SAP Universe Design tool allows users to create, edit or delete existing models published in BO repository. With Universe Designer, you can build data foundation and business layer to meet your BI report requirements and perform different functions available in UDT tool before you develop BI reports and dashboards on top of these Universes. Universe Designer helps you to create semantic layer between your Relational database and BI tool.

With Universe Designer, you can build the semantic layer for non-SAP and SAP data sources to build data models for DB objects. Once Semantic later is built, you can publish it to BO server repository and it can be used by different users to create BI reports in Web intelligence/Desktop intelligence tool and also can be used with other SAP BusinessObjects tools.

The benefits of using Universe for BI reporting is that end users can connect to Universe and run queries against database without understanding the complexity of underlying data structures. BI users can use objects used in Universe to create reports. The advantage of using Universe is to provide easy to use interface to business users which are non-technical, and they can simply drag objects to BI reports and perform ad-hoc reporting without any technical knowledge.

Key Components of a Universe

The following are the key components of Universe −

Connection to a database and connection parameters to fetch data.
SQL structure called objects which is mapped to actual objects in database- columns, tables, etc., and they are grouped in to classes and these objects are visible to Web intelligence users.
Universe contains a Schema which is made up of tables and joins created on top of database objects and is not visible to BI users. Only Universe Designer users can view and edit this schema.

Universe created using Universe Designer Tool has “.UNV” extension. Universe contains classes and objects which are defined as follows −

Classes

In Universe, the grouping of objects is known as class. The name of class normally shows objects category it contains. You can also divide classes in to subclasses based on hierarchical structure.

Objects

In Universe, an object is named component derived from a data object in database. The name of the object is usually based on its relevance to business to users. For example, Objects used by customer should be represented as Customer in Universe layer however it can be referred to XYZ column in database.

In the below image, you can see common example of classes and objects in a Universe. They can be renamed as per requirement from business users.

Universe as Semantic Layer

Universe provides a semantic layer between data warehouse and reporting tool to translate source database objects to objects relevant for business users. It can contain all aggregations for measure values, custom calculations, user prompts and filters, and other business rules relevant for reporting and dashboard requirements.

All tables and joins are applied at Universe level, and business users can simply drag objects in query panel to create BI reports.

Below diagram shows the use of Universe as Semantic layer in BI and DW environment −

SAP Universe Designer – Object Types

In a Universe, an object is derived from data in DW system. There are three types of objects used in a Universe as given below −

Dimension

Dimensions are parameters used for analysis and are also linked to hierarchies like time and geography. For example, Product, Customer, Time, Region, etc.

Detail

Detail provides more information about dimensions like Phone number, address, etc.

Measures

Measures are numerical values used in analysis and quantifies a dimension object. Examples include: Profit, Margin, Net Sales, Revenue, etc.

In the above schema, you can see different dimensions and measure values. Measure values are part of Sales fact table.

Schema in Universe designer are created based on tables and joins to return the data in BI report and dashboards. Business users do not see the schema objects, and these are only visible to Universe designers in UDT tool. Schemas are created in structure pane of Universe window in UD tool.

Here you see a schema with tables, joins and columns are used to build it.

SAP Universe Designer – User Interface

When you install BI client tools, Universe Designer is part of client tools and can be opened under SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Client Tools → Universe Design Tool as shown in the below image −

In above image, you can see Information Design Tool and Universe Design tool both available under SAP BusinessOBjects BI platform client tool. In older version of Business Objects, only UDT was available to design the universe. In BO4.0 or later, Information Design Tool was introduced to add universe created on multiple sources.

In the above image, you can see different options available under Universe Design tool user interface. It has both the “Universe” pane” containing objects and classes usually visible in Web Intelligence/Dashboard designer tool and the “Structure pane” which is only visible in Universe designer.

Universe Pane
Structure Pane

In Universe pane, you can further expand each of class to see objects created in it. These objects are named as per business requirement and easy to understand for business users.

In Structure pane, Universe designer drags table and join them to create a schema. This schema view is only visible to Universe Designers and not to business users.

To connect to a data source, connection wizard is used in UDT and you can create multiple connections in UDT however each universe is created using single connection.

Universe design tool provides a graphical interface that allows you to select and view tables in a database. The database tables are represented as table symbols in a schema diagram. You can use this interface to manipulate tables, create joins that link the tables, create alias tables, contexts, and solve loops in your schema.

The following schema types are supported:

Star Schema
Snowflakes schema
Multiple Star schema

Universe are stored in CMS repository and user connects to universe using a web browser. When user connects to Universe, he can access all the data in a database.

So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘Overview of SAP Universe Designer’ blog helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in SAP Business Object and SAP Domain. If you wish to learn SAP IDT and UDT and build a career in SAP domain, then check out our interactive, SAP Business Objects Certification Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period. Please find the link for course details:

https://www.tecklearn.com/course/sap-business-objects-certification-training/

SAP Business Objects Certification Training

About the Course

Business intelligence tools and features are used by multiple companies and firm for the effective results their large flow of data. The completion of this SAP Business Objects training will be helpful in landing yourself a good paying job. With this Business Objects online training, you will gain considerable proficiency in SAP BO architecture, data warehousing, use of Information design tool, create multiple reports and the implementation of Web intelligence and Efficiency in solving the issues of data sources and Crystal dashboard design.

Why Should you take SAP Business Objects Training?

The Average salary of SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Analyst is $94,000 per annum – PayScale.com
Business Objects is an enterprise reporting tool and Scalability is one of the primary reasons large corporations choose Business Objects for their BI needs.
Worldwide Business Intelligence and Analytics Market to grow to $22.8 billion in next 2 years – Gartner.

What you will Learn in this Course?

Introduction to Business Objects

History and Version of Business Object
How Business Objects works in SAP family
SAP BO-Business Intelligence package and tool list
Data warehousing concept from SAP perspective

SAP Business Object Architecture

SAP BO Architecture
Various tiers in architecture: Client, Processing, Intelligence

SAP Web Intelligence

Web Intelligence Overview
Variable in Web Intelligence environment

Using Universe Designer Tools (UDT)

Overview of the Universe Designer Tool
Working with shared, secured and personal connections
Understanding of the Semantic layer

SAP BO Reports

SAP BO Reports
Chart Reports, Table Reports, Sorting and aggregating of Reports
Various elements of Reports, graphs, text elements
Reports and Filters
Section Report
Break Report
Alerts Report
Scope of Analysis Panel
Conditional Reporting
Ranked Report
Drill Report

Advanced Formatting

Advanced methods of formatting in SAP BO
Identifying Chasm trap and resolving Chasm traps with various methodologies
Detection and resolving of loop

Information Design Tool (IDT) Integration

Introduction to SAP BO information design tool
Extracting data from various sources using OLAP methodologies
Creating of Universe with IDT
IDT Vs UDT
Working with IDT as an Integration tool

Getting started with Crystal Dashboard

Data visualization tool for creating interactive dashboards
Point-and-click Features
Various dashboard features and interface

Live Office

Live office
Detailed design of Crystal Dashboard

SAP BO 4.2 Features

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section and we will get back to you.

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