Data masking vs Business object security in SAP BusinessObjects

In the previous article, we talked about how to implement data masking using data security profiles at the universe level to prevent users from viewing sensitive data. Data Masking in SAP BusinessObjects However we can also use business security profiles to limit users from accessing certain objects. In this article, I’d like to present my thoughts on both methods. (more…)
February 23rd, 2019 by David Lai 

Data masking in SAP BusinessObjects

One of the cool features with Information Design Tool and UNX universes is the ability to point to different table views depending on your security profile. Because of this, we can easily perform data masking, which allows us to mask restricted data. For example, I have 2 different types of users. Group FULL who can see all revenue/cost measures, and Group PUBLIC who can see revenue measures but...

January 14th, 2019 by David Lai 

Handling many-to-many joins using a bridge table (Part 1)

As a data warehouse architect, star schemas are great until we encounter the dreaded many-to-many fact to dimension scenario. For example, we have a Ticket Fact table and a Tag Dimension table. The cost metric is calculated at the ticket level, so tickets have the lowest granularity and hence the ticket fact table.   However tickets can be tagged with multiple describers. A ticket can be interesting,...

August 3rd, 2017 by David Lai 

Cascading Prompts in BOBJ Dashboards and WEBI

A cascading prompt, helps the user focus on values they want to include in the prompt without the need to go through every possible value. A great example comes from a list of cities around the world. Imagine if we had to go through a huge dropdown list every time in order to find our desired city. It would be much easier if we can first select a country, then province/state and then the city. This...

March 12th, 2015 by David Lai 

Cascading List of Values

List of Values is a powerful feature that allows users to select from a pick list when setting conditions in a query. This is especially important if you want to query on codes linked to a set of products. Using the List of Values feature, you will not need to memorize which codes go to which products. The part that I would like to focus on is Cascading List of Values. In a real world Data warehouse...

January 8th, 2009 by David Lai 

Best Practices for Organizing and Naming Objects

While working with many Universes, I’ve noticed that sometimes not enough attention is given to naming objects and the ordering of objects. This in turn may cause confusion with the business users since they are not completely clear on what each of the objects do. Ordering of objects When you have objects of the same class grouped together, it makes it much clearer to the business user to view...

December 4th, 2008 by David Lai 

Preventing Chasm and Fan Traps!

In this article I would like to talk about Chasm traps and Fan traps. These are problems that we often experience while building universes and reports. When encountering these traps, one may wonder what is going on? How come my sum statements arent adding up correctly? Or why am I missing some rows? A properly designed universe will help avoid these problems. In addition, a good understanding about...

November 18th, 2008 by David Lai