Business Objects Training

Business Objects training can be delivered via four methods.

Business Objects Training Options

The first of these is to receive classroom based training directly from Business Objects. Business Objects have a team of dedicated trainers who are completely familiar with the official curriculum. Class sizes are typically 10 students, and each student will have his or her own training PC. The format of these courses is generally that of working through a study book, with the trainer explaining a number of examples. This is then backed up by a series of written and practical exercises at the end of the lesson.

Training can also be provided by Business Objects Authorised Education partners. These providers will offer the same Business Objects courses which follow the official curriculum. They will also provide you with the same prinouts and manuals as you would have received from a Business Objects led course. The partner based courses follow a similar pattern of teaching to the Business Objects instructor led courses.

Business Objects also offers e-learning in most areas. This is a web streamed course, requiring you to access the Business Objects learning portal using an internet browser. These courses can be stopped and started as many times as required. These courses are cheaper than the classroom based courses. Once registered for an e-learning course, you have access to that course for 12 months. This is handy if you want to spreadh your training over a period of months, or if you want to review material six months down the line. However, note that you are not provided with any of the physical training materials provided during a classroom course, and there are no facilities within the e-learning course to print out materials.

Another method of training involves the use of computer based training (CBT) materials. Two such books/courses have been written by Richard Schmidt. The first covers the area of Business Objects XI Designer. The second book in the series covers Business Objects XI Web Intelligence. Both CBT books allow you to take training in your own time and pace and are favourably priced compared to classroom based or elearning courses.

One other option worth mentioning is that of self-training. The most difficult route, this method is the cheapest and most convenient. However, it is the most difficult as you do not have access to official Business Objects courseware. This is not available in the public domain, only given out during an official classroom based course. While the current selection of Business Objects books are helpful, they are not specifically focused on the Business Objects curriculum. While the majority of Business Objects applications are straight forward to use and pick up, certain applications, such as Data Integrator, Dashboard design or SDK development, would benefit considerably from some classroom based training.

Finally, a number of third party training providers offer training in Business Objects applications. These can be considerably cheaper than official courses. However, bear in mind that they may not cover the full range of functionallity available in the product and teaching methods may not be as high as official accredited trainers. On the other hand, these providers can often offer a customised course, based on your data and your particular implementation. This may prove invaluable as it allows your users to pick up the necessary bits quickly and efficiently.

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