For a business with operations spanning 50 global offices and 300+ channel partners, software upgrades are a serious endeavor. A global leader in telecommunications and fiber optic networks had complex enterprise reporting needs that were becoming increasingly difficult to service on legacy Oracle Brio/Hyperion interactive reporting. The structure of Hyperion IR reports with each having a separate data model limited the ability to share standard reports across users and division, leading to many reporting silos, redundancies, and proliferation of reports. Besides, with Hyperion Brio product support sunset on the horizon, it became essential to migrate the #1 business in Test and Measurement, Wireless and Avionics, Banknote authentication, and 3D sensing to a newer platform.

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) 12C On-Premise was selected as the target platform to migrate from Hyperion/Brio due to its ability to serve complex business requirements. Built on an architecture that simplifies access to multiple data sources on a shareable enterprise data model, OBIEE 12C simplified enterprise-level reporting. It’s interactive dashboards, and an extensive range of options for charting provided rich visualizations. OLAP style interaction, combined with its actionable collaboration and innovative search capabilities, were required to transform the end-user experience. OBIEE 12C’s high availability, superior scalability, security features, lifecycle configuration, and management ability simplified the system management efforts and upgrade management.

The Technical Challenge
The biggest technical challenge during migration was anticipated to be dashboards and formatting reports. With a need to complete the migration in a tight timeline, the effort to convert the sections or views in the Hyperion BQY files to Answers, as well as query request models and reporting information in BQY files to business and presentation models for an OBIEE 12C RPD file (metadata), was deemed to be complicated and time-consuming.

DataTerrain was chosen to lead this complex migration effort due to its innovative automated conversion solution and proven track record for completing such complex migration projects on time and within budget.

DataTerrain’s automated conversion methodology

DataTerrain leveraged its structured methodology, developed and refined over numerous successful migrations. The significant phases and outcomes are summarized below:

1.)    Inventory: As a first step, subject matter experts(SMEs) from DataTerrain created a list of the current repository in Hyperion and mapped it to the business functional areas and their requirements. Standard reports across function areas and redundancies were identified during this exercise. The DataTerrain team also helped the clients to prioritize the 2000 reports across 40 functions based on their business criticality.

2.)    Rationalize: Using the enterprise data model capable of OBIEE 12C, the reports were structured as parent-child reports in OBIEE 12C, and the 2000 reports were rationalized down to 250 parent level reports.

3.)    Automate migration: The proprietary automated conversion utility of DataTerrain was configured to migrate from Hyperion to OBIEE 12C. This utility analyzed native functions and complex logic embedded in BRIO reports to generate their equivalents in the OBIEE 12C platform. The conversion preserved years of legacy effort to perfect report look and feel of critical reports while migrating them to OBIEE 12C. Some of the significant effort savings were in:

a.    Generation of OBIEE 12C physical layer – tables, columns, etc.
b.    Extending OBIEE 12C layer from accumulated BQY DM dimensions – stars and snowflakes
c.    Tuning schemas and performance tuning during migration
d.    Regeneration of BI repository supporting BQY reports
e.    Generation of OBIEE 12C EUI objects like pivots, charts, prompts, filters, and validating results

4.)    Testing and validation: The converted files and objects were tested using a combination of automated and manual testing by following the DataTerrain quality assurance process. This was followed by user validation and acceptance of the reports and dashboards.

5.)    Deployment: The process of approving, packaging, and promoting to production is simplified by the automated conversion tool to eliminate cutover risks.

The DataTerrain Difference

In addition to its unique methodology and proprietary automation utility, here are the critical differentiators brought by DataTerrain to ensure the success of this project:

1.)    Robust Project management:- Experienced project managers from DataTerrain ensured comprehensive planning and tight execution of this fast-paced project

2.)    Subject Matter Experts:- The team from DataTerrain brought its several hundred years of subject matter expertise to identify migration risks and issues early and address them seamlessly.

3.)    Global Delivery:- DataTerrain completed the entire project in a compressed schedule of 6 months by using a Follow the Sun approach. Members of the distributed team from DataTerrain worked across global centers, and activities were handed off and completed round the clock.

Client Benefits

The rationalization and reports and performance tuning during migration enabled and implemented by DataTerrain has provided the following additional benefits to the customer:

1.)    A scalable and secure enterprise-level BI solution expanding quickly with the organization
2.)    Standardization and lower effort for maintaining reports
3.)    Faster outputs and reports distribution with lower resource utilization
4.)    The existing reports look & feel was preserved for seamless user experience
5.)    Rich, interactive dashboards, and enhanced user self-service

A leading American technology company, one of the Top 10 semiconductor manufacturers in the world, embarked on a multi-year journey to transform its Human Capital Management (HCM). The rapid pace of industry changes across the globe drove an increased focus on managing its talent and necessitated proactive tracking of HR metrics to ensure they continued to attract, invest in, and retain the best talent available across its worldwide centers. With around 30,000 employees, the volume of personnel changes, and relevant data, was quite large. This required standardized reporting and dashboards that also needed to be localized and customized for specific areas.  With the proliferation of applications, multiple data sources needed to be integrated. The legacy PeopleSoft system had its limitations in keeping up with the agility the business required.

This industry leader selected cloud-based reporting using Oracle HCM and Taleo to provide the necessary functionality required. Improved HCM reporting was expected to align and manage resources better by integrating data across global HR, payroll, time and labor, compensation, and talent management. Improved compliance with local and international laws through the integration of business intelligence, social networking tools, and enhanced data access across devices was another key outcome.

The challenge – new technology and ongoing demand for internal IT time.

Short term external experts complimented their development and deployment goals. Clear time and cost goals were set towards achieving their goals. They recognized that they needed external experts with in-depth knowledge in multiple areas like Oracle HCM, Taleo, Oracle BICS(Business intelligence cloud service) and ODI(Oracle Data integrator) to produce the outputs required at the pace they wanted. Besides, domain knowledge was identified as the key to accelerating the creation of reports.

DataTerrain was selected for its expertise in developing and accelerating the delivery of HCM reports using its prebuilt repository. A further advantage was to leverage DataTerrain’s pool of experts with several years of collective experience in HCM reporting and BI integration on BICS and ODI. 

DataTerrain’s accelerated HCM reporting rollout

DataTerrain jump started the project, bringing its prebuilt repository of HCM reports. This set of about 300 reports covers the following areas:

• Payroll reports including timesheets, compensation, W2, statutory and tax filings, local/ county, state-specific and federal reporting, reconciliations, exec compensation
• Benefits reports including extensive reporting on 401k, healthcare, dependent care, commissions, profit sharing, ESPP, HSA contributions
• Tax reports including federal/state/local deductions, medicare, worksite level reports, summary reports, employee and organizational level aggregate reports
• Audit reports– FLSA reports, other reporting for compliance like EEOC, FT/PT, HRS178
• Compensation Reports – Reporting on eligibility, salary grades, incentives, compensation
• Security reports including reports on hiring, transfers, termination, role reassignments
• HR reports – Employee records, departmental details, aggregate reports

DataTerrain experts in HCM delighted business users by implementing fully-functioning reports within a few weeks and provided:

• Maintenance support for existing reports
• Enhancements to existing reports
• Customizations for reports from the prebuilt repository
• Development support for new reports

ODI resources from DataTerrain created and executed the necessary load plans for data integration. The execution was managed 24×7 by leveraging DataTerrain’s global delivery centers and following best practices.  The entire process was accelerated as DataTerrain SMEs (subject matter experts) on BICS also joined this team and issues were identified and resolved on the fly. Where required, the DataTerrain team coordinated with Oracle to resolve underlying issues or implement suitable fixes.

For Taleo, DataTerrain experts provided expertise to maintain, enhance and develop new reports for:

• Oracle Taleo Compensation Cloud Service
• Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud Service
• Oracle Taleo Onboarding Cloud Service
• Oracle Taleo Performance Management Cloud Service
• Oracle Taleo Recruiting Cloud Service

DataTerrain experts enabled automation for both conversion of existing reports and the creation of new Taleo webi reports to Oracle BI. This preserved a significant portion of the effort already invested and enabled conversions in minutes.

Customer Benefits and value-add by DataTerrain

The speed and agility of the DataTerrain team and its ability to deliver functioning reports in weeks led to enhanced user satisfaction. Associates mentioned the following as highlights of DataTerrain’s project execution –

• Prebuilt reports: These accelerated their time to value and the quick wins generated positive vibes and helped turn the tide rolling out the new HCM reporting system.
• Follow the sun: With global delivery centers of DataTerrain ensuring that project execution continued 24×7, faster progress was achieved due to lower turnaround times.
• Local coordination across units: DataTerrain project managers took the lead to coordinate locally with teams in the US and India respectively, to accelerate requirements gathering, clarifications, and decision making.
• Deep expertise across Oracle products: DataTerrain team consisted of experts in Oracle Taleo, Oracle HCM, ODI and BICS, enabling smooth integration and project execution. This solved a major gap when attempting to complete the project internally.
• Faster product fixes: DataTerrain used its knowledge base and partnership with Oracle to triage, follow-up and accelerate issue fixes.

Recognizing the value provided by DataTerrain, experts in the successful set up of HCM reporting, this industry leader has now onboarded DataTerrain to prepare their migration from BICS to OAC.

The importance of Business Intelligence spans industries and types of organizations. Having accurate, immediately available reporting makes the most of any type of organizational data, from customer/client information to supply chains and beyond. The need to manage complex information is universal.

DataTerrain recently had the opportunity to work with a major for-profit college, illustrating yet another industry utilizing modern BI technology. This American institution was using SAP Crystal Reports in the PeopleSoft application, and brought DataTerrain onboard to perform automated conversion to Oracle BI Publisher-based PeopleSoft reports. Over the course of the two-month project, several reports were successfully migrated to the new reporting system.

The DataTerrain team understood the critical nature of the reports, and initiated the project with a comprehensive approach to gathering requirements. After careful analysis of the client’s stated needs, DataTerrain recommended a method of upgradation, and went on to develop an end state architectural design, a keep/drop decisions matrix, a testing strategy, and a step-by-step plan for implementation of the PeopleSoft platform.

This detailed plan included the continuous involvement of the client’s IT team at every stage of the upgrade process, ensuring that all involved parties remained on the same page, that requirements were under constant consideration, and that the transfer of reports (and the surrounding knowledge) happened in an efficient, timely manner. DataTerrain also conducted early user previews during the development stages to avoid any requirement gaps that may have occurred in the initial exploratory and gathering phases.

Continuing this trend of close collaboration with the client, DataTerrain team members interacted with members of the client’s organization on a weekly basis, discussing any arising problems, new requirements, or difficulties navigating the upgraded BI and reporting platform. All reports were successfully migrated and converted to PeopleSoft via DataTerrain’s automation tools, allowing for on-time delivery and zero bugs reported by the client.

DataTerrain’s team of developers efficiently worked in PeopleSoft code (PeopleCode) to embed the new reports and dashboards to be integrated in the enterprise application. The team worked to understand the existing application coding standards and features before moving on to modify the code. Our team developed extensive documentation on the existing application code and changes being made for any future reference. All modifications to the code were done by the DataTerrain team so that the customer experienced a seamless transition experience. Our team conducted training sessions for the customer along the transition to the new reporting system, backed by continued hands-on support.

It is critical to note the look and feel of the reports were one of the conditions of this transition to the new system of reporting. The similar look and feel means that formats / buttons / filters / parameters are placed similarly to the legacy reports. DataTerrain has followed best practices and utilized the new features in the new reporting system keeping track of functionality of the legacy reports. The similarity in functionality saves the years of efforts in building the reports in the first place. All the reports have a specific goal to deliver and the team works to ensure that goal can be carried on in the new systems unless the customer requires any change. The continuity to the new systems with the familiar functionality reduces the training time taken to prepare the users to the new system and greatly enhances the usage of reports.

The DataTerrain team for this project consisted of experienced developers, testers and project managers. Each member of the team worked directly and diligently with client leaders and IT staff to understand specific needs, how the client has been using their existing reporting technology, and the advantages they aimed to receive through upgradation. DataTerrain team follows the customer change management process so that the teams from the customer side of the project are fully up to date on the progress. This clearly helps all the members of the project to be in sync as progress is made on many fronts such as PeopleCode, reports and dashboards.

The client, a fully accredited American college with undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, fully embraced the architecture and features proposed by DataTerrain. The close collaboration between the two organizations ultimately led to beyond satisfactory results for the college, and new development opportunities for the team implementing the upgraded Business Intelligence solution.

Working across industries can sometimes present challenges, but DataTerrain takes pride in seeing each of these opportunities as a way to deepen the team’s overall understanding of BI needs, and embraces the chance to create customized reporting solutions for clientele of all kinds.

To learn more about DataTerrain’s automation tools, and how state of the art Business Intelligence can benefit your organization, visit https://dataterrain.com/.

The latest in Business Intelligence Automation and over a decade of expertise were key factors in meeting an enormous pharmaceutical industry challenge. Beginning with the end in mind, DataTerrain swiftly executed several thousand BI reports conversion to Oracle’s Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Many businesses and IT departments of various organizations face the same crucial decision-making situation: whether to keep the system internal to the company or outsource to cloud platforms. This question pertains not just to the BI (Business Intelligence) practices of the company, but also relates to all the IT departments of the organization. For the customer in concern, the business data was highly sensitive, and hence, the management arrived at the decision to continue with an On-Premises Business Intelligence environment.

The customer has offices across the globe and more than 5000 users actively engage the Business Intelligence systems on a daily basis. DataTerrain comprehended the innate need for multi-language support in reporting and analysis. Before the project commenced, a thorough discussion with the customer’s internal Information Technology (IT) team was held to understand, analyze, and document the unique and important needs of the project. It is essential to have a complete and deep understanding of the various distinctive requirements of the customer at the planning stages of the project to ensure its smooth execution and successful completion.

To begin with, DataTerrain formed a highly experienced and expert team with internal IT leaders and users to formulate a list of critical time zones, and based on that list, prioritized them to identify the reports currently being used. The approach was to begin with the consumers of the reports to identify their specific or local requirements. This included the changes they advised from the current system of reporting and the additional features/functionalities they preferred. As global localization was a key factor of this engagement, DataTerrain used the NLS features in this project extensively.

The customer’s IT team identified around 2000 reports and dashboards as the major reports that were being used. The next logical step in the project was the consolidation of reports for efficient management. DataTerrain extensively used an automation tool to upgrade the reports from Crystal reporting to OBIEE 11g/12c. Apart from manual testing cycles, a variety of automation tools were employed for testing to compare results from PDF or Excel formats. The automation at various levels in this upgrade saved huge costs and time. The time saved was used to develop many standardizations and best practices to ensure the robustness of the reporting system for the future.

Careful planning and execution ensured the successful completion of the project in 12 months, achieved as per the original plan, aided by the great collaboration of the customer’s internal IT team. The project included meetings carried out across different time zones and effective change management processes. The DataTerrain team worked diligently in the various phases of the project: planning, customer requirement gathering, standardization of process, execution, and finally, ensuring on time completion of deliverables.

DataTerrain detailed documentation of the project for the ease of understanding the process and future reference. Specific care was taken to ensure that users of different countries could follow the independent process and management of the reporting system. The user manual and maintenance document were provided to the customer to enable easy editing of reports. The detailed documentation provided for every report (a vital deliverable of the project) alleviated many bottlenecks experienced due to the varied time zones and languages. The extensive documentation of the project served the users of the system, who found it to address many of their requirements, and was widely appreciated.

The successful execution of the project, and the smooth transition to the new system, can be attributed to DataTerrain’s systematic approach to the process, the speed and accuracy of the upgrade, and effective interaction with the internal IT team and business users of the reports. This particular upgrade involved two different vendors (SAP Crystal report to Oracle OBIEE). Their distinct features had to be handled, and the issues that were raised due to their differences had to be resolved. DataTerrain’s deep understanding of both systems (and extensive research) helped them overcome the different challenges in the process and led to the successful completion of the project to the total satisfaction of the customer.

The upgradation project brought in more flexibility, scalability, and enhanced speed of report generation. The Data Visualization capability of OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition) offers users a rich and modern visualization tool that makes comprehending business data easier and more effective. The system harnesses the enhanced capability of technology to offer users new business insights and enables them to make faster, more informed business decisions with visual analytics and precise enterprise analytics. The accuracy and robustness of the system make it ideal for an organization that supports a very large number of users.

DataTerrain is available to meet your organization’s Business Intelligence challenges of all sizes at connect@dataterrain.com.

DataTerrain, a California-based provider of business Intelligence automation and a host of related, technology-driven services, recently provided crucial assistance to a Canadian provincial government with automated migration from SAP Crystal Reports to Jaspersoft. The automation tool is BI neutral. It can convert reports, dashboards, analytics, and metadata from a variety of BI products. In this specific project, it is a transition from SAP Crystal reports to Tibco Jaspersoft.

Canadian provincial government decided to use Tibco software’s Jaspersoft for its business reporting and analytics. Jaspersoft, an open architecture reporting software that allows users and developers to customize data sources and deployment methods. As a result of the decision, DataTerrain was approached to perform extensive presentation and proof of concepts to showcase the possibility of moving to a newer BI faster and seamless. There was a clear list of needs specified by the customer before the project. To preserve familiar Graphic User Interface (among other benefits) was one of priority one request, this allowed the client not to lose out on the design efforts that were spent for years to develop business-critical custom reports and analytics.

While all reporting data and Business Intelligence is sensitive, providing service to a governmental body was an opportunity to highlight the attention to security and accuracy. DataTerrain applied 2-factor authentication and RSA token authorization for users across the reporting platform. DataTerrain was able to preserve the security standards and provide enhancements.

Throughout the project, DataTerrain achieved pixel perfect, 1:1 conversion of reports through rigorous testing and state of the art automation. DataTerrain’s team consisted of 5 offshore developers, one offshore QA analyst, and one Canada-based project manager. This agile, offshore team was able to work across time zones, utilize immediate feedback from the collocated QA analyst to reduce development time, and implement automation to migrate and convert 14 highly complex reports from SAPCrystal Reports to Jaspersoft in 1 month per the customer timeline.

DataTerrain automation successfully converted complex reports, subreports, and charts from SAP Crystal Reports to Jaspersoft while maintaining existing reporting structure. Advanced HTML5 chart properties were implemented within Jaspersoft to create charts within the client’s reports. Broad user groups welcomed the rich visualization and simplicity in reporting and analysis. With successful migration, the provincial government can generate the necessary reports they’ve grown accustomed to, while also using the capabilities of Jaspersoft to improve in-report charting. The customizable nature of their new platform also creates future value, giving the organization options for new methods of the data assessment and reporting as needs arise.

Project management was critical for two reasons: time and security-sensitive nature of the projects. DataTerrain delivered all the reports on time with outstanding quality. Regular meetings were held with customers to exchange ideas and collect feedback. Details were implemented, and technical aspects of each report and dashboard discussed on a biweekly basis to ensure accuracy throughout the migration. All updated reports delivered with zero bugs identified by the client or DataTerrain teams. Bug tracking mechanisms and project tracking methods were shared with the client on-demand basis. All the teams were able to update the status and feedback at a central reporting system; thereby, multiple teams need not wait for the status checks on the meetings unless it is a particular case. This facilitated significant interaction between teams and fast-forwarded the project movement.

It was critical to have team members with in-depth knowledge of both technologies for making the equivalent choices when moving over and incorporating the new product’s best practices. This is an evolution between Tibco, the client, and the DataTerrain team. Weekly joint sessions capture the best possible options for the client-specific requirements. DataTerrain worked with great techniques in analytics and reporting and created logs for all the activities that can be used efficiently for many other projects. The team carries forward these experiences to the more substantial client base and provide knowledge transfer from extensive research during ongoing Jasper-focused webinars and presentations. Training sessions were conducted for the users and extensive documentation provided.

DataTerrain approached this project with the utmost care, understanding the immediate importance of governmental information, and the need for a fast, seamless migration away from a family of software that is nearing End of Life. Through customizable solutions and a workflow based on agility and communication, DataTerrain was able to meet and exceed client expectations well within the designated time frame, and more importantly, allow the Canadian province to continue serving its citizens without significant disruption. DataTerrain is grateful to the client and Tibco teams for working together as one team.

DataTerrain, a leader in Business Intelligence reporting solutions, has been selected by Creighton University to support their state-of-the-art Oracle HCM reporting and development strategy.

DataTerrain has over a decade of experience in planning, designing, development, tuning, and support of a variety of Business Intelligence tools. Specializing in reporting solutions, the DataTerrain team has in-depth, real-world expertise in Oracle HCM applications and reporting.

DataTerrain’s Teck Support Services include both creation of new reports and trouble-shooting of existing reports. Their primary services are:

• Designing and developing reports and dashboards
• Ad-hoc reports creation
• Enhancing and customizing existing reports
• Diagnosing and resolving report issues
• Ongoing BI support

Customers can engage in DataTerrain’s Teck Support Services under a Fixed-cost basis for any type or number of reports. DataTerrain is committed to be ahead of customer BI needs, delivering state-of-the-art solutions to increase business productivity while reducing costs. Organizations can utilize our Teck Support Services to achieve these goals.

Creighton University expressed how pleased they were with DataTerrain’s reports, Dashboard building efficiencies, knowledge base, and years of experience by issuing the following quote:
“Creighton University is pleased to partner with DataTerrain for HCM reporting, extracts, HDL and configuration assistance. DT’s approach of a dedicated resource billed at an attractive fixed monthly cost keeps us on budget. If we need something outside our assigned resource’s area of expertise, DataTerrain has a deep bench of in-house expertise upon which to draw. Highly recommended.”

Please contact connect@dataterrain.com for more information.

About DataTerrain

DataTerrain is a Silicon Valley-based company focused on automated Business Intelligence reports/metadata migration solutions and Oracle HCM reporting solutions. DataTerrain’s proprietary automated conversion solution helps customers convert reports across multiple BI technologies, preserving years of effort in designing the original reports. DataTerrain automated conversion service has been used by hundreds of customers across the globe. For more information visit https://www.dataterrain.com.

A leader in providing end-to-end Data Analytics, Business Intelligence reporting, automation, and more, DataTerrain recently assisted a US-based HR and payroll technology solutions provider with a large-scale overhaul in reporting and analytical needs. DataTerrain was approached by the client and asked to perform demonstrations plus proof of concept as an evaluation process.

The key and unique nature of the project is that it is the first time DataTerrain used a new conversion engine to transport the metadata layer and report feature, including security components via automation tool. The proof of concept is a simple process. Select randomly 3 to 5 reports that represent usage in the business units and provide clear goals for acceptance criteria. Once DataTerrain completes the task of converting the reports from Discoverer to OBIEE 11g/12C, business units are invited back for evaluation and feedback against the acceptance criteria. This final step will determine the success or failure of the proof of concept.

The client was previously using Discoverer for reporting solutions, but as that platform is facing End of Life, the business needed assistance migrating to Oracle, specifically OBIEE. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE 11g / 12c) is an agile BI tool available as both an on-premise and cloud-based service (OAC). The robust database system allows users to separate the data extraction and reporting components of Business Intelligence, providing versatile options, including dashboards, scorecards, and flexible report layouts.

DataTerrain’s OBIEE migration services, as well as RPD restructuring and reporting quality analysis, provide value for technology-driven businesses facing End of Life for current BI solutions. The metadata layer (RPD) in OBIEE/OAC is a critical layer for the business to build analytics and dynamic reporting. DataTerrain has proven expertise in building many hundreds of RPD layers to enable businesses to have the business-friendly and swift analytics built on demand. These services also apply to companies struggling to create efficient reporting practices, and those looking to get the most out of their existing database.

DataTerrain’s successful migration of the client’s reports and dashboards was but a small portion of the services provided. In typical fashion, the DataTerrain goal was not just to migrate files from Discoverer to OBIEE to meet End of Life deadlines, but also to streamline and improve processes, reporting, and access to valuable information. The DataTerrain team worked on many customizations to adapt OBIEE 11g/12c for the client. This project was executed round the clock follow-the-sun development and support model to fulfill customer’s time constraints. DataTerrain employed developers, QA analysts, and a project manager to facilitate the process.

Using an automated conversion process, DataTerrain migrated more than a hundred reports from Discoverer to OBIEE over two months. The automation process is a proven, unique tool that is continually developed over the years to accommodate many business conditions in reporting and analytics. The consistency and quality of the tool deliver a massive workload of manual migration efforts eliminated. The internal IT teams who typically do these upgrades are relieved of porting legacy systems to the modern systems. Finding technology experts to understand the legacy world and the new world is challenging and expensive for the customer. The Automation tool with time tested perfection will prove to be the most effective of handling the challenges mentioned above. During this process, modifications were made to database infrastructure, reporting methods, EULs, and more to develop a better functioning final result for the HR and payroll technology provider.

DataTerrain’s primary accomplishments in this case included:

• Restructured RPD to comply with OBIEE 11g/12c best practices, without impacting existing business logistics and functionalities
• Used automation to migrate nine Discoverer EULs to OBIEE RPD file
• Analyzed and rationalized the existing reporting framework to avoid the conversion of similar and duplicate reports. In the typical legacy environment over the years, hundreds of reports are built to suit a specific demand at a given point in time. Over the years, those reports might not be used regularly, and some are entirely obsolete. It helps to understand such outdated or duplicate reports and remove them from the system. There are many advantages to doing the rationalization in the legacy environment, including security checkpoints.
• Merged multiple business layers to support cross-subject area reporting
• Created calculated objects within the RPD to reduce complications in building new reports

In addition to these areas of streamlining and database improvement, a shared team of Quality Analysts were able to provide immediate feedback throughout the project life cycle, drastically reducing time spent on development. DataTerrain used a standard bug tracking system that the client is very familiar with to list the problems and track the status/solutions of the issues. This systematic tracking and storage later became a vast knowledge base.

DataTerrain was able to use industry expertise and modern technological solutions to update the client’s database and Business Intelligence systems, while also maintaining the best practices and specific uses of the HR and payroll industry. For more information about DataTerrain services, and how we can help your business, please contact connect@dataterrain.com.

DataTerrain’s engagement with BIRT reporting and analytics solution is new, challenging, and creative – in addition to our automated report migration services. The client, who provides comprehensive terminal operating systems for marine and intermodal terminal operators around the world, required changing technology from Oracle Reports to BIRT (an open-source software).

DataTerrain’s first extensive open source engagement demanded an ability to modify and extend the existing reporting features to suit customer requirements. BIRT has an active user community, which is very helpful in providing inputs and techniques for any client that is planning to consider BIRT. The ease of modifying with Java code and adapting with the latest visual products are highlights of the project. The goal of BIRT/OPENTEXT reporting is to provide a technology platform for creating data visualizations and reports that can be embedded into applications of all kinds, especially those built with Java and J2EE. The client chose this platform specifically for its agility, and the open-source nature of the software proved invaluable throughout our project.

This project consisted of 4 phases and was completed over ten months per the client’s availability and requirements. DataTerrain’s team consisted of technically well-proven developers, QA Analysts, and a project manager, adhering to their usual delivery model of stringent project management and planning at the beginning of the project. All stakeholders were involved from various client teams to set the expectations, including expected delivery deadlines for each business unit. DataTerrain worked across time zones, ensuring efficient work and accessibility to our team throughout the process. Development time was also reduced by way of a collocated QA Analyst, who provided immediate feedback throughout the project lifecycle.

The primary accomplishments of working with this client aligned precisely with their goals from the outset of the project. Not only were 200 reports and dashboards migrated and converted from legacy Oracle Reports server to BIRT/OPENTEXT, but also pixel-perfect reports were created, consisting of multiple pages within each report. Size and overflow were adjusted related to HTML, PDF, and Excel formats, rendering each based on the output of the specific report. Achieving this pixel-perfect conversion hinged on the team’s ability to customize the query tool in the DataTerrain automation system to replicate a hierarchy identical to that of Oracle Reports, the platform the client’s team had been using. To further maintain this consistency (and easy accessibility for members of the client’s staff), the conversion tool was customized to meet the client’s specific visualization requirements, such as header, footer, font style, and so on.

Within these converted and migrated reports, the DataTerrain team handled filter expressions at the query level to improve performance, used JavaScript to aggregate essential information in stored procedure output columns, and created dynamic Session IDs for users per the client’s specific requirements.

Beyond the migration, conversion, and customization of these reports, the DataTerrain developers encountered some shortcomings of the chosen BIRT/OPENTEXT platform. Still, because of its open-source nature, the team was able to create multiple custom solutions to achieve the client’s desired results within their selected reporting platform. These custom solutions were both large and small and were essential to creating the pixel-perfect conversion across reporting systems.

These agile custom solutions include:

• A solution for nested crosstab fields, allowing lists or data items to be added outside the crosstab and giving each added list or item the appropriate master-detail (parent-child) relationship.
• A creative solution to substitute the legacy Oracle Reports Insert Statement function into BIRT/OPENTEXT / OpenText.
• Fine-tuning BIRT/OPENTEXT to support running aggregation systems found in legacy Oracle Reports
• A solution in BIRT/OPENTEXT for supporting horizontal tables (unavailable in the base software)

Open-source BIRT/OPENTEXT architecture and the deep pool of knowledge in the development team was used to adjust existing BIRT/OPENTEXT functionality to meet the needs of the client, and create a method of reporting that was both familiar to users and met all of the client’s specifications.

All of the custom solutions fit well for the client’s needs and follow best practices in the Business intelligence arena. The new reports and dashboards have been deployed in the live environment and used by daily business folks. This shows DataTerrain’s ability to take an open-source and customize it to a large business need.

This project required great attention to the unique needs of the marine and intermodal terminal industry, as well as the methodologies employed by this particular company. Working closely with the client’s leadership team allowed the project manager, QA Analysts, and developers to gain an in-depth understanding of report usage and visual elements. The insights gained helped to build functionalities that would allow the client to not only maintain their current level of Business Intelligence and data management but also to achieve new levels of consistency and success through an updated, customized reporting system.

Open Source comes with a challenging question of sustainable support availability. BIRT has an active user community, and DataTerrain has the skills, knowledge, and experience to create individualized reporting systems, Business Intelligence management systems, and beyond. DataTerrain can be reached for help with businesses large or small, at connect@dataterrain.com.

DataTerrain recently concluded a successful project, providing in-depth report conversion and development for the world’s largest electric power generation and distribution company based in Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago-based company needed a robust solution for HCM (Human Capital Management) and critical reporting. Oracle provided cloud-based HR product HCM. Dataterrain developed extensive analytical reports and dashboards.

DataTerrain reviewed many reports of the customer that existed in Peoplesoft HR application and provided a detailed report on the timeline and feasibility to transport the reports into Oracle’s latest HR product in cloud HCM. After the client review and feedback, the project commenced with step by the step project plan. Teams were identified with the clients who will be reviewing the endproduct as well as participate in the development process. DataTerrain with unique automation framework was able to transport many reports to Oracle HCM, while also developing a framework for other Oracle functions to create a specific and sophisticated method of reporting. These reports were converted to pixel perfect iterations that support Excel, text, and CSV exporting formats, and were integrated with Oracle Data Loader inputs for report creation. To further streamline, we created sequentially running HCM extracts, allowing a single extract to trigger a series of others. HCM extracts were very useful for long-running reports with huge data volume.

Beyond the conversion and creation of reports, a company of such a large size had unique needs across departments and particular methodologies (and customer preferences) for how the reports needed to function in the new HCM application. We interacted with Business Users regularly week to provide status updates and get feedback. We have provided extensive UAT support and used client requests to implement ongoing updates to their preferred reports. In building customized reports to meet different user specifications, we encountered several challenges with many features but we were able to resolve with the help of our technical team and Oracle HCM product development. In the process of working with Oracle, we have learned detailed insight into the new Oracle Cloud capabilities and features. We have done exclusive documentation of all interactions with Oracle via the Service request system for future use.

Our methodology and experience in developing several thousand reports in the Oracle BI products came very handy in the project and of immense use to our customers. The fact of choosing between OTBI or HCM extract or BI Publisher based reports or dashboard for a specific requirement is a matter of experience. That choice has a direct impact on two critical real-world usages namely functionality and performance. Our experience and knowledge base was constantly shared with our customer thereby they fully understand the technical decision makings in the project. The blend between OTBI / HCM extracts / BI Publisher in the reporting system provides full coverage of all the data access needed for HR reporting and auditing.

All the challenges were resolved systematically and newly created reports featuring the latest best practices were implemented. There are many modules in HCM from payroll to workers compensation to Auditing that necessitates a full understanding of HR requirements and business practices. Our team diligently worked with multi-user teams to bring knowledge to the practical world and daily usage. We worked as one team to make sure our client’s vision and needs are executed on time. The data sensitivity is of utmost criticality in this project. We had taken all the precautions and detailed client security requirements into account during the project. We had deployed layers of authentication and data access points to control who accesses the data and when they access the data.

The historical payroll, workers compensation, and other data are critical for access due to legal requirements thereby all the data are there in the main systems and not in any backup systems. The volume of data and retrieval speed play a key part in reporting here due to legal time sensitivity. We were able to fine-tune report performance across the board for reports and deliver huge time savings.

Because this project involved so much specific data collected for customization, including the necessary BI and reporting requirements across a range of PeopleSoft users, there was also an opportunity to provide valuable documentation and user training. With 100’s of unique reports across the organization, working directly with users provided important methodological information, and illustrated the many needs spread throughout the company. To further refine each role, and ensure consistently accurate reporting with the newly deployed system, we developed Business User Requirements to accompany the customized reports. This documentation continued into Oracle SR support and guidance for migrating reports to other Fusionenvironments.

This 10-month project included a US-based project management team, offshore-based development team, multiple client teams along with our Oracle development team racing against time for a preset cut off date. We worked diligently with all the teams to produce every report or dashboard to the exact business and legal requirements. We followed the world standard to take a highly customized legacy system from Peoplesoft and convert it into an agile system that functions across multiple Oracle platforms.

The entire process was an opportunity to explore creative solutions to extremely specific user needs, as well as a chance to uncover unique new ways of report building across the Oracle HCM ecosystem. We have great things knowledge and real-world experience to offer toour future customers. If you have any questions about how DataTerrain can help you with Business Intelligence and reporting needs, contact us today!