SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence

1. Explain personal, shared and secured?

Answer:
Personal: The user and the universes, which are created using the personal connection belongs
to that computer and can be accessed from that computer only, create it.
Shared: In the shared type of connection we can use common resources such as universes and
documents. This can be used by several users. The parameters are stored locally in locdata folder
with name sdac.lsi or sdac.ssi. This shared type of connection is used to set up in a testing
environment before publishing them.
Secured: In the secured type of connection, we can centralize and control access to secure the
data. The secured connections are stored in the security domain and are distributed to all the
designers and supervisors who have the appropriate privileges.
2. Define Business objects?
Answer: Business object can be considered as integrated analysis, reporting and query to find a
solution to some business professionals that can be helpful for them to retrieve data from the
corporate databases directly from the desktop. This retrieved information can be presented and
analyzed within a document that of business objects. Business objects can be helpful as an OLAP
tool by high-level management as a major part of Decision Support Systems.
3. Explain the pros of using business objects?
Answer:
There are many advantages in making use of business objects and they are
User-friendliness
Familiar business terms
Graphical interface
Deployment of documents on an enterprise basis by making use of WebI
Dragging and dropping
Powerful reports for a lesser amount of time.

4. Define Designer?
Answer: Designer is a module related to Business Objects IS used by the designers for creating
and maintaining universes. Universes can be considered as a semantic layer that can isolate the
end-users from the various issues that are technical and related to the structure of the database.
Universe designers have the possibility for distributing the universes to the end users after
moving these as a file through the system of files or can be done by exporting the files to the
repository.
5. What are slice and dice?
Answer: An operation that allows one to select a portion of the data of a fact-based on specified
values in one or several dimensions.
6. List out the kinds of users associated with business objects?
Answer:
There are various kinds of users associated with the business object, they are:
 General supervisor
 Supervisor
 Graphical Interface
 Designer
 Supervisor Designer
 End-User
 Versatile User
7. Define drill mode?
Answer: This is a kind of analysis mode associated with business objects and helps in breaking
down data as well as in viewing data from all the possible angles and the levels of detail for
discovering the factor that has caused a good – bad result.
8. Define a Chasm Trap?
Answer: Chasm trap is a condition that arises when the values inside the fact table get inflated at
the time of measuring the values from two different fact tables by considering the dimensions
inside the dimension table.
9. How to access one derived table from another?
Answer:
Using @Derived_table function, we can access one derived table from another. The syntax is as
@derived_table(the derived table name)
10. Define a class?
Answer: The class can be defined as a collection of objects in a universe. Subclasses can be
derived from classes and using these classes and the subclasses, we can create a hierarchy.
11. Define data mining?
Answer: Data mining is the process through which you can extract the required details from the
database, which can be made used for making conclusions.
12. How many approaches are there for linking universes?
Answer:
There are three approaches available for linking the universes and they are:
The Kernal approach.
The Master approach.
The Component approach.

13. List out the available Drill modes?

Answer:
Drill modes help to analyze data from different angles and different state of details. The available
Drill modes are;
Drill up.
Drill down.
Drill by.
Drill through.

14. Define aggregate_awarness?

Answer: when we have the same fact table in different grains, we use aggregate_awarness
function to define one object for measures in fact tables. the syntax is as,
15. When we use a context?
Answer: Context is created when the dimension objects are present in one or both fact tables.
16. List out the schemas supported by Business Objects Designer?
Answer:
There are five different schemas supported by Business Objects designer and they are:
star schema.
Snowflake schema
Multistar schema
Normalized production schema.
Data warehouse with aggregates.

17. List out the tasks of universe designer?

Answer:
The tasks consist of,
Designing the universe.
Creating the universe.
Maintaining the universe.
Distributing the universe

18. Define strategies?

Answer:
To automatically extract structural information from a database or from a flat-file we use a script
known as strategy.
19. Define the universe?
Answer:
It is a set of objects and classes. these objects and class es will be intended for an application or a
group of users.
20. Define secure mode?
Answer:
Secured mode restricts the access of specific users over specific commands.
21. What is BI launchpad?
Answer:
Alternative question: A business user wants to view a web report.
22. How will he achieve this?
Answer:
This can be achieved through the BI launch pad.
BI launch pad is an SAP BO BI 4.0 business user tool used for broadcasting the reports. It
provides an interface to the SAP BO business intelligence platform repository that enables us to
navigate to view & manage our business intelligence documents. It is a web-based
application/portal from where we can access the reports and organize the reports as per our need.

The images below show exactly how the BI launch pad looks like:

BI launchpad

BI launch pad 1

23. What is a client tool? / Why the web is referred to as a client tool?
Answer: The web is referred to as a client tool because it can connect to the business objects
main server (CMS). When we launch the tool, we have the option to connect to a business object
server. It asks for the ‘system name’ which is nothing but the BO server.
Every tool under SAP BO is capable of connecting to the business object repository. That is why
these tools are referred to as client tools.

24. Explain your idea of a Universe in BO and its relevance with the assignments you have
worked upon?
Answer: A universe is a logical layer between backend and a front end of the reporting. It is a
metadata layer which isolates the technical complexities of the source system from the business
user/report developer.
In the universe, the required attributes and measures are picked up from the backend and
arranged in a way we want to use them further for reporting. In my project, we used to create
IDT universe on top of calculation views developed in HANA. These IDT universes were further
utilized to create BO reports.

25. With what extension the universes get created in IDT?

Answer:
In IDT, the universes get created with “.unx” extension. It is stored in the form of a file.
26. How the universes created in IDT are made available in BO?
Answer: Once the universe is created, we publish the universe using a secured connection and
then import the universe in BO to make a report on top of it.
27. What made you choose the web over other reporting tools?
Answer: The reason for the opting website was its user-friendly interface, the better way of
presentations, ad-hoc analysis and advanced reporting capabilities. These features are lacking in
other reporting tools like crystal reports, Bex analyzer, and WAD.
28. What is custom hierarchies?
Answer: It defines the universe for providing the drill down which is customized and occurs
between objects from the same or different classes taking care of the user requirements.
29. How we can create Custom Hierarchies?
Answer: We can create custom hierarchies by clicking on tools then choosing hierarchies from
BO designer.
30. What do you understand by the context in the universe?
Answer: Context can be explained as the specific path of the join between a specific group of
joins or the tables for a specific query.
31. Have you ever encountered the scenario of a chasm trap? If yes, what is the way to
resolve it as per your suggestion?
Answer:
Yes, I did encounter the scenario of a chasm trap in one of my assignments.
In a universe based upon a dimensional schema, we could have a dimension table joined with 2
fact tables so that both of them are one-to-many joins
In such a situation, if we tend to drag a measure from each of the fact tables in conjunction
with attributes from the dimension table, the value of the measures within the fact tables are
inflated.
This condition is understood as a chasm trap. The chasm trap shows you misleading figures in
the report which can impact management decision making. Thus, the condition of a chasm trap
should be avoided/resolved.
To resolve chasm trap: Go to Universe Parameters -> SQL -> Multiple paths -> check the
options – ‘multiple SQL statements for each context’ and ‘multiple SQL statements for each
measure’. And uncheck the option – ‘allow selection of multiple contexts’.

32. What do you mean by a fan trap and how would it be resolved?
Answer: In a universe structure, we might have three tables joined in such a manner that the first
table contains a one to many join with the second table which successively contains a one to
many join with the third table (A -< B -< C). ] In such a state of affairs, if a measure is contained
within the second table and it’s dragged in conjunction with any dimension from the third table,
the value of the measure is going to be inflated. Such a condition is thought of as a fan trap. A
fan trap is resolved by making an alias of the second table and shaping contexts so that, the
conventional table is joined solely with the first table, whereas the alias is joined with both the
first and the third table. We’d take the second table’s measured solely from the conventional
table and alternative dimensions of the second table from the alias table. (Company)
33. What can be different data sources for BO reports?
Answer: The different data source scan is SAP BW, OLAP, application database, customer
database, Text file, XML file, and Web service.
34. What is the difference between UDT and IDT?
Answer: The universes which are designed in UDT are UNV universes whereas the universes
which are designed in IDT are UNX universes. In UDT we don’t have multi-resource universes
enabled whereas in IDT we have this option. IDT is enhanced and more organized as compared
to UDT.
35. Can crystal reports be built on top of UDT?
Answer: No, the tools like crystal report for Enterprises, Dashboards, BO explorer does not
support UNV universe (designed by UDT). It supports only the UNX universe (designed by
IDT). Web Intelligence is the only tool which supports both the universes – UNV and UNX.
Conclusion Before you step into the SAP BO interview, you should have a very clear
understanding of the SAP BO platform, the categories of tools it offers and how these tools are
interrelated. You should be able to explain the end to end process of reporting. You should also
have an idea of the pros and cons of different SAP BO tools, the kind of requirements they serve
and which tool to use for what purpose. There will always be questions coming from the
Universe and website. So, these two topics should also be well-prepared.
36. What is a Designer?
Answer: Designer is the Business objects product that is intended to develop the universes. This
universe is the semantic layer of the database structure that isolates from technical issues of the
database structure.
37. How many modes are there in BO & Designer?
Answer: There are two modes are there in BO and Designer are: Enterprise Mode Workgroup
Mode
38. What do you mean by drill mode?
Answer: It is a kind of study mode related to BO and helps in breaching data as well as in
presenting data from all the available angles and the levels of details for analyzing the factors
which caused the good and bad result.
39. Define personal connection?
Answer: It can be made only by one user and can’t be used by the others. The details for the
same are kept in a PDAC.LSI file.
40. Define Shared connection?
Answer: It is opposite of personal connection as it can be used by others also through a server
which is a common one. In this details of connections are kept in SDAC> LSI file which is there
in the installation folder.
41. What is Chasm Trap?
Answer: It is a situation which arises at the time when the value in the fact table get wrong when
it is measured from two various fact tables.
42. What is the difference between @Prompt and @Script?
Answer: The @Prompt function lets you create an interactive object. In the Query Panel, this
type of object causes a message to appear. This message prompts the end-user to enter a specific
value.
This function recovers the results of Visual Basic for Applications macro (VBA macro).
43. What is the disadvantage of using contexts?
Answer: The disadvantage of using context is that you expose the business objects end user to
the database structure. They are forced to decide which context they want to use to run their
query. The role of the universe is to shield end users from the database structure, so they do not
have to make such decisions.
44. What are the components of data integrator?
Answer: Data Integrator has four components are :
Graphical designer: GUI to build and test ETL jobs for data cleansing, validation, and auditing.
Data integration server : to integrate data from different source databases.
Metadata repository: to keep the source and target metadata as well as transformation rules.
Administrator: A web-based tool can be used to start, stop, schedule and monitor ETL jobs. The
ETL jobs can be in batch mode or real-time mode.