User Guide For Business Objects Training

STAR Reporting Universe

Version 042204

Table of Contents
TASK
Welcome Objectives Changing Your Password Lesson 1-1: Getting Started Logging Into Business Objects Terms & Navigation Lesson 1-2: The Basics Retrieving A Document Working With The Report Lesson 1-3: Working With The Report Helpful Terms & Toolbars Refresh & Filter Signature Authorization Report Demand Check Report Purchasing Report Payroll Report Center Information Report Person Report Miscellaneous Finding Data Map Feature Saving A File Printing A Report Exiting Business Objects

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Welcome
Welcome to Business Objects training for the STAR universe! This user user-guide is intended to give you step-by-step instructions on how to execute a pre-existing query using Business Objects in the STAR Universe. While this guide is very comprehensive, it does not cover the use of Business Objects in the Financial Reporting or EPIC universes. The objectives for this user guide are:

To provide you with a basic understanding of how to access and navigate within Business Objects, To provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to execute the existing Signature Authorization query, and To demonstrate helpful features such as saving and printing your report.

As a reminder, Business Objects requires the use of your VUnet ID and E-password for security authentication. If you need to reset your VUnet ID password, you can do so by visiting https://vunetid.vanderbilt.edu/faq.html. If you are ready, lets get started!

Lesson 1-1: Getting Started

Logging Into Business Objects Double-click on the Business Objects icon on your desktop, or select it from your Start menu. You will see the following screen prompting you for your username and password. For your User Name, enter your VUnet ID. For your Password, enter your E-password.

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You will know that the system has accepted your login when you see the following screen.

The New Report Wizard is a helpful feature if you are interested in creating new reports in Business Objects. Since we are primarily interested in executing an existing report, lets de-select the Run this Wizard at Startup box at the bottom left of the Welcome screen.

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Next, select the Cancel button and the following screen will appear.

Lesson 1-2: The Basics

Retrieving A Corporate Document Now that we are in Business Objects, lets find our report. At the FILE menu, go to File | Retrieve From | Corporate Documents as shown below:

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You will see a window similar to this:

Click on the Uncategorized folder under Corporate Documents, and you will see the following screen: (Note: Your screen may look slightly different.)

Locate and highlight the file SigAuth (All).rep and make sure the Open on Retrieval box has been selected. Next, click on the Retrieve button as shown below:

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You will know that the file has been successfully retrieved when you see the following screen:

Business Objects will save the file to the userDocs folder within Business Objects. Important: The Business Objects query is now located on your computer. It is not necessary to retrieve the report from Corporate Documents each time you need to run the query. The next time you need to run the query, select File| Open and select the file from your userDocs directory. Select OK from the Import Results box and the query will open. Lets pause here for now to review some terminology and talk about the report we just retrieved!

Lesson 1-3: Working With The Report

The purpose of this report is to provide you with an efficient way to view signature authority (both direct and inherited) on various nodes and centers This report includes seven tabs, including the help tab, each presenting a different view of information relating to signature authorization. You can specify the information to be presented in the report by filtering and refreshing the query. Before we start to review the report, lets cover some Business Objects Terminology and Basic Navigation. Helpful Terms

BusinessObjects Term.
Block Classes Data Provider Document Object Report Universe

What it is.
Generic term used to describe tables, crosstabs, and charts at the report level. Logical groups of related Objects. For Example: A Date Class would typically contain Year, Quarter, and Month Objects. Business Objects Query or Imported file (Excel or Text). Business Objects file with an .rpt extension. Element or Field. Tabs in a BO file, stored similar to a worksheet in Excel. Logical group of classes that includes table joins and object creation/renaming capabilities.
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Menu Bar and Toolbars

Formula Tool Bar Report Tool Bar Formatting Tool Bar Standard Tool Bar Main Menu Bar
Tip: Generally all the icons and navigation buttons that you will need for training and everyday use will be found on these toolbars. Viewing Your Report To maximize the viewing area of your report, lets minimize the Report Manager feature in Business Objects. The Report Manager is the panel on the left-hand side of your screen. To hide this panel, select the x as demonstrated in the following screen: Click Here

Now that we have closed the Report Manager, you should have a cleaner screen with more viewing area for your report.
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Report Components As mentioned above, this report has six tabs containing signature authorization information. Each tab displays different signature authorization information. The report tabs are as follows:

o Signature Authorization
o o o o o Refresh and Filter During the course of your work, you will find it necessary to search STAR to locate the information that you need. The following steps will assist you in using the Business Objects query to locate only the centers, roles, or Vunet IDs that are necessary. We will use the Refresh Data Icon to help us complete the search. You will find the Refresh Data icon on the Standard toolbar. Please see above for a review of using toolbars in Business Objects. When you click on the Refresh Data Icon, you will see the following screen containing Filter prompts: Demand Check Purchasing Payroll Center Information Person Information

There are four (4) categories in which you can filter, or search for your data. They are Center, Role, VUnet ID, and Direct/Inherited access. The following pages will review the use of each filter and the values that can be entered for each filter. The values button will display a list of all the available options, or values for each of the four filters. This is extremely important if you are searching for multiple items or if you are not sure of what the available values are for a filter. You can select individual values with a click of the mouse, or you can select multiple values by pressing the Control button and then clicking your mouse.

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Filter by Center: To filter using the low-level centers, simply key in the 10-digit center number, without hyphens. If you have multiple centers to enter, or need to search for a center, you may want to use the Values button. A partial listing of values for Filter by Center is shown below:

Filter by Role: To filer by Role, enter the role name into the text box. Note: Because the naming convention for the roles is so specific, it is recommended that you use the values option to select the desired roles. The following screen print is a partial list of values for the Role filter.

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Filter by VUnet ID: To filter by VUnet ID, enter desired Vunet ID into the text box. PLEASE NOTE: When filtering by VUnet ID, you must enter the entire ID in all CAPITALS. The screen print below is a partial list of all available IDs

Filter by Direct/Inherited Access: To filter by Direct or Inherited Access, simply enter the words Direct or Inherited into the text box Here are a few helpful tips when filtering your data.

o It is important to note that a Filter Text Box cannot be left empty. If you do not want to filter by
a specific value(s), then you must return all values. This is done by entering a space in the Filter Text Box. Click in the text box under the filter and press the space bar. A space is represented in Business Objects by the @{}@ symbol. This is normal and can be expected. A Filter Text Box with @{}@ in it will return all values for that field.

o Not all filters should be used with every report tab.

At this point, select the OK button and your report will refresh with requested information. Now, lets move on and review report tabs!

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The following pages will provide you with information on each report tab and filter recommendations. Signature Authorization Tab - This report provides you with a list of all individuals with any type Signature Authorization for a requested center(s). The report will display the requested center number and name, as well as, the first and last name, the VUnet ID, and role for each person with Signature Authority at this center. The recommended filters to use for this report are 1, 2 & 3 with the 4th filter set to return all values. Dollar limits are also displayed for appropriate roles.

Demand Check This report provides a list of persons and their Signature Authorization Roles by center customized for users in the Demand Check areas. The report will display the following codes: Y indicates the individual has Signature Authority for a particular role at this center. N indicates the individual does not have Signature Authority for a particular role at this center. All indicates that the individual has approval for all dollar amounts for this particular role and center. Specific dollar amounts indicate the level of authority that an individual has for a particular role and center. The recommended filter is #1 only. Set filters 2, 3& 4 to return all values.

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Purchasing - This report provides you with a list of persons with Signature Authorization authority for Purchase Requisition, Small PO and Capital Requisition roles by center. The report will display the following codes: Y indicates the individual has Signature Authority for a particular role at this center N indicates the individual does not have Signature Authority for a particular role at this center. All indicates that the individual has approval for all dollar amounts for this particular role and center. Specific dollar amounts indicate the level of authority that an individual has for a particular role and center. The recommended filter is #1 only. Set filters 2, 3 & 4 to return all.

Payroll - This report provides a list of persons and their Signature Authorization Roles by center customized for users in the Payroll area. The report will display the following codes: Y indicates the individual has Signature Authority for a particular role at this center. N indicates the individual does not have Signature Authority for a particular role at this center. The recommended filter is #1 only. Set filters 2, 3 & 4 to return all.

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Center Information This report will provide the name and address of the person responsible for the requested center(s). An Open/Close field is will populate the status of the requested center(s). The recommended filter is #1 only. Set filters 2, 3 & 4 to return all.

Person Information This report displays detailed Signature Authorization information in VUnet ID and cost center combinations. For each person and center combination, you can see the following information: The Signature Authority Role(s). The Tree in which they have authority, and at the highest node within that Tree that they have been granted access. Whether the access is Direct or Inherited. Any combination of filters works well with this report.

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Lesson 1-4: Miscellaneous

There are two ways to find data in the results of your query. They are the Find-In-Report Tool and the Map Feature in Report Manager. Finding Data (Find In Report Tool) Business Objects provides with you the ability to search your data for specific information. To do this, select the binocular icon from the Standard Toolbar. When prompted, enter the numbers or characters that you wish to search for and select Find Next. Business Objects will take you to the first occurrence of that item. The following screen demonstrates this feature in action.

Map Feature The second feature that allows you to locate data in your report is the Map Feature. The Mapping Feature is located in the Report Manager. As you recall, we closed the Report Manager at the beginning of the training so that we had more room to view our report. For this exercise, we need to bring the Report Manager back into view. To do this, simply click the Report Manager icon Menu Toolbar, or select View| Report Manager from the Main Menu Toolbar. from the Standard

The Report Manager panel will now be visible on the left-hand side of your screen. At the top of the panel you will see two tabs: Data and Map. In the lower left-hand corner of the Report Manager panel there are two radio buttons. The button on the left is the default selection and it displays data in alphabetical order. With that button highlighted, click on the Map tab and you should see the following in the Report Manager panel:

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While working within the Map tab, observe what happens to your report data when you click on the various report names. The map feature will automatically take you to that portion of the report. Also notice what happens when you click on the bullet points under the report name. The Map Feature automatically takes you to that point in the report. This is especially helpful if you are trying to locate one specific name or cost center. Saving A File There may be a situation where you need to save a copy of the data returned in your query. Business Objects will allow you to save you results as an Excel file. To do this, simply select File| Save As| and the following screen will appear: Note: The files listed in your userDocs will be different.

In the Save as type: drop down menu, select Microsoft Excel Worksheet then select Save and your report will be saved in the .XLS format.

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Printing A Report Occasionally, you may have a need to print a hardcopy of one of the report tabs in your query. To do this, select File| Print Preview and the report tab in which you are viewing will be displayed. See the following screen as an example of one of the report tabs in Print Preview mode. When you are comfortable with the page setup, select print and the report will print as displayed.

Exiting Business Objects When you have completed your work in Business Objects and you are ready to exit, select File| Close to exit the query. Next, select File| Exit to leave the Business Objects tool.

Business Objects User Help & Support

Business Objects offers an extensive amount of electronic-based Help. Select Help from the Main Menu toolbar and you will access the on-screen help window as shown below:

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For your reference, quick index searches can be performed by clicking on Business Objects Help at the top of the Help menu. If further details are needed, you can access an extensive library of Help documentation by selecting one of the two the Business Objects User Guides. You can also get assistance by contacting the FIS Support Desk using the following website, email address and phone number.

FIS Support Desk

Website: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/fis Email: fis-applications@vanderbilt.edu Phone: 322-7979

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