BO Universe best practices

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 layer
that 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 analysis
Report 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 descriptions
Translate codes
Build common calculations into the universe
whenever possible
Build logic into your objects
Use condition objects
Users don’t like to build conditions in the query
Define measure objects correctly
Not 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 join
countries
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 alias
customers
orders
a
b
c
d
suppliers
countriescountries
ALIAS
customer
countries

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

BO Universe best practices

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