Developer standards
This information relates to the UniSAinfo Reporting development environment.
Developing your data is the first critical step to providing useful Business Intelligence (BI) information that will be used for management decision making.
To enable users to navigate UniSAinfo Reporting in a consistent manner and to assist in the administration of the environment, developers must adopt naming standards for any published object* in UniSAinfo Reporting.
object* - e.g. PowerPlay cube/report, Impromptu report, pivot table, spreadsheet, word or PDF document, web link etc
You may also wish to refer to UniSAinfo Reporting Management guidelines, a word document which aims to assist the University manage the BI environment and clarifies the shared responsibilities of the various areas involved.
Note: with the advent of the enterprise data warehouse (edw) there are modified/additional developer standards - these are indicated on the page by the notation (*edw).
The standards are divided into five sections
- General naming standards
- NewsBox standards
- PowerPlay cube standards
- Report standards (PowerPlay and Impromptu)
- Associated Documentation
- before developing an object you will need to consider the
following
look to see where the object will be placed in Upfront and select a name that is both meaningful in a business sense and consistent within the NewsBox environment - the filename format name on \\itudev-bi1 must be the same as the Name to be displayed in Upfront
- the name that displays on the hyperlink must be the same as that displayed when the object is run
- all published objects must have a Name and a Description
- for edw objects, all dimensions within the object being published must be defined in the edw Data Dictionary (*edw)
- for non edw objects, all dimensions within the object being published must be defined in the Glossary
- for Name - see Object Name conventions below
- for Description - see Object Description conventions below
Object Name conventions
- do not use non numeric or alpha characters except for space, - and ( )
- leave spaces between words to make the name more readable
- use the first letter case convention e.g. This is an Example of First Letter Case
- Acronym or long name - use the Acronym, the long name can go in the Description
- the Name should be of the format Year Topic ' ' Sub-topic' ' Comparative ' ' ' ' Filetype
- Year
if the object is developed for a particular year’s data then state the year
if the object is developed to run on an ongoing basis then year should not be included
if the object ultimately gets moved to a Historical NewsBox, the object and associated file will then be prefixed with the appropriate year at the time of the move
if year range use xxxx-yyyy
if multi year use xxxx and yyyy - Topic describes the report subject matter e.g. Enrolments, CEQ, Completions
- Sub-topic further describes the report subject matter e.g. First Half Year, Trend Results by Course
- Comparative
University or Comparative only e.g. UniSA versus National - if just UniSA only leave blank - Filetype (optional)
e.g. Report, Pivot table, Cube, Spreadsheet etc.
Technical limitations
- PowerPlay cubes cannot be automatically refreshed in Production if the
Model filename (*.pyi) contains spaces.
for the model - use underscores to substitute spaces e.g. 2005_Enrol_Stats_-_Whole_Year.pyi
the equivalent compiled name (*.mdc) can contain spaces e.g. 2005 Enrol Stats – Whole Year.mdc
Examples of acceptable names
- Discipline Request by Year Level and Gender
- 2005 Enrol Stats - Second Half Year
- 2003 Completions Statistics
- 1996-2000 CEQ Trend Results by Course
- 1998-2003 CEQ Trend Results
- 2002 and 2004 SEQ Results
- 2004 GDS in Fulltime Study UniSA vs National
- 2002 SEQ Postgraduate Research Respondents Report
- 2004 Course Enrolments Report
Object Description conventions
should contain the following attributes
note (*edw) indicates these standards relate to edw sourced data
- Description: a business description of the function of the object
- Data Source: (optional) a brief description of the
data source
e.g. Data Source: edw - Contact/Author: format - name of
each Contact and Author
e.g. Contact/Author: Sally Carpenter / Stella Birve
Contact is the person who should be contacted about the data in the cube/report
Author is the person who should be contacted about the cube/report behaviour
Contact and Author can be one and the same person. - Refreshed: the frequency with which the data is refreshed
can be Dynamic / Static / Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Annually
e.g. Refreshed: Daily @4:30am
e.g. Refreshed: Annually, early June - Creation Date: the date the object is first created (*edw)
- the NewsBox should contain a brief description of the NewsBox contents
- it should be marked as (Restricted Access Only) if it links to a Restricted NewsBox
- If the NewsBox is restricted details should be given detailing how to request access
- within the NewBox any archived data
should go in a NewsBox named 'Historical NewsBoxname'
e.g. Historical GCEQ Data
Dimensions
The dimension names used in your cube must come from the
glossary list which is maintained and managed by Planning and
Assurance Services (PAS). This list represents all data
variables that are present in the data warehouse. In most
instances the dimension names are based on historical references
present in the main corporate systems that hold the data.
The list does not cover every single data variable in all
corporate systems. Instead it covers all data
variables that are present in cube developments. If a new cube
development contains a data variable that is referenced in
corporate systems but not yet mentioned in the glossary list
PAS must be notified. Following notification PAS and the
developer will determine an appropriate name for the dimension
and update the glossary list.
No cube developments will be published if a Dimension is not
present in the glossary list or the
edw Data
Dictionary (*edw).
Name of cube
Name the cube exactly as you want it to appear in Upfront.
However be aware that acronyms or abbreviations that make sense to the local
developers are not necessarily particularly intuitive or clear to
‘public’ staff. Furthermore there will be times when users will
manipulate cubes to suit local needs and incorporate the BI
information into reports, presentations and marketing materials.
Therefore clear English descriptive terms must be used.
Measures
Pay careful attention to the naming of the default
measure. For example the figure below shows the default value as
'income as values'.
 Default view of cube |
However if the ‘nest’ function is used to show all measures
within this cube the default value remains unchanged but both
income, expense and balance values are displayed with the
default 'income as values' as a header, resulting in meaningless
information (see below)
 |
To prevent this occurring make sure your default measure title
would not lead to misinterpretation when all measures where
displayed. For instance to correct this particular example ‘$ as value”
would be a more appropriate choice in the default measure name.
From time to time some cubes may feature measures that are
completely different eg $’s and number of people. When this
arises discuss the issue will PAS to find an appropriate generic
term to cover all measures.
Report Standards (PowerPlay and Impromptu)
All reports featured in UniSAinfo Reporting are to conform with the following standards:
Header standards
| Standard header details | Preferred font and point size | |
| UniSA logo | Arial 10 | eg med-left-blu.bmp |
| Page Number | Arial 10 | right justify |
| Report Date | Arial 10 | right justify format dd-mmm-yyyy |
| Report Title | Arial 12 | centred |
| Dimension Line | Arial 10 | PowerPlay - as appropriate |
| Default Measure | Arial 10 | PowerPlay - as appropriate |
| Filter | Arial 10 | Impromptu only |
Footer standards
| Standard footer details | Preferred font and point size | |
| Produced by : | Arial 8 | Unit name (eg Finance Unit) |
| Database | Arial 8 | |
| Cube Location: | Arial 8 | PowerPlay only |
| Cube Report Date: | Arial 8 | PowerPlay only |
| Catalog Name & Location: | Arial 8 | Impromptu only |
for more details including sample logos, tips etc click on Titles Headers and Footers.zip
From time to time issues will arise that require these to be changed to accommodate specific reporting requirements or to save page 'real estate'. In such circumstances other fonts or sizes may be used.
Documentation assisting in the usage of a cube or report should be provided where necessary.
The document should be named as per the object name but with the suffix ' Notes' e.g.
- 2006 SEQ
- 2006 SEQ Notes
PowerPlay cubes
for edw PowerPlay cubes, the cube must have an associated FACT sheet attached to the cube (*edw)
see example below
