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One-Stop Shopping for
Reporting and Analysis on the
Web
Dana Voss
dvoss@indiana.edu
Manager, Decision Support Services
University Information Technology Services
October, 2002
Copyright Dana C. Voss, 2002. This work is the intellectual property of
the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for
non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright
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the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or
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About Indiana University
 Public University
 8 Campuses
 10,565 Appointed
Staff members
 4,745 Faculty
members
97,000 enrolled
students in Fall
2001-2002
About IU Information Systems
PeopleSoft Student & HR
Library
Financial Information Systems
Electronic Records Management
TimeKeeping
Maintenance Management System
What do All These Applications Have in
Common????
REPORTING!
What is a Data Warehouse?
 Data is collected from other sources; for example, legacy systems or
online transaction processing systems like PeopleSoft.
 Data is made consistent prior to storage in the data warehouse.
 Data is summarized. Data warehouses usually do not retain as much
detail as transaction-oriented systems.
 Data is longer-lived. Transaction systems may retain data only until
processing is complete, whereas data warehouses may retain data for
years.
 Data is stored in a format that is convenient for querying and analysis.
 Data is usually considered read only.
What is a Data Mart?
 A data
mart is simply a smaller data warehouse.
 Usually the data in a mart is a subset of data that is found
in an enterprise-wide warehouse, as follows:
 A data warehouse is for data throughout the enterprise.
 A data mart is specific to a particular department or subject area.
Data Warehousing at IU
 15-20 years of mainframe reporting:
Information Center in Focus
 1995-2000: Financial Data in Sybase
 2000: moved to Oracle
 Today:



Student Admissions (PeopleSoft)
Human Resources (PeopleSoft) – in progress
Library, Financial Data, etc.
DSS staff Today
 1 Data Warehouse Architect
 2 Lead Data Warehouse Analysts
 1 Data Warehouse programmer
 5 Java developers
 1 End User Support Specialist
What is the IUIE?
 Indiana University Information Environment
https://onestart.iu.edu/iuie
 Web based reporting and analysis application
 Provides point and click interface for
functional users
 Delivery of Enterprise-Wide Data and Reports
 User interface for the Data Warehouse
From PeopleSoft to IUIE
Online
Data
Sources
DataW’house
copy of
PSFT
Tables
Other
system
Tables/
data
IU
DSS
ODS /
Staging
PeopleSoft
tables
Presentation
Tools
Copies of
Other
data
Transform
Data
&
Load
IUIE
Web-Based
Publishing
•1-tbl query
•SQR reports
(PDQs)
Reporting
Data
Structures
Report
Writing
•Frozen Files
(mime-docs)
•Indexd Files
ODBC
apps
IUIE Users – Information Consumers (IC)
 Users of reports and data made available by others.
 Ability to access information without having to create
reports to obtain the data.
 Skills needed:



Understand data
Web browsing skills
Check out our tutorial:
http://www.indiana.edu/~iuie/IUIE_HELP/Tutorials/test/intro.phtml?intro
IUIE Users –
Information Providers (IP) a.k.a. Publishers
 1) Functional Staff Member

publishes the metadata that provides documentation and
guidance on the use of the data in the form of a Report
Object in the IUIE.

Skills needed:


understands intimately the data, the business
processes, the reporting requirements
Attend IUIE Publishing training (2 hours)
IUIE Users –
Information Providers (IP) a.k.a. Publishers
 2) Data Warehouse Developer

builds tables and data structures in the DSS
environment (~ 4-20 hours to develop a datagroup or a star
schema in the Data Warehouse – DOES NOT include gathering
requirements!)



Works closely with DSS partner
Publishes technical details in IUIE
Skills needed:
 SQL, Data modeling, Data Warehouse concepts
 Understands data
 IUIE Publisher training (2 hours)
IUIE Users –
Information Providers (IP) a.k.a. Publishers
 3)
SQR Developer
 Creates static reports or PDQs & publishes technical
pieces in IUIE (~ 4 – 20 hours to create an SQR report – DOES
NOT include gathering requirements!)

Skills Needed:



SQR training (2 days)
Understands data
IUIE Publisher training (2 hours)
 4) Crystal Reports Developer


Creates static or dynamic reports & publishes technical
pieces in IUIE
Skills Needed:



Crystal Reports training
Understands data
IUIE Publisher training (2 hours)
About IUIE
 In production since November 2000
 Work on enhancements continues today
 Developed in Uniface & Perl CGI initially
 In the process of converting the code to J2EE
IUIE – Menu Structure
 Without entering IUIE, users can access the
application Help files and the Registration screen
 Menu Options:
 Master Catalog








Listing of all “Report Objects” in the IUIE
Organized in folders and Subfolders
RO Metadata
My Catalog – personal catalog choices
Publish – only for Information Providers
Schedule
Preferences (Personal settings for views, notifications,
etc. )
Search
IUIE – Report Object (RO) Types
 Datagroup






Database object, refreshed in batch schedule
Can select subset of data (rows and columns to be returned)
Can select from only one datagroup at a time in IUIE
Query executes at request time (simple SQL statement built
from parameters entered on screen)
Raw data is returned, best for small result sets, or to load
spreadsheet for further analysis…
Supports Row-Level Security
IUIE – Report Object (RO) Types
 Datagroup Template



Paired down version of a Datagroup
Selections have been pre-made at Publishing time
User can make limited selections
IUIE – Report Object (RO) Types
 Frozen Report

Static Unix file

May be created from operational schedule and copied
to IUIE

May be created in DSS schedule (built from datagroup)

It can be any document (i.e. Peoplesoft User Guide!)

Usually a nicely formatted report, but it can be tabdelimited for easy load into spreadsheet

Cannot select subset of data

All MIME types are supported

No Row Level Security
IUIE – Report Object (RO) Types
 Pre-Defined Query
 Can select subset of data

Query executes at request time - parameters
entered on screen passed to complex program
(usually SQR)

Parameters may include options for alternative
formatting as well as alternate result sets

May join together data from multiple
datagroups

Usually a nicely formatted report

Supports Row-Level Security
IUIE – Report Object (RO) Types
 Indexed Report

Static Unix file

May be created from operational schedule and copied to
IUIE

May be created in DSS schedule (built from datagroup)

Usually a nicely formatted report

Can select subset of data (pages of the report, but not more
selective than that), because report has been indexed on key
fields

Useful for very large reports from which the information
consumer may only want to see a few pages

No Row Level Security
Scheduling
vs
Scheduling
 Job Scheduling in DSS or OLTP environment


Data structures are built on a scheduled basis in the DSS
environment; they are published as Datagroups in IUIE
SQRs which create indexed reports or frozen reports can
be scheduled either in the DSS environment or PSFT; the
output is published in IUIE
 RO Scheduling in IUIE

Datagroups (i.e. queries), PDQs, Indexed Reports can be
scheduled to run on a regular basis. The output produced
by these is stored in My Catalog.
IUIE—how it’s used
 Using the IUIE for day-to-day needs

View/print reports, data, control & “DDD” tables

Create data extracts



Some extracts may be further manipulated as merge files
for letters, labels, datasheets, etc
Submit issues/questions as follows:

Use IUIE_HELP for questions related to the application

Use subject area list for questions related to content
(sishelp currently))
Request access to data (through IUIE_HELP)

Access to ROs is determined by Data Manager. Groups
are established which offer access to multiple ROs. ICs
needing access to ROs are added to the appropriate
Group(s).
IUIE – Security
 IUIE access is via IULogon currently; IULogon will be
replaced by Central Authentication Service or ‘CAS’
(Kerberos) authentication
 Information Providers suggest access type
 Data Managers approve user and RO access
 Two Types of RO security:
 Object Level
 Row Level (Rule Based)
IUIE – Object Level Security
 Access rules apply to entire RO
 All IUIE ROs support object level access
 Oracle Roles at the Database level have
corresponding IUIE groups
 Access controlled via Oracle roles and IUIE groups
User1
Oracle Role/Group A
RO1
RO1
User2
Oracle Role/Group B
RO1
RO1
Oracle Role/Group C
RO1
IUIE – Row Level (Rule Based)
Security
 access is limited to a subset of a larger pool of data
 Only Datagroups and Pre-Defined Queries support Row
Level security
User1
User Group A
User2
User Group B
N~IUBLA~UGRD~%~ENG%~%
N~IUINA~GRAD~%~MATH~%
Rule Based Sec.
Group A (Ferpa, inst,
career, program, plan,
app center)
RO1
RO2
User Group C
IUINA~UGRD
Rule Based Sec.
Group B (Institution,
Career)
RO3
RO4
IUIE Statistics
 3000 Users – requests for new accounts
come in on a daily basis

4000 Users by end of 2002
 1025 Report Objects (RO) as of 9/2002
 750+ requests for ROs per day
 325+ users log in a day
Lessons learned—for a
successful IUIE Implementation
1) Document by office, current “report” programs/
queries - both info center & production (including
production reports like transcripts, grades, bills, etc).
2) Discuss and document current archived data &
access methods and needs
3) Discuss and document audit & journaling needs
4) Identify and understand the data elements that will
be needed for reporting

You may start with legacy fields, but eventually need to
identify the PS fields.
Lessons learned—for a
successful IUIE Implementation
5) Identify and train team members who will do
publishing in the IUIE
•
Maintain a glossary of potential Report Objects,
•
Maintain a spreadsheet of all fields to be published
•
Develop your Master Catalog Structure
6) Identify End-Users of the IUIE
7) Identify who needs more extensive "developerlike" training for the IUIE
8) Solicit and receive constant feedback
9) START NOW!!!!!!!!!!
Dana C. Voss
Manager
Decision Support Services
dvoss@indiana.edu
http://www.indiana.edu/~dss
INDIANA UNIVERSITY