22/09/2010 by Simon Tomey.

The heart’s desire of every accountant is to be able to see a report and then click on a section of this to get further detail. We’ve found a way of doing this using BI Publisher in EBS.

The classic situation (which is so well catered for by the likes of Discoverer and BI Answers) is the ability to drill down to further information when performing analysis. You get your top level summary report and you want more information for the areas that are of interest to you. For example imagine wanting the account analysis report information, but summarised by account code with the ability to drill down to the sub-ledger detail underneath. Well now you can.

We’ve managed to set this up using bursting in BI Publisher. By creating a series of templates which hold all the information required for all the various drill down permutations, we can enable users to start with a top level report and drill through various paths to open further detailed reports.

The great news is, that this uses the standard free, integrated Oracle BI Publisher bursting technology. It’s a little complex, but not so complex that we can’t show you how to build you own suites of reports. Just look out for all those accountants, with the desires of their hearts fulfilled…

See below for a mock up we’ve done of this. (yes I know the totals don’t quite add up, but you get the idea of how to do it, I hope).

We create a series of templates which allow the user to jump from one report to another, to follow a “drill path”, using automatically generated hyperlinks.

We run the bursting request to create all the output files, populate the hyperlinks and send them to the appropriate folders.

The user then opens the top level report (either from the directory, or just viewing the output).

The report then contains a series of automatically generated hyperlinks which will follow the “drill path” you have specified when you designed the report.

The hyperlinks enable the user to “drill down” to further levels of detail. (The hyperlink merely opens a new report relevant to the item selected).

The number of drill down levels are not limited (but you may wish to keep it to just a few).

You may wish to enable users to go directly to the full detail.

I’ll post an update when we have done more. Meanwhile you might need to get us in to train you so you can make your own journey of discovery in satisfying the heart’s desire of your accountants.

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07/08/2010 by Simon Tomey.

We’re not committed to your success… We’re passionate about it.

Years ago I challenged a board member of one of the world’s largest companies to give me one word to describe what his team should be. I suggested “passionate”.  He countered with “committed”.

He recently left his wife and children for another woman.
I’d suggest that he found passion stronger than commitment.

We’re not committed to giving you great solutions, we’re passionate about it. In a climate of gloom, fear, uncertainty and cost cutting, we’re passionate giving you power to do more for less by transforming your Oracle reporting.

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30/07/2010 by Simon Tomey.

Since reading this I’ve started shaving my legs, eating poached eggs and powering up hills.The message of this book is that we could all have hope and determination.

The message of this book is that we could all have hope and determination.

• Lance Armstrong had less than a 3% chance of surviving cancer but did and within sixteen months of being discharged from hospital won the Tour de France.
• He attributes his significance not to being a seven times winner of the Tour de France, but of being a cancer survivor.
• A fellow cancer patient had written “You don’t know it yet, but we’re the lucky ones”. I understand this to mean that we are designed to overcome apparently defeating setbacks and that great suffering can produce great character, but most of us never have this “opportunity”.

Certainly Lance attributes much of his maturity as a rider to the endurance he learnt as a cancer patient.

• Lance overcame great suffering and didn’t give into despair and fought like it was him against the world.
• It must have felt very black indeed as day after day under Chemotherapy he was overcome by nausea and had strength only to lie still. He had a clear vision and the determination to make it happen.

A quote I like is:

“I can deliver motivation, inspiration, hope courage and counsel, but I can’t answer the unknowable…In a way we are like the guy on the rooftop [who is in danger of drowning]…Things take place, there is a confluence of events and circumstances , and we can’t always know their purpose…but we can take responsibility for ourselves and be brave.

And remember…Pain is just a signal.

See this book on Amazon »

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