Creating a Subject Area

Creating a Subject Area

When you create a new subject area, you assign one or more fact tables to the subject area.

DAC then determines which dimension and other related tables are required as well as the tasks and their order of execution.

To create a subject area

1. In DAC, select the appropriate source system container from the drop-down list in

the toolbar.

Note: You cannot modify objects in the preconfigured source system

containers. You must make a copy of a preconfigured container in

order to make any changes to it. For instructions on how to make a

copy of a preconfigured source system container, see "Creating or

Copying a Source System Container".

2. From the Menu bar, select Views, then select Design, and then select Subject Areas.

3. In the top pane toolbar, click New.

4. In the Edit child tab, enter a name for the subject area, and click Save.

5. Make sure the new subject area name is highlighted in the top pane, and click the

Tables child tab.

6. Click Add/Remove in the child tab toolbar.

The Choose Tables dialog opens. The left-hand window lists all the tables held in

the selected container.

7. Query for one or more fact tables.

8. Select the fact table (use Shift+click to select more than one table), and click Add.

The tables are added to the right-hand window, which represents the subject area.

9. Click OK to close the Choose Tables dialog.

10. In the top pane toolbar, click Assemble.

11. In the Assembling... dialog, select Selected Record Only.

If you select the option All Records in the List, DAC will reassemble all the subject

areas listed in the top pane.

DAC assembles the selected subject area by determining what dimensions and

other related tables are required.

Note: You cannot modify objects in the preconfigured source system

containers. You must make a copy of a preconfigured container in

order to make any changes to it. For instructions on how to make a

copy of a preconfigured source system container, see "Creating or

Copying a Source System Container".

Creating a Subject Area

Customizing DAC Objects and Designing Subject Areas 8-19

The Subject Area Assembly dialog box appears, displaying on the left a tree view

that shows the fact tables that belong to the subject area. You can expand the fact

table node to view its related tables.

12. Click Calculate Task List to assemble the tasks needed to load the tables displayed

in the tree view.

If configuration tags have been assigned to any of the tasks, an information

message will appear.

A list of tasks appears in the Task List tab on the right side of the window. Also,

the Table List tab displays the tables included in the subject area.

13. Click Accept to complete the subject area assembly process.

14. (Optional) Prune the subject area to better suit your business needs by removing

one or more tables from the subject area.

a. In the tree view, remove one or more tables from the subject area by

deselecting the check box to the left of the table name.

b. Click Calculate List.

c. Review the changes to the subject area:

The Task List tab displays the new set of tasks required to load the pruned

subject area.

The Task Difference Report tab displays the tasks that were added and the

tasks that were deleted during the last assembly process.

The Table List tab displays the tables that are included in the pruned subject

area as well as the tables that were excluded during the pruning process.

d. To accept the changes made to the subject area, click Accept.

e. Click OK in the message box stating the subject area was successfully

assembled.

15. (Optional) Click the Tasks tab to view which tasks DAC has determined are

required for this subject area.

Tasks that are automatically assigned to the subject area by DAC are indicated

with the Autogenerated check mark.

You can inactivate a task from participating in the subject area by selecting the

Inactive check box. When the Inactive check box is selected, the task remains

inactive even if you reassemble the subject area.

Creating a Subject Area

8-20 Oracle Business Intelligence Data Warehouse Administration Console User’s Guide

You can also remove a task from the subject area using the Add/Remove

command, but when you remove a task it is only removed from the subject area

until you reassemble the subject area.