Use the cross-database joins in Tableau 10 with BI connector to combine data from OBIEE Subject Area with CSV file, SQL databases or other data sources to get better data insight faster.  You can combine OBIEE Sales/Marketing/Financials/HR/Supply Chain subject area data with department data in CSV/SQL/TDE or other data sources with ease.

What is cross-database join?

Cross-database join is a new feature in Tableau 10 that allows users to join two data sources in the data source tab of  the Tableau Desktop.  You can map the join between columns from two data sources.  Joined datasources are treated like a single data source for visualization and data extraction.  Behind the scenes, Tableau will pull data from the joined data sources using the mapping.

How is it useful for visualizing OBIEE data?

OBIEE data is often combined with department data in csv files, sql databases, or Hadoop data sources.  The enriched data is used for visualization and analysis in Tableau.  Cross-database joins makes it easy to combine data from OBIEE subject areas with other data sources.  The combined OBIEE+other sources data can be used to create charts, dashboards, storyboards, and also extracted into TDE files.   Cross-database join in Tableau 10 can be viewed as a simpler replacement for the data blending feature in Tableau 9.

What are the steps to use cross-database join to combine OBIEE Subject Area data with other data sources?

Combining OBIEE data with other data sources is quite easy with BI connector and cross-database join in Tableau 10.  See the following video for the step-by-step demo:

The step-by-step instructions for using Tableau 10 cross-database joins with BI connector to combine OBIEE data with CSV file data is given below:

1. Connect Tableau 10 Desktop to OBIEE data source using BI connector
2. Select the Fact and dimension tables from OBIEE Subject area
3. Connect Tableau 10 Desktop to the CSV file data source
4. Select the CSV file.
5. In the Join area, map the fields from OBIEE table/folder with the fields in CSV file.
6. The combined data source is ready for visual analysis.

Next Step: Try cross-database join with OBIEE data

Ready to try the cross-database joins in Tableau 10 with OBIEE Subject Areas and other data sources?

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