New Version of BusinessObjects

general discussion
1

Does anybody know anything about the new version of BusinessObjects? Has the Reporter piece changed much? Do you know when it may be released?

Thank you for your time…

LisaWong (BOB member since 2003-01-24)

2

If you are talking about Version 6 of BusinessObjects – I think the major changes are in making the WebI applet more full-featured. It has been in beta testing by some folks.

I think there was talk that it might come out this summer – but that’s just a vague memory of a rumor. Perhaps someone else can comment.

However, my group has often found that it’s better not to convert to a new release right away, unless you’re desperate for some new feature. We’re usually content to wait for a couple of the bug-fixes to make it into the version first. We’re guessing we might be ready 6 months to 1 year after the initial release…

Anita Craig :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-17)

3

I think 2nd/3rd quarter but that was a while ago so it may have moved.

I concur!

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

4

If I remember correctly, at the Conference they said late 2nd Qtr or 3rd Qtr but there were too many unknowns to set a definate date. It is supposed to bring WebI a long way toward the power of Full Client.

I also believe I heard that there is a SP due in March, but I may be mistaken.

Lee Drake :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

5

Service Pack seven I suppose. Always an exciting time :lol:

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

6

Lisa,
Since I answered your post on tek-tips, I thought I should answer it here also.

The full-client will not be changing much. Just a few more features and a whole lot more integration with Excel.

From what I can tell so far from the first beta, the bulk of the new functionality is in WebI. (Multi-block reports, formulas, Excel downloading of full-client reports, a completely new InfoView)

I’m sure there is alot more security stuff, too. Overall, it looks terrific.

Steve Krandel :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-25)

7

Does this mean that the few people I have using BusinessQuery for Excel will be able to drop that neat little addin and use ZABO to pass data from universes to Excel? Despite the capabilities of BO, there still are times the data needs to get into Excel for further use.
Now if we could get the funtionality of adding another column to BO report and users could type in data and sum up in a crosstab, then I might get them off Excel but then BO would be no different than a spreadsheet - :rotf:

scott copeland (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

8

I think one of the advantages of BO is that it is not a spreadsheet, and therefore users cannot just “fix” the values to meet their “own” definition of what they consider accurate data, which would not reflect the “real data” (of course they can modify the query conditions or create their own variables).

If the user thinks the data is wrong, then it should be fixed at the source (DB level).

IMHO

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

9

Richard Foster from BO did a presentation on version 6.0 at the NC User Group meeting. He said the release date is scheduled for the end of March; SP1 scheduled for the end of September.

See Cindy’s summary of features in General Discussion.

[Norm, I stuck in a link to it. Hope you don’t mind]

Norm Rosen :us: (BOB member since 2002-07-10)

10

It is always fun to go back and read Dave’s Excel Rant when we talk about export to Excel. :mrgreen:

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

11

I know of one accountant who lost his job after his department switched to BusinessObjects from Excel. He was no longer able to “fix” his data anymore and the CFO wanted to know why the numbers had changed.

I don’t think users should be able to type into a BusObj report. And I think managers should really question why users think they need that ability. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they just think they are.

Lee Drake :us: (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

12

well since I started this, let me just add a very valid reason for adding another column to a report. Our Financial universe has budget items, encumbrances and disbursements. Add these up and you get the available balance for that account. The one column that the budget people always want is called pending encumbrances - planned expenses that have not yet hit the system. No one is talking about changing existing numbers, just adding another column to hold additional data.
There have been various attempts to get around this (mostly means running a duplicate system in Access and entering tranactions into both systems :nonod: )

BTW - if one of the new features is to search for strings in a report, and I assume that means finding data in a cell, doesn’t that mean you can copy and paste that cell’s data? And if you can do that, does that also mean you can overwrite the data then? At least until the next refresh?

scott copeland (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

13

Hmm… could that not be implemented in a separate table within the DB (planned expenses). I worked in a similar environment before and they had something like that in their PENTA application.
The accountants could also use a MS Excel spreadsheet with the Planned Expenses information and then bring it into the BO document as a separate data provider…

Just throwing out ideas, Scott 8)

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