querying across multiple subject areas in obiee 11g

One of the best improvements in obiee 11g Answers is the ability to create a query across multiple subject areas.

In 10g you were constrained to the intersect/union/minus operators which made life very difficult if you just wanted a simple report aggregating two measures from different subject areas across a common dimension. These operators are still there in 11g, but we also have a much more user friendly way of querying.

The steps are:

• Start by creating a normal Answers request in a single subject area.
•  In the subject areas pane there is an icon with a green plus on it ("Add / Remove Subject Areas")
• Select the sujbect area/s you're interested in
• Choose a common dimension from either subject area and measures from the relevant source

 If you add dimensions that are particular to a subject area, then the measure that is not relevant will return  null - the same as in obiee 10g if these facts and dimensiolns were in a single presentation folder.

This new feature should be understood before the planning of the presentation folder layout - it opens up new possibilities for organisation by allowing cleaner more succinct subject areas without compromising functionality.