FYI: Maximizing Your Oracle Support and Oracle Documentation for OBIEE 11g

When most OBIEE Architects and Developers encounter a problem or road block, their first solution (assuming they don't know how to resolve the issue) is to use google to search for error codes, potential solutions, or at least other developers to commiserate with!

An exceptional resource for OBIEE 10g/11g issues that I often see underused or completely ignored is Oracle's Support web site - http://support.oracle.com  . Yes, we all use Oracle Support to create trouble tickets but the Support site offers much more than just the ability to raise defects.

Here are key documents that all Oracle Business Intelligence Architects should follow if they want to stay current with the latest patches,  news, quarterly updates, and official Oracle announcements (like Oracle officially dropping Premier support of OBIEE 10g 10.1.3.4!)

• Information Center: Business Analytics Index (EPM/BI) [ID 1378677.2]
• Why: This is the central 'home page' for all of Oracle's Analytics products. You'll have access to the Quarterly BI News Letter, Oracle OBIEE Community, and more.

( Make sure you are book marking all of these using the star icon !)

• Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) Product Information Center (PIC) [ID 1267009.1]
• Why: This is the starting point for all official Oracle Business Intelligence guides including : Troubleshooting, patching, and white papers
• Information Center: Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) Release 10g and Later [ID 1349983.2]
• Why:  This  document aggregates posts from Oracle's OBIEE community, new features and processes,  and highlights new articles
• The Official Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Community - https://communities.oracle.com/portal/server.pt/community/obiee/475
• Why: This is similar to Oracle's freebie forum http://forums.oracle.com with the exception that there are dedicated Oracle OBIEE Architects who reply to your posts - definitely worth the bookmark!

I also recommend subscribing to Oracle's Hot Topics email for OBIEE as it's another way for you to stay current with OBIEE news if you don't have the time to review the above web sites. You can subscribe as follows:

Navigate to My Oracle Support -> Settings -> Hot Topics E-mail

Then specify the products of your interest. I recommend: Business Intelligence Interactive Dashboard,  Business Intelligence Server Administrator, Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Foundation, Oracle Business Intelligence Server Enterprise Edition, Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition

Of course, the Official Oracle Documentation is another must have:

• Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (11.1.1.6) Documentation Library
• Business Intelligence Documentation for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (11.1.1.6)