Business Objects and WebFOCUS Comparison

general discussion
1

Is anyone else out there supporting Business Objects and WebFOCUS or will be or is currently converting FOCUS and WebFOCUS reports to Business Objects?

I am a long time FOCUS and WebFOCUS developer who has been supporting both of these tools for the past 8 years. I have been working with FOCUS and WebFOCUS for 19 years. I am a former Information Builders consultant (the vendor of FOCUS and WebFOCUS), I have presented at three IB International Summit Conferences, have written two articles posted on IBs tips and techniques web site and am one of the top 10 contributors to the discussion forum for WebFOCUS users (http://forums.informationbuilders.com). I only share this to let you know what my experience is with FOCUS and WebFOCUS.

My organization uses WebIntelligence XI R2 SP5 extensively and I will now be going through an effort to rewrite some WebFOCUS reports into Web Intelligence documents. I am willing to share my lessons learned with everyone if anyone is interested.

Let me know and I will begin posting comparison notes between the two products.

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

2

I think anything that you can post could potentially be useful to someone (there are a handful of topics on here which mention webfocus), we would certainly appreciate any details you have to share :wink:

Nick Daniels :uk: (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

3

Hi,

This is really great!!

I am using Business Object XI R2 since 3 years. Recently my users asked me to check out for WebFocus and its capabilities. I am brand new to WebFocus. I would like to know the features comparison of both the tools.
If you can share us the capabilities of both the tools by comparing it feature by feature that would really show up some light to us and would be very helpful.

I appreciate your response.

Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Gowtham Sen.

GowthamSen :india: (BOB member since 2006-08-31)

4

While sharing what I can regarding the features of the BOE XI R2 tools compared to the WebFOCUS 713 (and above) tools I will try to keep the posts relatively short and focused on specific items so as to organize the information as best as possible.

One final thing to note about my experience with the WebFOCUS tools is that I am an old school developer. Meaning, I write the FOCUS language and have avoided using the WebFOCUS GUI tool Developer Studio. Due to this fact, I will be limited in what I can share regarding this tool and how to do things with it. However, since this tool basicly writes FOCUS code for you as you develop reports with it, what I am able to share about the capabilities of the FOCUS language will give you an idea in general as to the capabilities of the WebFOCUS tool.

Last but not least, if anyone feels something is not clear in how I explain something OR sees an error in the information I post, please feel free to let me know.

With that said here goes…

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

5

DISCLAIMER: This and all future posts regarding this topic are for informational purposes only. I am sharing this information with the intent to help others like myself who support more than one reporting tool in their organization. All information posted here by myself in no way represents the views or opinions of the organization I work for.

Architecture Comparison - BOE XI R2 and WF 7.x.x

Terms Clarification - Document and Report - BOE uses the term document whereas WebFOCUS uses the term report. When comparing the two products they are generally the same. I will try to use the terms appropriately in the following information but please be aware they are synonymous.

Speaking from the point of view of using BOE XI R2 for Business Objects document development, there is one main tool which is used. If developing full client documents, the Desktop Intelligence tool is used. The equivalent tool under the WebFOCUS product suite to develop reports is the Developer Studio tool. Each one may be used to develop and run documents/reports.

In order to develop documents with Deski, a universe must exist. To develop reports with Dev Studio, a Master File Description (MFD) must exist. The tool to develop universes under BOE is the Universe Designer tool. Under WebFOCUS, the Dev Studio tool is also used to build MFDs.

Under the BOE XI R2 architecture, the Web Intelligence/Infoview tool is used to make documents available via a web browser. Within the WebFOCUS architecture, there are two main ways to do this using the WebFOCUS Server. The WebFOCUS Managed Reporting Environment (MRE) would be the equivalent to the Webi/Infoview tool. These two require the user to logon to the environment to access documents and reports. However, the WebFOCUS Server is designed to also function without an MRE environment. It can be used to create open access reporting applications that do not require a user logon. Using the Guest account under Webi/Infoview would be the equivalent under BOE XI R2 but with one important difference. While the Guest account brings the ‘anonymous’ user into the Webi/Infoview environment, open access reporting applications under WebFOCUS do not need to bring the user into the MRE environment. It short, the WebFOCUS Server can ‘snap into’ a web site built in HTML, hence allowing almost any type of user frontend. The BOE XI R2 SDK facilitates custom frontends to its documents but a developer is not required to utilize the WebFOCUS SDK in order to accomplsh this.

A few last things to note in regards to these tools. The Webi tool may also be used to create documents but the file format generated is different from the file format for documents created using the Deski tool. The WebFOCUS MRE environment also facilitiates creating reports but it creates the same type of document format as is created by the Dev Studio tool. This is due to the fact that each report creation tool in WebFOCUS creates what is called a FOCEXEC which is short for FOCUS Executable. In fact, the report isn’t really a report at all but rather a report program that is written in the FOCUS language. Whether it is created with the Dev Studio tool or the MRE report creation tools, it is the same reporting language (FOCUS) that is written to the FOCEXEC.

Due to the fact that the ultimate result of creating a report with Dev studio or MRE is this FOCEXEC containing FOCUS language commands, it is possible to write these by hand which is what I do. The Master File Desciptions (MFDs) are also written with FOCUS commands specific to MFDs and therefore may also be written by hand instead of created with the Dev Studio tool.

In future posts I will discuss more features of Universes and MFDs as well as Webi documents and FOCEXECs.

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

6

DISCLAIMER: This and all future posts regarding this topic are for informational purposes only. I am sharing this information with the intent to help others like myself who support more than one reporting tool in their organization. All information posted here by myself in no way represents the views or opinions of the organization I work for.

Universe and Master File Description Comparison

Once again speaking from the perspective of using BOE XI R2 to create Business Objects documents, a universe is needed first in order to create documents. A connection string must also be defined for the universe to use for accessing the database.

In WebFOCUS a Master File Description or MFD must exist for reports to be created. When reporting from a relational database such as Oracle or SQL Server, there also needs to be an Access File Description or ACX with the same name as the MFD.

The MFD defines the relationship between the database tables in a hierarchical structure. Each database table is known as a SEGMENT in the hierarchical structure and all segments must be related/joined to another segment. Unlike in a universe where tables may exist as standalone tables in the structure, segments in an MFD must be connected to the structure.

The ACX file contains information that relates each segment name in the MFD to a table name in the database and may also have an explicit connection name for each segment. The connection name is defined to the WebFOCUS Server and may be referenced by multiple ACX files just like multiple universes in Business Objects may reference the same connection string. The fact that each segment may have a separate connection definition in the ACX file allows defining an MFD that pulls information from different data sources. At this point a universe has one and only one connection.

The MFD in WebFOCUS has the same concept of an ALIAS table. This serves the same purpose as the ALIAS functionality in Designer. However, there is no such thing as a CONTEXT in an MFD.

MFDs may also be JOINed and unJOINed to other MFDs during execution of a FOCEXEC. In addition, the type of JOIN (INNER, OUTER, etc.) may be controlled during the execution of the FOCEXEC. This JOINing of MFDs is similar to the linking of universes. I have not ever linked universes so I cannot give more details.

In Business Objects, users will only see the objects and classes defined by the universe designer therefore permitting tables to be defined in the structure but not available to users for reporting purposes. The Class structure defined by the universe designer offers great flexibility as to how to organize the objects for the user.

In WebFOCUS, when using a relational database as the data source, not all fields (think objects) need to be included in the MFD. This is one way to hide fields from users which they should not use. However, if a field is included in the MFD, it will be available to users unless additional security, refered to as DBA, is applied to the MFD. The DBA security feature of WebFOCUS allows control over access to fields as well as specific values of fields. This is similar to class and object restrictions and row restrictions. In the GUI development tools the hierarchical structure defined in the MFD controls the organization of how fields appear. There are some options in the GUI tools to control the order in which the fields are displayed but there is no option in WebFOCUS that is equivalent ot the Class and Object organization in Business Objects.

WebFOCUS introduced what is called Business Views in the version 7 series of the product in an effort to allow better presentation of fields to the user in the GUI tools. However, it still does not afford as much flexibility as the universe designer Classes and Objects in Business Objects.

Last but not least, the FOCUS language offers the capability to create interim HOLD files (temporary files) which then can be used as the data source for another part in a FOCEXEC. This gives the report developer great flexibility in manipulating data before the final output in presented to the user. More about reporting capabilities in a future post.

To sum things up for this post, WebFOCUS offers finer data handling capabilities through the FOCUS language but has its limitations as far as the hierarchical structure of MFDs and presentation of fields in the GUI tools. Business Objects offers a better GUI and control over what the user sees in the universe.

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

7

DISCLAIMER: This and all future posts regarding this topic are for informational purposes only. I am sharing this information with the intent to help others like myself who support more than one reporting tool in their organization. All information posted here by myself in no way represents the views or opinions of the organization I work for.

More Universe and Master File Description Comparison and Request Processing Differences

To top off the comparison of a Business Objects universe to a WebFOCUS Master File Description, there is a very big difference between the two which leads into discussing how each product processes requests (documents/reports).

In WebFOCUS, the Master File Description basically functions as a map of FOCUS fieldnames (think Object Names) to the actual fieldname in a particular table on the database. That’s the extent of its “intelligence” as far as the database goes. The WebFOCUS Master File Description also allows declaring temporary fields based on other fields in the Master File Description. These are referred to as DEFINE fields. Hold these thoughts and keep reading.

The Business Objects universe also maps Objects to specific fields in tables in the database and also allows creating of additional Objects based on other Objects but there is a big difference between the Universe and the Master File Description. The text in the Select section of an Objects properties is actual SQL code that is given to the DATABASE to process when a document is executed. This permits pushing much of the processing to the database and allows leveraging of the backend databases functions. This is not so with the WebFOCUS Master File Description. The WebFOCUS Master File Description does not permit usage of database functions in the definition of a field. BIG DIFFERENCE!

HOWEVER, keeping reading to learn what WebFOCUS does when processing a request that makes up for this difference.

What WebFOCUS does instead is to intelligently interrogate the FOCUS code that makes up the report request and then builds SQL code to give to the database to process. It makes every effort to “push” as much of the processing as it can to the database. What it cannot push to the database, it will handle itself when the answer set is returned from the database.

To sum up this post, the Business Objects universe allows and, in a way, necessitates knowledge of the backend database and what flavor of SQL it can handle in order to build a universe that will leverage the database engine as much as possible. This is very nice. WebFOCUS on the other hand makes great efforts during the processing of the request code to leverage the database engine. Therefore the report developer does not need to know the flavor of SQL which the backend database understands BUT should have a good knowledge of how to write FOCUS code that can be translated to SQL code. There are various resources offered by the vendor (Information Builders) that explain what can and cannot be translated.

Tune in next time for more request processing differences. :slight_smile:

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

8

Hi,

Would you please share some of your learned lessons on converting FOCUS reports into Web Intelligence?

Is there any way to import Master File Description into a BO Universe?
What would be the painless way to do the conversion from FOCUS to Business Objects?

My company has a large number of Main Frame FOCUS reports. I would like to convert a few of those into Web Intelligence reports.

Any information on this matter will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Marisol

Marisol (BOB member since 2010-02-05)

9

Marisol,

There is no conversion tool that I am aware of that would automatically convert a Master File Description into a BO Universe. You wouldn’t want to do this anyway because the Master File Description is strictly a hierarchical structure whereas a universe can have any type of structure as well as more than one structure. It is much more versitale than a Master File Description.

The bottom line is that you should recreate everything in Business Objects. You will end up with a much better result if you do it this way.

Where is the data you are trying to access? You mention you have mainframe FOCUS but is the data in DB2 or Oracle or a FOCUS database?

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

10

I converted about a dozen WebFOCUS reports to Crystal Reports (with Parameters) when a client was going through a merger in 2007.

I found the conversion process pretty simple, but the source WebFOCUS reports were pretty-basic “G & B” reports from a transactional system.

MJRBIM :canada: (BOB member since 2007-03-23)

11

Quick question: What does “G & B” stand for? :stupid:

Andreas :de: (BOB member since 2002-06-20)

12

“G & B” reports from a transactional system = “Gulp and Barf”

Take a BIG bite of raw data, chew it up a little - then spit in out onto paper…

Nothing fancy, No OLAP, No Slice and Dice, etc.

MJRBIM :canada: (BOB member since 2007-03-23)

13

Mickey,
This is SO helpfull for me!
Is there anyway to contact you for more details?
Thank you!
Maya

Lola2010 (BOB member since 2010-03-17)

14

We are converting several (around 50) reporting applications from Business Objects to WebFOCUS.

So far, we have found this conversion to be much more difficult than we had anticipated. :hb:

Has anyone else attempted to convert from Business Objects to WebFOCUS? If so, can you please respond with comments regarding how the conversion went?

scooke2 (BOB member since 2004-01-14)

15

Mickey,

I too am a long time user of FOCUS and writing my own code and I have had experience wth WebFOCUS to the extent that I still write my own code versus using the Developer Studio. I am a relative newbe to BOE having been thrown into it and I’m trying to get my arms it, so reading your comparisons between the two certainly helps.

I’m actually using BOE from a third party where I’m authorized to get in and create my own documents based on the Universe’s that they have available. I’m quickly finding that I have my own data that I would like to join into some of the Documents but I seem to be limited on that feature. In FOCUS I would just create a Flat file and write my own Focmast making sure it had the necessary key fields and use it to join with other Focexecs or create a connection off my PC via ODBC for spreadsheets when using WebFOCUS.

It appears that BOE XI R2 has that capability but I’m not seeing the Universe Designer and I think I’m using the Desktop Intelligence module based on the comparison to Developer Studio, even though it doesn’t indicate that’s what it is called. Is the Universe Designer something that I would most likely need to get authorization for? If so, would I just upload my file and use it to create a Universe?

Thanks

Rick

vchris (BOB member since 2010-03-23)

16

Maya,

I apologize for the very late response to your post. Are you still in need of someone to ask questions of?

Sorry everyone for a late return to this thread. I got very busy and have not been able to add posts to this thread. If anyone has specific capability questions feel free to post the question and I will try to answer it.

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

17

Nice article. I want some more details on webfocus MDF.

  1. Does it have features like derived tables , creating metadatalayer from stored procedure. 2) can we create any custom hierarchies, prompts etc like universe 3)Is there any tool like Crystal Report designer 4) SDK API support, customization etc

Please reply asap
thanks in advance

divyap (BOB member since 2010-09-08)

18

Divyap,

I hope the following information is helpful. To answer your questions:

  1. NO. The WebFOCUS MFD does not have a derived table feature. However, you can achieve something similar with a FOCEXEC by creating a HOLD file and then utilize the HOLD (derived) table in your report requests.

NO. The MFD does not support stored procedures. But, again, there are other ways to get around this in a FOCEXEC. I have never used them with WebFOCUS.

  1. YES. You can define hierarchies in the MFD.

NO. You cannot define prompts in the MFD. However, you can do this via Dialogue Manager in a FOCEXEC.

  1. YES. Developer Studio is the GUI tool for developing reports.

  2. YES. There is a WebFOCUS SDK. I have never used it.

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)

19

Hi,

MDF is some thing that we will code it manually or will it get generated by a tool of WF.
Is there any option to Update MDF file automatically (like refresh structure in the database). How can we maintian these MDF files?
Please reply soon

Thanks

divyap (BOB member since 2010-09-08)

20

The Developer Studio tool will also allow you to create MFDs in a GUI environment and will also allow you to do an update structure. I do not use the Developer Studio tool so you should contact the vendor (Information Builders) or get on the Focal Point forum for Information Builders products (http://forums.informationbuilders.com).

mgrackin :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-29)