Oracle Discoverer Handbook [Paperback]

Michael Armstrong-Smith (Author), Darlene Armstrong-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Oracle Press | Publication Date: September 26, 2000

This is the only book on Oracle Discoverer - the award-winning, easy-to-use ad hoc query and analysis tool for high performance end user access to information. It covers the querying and reporting functionality of Discover and explains important formatting procedures for developing customized queries. It also provides undocumented tips and tricks for better data management.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Convert corporate data into business intelligence easily with Discoverer.

Analyze your organization's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data in order to make informed business decisions using Oracle Discoverer - the award-winning, powerful, ad hoc query and analysis tool. Oracle Discoverer Handbook explains in full detail how end-users can gain immediate access to information from relational data warehouses, data marts, or online transaction processing systems. Learn to create basic and advanced queries, analyze and format query results, prepare the results for presentation, and manage data in a way that is meaningful to business situations. A full description of all Discoverer functions is also included in the book. Covers Discoverer Releases 3.1 and 3i.

• Write effective ad hoc queries

• Report from a data warehouse

• Format the output--add titles, totals, headers, and footers

• Present data using graphs

• Use the analysis tools

• Turn a query into a report

• Handle advanced queries

• Use Discoverer to create powerful advanced queries

• Share your queries with other users

• Schedule queries to run at off-peak hours

About the Author

Michael Armstrong-Smith (Fremont, CA) is a Software Consultant and Technical Trainer with a specialist knowledge of Oracle Applications Data Warehouse, Discoverer, Electron Data Interchange, Software Production, Distributed Systems Design, Database Administration and System Analysis. Darlene Armstrong Smith (Fremont, CA) has seven years experience as a professional trainer and instructional designer for The Money Store.

Product Details

• Paperback: 569 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media (September 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072126353
• ISBN-13: 978-0072126358
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a technical and functional consultant with over 25 years of experience in applications development, IT management, and business intelligence management. I am a member of Oracle Corporation's customer advisory board for business intelligence, and have presented papers for OAUG, BI/DW SIG, IOUG and ODTUG. A fellow of the Institute of Analysts and Programmers, the UK's leading professional organization for computing personnel, you probably know me through either the MetaLink or OTN Forums because I am one who probably answered your questions.
I have over 8 years experience of Discoverer, and have used it against E-Business Suite 10.7, 11.0.3 and 11i (AP, AR, BOM, FA, GL, INV, OE, PO, WIP), with and without NoetixViews.
A co-founder of Armstrong-Smith Consulting, my company specializes in Discoverer consultancy and training. We offer both standard and customized Discoverer training either on-site or at one of our own training facilities in Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA. We believe our training is the best that you can find, both from a content and cost perspective. We can make Discoverer become your corporate reporting tool of choice. Look us up at http://learndiscoverer.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great first book on Oracle Discoverer - essential reading, October 25, 2000

By 

Mr. Andrew P. Osborn "Andy Osborn" (Wiltshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oracle Discoverer Handbook (Paperback)

The first book written on Oracle's award winning business intelligence software is a real gem. It is well structured, easy to read and extremely informative, being written from an expert users point of view and packed with useful examples, hints and tips. I was particularly impressed with the very practical nature of the information, with examples how to use Discoverer to answer a wide range of common business questions and analysis. Instead of explaining simply how to use Discoverer (although the book is excellent at this as well), it explains how to get the information you want from your database, and how to use that information to find out more about your business, using real-world, practical examples.

It also covers some of the pre-requisite steps in using Discoverer and does an excellent job of identifying the various roles that together will make up a successful Discoverer site. Covering the Web and Windows User Editions (now called Discoverer Plus), it goes through many useful examples of building new queries, covering calculations, conditions, parameters, percentages, totals, sorts, formatting, reporting, exception reporting, charting, and most importantly, analysis. An 'Advanced' section is as easy to read as the initial part of the book, and covers drilling and query management as well as sophisticated (but still practical) examples building on some of the earlier work. There is a very useful appendix on the function set supported by Discoverer (although this is now extended with Discoverer 4i), and a tutorial database that is used throughout the book.

The book concentrates on the User Edition (Discoverer Plus) on the web and Windows, maybe when the authors find time they should consider writing a sequel (no pun intended!) on the Discoverer Administration Edition, aimed at people who have to build Discoverer systems from scratch. It would also be useful to have a similar book or section on the Discoverer Viewer, the HTML version of the same software that brings this functionality to the web and allows customised Business Intelligence reports to be embedded in web sites.

All in all this is an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone using or considering using Discoverer, or indeed to anyone who wants to see how they can truly leverage all that information lurking in their corporate database, and get it out to the user base where it belongs. Great job Micheal and Darlene!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great all round Discoverer book., June 13, 2001

By 

"russ_proudman" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle Discoverer Handbook (Paperback)

I have used Oracle Discoverer for years now (ie: v.3.0, etc.) and I wished many times to have a book that I could look through when I needed help. I've taught courses in Discoverer at numerous companies to hundreds of users and this book would be an excellent resource for end-users to have. For the more advanced users there's plenty of information included as well. Having this book on my bookshelf by my computer is good and bad. Good - because there's always something I have to look up (even if I already know it, it's good to know it's there); and bad - because when an end-user sees the book, they always want to borrow it.

I would give this book high marks as it's a good all round reference and learning book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent value for money end-user handbook, June 12, 2001

By 

Michael Armstrong-Smith "The BI Expert" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle Discoverer Handbook (Paperback)

Hi... I agree that the book does not cover the admin edition, but to be fair, the book clearly states in the introduction that the intended audience is the end-user, not the administrator. It is therefore unfair to put it down because of that.

As an end-user book, and as an aid to learning the tool, it is brilliant. It goes way beyond anything you'll find in Oracle's own documentation. It clearly lists all of the functions that you can use and provides dozens of workflows to help both novice and experienced users create workbooks.

For the cost of dinner in most good restaurants, I think its excellent value for money, and a great place to start for anyone considering using this product.