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BUSINESS OBJECTS

Basic Training Session

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IntroductionBusiness Objects (BusObj) is a Web-based tool used for ad hoc querying and reporting against relational databases.

It provides multiple ways to retrieve, analyze, and report on data It is used only to retrieve data, not to change it (read-only) It allows tremendous flexibility in the way that data can be managed,

retrieved, and reported on Saving & printing using BusObj are performed similarly to Microsoft

products Take advantage of predefined reports or choose to create your own

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Examples of What You Can Get From BusObj:

Budget Data (Carry forward, Base Budget, Budget Transfers, etc.)

Revenue & Expense Data (line by line detail or high level summaries, etc.)

Payroll (salary & fringe benefits by person, department, project/grant, etc.)

Human Resources (appointment data, union information, tenure status, etc.)

Procurement (PCard, purchase order, voucher information, etc.)

Basic Information (department id, programs, project/grants, account, etc.)

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Data Warehouse There are multiple UNIVERSES within BusObj – which is where our

University data is stored (Warehoused)

Frequently used examples of these datasets are: FN01 Rev Exp Act and Endow (Financials) FN06 Procurement PR01 Payroll HR01 Human Resource

The Financial Services Office has up-to-date lists of employee access and training courses that are needed for access.

An OARS request must be completed and submitted in order to gain access.

Data is refreshed once a week (on Sunday) and the day after a month’s business closes.

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Getting Started … Logon to Wolverine Access (http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu)

Faculty & Staff Reporting UM-Data Warehouse (BusinessObjects)

You will need to enter your UniqName, Kerboros password, and MToken. If you do not remember your password, call the ITS Helpdesk at (734)

764-HELP and follow the prompts.

Confidentiality Statement:

Some of the data is confidential, so care must be exercised in determining which data is distributed and to whom.

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Retrieving Business Objects Query A query is a program for retrieving data from a database

and presenting the results as a report Canned: Already created and stored for future use and

common tasks & analysis Ad-hoc: Creating a query on the fly for immediate use

• Most of you will be running UM-Maintained canned queries. These queries are maintained by ITS.

• To access these queries, open Public Folders then UM-Maintained.

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Most of the time you will be either working out of the Financials or Payroll folders. Click the plus (+) sign next to Financials.

Selecting and Refreshing a Query- Practice

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Selecting and Refreshing a Query

Select the folder FN01 Rev Exp Act and Endow. The number of queries that will be displayed will depend on your level of

access. Additional pages can be accessed by clicking on the arrow next to the page number on the right top corner.

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL PAGES

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BusObj Query (cont.) Double Click on the title CMB Department Reconciler Report.

Below the query name there is a description of the universes the query accesses. You will need access to all of the listed universes. Choose a query with known access.

Click Refresh All, located on the upper right side of page. Complete information in the various prompt boxes. (All prompts must have

entries) You can use the Dearborn Chartfield Lookup document as a reference guide for field drill

downs (www.umd.umich.edu/index.php?id=chartfield).

Click Run Query when all of the boxes are filled in.

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BusObj Query (cont.) Next a prompt will appear listing the various queries contained within the

report that did not refresh (update). For your queries, all your data should refresh (with the exception of AR/ Billing). If it does

not refresh, review your prompt fields to verify that accurate information was entered. Note, currently the AR/Billing will not refresh. This will never refresh, because it is not

applicable to UM- Dearborn.

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Saving the file to Excel to print1. Select Document from the toolbar.2. Save to my computer as.3. Select Excel 4. Select either Open or Save.

Additional Available Queries1. Select Public Folders

2. Click on Dearborn

3. Unit-Maintained

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Retrieving a sent Query Sometimes you may need a query that is not a UM-Maintained

query. These queries can be sent to you by another user. They will arrive in your Inbox.

Click on the Inbox

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Creating an Ad-Hoc Query Results

The data that actually shows up in the output for your query

Filters Criteria the user establishes to tailor the output to a

desired result (for example, all transactions using the research supplies account code)

Prompts Prompt the user to enter a value for a filter (for example,

which fiscal year is to be used?)

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Select New drop down box Web Intelligence Document Select desired dataset (Universe)

Ie FN01 Exp Act and Endow

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Select desired fields and drag and dropping to add fields to “Result Objects” and “Query Filters” sections.

You can also double click to add fields to “Result Objects.”

Adjust fields in “Query Filters” section by how you want to filter the data.

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Adjust fields in “Query Filters” section by how you want to filter the data. Constant= for a fixed value Value(s) from list= allows you to select fixed value from a list of values Prompt= allows you to enter the desired information at the time you run the report (after you

select “Run Query”) Results from another query= allows you to reference data from different query

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Select Run Query

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Enter desired information into prompt fields Select Run Query

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Let’s Build an Ad-Hoc QuerySummary Detail

Below is your query result

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Another Ad-Hoc QueryJournal Line Detail

Repeat Previous Steps: Select New drop down box Web Intelligence Document Select desired dataset (Universe)

I.e. FN01 Exp Act and Endow

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Another Ad-Hoc QueryJournal Line Detail

Repeat Previous Steps: Add fields to “Result Objects” section Add fields to “Filter Objects” section Design Query Filters (i.e. Prompts) Select “Run Query”

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Below is your query result

Another Ad-Hoc QueryJournal Line Detail

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Manipulating the Data

Quick Filter: show only the data you want to see based on a defined criterion

Sort: sort data as needed (for example, dollar amounts from low to high)

Break: separate and organize the report by a given criterion

Sum: Totals for easy viewing

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Exporting Your Report Click the arrow next to the disk icon (Save), then move your

cursor to “Save to my computer as…”

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Exporting Your Report

Excel Sends the results to Excel with some modifications to

the original formatting of the Excel worksheet PDF

Sends the results to Adobe Acrobat to be saved as a PDF document

CSV Sends the results to Excel as raw data. No formatting

is added to the Excel worksheet

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Saving A Report An Ad-Hoc Query can be saved in My Favorites folder Useful for queries that will be valuable to use in the

future

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Sending Queries to Others After you’ve saved queries to your “My Favorites” folder,

you can share those queries easily with other users by sending them to their Business Objects inboxes.

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Sending Queries to Others (cont.) Uncheck the “Use default settings” box, search for the

uniqname of the recipient in the box, and make sure “Copy” is selected (it is by default).

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Leaving Business ObjectsClick on Log Out to exit Business Objects.

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Business Objects Training… MAISLINC website offers a variety of eLearning courses and online

training.

The Website is : https://maislinc.umich.eduThe site also has many Business Objects references in PDF format that are printable.

In order to gain access to the Payroll &/or Human Resource Data Warehouse Universe, you need to do the eLearning course first (PYE005, HRE004)