BUSINESS OBJECTS TUTORIALS

One of the hardest concepts with BusinessObjects is the document itself. A document is not a simple report, but rather, a set of components that eventually present a report. A document contains the following components:

One or more data providers that are typically SQL queries that extract information from source databases.

A result set in which the results of the queries are stored as a microcube. You can view the results through Data Manager.

One or more formatted reports. Each report may be a different type, such as a chart, table, or crosstab. One report may have multiple report types.

Figure gives a conceptual overview of a document that is made up of two data sources: a SQL query and a spreadsheet. The document contains three reports, two that are tabular reports with a view to each result set and a third that displays a chart with data from both result sets. In many documents, you may have only one query, one result set, and one report. Alternatively, you may have one query, one result set, and multiple reports. Each report tab may contain a view with the full data set but in a different block type such as table, crosstab, or chart. Alternatively, each report may contain a limited number of columns or rows of data as you remove variables and apply filters. The structure of the BusinessObjects document allows you to explore information from multiple perspectives without ever having to requery the database. Similarly, the microcube technology allows you to seamlessly combine information from multiple data sources into one report, even if you don’t have a central data warehouse.