Presentations

Integra Solutions has presented at every International Business Objects User Conference since the first regional conference in 1993.  Material that is still appropriate based on product versions and features is made available here for your review.

All programs, documents, and other information found here are copyright © Integra Solutions, Inc. You may download for personal or internal corporate use, but not for resale or inclusion in any third party package for redistribution without written consent.

Select a topic from the menu at right or simply scroll through our available presentations.

Information Management

Data Integrator Deployment Best Practices
presented by Don A. Kawahigashi at Business Objects Insight 2005
Through this presentation, you will learn BusinessObjects Data Integrator practices that will ensure smooth ETL deployment, development, and administration.   Using practical examples from real-world deployments, find out about the ideal techniques for project, job, work flow and data flow development.   Learn how to use custom and built-in functions together with other Data Integrator objects to provide an optimized and consistent ETL environment that is easy to manage and maintain.

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Embedded BusinessObjects
presented by R. Keith Crump at 2003 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation discusses how to embed BusinessObjects into standard desktop applications such as Word or Excel, as well as COM and Java applications.  Sample code is included to illustrate the techniques for querying data from within a desktop application.  The presentation also demonstrates how to build an application that presents a login screen followed by a database query via ASP or JSP and a 3-tier connection.

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Architecture

Sizing for Success
presented by Deanna Glinka and P. B. Blanchard Jacobus at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Have you ever upgraded a software package and had no way of measuring whether the new system performed any better than the previous one? Without analyzing the existing system, anyone would have a hard time stating the benefits. This session will show attendees how to size systems based on existing activity rather than ballparking performance based on estimates. The metrics obtained from this analysis can be used to isolate performance problems that can addressed through the proper allocation of resources (CPU, memory, and disk).

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Growing Up UNIX
presented by Mitra Moini at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Tired of working with a Windows server? Need a more stable environment for your reporting deployment? Consider using Unix/Linux and say goodbye to your Windows woes. In this session, we will show you how to deploy Business Objects Enterprise on a Linux server and share some lessons learned from actual deployments. Attendees will learn the benefits of using UNIX/Linux and a few limitations of the operating system with tips to overcome them. We will also discuss fine tuning the server for optimum performance.

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SDK Applications in an Hour
presented by R. Keith Crump and P. B. Blanchard Jacobus at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Ever want to create a custom application using the BusinessObjects Software Developers Kit (SDK) but didn’t know how? Learn better by working on examples rather than by reading about them? This session should be perfect for you, as a real-world utility is assembled using the SDK from scratch. Attendees will witness the process every step of the way, with plenty of demonstrations that highlight new features as they are added. Source code for the utility and instructions for re-creating the same utility at home will be provided.

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     * Supplemental materials coming soon!

At Your Service! – A Web Services Primer
presented by R. Keith Crump at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
Do you need to share your enterprise data with customers and suppliers, achieve easier integration with other applications, and leverage your investment in your legacy systems?  Do you want to customize your interface and reduce network traffic, and software development cost?  At this session, we'll introduce you to the advantages and disadvantages of Web Services in a business intelligence application. And we'll illustrate the Business Objects Web Services and client-side API.  Learn through demonstration how to use the Web Services client API to log in, retrieve listings of report objects and instances, and render and schedule reports in a client-side application.

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Putting the "openDocument" Function to Work
presented by Don A. Kawahigashi and R. Keith Crump at 2004 BusinessObjects International User Conference
Would you like to integrate the delivery convenience of the WebIntelligence interface but preserve your investment in your BusinessObjects full client reports? Explore how, with very little SDK coding, you can use the “openDocument” function within the WebIntelligence SDK to customize your web portal interface, enabling you to list and launch your BusinessObjects full client reports from your portal. Learn how to present powerful but easy-to-use prompts via your web portal that can automatically open, refresh, and display a BusinessObjects report. Discover how to leverage hyperlinks to emulate a drill/navigation from the web portal to BusinessObjects full client reports.

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Making Business Objects Highly Available
presented by Don A. Kawahigashi at 2002 Business Objects International User Conference
Today timely access to current business intelligence is extremely important.   What would happen if you lost access to your data warehouse for a day, half a day, or even an hour?  What is the cost of downtime?   This presentation will demonstrate practical strategies to make your complete business intelligence deployment highly available –from the database to the BusinessObjects 2000 server.  The session will provide an overview of current High Availability technologies and specific implementation details for ensuring maximum uptime and reliability of your data warehouse, as well as for deploying a highly available BusinessObjects 2000 cluster manager on a Sun platform.

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Security

You, Me, and the CMC
presented by Scott A. Emmons at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
Are you planning a migration to the XI Release 2 platform? This session builds upon the speaker's well-received "Security from the Ground Up" series by exploring topics relevant to administrators. Learn to create application profiles that determine how users will interact with any Business Objects application. Improve your productivity by sharing and distributing administrative tasks through the power of delegated administration. Discover how to burst reports in a single pass using the new publishing profile feature. This session also covers essential CMC topics—such as server groups, calendars, and events.

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Business Objects XI Security from the Ground Up
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight Europe 2006
presented by Scott A. Emmons & Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight 2005
BusinessObjects XI introduces a new security model that allows administrators to centrally manage users and report content with more control than ever before. Discover how the essential pieces of this model can be configured to cover a variety of security schemes. Learn how to organize and designate access rights to resources at the folder, group, user, application, and metalayer levels. Find out how to take advantage of new security concepts, like restriction sets, to further control database resources. For users of prior versions of BusinessObjects, this session will also include tips and tricks that will make configuring security in BusinessObjects XI much easier.

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Let Me Speak to Your Supervisor
presented by Scott A. Emmons and Alan K. Mayer at 2002 Business Objects User Conference
Learn real-world tips and techniques for leveraging your organization’s use of BusinessObjects Supervisor.  Learn how to easily establish hierarchical groups, control access levels, transfer roles and responsibilities, and avoid common pitfalls which could result in unnecessary downtime in your Business Objects deployment.  This presentation will include not only tactical techniques but also provide a framework for developing a strategic security plan.  Discover how to save time in the administration of your Business Objects deployment, more efficiently control user access, and impress your own “supervisor”!

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Performance Management

Dashboards in Two Hours - Part 1
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but attending a demonstration on creating dashboards from scratch may save you that much or more in effort. Watch as a new enterprise dashboard is created using Dashboard Builder, Performance Manager, and Crystal Xcelsius. See how to create universe and metric-based analytics and attach them to goals for deeper insight of actual versus targeted performance. Learn how techniques like guided navigation can connect analytics to other analytics, even reports published using tools like Web Intelligence ad Crystal Intelligence. A script for the entire presentation will be available for download so that each user can repeat the demonstration at home.

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Dashboards in Two Hours - Part 2
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
The traditional Crystal Xcelsius model allows users to create their own sophisticated dashboards against an Excel workbook. This presentation shows how to release that connection, refreshing the same visual models against live data sources. The combination of Xcelsius analytics and live data will prove to be an unbeatable combination to users who wish to deploy their models across the enterprise. Attendees will learn several techniques to refresh their Xcelsius models including web services, XML maps, flash variables, and Live Office connectors. Each technique will be demonstrated and available for download after the presentation.

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Dashboard Essentials
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
Are your users looking for dashboards? Are you just starting out deploying dashboards, or thinking about starting a new dashboarding project? Learn the basics behind one of the most exciting offerings from Business Objects--dashboards and scorecards. This session explores the fundamental techniques of building a dashboard using Dashboard Manager. We'll also discuss setting goals, tracking performance, and creating scorecards using other performance management products. No previous experience is required, and all finished projects built during the presentation will be available for download.

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Design

Tales from a Universe Ninja - Part One
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Training classes and product manuals can take you only so far. What do you do when the manual stops, but the project requirements do not? In this two-part session, find out how a team of experienced universe designers solved real-world universe challenges. Get tips, many of which are applicable to versions prior to BusinessObjects XI Release 2. *Part one focuses primarily on the Designer application. See creative uses of standard Designer features, new wrinkles on some standard solutions, and in-depth coverage of specific universe parameters.

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     * Sample files are not yet available.

Tales from a Universe Ninja - Part Two
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Training classes and product manuals can take you only so far. What do you do when the manual stops, but the project requirements go on? In this two-part session, find out how a team of experienced universe designers solved real-world universe challenges. Get tips, many of which are applicable to versions prior to BusinessObjects XI Release 2. *Part two covers both Designer and Web Intelligence. See how a designer and report developer can work together to overcome challenges, such as dynamic report layout, measure swapping, and prompt handling.

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     * Sample files are not yet available.

Under the Covers: Universe Designer in XI R2
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
The newest version of Universe Designer has many built-in features that can make a developer's task much easier and users' reports run much faster. This session covers the new features added to the product from BusinessObjects 6.5 through the latest release—BusinessObjects XI Release 2. Learn how to tune existing universes for maximum performance, audit database queries by user or universe, and reduce the number of queries that tools like Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence generate. All examples used to explain these features will be available for download after the presentation.

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More Tips of the Universe Masters
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects Insight 2005
An efficient and reliable BusinessObjects implementation is only as good as the universe that powers it. See a series of design techniques for building production-strength query, reporting, and analysis solutions. Some techniques will build on new features available in the latest versions while others are compatible with a wide range of releases. These techniques have been developed and tested in dozens of projects and many have not been publicly presented – until now. Stretch your knowledge of BusinessObjects Designer and universes as you watch detailed demonstrations and then download complete examples for further examination.

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Designer Essentials
presented by Alan K. Mayer & Penny Brewer at 2004 BusinessObjects International User Conference
Make sure you really know the right way to design universes.  This presentation highlights a design methodology and established best practices that will help you enhance the readability and performance of your universes.  Learn how to recognize specific design problems like fan or chasm traps, and the proper use of aliases, contexts, and shortcut joins.  This "intelligent primer" discusses the essential techniques for building effective and efficient universes.

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Under the Covers: BusinessObjects Designer 6.5
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Heartland Business Objects Users Group on June 28, 2005
This presentation reveals the latest enhancements offered in this release of Designer, the universe-building metalayer tool from BusinessObjects. Many of the new features also work in Designer XI. Topics to be covered include database connections via the Connection Server, external strategies, ANSI92 support for joins, index awareness, derived tables, ease of use features, and automated installation scripting. Each technique is illustrated with examples that can be run using the databases and universes that come with a standard installation.

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ZEN and the ART of Universe Design
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects New York Metro Area Users Group on April 22, 2004
One of the key features of the BusinessObjects product suite is the availability of the universe or semantic layer. However, in designing the universe you may encounter a number of challenges that do not occur in a "one off" SQL script. This presentation defines and resolves issues such as Fan Traps, Chasm Traps, and inflated measure values. It also reviews the concept of dimension versus detail objects and provides suggestions for how to choose which object type to select. The downloadable zip file includes notes about the package, several universes and MDB files, and a few sample reports.

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Designing Databases for Business Objects Solutions
presented by R. Keith Crump at 2001 Business Objects International User Conference
You’ve invested in BusinessObjects technology as the cornerstone of your business intelligence solution. To best leverage that investment, explore database design techniques that will help you take full advantage of this technology’s unique capabilities. Learn how to create financial statements with report control tables, create tables and queries for enhanced lists of values, and design databases for improved throughput. These techniques may also be applied to existing database schemas, provided these schemas may be modified. Benefit from a discussion of database methodologies as they relate to Business Objects performance, usability, and universe design.

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Tricks of the Universe Masters
presented by Alan K. Mayer and Penny W. Brewer at 2001 Business Objects International User Conference
Build your Business Objects solution on a solid foundation by starting with a well-designed universe. Benefit from tips and techniques for effective and optimized universe design accumulated from years of real-world experience. Topics will include set-based data retrieval, hierarchical solutions, advanced aggregate analysis, join techniques, parameter-driven logic, and efficient SQL generation. Many of the topics presented have been generalized from actual working installations and have not been covered in previous presentations.

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Warehouse Retrieval the BusinessObjects Way
presented by Alan K. Mayer at 2000 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation covers techniques that can be used to implement BusinessObjects against a variety of data warehouse structures. The presentation reviews designs such as Operational Data Stores (ODS), star schemas, and snowflakes. Along the way it also discusses enhancing performance by adding summary tables and using Aggregate Awareness. The final topic reviews techniques for joining multiple star schemas.

The downloadable file includes the Powerpoint slides used during the presentation. The second download file includes the supporting databases and reports used to demonstrate the techniques presented. You also may review the slides online. Because of the size of the file, the presentation has been divided into three parts for online review.

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Advanced Universe Design
presented by Alan K. Mayer and David G. Rathbun at 1999 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation reviews four challenges that can be encountered by a universe designer. Each is solved using techniques that can be applied to version 4.x or version 5.x universes. The file is too large to provide for online review, so please use one or both of the download links.

Download Notes: For your convenience, there are two download links. The first contains only the slides from the presentation. The second contains the supporting databases and universe files, along with instructions. If you only want to review the content of the presentation, download the first selection. If you would like to see the techniques as they are applied in the universes, then download the second file as well.

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Reporting & Querying

Web Intelligence XI Release 2 —The Essentials
presented by Penny W. Brewer at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
Understand the fundamental concepts behind this web-based, query and analysis solution. See the main features in action, and discover the newest desktop intelligence features available in the latest version of Web Intelligence. Learn the essential skills needed to make the best use of this tool, from creating a simple query to including data-driven alerts. Discover techniques that assist users in creating or modifying queries, examine new, type-specific functions like calendar, and incorporate data from different sources to create professional reports to share. No previous experience with Web Intelligence or any of the traditional BusinessObjects or Crystal software products is needed.

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Publications Unleashed
presented by Don A. Kawahigashi at Business Objects Insight Americas 2007
BusinessObjects' ability to refresh a report once and burst filtered versions to those users authorized to view them is a feature that most companies have clamored for. This session recaps the out-of-the-box functionality of Publisher, then extends those capabilities by discussing some additional improvements on the original design. The additional techniques can be implemented by the attendees of this presentation at no additional cost. Topics like bursting report sets, designing user-selectable publishing methods, and adding additional avenues for distribution like custom FTP and fax will be discussed and demonstrated. All code used to implement these extended features will be made available for download after the presentation.

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Web Intelligence XI R2 Goodies
presented by David G. Rathbun at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
Web Intelligence XI R2 brings a lot of powerful features to the table, many of which were not available in prior versions. This presentation will focus on showing you how to make the most of these new features. We'll see how to leverage data synchronization and learn how to apply new query techniques.  This presentation will focus on the newest features and assume basic familiarity with the Web Intelligence product.

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Web Intelligence Best Practices 
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight Americas 2006
Avoid the trial-and-error approach to building web-based reports by developing your own set of company-specific Web Intelligence reporting standards. Discover how standards-driven reporting gives users the guidelines needed to quickly create documents of the same consistent quality, no matter who the author is. Review fundamental web-based reporting techniques and improve your Web Intelligence authoring productivity. You'll see standards for creating queries and formatting reports that can be modified to suit your own internal requirements. All universes and documents presented in this session will be available for download for further experimentation.

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Crystal Reports XI Essentials for New Users
presented by Alan K. Mayer at Business Objects Insight 2005
Are you a traditional BusinessObjects customer who’s curious about how Crystal Reports can complement your existing reporting solutions? Presented from the viewpoint of a BusinessObjects 5.x/6.x user and developer, this presentation will provide insight into the basics for creating pixel-perfect production reports using Crystal Reports XI. Learn about a variety of Crystal Reports features, including cascading prompts, multi-pass reporting, and procedural control, using familiar concepts in existing BusinessObjects technologies as a basis. Get advice on how and when to leverage this powerful tool for future real-world situations. Plus, download examples for hands-on examination.

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Auto-Folding Reports
presented by Alan K. Mayer
Folding a BusinessObjects report is usually a manual technique. This presentation demonstrates how to program reports to automatically fold themselves based on current values or conditions. This technique works in either Version 5 or 6, and requires no special universes or database.

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BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence Reporting Essentials
presented by Scott A. Emmons and David G. Rathbun at 2004 Business Objects International User Conference
While many papers will help you “push the envelope” of your BI deployment, you need to ensure you’re building on a solid foundation of quality reports. This paper provides a refresher of the core functionality provided by the BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence applications, and offers best practices for report development. See specific report techniques such as calculation context and the effective use of multiple data providers, and review some of the exciting new reporting features in the BusinessObjects 6 product suite. This session ensures a solid understanding of the essential requirements for building good reports.

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Best of Variables
presented by David G. Rathbun at 2004 Business Objects International User Conference
The “greatest hits” from the series of six sessions offered at previous Conferences, each devoted to the use of report variables as a powerful and flexible option within the Business Objects reporting toolset. Users of both BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence can benefit from the real-world examples, which range from simple, straightforward solutions to more complex techniques. Learn about building documents, using report functions, and applying variable tricks to solve common business problems for all delivery platforms.

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Advanced Reporting Techniques
presented by Alan K. Mayer
This paper describes several techniques used by consultants in the field to develop production-strength reports. This knowledge is not available via other sources so made a good topic for discussion. Among the topics to be covered are time-spanned queries (queries that span a preset interval like 24 hours or 12 months) and auto-folding reports (reports that fold and unfold automatically based on current conditions or triggers).

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Extended Calculation Contexts
presented by Alan K. Mayer
Knowing how to create formulas and variables in BusinessObjects is only half the story. This paper exposes attendees to the other half by demonstrating how to control the environment or context in which the calculation is evaluated. The extended syntax for input, output, and reset contexts will be described and illustrated with several examples. Common errors that reporters make when working with contexts are also explored.

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Time-Spanned Queries
presented by Alan K. Mayer
Queries that span a finite time period require special knowledge to create, especially when data doesn't exist for all desired periods. This presentation describes one technique that be applied to almost any report that "stretches" avaliable data over a predefined interval. No special universes or databases are required.

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Even More Variables...
presented by David G. Rathbun at 2003 Business Objects User Conference
A popular topic from past conferences returns with new material! Report variables can provide a more creative, efficient, and effective means of completing the data analysis within a universe. And now your WebIntelligence users won't have to skip this presentation. With the upgrade to Enterprise 6, the gap between the full and thin client environments has narrowed. The focus of this presentation is building documents, using report functions, and reviewing variable tricks that can be used to solve common business problems, for all delivery platforms.

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MORE Variables and More
presented by David G. Rathbun at 2002 Business Objects International User Conference
New material on a popular topic from past conferences!  Report variables can provide a more creative, efficient, and effective means of completing the data analysis within a universe.  This presentation will identify tips and tricks for creating complex reports.  The presentation will focus on building documents, using report functions, and reviewing variable tricks that can be used to solve common business problems.  All examples are the result of real-life solutions created for BusinessObjects users, and will be available for “post-conference” consideration.

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Variables and More — Fourth Edition
presented by David G. Rathbun at 2001 Business Objects User Conference
A popular topic from past conferences returns! Understanding the capabilities of the reporter tool will go a long way toward meeting reporting requirements. Report variables allow users to go beyond the raw data obtained from a universe and extend their analyses. Attendees at this presentation will learn tips and techniques for creating complex reports. The presentation will focus on building documents, using report functions, and reviewing variable techniques that can be used to solve some common problems. All examples used in the presentation will be made available for “post-conference” consideration.

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Variables and More (Third Edition)
presented by David G. Rathbun at 2000 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation is the third in a series that discusses tricks for creating useful report variables. This year's presentation covers an interesting use of NameOf(), some hints for using Sum(<variable>) Where (<condition>), some ideas for linking multiple data providers. Have you ever tried to filter on an aggregate value? A potential solution to that problem also is presented in this presentation.

All of the sample reports used in this presentation are available in the downloadable zip file. The reports were created with BusinessObjects version 5.0.

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Advanced Aggregate Analysis
presented by Alan K. Mayer at 1998 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation includes a variety of solutions to different aggregate problems introduced by the SQL language. Some solutions require BusinessObjects features, others involve database design or interesting mathematical adjustments to obtain the right answer. The objective of this presentation is to ensure that 1 + 1 never results in 6!

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Variables and More Variables!  ––  The Sequel
presented by David G. Rathbun at 1998 Business Objects International User Conference
This presentation was a follow up to the 1997 presentation listed below. It includes background material that may have been used in the prior presentation, but most of the tips and tricks discussed are new. The download version contains all eight BusinessObjects documents used during the demonstration portion of the presentation, including one bonus trick not included on the conference CD-ROM!

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Variables and More Variables!
presented by David G. Rathbun at 1997 Business Objects International User Conference
The original.

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