If I disable the universe from the top level group in our hierarchy, will that disable it from descending groups ?
I think I’ve found some obsolete universe and want to delete them, but first I want to disable them for a couple weeks to see if I get any complaints.
Thanks.
tscoccol 
(BOB member since 2003-11-15)
If I disable the universe from the top level group in our hierarchy, will
that disable it from descending groups ?
The answer is yes.
This is a good way to check is a universe is useful or useless.
If a report contains objects fetched from that universe, the report won’t work if you disable the universe.
Christian Konrads 
(BOB member since 2004-07-21)
but first I want to disable them for a couple weeks to see if I get any
complaints
In my opinion, this technique can produce problems if, unfortunately, a single report is casually NOT refreshed for a couple weeks, of course if this single report USES object of that obsolete (?) universe.
The only way to grant a secure deletion of the universe, without complaints, is to test ALL the reports in the repository.
Christian Konrads (BOB member since 2004-07-21)
You can also create a report off the Security universe to return Document Name - DOC and Data Provider Source Name - DOC and that will tell you what universes the documents in the repository are using…
HTH! 
JennFisher (BOB member since 2002-06-25)
JennFisher, your solution is great, but I have no access to that system tables, so I can’t produce that useful report.
Only is you are General Supervisor, you can do as you suggest.
But in my system I am only Supervisor/Designer, not General Supervisor.
Christian Konrads (BOB member since 2004-07-21)
I’m not sure what your reporting environment is like but about 95% of all our reports are ad-hoc and not stored in the repository. You will never be able to find out if there are reports out there accessing the Universe in question unless you disable the Universe and/or the connection. As Christian pointed out a couple weeks is not enough time to make this determination, I’m sure you know your user base better than us but 6 months is probably a better time frame.
jswoboda (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
I’m not sure what your reporting environment is like but about 95% of
all our reports are ad-hoc and not stored in the repository
This is an interesting situation!!
In a non-centralized environment (95% of the reports not stored in the central repository), every user creates itself the reports, so you cannot know is a particular user decided - 3 years ago - to use a “forgotten” universe.
The solution appears when all users are obliged to publish their work on the central repository, so the general supervisor can test all reports to check if the dismission of a particular universe can cause problems.
Christian Konrads (BOB member since 2004-07-21)
Ooooh! I left out a key concept here. Communication, communication, communication.
We have run into this with Universes based on legacy systems. Because of all our ad-hocs reports being stored locally or on department drives I created an internal Business Objects email distribution list so users within the company can communicate with each other and share reports/ideals via this mechanism. Any time we are planning on removing a Universe off the repo, I put out periodic warning in the form of “XYZ Universe will be archived in 1 month should this cause a problem for anyone please feel free to contact me” and then additional notices as the time approaches. When the time comes I take a copy of the Universe save if off (just in case) and then remove it from the repo.
I will address the issues with any repo reports but it’s all the other’s you don’t know about that need to be considered.
jswoboda (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
When the time comes I take a copy of the Universe save if off (just in
case) and then remove it from the repo.
All right! It’s safe to keep a copy of the removed Universe, in order to be able to re-publish it when the (only!) user interested in, gets up!
Sometimes they come back… 
Keep the copy on 2 CD-ROM (one is a must, two is safe).
Christian Konrads (BOB member since 2004-07-21)
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)