In this article, by Taha M. Mahmoud, the author of the book, Creating Universes with SAP BusinessObjects, we will learn how to run SAP BO Information Design Tool (IDT), and we will have an overview of the different views that we have in the main IDT window. This will help us understand the main function and purpose for each part of the IDT main window. Then, we will use SAP BO IDT to create our first Universe. In this article, we will create a local project to contain our Universe and other resources related to it. After that, we will use the ODBC connection. Then, we will create a simple Data Foundation layer that will contain only one table (Customers). After that, we will create the corresponding Business layer by creating the associated business objects. The main target of this article is to make you familiar with the Universe creation process from start to end. Then, we will detail each part of the Universe creation process as well as other Universe features.
At the end, we will talk about how to get help while creating a new Universe, using the Universe creation wizard or Cheat Sheets.
In this article, we will cover the following topics:
- Running the IDT
- Getting familiar with SAP BO IDT’s interface and views
- Creating a local project and setting up a relational connection
- Creating a simple Data Foundation layer
- Creating a simple Business layer
- Publishing our first Universe
- Getting help using the Universe wizard and Cheat Sheets
(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)
Information Design Tool
The Information Design Tool is a client tool that is used to develop BO Universes. It is a new tool released by SAP in BO release 4. There are many SAP BO tools that we can use to create our Universe, such as SAP BO Universe Designer Tool (UDT), SAP BO Universe Builder, and SAP BO IDT. SAP BO Universe designer was the main tool to create Universe since the release of BO 6.x. This tool is still supported in the current SAP BI 4.x release, and you can still use it to create UNV Universes. You need to plan which tool you will use to build your Universe based on the target solution. For example, if you need to connect to a BEX query, you should use the UDT, as the IDT can’t do this. On the other hand, if you want to create a Universe query from SAP Dashboard Designer, then you should use the IDT. The BO Universe Builder used to build a Universe from a supported XML metadata file. You can use the Universe conversion wizard to convert the UNV Universe created by the UDT to the UNX Universe created by the IDT.
Sometimes, you might get errors or warnings while converting a Universe from .unv to .unx. You need to resolve this manually.
It is preferred that you convert a Universe from the previous SAP BO release XI 3.x instead of converting a Universe from an earlier release such as BI XI R2 and BO 6.5. There will always be complete support for the previous release.
The main features of the IDT
IDT is one of the major new features introduced in SAP BI 4.0. We can now build a Universe that combines data from multiple data sources and also build a dimensional universe on top of an OLAP connection.
We can see also a major enhancement in the design environment by empowering the multiuser development environment. This will help designers work in teams and share Universe resources as well as maintain the Universe version control.
For more information on the new features introduced in the IDT, refer to the SAP community network at http://wiki.scn.sap.com/ and search for SAP BI 4.0 new features and changes.
The Information Design Tool interface
We need to cover the following requirements before we create our first Universe:
- BO client tools are installed on your machine, or you have access to a PC with client tools already installed
- We have access to a SAP BO server
- We have a valid username and password to connect to this server
- We have created an ODBC connection for the Northwind Microsoft Access database
Now, to run the IDT, perform the following steps:
- Click on the Start menu and navigate to All Programs.
- Click on the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4 folder to expand it.
- Click on the Information Design Tool icon, as shown in the following screenshot:
The IDT will open and then we can move on and create our new Universe.
In this section, we will get to know the different views that we have in the IDT. We can show or hide any view from the Window menu, as shown in the following screenshot:
You can also access the same views from the main window toolbar, as displayed in the following screenshot:
Local Projects
The Local Projects view is used to navigate to and maintain local project resources, so you can edit and update any project resource, such as the relation connection, Data Foundation, and Business layers from this view.
A project is a new concept introduced in the IDT, and there is no equivalent for it in the UDT.
We can see the Local Projects main window in the following screenshot:
Repository Resources
You can access more than one repository using the IDT. However, usually, we work with only one repository at a time. This view will help you initiate a session with the required repository and will keep a list of all the available repositories. You can use repository resources to access and modify the secured connection stored on the BO server. You can also manage and organize published Universes. We can see the Repository Resources main window in the following screenshot:
Security Editor
Security Editor is used to create data and business security profiles. This can be used to add some security restrictions to be applied on BO users and groups.
Security Editor is equivalent to Manage Security under Tools in the UDT.
We can see the main Security Editor window in the following screenshot:
Project Synchronization
The Project Synchronization view is used to synchronize shared projects stored on the repository with your local projects. From this view, you will be able to see the differences between your local projects and shared projects, such as added, deleted, or updated project resources.
Project Synchronization is one of the major enhancements introduced in the IDT to overcome the lack of the multiuser development environment in the UDT.
We can see the Project Synchronization window in the following screenshot:
Check Integrity Problems
The Check Integrity Problems view is used to check the Universe’s integrity.
Check Integrity Problems is equivalent to Check Integrity under Tools in the UDT.
Check Integrity Problems is an automatic test for your foundation layer as well as Business layer that will check the Universe’s integrity. This wizard will display errors or warnings discovered during the test, and we need to fix them to avoid having any wrong data or errors in our reports.
Check Integrity Problems is part of the BO best practices to always check and correct the integrity problems before publishing the Universe.
We can see the Check Integrity window in the following screenshot:
Creating your first Universe step by step
After we’ve opened the IDT, we want to start creating our NorthWind Universe. We need to create the following three main resources to build a Universe:
- Data connection: This resource is used to establish a connection with the data source. There are two main types of connections that we can create: relational connection and OLAP connection.
- Data Foundation: This resource will store the metadata, such as tables, joins, and cardinalities, for the physical layer.
- The Business layer: This resource will store the metadata for the business model. Here, we will create our business objects such as dimensions, measures, attributes, and filters. This layer is our Universe’s interface and end users should be able to access it to build their own reports and analytics by dragging-and-dropping the required objects.
We need to create a local project to hold all the preceding Universe resources. The local project is just a container that will store the Universe’s contents locally on your machine. Finally, we need to publish our Universe to make it ready to be used.
Creating a new project
You can think about a project such as a folder that will contain all the resources required by your Universe. Normally, we will start any Universe by creating a local project. Then, later on, we might need to share the entire project and make it available for the other Universe designers and developers as well.
This is a folder that will be stored locally on your machine, and you can access it any time from the IDT Local Projects window or using the Open option from the File menu. The resources inside this project will be available only for the local machine users. Let’s try to create our first local project using the following steps:
- Go to the File menu and select New Project, or click on the New icon on the toolbar.
- Select Project, as shown in the following screenshot:
- The New Project creation wizard will open.
- Enter NorthWind in the Project Name field, and leave the Project Location field as default. Note that your project will be stored locally in this folder.
- Click on Finish, as shown in the following screenshot:
Now, you can see the NorthWind empty project in the Local Projects window.
You can add resources to your local project by performing the following actions:
- Creating new resources
- Converting a .unv Universe
- Importing a published Universe
Creating a new data connection
Data connection will store all the required information such as IP address, username, and password to access a specific data source. A data connection will connect to a specific type of data source, and you can use the same data connection to create multiple Data Foundation layers. There are two types of data connection: relational data connection, which is used to connect to the relational database such as Teradata and Oracle, and OLAP connection, which is used to connect to an OLAP cube.
To create a data connection, we need to do the following:
- Right-click on the NorthWind Universe.
- Select a new Relational Data Connection.
- Enter NorthWind as the connection name, and write a brief description about this connection.
The best practice is to always add a description for each created object. For example, code comments will help others understand why this object has been created, how to use it, and for which purpose they should use it.
We can see the first page of the New Relational Connection wizard in the following screenshot:
- On the second page, expand the MS Access 2007 driver and select ODBC Drivers.
- Use the NorthWind ODBC connection.
- Click on Test Connection to make sure that the connection to the data source is successfully established.
- Click on Next to edit the connection’s advanced options or click on Finish to use the default settings, as shown in the following screenshot:
We can see the first parameters page of the MS Access 2007 connection in the following screenshot:
You can now see the NorthWind connection under the NorthWind project in the Local Projects window.
The local relational connection is stored as the .cnx file, while the shared secured connection is stored as a shortcut with the .cns extension. The local connection can be used in your local projects only, and you need to publish it to the BO repository to share it with other Universe designers.
Creating a new Data Foundation
After we successfully create a relation connection to the Northwind Microsoft Access database, we can now start creating our foundation.
Data Foundation is a physical model that will store tables as well as the relations between them (joins).
Data Foundation in the IDT is equivalent to the physical data layer in the UDT.
To create a new Data Foundation, right-click on the NorthWind project in the Local Projects window, and then select New Data Foundation and perform the following steps:
- Enter NorthWind as a resource name, and enter a brief description on the NorthWind Data Foundation.
- Select the Single Source Data Foundation.
- Select the NorthWind.cnx connection.
After that, expand the NorthWind connection, navigate to NorthWind.accdb, and perform the following steps:
- Navigate to the Customers table and then drag it to an empty area in the Master view window on the right-hand side.
- Save your Data Foundation.
An asterisk (*) will be displayed beside the resource name to indicate that it was modified but not saved.
We can see the Connection panel in the NorthWind.dfx Universe resource in the following screenshot:
Creating a new Business layer
Now, we will create a simple Business layer based on the Customer table that we already added to the NorthWind Data Foundation. Each Business layer should map to one Data Foundation at the end.
The Business layer in the IDT is equivalent to the business model in the UDT.
To create a new Business layer, right-click on the NorthWind project and then select New Business Layer from the menu. Then, we need to perform the following steps:
- The first step to create a Business layer is to select the type of the data source that we will use. In our case, select Relational Data Foundation as shown in the following screenshot:
- Enter NorthWind as the resource name and a brief description for our Business layer.
- In the next Select Data Foundation window, select the NorthWind Data Foundation from the list.
- Make sure that the Automatically create folders and objects option is selected, as shown in the following screenshot:
Now, you should be able to see the Customer folder under the NorthWind Business layer. If not, just drag it from the NorthWind Data Foundation and drop it under the NorthWind Business layer. Then, save the NorthWind Business Layer, as shown in the following screenshot:
A new folder will be created automatically for the Customers table. This folder is also populated with the corresponding dimensions. The Business layer now needs to be published to the BO server, and then, the end users will be able to access it and build their own reports on top of our Universe.
If you successfully completed all the steps from the previous sections, the project folder should contain the relational data connection (NorthWind.cnx), the Data Foundation layer (NorthWind.dfx), and the Business layer (NorthWind.blx). The project should appear as displayed in the following screenshot:
Saving and publishing the NorthWind Universe
We need to perform one last step before we publish our first simple Universe and make it available for the other Universe designers. We need to publish our relational data connection and save it on the repository instead of on our local machine. Publishing a connection will make it available for everyone on the server. Before publishing the Universe, we will replace the NorthWind.cnx resource in our project with a shortcut to the NorthWind secured connection stored on the SAP BO server. After publishing a Universe, other developers as well as business users will be able to see and access it from the SAP BO repository.
Publishing a Universe from the IDT is equivalent to exporting a Universe from the UDT (navigate to File | Export).
To publish the NorthWind connection, we need to right-click on the NorthWind.cnx resource in the Local Projects window. Then, select Publish Connection to a Repository.
As we don’t have an active session with the BO server, you will need to initiate one by performing the following steps:
- Create a new session.
- Type your <system name: port number> in the System field.
- Select the Authentication type.
- Enter your username and password.
We have many authentication types such as Enterprise, LDAP, and Windows Active Directory (AD). Enterprise authentication will store user security information inside the BO server. The user credential can only be used to log in to BO, while on the other hand, LDAP will store user security information in the LDAP server, and the user credential can be used to log in to multiple systems in this case. The BO server will send user information to the LDAP server to authenticate the user, and then, it will allow them to access the system in case of successful authentication. The last authentication type is Windows AD, which can also authenticate users using the security information stored inside.
There are many authentication types such as Enterprise, LDAP, Windows AD, and SAP.
We can see the Open Session window in the following screenshot:
The default port number is 6400.
A pop-up window will inform you about the connection status (successful here), and it will ask you whether you want to create a shortcut for this connection in the same project folder or not. We should select Yes in our case, because we need to link to the secured published connection instead of the local one. We will not be able to publish our Universe to the BO repository with a local connection. We can see the Publish Connection window in the following screenshot:
Finally, we need to link our Data Foundation layer with the secured connection instead of the local connection. To do this, you need to open NorthWind.dfx and replace NorthWind.cnx with the NorthWind.cnc connection. Then, save your Data Foundation resource and right-click on NorthWind.blx. After that, navigate to Publish | To a Repository…. The Check Integrity window will be displayed. Just select Finish.
We can see how to change connection in NorthWind.dfx in the following screenshot:
After redirecting our Data Foundation layer to the newly created shortcut connection, we need to go to the Local Projects window again, right-click on NorthWind.blx, and publish it to the repository.
Our Universe will be saved on the repository with the same name assigned to the Business layer.
Congratulations! We have created our first Universe.
Finding help while creating a Universe
In most cases, you will use the step-by-step approach to create a Universe. However, we have two other ways that we can use to create a universe.
In this section, we will try to create the NorthWind Universe again, but using the Universe wizard and Cheat Sheets.
The Universe wizard
The Universe wizard is just a wizard that will launch the project, connection, Data Foundation, and Business layer wizards in a sequence. We already explained each wizard individually in an earlier section. Each wizard will collect the required information to create the associated Universe resource. For example, the project wizard will end after collecting the required information to create a project, and the project folder will be created as an output. The Universe wizard will launch all the mentioned wizards, and it will end after collecting all the information required to create the Universe. A Universe with all the required resources will be created after finishing this wizard.
The Universe wizard is equivalent to the Quick Design wizard in the UDT.
You can open the Universe wizard from the welcome screen or from the File menu. As a practice, we can create the NorthWind2 Universe using the Universe wizard:
The Universe wizard and welcome screen are new features in SAP BO 4.1.
Cheat Sheets
Cheat Sheets is another way of getting help while you are building your Universe. They provide step-by-step guidance and detailed descriptions that will help you create your relational Universe. We need to perform the following steps to use Cheat Sheets to build the NorthWind3 Universe, which is exactly the same as the NorthWind Universe that we created earlier in the step-by-step approach:
- Go to the Help menu and select Cheat Sheets.
- Follow the steps in the Cheat Sheets window to create the NorthWind3 Universe using the same information that we used to complete the NorthWind Universe.
- If you face any difficulties in completing any steps, just click on the Click to perform button to guide you.
- Click on the Click when completed link to move to the next step.
Cheat Sheets is a new help method introduced in the IDT, and there is no equivalent for it in the UDT.
We can see the Cheat Sheets window in the following screenshot:
Summary
In this article, we discussed the difference between IDT views, and we tried to get familiar with the IDT user interface. Then, we had an overview of the Universe creation process from start to end. In real-life project environments, the first step is to create a local project to hold all the related Universe resources. Then, we initiated the project by adding the main three resources that are required by each universe. These resources are data connection, Data Foundation, and Business layer. After that, we published our Universe to make it available to other Universe designers and users. This is done by publishing our data connection first and then by redirecting our foundation layer to refer to a shortcut for the shared secured published connection. At this point, we will be able to publish and share our Universe.
We also learned how to use the Universe wizard and Cheat Sheets to create a Universe.
Resources for Article:
Further resources on this subject:
- Report Data Filtering [Article]
- Exporting SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards into Different Environments [Article]
- SAP BusinessObjects: Customizing the Dashboard [Article]