LEARNING METHOD
This material is an
introduction to how to
developa SAP Business
Objects Universe. It is aimed
at students at universities,
universities and other
educational institutions with
limited experience with
Business Intelligence.
Product
Requirements
Level
Beginner
Focus
Semantic Layer
Author
Paul Hawking
Version2
Paul Hawking
June 2012
SAP Business Intelligence provides a broad range of reporting tools to facilitate decision making of
the different end users. These tools can interact with data from different data sources. SAP Business
Objects provides a semantic layer (universe) which facilitates the interaction with data sources and
the extraction of data. This tutorial provided you with a step by step explanation of how to construct a
universe which will be utilised in later reporting exercises.
.
Scenario
Global Bike International (GBI) is a world class bicycle company
serving both professional and amateur cyclists. The company
sells bicycles and accessories. In the touring bike category,
GBIs handcrafted bicycles have won numerous design awards
and are sold in over 10 countries. GBIs signature composite
frames are world-renowned for their strength, low weight and
easy maintenance. GBI bikes are consistently ridden in the Tour de France and other major
international road races. GBI produces two models of their signature road bikes, a deluxe and
professional model. The key difference between the two models is the type of wheels used, aluminium
for the basic model and carbon composite for the professional model. GBIs off-road bikes are also
recognized as incredibly tough and easy to maintain. GBI off-road bikes are the preferred choice of
world champion offroad racers and have become synonymous with performance and strength in one
of the most gruelling sports in the world. GBI produces two types of off-road bike, a mens and
womens model. The basic difference between the two models is the smaller size and ergonomic
shaping of the womens frame.
GBI also sells an Accessories product line comprised of helmets, t-shirts and other riding accessories.
GBI partners with only the highest quality suppliers of accessories which will help enhance riders
performance and comfort while riding GBI bikes. Figure 1 displays the GBI range of products.
G
B
B
I
I
K
E
Traditionally GBI was a wholesaler who sold their bikes to retailers who then resold the bikes to the
end consumers. Recently GBI has decided to sell their bike to the end consumer via the internet.
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Organisational Structure
GBIs headquarters are located in Dallas and the European subsidiary company (GBI Europe) is
based in Heidelberg, Germany. In regards to the GBI sales process there are two sales organisations
for America (Eastern US and Western US) and two for Germany (Northern Germany and Southern
Germany). All sales organisations have a wholesale distribution channel responsible for delivering the
products to the customers. However only one sales organisation is required in each country to
support internet sales. The diagram below displays the GBI organisation to support the sales
process.
Requirements
GBI management currently SAP ECC to manage and automate their business processes. They have
discovered that one of their departments are using a Microsoft Access database to record sales data.
The Department Heads have indicated thatthey would like the information provided in a user friendly
format. This will facilitate them to gain greater insight to their sales data to understand the trends and
sales performance. In response to these concerns, it was decided to build a number of reports using
SAP Business Objects Interactive Analysis. To provide the connection between the data source
(Microsoft Access) and the reporting tool a universe needs to be created..
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The semantic layer enables users to use common business terms rather than the technical database
language to access, manipulate, and organise information, it simplifies the complexity of the business
data.The following diagram displays the various components of the semantic layer.
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On the right of the screen is the schema of the database. While on the left are Universe objects that
are required for reporting.
A Universe can be used to connect to a variety of data sources (Databases, Excel, XML, Text, Web
Services.
The release of SAP Business Objects 4.0 provided functionality to connect directly with SAP
solutions and thus a universe is no longer required to connect to SAP.
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Building a Universe
You use the Business Objects Universe Designer (also referred to as Universe Design Tool) to create
a Universe. However before you create a universe you need to create a database connection.
Choose
2.
Double-Click
3.
Click
4.
Click
You now need to select the appropriate driver for your data source. For this exercise you will be
using a Microsoft Access database.
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June 2012
5.
Click
6.
Click
You will now need to name your data source and link it to the GBI database.
7.
Type
8.
Press
9.
Type
10.
Click
11.
Locate
the GBI (GBI.mdb) database. Refer to workshop leader for the location
12.
Click
13.
Click
14.
Click
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You will notice that your new Data Source connection is listed.
15.
Click
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Creating a Universe
You create a Universe using the Universe Designer. To access the Universe Designer:
16.
Choose
The Universe Designer path maybe different depending on which version of Business Objects you
are using. An alternative path is:
Choose
StartProgramsSAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0SAP
BusinessObjects Enterprise Client ToolsUniverse Design Tool.
This wizard walks the user through the steps in creating a basic Universe. For the purpose of this
exercise you will initially us the wizard. You can see that there are four steps in the process.
20.
Click
Type
Although you have created a ODBC connection you have not created a connection to your universe.
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18.
Click
You will select a target database middleware, then configure the data access driver that you use to
access the middleware. You can also set certain parameters to optimize your connection.
19.
Type
20.
Click
Type
You will now need to select the OBDC driver for Microsoft Access 2007.
22.
Scroll down
23.
Click
24.
Click
You now need to specify the logon details to your data source. You are going to accept the default
credentials.
25.
Click
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Click
Before you continue any further you should test the data source connection.
27.
Click
28.
Click
29.
Click
The Configuration Parameters determine how the universe interacts with the data source.
30.
Click
process.
31.
Click
Note more details about settings for the data source connection can be found in Help. You can
access Help by pressing <F1>.
You have now defined the Universe Connection Parameters.
32.
Click
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Your data source may require many tables or columns that are not required in your query for
analysis. This screen gives you the options of only selecting objects you require.
33.
Scroll down
34.
Click
to display
table.
to select it.
You can view the contents of the table to check that it is the table you require for the query.
35.
Click
36.
Click
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You have determined that the Material table is required for analysis and therefore should be included
in your Universe.
37.
Click
Notice how the table now appears in the classes and objects area.
38.
Click
next to
39.
Click
Add
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41.
Click
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42.
Click
next to
43.
Click
44.
Click
Measure Object.
45.
Click
46.
Click
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Screen components
The screen contains a number of areas which you will be using in this tutorial.
Structure Pane
This contains a graphical representation of the underlying target database of theUniverse. It includes
the tables and joins to which you map objects that end users use to run their queries
Universe Pane
This contains theClasses and objects defined in the universe.These are the components of the
Universe thatusers see and use to create their queries.
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Adding a Table
Previously you used the wizard to add the necessary tables to your Universe. An alternate method is
to add the tables manually using the Table Browser. You have realised that you require the Material
Group table data for future reports and will need to be added to the Universe. To add another table:
47.
Click
48.
Click
49.
Click
50.
Click
Drag
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the Material Group table to re-position it near the Product Category table.
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Drag
the Sales Org field in the Sales Organisation table to the Sales
Organisation field in the GBI Transactions table.
Notice that a line appears between the two fields to indicate a relationship (join).
53.
Drag
the Material Group field in the Material Group table to the Material Group
field in the Product Category table.
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Setting Cardinalities
Setting cardinality is a critical step in a universe design.Cardinality refers to relationship between
two tables based on the join. It indicates how many rows in one table will match those in the other.
You can detect cardinalities automatically or create them manually. You will notice that the joins
between many of the tables looks differently to the joins you just created. This indicates that the
cardinality has been automatically determined. To automatically detect cardinality:
54.
Click
55.
Click
56.
Click
57.
Click
Notice that the join graphics have changed. To better understand joincharacteristics:
58.
Double-click
the Sales Org join to display the Edit Join dialog screen
Notice the screen explains the type of join and displays the corresponding SQL statement. You could
have created the join cardinality manually using this dialog screen
59.
Click
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Click
objects.
next to
In a Universe you can define three different types of objects. Measureobjects are the key metrics
contained in a query. For example, sales amount, quantity, result. They are usually aggregated.
Dimension objectsare used to analyse and provide meaning to a Measure object. For example,
product and customer Dimensions objects provide a better understanding of a quantity measure
object. Lastly a Detail object provides a description to a Dimension object. For example the
Distribution Channel Dimension objecthas the Distribution Channel Description Detail object. ie
IN > Internet
Defining A Class
A class is a logical grouping of objects in a Universe. The naming of a class should indicate to the
user the type of objects it may contain. Currently the classes contained in the universe reflect the
database design. You need to change these classes to make them appear more logical to the end
user and query developer. The proposed design is:
Class
Material
GBI
GBI Sales
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Objects
Material Group
Material Group Description
Product Category
Product Category Description
Material
Material Description
Standard Price
Unit Cost
Sales Organisation
Location
Distribution Channel
Distribution Channel Description
Date (Year of Date, Quarter of Date, Month
of Date)
Quantity
Revenue
Cost
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You currently dont have the GBI or GBI Sales classes. You can either create a new class or rename
and existing class.
61.
Right-Click
<your name> GBI Universe Measures class to display the context menu.
62.
Choose
63.
Type
64.
Click
Click
Type
67.
Click
GBI.
You can move objects between classes using drag and drop.
68.
Click
According to the proposed design the Material Group object should be part of the Material class. To
achieve this:
69.
Drag
to
Notice that the Material Group object now appears in the Material Class. The Material Group
Description should also appear in the Material class. This object does not currently appear in the
Universe Pane. You can create an object by dragging a field from the Structure Pane to the
Universe Pane.
70.
Drag
Notice that the Material Group Description object now appears in the Materialclass.
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71.
Drag
Objects
Product Category Description
GBI
Sales Organisation
Location
Distribution Channel
Distribution
Channel
Description
Notice that some Dimensions appear twice in the Universe. You will need to delete these to prevent
any future confusion.
72.
Right-click
73.
Choose
Clear
74.
Press
75.
Delete
and
Sales Organisation
Distribution Channel
Detail
Material Description
Standard Price
Unit Cost
Location
Material Group
Distribution
Channel
Description
Material Group Description
Product Category
Currently many of the proposed Detail objects appear as Dimension objects. These can be changed
through the Object Properties.
76.
Right-Click
77.
Choose
78.
Click
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Notice that you can define the type of object on this screen.
79.
Click
Notice that options appear to indicate which Dimension this Detail object is associated with.
80.
Click
81.
Click
82.
Click
Notice that Material Group Description appears as a Detail object associated with the Material
Group dimension.
83.
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Right-Click
85.
Choose
86.
Click
87.
Click
88.
Click
89.
Repeat
One or the purposes of a universe is to make it easy for the query designer to understand the
business requirements and hide the technical aspects of the underlying data source. To prevent any
confusion:
90.
Drag
91.
Drag
92.
Delete
93.
Rename
94.
Rename
to
and
to
.
to Quantity
Currently end users will be able to analyse the data by the Purchase Datedimension. In other words
they can analyse the date by day. However they would like to be able to also analyse sales by month,
year and quarter to get a better understanding. This can be achieved by using a time hierarchy.
95.
Right-Click
96.
Choose
97.
Type
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Notice that the Universe Design Tool has determined that this dimension is a date type.
98.
Click
As it has been determined that this is a date data type a new option appears.
99.
Click
100.
Click
101.
Click
102.
Click
Notice that a
103.
Click
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You have completed your Universe which will be used as a basis for reporting using SAP Business
Objects Web Intelligence (Interactive Analysis). Your Universe should look similar to below:
Click
105.
Click
The Universe you have created can be used as a basis for the Reporting With SAP Business
Objects Interactive Analysis workshop.
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