I am trying to research on what training is recommended to become a competent Universe Designer. I am based in the UK and currently have found a number of courses from different companies that look pretty much the same (so for ease I will use SAP’s own)
BOID10 SAP Business Objects Information Design Tool, which is a 5 day course. All the others are split into basic and advanced but are also 5 days total
Along with some WEBI report writing and some SQL, what else is there? I cannot imagine that a 5 day course will essentially teach you all you need to know to be a designer, or is it a case that these courses give you technically all you need, and the rest you learn from experience?
So what advice/recommendations do you all have? I look forward to your replies, thank you
That course should be ok…but it is the experience you gain from actually doing the real work that will really get you going. Make mistakes, read everything you can get your hands on, ask question after question on here…
I went on that (or at least the equivalent) universe design course back in late 99/early 2000 on version 5 of BusinessObjects but the course was led by Acuma, who were based in Stockport at the time (but have moved since). It gives you a very good grounding in the basics of universe design and covers 80% of what you need, with key concepts such as contexts and aggregate awareness being taught. Without these, you’ll end up in a world of pain.
As Nick says, it’s about as good a starting point as you could wish for, as long as you’re allowed to get straight on the tools at work after you’ve been on the course.
I think the old Designer course was 3 days, not sure about IDT though. Although there is more in IDT than there was in Designer so sounds fair.
Normally I dont learn much from courses but theyll give you the first principle knowledge of how the tools work and how they work against simple requirements and nicely modelled databases (eFashion!) as with anything though you learn from tacking real world problems.
It was and IDT still is 3 days.
The course I went on at Acuma was 5 days - 1D Supervisor, 3D Designer, 1D Reporter.
That and the DiMBO course, which was much better
Almost all my courses were based at Acuma - now on the Timperley/Wythenshawe border in South West Manchester. I thought they were much better courses than SAP’s own as SAP teach textbook and if you go off-piste into the real world, they can’t/won’t help. Acuma’s trainers are also practitioners and give you loads of practical real-world advice as well as the theory.
I started off in the pre-Acuma days when GAIS were based in Glossop. They were then taken over by Acuma and have always provided good training. As you say, part of the reason for that is that the trainers also do consultancy at client site so have encountered real-world situations too.
I know, it’s a real shame. That said, I’ve not needed a BO training course for a while but it’s handy when you want to provide some formal training to “fresh meat”.
(BOB member since 2002-08-15)
