I am looking into taking some training courses, particularly in Universe design. The SAP description of BOU310 lists strong familiarity with Webi as a required prerequisite.
Is that true?
My shop exclusively uses Crystal Reports and Business Objects Enterprise. I have never touched Webi and probably will not as long as I remain here.
I understand that Webi can make testing a Universe easier, but is it essential? Although more drawn out, couldn’t I accomplish the same goal using CR?
Is there such an emphasis on Webi in the classes that I may become lost from lack of familiarity?
The other thing I’d suggest is use is a grasp of databases and SQL.
Obviously you don’t need DBA level expertise, but an understanding of the principles of keys, joins, data types, etc. will help.
If you do not know how the universe is going to be used by end-users you will miss out on a lot of things when designing a universe, therefore the requirement to know Webi!
In addition one should be familiar with SQL and data modeling (dimensional modeling as per R. Kimball).
I wouldn’t say dimensional modelling is as important as simply understanding how a database sits together. Any relational experience will do.
The advanced course Dimensional Modelling Integrated with Business Objects is an excellent future course, after the basic designer course, if it’s still running.
The course is designed to use Webi for testing out universe changes and showing the impact of certain aspects of universe design. They use Webi because it’s far easier than Crystal from a casual perspective. At one point the Designer course was a four-day course and the first day was Webi, is that what you are taking? Or is it the three-day standard Designer course?
Either way, I believe you’ll be fine. Especially if you can get to class 15-20 minutes early and arrange for the instructor to give you a crash course in simple Webi queries.
Well, not only is Webi easier, but Crystal Reports does not support (yet) generating multiple SQL statements when you are crossing multiple universe contexts…
Thank you everyone for the very informative replies.
I suspected the emphasis on Webi was for testing and confirmation of the impact of changes to a Universe. I have no doubt that is a very valuable tool and a great help in accelerating the process, however we are a Crystal Reports shop and will not have Webi at our disposal. Being able to design and use a Universe with that “e-arm” tied behind my back is an unfortunate necessity in my situation.
I started my career in the early 1980s designing, building, and maintaining relational and hierarchical databases. Keys, joins, data types, normalization, etc are old hat to me. I am not concerned about understanding that aspect of the structures within a Universe. My studies of R. Kymball, et.al, are a bit dated, but I have enough background to feel comfortable that my knowledge base is up to the task.
My present position requires me to draw data from Rocket Software (formerly IBM U2) UniVerse databases (all identically structured). The ODBC drivers do recognize the Primary keys but often fail to use Secondary keys. Worse yet, trying to select based upon values in a multi-valued field can transform a 5 minute report into one that takes 4+ hours. I have enough reports that need to be able to select on such criteria that I need to build structures (Universes) that can dynamically build temporary tables and/or other relevant structures that will serve the data much more efficiently than the current ODBC drivers do today.
I am also considering future requirements. Although our back-end database vendor uses UniVerse today, that may change in the future or we may change vendors. In either case, the data sources will be significantly different. At least one competitor vendor does not permit direct access to the data files and restricts access through a Universe that they supply. They do permit limited local customization, which is a further indication that I will need to know how to do it before it is thrown in my lap.
I did not know there was a designer course that includes Webi. The only BOU310 listings I could find in my area of the USA are 3 days in duration. There is a separate Webi course but I cannot justify spending my scarce training budget on a product I will not use except as an adjunct to another class.
Again, I want to thank all of you for your thoughtful and thought provoking comments and suggestions. They are a big help and I do appreciate them.
(BOB member since 2006-08-01)
(BOB member since 2008-05-12)
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