Overview
Features and Benefits
Integration with other Oracle products
Installation and Configuration
Packaging and pricing
Miscellaneous

Overview
What is Oracle Warehouse Builder?
Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) is a framework for creation of extraction, transformation, and loading
scripts for populating an operational data store, a data mart or a data warehouse. OWB also includes a
component to design the target data warehouse / data mart / operational data store. The design component
can be used to create data warehouses designed as star schema (including aggregations / summary levels
with multiple hierarchies) or warehouses / operational data stores as third normal form.

What is the Oracle Warehouse Builder Repository?
The OWB repository is a server-based, low-maintenance, powerful metadata repository based on the openstandard
Common Warehouse Model (CWM). The repository is the central nervous system of the
Enterprise Business Intelligence solution provided. All design information regarding sources,
transformations and warehouses is available and can be viewed over the web, utilizing Oracle Portal
technology. This includes lineage and impact analysis throughout the warehouse.

How does Oracle Warehouse Builder facilitate ETL and warehouse design?
OWB is a code generation tool based on a metadata repository, meaning that the design is translated
internally by OWB, which results in the generation of code. This code can then be used to create a data
warehouse and the accompanying data transformations.

Oracle 9i has ETL functionality for free, why do I need to by OWB?
The ETL functionality in the database is a framework provided for ETL applications. It is a set of SQL and
PL/SQL utilities and commands that can be used in ETL processes. To use these commands the user either
needs to write custom SQL and/or PL/SQL. In the future, OWB will provide users with a transparent and
easy to use GUI to embed this functionality in OWB ETL processes. These are therefore building blocks for
OWB, not a separate ETL tool.

What is the history of this tool?
Oracle Warehouse Builder is a tool developed within Oracle Development and is based upon Oracle’s
previous experiences in providing ETL tools including Oracle Data Mart Builder and the Oracle Applications
Data Warehouse. Oracle Warehouse Builder was first released in beta to initial customers in mid-1999, and
became generally available in February 2000. The current release, 3i, became available in June 2001.
Oracle Pure Integrate is complementary to and included with Oracle Warehouse Builder. Version 5.4 became
available in December 2000. Oracle Pure Integrate automates the integration and cleansing of customer data
and includes powerful and mature capabilities for transformation and synchronization of general data.

Features and Benefits
General
How easy is it to create the warehouse schema with OWB?
OWB gives the user a wizard-driven design environment to create the dimensional warehouse schema.
Wizards guide the user through the creation of dimensions with multiple levels and hierarchies, the creation
of keys on these levels, and the linking of these dimensions to the fact tables. OWB provides wizards for all
database objects supported in OWB.

How easy is it to define/add the source systems to the warehouse structure?
Import is wizard-driven, and the user is walked through the process of importing source metadata (database
or file based) into the OWB repository. Complexity is shielded from the user in such a way that all database
sources look alike, as do all flat file sources. OWB will handle the translation to different code transparently.

How easy is it to create ETL processes with OWB?
The ETL process is handled by defining and deploying mappings. OWB gives the user a highly graphical
and easy-to-use interface, allowing users to model the ETL process by dragging and dropping objects on a
mapping canvas. After connecting the objects, OWB will generate a pl/sql package from this logical
drawing, which will provide the actual data movement.

Is prototyping supported by OWB?
Due to OWB’s graphical nature, prototypes can be built rapidly. OWB provides a graphical design tool for
logical representations of star schema and third-normal-form target databases. It contains automated
validation of source to target mappings, and automated code generation of code. SQL DDL for building
target tables, SQL*Loader control files for loading data from flat files, PL/SQL for extraction and
transformation and TCL to enable registration in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Source Information
Which sources are supported by OWB?
OWB supports the following source environments:
·  Oracle RDBMS, versions 7.3.4 and higher
·  Flat files (character-delimited, fixed-length, single-record and multi-record)
·  SAP/R3 (2.1.1.34 supports 3.1X, 4.0X, 4.5X, 4.6A, 4.6B)
·  XML documents (URL, Advanced Queues, documents etc.)
·  Generic Connectivity (ODBC)
·  Oracle Transparent Gateways (see next question for a more detailed list)

What Oracle Transparent Gateways is OWB certified against?
OWB is certified against the following gateways:
·  Microsoft SQL Server
·  Sybase
·  Informix
·  DB2 on OS/390 (MVS)
·  DRDA for DB2 on OS/390 (MVS)
·  DRDA for DB2 on AS/400

What sources are supported through Oracle Pure Extract?
Oracle Pure Extract supports native access to OS/390 platforms:
·  IMS
·  DB2
·  VSAM
·  Sequential files

How does OWB support extraction from the OS/390 platform?
Oracle Pure Extract generates COBOL programs that run on the OS/390 system. These programs extract the
data and move it to another machine.
What CASE tools are supported by OWB as source metadata suppliers?
OWB can extract metadata from the following tools:
·  Oracle Designer version 6.0
·  CA ERwin
·  Sybase PowerDesigner

What is the difference between accessing a data source using Generic Connectivity or an Oracle Transparent Gateway?
Oracle8i, Release 3, includes Generic Connectivity for free. Oftentimes, a data source may be accessible
either via ODBC or an Oracle Transparent Gateway. On a support level, the difference is that with ODBC the
customer must obtain and configure the ODBC driver himself. Oracle guarantees support for the ODBC
interface, but any problems related to the ODBC driver, e.g. faulty ODBC driver, misconfiguration issues,
non-availability of ODBC driver for a particular version of the data source, must be addressed by the
customer. With the Transparent Gateways, Oracle offers end-to-end support for accessing a particular data
source.
Additionally the performance of an Oracle Transparent Gateway is usually better, since it is specifically
designed for a specific source, whereas ODBC provides generic access to that source.

Is flat file source support included in OWB?
OWB includes built-in access to character-delimited or fixed-length files, which can consist of multiple
record types within a file.

Does OWB support ASCII and EBCDIC?
OWB is capable of handling both formats natively and through the usage of Oracle Pure Extract.

Does OWB support the CLOB and LONG data types?
No, OWB currently doesn’t support these data types.

What ODBC drivers are certified on the UNIX platform for Pure Integrate?
The release comes with Intersolv 3.5 ODBC drivers for DB2, Informix, Oracle, OpenIngres, Sybase,
SQL Server, dBASE, and Text Files.

Is OWB capable of reconciling changes in the source system to the OWB repository information?
Yes, OWB can reconcile the source metadata with the actual source system. If changes are present OWB
will - after running the reconcile - present a source impact analysis report to the user. The user can decide to
go ahead and reconcile the changes or reject them. Sophisticated functionality allows the user to keep
certain information (added logical keys in OWB etc.) regardless of the discrepancy detected.

How do I use the SAP with OWB 3i?
The SAP integrator is not currently provided with OWB 3I, however customers can use the 2.1.1.34 version
of OWB to create a staging area for the extraction from SAP. OWB 2.1.1.34 supports ABAP and PL?SQL
code generation. This Staging area can then serve as a source for OWB 3i which gives the customer all the
advantages of OWB 3i.

Can the SAP Integrator handle customizations of the SAP environment (for example different languages)?
The SAP Integrator can extract from customized tables. They are treated in the same way as standard tables.
Is it possible to mix SAP versions as sources?
Yes, defining different source modules for each version let’s you do this.

Does the SAP installation have to be on an Oracle database?
No, the OWB integrator solution for SAP is not depended on the underlying database. SAP installed on a
non Oracle database (Informix, DB2, SQL Server or Sybase) can be accessed with the OWB SAP integrator.

Will SAP certify the SAP Integrator solution?
Unfortunately SAP doesn’t certify any solutions that extract data from an SAP system. SAP only certifies
solutions that push data into SAP.

Does the OWB SAP Integrator support ABAP code generation?
Yes, the user can decide to use either ABAP or PL/SQL to extract data from the SAP source. This is done
transparently so the user is not required to fully understand ABAP code.

Does OWB support extraction from XML sources?
Yes, OWB supplies users with an XML tool kit. This tool kit is used to extract data from XML sources as
diverse as Advanced Queues and XML documents.

Target Information
Which warehouse platforms does OWB support?
OWB is tuned and build to fully utilize the market leading-Oracle database. OWB is a code generation tool
and uses the Oracle database as its transformation engine. The client software must be installed on either a
Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 client

On which Hardware Platforms is OWB certified?
OWB supports all targets that the Oracle 8i/9i database is certified against, because it runs on that database.
Do I have to use the Oracle 9i database to use OWB?
No, OWB is certified on both Oracle 8i release 3 and on Oracle 9i, future versions will tightly integrate with
the Oracle 9i database though.

Can I run the OWB generated warehouse on Oracle 8i Standard Edition?
In general this will work, although it is not recommended, because you would NOT have :
·  parallel query option
·  bitmap indexing
·  parallel bitmap-star query
All these features are core functionality for data warehousing. Also, using the standard edition you cannot
buy any database options like partitioning.

Does OWB support non-Oracle databases or flat files as targets?
No, however OWB allows you to address this issue with workarounds. A post map process can be defined
to spool data to a file and in theory the gateways could be used to deploy to another database (this latter
workaround is not recommended, nor supported by Oracle!).

Does OWB support dimensional targets?
Yes, OWB has a wizard-driven design process for both dimensions and for facts. Both can be viewed and
printed in a diagramming mode.

Does OWB support 3rd normal form targets?
Yes, OWB let’s you define 3rd normal form schemas with the wizards guiding you through the table creation
process. It also provides a simple wizard to design and define keys between the tables.

Does OWB provide summary support?
Yes, OWB offers wizard-driven design for Materialized Views, the summary mechanism of the Oracle
database. The database will automatically redirect the queries generated by end user tools on the OWB
generated warehouse, thanks to this tight integration.

Is OWB capable of storing tablespace information with database objects?
Yes, OWB allows users to determine the tablespace for indexes, tables, dimensions and facts on a per object
basis. OWB adheres to the general Oracle recommended practice of applying storage characteristics via
tablespaces, NOT via individual object clauses.

Can OWB import Materialized View definitions?
At this point in time this is not possible with OWB. The Materialized Views have to be defined within OWB.
However this is planned for a future release.

Can OWB ensure referential integrity in the warehouse?
Yes, OWB allows users to define constraints (Primary, Unique, Foreign and Check) on all objects. Therefore
the database will enforce the referential integrity.

Does OWB support incremental design and can it add changes to an already loaded warehouse?
OWB seamlessly utilizes the Change Management pack coming with Oracle Enterprise Manager to
propagate changes in the metadata to the actual warehouse. OWB can add columns, keys, tables and facts
without causing any disruption to the present warehouse. Removing of elements is supported as well,
however this is obviously of more impact to the warehouse.

The ETL process
What language does the product generate to extract data from sources?
OWB generates SQL, PL/SQL, ABAP (in 2.1.1.34) or SQL*Loader control files, depending on the source
system and on the execution strategy chosen. External processes can be run/used if they are wrapped in
PL/SQL.

Can the generated code be modified?
Yes, OWB generates code, which can be deployed into the database and it can be deployed into scripts
(text files). These text files can be modified and then deployed to the database with the changes. Note that
these changes (if made outside of OWB) are not stored in the repository, and that problems with modified
scripts are not supported by Oracle.

Can the administrator influence the generated code at runtime?
Yes, the OWB generated ETL code consists of packages. The administrator can substitute the values
chosen at design time with enhanced values for the specific runtime situation. For example, if a job failed, the
administrator can change the execution strategy and create a row-by-row processing mode, generating
sophisticated error logging (auditing) messages. Other parameters include the audit level, the commit
frequency, the error threshold and the bulk load size.

Does the product supply error logging and detailed error messages on the ETL process?
Yes, OWB has levels of audit details, which can be set by the user (even at runtime). These levels range
from complete logging (for debugging) to no logging at all if speed counts. The logging information is
collected in the OWB runtime schema and can be viewed using the OWB Runtime Audit Viewer.

Can OWB generate artificial keys?
Yes, depending on the implementation language, OWB uses either sequences (PL/SQL implementation) or a
data generator (SQL*Loader implementation) to product these artificial keys.

Does OWB support key-lookup?
Yes, four functions are provided to assist the user in this. These can be applied in any mapping and based
on the input key value they return the corresponding key value from the lookup table.

Does the product provide the ability to select/filter data by row/column during extraction?
Yes, mappings (and therefore selects) are typically by column and the filtering occurs through WHERE
clauses in the SELECT statement. Filters can be applied during the extraction process or during updates to
the target object. OWB provides a graphical expression builder to help users create complex filter
conditions.

Are chained transformations supported?
Yes, OWB provides the user with a very flexible mapping paradigm. There is no limit (other then that of
comprehensibility) to the number of chained transformations.

Does OWB support multiple source objects in one mapping?
Yes, the user can add source objects to a mapping and join these via a joiner. If the tables are connected by
key relationships OWB picks these up automatically and populates the join condition without the user
having to open the joiner and type this in.

Does OWB support multiple target objects in one mapping?
Yes, OWB has no limit on the number of target objects in a mapping. It even provides an operator to
conditionally spread data over multiple data recipients.

Is there a standard time dimension in OWB?
OWB delivers a time dimension based on the Gregorian calendar. The user can determine the levels in this
dimension and choose from a number of pre built hierarchies.

How does OWB handle incremental data loads?
In a mapping each target object can be configured separately with it’s own incremental data load strategy.
The user can choose between a variety of strategies, which include INSERT , UPDATE and INSERT/UPDATE.
The latter will first try to insert a record, and if that fails it will update the record. This is done by OWB if the
user chooses this strategy. No additional actions are required.
In addition to that OWB lets the user configure individual attributes to participate in an update or insert
action. This gives the user the flexibility to specify update clauses using any attribute available, without
creation of additional constraints.

In what way are Pure Integrate and Pure Extract jobs integrated in the OWB mapper?
Both can be added to the mappings as external processes (an OWB mapper operator).

Does the mapping tool support easy one-to-one mapping for objects?
OWB has a “create-like” feature. This allows users to create a new target that looks exactly as the source.
The mapping lines are automatically connected when this is done.

Scalability
Does the product have the ability to handle various scalability needs?
Yes, scripts are deployed to the Oracle target platforms that may scale from data marts to extremely large
enterprise warehouses. Because the Oracle database is the transformation engine, OWB scales extremely
well.

Does the product employ engine-based technology for transformation?
Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) generates PL/SQL for extraction and transformation. These scripts are
distributed to target data warehouse systems. The Oracle8i/9i database engine thus becomes the
transformation engine. Multiprocessor capabilities of the data warehouse platform are hence fully taken
advantage of.

Can OWB support Oracle’s parallel inserts, updates, deletes?
Yes, OWB does support these. All objects can be configured for the correct degree of parallelism and OWB
allows users to apply hints for further performance tuning.

Does the product have the capability to switch to another task while the ETL task is being executed?
Since PL/SQL scripts are distributed to the target platform and scheduled independently of OWB, OWB can
be used for development and generation, while ETL tasks are being executed on other platforms.

What are the built-in performance optimization techniques to use during ETL processing?
PL/SQL Bulk Processing: OWB uses PL/SQL bulk processing for reads and writes. Bulk processing
improves the performance of SQL statements that affect multiple rows of data. This feature increases loading
performance by approximately five times.
Foreign Key Constraint Manipulation: For pure insert operations, OWB goes directly to the Oracle8i
database by issuing a single insert statement. This fastest method of inserting data is called “batch insert”.
During batch inserts, OWB intelligently manipulates foreign key constraints so that rows are inserted faster
while still preserving referential integrity. This feature results in an approximately threefold performance
increase during loading. Users can switch this behavior on and off.
Faster Loading from Remote Tables Using the Inline View Technique: OWB automatically detects the
common scenario where one or more custom transformations are applied to multiple, joined tables that are
located in a remote database. This scenario is most efficiently processed by first joining the tables in the
source database and then applying the transformation functions on the (much reduced) result set in the
target database. OWB forces the join on the remote database by means of an inline view. On average this
feature brings a fivefold performance increase during extraction.
Partition Exchange Loading: OWB allows users to specify a partition on a table and then (with a simple
choice of a parameter value) will apply Partition Exchange Loading. This means that the data is loaded into a
temporary table, not the partition. Once loaded, this table is swapped into the partition. Performance
increases of up to four time have been measured.

Warehouse Management
Does the product have a scheduling feature for running requests at specified times?
Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM), provided with every Oracle RDBMS server, provides that capability at no
extra charge. OWB generates TCL scripts that are registered within OEM. After registering the TCL scripts
they can be scheduled using OEMs scheduling functionality.

Does the product have advanced operational control features to support job or group scheduling dependencies?
Yes, OWB Enterprise Edition includes Oracle Workflow that provides complex dependency management.
Note that jobs must first be registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Does OWB integrate with external schedulers?
OWB generates scripts (SQL and PL/SQL) which can be wrapped in for example UNIX shell scripts. These
UNIX shell scripts can then be incorporated within an external scheduler (for example Maestro). The audit
information will still be available in the OWB runtime environment.

How are extraction and data transformation rules managed?
An OWB Project is a high-level repository structure that stores and organizes the formal descriptions that
define a data warehouse. These definitions include descriptions of data sources, target warehouse objects,
mappings of source data to various targets, transformation operations, and configuration parameters. OWB
generates and stores numerous scripts in a Project. As a warehouse project evolves, developers use OWB
to configure and validate warehouse definitions and then use OWB to generate scripts to create and load
the data warehouse. OWB also deploys scripts to a file system so the operations staff can run the daily
operation using Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Workflow.

Does the product provide the ability to restart failed ETL jobs?
Not currently. The OWB Runtime catalog is installed in the target schema and consists of a set of database
objects (tables, sequences, triggers, etc.) that are used for error logging, and -- in the future --
job restart and error recovery. The Runtime Audit Viewer lets you retrieve the information stored in the
Runtime tables. In the current version this tool is for monitoring only. In a future release its
capabilities will be expanded to allow restart and recovery using both OWB functionality and database
functionality.

Are there statistical functions to trace data changes (e.g. how many rows were inserted, updated, or deleted)?
A set of database audit objects (tables, sequences, triggers, etc.) are used for error logging. The detail level
of the auditing information that OWB automatically logs during extraction and loading can be controlled via
a configuration parameter or at runtime.

Does the product have the capability to be integrated with certain types of monitoring tools (i.e. RDBMS monitoring tools and application monitoring tools)?
Yes. As ETL scripts are in PL/SQL and deployed to Oracle target databases, standard monitoring tools can
be used when then scripts are in use.

Metadata
Does the product provide a metadata repository that works in conjunction with the transformation development environment?
All development work done within OWB, including importing of source definitions, design of targets,
mapping of sources to targets, and building of custom transformations is stored in the Oracle8i based
repository that the OWB Client is linked to.

Does OWB have a published metadata model with SQL based query capability and/or an API?
Yes, OWB comes with a set of documented public views on the repository. These are read-only and can be
accessed with SQL. OWB does not provide an API to give the user write access.

Does OWB adhere to any metadata standards in the market?
Yes, OWB adheres to OMG-CWM (Common Warehouse Metadata) and Oracle is one of the main
participants and drivers of this OMG (Object Management Group:
http://www.omg.org/technology/cwm/index.htm) standard.

What other metadata standards are available in the market?
None, all vendors are either united under the OMG-CWM umbrella or have their own proprietary standard.
The Metadata Coalition lead by Microsoft has joined the OMG-CWM standardization effort in 2000.

What other vendors support the OMG-CWM standard?
Currently the list is:
·  Hyperion
·  IBM
·  Microsoft
·  Unisys
·  SAS
·  Informatica
·  HP (in a supporting role)
·  SUN (in a supporting role)

Does OWB support versioning in its repository?
The current release of OWB supports versioning at the project level. This is called archive & restore and
allows the user to allocate a label (archive) for each version. Labels can then be re-imported to restore a
previous version.

Is the repository a multi-user environment?
Yes, OWB employs a sophisticated locking mechanism to allow users to work on the same project
simultaneously. Locking occurs on the object level (for example, a table, a dimension or a mapping) to allow
for maximum flexibility. One user will receive a read/write lock, the other will then have a read-only copy of
the object. This read only copy is presented in a read-consistent view, which means that object is not
changed until a commit occurs in the session with read/write. OWB provides a synchronize option to allow
users to refresh their copy periodically.

Is there another way of viewing OWB’s metadata than the client application?
Yes, OWB comes with a portlet which is embedded in Oracle Portal. This portlet provides users with a web
based viewing medium on all of OWB’s metadata.

Does OWB provide Lineage and Impact analysis for metadata?
Yes, through the OWB browser a point and click interface is given to allow users to view lineage and impact
analysis diagrams.

Does the repository allow automatic discovery of database objects from database sources?.
Yes, for Oracle data sources, the user supplies connection information (e.g. the username, password,
SQL*Net connect string), which will be used to create a database link in the database that hosts the
Warehouse Builder repository. OWB uses this database link to query the source database’s data dictionary
(catalog) and extract metadata that describes the tables, views, etc. of interest to the user. Other sources
accessed through Transparent Gateways also look like Oracle to OWB. The user experiences this as a
process of visually inspecting the source and selecting objects of interest. The integrator for SAP provides
the same transparent capabilities.

It is easy to create descriptive metadata?
Standard Oracle Warehouse Builder description components are used. Description fields can be populated
by developers using OWB, for example, to document definitions and meanings of fields, processes, etc.

Can the metadata be accessed by other Oracle tools?
A bridge is provided for Oracle Discoverer in order to populate metadata in this tool. A similar bridge is
provided for Oracle Express. Oracle’s direction here is to support the Common Warehouse Metadata
Interchange (CWMI) ratified in the summer of 2000 by the Object Management Group (OMG).

Do I need iAS to run OWB?
It is the metadata management portal that works as a portlet within Oracle Portal 3.0. This means that Portal
needs to be there to run this component and the 9iAS HTTP server.

Benefits
What are the main benefits of using Oracle Warehouse Builder?
Among the main benefits of using Oracle Warehouse Builder are:
·  Due to a metadata driven approach OWB created solutions are 100% reproducable. All code is
generated from a metadata repository and therefore reproducable at any point.
·  Changes are incorporated in a fast and efficient way because the central point for changes is the
repository. From there the changes can be propagated in an intelligent way to systems already
deployed. This is life-cycle support.
·  Focus on the market leading Oracle database ensures a tight fit and optimal tuning for this platform.
·  Source and target system reconciliation ensure that OWB always provides the correct
representation of the systems in the organization.
·  OWB provides the users with data warehouse design, ETL design and life cycle management in
one consolidated environment.
·  OWB provides users with a highly graphical user interface, which reduces hand coding to a
minimum.

Integration with other Oracle products
For integration with Oracle Workflow and Oracle Enterprise Manager see the section on Warehouse Management, page 8.

How does OWB integrate with the Oracle RDBMS?
OWB integrates in a number of ways with the Oracle database. A few are noted below:
·  The Oracle database is the transformation engine for all extraction code generated from OWB.
·  OWB gives users the opportunity to tune the generated code using all the features the Oracle
database provides. These include table partitioning, bitmap index creation, dynamic constraint
management etc.
·  OWB has a specific loading capability, called Partition Exchange Loading, utilizing key
characteristics of the Oracle Database to improve loading into very large (fact) tables.
·  OWB allows users to define the summary strategy for the warehouse using the OWB GUI. The
method used for summary management is the Oracle database’s Materialized View feature.

Do I need an Oracle database as a target? If yes what version?
Yes, to make use of the above mentioned advantages, the target is required to be an Oracle database. Due to
the functionality used, OWB 3i supports Oracle 8i release 3 (8.1.7) and higher.

Does OWB 3i integrate with Oracle Discoverer?
Yes, OWB allows the user to specify the Business Area characteristics for Discoverer. It allows the user to
specify which data objects are included in a specific Business Area, and it let’s the user specify, on an
attribute level, what the Discoverer item characteristics will be. This virtually eliminates the need to use the
Discoverer Administration edition for object creation and maintenance.

Which versions of Discoverer are supported with OWB 3i?
The OWB export facility (the bridge) supports Discoverer version 3.1 and Discoverer version 4.

Does OWB 3i integrate with Oracle Express?
Yes, OWB has a metadata bridge to Express. Metadata will be transported to RAA (Relational Access
Administrator) version 1.15 (default setting).

Can OWB 3i write back to Oracle Designer?
No, currently the OWB version cannot write back to the Designer repository.

What is the integration strategy for Oracle Applications?
Oracle Business Intelligence Solution (BIS) is a warehouse out of the box for Oracle Applications. It is based
on OWB technology and has an Oracle Applications Integrator. This integrator is able to handle flexfields.
The Oracle Applications integrator is only delivered with BIS. Since Oracle Applications is an Oracle
product running on an Oracle database, it can be accessed on a table level with the regular version of OWB.

Can I use the HTTP server that comes with the database or should I use the one in 9iAS?
You should use the 9iAS HTTP server.

Installation and configuration
Where do I install OWB 3i?
OWB has a number of components. The table below shows the component and the installation location.
For more detailed information please see the Install Guide for OWB 3i.
Component Installation location
Oracle Warehouse Builder 3i Client Client installation
Same Oracle Home the Oracle 8i database client.
Oracle Warehouse Builder 3i Repository The repository can be installed on any machine running an Oracle database (release 8i or higher).
The client will be able to connect through SQL*Net.
Oracle Warehouse Builder 3i Runtime The runtime can be installed on any machine Component Installation location running an Oracle database (release 8i or higher).
All packages generated from the OWB repository need to be able to access these runtime objects.
Oracle Enterprise Manager (2.2) Repository This repository can be installed on a separate server, or on the warehouse machine.
Oracle Enterprise Manager (2.2); Change Management Pack
Must be installed on each client machine that uses the warehouse upgrade feature. It must be installed in the same Oracle Home as the 8i client and the OWB 3i client. An Oracle Management Server must be installed to be able to use CM.
Oracle Workflow (2.6) Repository This repository can be installed on a separate server, or on the warehouse machine.

Do I have to install Oracle Workflow in order to be able to use OWB?
No, Oracle Workflow is the tool of choice for dependency management in OWB. If you choose to use
another tool, or scripts to do this, you do not have to install Oracle Workflow. OWB however provides a
one button registration to Oracle Workflow.

Do I have to install Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) in order to be able to run OWB?
No, however OEM is the tool of choice for scheduling in OWB. If you choose to use another tool, or scripts
to do this, you do not have to install OEM. OWB provides a one button registration to OEM.

Packaging and Pricing
Packaging
How is OWB packaged?
OWB is part of 9iDS, which also includes Oracle Jdeveloper, Oracle Discoverer (Plus) etc.

What other products do I need for OWB?
OWB uses the Oracle database as its transformation engine. The OWB browser runs on the Oracle Portal
technology, which means the two products required are Oracle 9iAS and Oracle 8i/9i RDBMS.

Pricing
What is the price of Oracle Warehouse Builder?
For all pricing questions please refer to the Pricing information provided by Oracle at www.oracle.com.

Is there an extra charge for the CWM bridges?
The CWM bridges, which allow users to transfer metadata between OWB and other Oracle tools, such as
Express or Discoverer, are free of charge. Also the CWM bridge to the external CWM format is free of
charge and delivered with the tool. The bridges for importing from Erwin and Powerdesigner are free of
charge as well.

Why would a customer want to pay for the Transparent Gateway?
Technically, ODBC is a generic protocol that offers lowest-common-denominator type access. In contrast,
the Transparent Gateways are optimized solutions for specific data sources. On a support level, the
difference is that with ODBC the customer must obtain and configure the ODBC driver himself. Oracle
guarantees support for the ODBC interface, but any problems related to the ODBC driver, e.g. faulty ODBC
driver, miss configuration issues, non-availability of ODBC driver for a particular version of the data source,
must be addressed by the customer. With the Transparent Gateways, Oracle offers end-to-end support for
accessing a particular data source.

Are any Oracle Transparent Gateways included in the price of OWB?
No, the gateways must be purchased separately. However, generic connectivity via ODBC is a built-in
feature of Oracle8i, Release 2 (8.1.6) and Release 3 (8.1.7) and 9i.

Does the price for OWB include the integrators for Applications or SAP R/3?
Integrators are components that are dedicated to extracting data from a particular type of data source. The
integrators for Oracle databases and flat files are included for free with OWB.
The Integrator for Oracle Applications will be included for free with EDW (Business Intelligence System) in
Release 11i.

Miscellaneous
Supported client software:
What client platforms are supported for OWB 3i?
OWB 3i is certified to run on:
·  Windows NT 4.0 clients
·  Windows 2000 clients

Migration
What is the upgrade path from older versions of OWB to the new release (3i)?
A Meta Data Loader (MDL) file conversion utility is delivered with the product. This will convert MDL files
from older versions of OWB to the new OWB 3i format. So the upgrade path is a metadata upgrade into a
new repository.

How do I convert the older versions to the new 3i release?
In order to do this the following must be done:
·  the older version repository must be exported using the MDL export of that OWB client version
·  the conversion utility must be run against that MDL file
·  the new (3i) client must be used to import the converted MDL file into the newly created repository

What is the upgrade path for Oracle Applications Data Warehouse (OADW) customers?
OADW customers who have purchased support can upgrade for free to OWB. The upgrade does not
include the Integrator for Oracle Applications, which is being developed for the EDW component in Release
11i.

What is the upgrade path for Oracle Warehouse Toolkit customers?
Toolkit customers who have purchased support can upgrade for free to OWB. In addition, if an OWB
integrator becomes available for the same data source as the Toolkit that the customer purchased, the
upgrade to this integrator will be free.

What is the upgrade path for Data Mart Suite (DMS) customers?
All customers who have purchased Oracle Data Mart Suite 2.6 or earlier and have purchased support can convert to individual products as follows:
DMS 2.6 Migration Path
Oracle8, Enterprise Edition Oracle8i, Enterprise Edition
Data Mart Builder Warehouse Builder
Data Mart Designer Functionality included in Warehouse Builder
Discoverer Admin. Edition iDS
Discoverer User Edition Discoverer Plus
Reports iDS
Reports Server iAS, Enterprise Edition
Web Application Server iAS, Enterprise Edition

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