Oracle Analytics: Everything you always wanted to know (But were afraid to ask)

The release of Oracle Analytics Server (OAS) on 31st January 2020 has left many OBIEE users wondering what it means for them. Common questions we were asked at Oracle OpenWorld Europe last week included:

• what’s the difference between OAS, OAC and OBIEE?
• where does DV fit into this?
• should I be migrating and if so, when; what are the benefits?

This blog post aims to answer all these questions!
First of all, let’s define each product in order to compare them.

Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC)

Oracle’s strategic analytics platform, hosted in the Oracle Cloud.

Oracle Analytics Server (OAS)

OAS is the new on-prem version of OAC, and is intended as a bridge between legacy OBIEE platforms and Cloud. It has almost complete feature parity with OAC, including AI-powered, modern and self-service analytics capabilities for data preparation, visualisation, enterprise reporting, augmented analysis and natural language processing and search. If you are an OBIEE customer, you are automatically licensed for OAS, and Oracle Data Visualisation (DV) is included at no extra cost.

OAS vs OAC

The main difference between OAS and OAC is related to hosting and administration. OAC is hosted and managed by Oracle, while OAS needs to be installed, configured and patched by you in your datacenter. This also defines the level of control and customisation: with OAS you have the full control over config files, styles, custom function etc, while in OAC you’ll be able to change only what’s exposed in the cloud console by Oracle.
OAC will receive more frequent updates and new features, with OAS scheduled to have an annual release bringing the cloud features to on-premise customers.
So the choice between the two depends on the amount of customisations needed vs the time spent on supporting the platform.

OBIEE vs OAS

OAS was developed to replace OBIEE, however the two products are not exactly the same. There are one or two OBIEE features that are deprecated in OAS, such as BISQLProvider or Act As, but they are still present in the tool, and they’ll not go away until a proper replacement is in place. On the other side, If you were using Scorecards, this tool is no longer shipped with OAS.
OAS on the other hand, brings almost functional parity with OAC, providing a huge amount of new features especially in the self-service area, more info in the dedicated post.

Can I connect to a Database in my Datacenter with OAC?

Yes you can, Data Visualization offers the option to connect to any datasource which is reachable from the Cloud. If you don’t want to expose your database directly, Oracle Data Gateway enables the connection from OAC (including RPD based connections) to on-prem data-sources without the need to open any firewall port.

Where does DV come into this?

Data Visualization (formerly known as Visual Analyzer) is Oracle’s self-service tool. If you’re an OBIEE 12c user, you may be paying extra license fees to use DV. If you’re already using OAC, you may have noticed DV is included with your license, and this will also be the case for OAS.  

Ultimately, Oracle Analytics’ aim is to provide a mix and match offering, where you can choose which components are Cloud and on-prem. For example, you can upgrade to OAC and point it to your on-prem database. Or if you’re Cloud averse for whatever reason, you can migrate to OAS and utilise many of OAC’s features.

What does Rittman Mead recommend you do next?

There is probably a different answer for everyone, depending on where you are in your Oracle Analytics journey, so we’d recommend contacting us for an initial chat to go through your options. Broadly speaking, if you’re using OBIEE 11.1.1.7 onwards and you’re considering upgrading to 12c, you should factor OAS or OAC into your decision making process.

To help you decide which product is best for you, we are offering a FREE two-day Oracle Analytics assessment which aims to help you create a business case for migrating to OAC or OAS based on your pain points and anticipated usage. Contact us for more information.

Rittman Mead also provides OAC, OAS and OBIEE training. Our next OAC bootcamp is taking place in London, March 23rd - 26th 2020. For more information go to our training page or contact us.