business

I have been using BusinessObjects since the earliest version and have made it a habit to find the little known (and rarely taught) features and functions that can make business reporting exceptional. This book is wonderful. It is well written, with step-by-step instructions, and best of all it covers EVERYTHING.
There are topics in this text that I haven't seen in any other book, anywhere. There are shortcuts mentioned here that I wasn't sure anyone else was using, but that I have found invaluable. I especially like the Notes and Warnings through out the book, whenever there is a possibility for confusion the author inserts a line or two of explanation. This book is very readable, very understandable, and written in plain english. I will keep this volume under lock and key, it has such great value at the office.

I've been following Robert Schmidt's books since Business Objects version 4.1, and he continues to impress. Business Objects is a very powerful query tool, but putting the information in a formatted, concise report can prove difficult. Robert Schmidt does a fantastic job of walking a user through the different types of reports, while giving helpful hints (and warnings about potential pitfalls) along the way.

In addition, this book has an excellent section on using formulas and variables. The author does a superb job explaining context operators, and how to use them to display the data at an appropriate level of detail. Report developers seem to struggle most with this concept, but Robert Schmidt does a very good job of breaking down contexts and making them easier to understand.

I've attended official Business Objects training sessions, and none have come close to providing the level of information available in this book. At 550+ pages, this book is really a complete reference for creating Business Objects Reports. Best of all, this book represents an outstanding value - 10X the information of official Business Objects training at roughly 1/10th the cost!

I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who develops or uses Business Objects reports!

Business Objects is a powerful, yet sometimes perplexing tool. Many of the nuances and very powerful features are just not covered in training or the vendor manuals.

In this text, Robert Schmidt creates a truly useful tool to learn the product, for novice to advanced. His first book was very good, but this one is spectacular - it covers not only what you really need to know to be effective with Business Obejcts, but also the important differences in the latest version of the product (v6). Most major releases to products require investing time in a certain amount of "re-learning" the tool; this book hits the right points for understanding what is really important. I've been using the products for over 6 years, and this is "hands-down" the best and most comprehensive text I've seen, yet it does not give up readability for use by people new to the product.

Great job on this book - I don't even blink at the price when I look at the often minimal return on classroom training costing hundreds more. Why buy a lousy book for $50 or more? I've sent people to training for years with less return on the investment. Step-by-step examples are in every chapter, each has a logical theme, and where v6 has changed, he notes the change and gives some insight in what it means to the reader.