Introducing NoetixViews
Overview
Noetix Views (NoetixViews) is a set of business views of the data stored in Oracle
E-Business Suite. NoetixViews works with the latest releases of Oracle E-Business Suite and most client/server query tools to give you unparalleled flexibility and fast access to your data. Oracle allows you to customize Oracle E-Business Suite while query tools allow you to retrieve data from those applications. NoetixViews improves this process by providing views of Oracle E-Business Suite data so that the data can be easily queried with your query tool and presented in meaningful business terms.
NoetixViews includes an exhaustive help file that is available from both the client and server computers. The help file assists you in locating data and understanding its usefulness.
NoetixViews may be purchased to enhance the information delivery abilities of the most widely used Oracle
E-Business Suite modules.
NoetixViews is compatible with Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 and later.
It can be used on any platform supporting Oracle E-Business Suite.
Noetix views reside in the Oracle database on the server side of the client/server architecture.
Views can be accessed with a variety of client query tools.
Noetix views display site-specific customized data fields (key and descriptive flexfields). Oracle Reports do not display these fields and you cannot easily locate them with a query tool. With NoetixViews, you can use your query tool to view data customized with site-specific names, labels, and data organizations.
When NoetixViews is installed on your computer, Noetix Help File can be generated in several formats for your specific configuration. The help file references all the data in your applications, including the customized data.
NoetixViews reduces the complexity of the Oracle database by decreasing the number of table joins required to retrieve data. Most of the table joins have been designed within the product and labeled for easy reference.
During installation, NoetixViews eliminates the complexity by determining which options of your Oracle
E-Business Suite have been implemented and which have been left out. Once this is determined, the columns relevant only to the configured options are displayed in NoetixViews. For example, if Oracle E-Business Suite is set up to deal with only the currency used in U.S., the Noetix views will display amounts in U.S. dollars only.
Optimized for Quick Data Access
NoetixViews is optimized to give you quick and efficient access to your data.
Each view contains hints for choosing the columns that qualify best for the query. Using these hints for selecting the search columns in your query ensures that data is returned in a reasonable time.
NoetixViews hides the data that is not relevant to your business site, thereby making it easier to locate the data you are looking for.
The names of the views and their columns relate to functional, business, and accounting terms, making them easier to understand and access.
The Noetix Help File guides you in finding out which data to look for and how to search for it. The Noetix Help File is available in three formats:
Microsoft WinHelp (available on Microsoft Windows)
Query Tool Help (available with most query tools)
HTML Help (available for use with a Web browser)
What Are Views?
Database views enable you to retrieve and review data stored in a database in a very efficient manner. Views do not contain data that can be manipulated; views are a composite picture of data obtained from base tables. Views have the characteristics of tables (for example, they contain rows and columns); but because they contain no actual data, they are sometimes referred to as virtual tables. Also, since there is no actual data stored in a view, data cannot be modified using NoetixViews.
Types of Noetix Views
NoetixViews offers three types of views of Oracle E-Business Suite data:
Basic
Value-Added
Cross-Functional
Views vary in complexity from the simple, basic views to the most complex, cross-functional views. When selecting a view, select a level of complexity that appears to be the most appropriate for your information requirement.
Basic
Basic views display data that appear in the corresponding Oracle data entry form or in a block within a form. The data in basic views is extracted from 1 to 4 tables.
Value-Added
Value-added views display data that is a combination of data appearing on several Oracle data entry forms. The data in value-added views is extracted from 4 to 8 tables.
Cross-Functional
Cross-functional views are the most complex and therefore take the most time when used to retrieve data. These views display data that is contained in several Oracle E-Business Suite modules. The data in cross-functional views is extracted from 8 to 14 tables.
What Are Roles?
Similar to Oracle, NoetixViews uses roles as a security feature to control access to data. A role is a collection of rights to a set of Noetix views, which the DBA can grant to a user. Noetix roles allow you to access those views that you are need to work with. These predefined Noetix roles can be modified by your DBA.
In order to access a set of Noetix views, you are granted access to a particular Noetix role. The Noetix Help File lists the available roles. Contact the Noetix System Administration User if you have questions about which roles you have been granted.
Some query tools allow you to activate or deactivate the roles you have been granted, equivalent to picking a responsibility within Oracle E-Business Suite. Additionally, Oracle E-Business Suite at your site can be set up to automatically activate specific roles as you log on.
Roles are created based on the form of the views used. There are three types of roles, standard, Cross Operations Extension (XOP), and global, that are available in NoetixViews.
NoetixViews uses a prefix naming system to identify and label various roles. The prefix assigned to a role becomes the prefix for every view accessible under that role. To create a role prefix, a simple abbreviation is chosen for each Oracle E-Business Suite module, such as AP for Oracle Payables and PO for Oracle Purchasing.
Standard Role
In the standard type of role, a single role with a set of views is generated for each active organizational unit defined in an Oracle E-Business Suite module. When a standard role is assigned to a Noetix query user, the user can query data only from the organizational unit corresponding to the role. For example, if a company has separate U.S. and international operations within the Oracle Payables module, two separate roles (each with a different set of views) would be created—one for the U.S. operations and the other for the international operations. The same would apply to separate organizations. For example, for different warehouses in the U.S. there would be a separate role for each Oracle Inventory module used in each organization. Consider the following example:
When standard views are generated, for each occurrence of a specific Oracle E-Business Suite module, role abbreviations similar to the following are used:
AP: Represents the instance of the Payables module for U.S. operations of a company.
AP1: Represents the instance of the Payables module for international operations of the same company.
PO: Represents the instance of the Purchasing module for the U.S. operations of a company.
PO1: Represents the instance of the Purchasing module for the international operations of the same company.
These abbreviations are then used as a prefix to the role name, for example:
AP Payables
AP1 Payables
PO Purchasing
PO1 Purchasing
XOP Role
In the XOP type of role, a single role with a set of views is generated based on the settings configured for the chart of accounts in an Oracle E-Business Suite module. Depending on the configuration of the chart of accounts, the number of XOP roles generated may vary. When an XOP role is assigned to a Noetix query user, the user can query data from multiple ledgers or sets of books that have the same chart of accounts or query data from multiple operating units and inventory organizations that share the same combination of a chart of accounts and an item master organization. Consider the following example:
When XOP views are generated, for each occurrence of a specific Oracle E-Business Suite module in which there are organizations within sets of books that use the same chart of accounts and item master organization, role abbreviations similar to the following are used:
ARX0: Represents the instance of the Oracle Receivables module for U.S. operations of a company that has organizations within the set of books that use the same char of accounts and item mater organization.
ARX1: Represents the instance of the Receivables module for international operations of the same company that has organizations within the set of books that use the same chart of accounts and item master organization.
These abbreviations are then used as a prefix to the role name, for example:
ARX0 Receivables
ARX1 Receivables
Global Role
In the global type of role, a single role with a set of views is generated for all the active organizational units defined in an Oracle E-Business Suite module. When a global role is assigned to a Noetix query user, the user can query data from all the organizational units corresponding to the role subject to the access permissions defined for the user. Consider the following example:
When global views are generated, for each Oracle E-Business Suite module, a single role abbreviation similar to the following is used:
ARG0: Represents the instance of the Receivables module for managing all operations of a company.
APG0: Represents the instance of the Payables module for managing all operations of a company.
These abbreviations are then used as a prefix to the role name, for example:
APG0 Payables
ARG0 Receivables
Support for Joins in NoetixViews
NoetixViews provides out-of-the-box joins between views that are functionally related. If the required information to build a report is not available from a single Noetix view, you can join the view with other functionally related views to satisfy your reporting needs.
Types of Master Keys
Joins in Noetix views are based on master keys that are of the following types:
Rowid column-based master key: A rowid column is a column in a view that references the rowid column of a driving table in the view. Thus, the rowid column in the view contains the unique storage addresses of the rows in the table. A master key that is based on a rowid column is called a rowid column-based master key. A view can have only one rowid column-based master key, and it is named according to the Z$<view label> nomenclature. When you add a rowid column-based master key to a view, a column with the Z$ prefix will be added to the view. Rowid column-based master keys can be defined for the standard, Cross Operations Extension (XOP), and global forms of the views.
Standard column-based master key: A standard column refers to any existing view column of a character, numeric, or date data type. A view can have more than one standard column-based master key, and more than one master key can be defined on a standard column. A standard column-based master key can also be a composite master key that is based on multiple standard columns. The standard column-based master keys do not have the Z$ prefix, and they can be defined for only the global forms of the views.
Rowid column-based and standard column-based master keys can be created and maintained through the Noetix Views Workbench (NoetixViews Workbench). For information, see the Noetix Views Workbench Help.
Types of Joins
Joins in Noetix views can be of the following types:
Rowid column-based join: Such joins make use of rowid column-based master keys. For such joins, the detail view must have the same table that is referenced by the rowid column-based master key in the master view. The detail view has a foreign key that will use the Z$<master view label> format. Only one rowid column-based join is possible between two views. A rowid column-based join will always have a cardinality of one-to-one.
For example, consider the AP Invoices and AP Invoice Payments views. The AP Invoices view has a rowid column-based master key called Z$AP Invoices that is based on the rowid column of the AP INVOICES ALL table. The AP Invoice Payments view has a foreign key column called Z$AP Invoices that is also based on the rowid column of the AP INVOICES ALL table. In this example, the join condition can be defined as follows:
AP Invoices.Z$AP Invoices = AP Invoice Payments.Z$AP Invoices
Standard column-based join: Such joins make use of standard column-based master keys. Multiple standard column-based joins are possible between two views. A standard column-based join can have a cardinality of one-to one or one-to-many.
For example, consider the join between the XLA SLA Hub Journal Lines and XLA AP Invoice Dist views. The XLA SLA Hub Journal Lines view has a composite master key that consists of the Accounting Event Header ID, Accounting Event Line Number, and Subledger Application ID columns. The XLA AP Invoice Dist view has a composite foreign key that consists of the Accounting Event Header ID, Accounting Event Line Number, and Acct Event Application ID columns. In this example, the join condition can be defined as follows:
XLA SLA Hub Journal Lines.Accounting Event Header ID = XLA AP Invoice Dist.Accounting Event Header ID
XLA SLA Hub Journal Lines.Accounting Event Line Number = XLA AP Invoice Dist.Accounting Event Line Number
XLA SLA Hub Journal Lines.Subledger Application ID = XLA AP Invoice Dist.Acct Event Application ID
The properties of joins are defined in the NoetixViews metadata and used by the Noetix generators when the joins are configured in the meta-layers of the business intelligence (BI) tools. Information about the join types and columns is available in Noetix Search (Noetix Search).
Rowid column-based and standard column-based joins can be created and maintained through the NoetixViews Workbench. For information, see the MagnitudeNoetixViews Workbench Help.