7 Limitations of Oracle’s Native OAC Connector for Power BI
The Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) is the modernized version of the legacy BI platform, the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE). The OAC does have some advanced self-service dashboarding features, which OBIEE lacked. However, most users today prefer Power BI over OAC for data visualization and dashboarding due to its intuitiveness and ease of use.
Most enterprises using Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) are looking to address the user demand for visualizing the OAC data in Power BI, as this approach brings the best of both worlds – OAC, on one end, makes life easier for Enterprise BI teams by allowing them to maintain all their data in one place, in an analysis-ready format. On the other hand, Power BI users can analyze this OAC data using their preferred data visualization tool.
Unfortunately, this approach’s problem is that Power BI users have to rely on manual Excel exports to pull the data from OAC to Power BI. Users generally avoid taking this Excel route unless absolutely necessary, as they will have to wait for hours to move with large amounts of OAC data to Power BI. Enterprises are looking for solutions to make the OAC data travel securely to Power BI in an automated way.
To address this problem, Oracle created its native OAC connector for Power BI. However, this connector has several limitations, which we will discuss in this blog post.
To start, here’s a quick list of the 7 limitations of Oracle’s OAC Connector for Power BI.,
- Complicated Setup
- Incompatible to Automate Reports in Power BI Service
- Row Limit Constraints
- Invisible Column Names
- Lack of Connectivity to Data Models
- Unable to Handle Primary Key Absence
- Lacks Power BI Certification
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Now, let’s look at each of these limitations in detail.
- Complicated Setup
The process of setting up Oracle’s native OAC Connector for Power BI is complicated. From download to installation to usage, the entire process is cumbersome and difficult to manage for enterprise-level implementations.
The process requires the Oracle Analytics Client tools, which take up 2 GB of space, to be downloaded and installed on each Power BI user’s PC. Additionally, the OAC administrator must provision each user with a Power BI App Key.
- Incompatible to Automate Reports in Power BI Service
The OAC Connector for Power BI works only with Power BI Desktop in Import mode. It does not support automated dashboard data refreshes in Power BI Service.
Hence, users are forced to manually refresh the data in Power BI Desktop whenever they want to see the latest OAC data. Further, after each refresh, they must manually publish the dashboards to the Power BI Service for sharing with other users with Pro or Premium accounts.
- Row Limit Constraints
When connecting to Analysis reports (built on top of the Subject Areas in OAC) from Power BI, the OAC Connector for Power BI limits the number of rows fetched to 500,000.
This limitation of 500k rows for Analysis applies to OAC users even if the data is consumed directly by logging into their OAC account on a web browser. Hence, you will have a limited data view if your Analysis has more than 500k rows.
- Invisible Column Names
The column names of the Analysis reports connected to Power BI (using the OAC Connector for Power BI) are hidden and replaced with alias name notation such as s_1, s_2, etc.
This limitation requires the user to refer to the Analysis report in OAC in a browser and manually rename the columns in the Power BI end. Most Power BI users hesitate to do this painful task.
- Lack of Connectivity to Data Models
The OAC Connector for Power BI does not support connectivity to the OAC Data Models. Enterprise BI teams prefer creating Data Models, as they can directly tap into the physical layer of the RPD and fetch data from the underlying data sources of OAC. These data models are then consumed in the BI Publisher reports.
As the OAC Connector for Power BI does not support Data Model connectivity, Power BI users can access only the limited data available in the Presentation layer of OAC. This limitation is a showstopper for users who frequently run and consume BI Publisher reports in OAC.
- Unable to Handle Primary Key Absence
In OAC, the RPD is administered with Security in mind. Hence, most OAC Admins avoid exposing the primary keys of tables to the Presentation layer, especially in scenarios when the keys contain details such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). However, they join tables using such keys at the Physical layer and ensure users can use the join at the Presentation layer without viewing the joining keys.
As the users of OAC Connector for Power BI can access only the data in the Presentation layer, they often face an irresolvable roadblock – the absence of keys to join two or more tables (in Power BI) when connecting to OAC Subject Areas.
As the OAC Connector for Power BI does not have a provision to retain the joins from the Physical layer (without exposing the primary keys), this limitation often leads to conflicts between the OAC Administrator and the users, who eventually abandon the OAC Connector for Power BI.
- Lacks Power BI Certification
The OAC Connector for Power BI is a custom connector from Power BI’s perspective. This means that the connector is not Power BI Certified.
So, when a user installs the connector on their PC and attempts to connect to OAC, Power BI shows a warning message that they are using a third-party service. Uncertified connectors are not recommended by default in Power BI, and users use them at their own risk.
Conclusion
For enterprises visualizing Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC) data in Power BI, understanding the limitations of its native connector is beneficial. We explained the 7 important limitations of OAC’s native connector through this blog. This includes Complicated Setup, Incompatible to Automate Reports in Power BI Service, Row Limit Constraints, Invisible Column Names, Lack of Connectivity to Data Models, Unable to Handle Primary Key Absence, and Lacks Power BI Certification.
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