Events in Business Objects

Aloha!

Today I want to talk about a great feature of Business Objects. Events!

What is "Event"?

Basically, they are flags.  I also call them safety belt :)
With event mechanism, database tables can be watched and afterwards reports on BO can be triggered.
Also reports can be triggered sequentially.

Events are created on CMC, but can be used both on CMC and BI.

What are the types of "Event"?

1. Custom Event
2. File Based Event
3. Scheduled Event

1. Custom Events
Not much to do!  Type in the name and description. Totally manual.

2. File Based Event
My favorite.  This event waits for a file on a location to be triggered.
For example, let's say your report is created by the data of Table A, then you will need to be sure ETL process of Table A has finished.
If your ETL process leaves a flag after completion, you can create an event, and let your report wait for this flag.

 3. Scheduled Event
This event is used to run your reports sequentially.  Status can be modified by the user.  Success / Fail / Both  
For example, report B to be run when report A has finished successfully.
Or when report A fails, report C has to run.  

How do we create Event?

•  Log on to CMC  
• Select Events
• Choose New Event
• Choose your Event Type

• Type in event name (necessary), description (optional)

How will you use Events on your Reports?

When BO reports, publications etc. are being scheduled, you can see Events tab on the left corner.

You can easily add the events to your schedule.

Events to wait for 

When you add your event to this section, your schedule will wait for this event to occur first.  

** If you add File Event to this section, flag must be placed to the stated location, 

after the reoccurrence time

Event names are not parametric, so this is a great way to control your events.

Events to trigger on completion 

This option is used for schedules to run sequentially.  You can only add schedule based event to this section.

I think Event mechanism is a great way to inhibit wrong report distribution.  

Take care and please write me your ideas.

See you on the next post!