Review of Information Design Tool 4.1

It’s been a while since I wrote my initial review on Information Design Tool (IDT) in SAP BusinessObjects 4.0. If you’ve read that post, you know that I was frustrated with missing features in IDT, as compared to Universe Design Tool. Every time I found a missing feature, I opened an Idea on the SAP Idea Place, requesting that the missing feature be added. Well, as it turns out, I was the top contributor for new ideas for IDT 4.1. And nearly all of my requests were delivered in version 4.1. So, I’ve been using IDT 4.1 for quite some time now, and am ready to give my impressions.

The Good News

IDT has some really nice features that I find very helpful when doing universe development.

• Families: Tables can be grouped into families, and each family can have its own color. I will typically have a color for each fact, and a color for conformed dimensions. Aggregate tables will also have a color. I find it helps to be able to visualize the tables in this way.
• Multiple Layers: I really like the idea of creating a Data Foundation, then one or more Business Layers on top of it. It avoids the old way of recreating the table structure in multiple universes.
• Business Layer Views: Once you create a Business Layer, you can create views, in which you choose which folders and objects to expose in each view. You can also create security profiles, allowing groups access to limited views.
• Standalone Lists of Values and Prompts: Prompts and LOVs can be created once, as standalone objects, and then used in multiple objects throughout the universe. These can be created in the Data Foundation or the Business Layer.
• Table associations: This may seem minor, but I love being able to see what tables are associated with an object without opening a separate window.
• Queries: Queries can be built in the Business Layer to test the objects and joins in a universe. This eliminates the need to use another tool, such as Web Intelligence, to test as you go.
• View Data: We’ve always had the ability to view the data in a table or column, but now we can view the data in multiple columns from different tables. This is a big help when troubleshooting the Data Foundation.
• Calculated columns: These are columns that can be added to tables, using SQL calculations. This allows you to add a calculated column to a table, and then use it in multiple universes.
• Bug Free: Well, not really. But compared to IDT 4.0, it’s a huge improvement.
• Multi-Source Universes: We now have the ability to create a universe from multiple sources. We can create a multi-source universe (MSU) and include tables, for example, from Oracle and Teradata, and join them together.

The Bad News

There are still some things that I struggle with. Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent so much time in Designer, or perhaps it’s just poor design. You decide.

• Contexts: These aren’t as simple as advertised. In Designer, each join has one of two states, relative to a context. It is either in, or out, of the context. In IDT, it has three possible states. It can be included, excluded, or neutral. My experience is that this makes contexts significantly more complex. I worked on one universe that had 65 aggregate tables, plus two transaction fact tables. Setting up the context became so complex and problematic, that we ended up rebuilding the universe in UDT.
• Screen Layout: I haven’t gotten used to the way the screen is laid out. I got used to Designer, with it’s individual pop up windows. IDT doesn’t have these, so you get less screen real estate. And, it doesn’t allow anything to be undocked and moved to a second monitor.
• Custom Properties Tab: You’ll see this on folders, objects, and a few other things. It’s useless. It’s there for whenever we get an IDT SDK. So, in the meantime, there’s nothing you can do with it. So it should be hidden. Of course, that’s just my opinion.
• Alias Table Names: Again, this may seem minor, but it’s a major inconvenience. When you have an alias of a table, the Alias name, and the original name, are next to each other in the table header, and don’t wrap. So the width of the table in the Data Foundation must be sufficient to fit both names. This can be very annoying, especially with long table names. In UDT, the original name is below the Alias name, so the table doesn’t have to be so wide.
• Multi-Source Universes: Why is this listed here, as well as under Good News, above? Well, when you create a universe, you must select whether that universe will be a Single-Source, or Multi-Source, universe. Once you make that selection, you can never change it. And, if you choose Multi-Source, all queries will be routed through the Data Federation Engine, even if the universe actually has only one connection. This can slow down performance of that universe.

Should you convert your universes?

That’s a good question. I’m glad you asked. At this point, there is little benefit to the users in converting your old UNV universes to UNX universes. The only reasons you might convert them is for the benefit of universe developers who want to take advantage of some of the features, such as families, or standalone LOVs, or if you need to use these universes with products that don’t accept UNV universes, such as Lumira.

You might wonder if you should convert old universes, so you can turn them into Multi-Source universes. When a UNV universe is converted to a UNX universe, it is converted as a Single-Source universe. And remember, you cannot change a Single-Source universe into a Multi-Source universe. So, don’t convert UNV universes with the hope of making them Multi-Source. It can’t be done.

The last I heard, SAP had promised to support UNV universes until at least 2019. So, there’s little compelling reason to convert them. And if you’re comfortable working in UDT, feel free to continue. However, new universe development should be done in IDT, as much as possible. All BusinessObjects tools can access UNX universes.

Conclusion

Although IDT still has some issues, I like it. IDT 4.1 is a huge improvement over IDT 4.0. Yes, it still has bugs (So does UDT), and it still has room for improvement, but it’s getting better all the time. Let me know your opinion.