Universe Best Practices...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

UNIVERSE BEST PRACTICES

Rob Rohloff, OEM Sales Consultant

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.

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



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



UNIVERSE: WHERE CAN YOU USE IT?

Crystal Reports

Desktop Intelligence

Web Intelligence

LiveOffice

EPM

Query as a Web Service

Data Federator

Universe

Xcelsius

Databases


Universe Defined



Resolving Loops

Conclusion

AGENDA


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.


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.


DEFINING OBJECTS

Use complex objects

Concatenate 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!


Universe Defined



Resolving Loops

Conclusion

AGENDA


TIP 1: AVOID WHERE CLAUSES

Problem: How to separate credit invoices from regular invoices into 2 separate objects?


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’


USE CASE STATEMENT INSTEAD

WRONG!

WHERE clauses are rarely the right answer!


CASE STATEMENT

CORRECT!

CASE statements can “bucket” data


CASE STATEMENT DEMO

Demonstration


TIP 2: CUSTOM LISTS OF VALUES

Which is better?

OR


CUSTOM LISTS OF VALUES DEMO

Demonstration


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)


TIP 4: USE RELATIVE DATES

Users don’t like to fill in date prompts every time they refresh a report

Scheduling can be difficult


RELATIVE DATES

Which is more user friendly?


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


TIP 6: USE DYNAMIC HTML IN OBJECTS


DYNAMIC HTML DEMO

Demonstration


Universe Defined



Resolving Loops

Conclusion

AGENDA


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


RESOLVING LOOPS

Three possible resolutions:

Remove a joincountries

customers

orders


f

a

b

c

d

suppliers

e

countries

customers

orders


a

b

c

d

suppliers

e


RESOLVING LOOPS


Remove a join

Add an aliascustomers

orders


a

b

c

d

suppliers

countriescountriesALIAS

customercountries


RESOLVING LOOPS


Remove a join

Add an alias

Add contexts

countries

customers

orders


f

a

b

c

d

suppliers

e

CONTEXT 1: Suppliers


RESOLVING LOOPS


Remove a join

Add an alias

Add contexts

countries

customers

orders


f

a

b

c

d

suppliers

e

CONTEXT 2: Customers


Universe Defined



Resolving Loops

Conclusion

AGENDA



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

UNIVERSE BEST PRACTICES

End

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Universe Best Practices...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