I am a Business Objects user who was tasked to create a Data Dictionary for a BO Repository (I’m a new employee). I am not a developer so I am limited on the BO documenation provided to me. So far I have requested and received the Universe Parameters and Object Properties. However, the “keepers” of the Universe will not release Context or Join information.
My issue is that my organization is tasked with teaching other BO users how to create reports using the repository. Over the last five years or so, they have found “issues” with the repository, such as same named objects that provide different values in different classes, or how they must pull objects from one class first before pulling objects in another compatible class. In addition, sometimes a description object does not describe what you would think it should describe; instead it describes another object when pulled together.
Just a few more things to note: The keeper of the universe is a government entity, which is probably why they are so strict about not sharing the design of the Unverse. Again, I am not a developer, but a regular BO user, meaning I create reports and instruct others how to use the information in the repository. I also admit that knowing a little, but not a lot, may be dangerous, so I am proceeding with caution. I understand that what I think may be design issues may indeed be a user problem (meaning I should know that it is standard to design something a certain way), I just need to know it’s a user problem.
My questions are:
Will there ever be a way for me to fully understand how the classes are related without obtaining additional developer documentation? Or is this a lost cause?
Has anyone ever heard of the term “Principal Class”? That is how my organization describes the class you must pull objects from first before you pull objects from the compatible class. Is this the correct term?
What are the business reasons for not sharing the construct of the Universe? I don’t want to complain about not knowing if there is good justification on why you would limit the knowledge to BO users.
Any insight you can provide will be helpful.
I read the “How to ask a good question” so I hope I have explained myself well enough.
I think that you are given a somewhat difficult task, since you won’t have all of the information. I think that you will only be able to come up with a “first pass” at the data dictionary – and that the Universe Designers, who have more information, will then have to review and correct as appropriate.
Where you know that descriptions are incorrect, you will be doing them a service to identify the incorrect entries. They should thank you.
For a couple of your questions – the terms “Principal Class” and “compatible class” seem like they’re special terms that your site has chosen. I do not know of these as generic terms.
I really can’t say why they won’t share the construct of the universe with you, unless it is that there are security considerations. Perhaps they fear that someone could use the tables and columns in a different query tool and bypass universe-level security. Another possibility might be that the universe is complex, and difficult to explain without a lot of a developer’s time.
But, all in all – it seems to me that the project upon which you are embarking should either have been done by the developers, or should be a partnership between you and the developers, so that it is correct, and is useful to others using the universe.
Thank you very much for the information. I was afraid this was going to happen, but now I feel like I have some expert advice on how to explain to the developers why they should get involved.
I also appreciate you clarifying “principal” and “compatbile” class. Can you provide any further information as to why you would have to pull objects from one class before pulling from another? I didn’t think that was supposed to be an issue with using Business Objects to run reports (on the user’s end).
Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback. Now I can press on knowing my limitations and not drive myself crazy.
I can think of at least one reason why a certain object from a principle class has to be placed before an object that is compatible which is performance, i.e. for some DBMS s, Oracle for example, the order could be important for the optimization of the query.
There could be other reasons. What’s not clear to me is whether you should always first select a [i]principle[/] object or whether they are optional.
The thing is that there is no real way of knowing things like this without some insight into the whole structure of the universe and some basic understanding of universe design. So basically you guys shall need to work together.
Thank you for your response. Your explanation about the order does help. I will tell you that both cases are happening. Sometimes you can pull any objects from the Principal class first, and then other objects from the compatible class, but sometimes you must pull certain objects first or the data is not accurate, or sometimes does not even pull.
I agree with you that we will need to try to work together. Easier said than done, unfortunately. But again, your post is something I can take back to my supervisors and tell them, “The experts suggest…”
I must admit that it sounds like the data model/universe is somewhat quirky, because the things you are describing should really be avoided (and probably could be avoided with good universe design). This could be one of the reasons why they’re reluctant to work with you.
I needed to hear that from someone other than a member of my team. Sometimes people get wrapped up in what they do that people have tunnel vision. However, you confirmed that their thinking really does have some justification.
Thanks so much for your input. I think we are really going to try to push to get a meeting (with dialogue) with the “keepers”.
I feel for you. You have been given an almost impossible task. That said, I can think of a few more reasons why they wouldn’t share the universe design with you. As Anita and Wahey have already said, it could be either due to security reasons or the complex design. However, it could also be that the developers don’t have time or don’t see the value of such an exercise (this one is usually the case). Another reason could be that the original designer(s) of the universes have left and no one knows what they did.
In any case, see if they would ‘print’ the universes for you. If security is no reason, they should be able to do that and you’ll have most of your documentation. The printed version should give you all classes, objects, their descriptions, joins, tables, contexts, etc. Warning - depending on the universe design, you may end up getting boxes of print outs.
In Designer, you can save a universe into PDF file. So you don’t need to end up with print outs but with (possibly) megabytes of PDF file. Still better than boxes of papers
FYI
There is an app floating around called universedocumentor - auto generates documents of Universes - I probably still have a copy somewhere.
Also - if you have it, the Universe unv is a must for providing webi reports on your repository/unv meta data.
I have used the tool from the downloads here to supply universe details to our data analysts. they liked it much better than the PDF files out of designer and much quicker to run for them too. Duane has saved me a lot of time and effort with the goodies he shares.
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