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Consumer Guide (Explore)

Last updated: 2026-04-27 Tags: consumers, end users, viewing, exploring, interacting, business users, navigation

📖 Full Oracle Documentation: Visualizing Data and Building Reports

Summary

This guide is for OAC consumers — business users who view, interact with, and explore content built by others. Consumers don't build dashboards or models; they navigate, filter, drill, comment, and share. This page covers everything an end user needs to know.

Logging In

  1. Navigate to your OAC URL: https://<instance>.analytics.ocp.oraclecloud.com/ui/
  2. Sign in with corporate credentials (SSO if configured)
  3. You'll land on the Home Page

The Home Page

The home page surfaces:

  • Recent: items you opened recently
  • Favorites: items you starred
  • Featured: content highlighted by admins
  • Search bar: search across all content you have access to
  • Hamburger menu (☰) — full nav: Catalog, Console, Machine Learning, Mobile
  • Search — global search
  • Create (+) — create new workbook, dataset, etc. (if you have author permissions)
  • Notifications (bell) — Agent deliveries, system messages
  • Profile — preferences, sign out

Finding Content

Catalog Browser

Hamburger → Catalog: - /Shared Folders/ — organization-wide content - /My Folders/ — your personal items - Folders represent business areas (Finance, HR, Sales)

  • Type in the global search bar
  • Results: dashboards, analyses, workbooks, KPIs, reports
  • Filters: by type, by owner, by date

Interacting with a Workbook

Opening

Click a workbook to open it. You'll see:

  • Canvas tabs at the bottom — click to switch pages
  • Filter bar at the top — current filters
  • Visualizations filling the canvas

Filtering

  • Click a filter chip → modify the filter
  • Click any value in a chart → "Use as Filter" or "Drill"
  • Right-click → Keep Only (filter to that value) or Remove (exclude)

Drilling

For hierarchical data:

  • Click a value (e.g., 2024) → drills to next level (Quarters)
  • Breadcrumb shows current drill path
  • Click any breadcrumb level to jump back

Sorting

  • Click a column header in a table → sort
  • In charts: right-click → Sort

Tooltips

Hover over any data point → tooltip shows exact values and additional context.

Asking Questions (Ask)

  • Click Ask at the top of the canvas
  • Type a question: "Show revenue by region for 2024"
  • OAC generates a visualization

Interacting with a Classic Dashboard

Different from Workbooks (older UI):

  • Page tabs at the top — click to navigate
  • Dashboard prompts at the top — apply, then click Apply or hit Enter
  • Analyses populate the page — interact: drill, sort, navigate

Right-click Actions

On any value in an analysis:

  • Drill: go to next hierarchy level
  • Keep Only / Remove: ad-hoc filter
  • Action Links: navigate to another analysis, URL, or report

Viewing KPIs (Watchlists)

KPI Watchlists show key metrics with status indicators:

  • Green/Yellow/Red — performance vs. target
  • Click a KPI tile → drill to detail breakdown
  • See trend sparkline next to the value

Exporting Data

From any visualization or analysis:

  • Right-click → Export
  • Choose format: PDF, PNG, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV, Data
  • "Data" exports raw query results

💡 Tip: Export to Excel for offline analysis. Export to PowerPoint for presentations — formatting is preserved.

Sharing Content

  • Right-click an item → Copy Link
  • Paste into email/chat — recipient must have OAC access + permissions

Email a Snapshot

  • Open workbook → Share → Email
  • Sends current view as PDF

Subscribe to Updates (Agent Subscription)

  • Some analyses have an Agent set up to email scheduled updates
  • Subscribe via the bell/notification icon on the analysis

Personal Customizations

Favorites

Star any item → it appears in Home → Favorites.

Personal Filters

Set your default filter values for a dashboard:

  • Apply filters → Save Customization → "Make this my default"

Comments / Annotations

On Workbooks:

  • Comments panel → add a comment about a data point
  • @mention colleagues to notify them
  • Comments are persistent across sessions

Mobile Access

Oracle Analytics Mobile App

  • Download from App Store / Google Play
  • Sign in with same OAC credentials
  • View workbooks, dashboards, KPIs on phone or tablet
  • Receive push notifications for Agent alerts

Day by Day (Legacy)

Older mobile app for OBIEE; being replaced by Oracle Analytics app.

Getting Help

In-App Help

  • Click ? icon (top-right) → context-sensitive help
  • "Show me how" tour for first-time users

Search Documentation

  • Help → Documentation → Oracle Analytics Cloud docs site

Ask Your Admin

For:

  • Access to a dashboard you can't see → ask the content owner
  • Wrong data → contact the dashboard's owner (shown in Properties)
  • Need new analysis → request from your BI team

Best Practices for Consumers

💡 Tip: Use Favorites for dashboards you visit weekly — saves clicking through folders.

💡 Tip: Save personal filter defaults — saves applying them every time.

💡 Tip: Subscribe to Agents for daily/weekly KPI summaries delivered to your inbox.

⚠️ Warning: Don't trust exported Excel forever — data may be stale. Re-run dashboards for current data.