Tag: SFDC

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com

  1. Part 1 Setting Up SFDC
  2. Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver
  3. Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report
  4. Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC

From Part 3, you should have prepared everything from OBIEE side. There are 3 ways for us to embed OBIEE to Salesforce.com but 99% of the time, you would only use 2 of them hence I will teach the 2 different ways.

  1. Web Tabs – A basic tab in Salesforce.com which will embed the OBIEE
  2. VisualForce Page – A custom page within any Salesforce.com page.

O, but wait, there’s more to configure within OBIEE before we continue. For OBIEE to be displayed on Salesforce.com, there are 2 requirements from Salesforce.com

  1. SSL Enabled – In OBIEE, enable SSL through Weblogic but I will not go through this. There are many resources in the web which will walk you through this. Some reference sites: OBIEE SSL Oracle Documentation, Another Oracle OBIEE SSL Documentation, Debashis Blog Post. Yeah, I hope Debashis would update to a newer version too.
  2. Enable iFrame in OBIEE – which is quite simple and I will go through this here.

I would also suggest you to enable HTML5 if you are on 11.1.1.9 and if you are still on 11.1.1.7 then turn on PNG instead of Flash charts, for more information on how to do this, click here.

Continue reading “OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC”

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com

  1. Part 1 Setting Up SFDC
  2. Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver
  3. Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report
  4. Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC

Continuing from Part 2, we will import Objects to the RPD. For demonstration purposes, I will keep this as simple as possible. I will also not go through details of how to build hierarchies or other RPD related issues. I will rather go through specific best practices for SFDC as a data source.

In this tutorial, I will use Salesforce Developer Edition, a free edition for developers, to demonstrate how to create the below report. You can sign up for it here: https://developer.salesforce.com/signup

OBIEE_Campaign

Continue reading “OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report”

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com

  1. Part 1 Setting Up SFDC
  2. Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver
  3. Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report
  4. Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC

Continuing from Part 1, we will also need to install and configure ODBC Driver. There are a few choices for choosing your drivers as follows:

  1. Progress DataDirect Connect – Salesforce ODBC Drivers
  2. Simba Technologies – ODBC Drivers with SQL Connector for use with Salesforce
  3. EasySoft – Salesforce ODBC Driver
  4. Rssbus – CDATA Salesforce ODBC Driver

With the above choices, it really does make life tough to choose which driver to purchase. I actually tried them all and they all work fine with my test environment. So the problem goes down to your SFDC scale. If you are using Force.com applications, then I would highly suggest you go with Progress. Progress is a listed company, well known with its DataDirect series, have been around for long enough with good field knowledge. On top, I’m pretty sure they have the most knowledgeable developers and support within the list. All this is packaged with the price, so decide for yourself. I personally think going with the best is usually the best option if money allows. Second to Progress would definitely be Rssbus (CDATA) and Simba Technolgies. They either have a large client list or certified for certain BI tools. This way, the driver gets updated more often because chances are your bug has already be encountered by others. I’m not saying EasySoft is a bad choice, but if you move further down the road, I think  Simba or Rssbus providing JDBC choices for Publisher maybe a good idea. I tried to find JDBC driver on EasySoft website, but wasn’t able to find it.

Anyway, they all provide trial versions, so you might as well test it for your own. They all work similarly the same way.

In this post, I will be using Progress DataDirect for demonstration.

Continue reading “OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver”

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 1 Setting Up SFDC

In order for OBIEE to connect with Salesforce.com, you will need to have an ODBC driver as well as SFDC setup correctly. In this post, I will go through the required setup for Salesforce.com There are 2 main areas you will need to cover in SFDC before we begin setting up ODBC driver.

  1. Option 1: Using Security Token
    • Permission Set – API Enabled
    • Assign Permission to Users
    • Security Token Reset
  2. Option 2: Using Trusted IP
    • Network Access
    • Trusted IP Ranges

With Option 1, you will not need to trust any particular IP addresses. However, when ODBC connects, connection will require username, password as well as the security token generated by SFDC. This may not be accepted by the end user as they will need to enter a security token every time. It may sound secure, but I’m pretty sure the end user will keep the password and security token in a notepad and just copy and paste everytime they log in. No so safe after all. Using Option 2, the machine hosting OBIEE can be trusted using Trusted IP Range. This way, security token is not needed. Continue reading “OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Part 1 Setting Up SFDC”

OBIEE Integration with Salesforce.com – Intro

I am planning to write about OBIEE and Salesforce integration in the coming weeks. There will be a few parts to it. I do hope there will be some interest in this area.

Turning this

SFDC_Campaign

in to this

OBIEE_Campaign

Real time reporting for SFDC is great as OBIEE can create great visuals and management may not even be using SFDC too often. Filtering in OBIEE is a lot easier too!

 

  1. Part 1 Setting Up SFDC
  2. Part 2 Setting Up ODBC Driver
  3. Part 3 Creating Your First Answers (Analysis) Report
  4. Part 4 Embed OBIEE to SFDC
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