Universe Designer is a tool that lets users create, modify, deploy and read definitions of the universes, stored in the BusinessObjects repository. It is a client application, accessible after the installation in Start -> Programs -> Business Objects XI -> BusinessObjects Enterprise -> Designer.

A high-level overview of the universe creation process is the following:
1. Analysis of the end-user requirements is the most important task in the process. Users must be involved in the universe development process as it should fulfill their needs both with the business language and naming convention and the data that can be accessed.
   It strongly advisable to spend most of the universe development time and put much effort in the Preparing, Analyzing and Planning phases.
2. Log on to the BO Repository and select on of three available options for opening universes: Create a new universe, Import a universe from the repository, Open a universe directly from the file system.
3. A universe becomes visible in the SAP BusinessObjects platform and is available for reporitng once it has been exported to the repository. Thus in most cases working with Universe Designer includes three steps: importing a universe, making changes, then deploying the universe to the repository.
4. Connect to the source database where data is stored using a connection wizard and save the connection parameters. Universe Designer can store connection definitions to multiple data sources, however only one connection can be defined for each universe.
5. The database tables and views are selected and browsed through a graphical interface in the Universe Designer (a schema diagram). The schema diagram interface is used for manipulating tables, creating joins, alias tables, contexts and resolve loops in the schema definition.
6. An object explorer view provides a windows-explorer-like tree to represent and arrange objects that map to the columns and SQL structures, represented in the schema view. When building reports and performing analysis, business users select these objects to run queries against a database.
7. Building the universe inludes the following sub-tasks performed by a developer: Name the universe, Set up the universe parameters and connect to the data source, Create aliases and contexts, Create joins, Create classes, subclasses and objects, Define dimensions, details and measures, Define hierarchies, Define lists of values and help text, Define filters and implement user security.
8. Once the universe has been built, tested and has passed all quality assurance checks it is ready to be deployed to the production environment.