Top most important Business Objects interview questions and answers by Experts:
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1) What is business objects?
Business objects provides a set of tools for building data warehouses very efficiently. Business objects is an integrated query, reporting and analysis solution for business professionals that allow them to access the data in their corporate databases directly from their desktop and present and analyze this information in a business objects document.
2) What is Designer?
Designer is the Business objects product that is intended to develop the universes. These universe is the semantic layer of the database structure that isolates from technical issues of the database structure.
3) How many modes are there in BO & Designer?
There are two modes are there in BO and Designer are :
Enterprise Mode
Workgroup Mode
4) What are the different types of data providers supported by BO?
Queries on Universe
Stored procedure
Free hand SQL
Text files or Spread sheets
VBA Procedures
OLAP servers
SAP
5) What are the different multidimensional analysis methods available in Business Objects?
There are two multidimensional analysis methods available in BO, they are :
Slice and Dice
Drill Down
6) What are the different @ Functions?
@Aggregate_Aware
@Prompt
@Script
@Select
@Variable
@Where
7) What is the difference between @Prompt and @Script?
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).
8) What is a context?
A context is a rule by which determines which of two paths can be chosen when more than one path is possible in the database.
9) What are the disadvantage of using contexts?
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.
10) What is BO?
BO is an excellent tool for generation of reports, carrying out detailed analysis, graphical presentation of the results and generation of alerts.
11) What are data integration tools?
Data integration tools are used to extract data from existing databases, carry out the necessary transformations and load the data into the target database using a GUI.
12) What are the components of data integrator?
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 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.
13) What is a Business Objects Repository?
The Business Objects repository is a centralized set of relational data structures stored on a database. This relational device enables Business objects and Web intelligence users to share resources in a controlled and secured environment.
14) What are the types of business objects repository domain?
The repository is made up of three domains are:
The security domain
The universe domain
The document domain
15) What is BI platform?
This platform provides a set of common services to deploy, use and manage the tools and applications. These services are security, broadcasting, collaboration, metadata and developer services.
16) What is BCA?
BCA is a software product for the users of WEBI and BO to process and distribute documents automatically at the scheduled dates and time.
17) What are the features in BCA?
Automated document scheduling and publishing
On the server side, CORBA–enabled features such as load balancing and server optimization using caches
Tracing BROADCAST AGENT activity
Access and security
18) What is a chasm trap?
Many to one joins from two fact tables converge on a single lookup table. This type of join convergence is called a Chasm trap.
19) What is a fan trap?
A one to many join links a table which is in turn linked by a one to many join. This type of fanning out of one to many joins is called a Fan trap.
20) What is a Loop?
In a relational database, a loop occurs when joins form multiple paths between lookup tables. if a query includes more than one path, the information returned can be incorrect. The rows that are returned are an intersection of the results for each path, so fewer rows are returned than expected.
21) What is universe?
A universe is a set of classes and objects intended for a specific application or group of users.
22) What are the types of OLAP?
ROLAP (Relational OLAP)
MOLAP (Multidimensional OLAP)
HOLAP (Hybrid OLAP)
23) What are the different schemas supported by BO Designer?
Star Schema
Snowflake Schema
Multistar Schema
Normalized production Schema
Data warehouse with aggregates
24) What is the repository?
The repository is the database in which the information about the users and data is present. It is created and maintained by the general supervisor. It is used to share resources of business objects.
25) What are the types of repository domains?
There are three types of repository domains
Universe domain : It holds all the exported universes and there may be more than one universe domain in the repository.
Document domain : It holds all exported documents, templates, scripts, and lists of values.
Security domain : secured connections are stored in this.
26) How is a fan trap solved?
A Fan trap is solved in the following way :
Creating an Alias and applying Aggregate Aware function.
Using Multiple SQL statements for each Measure.
27) What is user objects?
User objects are end–user personal objects that are not shared with other end-users. This is because the user objects are stored locally in a specific user object definition file. If an end-user tries to refresh or edit query that contains another user’s user object, the user object is automatically removed from the query and report. A user object is stored inside the Universe folder.
28) What are the various Business Objects products?
User Module
Designer
Supervisor
Auditor
Set Analyzer
Info View (Web Intelligence)
Business Objects Software Development Kit (SDK)
Broadcast Agent
29) What are strategies?
A strategy is a script that automatically extracts structural information from a database or flat file.
30) What are the different types of Strategies?
In Designer we can specify two types of strategies :
Built in strategies
External strategies
31) What are the types of users in Business Objects?
General Supervisor
Supervisor
Designer
Supervisor Designer
End User
Versatile User
32) What is Web Intelligence?
Web Intelligence is a decision support solution designed to meet critical query, reporting and analysis needs over the World Wide Web and has features very similar to Business Objects.
33) What are master/detail reports?
Master/detail reports enable you to split large blocks of data into sections. This type of presentation allows you to avoid repeating values and also to display subtotals.
34) What are calculation contexts?
By default, BUSINESS OBJECTS determines the result of a measure based on the dimension or dimensions in the part of the report in which the measure is inserted. These sets of dimensions are called calculation contexts. Calculation contexts are dynamic in BUSINESS OBJECTS.
35) What is Dimension?
It is a structural attribute of a cube, which is used for multidimensional analysis.
36) What is supervisor?
Supervisor is the product is used to set up and maintain a secure environment for Business Objects products.
37) What are the types of dimensions?
There are four types of dimensions are :
Informational Dimension
Structural Dimension
Categorical Dimension
Partitioning Dimension
38) What is a Data Provider?
The data source (Query) is called as the data provider.
39) What are the tasks of the universe designer?
The responsibilities that universe designer has
Designing, Creating and maintaining the Universe
Distributing the Created Universes
40) What are different types of parsing?
There are two types of parsing are :
Quick parsing
Thorough parsing
41) What is the use of Check integrity?
Check Integrity can detect :
Invalid syntax in the SQL definition of an object, condition, or join.
Loops
Isolated tables
Isolated joins
Loops within contexts
Missing or incorrect cardinalities
42) What are the user profiles in Supervisor?
SUPERVISOR offers several standard profiles for the various types of users of Business Objects products.
General Supervisor
Supervisor
Designer
Supervisor-Designer
User
Versatile
43) What is a LOV?
A list of values is a file that contains the data values associated with an object. Lists of values can reveal information about the contents of a database.
44) What is a category in supervisor?
A category is a keyword or phrase end-users can assign to documents when they send them to users, groups, or BROADCAST AGENT.
45) What are the disadvantages of using a Alias?
When we create Alias, it creates a new/extra table and this increases the number of tables in the universe, and this can be a problem, if performance is a issue
46) What are the types of connection available in Designer?
The database connection is categorized into three types :
Personal
Shared
Ssecured
47) Explain personal, shared and secured?
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 shared type of connection we can use the 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 setup in testing environment before publishing them.
Secured : In secured type of connection we can centralize and control access to secure the data. The secured connections are stored in security domain and are distributed to all the designers and supervisors who have the appropriate privileges.
48) When do u use a Context?
When you have dimension objects in one or both fact tables, you should always use a context.
49) What is symbolic objects?
Objects whose values are text are referred to as Symbolic objects.
50) What is data mining?
Data Mining is the analysis of data and use of software techniques for extracting hidden, comprehensible, and useful information from databases.
51) When do u use Multiple Universes?
You can use multiple universes to solve a Chasm trap in a WEBINTELLIGENCE universe when Multiple SQL for Measures cannot be used as there are dimension objects defined for one or both of the fact tables.
52) What are the different methods by which we can link the universes?
There are three approaches available for linking universes :
The kernel approach
The master approach
The component approach
53) Explain kernel approach, master approach and component approach?
Kernel Approach : With the kernel approach, one universe contains the core components. These are the components common in all universes. The derived universes that you create from this kernel universe contain these core components as well as their own specific components.
Master Approach : In this approach, one master universe holds all possible components. In the universes derived from this master, certain components are hidden; in other words, the components visible in the derived universes are a subset of the master universe.
Component Approach : It involves merging two or more universes into one universe.
54) What is a report bursting?
Report bursting allows you to maintain the version documents based on the user profiles.
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55) What is aggregate awareness?
Aggregate awareness is a feature of DESIGNER that makes use of aggregate tables in a database. These are tables that contain pre-calculated data. The purpose of these tables is to enhance the performance of SQL transactions; they are thus used to speed up the execution of queries.
56) What is metadata?
Metadata is defined as the data about data. Metadata describes the entity and attributes description.
57) What is a Batch?
Batches provide a way to group sessions for either serial or parallel execution by the Informatica Server.
58) Define Cubes?
A cube consists of a set of ordered dimensions and measures. A cube may have one or several dimensions.
59) What is surrogate key?
A system generated artificial primary key that is not derived from any data in the database. It is similar to the object identifier in an object oriented system.
60) What is slice and dice?
An operation that allows one to select a portion of the data of a fact on the basis of specified values in one or several dimensions.
61) What are the benefits of linked universe?
A dynamic link may considerably reduce development and maintenance time. When you modify a component in the kernel universe, DESIGNER propagates the change to the same component in all the derived universes.
Instead of re–creating common components each time you create a new universe, you can centralize such components in a kernel universe, and then include them in all new universes.
Linked universes facilitate specialization. Development can be split between database administrators who set up a basic kernel universe, and the more specialized designers who create more functional universes based on their specific field.
Can Dimension and Measure objects both be used for Drill down analysis?
NO, Measure object cannot be used in Drill down analysis.
62) What is drill down?
The drill down operation performs the operation opposite to the roll–up operation, i.e., it moves from a more general level to a detailed level in a hierarchy, thus presenting more detailed measures.
63) What is drill across?
The drill across operation executes queries involving more than one cube.
64) What is drill through?
The drill through operation allows one to move from data at the bottom level in a cube to data in the operational systems from which the cube was derived.
65) What is the default qualification of a object?
By default, DESIGNER automatically assigns a dimension qualification to an object you create.
66) What are Lookup and Fact Tables?
A lookup (Dimension) table contains information about the entities. In general the Dimension and details objects are derived from lookup tables. A fact table contains the statistical information about transactions.
67) What is slice?
The slice operation performs a selection on one dimension of a cube,resulting in a subcube.
68) What is roll up?
The roll up operation transforms detailed measures into summarized ones. This is done when on moves up in a hierarchy or reduces a dimension.
69) What is materialized view?
A view which is physically stored in a database. Materialized views allow query performance to be enhanced by precalculating costly operations.
70) What are the main components of the Designer Interface?
The main components that interact in the designing of universe are
Table browser : The table browser is used to choose the tables and columns.
The Structure pane : The Structure pane refers the database structure of the universe.
The Universe pane : The Universe pane refers the components in which it is going to use in BO or WEBI documents.
71) Does Cardinality have any effect on the generation of the query?
Cardinality has no effect in the generation of SQL. Its sole purpose is to provide enough information to DESIGNER so that it can detect and resolve loops.
72) What are new in BO 5.1?
Save business objects documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).
Add hyperlinks to reports such as mail addresses and web site addresses. These hyperlinks are maintained when you save the report in HTML or PDF.
Zero Administration : Only the business objects client software installed on the windows pc; all middleware is stored and administered on the web intelligence web server and the server side processing is handled by the web intelligence system.
73) What is a class?
A class is a collection of objects with in a universe. A class can further divided into subclasses. Using this classes and subclasses we can define the hierarchy.
74) What is Drill up/down/by/through?
Drill mode allows you to analyze data from different angles and on different levels of detail.
Drill down displays next level of detail in hierarchy.
Drill up goes back up through the hierarchy to display data on less detailed levels.
By using Drill by option you can move to another hierarchy to analyze other data that belongs to a different hierarchy.
Drill Through – If the lowest level of detail you need is not currently available in the report, you can drill through to the database directly from drill mode and get the data you need. You do not have to edit the query in the Query Panel.
75) What are the ways by which you can distribute the Universe?
There are two ways to distribute a universe: through the repository or through the file system .
76) What are enterprise and workgroup modes?
Enterprise mode means that you are working in an environment with a repository. Workgroup mode means that you are working without a repository. The mode in which you save your universe determines whether other designers are able to access them. By default, a universe is saved in the mode in which you are already working. For example, if you launched a session in enterprise mode, any universe you save is automatically in that mode.
77) What is a macro?
A macro is a series of commands and functions that are stored in a Visual Basic for Applications module and can be run whenever you need to perform the task. If you perform a task repeatedly, you can automate the task with a macro. You create macros using the Visual Basic Editor.
78) Is a default lov assigned to a Measure object?
No default list of values is assigned to measure objects.
79) What is aggregate aware?
Aggregate awareness is a feature of DESIGNER that makes use of aggregate tables in a database. These are tables that contain precalculated data. The purpose of these tables is to enhance the performance of SQL transactions; they are thus used to speed up the execution of queries.
80) What is the syntax of a Aggregate Aware function?
The syntax of the @Aggregate_Aware function is as follows : @Aggregate_Aware(sum(agg_table_1), … sum(agg_table_n)) where agg_table_1 is the table with the highest level of aggregation, and agg_table_n the table with the lowest level.
81) Is Universe MOLAP or OLAP?
MOLAP – Multidimensional Online Analytical Processing.
82) What is intelligent binning?
A powerful BUSINESSMINER feature which automatically and intelligently divides numeric values into “bins” based on the range, values and distribution of the data.
83) What is an add-in?
Add-ins are programs that add optional commands and features to BUSINESS OBJECTS. Add-ins are usually created by those responsible in your company for adding customized features to BUSINESS OBJECTS. All you probably need to do is install and uninstall add-ins that are sent to you.
84) Can a Universe have more than one fact Table?
Yes. Typically a universe can have more than one fact table and numerous aggregated tables.
85) What is the difference between built in strategies and external strategies?
Built in Strategies : Designer provides a number of default strategies which we can use. These are strategies for extracting joins, detecting cardinalities, and creating default classes and objects. Options for indicating default strategies are located in the Database tab of the Options dialog box.
External Strategies : We can also create our own strategies. Such strategies are referred to as external strategies. With an external strategy, we can specify the exact way that objects and joins are to be extracted from the database structure. The strategy we use, for example, can be a script generated from a CASE Access tool. An external strategy is specific to one RDBMS.
86) Is Universe MOLAP or OLAP?
MOLAP – Multidimensional Online Analytical Processing.
87) What is intelligent binning?
A powerful BUSINESSMINER feature which automatically and intelligently divides numeric values into “bins” based on the range, values and distribution of the data.
88) What is an add-in?
Add-ins are programs that add optional commands and features to BUSINESS OBJECTS. Add-ins are usually created by those responsible in your company for adding customized features to BUSINESS OBJECTS. All you probably need to do is install and uninstall add-ins that are sent to you.
89) Can a Universe have more than one fact Table?
Yes. Typically a universe can have more than one fact table and numerous aggregated tables.
90) What are the different schemas supported by BO Designer?
Star Schema
Snowflake Schema
Multistar Schema
Normalized production Schema
Data warehouse with aggregates
91) What is a join?
Join combines columns and data from two or more tables. Join is the relation that occurs between the two tables that helps to combine into one table. The purpose of join is that to restrict the Cartesian product.
92) How many types of join are available?
Designer supports the following types of joins :
equi joins
outer joins
theta joins
shortcut joins
93) What is theta join?
A join is a relational operation that causes two or more tables with a common domain to be combined into a single table. The purpose of joins is to restrict the result set of a query run against multiple tables.
How do you determine that you are working on the latest edition of the Universe?
Each time you export a universe to a universe domain, DESIGNER increments the revision number of the universe. In this way, you can determine which is the latest version of the universe.
94) What are the resources that are managed by supervisor?
Business objects products
Universes
Documents
Repository domains
Stored Procedure
95) What are linked universe?
Linked universes are universes that share common components such as parameters, classes, objects, or joins. Among linked universes, one universe is said to be the kernel or master universe while the others are the derived universes.
96) What are two modes for importing users & groups from supervisor?
Batch Mode : The purpose of batch mode is to automate user and group import operations with no intervention from the interface.
Interactive Mode : Dialog boxes will appear as the file is imported to allow you to confirm the information. This is the default mode.
97) What is the difference between rolap and molap?
ROLAP (Relational OLAP) : Users see their data organized in cubes and dimensions but the data is really stored in RDBMS. The performance is slow. A storage mode that uses tables in a relational database to store multidimensional structures.
MOLAP (Multidimensional OLAP) : Users see their data organized in cubes and dimensions but the data is really stored in MDBMS. Query performance is fast.
What types of tables?
BUSINESSOBJECTS has three types of table. It has two basic table types that display data in a list and crosstabs, which are a special kind of table that allows you to summarize data.
Tables
Crosstab tables
Free Standing Cells