universe design concepts business intelligence copyright © supinfo. all rights reserved

Universe Design Concepts

Business Intelligence

www.supinfo.com

Copyright © SUPINFO. All rights reserved

Course objectives

See an introduction to Universe Designer

View the main steps in the creation of universes

By completing this course, you will be able to:

Universe Design Concepts

Course topics

Course’s plan:

Introduction : universes and Universe Designer

Main steps of creation of a universe

Universe publication

Universe consumption

Universe Design Concepts

Introduction : universes and Universe Designer

Universe Design Concepts

Introduction : universe and universe designer

Universes contain the semantic layer definition that allows to turn a database into a Business Oriented source of information

Business driven : the universe comes from Business specifications.

Developed by IT : the level of complexity requires language skills in the related type of database.

Universe Designer is the application in which Designers :

Create and update universes.

Import and Export them from / to the repository.

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Introduction : universe and universe designer

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Description of universes : components

List of objectsRelational Schema

Introduction : universe and universe designer

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Description of universes : objects

Objects : elements that the reporters can select when they create reports.

The object Definition is written in the database language.

The object Name must be understandable by the end users.

Each object corresponds to a single statement that may use one or several database fields.

Each object has a type related

to his definition (string,

Numeric…).

Introduction : universe and universe designer

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Description of universes : objects

Object types

Dimensions for regular definitions

Measures are Numeric type objects with additional calculation (sum, avg)…

Details are additional type of object. Related to a dimension (e.g. quarter of a date, address of a customer…), they are provide description data.

Objects are organized into classes to help the end user to pick the right objects when building reports.

Introduction : universe and universe designer

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Description of universes : relational schema

On relational datasources, the role of the Designer is :

To create the appropriate virtual relational shema

To create the appropriate list of objects

The universe design is driven by :

The Business requirements.

The structure of the data source.

Introduction : universe and universe designer

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Description of universes : relational schema

Relational Schema : table representations and join definitions are managed by the designer – this might or might not reflect exactly the

structure of the datasource, depending on the BI requirements

The relational schema of a universe can be assimilated to a Business view / representation of a subset of a database for BI purpose.

Part 1 Stop-and think

Do you have any questions ?

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Main steps of creation of a universe

Universe Design Concepts

Main steps of creation of a universe

Key golden rules to be successful in universe creation :

Clear definition and understanding of the Business purpose.

Clear understanding of the structure of the datasource – datamodel, relational schema of the DB.

Scalability : the design must be such that further requirements can be easily integrated !

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Introduction

Main steps of creation of a universe

The added value of the designer is to build the best schema to assure :

The correctness of the object definition and adequation to the requirements.

An overall good performance when refreshing the data in the reports.

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Introduction

Main steps of creation of a universe

Step 1 : create the connection to the datasource

Tools -> Connections -> Add and specify the connection parameters (login, password, db address)

These parameters will allow to access to the db objects (tables, views…)

Step 2 : create the virtual schema

Import the tables

Create the joins

If needed : create aliases, derived tables, contexts

Note : access to the DB list of tables requires to have connectivity on the local computer.

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Creation steps

Main steps of creation of a universe

Step 3 : create the classes and the objects

Definition of objects is based on the virtual schema

Name must be specified by the Business contact

Classes must be specified with the Business

Step 4 : save the universe

It generates a physical file. Extension is .unv

Step 5 : export the universe to the CMS

It makes the universe available for reporting

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Creation steps

Main steps of creation of a universe

Step 6 : validate the universe

Create reports to validate the accuracy of the virtual schema and the correctness of the object definitions.

Start with basic reports, to make sure the subjacent queries do not return an error at execution.

Increase the level of complexity to validate the result set of data (Business owner must be involved).

Note : the validation is a recurring process that must be done regularly during the creation of the universe. Do not wait until the whole universe has been created !

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Creation steps

Part 2 Stop-and think

Do you have any questions ?

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Universe publication

Universe Design Concepts

Universe publication

As mentioned in the previous chapter, universe publication is the key step where the version of the universe you have built locally is made available for reporting.

Universe Publication occurs :

During development, for intermediate validations.

At the end of the development, for reporting.

After each update, once on production : Import in Designer the current published version of the

universe, from the CMS.

Make the updates.

Export (publish) the new version to the CMS.

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Process

Part 3 Stop-and think

Do you have any questions ?

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Universe consumption

Universe Design Concepts

Universe Consumption

The key added value of the Business Intelligence is to empower all employees with an easy access to the information they need.

The universe is the central component to turn the technical background of data into an interface they understand.

Most of the BusinessObjects applications rely on universes : webi, deski, Crystal Reports as one of the possible sources. And furthermore : Live Office, Query As a Web Service, BI Mobile…

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Universe Consumption

Once published, the universe becomes accessible to all users granted on it.

Users select the

objects they want to

show in their report

as a kind of “self

service” BI.

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Workflow

Part 4 Stop-and think

Do you have any questions ?

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

For moreIf you want to go into these subjects more deeply, …

Courses

Sites web

www.supinfo.com

www.businessobjects.com

Business Intelligence

UNIVERSE ADVANCED DESIGN

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

Congratulations

You have successfully completed the SUPINFO course n°4

UNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS

The endUNIVERSE DESIGN CONCEPTS