BusinessObjects XI Release 2 for Dummies (ISBN - 0470181125)

362 Pages·2021·9.58 MB·English

by Derek Torres,
Stuart Mudie,
and Julie Albaret

BusinessObjects

TM XI
Release 2

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

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by Derek Torres,
Stuart Mudie,
and Julie Albaret

BusinessObjects

TM XI
Release 2

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

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BusinessObjects

TM XI Release 2 For Dummies®

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit-
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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
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About the Authors

Derek Torres is a technical communicator and author. He spent several years
writing documentation for Business Objects at its headquarters in Paris,
France. He has also authored or coauthored several titles, including The
Unofficial Guide to Windows XP, The Unofficial Guide to Windows Vista, and
The Windows Vista Ultimate Bible (Wiley Publishing, Inc). He is currently
working on his first novel. He can be reached at www.bofordummies.com.

Stuart Mudie is a Scot living in Paris, France. A professional communicator
since 1995, he has worked with numerous companies in the IT and Telecom-
munications sectors, including three years at Business Objects headquarters
in Paris. He is coauthor of The Unofficial Guide to Windows Vista (Wiley
Publishing), a part-time lyricist, and can be found on the Web at www.
stuartmudie.com.

Julie Albaret is a Business Intelligence consultant. She has worked in the BI
field for over ten years, taking part in BI projects and studies for many com-
panies. She spent six years working for Business Objects, including three
years as a Performance Management specialist. She worked first as a sales
consultant in Paris, then in Bangalore (India) as a software testing project
manager, before returning to the company’s Paris headquarters to work for
two years as a Program Manager for Web Intelligence.

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Dedications

To my late father

I regret that you didn’t make it to see the book come out.

Derek Torres

To Ellie and Justine, with love

Stuart Mudie

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Derek Torres: I want to thank my partners in crime, Stuart Mudie, Julie
Albaret, and Patrick Albaret. It was a great team effort to pull this one
together. I’d also like to thank our Executive Editor, Greg Croy, for his
patience — we probably made him endure far more than he anticipated when
he signed on for this project! I’d also like to thank our agent Lynn Haller for
her hard work in selling this title. Thanks to everyone at Wiley past and pre-
sent, including our Project Editor, Rebecca Senninger, and Jody Lefevere.
Thanks to my friends and associates, past and present, at Business Objects.
Thanks finally to my family for lending me to my laptop and publisher.

Stuart Mudie: Thanks to Justine and Ellie, for everything; my parents Marion
and Bill Mudie, for encouraging me to dream, and then — most importantly —
to follow those dreams; my brother Craig and his wife Leona, for giving me an
excuse to break off from the writing of this book to be best man at their wed-
ding; my co-authors Derek Torres and Julie Albaret, for their friendship over
the years, and for joining me on this journey; Alan Daifuku, for hiring me to
work at Business Objects in the first place, and for bringing me to live in
France; my agent, Lynn Haller, for her hard work and dedication; our out-
standing technical editor Patrick Albaret, for making everything clear; our
Acquisitions Editor Greg Croy and our Project Editor Rebecca Senninger, for
keeping us on the right track; and all the other fine folks at Wiley.

Julie Albaret: Thanks to Patrick, Stuart, and Derek for bringing me on this
rich adventure; my family for their support and encouragement; my school
EISTI friends and my coworkers at SQLI, Business Objects and Advanced-
Schema, with whom I share the same passion and from whom I learnt and
am still learning so much.

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Project Editor: Rebecca Senninger

Executive Editor: Greg Croy

Senior Copy Editor: Barry Childs-Helton

Technical Editor: Patrick Albaret

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees

Layout and Graphics: Stacie Brooks,
Reuben W. Davis, Alissa D. Ellet,
Brooke Graczyk, Melissa K. Jester

Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer,
Christine Sabooni

Indexer: Lynnzee Elze

Special Help

Teresa Artman

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction .................................................................1

Part I: Getting Started with BusinessObjects ..................5

Chapter 1: Business Intelligence and BusinessObjects XI
Release 2: Working Hand in Hand ..................................................................................7
Chapter 2: Deploying on a Single Computer.................................................................15
Chapter 3: Performing a Server Installation .................................................................21
Chapter 4: Taking Control with the Central Management Console............................31

Part II: Universes .......................................................49

Chapter 5: Creating a Universe from the Safety of Your Desk ....................................51
Chapter 6: Defining a Universe .......................................................................................69
Chapter 7: Joining Your Universe...................................................................................79
Chapter 8: Adding Dimensions to Your Universe.........................................................87

Part III: Using Your Desktop for Reporting ...................99

Chapter 9: Reporting Live from the Desktop..............................................................101
Chapter 10: Building Queries........................................................................................123
Chapter 11: Documents in BusinessObjects...............................................................141

Part IV: Making Web Intelligence Work for You..........157

Chapter 12: Getting Your Hands Dirty with InfoView ................................................159
Chapter 13: Setting Up Your Documents.....................................................................175
Chapter 14: Working with Your Completed Documents............................................189

Part V: Keeping Track of How Your
Organization Is Doing ...............................................207

Chapter 15: A Different Kind of Dashboard.................................................................209
Chapter 16: Making Better Decisions through Analytics ..........................................223
Chapter 17: Using Performance Manager to Set Goals and Track Achievement ...245

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Part VI: Getting the Best Possible Data
with Data Marts .......................................................273

Chapter 18: Putting Data Integrator to Work for You.................................................275
Chapter 19: Working with Data Marts..........................................................................293

Part VII: The Part of Tens..........................................299

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Prepare for BusinessObjects Integration.........................301
Chapter 21: Ten Resources to Help You ......................................................................309

Part VIII: Appendixes................................................313

Appendix A: Reporting on Crystal Reports ................................................................315
Appendix B: Glossary ....................................................................................................319

Index .......................................................................329

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