Business objects VS. MSACCESS lots of ???????

[JARE]

I'm pretty new to business objects but have been
working with MSAccess for a few years now. Is there
more functionality with business objects? Is there
anything in business objects that compares to using
recordsets in MSACCESS? Is automation possible between
business objects and MSOFFICE applications? (EX: copying
recordsets to excel and using MAPI to send reports, etc).
Is there any way to link to business object's universe
tables from ACCESS? I love MSACCESS and I use EXCEL and
ACCCESS VBA Object Sets frequently. Is the Business
Objects Object set easy to learn? Will BO do anything
that I am currently doing in ACCESS?

If anyone can answer some of these questions for me
I think I'll be able to sleep better knowing how
the switch from ACCESS to BO's will be for me!

Thanks!
JARE

 

[TheVMan]

I too moved from an Access environment to Business Objects. The quick answer here is yes....all of your Access tables/queries can be queried via Business Objects. Additionally, Business Objects supports VBA, and can be customized for use with any of the MS Office tools. Business Objects already has built in functionality to export to Excel, but via VBA, you can also insert result sets from Business Objects back into your RDBMS or excel. You can also use MAPI to send your reports automatically. Other features include the Broadcast Agent, for scheduling documents, plus executing scripts attached to them at just about any refresh interval you wish. It also includes a thin client version for web browser access to your Business Objets document. Also, you can use just about any third party software tool (Java, PowerBuilder, etc.) to create customized applications that can interface with Business Objects Object Model and repository if necessary.

Business Objects is easy to learn. Once your are over the hurdle of setting up your Business Objects infrastructure, it runs really smooth and is a very robust package.

 

[ashridharan]

HI Jare
Of course automation is possible between Microsoft Office Applications and Business Objects. Firstly, Business Objects comes with a VBA Editor just as in Microsoft Office with the same functionalities. This allows u to write macros, class modules etc., to perform whatever automation is required. Also, Business Query is a add in that comes for Excel. This will let u access the Business Objects Universes directly from Excel. As far as recordsets go in Business Objects, Business Objects provides what is called a "List of Values" file. This is where all the data of the query is stored. This file is available on your machine as a .lov file. U could access this for any recordset kinda functionality.

Ashish