Business Objects Tips and Tricks

· Business Objects at Penn

The following are tips and tricks for using Business Objects Desktop Intelligence more effectively, and for working around commonly experienced errors. If you have questions which are not answered by the tips below, or have suggestions for additions to the list, please contact Data Administration.

· Retrieving Data
· Saving and Exporting Queries and Data
· Report Formatting
· Password issues
· Installation issues
· Other error messages

Retrieving Data

• When using the "in list" feature in Deski, if you are typing items in yourself (rather than picking them from a list of values), the items in your list should be separated by commas. Do not type in any quote marks -- Desktop Intelligence will add them itself -- and do not put a space after a comma. However, if you are filling in a list of values in response to a prompt, you should separate the values with a semicolon, rather than a comma (but still no space between values).
• If you notice that the objects in your universe aren't refreshed, be sure that when you first log on to Desktop Intelligence that the box labeled "Use is Offline Mode" is not checked.

• If you get a "No data to fetch" message, and you're pretty sure you should be getting something, check to make sure you have configured your conditions correctly. For example: everything in the student data collection uses upper case letters. Another example: if you are entering a condition for a date in any of the financial data collections, use the full year, in other words, 06-01-2008 (instead of 06-01-08)

• If you get a "Table or View does not exist" message, check to make sure the data collection is available on the warehouse status page.

• To determine how many rows your query retrieved, choose "View" from the Data menu, then click on the Definition tab of the Data Manager window. The most recent execution of the query will be listed first, by date and time the query was executed, along with the number of rows retrieved, and the amount of time the database took to execute the query (please note that this time is not the time elapsed on your desktop machine).

• When first testing a query you may wish to limit the number of rows retrieved to determine if your results are as expected. You can do this by clicking the Options button at the lower left corner of the Query Panel. Select "10 Rows", "20 Rows" or enter another value by clicking "Other" in the Partial Results area of the window. Remember to return the setting to "Default Value" when you are ready to retrieve all rows matching your query criteria.

• You can use use wildcards in conjunction with the "Matches Pattern" operator to retrieve data that is like a value, rather than exactly equal to it. For example, using a percent sign ( % ) in the condition COA_Fund Matches Pattern 5% will retrieve all funds (to which you have access) from 500000-599999. Similarly, if you're trying to match almost the exact syntax, you can use an underscore ( _ ). For example, COA_ORG Matches Pattern '91_2' will retrieve ORG values 9132, 9142 and 9152.
  
  
• If you have multiple queries in one report (one .rep file), you may want to rename your queries to better describe their use, so that when you go to edit or refresh them, you'll have a better idea of what data you'll be retrieving. To do this, go to the Data menu, and select "View Data" to display the Data Manager window. The General section of the Definition tab contains a field called "Name", which you can reuse to rename the query from the default "Query x with Universe" (i.e., "Query 1 with FINQUERY").
  
  
• If you are trying to create a User Defined Object (UDO), but the universe you are in won't let you (in the Query Panel, clicking on User Objects does nothing, or Deski suddenly quits) try this:
  Log out, delete the .udo file for that universe, log back in and try creating the User Objects again. (Caution! doing this will remove any user objects you previously created for this universe; you will have to re-create them.)
  User Defined Objects all live on your local computer. They reside within one file per universe, in the following path:
  C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Business Objects\Business Objects 11.5\Universes\
  (where <user_name> is your user name on your computer)
  The file names will be <universe_name>.udo
  (where <universe_name> is the name of the universe, for example, "FINQUERY.udo" holds your local User Defined Objects for the FINQUERY universe.)
  
  
• You can re-use queries between similar universes, so long as all the result objects and conditions from your query exist in the universe to which you'd like change. To do this, go to the Data menu, and select "View Data" to display the Data Manager window. The General section of the Definition tab contains a field called "Universe", which has a small button with "..." directly to the right. When you first display this window, the Universe field will display the universe against which the query is currently directed. Click the "..." button to display a list of all other universes to which you have access. Choose the one to switch your query to, and click ok. As long as all the objects in your query are available in the new target universe, that universe name will now appear in the Universe field. (This is convenient for switching from the FINQUERY to FINQUERY Template Universe, for example.)

Saving and Exporting Queries and Data

• If you have taken the time to create a query, but want to be able to save your work without running it, you have two options. The most convenient is to use click the "Save and Close" button in the Query Panel to simply save the structure of your report. If you do this, be sure to then use "Save As" to save it with a distinctive name, in the location you wish. You can then open the query and simply click the Refresh button to retrieve your data. Alternatively, once you've built your query, you can click the Options button at the bottom left of the Query Panel, and click the "Do Not Retrieve Data" checkbox, click OK, and then click Run. Again, only the structure of your report will be displayed, which you can then save. Keep in mind, though, that you must uncheck the Do Not Retrieve Data checkbox before you choose to run the query in the future.



• By default, Desktop Intelligence saves queries (.rep files) in \My Documents\My Business Objects Documents\userDocs. If you work with several universes, you may find it convenient to create subfolders within that directory to better organize your work.



• If you want to export the data you've retrieved for use in another application, you have a couple options:

  Save As: Desktop Intelligence allows you to use the "Save As" feature to save documents in Excel, Adobe Acrobat PDF or CSV formats. Once you've refreshed a report, click on the File menu and select Save As. Select the file format you'd like from the "Save as type" drop-down list. Desktop Intelligence will then save your file with the data as it appears on the screen. This means the output will be saved and reflect section breaks, filters, special formatting, etc. The results of any variables or calculations will be saved as text, not underlying formulae. If your report has multiple tabs, and you choose to save as Excel, each tab will appear as a separate worksheet within one workbook. Similarly, multiple tabs will be accessible indidually in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files. InfoView users can perform a similar action. If you experience undesired changes in Excel color formatting when overwritting a Excel file previoulsy saved from Deski, save it instead to different file name.
  (Note: This feature was not available in Business Objects 5.1.4 - the work around was to use the Business Objects Edit menu and select "Copy All", then open a blank worksheet in Excel and choose "Paste Special" from the Excel Edit menu. Choose the "Unformatted Text" option and click Ok to paste your data into the worksheet.)

Export: You can also export the raw data retrieved in your query (retaining no Business Objects post-query formatting or calculations), in a variety of file formats. From the Data menu, select "View Data" to display the Data Manager window. Click the Export button at the bottom of the Results tab, and designate file name and path, and file format (options include text formats, and .xls for Excel). If you choose the All files (*.*) format, you can also control the field delimiters used. [A word of caution about using the .xls format: some versions of Excel object to the field names used in the Business Objects classes. If you encounter an error when exporting/importing using the Excel format, try it again with either the All Files or the Text Files format, and then use the Excel Import Wizard to bring the data into your speadsheet.]

• If you're having a problem displaying or printing pages after the first page of a report, and you have an image of some sort as part of your report layout, check to see whether the image is part of a table with other elements. If it is, move it outside the table and see if this fixes your problem.



• To minimize the processing time for your query, consider using the Desktop Intelligence toolbar icons or the Slice and Dice panel (rather than the query itself) to perform the following operations on the desktop once your query has finished:

Sort the data: You can place sorts on multiple objects using the Slice and Dice panel. You may also add breaks or report sections based on objects, and then sort those as well.

Filter the data: Once you have retrieved all the data meeting your conditions you may wish to further filter the data. Filtering via the Slice and Dice Panel enables you to include or exclude specific values retrieved. This is particularly useful when working with a large data set that you wish to manipulate many ways before deciding upon the final report format. You may set, change and remove filters as often as you wish without having to rerun the original query.

Perform calculations: You may add calculations to result objects, such as Sum, Count, Average, Minimum, Maximum and Percentage. This allows you to both view the data at the level of detail retrieved by your query and calculate at break levels you have designated. Available calculations are dependent upon the datatype of the object. More advanced calculations are also available using report Variables.

Password Issues

Desktop Intelligence and InfoView do check your password when you log in. However, you must be sure to use the password change application to synchronize your Data Warehouse, Business Objects and Business Objects DB Credentials each time you change your Data Warehouse password. (The same applies if you are using Business Objects to query other Oracle databases, such as Penn Community.) If your passwords are not synchronized, your query attempts will return errors:

• If you check only the Business Objects boxes in the PassWord Changer application, and not the Data Warehouse and other database boxes, when you submit a query you will get a message saying your access is denied for password errors.
• If you check the database boxes (i.e., Data Warehouse) and only one of the Business Objects boxes, you will get this error:
  Connection or SQL sentence error: (DA0005)
  Exception: CS, Unexpected behavior

The resolution for all of the above situations is to go to the password change application and reset your password, and be sure to check ALL of the boxes.

 

Installation Issues

• Symptoms are: You retrieve the installation files and unzip them, double-click the installer.bat, and get a message: "Please go to the control panel to install and configure system components." This can happen if you downloaded the installation files to a drive that is different from the one on which you are trying to install the BusinessObjects Deski client. Try downloading and unzipping to the user's desktop, and run the installer.bat from there.
• Symptoms are: You either 1) get a DA0005 error, and when you click on the error message "details" it says that the DBDriver failed to load, or 2) you are installing Deski on a remote computer and you get an "openSessionLogon" error telling you it cannot establish a CMS connection.
  Resolution: You must log in to InfoView to activate Desktop Intelligence the first time you use it following installation. See the "Configure the Client" step in the Installation instructions for details.
• You get an "Operation TimeOut" error and the message that "Your internet server is not responsive." This probably means you are trying to use an older version of Business Objects (for example, this can happen when your desktop shortcut is still pointing to the old version). When you launch, make sure you are actually using Business Objects Enterprise XI release 2 / Desktop Intelligence.

Other Error messages and error conditions

• Reports with date prompts returning no data: If you're not getting data back when running reports with date prompts (and the same values worked in Business Objects 5), make sure you're entering the date in 4-digit year format. For example, rather than entering "7/1/07" (for July 1, 2007), enter "7/1/2007".
• If you attempt to open a report and you get an error:
  You are not authorized to use this document. (FRM0008)
  try one of the following solutions:
  1) Is this a Corporate Document? In which case, do not try to open the local copy, but instead go to File->Import from Repository...
  and use the new one from the repository.
  2) If this is a document you created yourself on your local computer using the old version (or modified and saved on your local computer using the old version), then, if possible, use the old version -- version 5.1.4 -- to open it. Go to File->Save As... and before you save it, click the box next to "Save for all users" in the lower left corner of the screen. Then click on Save, and close it. You should now be able to open it using Deski.
  3) You can also get this error if you created this document yourself on your local computer, then exported it to the Repository (for example, to your "Favorites" box in InfoView), and then subsequently deleted the one on the Repository. The local one will no longer be available to you -- or anyone else! To avoid this problem, always make a backup copy of your local document, before you delete a report on the Repository.
  
  
• If you've run a query, but are not seeing any results on screen other than the column header cells, you may want to check to see if any of the following features are set:

  ·You are viewing the Structure of the report, rather than the actual data retrieved. (Check the View menu, Strucure setting.)
  ·There are Filters in your report. (Click on any cell that you can see, and choose Filters from the Format menu.)
  ·The report is folded, so that only headers appear. (First check the old checkbox on the General tab of the Standard Report Styles window, accessible from the Tools menu. If Fold there is unchecked, you may also want to check the same setting in Format/Table, to see if the report is folded there.

• You log in to Deski and try to refresh a report, but get: "Error During SQL Execution: (DA0003) - CS, Job already in use".
  One possible cause of this error message is because Internet Explorer 7 has a default time out of 30 seconds compared with the Internet Explorer 6 time out of 60 seconds. For some queries, this is not enough time to refresh the entire query, since the client is connecting using an HTTP protocol to the server.
  It is necessary to extend the time-out limit on Internet Explorer 7. This can be done by adding a key to the registry.
  (CAUTION! The following resolution involves editing the registry. Using the Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall the Microsoft Windows operating system. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk. It is strongly recommended that you make a backup copy of the registry files before you edit the registry. End users should NOT attempt this without first consulting with their Local Support Providers.)
  
  To resolve the error message (if you are using IE 7)
  1. Click Start > Run. The Run dialog box appears.
  2. Type “regedit” in the Open: text box. Click OK. The Registry Editor appears.
  3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.
  4. Add a ReceiveTimeout DWORD value with a data value of (<number of seconds>)*1000. For example, if the required time out duration is eight minutes, set the ReceiveTimeout data value to 480000 (<480>*1000).
  5. Exit the Registry Editor.
  6. Restart the computer.
  


• If your Business Objects menu bar disappears, try the following steps:
  1. From the Windows 'Start' menu, select 'Run'.
  2. Type "regedit" in the 'Run' dialog box.
  3. Locate and delete this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Business Objects>Suite 11.5>default>BusinessObjects>Application
     Preferences>BusinessReporter
  4. Restart Desktop Intelligence
  5. If the steps above do not resolve the issue, try deleting the registry key in the same path, but under HKEY_USERS & the user's SID:

     HKEY_USERS\<user's SID>\ Software\Business Objects\Suite 11.5\default\BusinessObjects\Application Preferences\BusinessReporter

  6. Restart Desktop Intelligence

• If the Classes and Object pane disappears from the Query Panel, try the following steps:
  1. From the Windows 'Start' menu, select 'Run'.
  2. Type "regedit" in the 'Run' dialog box.
  3. Locate and delete these two registry keys:
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Business Objects\Suite 11.5\default\BusinessObjects\Administrator User Prefs
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Business Objects\Suite 11.5\default\BusinessObjects\Application Preferences\BusinessDesigner
  4. Restart Desktop Intelligence

 

• If you're having problems accessing the Slice and Dice window, click the Slice and Dice button again, and, when the window doesn't appear, hit Alt+space, and then Maximize the window.

Those interested in advanced Business Objects query and reporting issues may wish to use the forumtopics bulletin board. The list is international in membership, and the scope of topics ranges widely, from user to universe designer and supervisor issues. To participate, go to http://busobj.forumtopics.com. Read the registration information, then register and login to join in the discussion threads.