BusinessObjects Board

Is there a way to implement full auditing using vba?

general discussion
#7

Hello Klaus,

I had the feeling of it, dealing with different modules of BO last few years, I know how frustrated it could be. I didn’t do extensive vba though…
Thank you very much for your comments and help

Marina, New York, NY

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#8

Dave a few comments about your solution.

Agree with the Step 1 a VBA macro, which will document the report when it is exported to the repository or manually by the developer if you trust them.

Step 2 I have a lot more problems.
Depending on the user settings and where they refresh the reports it may fail because of a VBA error. (Zabo is different from BO)
You will need a connection from every Client to write directly into your log database
How do you identify the report as being the right one (DEV or Production)
What happens if users make minor changes to the SQL/Report you may get
What happens when user use the “save as” function …

The Run from the query panel as you mention is one of the nastiest things in BO because it does not exist. We have created our own events to get around some of the limitations.

ClaireB :de: (BOB member since 2002-08-09)

#9

Dave,
Thanks again. The client wouldn’t like to have vba in their published reports, since they are distributing the report using InfoView and not confident that reports and vba will work in this environment…they are not using ZABO.

Marina

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#10

Well, I said it was a rough outline. :slight_smile:

Or log to a flat file and import later.

Since each report has it’s own code, I don’t see this as a problem. Part of the migration process (DEV to Prod) would involve changing the value of the “report ID”.

In the scenario Marina outlined, I was treating the users as Infoview users, and therefore neither of these would apply.

By revoking access to the query panel, you could avoid this.

Marina seemed to have a very specific case. The solution I outlined was just a suggestion, not a final product. 8) Obviously there are questions to be answered, but in her case, it seemed that since the users never create their own reports, and (in theory) would never make alterations to the standard reports, then something a bit more basic could be done.

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#11

Even better! 8)

By distributing the reports via Infoview, the concern that Klaus raised about connections is a moot point… since all the reports are run on the server, you can guarantee that there is a connection. And since you are on the server, you already have half of the solution… don’t write your own, just use what is already there!

Simply turn on the standard Webi auditing process. It will log which reports are opened and refreshed. By comparing this log to the report documentation that I suggested earlier, you can capture what you need. The Webi auditing does not capture class and object information for full client reports. But by setting up that information on your own, you should be able to get what you need.

And since you are using Infoview, you can guarantee that nobody is going to use the query panel. :wink:

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#12

Don’t worry I know it was meant to be a rough outline.

But as You and I know the devil :reallymad: lies in the details.

I agree if it is really Infoview only them probably your step 1 and the default webi log if they use ZABO or Webi would give a good picture

ClaireB :de: (BOB member since 2002-08-09)

#13

Dave,
thanks a lot for the comments,
Marina

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#14

If you refresh a full client report via Webi I think you may get the object names if I remember correctly.

Marina, If you turn on auditing you can check out the universe and sample reports in the Bob’s Downloads area.

Cindy Clayton :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-11)

#15

Actually, I don’t think this is the case. I believe that you only get that level of detail for Webi reports, not full client reports refreshed under Webi. Also be aware that even for Webi reports you only get details about result objects, not condition objects.

Excellent suggestion. 8)

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#16

Maybe I’m loopy but I think I see the object names in event type name = ‘Compute Result’ and object type name = ‘Object Name’ :crazy_face:

Cindy Clayton :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-11)

#17

Create a query in webi, and review the data collected in the audit tables. Create the same query in ZABO and see what you get. I don’t think you will see the same level of detail… unless they have improved the collection process since I last looked at it. What version of Webi / ZABO are you running?

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#18

Dave,
They do not have Auditor, all reports are Full Client, they use InfoView just for the distribution purposes, I guess

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#19

You do not have to purchase Auditor. If you are using Webi / Infoview to distribute the reports, then you can simply turn on the Webi auditing feature. The data is logged to a database, where you can then do whatever you want with it.

Auditor - the “product” - is a pretty front-end that BusinessObjects has created to provide a reporting framework. The data is there if you want it.

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#20

Thanks, I do not have administrative rights to WEBI server to turn on this feature. I basically have no access to the server. I can only propose that to one who has “a power”.

Marina

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#21

Understood. 8) Just wanted to make sure that you did understand the option.

Also, since this discussion has wandered a bit from the VBA / SDK issues, I’m going to move it into the General Discussion forum. Folks that don’t view the SDK forum might have something worthwhile to contribute.

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#22

Yep I see 'em. Created a report and the application name is ‘BusinessObjects ZA’. Event type is 18 and event type name is ‘Object Name’. We’re 2.7.2 CSP 519.

Cindy Clayton :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-11)

#23

Since I am new to this how would you review the data collected in the audit tables? Or where can I find any documents to take a look?

Marina

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)

#24

Look in the Webi Admin guide. Ummm, about page 240? Or something like that. You can do a search for “audit” in the PDF and find it. They have table definitions and discuss the contents that are collected.

Dave

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

#25

You can learn a lot reading this thread and others you can find doing a BOB search. You can also learn a lot just by looking at the universe and reports in the download area. I didn’t find the documentation too helpful :nonod: .

Cindy Clayton :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-11)

#26

Cindy,
thanks for “this” link, appreciate it,Marina

MarinaV (BOB member since 2003-09-16)