Expert Tips to Optimize Business Objects 6.5 for Effective Data Analysis
As businesses deal with an increasing amount of data, it’s important to utilize tools that can effectively analyze and present it. Business Objects 6.5 is a popular business intelligence tool that allows for the creation of reports, dashboards and ad-hoc queries. However, to get the most out of it, you need to take some steps to optimize its performance. Here are some expert tips to optimize Business Objects 6.5 for effective data analysis:
1. Use a Data Warehouse for Performance Optimization
Business Objects 6.5 uses multiple sources of data to create reports, which can slow down performance. To speed up the process, it is recommended to use a data warehouse that aggregates all your data. This can be accomplished by creating a view that links to the data warehouse and then using that view as a data source for reporting.
2. Use Indexes for Faster Data Retrieval
For faster data retrieval, you can use indexes on the columns you frequently query, especially those that are used in join conditions. This will help optimize the query performance and reduce the time it takes to retrieve data.
3. Optimize Report Design for Better Performance
The design of your reports can also impact performance. To optimize report design, follow these guidelines:
- Use smaller data sets: The more data you pull in a report, the slower it will be. Try to restrict the data to only what is required.
- Use simple queries: Complex queries take a longer time to execute, affecting the performance. Keep your queries as simple as possible.
- Avoid sub-reports: Sub-reports are one of the biggest performance killers in Business Objects. Use them sparingly, if at all.
- Avoid cross-tab reports: Cross-tab reports make it difficult to drill-down into data, and they take longer to generate than other types of reports.
4. Use Universe Design Best Practices
Universe design can greatly impact the performance of Business Objects reports. Here are some best practices to follow:
- Use aggregate awareness: If you expect a report to have a lot of data, use aggregate awareness to speed up the process.
- Avoid Cartesian products: Cartesian products are when two tables are joined without any common attributes. This can cause slow performance and should be avoided.
- Use aliases: Using aliases can help you avoid Cartesian products by providing a common attribute.
5. Choose the Right Hardware for Business Objects
Hardware can also impact Business Objects performance. When choosing hardware, consider these factors:
- CPU: Business Objects requires a high-performing CPU to run its processes quickly.
- Memory: Business Objects uses memory to perform data querying, so having enough memory can significantly improve performance.
- Disk configuration: Having a fast, RAID-configured disk can improve Business Objects report performance by reducing the time it takes to read and write data to the disk.
Conclusion
Optimizing Business Objects 6.5 can make a significant difference in how fast you can process and analyze data. These tips should help you get started with optimizing its performance. By using a data warehouse, creating indexes, optimizing report design, following universe design best practices, and choosing the right hardware, you can improve your data analysis outcomes.
