OBIEE the difference between repository variable and session variable

Question

What is the difference between repository variable and session variable in Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) ?

Solution 1

Session variables can have different values for each user, repository variables have the same value for everyone.

There are two types of session variables:

• System session variables: out of the box variables like USER
• Non-system session variables: user-defined variables, can have different values for each user and are typically used to customize user experience , for example you could have a SALES_REGION variable to show only data relevant to the user's region.

Repository variables also have 2 subtypes:

• Static repository variable: Fixed value that can only be changed with the admin tool, can be used to replace hardcoded values like database schemas and user names in connection pools.
• Dynamic repository variable: These hold values that apply to any user, for instance currency exchange rates.

Session variables and dynamic repository variables get their values from initialization blocks that can contain SQL.

Link: OBIEE 11g User manual - Using variables

Solution 2

Repository variables are of 2 types - Static and Dynamic

• Static variables hold values which are not liable to change.
• Dynamic variables hold the values which are liable to change. It is done with the help of Initialisation block.

Session variables are of 2 types - system and non-system

• System variables are the reserved variables which are used by the BI Server.
• Non-system variables are the ones which are initialised whenever a user logs in. Like dynamic repository variables, initialisation block is required.

The main difference is the repository initialisation blocks are scheduled where as those in case of session, they are not scheduled.

http://biexplorers.blogspot.in/2014/06/obiee-variables-by-sagar.html