For usability and performance reasons, a data administrator can organize data in a suite of information objects rather than in a single information object. For example, rather than include all customer data and order data in a single information object, the data can be organized in two information objects; one information object retrieves customer data, and another information object retrieves order data. To create a BIRT design that displays order data for every customer, you need data from both information objects.

In Report Studio, you can use data from two or more information objects if you have access to the multiple information objects that can be combined. Make sure that you, or the user group you belong to, have been assigned Visible and Read permissions to the folder containing the information objects. In BIRT iHub and later releases, access to information objects is not provided by default, and must be enabled in the Report Studio configuration file.

In addition, you should have knowledge of the following:

You can join information objects only. You cannot join data sets in a template, or those in a data object using Report Studio, but you can use data from a linked data set in a BIRT data object, created in BIRT Designer Professional.