You should have some basic knowledge of SAP and BI. Even though we will be discussing SAP BusinessObjects BI from scratch, some prior knowledge of SAP is always beneficial.

You will require access to SAP BusinessObjects systems. You may even acquire an Amazon Web Service / Microsoft Azure subscription for the BusinessObjects system required.

At the end of each chapter, there are exercises, with screenshots demonstrating how to carry them out. Please complete these exercises and also complete the activities that the author has set as learning exercises for readers.

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789346206_ColorImages.pdf.

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "Open the IDT and create a new project called UNI_relational_data as follows."

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see on screen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Click on Information Design Tool."