Product Description

Creating Universes with Designer XI is a complete learning system consisting of a thorough book and a professionally designed computer-based training application. The system is completely dedicated to teaching you how to become a competent Universe Designer. Readers learn how to create a basic universe and, even more so, how to tackle many of the complications that may arise when designing universes. These topics include chasm traps, fan traps, multi-keyed property tables, double-counting measures, multiple fact tables, and more.

Creating Universes with Designer XI is a wonderfully presented book with hundreds of large graphics, large fonts, and room for notes on every page. The topics are presented in a very smooth and organized manner, which makes the book very easy to learn from.

The Creating Universes with Designer XI computer-based training CBT contains hours of interactive video instruction on over 80 different topics. Each topic discusses or demonstrates important aspects of universe design. The CBT interface is innovative and user-friendly, allowing students to browse chapter folders to locate topic icons. Students simply click on a topic icon to view and listen to a video. This interaction allows the CBT to be both a great trainer and a complete reference. Many people will find that this CBT is actually better than attending a class.

In addition to the book and CBT, the CD contains an Adobe Acrobat presentation that allows the material to be presented in a classroom environment. Imagine teaching a class where each student gets a book and a CBT! The after-class support will be minimal, because each student will have plenty of reference material.

The author realizes that even with the best training systems, questions may arise. Therefore he has made himself accessible through his email, which is published in the book. He is very concerned that readers are able to learn the product, and therefore more than willing to answer any emails that may be sent to him.

The text, graphics, CBT, presentation, and author availability make this book a very powerful learning package that gives people every opportunity to discover how to become professional, competent Business Objects Universe Designers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #468675 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 206 pages

Review
Taking a 3 day formal course often does not fit into the plans of a developer. Or, you might find that classes are too basic or move too slowly. When the class is over, you really want to have the instructor come back to your office, since the training manuals are rarely detailed enough to use as a reference guide. This CBT allows you to watch, learn and then repeat. You truly can go at your own pace. Most courses cover the basic topics. But, Robert's course covers the basics as well as the details needed for success. This includes special parameters and features that can make a huge difference for your users. The strategy for universe testing is very useful. This CBT is a terrific alternative to traditional classroom training. --Steve Krandel: Moderator, busobj.forumtopics.com

About the Author
Since being introduced to Business Objects in 1993, Robert Schmidt has consulted at hundreds of companies throughout the world. He has worked in many different environments and businesses. Each place he has worked adds to his total knowledge of Business Objects and Business Intelligence in general. He has taken this knowledge and has written several well accepted books on Business Objects. Robert Schmidt has also trained tens of thousands of people to use Business objects applications to create Universes and reports. Since most of this training is on-site at the companies, he learns about different systems and techniques. Again, he takes this experience and knowledge and tries to put it in his books so that others can benefit. Mr. Schmidt was conferred a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Florida in 1990. While at the University of Florida, he studied robotic engineering and even built a gantry robot of his own design. He also formally studied Financial Engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic University.

Customer Reviews

Finally a BO Universe Instructor is Here, Superb Job !
Again, Robert Schmidt did a superb job with his BO
Universe Designer book. I've found answers right away to many
questions I had in mind for long time! I could have
gone to heavy BO documentation, but Robert's book
saved my time, a lot of time! He gives very good
examples on report context (previous book) and
universe context. I specially like his examples for fan and chasm
traps.

The video is so efficient in teaching! Also we can see
graphs better with the new landscape format, thank you so much
Robert for making this subject easier! Hope to see more book by you !

Useful, but lock yourself away
While there are pieces of this book that are very useful for Universe newbies, like myself, there are far too many things that have been left out. It's obvious that this book is based on Mr Schmidt's training class since things that you would see in person (like intermediate steps taken to get from A to D) are not in the book itself. You have to rely too heavily on the video segments that are on the CD to fill in the gaps - video should augment the text, not replace it.

Excelent work!
This is the third book I have bought by Robert Schmidt. I learned to design reports from his book "Creating documents with Business Objects". It is an excellent resource book. I learned to design advance level reports using his book and I always keep it as a reference. In Business Objects, the Help menu does not offer much help when you look for answers. His book is a better resource then the BO Documentation. He has explained everything in a very clear and concise manner.
In his book and CBT on "Business Objects XI: Creating Universes with Designer XI", again he has done a marvelous job in explaining basic but important aspects of creating universes. I would highly recommend both the book (for reference) and CBT( to learn faster and have a better understanding of concepts). He has given good examples on report context and universe context. The presentations are very clear. The real world examples make is so much easier to understand the concepts.
I am very much impressed by the author . Whenever I had a problem, he immediately answered my questions with the explanations. He will go an extra mile and will even call you to help you out. So, rest assure your investment will not be wasted.