Showing posts with label OBIEE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OBIEE. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

OBIEE and Time Series Calculations in analysis (Ago‎, Period Rolling‎, To Date‎)

 OBIEE and Time Series Calculations in analysis (Ago‎, Period Rolling‎, To Date‎)



In OBIEE 11 we can use the Time Series Function in analysis and not only in Administration.
2 of the functions require a "time level". So in this post we will learn how to find it and the meaning of each function.
Please note the Time Series Functions are not subject to analysis filters. For example I can create a filter on analysis to show only month X, but if I use the AGO function with last month parameters, it will return data of month X-1, despite the filter. This is the desired behavior of such function.

Time Level:

Unlike the Administration where you can select the time level from the relevant option on the left, in analysis you have to write it yourself. For example, in Sample Sales we have the following Time Dimension:
The Time Level is "Folder Name"."Hierarchy Name"."Level". In our case it's "Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Month".

Time Series Calculations

AGO:

Syntax: AGO(expr, time_level, offset)


Example: AGO("Base Facts"."Revenue","Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Month", 1)
   
A time series aggregation function that calculates the aggregated value from the current time back to a specified time period. In our example AGO provides the Revenue 1 Month Ago from the relevant row data.
For the following example: 
We get this result:
We have the above AGO definition:
AGO("Base Facts"."Revenue","Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Month", 1)
Since the column Month is part of this analysis, we can omit  the time level of the function. The following will give the same result:
AGO("Base Facts"."Revenue", 1)
But it will not work if you delete the Month column from the analysis:
What kind of analysis do I need for Ago without month as a column?
For example when you want the value for this month and last month only as 2 column (so you can compare them). For example:

This criteria (with only 1 month in the filter)
Returns this result:
We need the Time Level here.

Or this example:
I added this column AGO("Base Facts"."Revenue" , "Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Year", 1)
It returns the revenue of a month 1 year ago.

Period Rolling:

Syntax: PERIODROLLING(measure, x [,y])
 Example: PERIODROLLING("Base Facts"."Revenue", -1 ,1 )

This function computes the sum of a measure over the period starting x units of time and ending y units of time from the current time. The unit of time is determined by the measure level of the measures in its first argument and the query level of the query to which the function belongs. In our example the function returns the last, the current and next month aggregated Revenue.

 Few examples:
PERIODROLLING("Base Facts"."Revenue", 0,0) - Returns the current month Revenue (similar to using "base Facts"."Revenue" without the function)
PERIODROLLING("Base Facts"."Revenue", -1,0) - Returns the last month (the -1) and current month Revenue.
PERIODROLLING("Base Facts"."Revenue", -1,1) - Returns the last, the current and next month aggregated Revenue.
PERIODROLLING("Base Facts"."Revenue", -1,2) - Returns the last, the current and next 2 month aggregated Revenue.



TODATE

Syntax: TODATE(expr, time_level)

Example: TODATE("Base Facts"."Revenue", "Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Quarter")

A time series aggregation function that aggregates a measure attribute from the beginning of a specified time period to the current time. In our example we get the total revenue since the beginning of the quarter.


Example:
TODATE("Base Facts"."Revenue", "Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Quarter") returns the revenue from the beginning of the relevant quarter. In our example the result of this column in each first month of quarter is equal to the "regular" Revenue.
TODATE("Base Facts"."Revenue", "Time"."Time Hierarchy"."Year") returns the revenue from the beginning of the relevant Year.

Just as we did with AGO we can run TODATE without Time Dimension columns in the analysis (but we use it in filter). 
For example:
Results in:

You can't use PERIODROLLING this way. 

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

How-to: Data Visualization with External Javascript Libraries (D3 )

One of the great features of Oracle's Business Intellgience 11g foundation is the ability to integrate external applications via an API call or through the use of javascript libraries. In a previous article I discussed how to utilize javascript functions using OBIEE 11g's native UserScripts.js. Today we're going to expand on this functionality by integrating third party data visualization scripts. One popular javascript library used for data manipulation is 'Data-Driven Documents' . This open source scripting library gives users the ability to manipulate data using methods not available in OBIEE 11g.  Kevin McGinley first wrote about this in 2012 and the guys over at Rittman Mead recently posted an overview of D3 / OBIEE integration.  Below we're going to cover all the steps required to implement a D3 visualization technique.

Before we get started, you can view all of the D3 visualization methods at their github. In the example below we're going to use airline data to and D3's Calendar View to visualize average flight delays. You will need OBIEE 11.1.1.6.2 or higher (this example uses OBIEE 11.1.1.7.0) and IE 9+.



 

Step 0: Create an Answers Report

This report should contain a year dimension, a date dimension and an aggregate fact column. In the airline example I've selected 'Date', 'Year' and 'Average Departure Delay'. Take note of the column order as you will have to reference the column number in a narrative.




Step 1: Download the D3 Javascript Library from github

This is going to download a 'd3-master.zip' file that contains all of the javascript libraries needed for integration. You will unzip all of these files into OBIEE 11g's analytics ear deployment under Weblogic's Domain Home  located at :
 user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\bi_server1\tmp\_WL_user\analytics_11.1.1\7dezjl\war\res\b_mozilla\common

Step 2:  Create css file for Calendar Formatting

The Calendar view's javascript code is basically one script, with one function and one css file. These 'chunks of code' are all stored in the index.html using the example located on github, but in order for this view to play nice with OBIEE 11g, we're going to need to dissect components of the code into isolated narratives and css files. The first step is to take the css code:

#chart {
  font: 10px sans-serif;
  shape-rendering: crispEdges;
}
.day {
  fill: #fff;
  stroke: #ccc;
}
.month {
  fill: none;
  stroke: #000;
  stroke-width: 2px;
}
and save it to its own css file (calendar.css) located at:

user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\bi_server1\tmp\_WL_user\analytics_11.1.1\7dezjl\war\res\b_mozilla\common\d3\examples\calendar\calendar.css (you will need to create the directory as this doesn't exist)

Step 3: Create an Answers Narrative to Execute the Javascript Library

Now that we've laid the groundwork for calling the D3 library, the next step is to integrate the Calendar View code into an Answers narrative.

First create the script headers and link type to call the javascript library. This code will be stored in the pre-fix of the narrative:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/d3.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/lib/colorbrewer/colorbrewer.css"/>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/examples/calendar/calendar.css"/>
Next we're going to take the calendar view code and copy the entire code block from the start of the width variable delcaration to the end of the call to the selectAll function. Your code should look similar to:


<script type="text/javascript" src="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/d3.js"></script>
    <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/lib/colorbrewer/colorbrewer.css"/>
    <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/analytics/res/b_mozilla/common/d3/examples/calendar/calendar.css"/>
    <div id="my_chart"></div>
    <script type="text/javascript">
var margin = {top: 19, right: 20, bottom: 20, left: 19},
    width = 720- margin.right - margin.left, // width
    height = 136 - margin.top - margin.bottom, // height
    cellSize = 12; // cell size
var day = d3.time.format("%w"),
    week = d3.time.format("%U"),
    percent = d3.format(".1%"),
    format = d3.time.format("%Y-%m-%d");
var color = d3.scale.quantize()
    .domain([5,30])
    .range(d3.range(9));
var svg = d3.select("#my_chart").selectAll("svg")
    .data(d3.range(year_range1, year_range2))
  .enter().append("svg")
    .attr("width", width + margin.right + margin.left)
    .attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom)
    .attr("class", "RdYlGn")
  .append("g")
    .attr("transform", "translate(" + (margin.left + (width - cellSize * 53) / 2) + "," + (margin.top + (height - cellSize * 7) / 2) + ")");
svg.append("text")
    .attr("transform", "translate(-6," + cellSize * 3.5 + ")rotate(-90)")
    .attr("text-anchor", "middle")
    .text(String);
var rect = svg.selectAll("rect.day")
    .data(function(d) { return d3.time.days(new Date(d, 0, 1), new Date(d + 1, 0, 1)); })
  .enter().append("rect")
    .attr("class", "day")
    .attr("width", cellSize)
    .attr("height", cellSize)
    .attr("x", function(d) { return week(d) * cellSize; })
    .attr("y", function(d) { return day(d) * cellSize; })
    .datum(format);
rect.append("title")
    .text(function(d) { return d; });
svg.selectAll("path.month")
    .data(function(d) { return d3.time.months(new Date(d, 0, 1), new Date(d + 1, 0, 1)); })
  .enter().append("path")
    .attr("class", "month")
    .attr("d", monthPath);
    var csv =[];

Notes About this Code

Although this code does most of the heavily lifting and can be left unmodified, there are specific lines that can be changed and updated dynamically via the use of presentation variables.


Color Thresholds:

The color variable specifies the thresholds for red/yellow/green. In this case I deem the min and max ranges of an airline delay to be between 5 minutes and 30 minutes:

var color = d3.scale.quantize()
    .domain([5,30])

Chart Size Adjustment:

By modifying the code for the margin variable:

var margin = {top: 19, right: 20, bottom: 20, left: 19},
    width = 720- margin.right - margin.left, // width
    height = 136 - margin.top - margin.bottom, // height
    cellSize = 12; // cell size
  The height/width/cell size can be adjustable by changing the hardcoded values to presentation variables such as:

  • @{Width}
  • @{Height}
  • @{CellSize}

Date Formatting:

The 'day' variable responsible for date formatting:

var day = d3.time.format("%w"),
    week = d3.time.format("%U"),
    percent = d3.format(".1%"),
    format = d3.time.format("%Y-%m-%d");
Requires that the format of the date be specified.  The Calendar View script by default uses a 'YYYY-MM-DD' format. If your OBIEE data is a MM-YY-DD format or has a timestamp, you will need to modify the column data format to the following:

Modifying the Date Range:

The Calendar View code by default hard codes a date range of 1990 to 2011. You will most likely need to modify these values for your data set create a presentation variable that allows the users to change the date range dynamically:
var svg = d3.select("body").selectAll("svg")
    .data(d3.range(1990, 2011))
Could be modified to:

var svg = d3.select("#my_chart").selectAll("svg")
    .data(d3.range(year_range1, year_range2))
In the upcoming steps I will show how these variables can be called.

 Step 4: Populate the Narrative and Post-Fix

In the narrative you will need to specify the Date and Metric you want to pass to the javascript function using the corresponding column number (see step 0 if you forgot!)


The Post-Fix should contain the remainder of the Calendar View code. This can remain unmodified:

var data = d3.nest()
    .key(function(d) { return d.Date; })
    .rollup(function(d) { return d[0].Metric; })
    .map(csv);
  rect.filter(function(d) { return d in data; })
      .attr("class", function(d) { return "day q" + color(data[d]) + "-9"; })
    .select("title")
      .text(function(d) { return d + ": " + (data[d]); });
function monthPath(t0) {
  var t1 = new Date(t0.getFullYear(), t0.getMonth() + 1, 0),
      d0 = +day(t0), w0 = +week(t0),
      d1 = +day(t1), w1 = +week(t1);
  return "M" + (w0 + 1) * cellSize + "," + d0 * cellSize
      + "H" + w0 * cellSize + "V" + 7 * cellSize
      + "H" + w1 * cellSize + "V" + (d1 + 1) * cellSize
      + "H" + (w1 + 1) * cellSize + "V" + 0
      + "H" + (w0 + 1) * cellSize + "Z";
}
</script>
Your narrative should be similar to:

Step 5: Create a Second Narrative for the Date Range

This narrative is optional, but assuming you want to give the user the ability to modify the date range, you would take the variables you referenced in the 'Modifying the Date Range' section (in my case year_range1 and year_range2)  and set both of them equal to two presentation variables like below:

Step 6: View Narratives in Answers

Adding both narratives to a single view, your end result should look similar to:
This guide barely scratches the surface of D3-OBIEE integration but serves as a great example of how 3rd party APIs and javascript libraries can be integrated into OBIEE 11g. I encourage all BI Architects to look through the entire D3 library and see how D3 can be integrated into their current engagement.
 

 keywords: OBIEE 11g, Data-Driven Documents, OBIEE 11.1.1.7.0, UserScripts.js, Answers, javascript

Overview on Object Level Security, Application Roles, and Inheritance in OBIEE 11g

In Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE) 11g, Oracle has fundamentally changed how we map users to various security privileges.In OBIEE 10g, Object Level Security was enforced using the USER session variable, which mapped to a GROUP session variable. This created a list of possible 'groups', which a developer would then apply security restrictions to, in either Answers (Managed Privileges) and/or Security Managed in the repository.

A high level flow is outlined below:
































In OBIEE 11g, security authentication is enforced in the Weblogic Admin Server, and a user's security privileges are tied to their corresponding Application Roles in Fusion Middleware as shown in the diagram below:

The key take away is that object level security is applied to application roles and not groups.  Why application roles? In Weblogic and Fusion Middleware, we can actually assign certain privileges to an application roles - we call these 'Application Policies'. For example,  we can grant a certain application role the ability to 'edit the repository', or 'act as another user'. This feature, not possible in OBIEE 10g, now allows us to not only control what objects are being viewed, but also gives us the capability to control who can execute certain actions within the BI environment. This topic will be discussed in much greater detail in another guide.
Now let's go over the basic rules of Object Level Security for Application Roles in OBIEE 11g:
  • If a user is a direct member of an application role, they will have access to the reports allowed by that application role.
  • If a user is not a member of an application role, they will not have access to the reports allowed by that application role.
  • If a user is a direct member of two or more application roles with different security privileges for the same reports, the less restrictive security privilege is applied.
    • unless the user is explicitly denied. Explicit denial supersedes all security privileges.
  • If a user is a member of Application Role X, and Application Role X is a member of Application Role Y, the privileges in Application Role X supersede the privileges of Application Role Y
Let's cover each scenario in detail:
  • If a user is a direct member of an application role, they will have access to the reports allowed by that application role.
 
In this example, I granted Application Role 'Test Role 1' full control to folder 'Folder 1'. I then logged in as 'testuser1' who is a member of Application Role 'Test Role 1'. And as expected, testuser1 can read/write/edit/delete the folder.


  • If a user is not a member of an application role, they will not have access to the reports allowed by that application role.
In this example, I created 'Folder 2', only accessible by members of the 'BIAdministrator Application Role'. I then log in as a 'testuser1', which is not a member of the 'BIAdministrator Application Role'
As BIAdministrator:
As testuser1:
Note that in the above scenario, 'denying' the application role access accomplishes the same thing as taking no action onto the application role role (i.e. ignoring it completely)
  • If a user is a direct member of two or more application roles with different security privileges for the same reports, the less restrictive security privilege is applied.



























In this example, I created Folder 3, which grants 'read' access to Test Role 1 and 'modify' access to 'Test Role 2'. 'Testuser1' is a member of both 'Test Role 1' and 'Test Role 2'.
 
 
As expected, Testuser1 has modify rights to Folder 3 (noted by 'X', ability to delete), despite being a member of Test Role 1 which only grants the user read access
  • If a user is a direct member of two or more application roles with different security privileges for the same reports, the less restrictive security privilege is applied.
    • unless the role is explicitly denied


In this example, TestUser1 is a member of Test Role 1 and Test Role 2 and Test Role 3. Test Role 1 grants testuser1 open rights, Test Role 2 grants testuser1 modify rights and Test Role 3 is explicitly denied.














As expected, testuser1 does not have access to Folder 4 because of Test Role 3
  • If a user is a member of Application Role X, and Application Role X is a member of Application Role Y, the privileges in Application Role X supersede the privileges of Application Role Y




























 
In this example, testuser1 is a member of application role 'Test Role 4'. Application role 'Test Role 5' is a member of application Role 'Test Role 4'. Test Role 4 grants 'open' privileges to Folder 5 and Test Role 5 grants 'full control' to Folder 5.
 
As expected, testuser1 only has read/open access to Folder 5 even though Application Role 'Test Role 5' grants full control. This is because direct inheritance overrides indirect inheritance


Even if the inherited role explicitly denies access to folder 5, the user will still be able to access folder 5 because the direct role grants read/open access:
Note how testuser1 has modify access to Folder 5 (noted by the 'X') , despite inheriting a role that is denied access to the same folder.


These basic rules can be applied to any hierarchy, no matter how complex. Think you've mastered these 4 basic rules? Identify the final privileges for User 1 in the scenario below:

Result:
  • User is a direct member of Role 1 and 2 and indirect member of Role 3, Role 4 and Role 5
  • User has no access to Dashboard A
  • User has open access to Dashboard B
  • User has full control of Dashboard C
  • User has no access to Dashboard E
  • User has open access to Dashboard D

 keywords : object level security, obiee security, obiee application roles, obiee 11g security, weblogic application roles, obiee inheritance

How-to: OBIEE 11g Javascript Integration using Action Framework (Browser Script)

One of the powerful features of Oracle's Business Intelligence 11g platform is a concept called 'Action Framework' or 'Actionable Intelligence'. It's useful because for the first time in OBIEE you can integrate external applications, functions or code and invoke it using the front end user interface (Answers).

Although I have seen 'javascript or jquery integration' in OBIEE 10g, the implementation was always 'hacked' together, and of course, was never supported or endorsed by Oracle. In this guide we'll show how you can take any javascript or jquery function and by using Oracle's supported 'external systems framework', integrate it seamlessly with OBIEE 11g.

Consider the scenario where your source data warehouse or ERP stores employee numbers in an encoded format of base 64. For example, employee number '123456789' is 'MTIzNDU2Nzg5' in base 64.  The requirement you have is to display the decoded employee number in a report. How do we implement this requirement?

Luckily, base 64 encode/decode functions are easily accessible via the internet, so we'll use the code from Stackoverflow.com

The encode function will ultimately end up in the UserScripts.js file located at:

  • <middleware home>/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/bi_server1/tmp/_WL_user/analytics_11.1.1.2.0/<installation dependent folder>/war/res/b_mozilla/actions/UserScripts.js
But we can't just copy & paste, so let's get started.

Step 1: Understand how OBIEE 11g uses action framework to invoke custom javascript functions

OBIEE 11g stores custom javascript functions in Userscripts.js. In order to integrate a javascript function into userscript.js your function  must have:

  • a USERSCRIPT.publish function which is required to pass the parameters to the target javascript function
  • a USERSCRIPT.parameter function out of the box function which is used by the Action Framework to define parameters in custom JavaScript functions for use when creating an action to Invoke a Browser Script. Each parameter object includes a name, a prompt value holding the text to be displayed against the parameter when creating an action, and a default value.
  • a USERSCRIPT.encode function - the actual function we're going to implement


Step 2: Create USERSCRIPT.encode.publish function


As described above, the userscript.encode.publish function needs to take the parameters from the USERSCRIPT.parameter file and create a new encode object:


USERSCRIPT.encode.publish=
{
 parameters:
 [
  new USERSCRIPT.parameter("employeenumber","Employee Number","")
 ]
}



 Step 3: Create the actual encode functions

The encode function from stackoverflow is actually comprised of two functions: 1) the public method for encoding and 2) the private method used for UTF8 encoding

USERSCRIPT.encode function:


USERSCRIPT.encode=function(b)
{
var cz="";
for(args in b)
 { // this for function is needed to store the 3rd value in the array - the actual employee number
 var d=args;
 var a=b[d];
 cz = a;
 }
 var output = "";  
 var chr1, chr2, chr3, enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4;
 var i = 0;
 var _keyStr = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=";
 var input = USERSCRIPT.UTF8Encode(cz);

 while (i < input.length)
 {

  chr1 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
  chr2 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
  chr3 = input.charCodeAt(i++);

  enc1 = chr1 >> 2;
  enc2 = ((chr1 & 3) << 4) | (chr2 >> 4);
  enc3 = ((chr2 & 15) << 2) | (chr3 >> 6);
  enc4 = chr3 & 63;

  if (isNaN(chr2)) {
   enc3 = enc4 = 64;
  } else if (isNaN(chr3)) {
   enc4 = 64;
  }


  output = output +
  _keyStr.charAt(enc1) + _keyStr.charAt(enc2) +
  _keyStr.charAt(enc3) + _keyStr.charAt(enc4);
 }

alert(output)
}
;

USERSCRIPT.UTF8ENCODE function

USERSCRIPT.UTF8Encode=function(b)
{   
 var str = b.replace(/\r\n/g,"\n");   
 var str = b;

 var utftext = "";
 for (var n = 0; n < str.length; n++) {
  var c = str.charCodeAt(n);
  if (c < 128)
  {
   utftext += String.fromCharCode(c);
  } else if((c > 127) && (c < 2048)) {
   utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 6) | 192);
   utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
  } else {
   utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 12) | 224);
   utftext += String.fromCharCode(((c >> 6) & 63) | 128);
   utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
  }
 }

 return utftext;
 };

After this, make sure to restart Admin Service, Managed Server and OPMN prior to creating the Action in Answers

Step 4: Create the Action in Answers

In Answers, navigate to New -> Actionable Intelligence -> Action -> Invoke -> Invoke a Browser Script

1) 2)
Click browse and select the USERSCRIPT.encode function:


Since the USERSCRIPT.parameter function specified 3 parameters, we will need to populate the three fields  as follows: Object Name, prompt value, and default value.



















After saving the action, execute it and populate it with a number, or leave it as default 123456789.






















And as expected, the encoded base 64 number 123456789 is - 'MTIzNDU2Nzg5'



This example only scratches the surface of what's possible with Action Framework and OBIEE 11g. Correctly implemented, you can invoke 3rd party applications or functions (*cough* ETL on demand *cough*), pass data to the ERP source system, integrate a data set with Google Maps, or all of the above.
In future guides we will explain the advanced functionality of Action Framework.



 keywords: action framework,  obiee action framework, obiee javascript, obiee actions,  actionable intelligence

How-to: Image Referencing with OBIEE 11g

In a typical OBIEE engagement, the client may want to utilize out of the box or custom images within various dashboards and reports. This requirement leads to many open questions, including:


  1. Where are these images located?
  2. How do I embed the image into a dashboard or report?
  3. How do I maintain the integrity of the image URL across multiple environments?
Let's break down each question one by one:


Where are these images located?

All images are stored in the 'browser look and feel plus' folder of the BI Server, you've probably seen this notated as 's_bflap'. This folder exists in two locations and it is critical that any image you upload be housed in both:

  • Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\app\res\s_blafp\images
  • user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\bi_server1\tmp\_WL_user\analytics_11.1.1\7dezjl\war\res\s_blafp\images

How do I embed the image into a dashboard or report?

OBIEE 11g has a little known feature called 'fmap' which can be used to display an image based on the relative URL of the image. Little documentation exists on it other than a few notes released by Oracle which include:

  • How To Display Custom Images Using Fmap In OBIEE 11g (Doc ID 1352485.1)
  • Image FMAP on Linux (Doc ID 491154.1)

How do I maintain the intregrity of the image URL across multiple environments?

Here is where things get tricky due to the lack of documentation that exists.  Let's say you want to use the image 'report_good_percentage.jpg' located in the s_blafp folder:


So as outlined in Oracle's documentation you use 'fmap:report_good_percentage.jpg' or even 'fmap:images/report_good_percentage.jpg', but to your dismay all you see is a broken image link:


Why?

It is important to remember that fmap displays the image of the relative URL. So what does relative mean? What is 'it' relative to? In regards to fmap, the relative URL is the root directory of the analytics web server, which in OBIEE 11g is:

/export/obiee/11g/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/bi_server1/tmp/_WL_user/analytics_11.1.1/7dezjl/war
Which makes sense if you understand how applications are deployed in weblogic. The presence of the WEB-INF directory in the aforementioned folder is how Weblogic determines if a folder if a deployable application directory.

So - if we work under the assumption that the above folder is indeed the root directory, then it we now know why the image returns a broken link, report_good_percentange.jpg is not stored in the 'root' directory of the analytics web server, it is actually stored in:

/export/obiee/11g/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/bi_server1/tmp/_WL_user/analytics_11.1.1/7dezjl/war/res/s_blafp/images
Let's update the fmap relative url to correctly reference report_good_percentage.jpg by modifying it to:

fmap:res/s_blafp/images/report_good_percentage.jpg
Unfortunately..

Why does fmap STILL not work?

Let's take a look at the URL that's actually being generated:


Notice anything funny? Why is OBIEE 11g adding a 'Missing_' folder to the URL directory? Countless bloggers have theorized this as a bug in OBIEE and some even suggest making a 'Missing_' folder in the root directory of the analytics web server. I don't think that is the best approach because as you deploy this application across multiple servers, you'll have to make sure all environments have that same folder. Keep it simple right?
We can resolve this by modifying the fmap url to revert one directory closer to its root by using '/..':
fmap:/../res/s_blafp/images/report_good_percentage.jpg
Let's check the URL being generated just to make sure:


 The image displays, and the 'Missing_' folder is no where to be found.  If your requirements have extensive image customizations, perhaps changing the entire look and feel, I recommend deploying an entirely new skin as outlined in Oracle Note: How to Use Custom Images in OBIEE (Doc ID 1484623.1)