Information Session

Universe Customisation
 Topics
Mincom Standard Universes

Guidelines for Customising Standard Universes

Other Universe Customisation Options

Universe Change Management

Mincom’s Standard Universe
 1
(1)

CWM_1.0.dt
BO_<universe>.xml d

bo_views.sq
UMB l
Universe
Developer SQLPlus
BO Designer
(Integrity checks) Ellipse
Database

(class-mapped)
<universe>_o.unv <universe>_c.unv

BO Merge
outer.txt Repository

(merged)
<universe>_c.unv
Universe Merge
Universe
Administrator
BO Ellipse
Ellipse Repository (completed)
<universe>_c.xm
Database l

BO Designer
Universe (Integrity checks, 
Developer shortcut joins, Customer
further class
mapping)
 Mincom Standard Universes
• Each view is defined as a class
• Each field is defined as an object in this
class

• Note: These are remapped into more meaningful hierarchies.

 Mincom Standard Universes
• Supporting Database sql created for:
– Database Views
– Database Functions
– Triggers
– Reporting Tables
– Initial Data for these Tables
• Text file with outer joins
Database Functions used in views
• EL_CONCAT
• EL_DATETOWORD
• EL_GET_DATE
• EL_GET_DESC
• EL_NEXT_DAY
• EL_NUMTOWORD
• EL_DECTOWORD
• EL_SUBSTR
• EL_TODAY
Name Parameters Purpose Example Comment

EL_CONCAT CHAR, CHAR Concatenate two strings EL_CONCAT(EL_CONCAT( rtrim(‘String 1 ‘) ,’ Input limited to 1000 byte strings
(for UDB and ‘), ‘String 2’)
combinations of returns:
CHAR, INT and ORA and SQS: String 1 and String 2
DATE)

EL_DATETOWORD DATE, TYPE Convert a date value to a word EL_DATETOWORD(EL_TODAY(), ’DAY’) Currently the only valid TYPE is
returns: DAY
ORA: Monday
SQS: Monday

EL_DAYS_ADD DATE, INT Add (or subtract) days to a date

EL_DECTOWORD NUMBER Return the words equivalent to the number EL_DECTOWORD(123.45) Includes decimal values as
passed returns: numbers. Uses
ORA: One hundred twenty-three.45 EL_NUMTOWORD.
SQS: One hundred twenty-three.450
Relies on MSF010 ‘NUWO’
TABLE_TYPE and entries being
available.

EL_GET_DATE CHAR_DATE Retrieve the real date equivalent of an EL_GET_DATE(‘20041025’)

Ellipse character date from MSFDTE (or returns:
null) ORA: 25-OCT-04
SQS: 2004-10-25 00:00:00.000

EL_GET_DESC TABLE_CODE, Retrieve the associated TABLE_DESC EL_GET_DESC(‘0001’,’ER’) May need adjustment for multi-
TABLE_TYPE value from MSF010 (or null) returns: language
ORA: INVALID RECORD CODE

SQS: INVALID RECORD CODE

EL_NEXT_DAY DATE, Return the date of the next occurrence of EL_NEXT_DAY(EL_TODAY(), ‘WEDNESDAY’)
WEEKDAY the specified weekday following today returns:
ORA: 27-OCT-04
SQS: 2004-10-27 13:32:00
Name Parameters Purpose Example Comment

EL_NUMTOWORD NUMBER Return the words equivalent to the EL_NUMTOWORD(987654321) Uses ORA built-in function and SQS
number passed returns: UDF. Word spellings still to be
ORA: Nine hundred eighty-seven million six reviewed.
hundred fifty-four thousand three hundred
twenty-one Relies on MSF010 ‘NUWO’
SQS: Nine hundred eighty-seven million six TABLE_TYPE and entries being
hundred fifty-four thousand three hundred available.
twenty-one

EL_RAW_DECODE RAW database column Return the decoded equivalent of EL_RAW_DECODE( SQS only
data, maximum length of the Ellipse encoded column MSV050.DFLT_VALUE_RECX1, 201)
input data

EL_RAWTONUM CHAR (translated to a Translate packed decimal data ORA: Expects string of hexadecimal value
HEX string), INT stored in string to a signed number EL_RAWTONUM(RAWTOHEX(SUBSTR(<col of packed decimal data eg 0045329C
(number of decimal >,246,8),3))
places)

EL_SUBSTR CHAR, INT, INT Standardise substring function Invokes built-in SUBSTR function
across RDBMS for ORA and UDB and SUBSTRING
for SQS

EL_TODAY none Retrieve the current date. Use of EL_TODAY() Uses ORA SYSDATE and SQS
this function may replace the returns: GETDATE() under the covers.
requirement for ORA: 25-OCT-04 SQS requires the MSV_TODAY
MSV_CURRENT_DATE SQS: 2004-10-25 13:49:28.487 view

•EL_NUMTOWORD relies on ‘NUWO’ TABLE_TYPE data on MSF010

•EL_DECTOWORD is not currently used
 Default Universe Settings Applied

• Default Contexts added

• Loops Checked
• Objects and Joins Parsed
 Mincom’s Customisations
Script used to:
• Remap Classes
• Apply Outer Joins
• Change all numeric fields measures
What can you customise?
Mincom’s Standard Universe
 Modify Existing customisation objects

• If you need to add your own Classes or Objects, you use

the supplied Customisation items. You can then modify
these items to have an appropriate description, point them
to the relevant column, calculation, and so on
 What else can you add?
• Add Additional Tables to Universe
– Derived Universe Tables
– Database Views
• Add Joins
• Add Hierarchies
 Guidelines
• No classes or objects to be created or deleted
• Classes, Dimension and Measure objects defined
in the 'Customisations' class can be modified as
required
• Tables can be added
• Joins can be added
• New hierarchies can be added
• 'Customisations' classes and objects can be moved
out of the 'Customisations' class
• Contexts will be deleted during the merge (use
'Detect Contexts' on merged universe to reapply)
Universe Customisation Options
1. Modify the existing Standard Universe
• Mincom’s Supported approach
2. Linking a universe to an existing Standard
Universe
3. Copying a Standard Universe and
Modifying
4. Create a New Universe from Scratch
 Modify the existing Standard
Universe
• If guidelines followed the customer merge
script can be run to re-apply changes to any
new versions of the Standard Universe
• If additional components eg. Contexts are
added these will need to be managed by the
customer themselves and applied after the
customer merge has been applied
Linking a universe to an existing
Standard Universe
• Can not link a universe that is already
linked to another universe
• LOV files in core universe not saved
• Must re-apply your contexts in derived
universe
Copying a Standard Universe and
Modifying
• When you copy a standard universe
into a derived universe, the resulting
components in the derived universe are
independent of those in the standard
universe.
• Any changes made to the standard
universe are not inherited by the
derived universe
 Create a New Universe from
Scratch
• Similar issues to copying a standard
universe except more development time
required as starting from scratch
• Need to add all views manually to universe
• Better understanding of universe if
developed in house
• Mincom’s knowledge and support limited
 Enriching your Universe
• Create Additional Database Views
• Create Additional Database Functions
 Database View Example
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW bo2b. MSV838_PS_MEAS AS
SELECT EMPLOYEE_ID, INV_TAX_YEAR, SEQUENCE_NO, GROSS_SALARY,
LUMP_SUM_A, LUMP_SUM_B, LUMP_SUM_D, LUMP_SUM_E, FIELD1_9,
FIELD2_9,
TAX_AMOUNT, NON_GC_EARN, NON_GC_DEDN, PRE_JULY_1983,
POST_JUNE_1983,
POST_JUNE_1994_INV, ETP_TAX_AMT, FBT_AMT, FBT_GROSSED_AMT,
CDEP_SALARY, OTHER_INCOME, TO_CHAR(99999999 - CAST(INV_TAX_YEAR
AS
INTEGER)) TAX_YEAR, bo2b. EL_NUMTOWORD
(TRUNC(TAX_AMOUNT/1000,0))
THOUSANDS, bo2b. EL_NUMTOWORD (TRUNC((TAX_AMOUNT -
(TRUNC(TAX_AMOUNT/1000,0) * 1000))/100,0)) HUNDREDS,
bo2b.EL_NUMTOWORD(TRUNC((TAX_AMOUNT - (TRUNC(TAX_AMOUNT/100,0)
*
100))/10,0)) TENS, bo2b. EL_NUMTOWORD (TRUNC(TAX_AMOUNT -
(TRUNC(TAX_AMOUNT/10,0) * 10),0)) UNIT
FROM bo2b.MSV838_MEAS MSV838_MEAS;
COMMIT;
Database Functions
 Universe Change Management
Three Types of Changes:
2. A pure addition; no change to schema
3. Focused Change; change to a limited
set of Objects or part of the schema
4. Widespread change
 Potential effect on Report
• Changes to the universe must take into account the
impact on existing reports
• Auditor may assist in determining this impact
• EQM have third party product to determine
change impact
• Careful management of changes can reduce
potential impact
• Retesting may be required
Change Effect

Objects deleted Potentially causes the Report to fail

Objects added No affect on existing Reports unless the

Report specifically needed the Object to be
created. Then the Report should be returned
to development for the Object to be added

Objects renamed Could cause issues if another single Object

exists with the new name. Business Objects
will assume that this other Object replaces
the renamed one when you re-point the
Universe.

Objects properties changed Potentially causes the Report to fail,

although there are so many properties that
this would need to be considered carefully

Objects formatting changed No change in the functionality of the Report

but will change the ‘look’ of it

Object SQL changed Potentially causes the Report to fail and

needs the report’s SQL refreshed to detect
problems
Change Effect

Any changes to joins Potentially causes the Report to fail

Any changes to contexts Potentially causes the Report to fail

Any changes to tables used by Universe Potentially causes the Report to fail

Any changes to Universe connections Potentially causes the Report to fail although
unlikely, assuming the new connection
points to a valid database structure for the
Universe in use

Any changes to hierarchies Potentially causes the Report to fail although

the effect may be minimal
 Conclusion
• Many Customisation Options Available
• The Choice is yours
• Consider consequences of changes
• Unsupported changes will need to be
managed