Re: Discoverer and Discoverer/2000

From: Steve Corbett <stevec_at_fcs.wa.gov.au>
Date: 1997/05/30
Message-ID: <338E2CD8.B21_at_fcs.wa.gov.au>


Dylan Cooper wrote:

> I have a number of questions about the role of Discoverer/2000.  I hope
> someone can help me.
> 
> Given all the hype Oracle is putting into Discoverer, what is the long
> range role of Discoverer/2000?  Is development of a new release
> currently occuring?  If so, on what platforms?  If not, is a new release
> planned and when?  Is it be possible to migrate Discoverer/2000
> licenses to Discoverer?  If so, is this free (as the Forms to Developer/
> 2000 migration was)?

copy of my 'site internal' email last week... hope it answers your Q...

dear all,

last night went to a demo of the next version of Oracle Browser - called Discoverer 3. (the current version of Browser is known as Browser V2 and/or
Discoverer 2000)

the dem was about 30 mins, and there was a short Q&A session.

things i found out


  • it was released offically 1.5 weeks ago
  • there is a free upgrade from V2 to V3
  • V3 has a completely different user interface (look & feel) to V2. To an end user it would look like a different product.
  • the dem did not include the query condition part, but concentrated on the results presentation. the selection of tables and columns is completely different to V2 (you look into Business Areas, Folders and Items)
  • query/results concept is replaced by Workbook/sheet concept (like Excel)
  • it can do cross tabs
  • it can do whizzy graphs, charting etc
  • it does drill down etc (ie you may be analysing a year, but you can click to drill down to quarters or months etc)
  • you can paste graphs etc to clipboard for use elsewhere
  • you can export to Excel, Word etc
  • and vice versa. you can have links to word documents from the results window.
  • and to Web pages
  • and export results in html format for Web Browser use.
  • you can move your existing V2 queries to V3, but you will lose any results formatting.
  • there is no 'document query' feature, as there isnt in V3. you would still have to paste the query to the clipboard and copy to Word, for instance, to document the query for auditors, self etc.
  • it currently does not run on Windows 3.11, only Win95 or Windows NT. A Windows 3.11 release is planned for end of 97.
  • The End User Layer (EUL) or Business Abstraction Layer is used much more in V3 than V2. We are not really using it here. It can be used to give different views of the data, control access to it, provide summarised info etc.
  • the EUL seems to be strategically going in the direction of being 'across' products. It seems the 'cube' of Oracle Express might be replaced by the EUL. And the EUL can be generated from Designer 2000.
  • it is designed to run on Oracle v7.3, but can run on v7.1 (some exotic features like query execution time predictions wont run)
  • The EUL can create summary tables, and user queries are automatically redirected there if available.
  • it uses the local PC for a lot of the work for slice/dice of result presentation, so the PC config would need to be looked at.

things i couldnt find out


  • whether it could do percentages
  • if there was a maximum row limit (V2 has 16,000)
  • whether the End User Layer is the prime driver to being able to do 'drill down' etc (ie how much technical set up is required before users can exploit these features)

versus Oracle Express


  • Oracle Express is the very whizzy, but complex query tool. To use it there has to be quite a lot of technical work done to create 'cubes' so that data can be looked at multi-dimensionally (eg cross tabs are 2 dmimensional), and for drill-down etc
  • Users of Oracle Express are primarily users of Oracle Financials package application, and Express caters for these users by providing Express*Sales Analyszer and Financial Analyzer (pre-built cubes i assume). Express was strongly hinted at being changed to EUL concept.
  • The dem implied Express is really for Oracle Financials users or users who want extra-glossy presentation of results (ie a bit more glossy than Discoverer 3 graphs and charting, tho this looked pretty whizzy to me)
  • When pushed the dem'er said that Express is more for summarised corporate data, and Discoverer for strategic decision anlaysis (i translated this to mean Express for summarised accounting etc and Discoverer for 'what if' scenarios, ministerials, answers to particular questions (eg performance indicators etc)

the future



later versions will include:
* running the query in background (ie not tie up your PC)
  • query other databases besides Oracle ones (MS*Accesss?)
  • will be Java compliant (whatever that really means)

my opinion?



for what it is worth, based on info so far...
* Discoverer 3 is probably a better strategic product for us than
Express
        o Express 'cube' concept looks like going bye-bye.
        o The EUL concept is going across other Oracle products as well,
so
          there will cohesion between Oracle database, ad hoc querying,
          warehousing etc
        o V3 provides some things V2 does not, eg cross-tabs, graphing,
          charting
        o you can export results in html format, so you can write a
query, dump
          the results in html format, and the FCS intranet can display
them
          for you. qed. this was dem'd.
        o It is to provide, in the future albeit, access to non-Oracle
databases
* You will need training in V3, as it is very different to V2
  • You might need to look at your PC grunt factor, sorry no figures to hand as yet.
  • You need to consider the worth and timing of going to V3. o Wait for Win3.11 version? o wait for V3.1 as you never buy vx.0 of anything? o Consider the V3 training issue.

stevec Received on Fri May 30 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST

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