Schmidt Ink, Inc. Creating Universes with Designer XI Business Objects XI - CBT Published by Schmidt Ink, Inc.

San Diego, CA 92122 Printed in USA Copyright 2006, 2007 by Robert D. Schmidt. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. For authorization to reproduce this manual for corporate internal use only, not for resale, but for training in a classroom environment, contact: Schmidt Ink, Inc. email: [email protected] www.schmidtink.com Other Schmidt Ink, Inc. Publications: Creating Documents with BusinessObjects Creating Documents with BusinessObjects: Report Writing Course Creating Documents with BusinessObjects: Web Intelligence Course Creating Documents with BusinessObjects: Desktop Intelligence Course Creating Documents with BusinessObjects XI: Web Intelligence XI Course Creating Documents with BusinessObjects XI - CBT: Web Intelligence XI Course Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty The author and publisher of this book have used their best efforts in preparing the book and the examples contained in it. These efforts include the development, research and testing of the theories and examples to determine their effectiveness. The Author and Publisher make no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regards to the examples and documentation in this book. The Author and Publisher shall not be liable in any event for incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance or use of the examples contained in this book. Trademarks: BusinessObjects, Designer, and Universe Repository are trademarks of Business Objects, SA. Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other product and company names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.

0-9722636-3-2 (978-0-9722636-3-4)

I dedicate this book to my family. I also dedicate it to all the readers that trust my books to help further their knowledge and careers. I appreciate your trust and thank you for the motivation that you give me.

Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the Creating Universes with Designer XI computer-based training (CBT) course. I hope it provides you with the reference and training material that will help you to become a competent Business Objects professional. Throughout this course, we will examine many topics on creating universes. Most of these topics will reference a database called SI Data. The SI Data database is delivered on the accompanying CD in a Microsoft Access database. You may use this database directly, or import it into SQL Server. Importing it to SQL Server is recommended, because some of the functions in this book are SQL Server specific. However, the completed universe should work with SQL Server or Oracle. The database contains data from an investment company that had a one-year portfolio fund. In this fund there were six portfolios that traded stocks from their respective industries. The data also includes calls to clients and the daily prices of included stocks. It is also better if you can export your universe into a Business Objects repository, as we will create a linked universe in this course. Link universes require a repository for security (CMS). If you do not have a repository set up, you will still be able to do most of the examples in the book. The CD does not contain a demo version of Business Objects software. It is assumed that you have the product and that it is set up and running. The CD does contain a PDF presentation file. This presentation can be used to present the material to your fellow employees. You may not print this PDF or distribute it to anybody, other than yourself, as this is a copyright violation. However, you may purchase the books directly from the distributor at a discounted price so that everybody viewing the presentation has a book. Please contact me at [email protected] for discount information. If your company has many people to train in Business Objects Designer, Web Intelligence, and Desktop Intelligence, then you may be interested in the Corporate Training Package. This package gives a company limited rights to reproduce the manuals in order to train their employees. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information. You may also contact me at this address, if you have any questions on any of the exercises in the book. Please also send any comments and suggestions that you may have. Business Objects often seems like a very complicated application and there may be times that you become confused and need help. To search for help on specific issues, you can visit: http://www.forumtopics.com/busobj, which is an exceptional forum, known as BOB. I very much appreciate you trusting my book/CBT to help further your understanding of Business Objects universes. I have spent many hours developing the course in hopes that it will be the best computer course that you have ever taken. Sincerely, Robert D. Schmidt [email protected] www.SchmidtInk.com

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Chapter 1: Build a Basic Universe 1

In the Beginning, There was Nothing... 3 Windows NT using the Network Login ID 5 Start and Login to Designer 7 Quick Design Wizard 9 Universe Parameters - Definition 11 Define a New Connection 13 Define a New Connection (Continued) 15 Saving a Universe 17 Defining Controls and SQL 19 Universe Parameters - Links and Parameters 21 The Designer Workspace 23 Lets Get Some Tables 25 Viewing Table and Column Values 27 Default Classes and Objects 29 Dimension Properties 31 Editing List of Values 33 Exporting a Universe 35 Default Object Behavior 37 Measure Object Definition 39 Creating a Measure 41 Counting Measures using All and Distinct 43 Automatic Time Hierarchy 45 Using SQL Date Functions 47 Defining Object Report Format 49 Checking Universe Integrity 51 What We Have Learned So Far 53 Testing the Universe 55

Using a Subquery Condition 69 Date Conditions 71 Chapter Summary 73

Chapter 3: Inserting Tables and Joins 75

Table Types - Fact and Dimension 77 Simple Joins 79 Table Field Types 81 Create Classes and Objects 83 Organize and Create New Objects 85 Detail Objects 87 Join Cardinalities 89 Dealing with Property Tables 91 Using Detail Objects to Solve Property Table Chasm Trap 93 Aliasing Tables 95 More on Join Types 99 Using the Case Statement to Decode Property Flags 101 Our Universe, So Far 103

Chapter 4: Working with Multiple Fact Tables 105

Add a Second Fact Table 107 New Fact Table Chasm Trap 109 Universe Context 111 Automatically Defining a Universe Context 113 Deleting and Manually Inserting Contexts 117 Arranging the Universe Section 119 Working with Common Fields 121 Using SIDate Objects 123 Completed Universe 125 Create a Separate Company Universe 127 Linking the Universe 129 Loops in a Universe 131 Dimension Table Loops 133 Chapter Summary 135

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe 57

Conditions - Bring Back the Data that You Want 59 Creating Conditions 61 Prompted Queries in Desktop and WEB Intelligence 65 Create All or Selected Conditions 67

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Chapter 5: More Design Considerations 137

Add a Third Fact Table 139 Fan Traps 141 Multiple SQL Statements for Each Measure 143 Unsolvable Fan Traps 145 Invoice Type Fan Traps 147 Aggregate Awareness 149 Universe Hierarchies 151 Derived Tables 153 Joins on Different Data Types 155 Chapter Summary 157

Chapter 6: Additional Topics 157

Hierarchical Display 161 Cascading Lists of Values 163 Index Awareness 165 Using a Hierarchical LOV to Provide Index Awareness 167 Hiding Items 169 Between Joins 171 Shortcut Joins 173 Advanced Join Properties 175 Refreshing the Structure 177 Arranging the Tables in the Structure 179 Printing the Universe Definitions 181 Chapter Summary 183

Course Summary 183

Course Summary 184 Exercise Table of Contents (After Index)

Creating Universes with Business Objects XI

Copyright 2006 Robert D. Schmidt

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe

In this chapter, we are going to learn how to create conditions in our universe. Conditions that are defined at the universe level make our universes more friendly and complete. People appreciate having a variety of conditions to use in their queries. While universe-defined conditions are convenient for people to use in their queries, it is also important to note that some universe-defined conditions can not be created on the query side and must be defined in the universe. In this chapter, we will also learn to create a variety of conditions, including prompted conditions that prompt for user input when a query is refreshed and subquery conditions that allow us to use a summary condition that is separate from the main query. This chapter is called Conditions in our Universe. However, it is important to note that these conditions are also known as Query Filters in WEB Intelligence. We will continue to call them conditions throughout this book.

The @Prompt Funtion is Found in the @Functions Section

Conditions Defined

Opps, forgot to place conditions on a query!

Reports with No Conditions are Overwheming

Conditions - Bring Back the Data that You Want

Conditions are very important to any universe, because they allow people to isolate data of interest. Reports with no conditions are usually quite overwhelming and, sometimes, even incorrect. We use conditions to limit data. We can also use them to make are reports correct. For example, some conditions inhibit multiple counts due to erroneous relationships in the universe. Many times, conditions can be created in a document and dont really need to be created in a universe. Other times, the conditions are too complicated for the reporting tool and must be created in a universe. I have worked in companies that have very little conditions (only the complicated ones) in their universes and I have worked in others that have every conceivable condition. I am not sure which is better, but Ill bet that it is somewhere in between the two extremes. Conditions can be hard-coded, which means that they need no input from the person refreshing the report. They can also be parameterized, which means that they will need user input when the query is refreshed. Most universes have both cases, and they should. In this chapter, we are going to explore the different types of condition objects that we can create. In addition, we will continue to discuss conditions throughout the course, as we will need to create additional conditions as we add more tables and objects to our universe.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 59

Creating Conditions

To access the Conditions pane in the Designer, click on the Yellow Filter Funnel located beneath the Classes and Objects (Universe) pane.

Edit Properties Dialog

Edit Condition Dialog

Creating Conditions
Conditions are accessed in the Conditions pane of the Universe workspace. To access the Conditions pane, click the Yellow Filter Funnel located beneath the Classes and Objects (Universe) window. All condition objects in the universe are located in this pane. To insert a Condition object, you can right-click on a class or object in the Universe section and select Condition... from the pop-up menu. You can also use the Editing toolbar or the | Insert | Condition... | menu item. All of these actions will display the Edit Properties dialog where you can create a new condition object or modify an existing one. The Edit Properties dialog has three fields: Name, Description, and Where. There is no Select field, as there was in the Edit Properties dialog for result objects. To create the condition, we simply enter the condition logic in the Where field of the dialog. Many times, it is more convenient to click the >> button to display the Edit dialog. With this dialog, we can access fields from tables, result objects, operators, and local database functions. Since it is better (easier to maintain) to use existing objects (as opposed to columns in tables), we usually use the objects in the Classes and Objects section of the dialog. When we double-click on an object, it will appear in the formula field. It will be enclosed within the @Select statement, which simply inserts the SQL from the Select field of the Edit Properties dialog for the object into the Where condition that we are working on. Notice that the object is referred to as Class/object within the @Select statement. This is why we cannot have two classes with the same name, because it will confuse the @Select function. Most conditions are defined by an object, operator, and an operand. In the case in the graphic, the object is Ticker, the operator is Equal to, and the operand is the constant: BOBJ. Over the next few slides we will create various condition objects for our universe. Exercise: Create a Simple Condition Object 1. Click on the Yellow Condition Funel, located beneath the Classes and Objects section of the Designer. 2. Right-Click on the class name and select Condition... 3. Enter Business Objects into the Name field. 4. Enter Limits data returned to Business Objects, into the Description field. Notes 5. Click on the >> button to display the Edit dialog. 6. Locate and double-click Ticker in the Classes and Objects section. 7. Double-click on the equal sign in the operators section. 8. Type BOBJ 9. Click the Parse button to check the condition. 10. Click the OKs to exit all dialogs and create the object.

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 61

Creating Prompted Conditions

Edit Condition Dialog for Company Ticker The @Prompt Funtion is Found in the @Functions Section

@Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(s)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) The @Prompt Allows User Input at Refresh Time

Creating Prompted Conditions

The BOBJ condition that we made in the previous exercise works well for objects with a few values, but what about objects with many values from which people can select? Business Objects has provided the @Prompt function to allow us to create condition objects that prompt for user input when a report is refreshed. We can use the @Prompt as the object for the operand of a condition. We can also use it with any of the logical operators. The @Prompt consists of five arguments: 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. The prompt label: This is what is displayed when a document is refreshed. It instructs the user to enter the proper values. The type of value: The type is important for the correct behavior of SQL. Numbers dont have quotes - Text does have quotes. The list of values: Most objects have a list of values associated with them, we can use this list or we can use a custom list. Multi/Mono: Multi for more than one value, Mono for one value. Free/Constrained: If free, the user can type in the prompt. If constrained, the user must select from the list of values.

We customize the prompt function with the arguments. For example, suppose that you wanted everyone to select values from a prefabricated list, and then the function could look something like: @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(s)', 'A', {'BOBJ','INTC','RMBS'}, multi, Constrained) Exercise: Create a Prompted Condition 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click on the Yellow Condition Funnel located beneath the Classes and Objects window. Click the Condition... toolbar button. Enter Company Ticker into the Name field. Enter Enter Tickers at prompt. Can select Tickers from the Values list into the Description field. Enter @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(s)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) into the formula field. Hint: For the list of values, type a single quote, then double-click on the Ticker dimension object in the Classes and Objects section. This will enter the list in the proper format. Sometimes, the object will enter the formula with the @Select function. If the @Select does appear, then simply delete the function and parenthesis, but leave the argument, which will be in the correct format.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 63

Prompted Queries in Desktop and WEB Intelligence

The Prompt Dialog in Desktop Intelligence

Desktop Intelligence List of Values

Web Intelligence Prompt and List of Values

Prompted Queries in Desktop and WEB Intelligence

When a person refreshes a document with a prompted query a dialog is displayed asking the refresher for input values. In Desktop Intelligence, the dialog is separate from the List of Values. To use the List of Values, click on the Values... button in the Prompt dialog. Both Web and Desktop Intelligence allow the List of Values to be refreshed by clicking on the Refresh button in the dialog.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 65

Create All or Selected Conditions

All or Selected Condition

@Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) Or '*' IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free)

Create All or Selected Conditions

There are limits to how many values that can be selected from a list of values. The limits vary from database to database, and even with in different versions. However, Business Objects only allows you to select 99 values from the list. This limit can be overridden by modifying the sqlsvr.prm file and entering the following in the [RDBMS] section: MAX_INLIST_VALUES. It is probably is not very efficient to select all values in a list of values either. So, to overcome this limitation, we can use the following statement: @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) Or '*' IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) The first clause of the statement (the part before the Or), is exactly like the original. It simply allows people to select values from a list in the Prompt dialog. The second clause looks for the value *. If an * is entered into the prompt dialog, then this second clause is true and all rows will be returned. This is much more efficient than selecting all values in the list. I have worked at companies that create a dimension object to hold the asterisk. This object could be called For All Constant and the Select field would contain *. This object will not parse, because it is not associated with any table. However, it will work just fine when it is part of a query. The statement would then change to: @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Ticker) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) Or @Select(For All Constant) IN @Prompt('Enter Ticker(* for All)', 'A', 'Portfoliotransactions\Ticker', multi, free) Exercise: Create All or Selected Condition 1. 2. 3. 4. Double-click on the Company Ticker condition to display the Edit Properties dialog for the object. Modify the existing Where formula to the formula shown in the graphic. Click Parse to make sure the objects syntax is correct. Click OK to exit the Edit Properties dialog.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 67

Using a Subquery Condition

Revenue Greater Than 2001 Average Edit Dialog

@Select(Portfoliotransactions\Price) * @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Number of Shares (Dem)) * (-1) > (Select Avg(PORTFOLIOTRANSACTIONS.PRICE * PORTFOLIOTRANSACTIONS.NUMSHARES * (-1)) From PORTFOLIOTRANSACTIONS Where Year(PORTFOLIOTRANSACTIONS.TRANSDATE) = 2001 )

Using a Subquery Condition

When a standard condition, such as Revenue Greater than 200,000, is applied to a query, it will work on the resolution of the Dimensions in the Result objects section. This resolution is known as the context, so we can say that the condition will apply to the context created by the dimensions. This means that if Trans Year and Revenue are selected in the Result objects window, then the condition Revenue Greater than 200,000 will return years where revenue is greater than 200,000. If the same condition is used in a query with Trans Year, Trans Month, and Revenue, then the query will return months where revenue is greater than 200,000. Sometimes, we need this condition to be independent of the objects in the Results Objects section of the query, such as in the case Revenue Greater than the Average Revenue. To create a condition that is independent of the Result Objects, we can use a subquery. The subquery works, because it will return a value that is independent of the outer query. Exercise: Create a Subquery Condition 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Click the Yellow Condition funnel to enter into the Conditions section of the universe. Right-Click on the class name and select | Condition... | from the pop-up menu. Name the Condition: Revenue Greater Than 2001 Average. Describe the object as: Returns Where Transaction Revenue Greater Than 2001 Average. Enter the formula displayed in the graphic. Parse the object to ensure the proper syntax.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 69

Date Conditions

Prompted YTD @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Transdate) BETWEEN '1/1/' + Cast(Year( @Prompt('Enter Date', D, 'Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,)) As Varchar(4)) AND @Prompt('Enter Date', D, 'Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,)

Date Range

@Select(Portfoliotransactions\Transdate) BETWEEN @Prompt('Enter Begin Date','D','Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,) AND @Prompt('Enter End Date','D','Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,)

Rolling 90 Days Prompted

@Select(Portfoliotransactions\Transdate) BETWEEN DateAdd(dd, -90, @Prompt('Enter Date', 'D, 'Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,)) AND @Prompt('Enter Date', 'D, 'Portfoliotransactions\Transdate',,)

Date Conditions
Dates are implemented in many different fashions in todays data warehouses. Sometimes conditions are fast and easy to create. In these cases, the data warehouse usually has a date table with every conceivable attribute of a date. However, there are times that there is only a date to work with, as in the case of SI Equity. In these cases, we need to perform some kind of date logic to get the date ranges that we are interested in. Most of the time, if the database is indexed efficiently and there are not millions of rows, this type of date manipulation is efficient enough. There are many ways to implement date conditions. Two of the most popular are to use a date table or to use date functions. In this chapter, we will use the SQL Server date functions. We have three examples in the graphic - Prompted YTD, Date Range, and Rolling 90 Days. Of the three, the Date Range condition will be the most efficient, because it will utilize the indexes in the most efficient manner. The other two may not work as well, because they may cause table scans. However, we got to do, what we got to do, to get the job done. If a date is all we have to work with, then so be it let's create the date conditions. Notice that each condition starts with the same statement: @Select(Portfoliotransactions\Transdate) BETWEEN. This statement is just pointing to the Trans Date object, which is the Transdate field in the PORTFOLIOTRANSACTIONS table. The next line in the statements is defining the start date in the range. The YTD condition uses the first of the year '1/1/' concatenated to the year of the input date, which is found with the Year function. The Cast function converts the Year to a character, so it can be concatenated. The Rolling 90 Days, uses the DateAdd function to subtract 90 days from the input date. Finally, the Date Range just uses the Begin date entered by the viewer of the report. The final line in each statement just uses the inputted date as the range's end date. Since we are using the Between operator, the end date is inclusive of the range, which means that it will include the date in the query. You can see that with SQL Server and a little imagination that we can build date conditions that can do almost anything that we need them to. The available functions are Year, Month, Day, GetDate, DateAdd, DatePart and DateDiff. We may also need some other support functions, such as Cast to force types. Notice that in the prompt functions that I did not populate the last two arguments. This is because the operator will assign the default to the Mono/ Multi argument. For example, if it is an equal to operator, then only one value can be entered. The Free/Constrained argument defaults to Free. Free is a good option for dates, because most people will not mistype a date - even if they do, they usually realize right away. Exercise: Create the Three Date Conditions Shown in the Graphic Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 71

Chapter Summary

Revenue Greater Than 2001 Average Edit Dialog

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we learned the importance of condition objects. We also learned how to create simple and complex conditions. Many universes have too many or not enough condition objects. I guess finding the right balance for your company will take some discovery. I also think that it is better to err on the side of having too many conditions than not enough. It is also important to know how people may use or interperate your conditions. For example, in this chapter, we created a subquery condition. This subquery of this condition will return the average trade revenue in the year 2001. Then the complete condition wiill compare the revenue on each row of the database to this average revenue. If it is larger, then it will return the row. If people do not understand this behavior, then they may assume that it does something else. Having standardized conditions allows all reports to use the same condition logic. This logic is usually based on business rules in the company. Therefore, they are very effective at keeping reports consistent throughout the company.

Notes

Chapter 2: Conditions in Our Universe - 73

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Symbols
!Unknown 85 @Aggregate_Aware 149 @Prompt 63, 67, 71 @Select 41, 43, 47, 53

A
Aggregate Awareness 149 ANSI92 21 Associate a List of Values 31 Automated Context Detection 113

ODBC 11 Context Candidates 113 Contexts 111 Automatic Definition 113 Deleting 117 Insert 139 Join Cardinality 117 Manual Creation 117 Viewing 115

D
Data Manager 37 DateAdd 71 Decode Property Flags 101 Derived Tables 153 Detail Objects 87 Dimension Table 77 Dimension Table Loops Universes Table Loops 133 Dimensions 29 Properties 31 Distinct 43, 51 DSN 3 Duplicate row aggregation 53 duplicate row aggregation 37

B
Between Joins 171 Browser 25 Building-block universes 105

C
Candidate Contexts 113 Cardinalities 113 Case Statement 101 Chasm Trap 93, 97, 109 Class folders 29 Classes Default 29 Unique Names 61 Classes and Objects 61 Create 83 Default 83 Columns Viewing Values 27 Conditions All or Selected 67 Creating 61 Creating Prompted 63 Date 71 Date Table 123 Defined 59 Pane 61 Subquery 69 Connection Define a New Connection 13 Disconnect after each transaction 15 Keep the connection active during the whole session 15 Keep the connection active for x minutes 15 Login 5

E
Edit Properties Condition 61 Exporting 35

F
Fact Table 77 Fan Traps 141 Invoice Type 147 Unsolvable 145

G
Group By 53

H
Heirarchies 151 Hieracrhy Automatic Time 45 Hierarchy

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Manual Creation 47

I
Import 35 Index Awareness 165, 167 Index Prompt 167 Integrity Check 51, 53, 177

J
Join Cardinalities Joins Cardinality 89 Joins 79 Advanced Join Propertie 175 Between 171 Chasm Trap 93 Different Data Types 155 Fan Traps 141 Inner Join 79, 99 Outer Join 99 Shortcut 173

Behavior 37 Default 29 Detail 87 Dimension 29 Formatting 49 Hiding 169 List of Values 33, 159 Measure 39 Qualification 31 Using Conditions 93 ODBC 13

P
Parameters Controls 19 Links 21 Parameters 21 SQL 19 Strategy 19 Summary 19 Parse 41, 51, 53 Primary Key 165 Printing 181 Property Tables 91

L
List Mode 115 List of Values 33 Cascading 163 Export with Universe 161, 167 Hierarchical Display 161, 167 Login 7 Look-up Table 77 LOV 167 LOVs 161 Cascading 163 Export with Universe 161 Sortings 159

Q
Quick Design Wizard 9

R
Refreshing the Structure 177 repository 17

S
Shortcut Joins 173 SQL 55 SQL Function Cast 71 DateAdd 71 Year 71 Structure Arranging the Tables 179 Refreshing 177

M
Measures 39 Counting 43 Creating 41 middleware 13 Multiple SQL Statements for Each Measure 143

O
Objects !Unknown 85

T
Table Browser 25 Tables

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

!Unknown 85 Alias Tables 95 Aliasing 133 Date 121 Derived 153 Dimesion 77 Fact 77 Field Types 81 Insert 25 Locate 115 Look-up Table 77 Multiple Fact 107 Show Format 81 Show Row Count 81 Transactions table 77 Underline Keys 81 Viewing Values 27

Y
Year 71

U
Universe Arranging 119 Exporting 35 Universe Parameters 13 Controls 19 Definition 11 Links 21 Parameters 21 SQL 19 Universes Export 125 Heirarchies 151 Insert Context 139 Integrity 51 Linking Linking Universes 129 Logical Groups 127 Loops 131 Multiple Fact Tables 139 Save 125 Summary 135 Using Conditions 93

V
Views 153

W
Workspace 23

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Exercise Table of Contents

Exercise: Populate the Universe Parameters Definition Tab 11 Exercise: Save Your Universe 17 Exercise: Set the ANSI92 Option to Yes 21 Exercise: Insert a Table into the Workspace 25 Exercise: View the Values in a Table 27 Exercise: Drag the Table to the Classes and Objects Pane 29 Exercise: Modify Some Dimensions 33 Exercise: Export the universe 35 Exercise: Create a Default Report 37 Exercise: Create the Number of Shares Measure 39 Exercise: Create the Revenue Object 41 Exercise: Create the Num Transactions and the Number of Companies Measure Objects 43 Exercise: Automatic Time Hierarchy 45 Exercise: Create the five date objects listed on the graphic page also change the Transdate object name to Trans Date. 47 Exercise: Override the Default Formats 49 Exercise: Check Universe Integrity 51 Exercise: Create a Simple Condition Object 61 Exercise: Create a Prompted Condition 63 Exercise: Create All or Selected Condition 67 Exercise: Create a Subquery Condition 69 Exercise: Create the Three Date Conditions Shown in the Graphic 71 Exercise: Insert all of the tables shown in the graphic 77 Exercise: Join the tables shown in the graphic 79 Exercise: Show Field Types and Row Counts 81 Exercise: Create Classes and Objects from the Dimension tables 83 Exercise: Organize the Objects 85 Exercise: Create a Detail Object 87 Exercise: Set the Cardinalities in Our Universe 89 Exercise: Join SIProperties to Company 91 Exercise: Create the Property Dimension and Detail Objects. 93 Exercise: Alias the SIProperties Table 95 Exercise: Join the Tables and Create the Dimension Objects 97 Exercise: Use the Case Statement to Decode Risk and Buy Sell Recommendation 101

Creating Universes with Designer XI

Copyright 2006, 2007 Robert D. Schmidt

Exercise: Place EQUITY PRICES in the SIEquity Universe 107 Exercise: Join the EquityPrices table to Company 109 Exercise: Automatically Detect Contexts in Our Universe 113 Exercise: View the Universe in List Mode 115 Exercise: Delete Portfolio Transaction Context and Manually Redefine It 117 Exercise: Create Easy to Use Universe Structure 119 Exercise: Remove all Date Objects and Replace with Common SIDate Objects 123 Exercise: Save and Export Universe 125 Exercise: Create Separate Company Universe 127 Exercise: Link the Company Universe to the SI Equity Universe 129 Exercise: Add the SICALLS Table 139 Exercise: Add the CallCompanyContacts table to the Universe Structure 141 Exercise: If you have a Reporting Tool Create the Query With and Without the Option 143 Exercise: Create a Universe with XBCustomer, XBINVOICE, and XBINVOICEITEM 147 Exercise: Create Aggregate Awareness in Paintball Invoice Universe 149 Exercise: Create a Custom Heirarchy 151 Exercise: Create a Derived Table 153 Exercise: Sort the LOV for Portfolio Name 159 Exercise: Create a Hierarchical List of Values 161 Exercise: Create a Cascading List of Values 163 Exercise: Define Index Awareness for Mgr Name 165 Exercise: Create an Index Prompt 167 Exercise: Print Preview SI Equity - Designer Course 181