Oracle Fusion BIP Report Questions with Answers

Oracle Fusion BI Publisher (BIP) Report – Complete Beginner Guide

Introduction

Oracle BI Publisher (BIP) is a powerful reporting tool in Oracle Fusion Applications used to design, schedule, and distribute reports in multiple formats such as PDF, Excel, CSV, eText, and XML.

This blog covers:

• Navigation to build BIP reports

• Data Model basics

• Components of Data Model

• Triggers, scheduling, bursting

• Multi-language reports

• Common interview questions

This guide is useful for Oracle Fusion HCM/Financials technical consultants and beginners.

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Navigation to Build the BIP Report in Oracle Fusion

Data Model Navigation

To create a Data Model:

Tools → Reports and Analytics → New → Data Model

The Data Model defines how and from where the data is fetched.

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Report (Template) Navigation

To create a Report using an existing Data Model:

Tools → Reports and Analytics → New → Report

Here you attach:

• Data Model

• Layout Template (RTF, Excel, eText, etc.)

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What Is a Data Model in BI Publisher?

A Data Model is an object that contains instructions for BI Publisher to:

• Retrieve data

• Structure data

• Pass parameters to the report

It defines:

• Data sources

• Data structure

• Parameters

• Bursting and triggers

👉 Think of the Data Model as the backend logic of a report.

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Components of a Data Model

A Data Model consists of the following components:

1. Data Sets

2. Event Triggers

3. Flexfields

4. List of Values (LOVs)

5. Parameters

6. Bursting

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What Is a Data Set?

A Data Set contains logic to retrieve data from a single data source.

Supported Data Sources

• SQL Query (Database)

• Web Service

• XML File

• Excel File

• BI View Object

Each Data Model can have multiple Data Sets.

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Can We Use Triggers in BIP Reports?

✅ Yes

BI Publisher supports Event Triggers:

Types of Triggers

1. Before Data Trigger

2. After Data Trigger

3. Schedule Trigger

How Triggers Work

• Triggers call PL/SQL procedures

• Stored in Oracle Database

• Used for validations, logging, data preparation

Example:

• Before Data Trigger → Prepare temporary tables

• After Data Trigger → Cleanup data

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What Is Split By and Deliver By?

Split By

• Defines how the report output is split

• Example: Split by Employee, Department, Business Unit

Deliver By

• Defines who receives the report

• Example: Email to manager, HR, payroll team

Used mainly in Bursting.

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How to Generate Multi-Language Reports in BIP?

Oracle BI Publisher supports multi-language reports using translation.

Steps:

1. Open Report → Properties

2. Go to Translation

3. Click Extract Translation

4. Generate XLIFF file

5. Translate text

6. Upload translated XLIFF file

This allows the same report template to run in multiple languages.

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How to Schedule BI Publisher Reports?

You can schedule reports using multiple options:

Option 1: Report and Analytics

Tools → Reports and Analytics → New → Report Job

Option 2: Published Reporting

Create Section → Published Reporting → Report Job

Option 3: Catalog

Catalog → Select Report → More → Schedule

Option 4: ESS Job

Reports can also be scheduled using ESS Jobs.

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Common BI Publisher Interview Questions

Q1. What is the difference between Data Model and Report?

• Data Model → Fetches and structures data

• Report → Displays data using templates

Q2. Can a report have multiple templates?

• ✅ Yes (PDF, Excel, eText, etc.)

Q3. Can a Data Model have multiple data sets?

• ✅ Yes

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Best Practices for BI Publisher Reports

✅ Keep SQL optimized
✅ Use parameters instead of hardcoding
✅ Validate data using triggers
✅ Use bursting for large outputs
✅ Always test scheduled jobs

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Related Articles

• Introduction to BI Publisher eText Reports

• Difference Between Delimiter and Fixed Position eText

• HDL vs BI Publisher – When to Use What

• BI Publisher Bursting Real-Time Examples

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Conclusion

BI Publisher is a core reporting tool in Oracle Fusion. Understanding Data Models, Data Sets, Triggers, and Scheduling is essential for building scalable and efficient reports.

This guide gives you a solid foundation to start working with Oracle Fusion BI Publisher Reports confidently.

Create XML Publisher Report using RDF

Basic XML Publisher Report

Overview: Oracle XML Publisher is a template-based publishing solution delivered with the Oracle E-Business Suite. User can generate output in PDF, XML, TEXT, HTML, RTF at run time.

Pre requisite: 1) Word configured with XML Publisher Desktop

Steps:

Step 1 : Develop simple tabular RDF report using Oracle Report Builder.

             Name of the Report - Test.rdf.

                         

          Place this RDF report on server $CUSTOM_TOP/reports/US.

 Step 2: Create the concurrent executable for this Report. 

           Navigation: Application Developer Responsibility->Concurrent->Executable

                            

                         

Step 3: Create a concurrent Program for executable which we declared above. 

          Navigation:  Application Developer Responsibility->Concurrent->Program 

                       

       
   Note: 1. Make Sure Output Format should be XML 

          Define the Parameter as per your need.(For this Click on Parameters button and define).

          

Step 4 : Add this concurrent program to Custom Applications request group.

           

           Navigation : System Administrator -> Security -> Responsibility -> Request 

                     

                         

           

Step 5: Run this Test Report from the responsibility where you added this report in request group.

         

            Navigation : View -> Requests -> Submit a New Request -> Single Request.  

                       

Step 6: Save the XML generated by above request.

         Navigation :  View -> Requests -> Find -> View Output (your request)

                      

     Generated XML will open in browser.

                     

           Save this XML.

Step 7: Creation of Template using word configured with XML/BI Publisher.

                   

       All Above are the static Tags.

       Save this template.

       Note : Template should be save with .rtf extension

    

Step 8: Load the XML 

         

       Load the XML which we saved in Step 5.

     Navigation : Sample XML  -> Browse your saved XML file -> Open

                    

     Adding repeating rows, Click on Fields.

                         

   
    You can see G_EMPLOYEE_NUMBER is the repeating group so need do use For Loop to fetch all employees.

    Navigation : Click Repeating Group 

                        

     Select the group in for each column.

                  

      Here you can see for loop tags are generated on template.

Step 9: Add remaining the tags in template

     Click on Fields and select the tag which you want to insert.

                  

     Click on insert.

               

         In the same manner you can insert rest tags in template.

                

                 

     We have completed our template now. To confirm the output of template we built. Click on preview option such as PDF,XLS,RTF etc(Highlighted in below screenshot).

                  

     

   Below is the preview of template in Excel format.

                     

Step 11: Register the Template to Oracle Application.

    

   Pr-requisite: Xml Publisher Administrator responsibility assigned to your user.

For registering the template, First we need to define the Data Definition in Template Manager.

      Navigation : Home -> Data Definitions

                              

 Click on Create to create data definition.

Note : Please make sure code of the Definition should be the same as short name of concurrent program which we register for the same.

Step 12: Create Template.

Navigation : Home -> Templates.

Click on Create Template.

Please select default output format as per need

Step 13 : Run the Concurrent program.

                

You can find the template is attached to concurrent.(Highlighted in above screenshot).

Submit the request and view the output of the request,we will get output in excel format.

              

For more Oracle Fusion HDL Videos  please click here

For more Oracle Fusion Extract PDF Output Videos  please click here