Introduction
There is an increasing number of scenarios where the database schema that is connected to using Business Objects Data Services in databases like ORACLE and SQL Server change from one environment to another. For example, an ORACLE Schema called DEV_PRJ1 can be assigned to datastore for development repository and TST_PRJ1 can be assigned for test repository. In case of development there is also a possibility that there are multiple development database schemas are available so that each developer in a multi-user environment is assigned a specific database schema associated to their repository which will provide the ability to perform unit testing in a more realistic fashion. So there can be database schemas like DEV1_PRJ1, DEV2_PRJ1, DEV3_PRJ1, and so on each being a database schema that can be connected through a different BODS Repository assigned to an user for development and unit testing.
In such cases there is a need to have a consistent naming convention to ensure that the database objects' metadata like table, views, etc, that are imported into one BODS repository can be consistent when the code is exported to another repository. In such cases the use of Aliases in datastore come in handy.
In Fig1 above, a database schema ABC is assigned to alias DBO for a MS SQL Server datastore. In this case, the schema name dbo is the standard schema that is used in environments like pre-production and produciton where there will be a single database to host the data for the BODS objects to connect to during runtime. However there can be multiple schemas defined under a single database in dev and test environments to cater for parallel development and testing to enable delivery.
Do please provide feedback on adding any more information that can be of use in this context.