Let's Upgrade BI Publisher to 11g!
Upgrade BI Publisher from 10g to 11g to stay fully supported by Oracle, and to integrate with Siebel Innovation Packs 2014 and 2015!
When the reporting integration between Siebel and Oracle BI Publisher (aka BIP) was first introduced in 2008, it was built around BI Publisher version 10g. However, extended support for BI Publisher 10g expired in July 2015, and Oracle will not release any new security updates or other patches.
The new standard for real time reporting in Siebel is BI Publisher 11g: if you are upgrading to Siebel 15 or 16 to deploy Open UI, you must also upgrade to BI Publisher 11g to remain on a supported platform. Integration between Siebel 15/16 and BI Publisher 10g is not supported by Oracle.
What’s new and different in BI Publisher 11g?
From a Siebel perspective, the processes for creating, managing and executing Siebel Reports in BI Publisher 11g are identical to those in 10g so there is no need for any new end-user training as part of the upgrade. However, behind the scenes there are some important changes and benefits.
BI Publisher 11g:
Runs on a WebLogic Server, and provides an improved architecture over the OC4J Server which hosts BI Publisher 10g. The WebLogic server includes a superior user interface and server management features;
Includes support for XSLT 2.0. XSLT 2.0 contains a much larger number of functions than XSLT 1.0, and considerably broadens the scope for the creation of more complex BI Publisher reports;
Has improved OOTB support to run as a operating system service and auto-start when server reboots, without the need for custom development or having to leave a remote desktop session open to the BI Publisher server;
Requires a repository database. In 10g a separate database was only required for report scheduling, however in 11g a database is required whether this functionality is used or not.
BI Publisher 10g to 11g upgrade process – What’s involved?
The process to upgrade from BI Publisher 10g to 11g essentially requires a fresh installation of 11g, followed by a migration of existing 10g reports using a migration tool from Oracle.
More specifically it involves the following steps: