Overview
The University of Michigan-Dearborn is transitioning from WebFocus to Business Objects for our operational reporting. Business Objects is a shared service offered by University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and is centrally funded by that campus.
Our transition from WebFocus to Business Objects is set to be completed by June 2026.
Phases
Phase 1: July 2023 - September 2023 - Complete
Phase 2: September 2023 - July 2025
Phase 3: August 2025 - June 2026
- Continued bulk report migration from WebFocus to Business Objects
- Pilot departments/workspaces, where all of the units reports have been migrated
FAQ
When will my department/workspace be migrated?
ITS and IRE are deciding pilot groups based on a variety of factors, including:
- Number of already converted reports in the workspace
- Likelihood of users to exist in multiple workspaces
Why am I seeing this message on some of my WebFocus reports?
This message is intended to signify that the report has been converted from WebFocus to Business Objects. To reduce the need for duplicative work, any change requests for such a report will be reviewed for business impact and urgency. Approval of the project team leadership is required to make changes to such reports.
Will reports be different in Business Objects when compared to WebFocus?
Care is being taken to make the reports as close as possible to the original WebFocus reports. Their are some technical differences between the platforms that are necessitating some changes in our reports. Notable differences:
- Filter Bar
- Some parameters that were on launch pages will move to the filter bar. This will allow real-time filtering of data, based on the selections from the launch page.
- No dynamic column selection
- In several of our WebFocus reports, you can select additional columns for display on the report. The column list was pulled directly from our data marts and listed hundreds of fields. ITS/IRE is curating the list of fields that will be displayed on such reports. If additional columns are required for a report, a ticket can be submitted, and we can add the additional column to the report.
- Curriculum selection
- In WebFocus, users could select a drill down for certain elements, such as Level → College → Department → Program. These prompts have been adjusted to only select "Program". All records for the program will show in the report, and the Filter Bar can be used to further fine tune the returned data set.
- Merging of some reports
- Business Objects allows for multiple reports exist in a single document. Some reports, notably our census reports, will exist in a single Business Objects document.
Will training be provided on how to use Business Objects?
A benefit of moving to U-M's instance of Business Objects it that they have already created a large amount of content for how to use Business Objects. We intend of to have a KB article with a curated list of U-M resources specific for our environment within Business Objects.
A few notable locations of training:
For additional information, check these categories in the Knowledge Base:
Enterprise Applications
Still need assistance? See the following related services:
Business Objects Report Request