We are supporting a BI/data warehouse application. Now the backend database is migrating from Oracle 8i to Oracle 9i/10g. We are using Oracle Express Analyzer 6.3.2 as the OLAP tool for report generation. We would like to know the impact and areas of concern, compatability and dependencies of this upgrade. Help us with our impact analysis.

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The question that you pose is one that many people need to consider as technology continues to evolve and the Oracle OLAP products are no different. So I asked my colleague Chris Claterbos for some advice. When is comes to these types of questions he is the person I turn to. According to Chris this is what you should consider:

 

  1. Oracle OLAP is the product you will need to do the same things they are doing today with Oracle Express. It is suggested that you use version 10.1.0.4 or 10.2 if possible.
  2. As well, Oracle no longer has Express Analyzer, which was a VB application. Therefore, If you are using Analyzer and Oracle Web Agent their Web Agent Application will work directly in Oracle OLAP with a simple export/import.
  3. The Express Database can be exported and imported directly into 10g OLAP; then a migration script can be run to make it compatible for the new Oracle Reporting tools. If you want to use existing OLAP DML (Express SP) code, this is also supported.
  4. There are several new front-end tools that do the same thing and MORE than Express Analyzer. This includes Discoverer for OLAP and Worksheet Add-in (similar to Express Excel Add-in). There is no way to migrate the Analyzer Workbooks or Reports into Discoverer. If the client has created reports and moved them to Web Publisher and Web Agent they can be moved directly, but there is no tool to allow modifying these reports or moving them into Discoverer. The best way would be to redefine the reports in the new tools, i.e., Discoverer for OLAP or BI Beans. This is really not a hard thing to do! Maybe 15 minutes per report.
  5. Finally you have the option of using existing Express Data Model or moving it over to the Full OLAP Standard Model. This can be a gradual thing or can be done as part of the migration.

I hope this helps you to get your migration started.

This was first published in October 2005

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