Could you please let me know the advantage/disadvantage of maintaining object CUID through all environments
Thanks & Regards
godgift 
(BOB member since 2004-07-09)
Hi
Every object has a cluster unique identifier (CUID)
CUIDs are globally unique – within one system – within any system(development, testing, production)
CUIDs stay the same when object is promoted to a new system.
CUIDs are Strings – therefore less efficient to query for.
When compared to SI_ID, it is used to identify an object in one environment. It does not stay the same across environments.
Raul… 
(BOB member since 2007-07-31)
There are no disadvantages of maintaining same CUID across all the environments as far as I know. The advantages are a lot though:
Promotion of objects from one environment to the other will be easy,
reports will not loose association with the corresponding universe etc…
zack 
(BOB member since 2007-08-02)
Disadvatages are none that I can think of. But the big plus for me is simplified opendocument.jsp syntax.
I don’t have to worry about the wid chaging from one environment to another as well as I don’t have to maintain the folder path in the code.
We have adopted it as a best practice for linking documents.
mcliffordgoo (BOB member since 2003-02-13)
It seems everyone here sees CUID very beneficial.
However, I don’t understand the merits of CUID concept, yet.
I think the name and location of the object is enough to identify the object.
For example, if you create a Webi report named “test_webi” under “Inventory” folder, “Inventory/test_webi” can be the ID. We can locate only one report with that information.
Why we need another hidden ID for that?
By having two IDs, we lose the flexibility of the system management especially when we have dev/qa/prod environments.
If we try to migrate the file to another environment, we have to worry about CUID collision (with good operation policies, you might be able to free from that concern, but you do not even have to think about it at all, if BO does not have CUID).
I just want to have good understanding of CUID.
If I’m wrong. please kindly advise.
dai99 (BOB member since 2010-02-12)
The CUID does not change between environments if you use the import wizard. A CUID is unique so there is no collision.
If you have to modify your folder structure or you change the name of a report you will not have to modify the opendoc function. If you copy and paste then that is a different story.
mcliffordgoo (BOB member since 2003-02-13)
Thank you, mcliffordgoo.
Yes. Actually I posted my question knowing what you said.
I need something more to justify CUID.
Even though you say there is no collision with import wizard, I think we have to be careful in dev environment where deletion / creation of the objects often take place. If you try to migrate the objects in dev to qa environment, you might run into CUID collision problem.
I think using name (and path, if any) as ID is more straightforward.
In the file system of Windows/Unix, you can specify the file you are looking for with the name and directory path and the same approach should work in BO. If you have to change the name of a file or move it to another location, you might have to modify things related to that as well, but it is natural to do it. There is no confusion. You might have to modify many things by yourself, but at least you are controlling the situation.
CUID is, on the other hand, something on which you do not have full control. You must follow ID BO decides. It causes unnecessary maintanance headache.
Am I the only person who feels like that?
dai99 (BOB member since 2010-02-12)
If you follow the proper migration path laid out by SAP BusinessObjects (using the Import/Export wizard and the LCM tool), one should not be concerned with CUIDs, as they are kept for internal reference.
One has to remember though that deleting and re-creating any object will lead to a new object, even if it has the same name as the previously deleted object.
Andreas 
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)