports that needs to moved into the PDM system
4. Re-point and change the existing reports in CDM to the integrated semantic definition in PDM

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have come across other points that needs to be considered as part of Information Delivery Layer consolidation exercise. .

Existing PeopleSoft features of Tree Manager, Approval Workflow Engine (AWE), HCM Delegation Framework and pagelet wizards are inter woven with a streamlined process to accomplish what Oracle calls PeopleSoft 9.1 Compensation. Interestingly, the interoperability aspects with ePerformance, Core HR and variable compensation adds more value and increased ROI for the organizations which would implement PeopleSoft 9.1 HCM Compensation.

The first thing that an organization eyes is their budget/Funds for an appraisal / Compensation cycle, followed by the planning and allocation of collective Compensation aspects. Embedded analytics and user friendly interface enables Compensation Administrators or Managers to build what peoplesoft terms it as “Compensation Cycle”.Initial Setup would involve defining proration rules, rounding rules, salary plan, action reason,.. and Configuring compensation matrix.

Example Appraisal – Compensation Configurable matrix:
Rating             Funding Pct       Min Percent     Max Percentage
————-     —————       —————     ——————–
6                               42                      42                            42
5                               30                     30                           30
4                               19                      18                            19
3                                8                         8                             8 
2                                2                          2                             2
1                                2                          1                             2

For a compensation cycle, the funding overview for salary plans  summarizes the total number of head count which would be involved in the appraisal cycle along with the calculated total salaries, calculated amount, calculated percent, qualified headcount, qualified salaries, funded amount, funded percent, proposed amount, proposed percent.

Once the compensation cycle (01JAN2009 to 31DEC2009) is defined, the appraisal team works with the variable compensation plans and compensation rules to manage the available funding for an appraisal cycle. The Pay out periods as well as the Pay out types are also defined using the cash or available stock options. It is one of the features in which many employers tend to provide stocks instead of a cash hike. Followed by the compensation team, the manager self service of PeopleSoft is used by the managers to update appraisal info of an employee or a group (direct reports / Indirect reports) along with their review ratings. The Approval process plays a vital role in approving the planned / updated compensation details using the delivered roles of “submitter” “reviewer” and “Confirmer”.
On the other hand, the administrator is equipped with the compensation dashboard which constitutes the Process flow Build->Open->Load->Close and status history which manages the manager’s access rules (notification period, default, review period, update period)

PeopleSoft 9.1 Compensation also allows employers to handle exceptional cases during an appraisal cycle by incorporating “Key Resource Bonuses” on the Award Plans present with the compensation module.

In total, PeopleSoft 9.1 HCM Compensation seems to be quiet promising in bring in transparency and streamlined appraisal cycle within a growing organization.

As many of you are aware, Oracle has come up with the PeopleSoft 9.1 Version with some cool features, Lets see why one of the new features of peoplesoft 9.1 seems to be interesting as it justifies the HR operations with its functionality. One of the reasons for Indian IT organizations to spend a lot of effort and cost in hiring new employees and especially high profile positions within an organization seems to be the lack of succession planning and career planning.

Succession planning enables an employer to organize its talent pools based on the employees person profile, job code, position and a plan that is unique to it. Initial and continous mapping of employees competency, performance and interests with the employer’s goals (position, jobcodes) makes it easier for the organization to plan and sustain its growth in the event of its new project wins. As stated in

Learning Management System drives a companies growth

peoplesoft 9.1 brings in easier integration options with the Enterprise Learning Management (ELM) module thereby providing consistent career paths for the employees to pursue inorder to accomplish the succession planning. Both the HR Administrators and Managers are well equipped with the Visualization (user friendly reports) and Self Service  layer in accomplishing the tasks.

Features like tracking an employee’s successor in terms of number of years makes the job even easier for the HR to identify / probably mine through the talent pool of the organization.

Let’s see how IT organizations are quick in implementing the Succession planning feature of PeopleSoft 9.1 and Let’s assure them that its a vital part for a growing organization..

A small note on those 2 “Obvious” books that I read – The first one is a classic called “Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Business Man” written by Robert R. Updegraff in 1916 and the second being a more contemporary one by Eliyahu M. Goldratt titled “Isn’t it Obvious”. Though these books talk about very different business domains (Obvious Adams is on Advertising while Goldratt’s book is on Theory of Constraints as applied to the Retail industry), the central theme of these books is the fact that decision makers tend to overlook the basic principles when confronted with problems.

In my humble opinion, a simple, implementable, commonsensical approach based on fundamental principles is the need of the hour in many areas and Business Intelligence is no exception. Based on my experience, given below are some of those basic principles on Business Intelligence that the practitioner would dismiss as being too “obvious” (but hey, isn’t that the intent of this post!). Let’s roll…

1) Business & Business Stakeholders are the key to successful BI
2) BI should help in making decisions that support the business goals
3) BI systems should provide Hindsight, Insight and Foresight to optimize the business process
4) Quality of BI output and hence the quality of decisioning is directly dependent of the quality of data. Remember “Garbage In, Garbage Out”
5) Ensure that the business units agree on what the business really is. Educate the business about the business, if required.
6) Without strategic focus and executive sponsorship, BI projects are set for failure
7) Organizations are dynamic entities and hence ensure that BI systems can adapt to change
8 ) Enable & Empower the BI users (both operational and strategic)
9) Market the value of DW / BI platforms to the user community
10) Don’t boil the ocean – There is no perfect BI system. Try building a successful one instead
11) Always build the BI system with ‘detail data’. Summaries & Aggregations can follow the detail
12) Pick the technology based on Business Fitment not on Tool sophistication
13) Prototype and Visualize the end-state before embarking on major BI initiatives
14) Have the right team to sustain and grow the BI infrastructure
15) Be aware of latest developments and trends in BI

And so, here is my quick checklist on the fundamental principles around thinking, building and using BI in organizations. Please do share your thoughts. Thanks for reading!