Is OBIEE Still Supported?

Introduction

Oracle Support goes through a series of phases over the lifetime of a product. Unfortunately, nothing lives forever and technology changes are fast and frequent. New features become available, new operating systems are released, and the market shifts. Even the vast might of Oracle doesn't have infinite resources and they need to be able to focus their support team on keeping ahead in the race and ensuring the latest versions of products are kept up to date and working.

Oracle Support Phases

Oracle Support model is based on time, so the older a product gets, the fewer support features are available to it. The approach makes sense really, they will want their customers to be on the latest products, benefiting from the newest features, and getting the most out of their systems.

Support is split up into 3 time periods:

1. Premier Support
2. Extended Support
3. Sustaining Support

Let's take a look at an example timeline below, taken from the OBIEE 12.2.1.x timeline:

Premier Support

Premier Support provides you with maintenance and support for OBIEE from their general availability date to expiration.

If your environment is in premier support you will have access to

• Major product and technology releases
• Technical support
• Access to My Oracle Support
• Updates, fixes, security alerts, data fixes, and critical patch updates
• Tax, legal, and regulatory updates
• Upgrade scripts
• Certification with most new third-party products/versions
• Certification with most new Oracle products

Extended Support

Extended Support is granted to a product by Oracle on a case-by-case basis for an additional fee, it is also not available for all products or versions. For example, OBIEE 11.1.1.x was in extended support for 3 years (Dec 2018 to Dec 2021) and OBIEE 12.2.1.x is in extended support for 1 Year and 9 Months (Dec 2025 to Aug 2027). If you are an extended support customer you will benefit from everything inside Premier Support.

Extended Support may not include certification with some new third-party products/versions.

Sustaining Support

Sustaining Support is available after Premier and (paid) Extended Support expires. Sustaining Support will receive support limited to the following:

• Existing Program updates, fixes, security alerts, and critical patch updates
• Existing Tax, legal, and regulatory updates
• Existing Upgrade scripts
• Assistance with service requests 

 Sustaining Support does not include:  

• New program updates, fixes, security alerts, and critical patch updates
• New tax, legal, and regulatory updates  
• New upgrade scripts
• 24-hour commitment and response guidelines for Severity 1 service requests.
• Previously released fixes or updates that Oracle no longer supports

Where does this leave OBIEE?

In short, OBIEE is coming to the end of its product lifecycle. Oracle is moving ahead with the OAS and OAC product set. The table below shows the state of play regarding Oracle Support and OBIEE.

We can see that OBIEE 11g came out of Premier Support at the end of 2018 and that OBIEE 12c comes out of Premier Support in 2025.

What do I do if my product is out of Support?

As suggested by Oracle's documentation there are really two options.

1. Upgrade to OAS
2. Upgrade to OAC

The upgrade process from OBIEE 11g to OAS or OAC is smooth, with a dedicated upgrade tool taking care of moving the catalog, RPD, and part of the security.

The upgrade process from 12c is even smoother! Utilizing the existing .bar file exports catalog, RPD, security, data models, data flows, and more.

There is an excellent blog below that talks about the differences between OAS and OAC. It is definitely worth a read before you decide which path to follow:

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

Rittman Mead can help!

Rittman Mead has delivered hundreds of OA implementations for customers all over the world. Through our experience with Oracle Analytics products and our vigorous delivery methodology, organisations can be sure of seamless delivery and cutover from OBIEE to OA. Taking advantage of Rittman Mead's fixed-price upgrade ensures that all costs of implementation are known upfront and removes the risk of unexpected expenses.

Rittman Mead will work with customers to understand the drivers of moving to OA and how the additional features can be put into practice right away. With our user adoption and training capability, we will ensure you maximize the return on upgrading to OAS.

The Process

We have created a simple process to walk you through the upgrade. We have already navigated all the difficult migration hurdles before, so you can trust us with the hard stuff! Our upgrade process starts with a brief assessment of your environment and the business and technical drivers for the upgrade. From there, we:

• Work with you to choose the best target architecture and approach for your environment.
• Work closely with your team to create an upgrade plan including prerequisites, dependencies, assumptions, environment constraints, and security constraints.
• Help to prepare your environment for the upgrade, identify regression test packs, remove redundant subject areas and reports, and define success criteria.
• Combine our skills in architecture, delivery, training, and support with a set of automated blueprints and accelerators to work with clients through every phase of the project from scoping and planning to implementation to user adoption and change management.
• Work with you to perform the upgrade for a Fixed Price. This means reduced risk for you and full visibility of your migration cost.
• Finally, we integrate training into our project. So your team can make the most of new functionality, or just brush up on old skills.