[Legacy Flow] Connect Tableau Desktop to Oracle BI Data and Build Your Report

Modified on Fri, 14 Aug at 6:19 AM

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Before you start

  • This is the legacy flow for backward-compatibility purposes and applicable to OAC, OAS and OBIEE users to refer for maintaining their existing workbooks.

    All users are required to switch to new flow for creating new workbooks. The new flow is more reliable and gives a smooth report building experience.

  • The BI Connector is installed and activated on the same machine which has the Tableau Desktop installed. If not, start with BI Connector Desktop Edition installation and activate the license.

  • A BI Connector Data Source and Table is already configured on the machine. If not, set it up first -  Analysis Reports or Subject Areas.


    Are you a Fusion user looking to connect to BI Publisher Data Models? Its supported in the new flow

  • You are signed into your Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server account inside your Tableau Desktop instance.


Steps

Step 1 — Open Tableau Desktop

Open Tableau Desktop on your PC.

 

Step 2 — Open the connector list

Under the To a Server section, click More.

 

Step 3 — Select the BI Connector connector

In the search box at the top, search for BI Connector by Guidanz Inc and click the connector.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 1: Tableau Desktop connector list with 'BI Connector by Guidanz Inc' in the search results]

 

Using the connector for the first time on the machine? — Tableau may prompt you to restart. Click Restart Tableau Desktop. After it reopens, search for BI Connector by Guidanz Inc again and click the connector.

 

Step 4 — Sign in with your Data Source

Enter the name of your BI Connector Data Source in the DSN field. The Data Source name is case-sensitive, and can be copied quickly by simply clicking on the copy icon on the side of the Data Source name in the BI Connector app.

Once you enter the Data Source name in the DSN box, enter your Oracle credentials and click Sign In.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 2: BI Connector sign-in dialog showing the DSN field and credential fields]

 

Step 5 — Select the Database

Select the Database from the drop-down.

 

Step 6 — Select the Schema

Click the Schema drop-down. To see all schemas, click the small search icon. To narrow the list, type part of the schema name, select the Contains option, and click the search icon. When you find the schema, click it.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 3: Schema drop-down with the search icon and the Contains option]

 

Step 7 — Select the Table

On the Table field, click the small search icon to pull all tables under the selected schema. To narrow the list, type part of the table name, select the Contains option, and click the search icon. When you find the table, double-click it.

 

Step 8 — Switch to an Extract connection

At the top right, change the connection to Extract.

 

Step 9 — Open Sheet 1 and save the extract

Click Sheet 1 at the bottom left, and wait for the extract to complete. When prompted to save the extract, shorten the file name if it is too long (in order to avoid errors due to character count at the time of extracting the data), then click Save. Tableau builds the extract by pulling the required data from Oracle Fusion.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 4: Sheet 1 tab at the bottom left and the Save Extract dialog with the file name field]

 

Step 10 — Build a dashboard

On Sheet 1, build your view: drag fields onto Columns and Rows and choose a visualization from Show Me. Then click New Dashboard at the bottom, drag your sheet(s) onto the canvas, and add titles, filters, and layout as needed.

Shorten the name of the Data Source in the top left if its too long. To do so, right-click on the Data Source and click Rename. This would help avoid errors associated with character limits for Data Sources at the time of publishing the workbook.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 6: A worksheet built from the extract, and a New Dashboard with the sheet on the canvas]

 

Step 11 — Publish the workbook and data source

At the top, click Server and select Publish Workbook.

 

Is the Publish Workbook option disabled? — Click Server at the top menu, then Sign In..., and log in to Tableau Cloud or Server first. Then click Server again and the Publish Workbook option will be enabled.

 

In the pop-up, select the project from the Location drop-down, and shorten the Name if it is too long so the publish does not fail on character count and stays easy to identify in Tableau Cloud or Server.


Under Data Sources, set Publish Type to Publish Separately and set Authentication to Allow refresh access.


Finally, click Publish.

COMMENT: [SCREENSHOT 7: Publish Workbook dialog showing Location, Name, and the Data Sources section (Publish Separately, Allow refresh access)]

 

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