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BUSINESS OBJECTS

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Table Of Contents

Welcome & Introduction to Business Objects Page 3

What You Can Get From Business Objects Page 4

Data Warehouse Page 5

Getting Started Page 6 - 7

Retrieving and Refreshing a Query Pages 8 – 14

Printing Page 15

Saving the file to Excel Page 16

Retrieving a sent Query Page 17

Leaving Business Objects Page 18

Additional Business Objects Training Page 19

Business Objects Users Group – UM Flint Campus Page 20

Thank You! Page 21

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Welcome and Introduction

• Welcome:We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the University of Michigan – Flint, Beginners (Basic) Business Objects Learning Session. This was created to give you a basic understanding of the essentials to get you started using this reporting tool – hope you enjoy the session.

• Introduction

Business Objects (BusObj) is a Web-based tool used for ad hoc querying and reporting against relational databases.

– It provides multiple ways to retrieve, analyze and report on data – It is used only to retrieve data not to change it (read-only)– Saving & printing using BusObj are performed similarly to Microsoft

products– It is a point-and-click environment– Tremendous flexibility in the way that data can be managed, retrieved,

and reported on– Take advantage of predefined reports or choose to create your own

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Examples of What You Can Get From BusObj:

• Budget Data (Carry forward, Base Budget, Budget Transfers, etc.)

• Revenue & Expense Data (line by line detail or high level summaries, etc.)

• Payroll (salary & fringe benefits by person, department, project/grant, etc.)

• Human Resources (appointment data, union information, tenure status, etc.)

• Procurement (PCard, purchase order, voucher information, etc.)

• Basic Information (department id, programs, project/grants, account, etc.)

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DATA WAREHOUSE

• There are multiple UNIVERSES within BusObj – which is where our University data is stored (Warehoused)

• Frequently Used Examples of these are:– FN01 Rev Exp Act and Endow (Financials)– FN06 Procurement– PR01 Payroll– HR01 Human Resource

• The Financial Services & Budget Office has up-to-date lists of employee access (training courses are needed for access).

• M-1 Forms must be completed and submitted to the Flint Financial Services and Budget Office in order to gain access.

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Getting Started …

• Logon to Wolverine Access (http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu)• University Business• Reporting• UM-Data Warehouse

• You will need to enter your UniqName, Kerboros password, and MToken.

• If you had access to the previous version of Business Objects; the first time you logon you will be required to enter your Business Objects password at the Citrix prompt.

– If you do not remember your password, you need to call the MAIS Helpdesk at (734) 936-7000 and follow the prompts.

• Confidentiality Statement:

– Some of the data is confidential, so care must be exercised in determining which data is distributed and to whom.

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Retrieving Business Objects Query

• A query is a program for retrieving data from a database and presenting the results as a report

• Most of you will be running UM-Maintained (Corporate) queries. These queries are maintained by MAIS.

• To access these queries open Public Folders then UM-Maintained.

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Most of the time you will be either working out of the Financials or Payroll Universe. Click the plus (+) sign next to Financials.

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Selecting and Refreshing a Query

• Select the FN01 Rev Exp Act and Endow. (If you clicked the + sign nothing will display)

• The number of queries that will be displayed will depend on your level of access. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and look in the right lower corner for additional pages to view.

Page numbers are displayed at bottom of screen.

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BusObj Query (cont.)

• Click on the title CMB Flint GF Department Reconciler Report. (Below the query name there is a description of the universes the query accesses. You will need access to all of the listed universes. Choose a query with known access.)

• Click Refresh Data in the right upper corner.

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• The refresh will bring up a prompt box.

1. Enter the appropriate response to each prompt box.2. Continue to the next prompt. All prompts must have entries.

(Date prompts must be entered in the mm/mm/yyyy (09/01/2007) format.)3. Click the “Run Query” button.

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Next a prompt will appear listing the various queries contained within the report that did not refresh. Review the list. Currently the AR/Billing will not

refresh. Click OK.

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Printing1.Select View on the toolbar.

2. Select PDF.3. Click the Print Icon on the PDF toolbar.

4. To return to the query, click View in HTML format.

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Saving the file to Excel1. Select Document from the toolbar.

2. Save to my computer as.3. Select Excel.

4. Select either Open or Save.

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5. To close the query; click the X in the right upper corner.

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Retrieving a sent Query

• Sometimes you may need a query that is not a UM-Maintained query. These queries can be sent to you by another user. They will arrive in your Inbox.

• To access your Inbox; click on My Folders.• Select the query and Refresh.

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Leaving Business ObjectsClick on Padlock symbol to exit Business Objects.

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Business Objects Training…

• MAISLINC website offers a variety of eLearning (online courses) and instructor lead courses.

• The Website is : https://maislinc.umich.eduThe site also has many Business Objects references in PDF format that are printable.

• In order to gain access to the Payroll Data Warehouse, you need to do the eLearning course first (contact the Flint Accounting Office if you need assistance)

• For Human Resources Data Warehouse access you will need to inquire with the Flint Accounting Office and Human Resources Department (due to increased confidentiality issues)

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Business Objects Users Group – UM Flint Campus

• Everyone is welcome !

• This is a group of users (at various skill levels)

• The main purpose of the group is to offer peer support to other UM-Flint users

• We offer lab sessions with hands-on usage

• There are meetings and hands-on sessions to go over new queries and information – serves as a great learning tool

• We offer an email list group, which allows you to email everyone in the Flint group to ask questions or provide information as you discover new things

• As knowledge bases grow, we’ll all learn from each other !

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Thank You !

We hope you enjoyed this Beginner’s Session (and learned a little something

along the way)