Is there any other way to limit the data a user can see

Question

We are using Discoverer 10.2.xxx
We are running it against an Oracle applications database but we do not have Discoverer integrated with the apps. I have created database users for discoverer and granted access to the data at the db level.
We have about 40 salesreps and we only want each rep to see their own data. We have a high turn over with the reps
For now, I have created the row level security in that folder in my eul. If the username = XXXX then Salesrep = XXXXX
OR
If username = YYYY then DSM = YYYY
etc.. This goes on for about 40 users We have 3 levels of "users" - Salesrep, DSM or RSM (District or Region sales manager)
These users are setup in my apps and I can write a database procedure to select their salesrep name based on their username.
Is there any other way to limit the data that the salesreps can see ?
Possibly with a stored procedure some way?
Thanks
Angie

Answer 1

At a previous client's, I had created a system not too unlike what you're describing.
Basically, I created an Oracle table that stored information concerning the salesperson as in Oracle Apps the data was not reliable for what they were doing (ie: with adding Apps modules, sometimes salesperson data was there, but with say, CRM, it was in another place, etc.).
So, since this table was going to be used for driving everything about a salesperson (commissions, who they report to, when they started, territory, when / if they moved territories and/or manager, etc, etc.) I put lots of good stuff in it that would make life easier for them.
The end user in charge of all this had was given a Form to add, edit, delete all this good stuff and they were happy.
When it came time for security, it worked like a charm in that I used the concept of the BIS views where a user has an apps id associated to them and all data was filtered by that id. All I really had to do was to create this view that simply filtered data to that user's id. Then whenever I had a Discoverer report for salespeople, managers, etc. I just made sure the folder used had a join to this filtering view and I chose an item from the filtering view and all worked fine. All Discoverer reports only returned row level information for the salesperson who ran it.
Likewise, the same Oracle table was queried by another security view that only brought back the same IDs for the salespeople associated to each manager. When this simple view was joined to any sales Discoverer folder (and used in Disco), it limited all data to the salespeople the manager was responsible for.
Obviously this is just an overview and would take pages to explain, but essentially, if you can associate some kind of unique ID to each salesperson (I used the one returned in BIS views when someone logs into Apps, but you could just assign a different in your case), then you can create a view that filters to that id. Then when that view is brought into the EUL and joined to any other folder in the sales area (and you choose a column from the security view), you'll have what you're referring to - row level security for all salespeople and managers.
When it works - it sure does look impressive.
Russ