BUSINESS OBJECTS QUESTION & ANSWERS

1) What is a derived table in data warehousing? Derived tables are not real tables at the Database level, but are the selection of few columns in the Table with some aggregations, specific to the report. This feature is available in BO 6.5 and later versions. Sel a1, a2, a3, max (a4) From a, (Sel b1, b2, max (b3) as B3, Min (B4) as B4 from B group by b1, b2) as BX Where BX.B1= a.a1 group by a1, a2, a3 order by a1, a2, a3 The (Sel b1, b2, max (b3) as B3, Min (B4) as B4 from B group by b1, b2) in the above query is a derived table. The same definition has to be added in the Universe - by going into Insert >> Derived Tables. Type the Query - parse it and the new table inserted can be used to any type of join / Contexts etc in the Universe. 2) What are the different types of Filters available in BUSINESS OBJECTS? There are 4 types filters in BO: predefined filters: these filters are created at the time of universe creation and can be directly used at a report level. Custom filters: these are the filters which are created at the report level. There are two ways of creating report level filters. One is before running a query... second one is after running a query. Prompt fitters: these are the dynamic filters which ask the user for the values and depending upon these values, filters are applied. Advanced filters: advanced filters consist of ways of restricting data view using clauses like 'ranking'. For example, applying ranking for top 10 rows... it will return only top 10 rows. 3) What is the chasm and fan traps in Business Objects Chasm trap The Chasm trap occurs when two many to one joins converge on a single table. For example a customer can place many orders/and or place many loans. Fan trap The Fan trap occurs when a one too many join links a table which is in turn linked by another one too many

join. For example when you run a query that asks for the total orders by each order line, for a particular customer, an incorrect result is returned as you are performing an aggregate function on the table at the one end of the join, while still joining to the many ends. 4) There are two ways to transfer data from a report to Excel Can you describe them? Ways to Transfer data from Report to Excel: 1. Use "Save as" after opening the Report and then select Save as Type xls. 2. Use Macro in the Deski Report. Macros can be used to Refresh the report, Save the Report in Repository or Some FTP location or Personal Folders, Inbox, etc. and in the format as desired by you. Create a Macro, Run the Macro and it will save the report at the location and format (.rep, .rpt, .xls, .pdf, etc) desired by you. 3. Another simple method is to Schedule the Report and give the Save as Type Excel with the preferred Shared folder. 5) What is difference between data mart and data warehouse? Subject oriented, integrated, non-volatile, time variant and historical data is called as data warehouse A sub set of data warehouse is called as data mart. 6) Can we apply Rank and Sort at a time on a single report? No we can't apply rank and sort at a time on one object in one single report. If we try to apply, BO asks if you want to over write the previous condition. Ranking has priority than sorting .we apply ranking on dimension based on the measure like if you want to display top 100 sales revenue generated by a product or bottom 100 sales generated by a product. Sorting is not based on measure or anything it will sort in ascending, descending or custom order. 7) How Do U Create Report in BO, if given fixed length file (Notepad) as source? To create a report using notepad (.txt files): 1. Open Business Objects --> new report 2. Select data provider as others instead of universe,

from "Others" drop down list, select "Personal Data Files", File selection box appears, specify the location of your text file, if you have separated data by tabs in text file select "Tabulation" if by comma then "Comma Separated" (I dont remember the exact caption for this option) & if space separated then select "Characters"(I dont remember the exact caption for this option) if you have specified column names in your text file, check the box "First Row contains Column names"

Run the report. 8) In the BO universe, how to link two universes, like I have one universe in sales.uni and another is marketing.uni If you have to link two universes, first decide which the core universe is and which universe is to be linked (derived universe). When you are in the core universe go to File --->Parameters ----> links tab -----> add link (browse for the universe to be linked) ----> click OK 9) Explain the difference between Condition and Filter. A Condition feature that forces a query to retrieve only the data that meets specified criteria. Condition is placed on a report query to show the specific data. To define a condition Name, Description and Where clause are required A Filter enables you to view only necessary data in a report.i.e it allows you to restrict the no. of rows displayed in the report they affect only the data currently displayed in the block but not query results Ex: select values for a variable in the report to apply a simple filter 10) Clearly explain the difference between union and group. The difference between union and group is as follows: Take two tables t1 and t2. In t1 we have columns like a, b, c, d. and t2 has a, d, e, f. So union means t1 union t2 i.e. getting result from both tables i.e. a, b, c, d, e., and f Whereas group performs on an individual column in a particular table. 11) What is a Universe? A universe is a Symantec layer between the database and reporting needs, wherein you map the different joins by inserting tables and designing according to your user specifications. It consists of classes and objects. 12) What is Data Profiling in Business Objects? What is Data Synchronization in Business Objects? Data synchronization is used to synchronies data from say 2 data providers: 1 say all list of sent emails 2 say all list of recd emails

You can synchronies these 2 lists using merged dimensions in web However what works in deski using formula may not work in webi; bcos things work differently and the engines are difft. And so it is not advised to use formula but just use merged dimensions and synchronies data. And u can only synch data on dimension not on measures! 13) State the difference between Webi and Infoview Web Intelligence is the 'thin-client' (or server version) of Business Objects Reporter. It is used to create report documents. It does not reside on the users computer, but on a server. Info View is what the user logs into, sees, and uses in their Internet Browser that allows the user to access and create Business Objects reports via the web without having to install the 'Full (or 'Thick') client Business Objects Reporter on their computer. The user can only get to Webi through Info View. It does not reside on the users computer, but on a server. In info view you can create a webi documents i.e. wid documents you can open schedule save it as an excel or pdf or business objects document (.rep). Webi is a part of Infoview Infoview is the portal to the BO's business intelligence solution and info view also allows the third party documents and it contains document lists that give an instant overview of all the documents generated from corporate data storage and made available to users. 14) What is drill filter and its usage? How many types of filters are there? Three types of drill is in BO.1.drill up, 2.drill down, 3.drill thro'. Drill up means second->minutes->hour->->day Drill down means region->country->state->district Drill thro'--whatever u want that element 15) How to join two reports in for webi when they are on two different tabs? Data from two different tabs can be merged using the merge dimension functionality in BO. When a report is generated with 2 queries BO automatically merges the common dimension and then gives the resultant values. But sometimes if Bo cannot identify common objects then it prompts the user to merge the common dimensions. 16) Is there any other repository domains rather than universe, security, doccument?

There are only three main Domains Security, Universe and document. You can have multiple Universe and Documents domains in a repository but only one Security domain. 17) What is the difference between derived tables and a view? Which one gives better performance? A derived table is one that is created on-the-fly using the SELECT statement, and referenced just like a regular table or view. Derived tables exist in memory and can only be referenced by the outer SELECT in which they are created. A simple use of a derived table is shown here. SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM Sales) AS a The inner SELECT produces a derived table and replaces a regular table or view. The key thing to remember when using derived tables is that you must always use an alias (e.g., AS a). The following shows the error produced when the alias is omitted. SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM Sales) -- Results -- Server: Msg 170, Level 15, State 1, Line 3 Line 3: Incorrect syntax near ')'.

Which is better view or derived tables? I feel there is no difference. When a view is referenced the SELECT of the view is merged into the SELECT that references it, so it is really the same thing. Of course views save a lot of coding, once written are less subject to errors, and can have permissions assigned. But, when considering logical data independence, security and reusability as important aspects, using views may be preferred over writing derived tables over and over again. 18) What if a Cartesian product pop up block appears when running a report. Does it give wrong values? How to solve this issue? The Problem is in your schema. Please check your joins, and cardinalities also check loops.

Whenever cardinalities are not set proper its give you three types of error. 1-->Incompatibility result 2-->Ambiguous result 3-->Cartiesum result

To prevent Cartesian product when running a report initially you can set it in the Universe Parameters. File ----> Parameters ----> SQL tab ----> two options for Cartesian products 1) Prevent 2) warn (default) -----> click any one of them and then OK 19) Can we have both drill and hyperlink working on same column? No, drill and hyperlink cannot be applied on same column. 20) How to filter repetitive values in the report to get distinct values. Example: In any database we can use distinct command But My Report source is flatfile.Therfore, I cant\'t manipulate source system. Is there any command or function to filter repeating records/values in the report? In the Query panel...we have tab "Options"... Click there to get "eliminate duplicate"...enable this options... Using the eliminate duplicates option is one way. In a slightly different scenario, duplicates could come up due to the design structure of the report. e.g. In some specific cases, one may want to display a value in one field (say in a folded report) but multiple values come up (which could give you a COMPUTATION ERROR). To avoid such situation, one can define a variable which would e the max of the original field required. That ways the same value is fetched and also only one value is returned. 21) Why should we use break when we want calculate the sub-totals and grand totals? Breaks are used for analyze the information for entire black. These are provides summing up of information for the basis of blacks. These are provides total information for entire blacks as well as sums. Break works like groups in the Database, it groups all the data based on the distinct values for the specified dimension. It can be utilized to calculate subtotals based on the dimension involved. The functionalities available with Breaks are: Break Header or Footer Center value across the breaks Fold Value based breaks 22) Can anyone tell me about 1) aggregation at micro cube level 2) aggregation at database level

Aggregation: In SQL we have functions e.g. Sum, min, max, count etc for aggregating the data. We can use these functions to create objects in universe for aggregating at database level. Also when defining objects in universe, we have options to defined how BO Server should do aggregation. We should try to do as much aggregation as possible at database level. This will mean less amount of data is coming into the browser. Also for averages / count, it is advisable to take extra care while deciding where aggregation should happen. Calculating averages at database level may give different results than Aggregation done by BO Server. Aggregation at Micro cube level means the data is pulled from the database and aggregated on the BO server. For example if you want total sales of a product category all the records of the that particular product category are brought into the cube and BO then aggregates it to sum. Even thought report displays only the aggregated value if you look at the data provider all the records of that product category will be available. Aggregation at the database level means the aggregation is performed at the database which means only the aggregated value will be send from the database. The details of the records which contributed to the aggregation will not be available for BO. In the above example the total sales of each product category i.e. if there are five product categories then only five records will be made available to BO. If there is aggregate function like sum at the definition of the object at the universe level then its a database aggregation and if there is a aggregate function at the report level its a micro cube aggregation. If you view the sql of the report there will be considerable difference i.e. for database aggregation the sql will contain aggregate function with a group by clause and the micro cube aggregation will not have it. 23) How achieve the many to many relationship in Business Objects... In BO universe designer, Drag the column of first table to the corresponding column of second table or simply go to Insert->Join to create a join between 2 tables. You can change the cardinality from n-n [many to many] or 1-n or n-1 or 1-1 and Click on "Detect". But, n-n cardinality creates loops. In BO, It is always best to use 1-n cardinality for fast data retrieval. Always delete the unnecessary joins which have n-n cardinality. 24) About Business objects architecture? BO architecture has 3 layers. Database Layer, Business [Interface] Layer and Presentation Layer. Database layer contains the below tasks. 1]. Define Universe Parameters to provide connectivity to database. 2]. Add the metadata of source tables into BO designer [Insert Tables] 3]. Insert Joins 4]. Detect Loops and Resolve Loops

Business Layer contains the below tasks. 1]. Create Classes 2]. Create Objects 3]. Create Hierarchies Presentation Layer contains the universe that got imported from business layer for reporting and analysis. 25) What is difference between custom hierarchy and report based hierarchy? Hierarchies defined in BO universe designer are used for RRI [Report to Report Interaction] to support drill-down an drill-up functionalities in reporting environment. Default hierarchies contain classes and objects defined in class panel area. In custom hierarchies, we can create our own hierarchies. We can add the required objects (for reporting purpose) from default hierarchy area to custom hierarchy area. 26) What is Business Object? Business objects is query, reporting and analysis solutions for business professionals that allows retrieving the data from various database and present the information in the business document. 27) How will you ensure that the universe designed is optimum? Best way to make sure Universe Design is optimum is by following the best practices. Couple of things which we can look into for optimization 1. Connection parameters are set as per the underlying database system. 2. Joins in the universe structure. When I say joins we need to make sure that queries traverse minimum number of tables. 3. Check Objects and try to use as less SQL functions as possible. Try to get most of things as attributes in ETL or database itself. 4. Make sure derived tables are used as last resort. 5. Unneccesary objects are removed from universe before moving to QA/Production. 6. Make sure LOVs are only ticked for objects which may be or are used in reports. By defaults most of the time, every object has logs. So we need to make sure we do not end up making universe bigger than it should be. 7. Make sure Date prompts are defined properly. Make sure LOVs used in Date Prompt do not have time stamping. I have seen this making lot of difference. Date Prompts sometime take time to refresh and this is only because LOV it is trying to show has time element. This leads to 100s of different combinations. 28) Can we make an object as necessary object, i.e. without that object that report will not work, how can we do that?

No such option is available in Business Objects, neither any workaround is known. But if you have such requirement, create a template kind of a report which already have one or more necessary objects and use that report for any development, in this way you can ensure that particular object is always part of your reports but this has to be manual. 29) Can a universe be connected to different databases? NO. A universe cannot connect to more than one database at the same time. But in Report we can use multiple data providers which internally two different universe and 2 different database. 30) How to bring data from 5 different providers into one block... (They are not getting synchronized and all of them have different data types To synchronize the data from different data providers, u need to merge similar objects from all data providers and then only u can c the synchronized data in the single block. E.g.: DP1 has Dimension D1 and Measure M1 similarly we have D2, D3, D4, D5 and M2, M3, M4 and M5. Now say we have merged all dimensions (Since they are similar i.e they provide similar kind of data) then we can C merged dimension in one column and % different columns of Measure objects in the same table. 31) What is the maximum possible number of tables in the repository? I am working on the Business Objects 6.5.1 Repository which is in Oracle 9i database. I need your help regarding this. Firstly, what is the maximum possible number of tables in the repository? Secondly, is it possible to generate a report that describes the user's access rights in details (Like a user has access to Business Objects, BQY, Web intelligence, supervisor or designer? There are only three default domains in the repository, security, universe and documentation domain, there are 57 tables in it. We can create additional documentation and universe domain (cant create security domain), these additional domains can contain any number of tables. We can say the default repository tables are 57 and, we can have more than 57 tables. In Business Objects 6.5 Repository 57 tables Security Domain tables 25 1. OBJ_M_ACTOR 2. OBJ_M_USRATTR 3. OBJ_M_DOCCST 4. OBJ_M_GENPAR 5. OBJ_M_MAGICID 6. OBJ_M_RESLINK 7. OBJ_M_UNIVCST

8. OBJ_M_UNIVSLC 9. OBJ_M_ACTORDOC 10. OBJ_M_DOCUMENTS 11. OBJ_M_UNIVERSES 12. OBJ_M_ACTORLINK 13. OBJ_M_TIMESTAMP 14.OBJ_M_UNIVDBCST 15.OBJ_M_CONNECTION 16.DS_USER_LIST 17.OBJ_M_REPOSITORY 18.OBJ_M_CATEG 19.OBJ_M_CONNECTDATA 20.OBJ_M_OBJSLICE 21.OBJ_M_RESERVATION 22.DS_PENDING_JOB 23.OBJ_M_DOCCATEG 24.OBJ_M_DOCAT 25.OBJ_M_DOCATVAR Document Domain have 1 tables 1.OBJ_X_DOCUMENTS Universe Domain have 31 tables 1. UNV_JOIN 2. UNV_AUDIT 3. UNV_CLASS 4. UNV_RELATIONS 5. UNV_DIM_OBJ 6. UNV_OBJECT 7. UNV_OBJ_TAB 8. UNV_TAB_OBJ 9. UNV_CONTEXT 10. UNV_CTX_JOIN 11. UNV_TAB_PROP 12. UNV_JOIN_DATA 13. UNV_PROP_DATA 14. UNV_PROPERTY 15. UNV_UNIVERSE 16. UNV_CLASS_DATA 17. UNV_DIMENSION 18. UNV_PROP_TAB 19. UNV_OBJECT_DATA

20. UNV_CONTEXT_DATA 21. UNV_JOINCONTENT 22. UNV_UNIVERSE_DATA 23. UNV_OBJCONTENT 24. UNV_TABLE 25. UNV_TABLE_DATA 26. UNV_OBJECT_KEY 27. UNV_JOIN_OBJECT 28. UNV_COLUMNS 29. UNV_COLUMN_DATA 30. UNV_OBJ_COLUMN 31. UNV_X_UNIVERSES 32) What all will be exported to the repository, when we export a universe? When we export a universe first time, a unique identifier is allocated to the universe and this identifier is updated on the local version of the universe in the universe domain If we export the universe to a diff, domain and now the universe has an identifier for diff-domain (EX: exporting a universe from a development domain to a production domain) When a designer exports the universe to the Repository (universe domain) they must export all the related LOV files (which contain the data values associated with an object) to the document domain. 33) How do you hide column in the report There are two ways are there for providing security to the object. 1. In designer on tools menu manage level security then to add what you want objects or groups or users if any 2.In CMS Select the option universes then provide the security for the object level. In report point of view in desktop intelligence select the column and right click hide. In web Intelligence there is no that option 34) Query not returning any value? 1. If you have a SQL analyzer, then find out if there is data to be returned from the database. 2. If there is data, try removing one condition at a time from the query and find out if it returns data. When the query start returning data - the last removed condition mostly likely caused a no -data retrieval issue. 3. Check the object definition in universe. That might offer some clues. 4. IF the report does not return data after removing all the conditions, start by removing the measures one at a time and then the dimension object. Somewhere along the line, the report will return data. From this point start adding back and filter out the objects which cause the nodata retrieval issue. Work on these objects separately. 5. It is always a good idea to check the SQL generated every time, so that you can avoid synchronization, join path issues and context issues.

35) How would I hide fields in a report other than formatting the cells? We can hide the column from the report without formatting. When ever you are making the report the total columns comes in data provider in form of select query. Those columns also appear in slice and dice section, you can delete that column name from slice and dice which you want to hide. If you want to take hide column again in future, you can drop from report builder to slice and dice but in same sequence which is appearing in data provider. 36) What is the difference between slice and dice and cross tab report? Slice and Dice is changing position of the Dimension. Cross tab report is like at the intersection of 2 dimensions measure is displayed. Like if we have two dimensions year and product and a measure revenue, revenue is displayed at the intersection of year and product. Slice and Dice: Arrangement of Data Crosstab report is for Comparison. 37) What is Infoview in BO? And What are the differences between BO 6.5 and BO XIR2? Business Objects Enterprise comes with Info View, a web desktop that acts as a window to a broad range of useful business information around your company. From Info View, you can access Crystal reports, OLAP Intelligence reports, Web Intelligence documents, Desktop Intelligence documents, and other objects, and organize them to suit your preferences. The features that are available in Info View vary by content type, but in general, you can view information in your web browser, export it to other business applications (such as Microsoft Excel), and save it to a specified location. Business Objects Enterprise also provides access to a range of analytic tools that help you explore information in more detail. In BO 6.5 Info View is a web application that must be deployed after Business Objects installation using the Configuration Tool, deploy, or manual procedures. In XI R2 it is available in JSP and ASP platforms. The out-of-the-box portal in Business Objects Enterprise XI is also called Info View. Available for both a Java and .NET platform, its interface is somewhat different from the Business Objects 6.x application. 38) How do we check the data is correct or not in the report after generating the query? Step1: First run the same report query in TOAD or SQL Navigator. Take the count of rows. Step2: Run the report in BO client and after getting the results click on data manager. Under results tab click on Export button. Step3: Click on radio button Export to local format. Give format as Microsoft excel files.

Step 4: Count the rows in excel. Check with the count of rows from TOAD. If it is same then the report is correct. 39) What is the difference between BO and Web Intelligence? Business Objects is a software which help the user to create their own report without knowing the SQL coding. Web Intelligent is a report type which is available in the Business Objects software. Also Business Objects XI R2 supports Crystal Report; Desktop Intelligent Report (Namely called as Business Objects Report) Web intelligent reports are created only through web based technology. It doesnt require any application installed on client machine. Info view is nothing but another name of web intelligence. We also call it BO thin client. DeskI is thick client as we need software installed on the system to access BO reports etc whereas in case of WebI the BO installed on the server and we need to access it through our browser 40) Class A logical grouping of objects and conditions within a universe. In general, the name of a class reflects a business concept that conveys the category or type of objects. A class is a logical grouping of objects within a universe. In general, the name of a class reflects a business concept that conveys the category or type of objects. For example, in a universe pertaining to human resources, one class might be Employees. A class can be further divided into subclasses. In the human resources universe, a subclass of the Employees class could be Personal Information. As designer, you are free to define hierarchies of classes and subclasses in a model that best reflects the business concepts of your organization. 41) How do you design a universe? The design method consists of two major phases. During the first phase, you create the underlying database structure of your universe. This structure includes the tables and columns of a database and the joins by which they are linked. You may need to resolve loops which occur in the joins using aliases or contexts. You can conclude this phase by testing the integrity of the overall structure. During the second phase, you can proceed to enhance the components of your universe. You can also prepare certain objects for multidimensional analysis. As with the first phase, you should test the integrity of your universe structure. You may also wish to perform tests on the

universes you create from the Business Objects User module. Finally, you can distribute your universes to users by exporting them to the repository or via your file system. For a universe based on a simple relational schema, Designer provides Quick Design, a wizard for creating a basic yet complete universe. You can use the resulting universe immediately, or you can modify the objects and create complex new ones. In this way, you can gradually refine the quality and structure of your universe. 42) How to create Context? Contexts are used to avoid Loops in Universe Design. To create context: Go to Tools --> Detect Loops, BO will detect loops if there are any & will suggest the context candidate (something like Sales, Costs that is related to that specific subject area) Select the suggested candidate & click on create Context. It will map all those joins that are required for say Sales subject area & put it in Sales Context. Same with Costs. So it will avoid the conflicts in path by using Contexts. This Auto Detection works in most of the times....but not always. 43) What are the Functional & Architectural Differences between Business Objects & Web Intelligence Reports? Functional Differences: 1. BusinessObjects client needs to be installed on every PC from where you want to build / access reports. WebI needs just a browser & URL (of the server from where it will access BO). 2. BOMAIN.Key file needs to be copied on every individual PC that uses BO client. WebI doesn't need it. 3. You need to stick to those PCs which have BO client installed, WebI can let you access even when you are roaming anywhere in the world (provided the access conditions i.e. internet/VPN enabled WebI web server) Architectural Differences: 1. BO Client: client machine calls BOMAIN.key on its local drive that sends info to BO Server's BOMAIN.key, validates it, and then checks it into Repository, after repository validation user can access the BO services. 2.WebI : user logs into WebI using Info View from web-browser, it talks to the WebI Web server, web server's BOMAIN.key checks the privileges of that user, send info to BO server's BOMAIN.key, that validates the info & forwards to Repository, if it validates the info, gives access to the universe & underlying database.

44) Loop Loop is a logical and pictorial representation of tables joined in such a way that the join's paths begin and end with the same table. Usually such a table would return less number of rows and it is usually the intersection condition values. Loops are resolved by Alias Table, Contexts. 45) What is the difference between Data warehousing and Business Intelligence? Data Warehousing: It is a process that includes the extracting the data (from source systems), cleaning, transforming and delivering them to the Data Warehouse (databases) for the loading purpose. DWH is a database which is subject oriented, non volatile and time variant. Business Intelligence: In the simplest form, BI can be defined as the process of converting the information contained in the DWH into knowledge and using that knowledge for the business gain purpose. Data ware house is a relational database and it design analysis and transformation processing. Data warehousing is a subject oriented, integrated, time varient and nonvolatile collection of the data, the support and management of the decision making process. Business Intelligence is collection of data warehousing, data mart and knowledge. 46) Can we take report on Excel in BO? A. After creating the report with extension .rep, File Menu Save as Excel option can be given. Yes, we can take the report in excel sheet I have linked 2 data provider...and generate the report...in that report how can I find the which data is comming from which data provider? n Report, go to structure mode you can see all the data with its corresponding data provider name as . Empname (Dataprovidername1) sal (dataprovidername2) 47) What are different types of saving options in web intelligence? A. Save as a personal document save this document to Info View for your personal use Save to my computer Save this document to your computer as: Microsoft Excel format (.xls), PDF Format, BO report (.rep) 48) What are the various modules in Business Objects product Suite?

Supervisor Supervisor is the control center for the administration and security of your entire Business Objects deployment. Designer Designer is the tool used to create, manage and distribute universe for Business Objects and Web Intelligence Users. A universe is a file that contains connection parameters for one or more database middleware and SQL structure called objects that map to actual SQL structure in the database as columns, tables and database. Business Objects Full client Reporting tool Helps to create business objects reports based on the universe and also from the other data sources. Business Objects Thin client Reporting tool Helps to query and analysis on the universe and also share the report among other users. It doesnt require any software, just need a web browser and the system connected to the business objetcs server. Auditor: Tool is used for monitor and analysis user and system activity. Application Foundation: This module covers a set of products which is used for Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). 49) When to use local filter and when to use global Filter? A local filter would apply to just a single block (table, cross tab or chart) within your report. A global filter would apply to all blocks in your report, so if you had many tables the filter would apply to all of them. 50) How to break a Date field into Year, month, week, and day? (For example: I have a field INVOICE_DATE. Now I want to break it as Year, month..... i.e. in time dimension.) DO I need to have some changes in Universe? Create objects in your universe with date functions Let's say your DB is Oracle. In your "Select" statement of new object called year, try to_char(INVOICE_DATE, 'YYYY') similarly for month create object called month & repeat process, simply replace'YYYY' with 'MM' of 'MMM' in the select statement. & so on.