We’re considering setting up our own internal training using the eFashion universe, so that the data never changes, it’s compatible with the product documentation etc.
Has anyone else done this in their own company? Any encouragement/discouragement to offer?
slimdave 
(BOB member since 2002-09-10)
You might want to check out this topic where we discussed some of the pros and cons of training…
Dave
Dave Rathbun 
(BOB member since 2002-06-06)
Yeah we do something similar. Its good for basic intro training but as another thread said recently - I’ll link it in if I can find it - eventually you need to train on your data. For someone who can use a PC but never used BO, efashion is good - and everyone can identify with the concept. We all wear clothes right? Right?? And of course its a little db so nice and fast.
Nick Daniels (BOB member since 2002-08-15)
Thanks a lot for the replies, folks.
slimdave (BOB member since 2002-09-10)
Hi all–
So, we’re moving along with having folks install ZABO via InfoView, and of course one brave soul actually wants to use the Getting Started guide and the eFashion tutorial. We’ve diligently found the eFashion kit files (including the mdb, templates, reps, unv) and made them available for download. The user downloaded them and then called me, and said she can’t see the universe. I had the brainstorm that maybe I need to export eFashion to the repository and link it to the user group (although I’m not really sure I needed too), but she still sees “a connection required to refresh this universe is unavailable”. Is this because it’s a server install and so didn’t bring any of the data access files locally? How do we get around this? Help!
Thanks,
Amy
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
Hi, Amy;
Once you copy the database to the server, and export the universe to the repository, you’ll need to create a connection for the universe to the database. Once you’ve done that, it should work fine.
MichaelWelter 
(BOB member since 2002-08-08)
Michael–
Well, I thought I did that too. When I exported the universe to the repository, it wouldn’t do it at first because the connection wasn’t secure. So I created a new secure connection (using ODBC rather than Oracle), and then it let me export it.
I didn’t actually copy the unv file or the mdb file to the Webi server though - was hoping we could get by with the users downloading them and installing locally. Is that a problem?
Thanks,
Amy
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
No, that’s not a problem, but it explains why you’re getting the error. The connection that you created probably points to the database on some server somewhere. Each user will need to create a connection locally that points to the database that they download. They need to make sure that they name the connection exactly the same as the connection that you created.
MichaelWelter (BOB member since 2002-08-08)
I’ll tell ya, I’ve been using this software for 5 years and I feel dumber every day!
How can a user create a connection locally? Clearly I’m missing something…
Thanks!
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
They would go into the Control Panel - ODBC Connections, and create the connect there, just like you would in Designer or Supervisor.
MichaelWelter (BOB member since 2002-08-08)
Hmmmm. Ok, she did that, and we confirmed over the phone together that our settings are the same, and still getting the connection unavailable message. Again, so much for Zero Admin!! (or at least training anyone who’s a ZABO user!) Any other thoughts?
Also (just adding this a couple minutes after my original posting) — when I, as a user, try to use the eFashion universe via my webi connection (rather than BOMain) I get the same message (DA0004…). So maybe there is something I need to do on the server? Or somehow define the connection differently in Supervisor?
Thanks!
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
If you’re going to use eFashion via ZABO, then the database and the definition of the connection need to be on the server. The easiest way to do that is to create a secured connection for eFashion (which you need to do if you’re exporting the database anyway). But the DSN (data source name) that you use from the list of ODBC data sources must be defined on the server.
That’s where the “zero admin” part comes in… you define the connection one time (on the server) and everyone can use the file, even if they don’t have the connectivity installed on their workstation. See, you knew that the “zero” part had to be there somewhere… 
If you are using eFashion in full client, then the connection needs to be defined on the workstation.
Dave
Dave Rathbun (BOB member since 2002-06-06)
Are you doing this in ZABO? If so, then the database should be located on the Webi server, not the client. Then open up the universe in Designer on the Webi server, and check the parameters to make sure you have a valid connection defined there. Also, use UNC path for the connection, not a drive mapping.
MichaelWelter (BOB member since 2002-08-08)
Ok, hopefully just one more question — we’re using a Unix server. Can I have an Access database stored there? And how in the heck do I set up an ODBC connection on the server, that sees it in the right place? Ick!
Thanks!
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
Hey all–
Just to close the loop on this – I heard back from Tech Support, and they said that “type of database is not accessible through Web Intelligence on Unix operating systems”, and so, basically, it won’t work. I wrote back and suggested that they remove the Getting Started Guide from the Unix ZABO installs, then, so people won’t go looking for EFashion. 
Thanks,
–a.
Amy Miller (BOB member since 2002-06-07)
You can still install the eFashion database, drivers, and whatnot on each workstation. It does remove the “Z” from “ZABO” as you observed earlier.
Dave
Dave Rathbun (BOB member since 2002-06-06)
If I don’t export the universe, where do I put it on my machine so it will be visible in Zabo. I tried the regular ‘Universe’ folder, tried the server key folder, and also tried creating a ‘Universe’ folder under the key folder. Where do I put the darned thing? 
Cindy Clayton (BOB member since 2002-06-11)
I’d like to close the loop on this one. From my reading and testing (albeit limited), it seems that in a ZABO Unix environment it is NOT possible to use a MS Access database (like eFashion, Island Resorts, and so forth).
We have in excess of 2,000 users to train in one portion of our project alone, and there are enough of the “self motivated” among them to justify the effort of recreating eFashion in Oracle, but I wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something simple.
Dwayne Hoffpauir (BOB member since 2002-09-19)
There are ODBC drivers out there for Unix, I am not sure if it is really worth all the effort and cost to make the efashion universe available though…
Look here for ODBC drivers for Unix from Easysoft
Or look here for ODBC drivers for Unix from DataDirect Technologies
If you do a search on Google you should come up with quite a few results…
Andreas 
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)
Thanks for the leads. I’m not involved in the server side of things, but at least now I am more informed about what is possible.
Dwayne Hoffpauir (BOB member since 2002-09-19)