BO Universe best practices
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Transcript of BO Universe best practices
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 2
Universe Defined
Tips for Building the Universe
Advanced Object Creation Tips
Resolving Loops
Conclusion
AGENDA
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 3
Copyright © 2007 Business Objects S.A. All rights reserved.
WHAT IS A UNIVERSE?
The Universe is a semantic layerthat contains metadata (data about data)
Translates the complexities of the database into business-friendly terms for end-users.
Allows for correct SQL generation
Allows manipulation of data based on the metadata and on the additional business logic in the Universe
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 4
Copyright © 2007 Business Objects S.A. All rights reserved.
UNIVERSE: WHAT DOES IT LET YOU DO?
Simple, intuitive data analysisReport creation using business terms instead of SQL
Reuse of business logic
Automatic report drilling (by defining hierarchies)
Multiple data provider synchronization
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 5
Copyright © 2007 Business Objects S.A. All rights reserved.
UNIVERSE: WHERE CAN YOU USE IT?
Crystal Reports
Desktop Intelligence
Web Intelligence
LiveOffice
EPM
Query as a Web Service
Data Federator
Universe
Xcelsius
Databases
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 6
Universe Defined
Tips for Building the Universe
Advanced Object Creation Tips
Resolving Loops
Conclusion
AGENDA
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 7
ADDING TABLES & JOINS
Build your universe piece-by-piece
Insert tables one at a time, that way it can be understood.
Do not use the automatic universe creation tool. Using this wizard will build a universe that you do not understand.
Take each table, join, cardinality etc one at a time.
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 8
DEFINING OBJECTS
Object and class naming
Name in business terms
Remember: you are trying to enable non-technical people to build their own reports
Use object formatting
When there is a need to format an object in the same way every time it is used.
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 9
DEFINING OBJECTS
Use complex objectsConcatenate descriptionsTranslate codesBuild common calculations into the universe whenever possibleBuild logic into your objects
Use condition objectsUsers don’t like to build conditions in the query
Define measure objects correctlyNot every number is a measure!
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 10
Universe Defined
Tips for Building the Universe
Advanced Object Creation Tips
Resolving Loops
Conclusion
AGENDA
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 11
TIP 1: AVOID WHERE CLAUSES
Problem: How to separate credit invoices from regular invoices into 2 separate objects?
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 12
AVOID ‘WHERE’ CLAUSES
2 Objects: USA Sales and Germany Sales
What happens if a user pulls both objects into a query?
WHERE sales.country = ‘USA’ AND sales.country = ‘Germany’
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 13
USE CASE STATEMENT INSTEAD
WRONG!
WHERE clauses are rarely the right answer!
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 14
CASE STATEMENT
CORRECT!
CASE statements can “bucket” data
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 15
CASE STATEMENT DEMO
Demonstration
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 16
TIP 2: CUSTOM LISTS OF VALUES
Which is better?
OR
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 17
CUSTOM LISTS OF VALUES DEMO
Demonstration
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 18
TIP 3: USE AGGREGATION IN ALL MEASURE OBJECTS
Always perform aggregation in a measure. Why?
Measures, by definition, are aggregated
Although WebIntelligence will aggregate measure objects locally, the database is far more powerful.
If the object does not contain a SQL aggregate function such as SUM stated in its SELECT clause, no GROUP BY clause will be generated
SELECT invoices.amount vs. SELECT sum(invoices.amount)
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 19
TIP 4: USE RELATIVE DATES
Users don’t like to fill in date prompts every time they refresh a report
Scheduling can be difficult
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 20
RELATIVE DATES
Which is more user friendly?
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 21
RELATIVE DATES
SELECT 'Last 7 Days' AS Date_Range,
CONVERT(smalldatetime, { fn curDATE() }) - 6 AS Begin_Date,
CONVERT(smalldatetime, { fn curDATE() }) AS End_Date
FROM dbo.syscolumns
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 22
TIP 6: USE DYNAMIC HTML IN OBJECTS
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 24
Universe Defined
Tips for Building the Universe
Advanced Object Creation Tips
Resolving Loops
Conclusion
AGENDA
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 25
LOOPS
Definition:
More than one “path”through the SQL
Problem:
Business Objects will not know what “path” to choose
countries
customers
orders
order_lines products
f
a
b
c
d
suppliers
e
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 26
RESOLVING LOOPS
Three possible resolutions:
Remove a joincountries
customers
orders
order_lines products
f
a
b
c
d
suppliers
e
countries
customers
orders
order_lines products
a
b
c
d
suppliers
e
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 27
RESOLVING LOOPS
Three possible resolutions:
Remove a join
Add an aliascustomers
orders
order_lines products
a
b
c
d
suppliers
countriescountriesALIAS
customercountries
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 28
RESOLVING LOOPS
Three possible resolutions:
Remove a join
Add an alias
Add contexts
countries
customers
orders
order_lines products
f
a
b
c
d
suppliers
e
CONTEXT 1: Suppliers
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 29
RESOLVING LOOPS
Three possible resolutions:
Remove a join
Add an alias
Add contexts
countries
customers
orders
order_lines products
f
a
b
c
d
suppliers
e
CONTEXT 2: Customers
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 30
Universe Defined
Tips for Building the Universe
Advanced Object Creation Tips
Resolving Loops
Conclusion
AGENDA
COPYRIGHT © 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.SLIDE 31
Copyright © 2007 Business Objects S.A. All rights reserved.
CONCLUSION
The Universe is a powerful semantic layer that translates the database into business-friendly terms
It is core to all Business Objects Information & Delivery tools
Time should be taken to build it correctly using best practices
Leverage the power of the Universe to build complex objects that further simplify the user experience