Bill:
It depends on your requirements; I am not a developer and I don't have those skills listed above.
The out of the box "ready to run" templates are easy for a business analyst person like myself to use. See Using Self-Service BI with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio Webcast Notes
Maybe you can share more of your requirements so we can offer a better opinion? That said there are partners and the SAP Learning Hub (training.sap.com) that do offer Design Studio training, if needed.