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MICROSTRATEGY DESKTOP: REPORTING ESSENTIALS

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Patent Information

This product is patented. One or more of the following patents may apply to the product sold herein: U.S. Patent Nos.

6,154,766, 6,173,310, 6,260,050, 6,263,051, 6,269,393, 6,279,033, 6,567,796, 6,587,547, 6,606,596, 6,658,093,

6,658,432, 6,662,195, 6,671,715, 6,691,100, 6,694,316, 6,697,808, 6,704,723, 6,741,980, 6,765,997, 6,768,788,

6,772,137, 6,788,768, 6,798,867, 6,801,910, 6,820,073, 6,829,334, 6,836,537, 6,850,603, 6,859,798, 6,873,693,

6,885,734, 6,940,953, 6,964,012, 6,977,992, 6,996,568, 6,996,569, 7,003,512, 7,010,518, 7,016,480, 7,020,251,

7,039,165, 7,082,422, 7,113,993, 7,181,417, 7,127,403, 7,174,349, 7,194,457, 7,197,461, 7,228,303, 7,260,577, 7,266,181,

7,272,212, 7,302,639, 7,324,942, 7,330,847, 7,340,040, 7,356,758, 7,356,840, 7,415,438, 7,428,302, 7,430,562,

7,440,898, 7,486,780, 7,509,671, 7,516,181, 7,559,048, 7,574,376, 7,617,201, 7,725,811, 7,801,967, 7,836,178, 7,861,161

and 7,861,253. Other patent applications are pending.

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© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface Course Description.................................................................... 13

Who Should Take This Course.............................................. 14

Follow-Up Courses ................................................................ 14

Related Certifications............................................................. 14

Course Objectives ................................................................. 15

About the Course Materials ......................................................... 16

Content Descriptions ............................................................. 16

Learning Objectives ............................................................... 16

Lessons ................................................................................. 16

Opportunities for Practice ...................................................... 17

Typographical Standards....................................................... 17

MicroStrategy Courses .......................................................... 19

Core Courses......................................................................... 19

1. Introduction to

MicroStrategy

Business Intelligence

Lesson Description ................................................................... 21

Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 22

Business Intelligence Architecture............................................... 23

Source Systems (OLTP) ........................................................ 24

Data Warehouse (OLAP)....................................................... 25

ETL Process .......................................................................... 26

Data Import ............................................................................ 26

Metadata Database ............................................................... 27

MicroStrategy Applications .................................................... 27

Lesson Summary......................................................................... 28

Table of Contents MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

6 ©2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

2. Introduction to

MicroStrategy

Desktop



Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop......................................... 31

MicroStrategy Desktop........................................................... 31

MicroStrategy Architect.......................................................... 35

Administrative Functions........................................................ 35

Project Sources and Projects ...................................................... 37

Connect to a Project Source.................................................. 37

Administration Icon ................................................................ 39

Project Icons .......................................................................... 40

The Desktop Interface ................................................................. 42

Basic Navigation .......................................................................... 44

Desktop Menu Bar ................................................................. 44

Desktop Toolbar .................................................................... 45

Creating and Saving Objects ....................................................... 47

Saving Objects....................................................................... 48

Shortcuts to Objects .................................................................... 49

Lesson Summary......................................................................... 51

3. Reports Lesson Description ................................................................... 53


What Is a Report?........................................................................ 55

Creating, Saving, and Viewing Reports ....................................... 57

The Report Editor .................................................................. 57

Creating Reports.................................................................... 59

Saving Reports ...................................................................... 66

Running Reports .................................................................... 68

Report Display Views............................................................. 68

Report Details Properties....................................................... 69

Lesson Summary......................................................................... 73

Exercises: Reports in Desktop..................................................... 75

Create a Report ..................................................................... 75

Work with Design View .......................................................... 78

Use the Template Editor ........................................................ 79

Use an Existing Template and No Filtering Criteria ............... 81

Extra Credit ............................................................................ 83

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Table of Contents


4. Report Data

Manipulations



Data Manipulation........................................................................ 89

Drilling.......................................................................................... 90

What is Drilling?..................................................................... 90

Methods for Drilling ................................................................ 91

Page-by ....................................................................................... 97

What Is Page-by? .................................................................. 97

Methods for Creating Page-by Fields .................................... 99

Data Pivoting ............................................................................. 101

Methods for Data Pivoting ................................................... 102

Subtotals.................................................................................... 103

Subtotals by Position ........................................................... 105

Subtotals Across Levels ...................................................... 106

Subtotals Group By.............................................................. 108

Sorting ....................................................................................... 110

Methods for Sorting ............................................................. 110

Outline Mode ............................................................................. 115

Using Outline Mode ............................................................. 116

Printing....................................................................................... 119

Exporting and E-mailing Reports ............................................... 121

Removing Metrics Columns................................................. 122

Report Subscription in Desktop ................................................. 123

Subscribing a Report to the History List............................... 124

Subscribing a Report to Update Cache ............................... 126

Subscribing a Report to a Mobile Device............................. 127

Adding Notes to Reports and Documents ................................. 129

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 132

Exercises: Report Data Manipulations in Desktop..................... 133

Drilling and Page-By ............................................................ 133

Pivoting and Sorting............................................................. 138

Totals and Outline Mode...................................................... 141

Exporting Reports ................................................................ 146

E-mailing Reports ................................................................ 148

5. Report Style

Manipulations

Lesson Description ................................................................. 151

Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 152

Style Manipulation ..................................................................... 153

Formatting.................................................................................. 154



Methods for Formatting........................................................ 154

Autostyles ............................................................................ 157

Thresholds ................................................................................. 159

Banding...................................................................................... 165

Locking and Resizing Columns and Rows ................................ 168

Graph Properties ....................................................................... 171

Display Data Labels............................................................. 171

Graph Title ........................................................................... 173

Specify the Number of Categories and Series..................... 174

Nested Labels...................................................................... 176

Graph Undo/Redo................................................................ 178

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 179

Exercises: Report Style Manipulations in Desktop .................... 181

Formatting and Autostyles ................................................... 181

Thresholds ........................................................................... 185

Locking\Resizing Columns and Rows.................................. 190

Bar Graph ............................................................................ 194

Graph with Gauges.............................................................. 200

6. Filters Lesson Description ................................................................. 203


What Is a Filter?......................................................................... 205

Creating and Saving Report Filters............................................ 209

The Filter Editor ................................................................... 209

Creating a Simple Filter ....................................................... 210

Saving a Filter ...................................................................... 211

Types of Report Filters .............................................................. 211

Attribute Qualification........................................................... 212

Set Qualification................................................................... 215

Shortcut to a Report (Report As Filter) ................................ 217

Shortcut to a Filter (Filter Qualification) ............................... 218

Set Operators ............................................................................ 219

Lesson Summary:...................................................................... 224

Exercises: Filters in Desktop ..................................................... 225

Creating a Filter ................................................................... 225

Creating Another Filter......................................................... 226

Qualifying on a Metric .......................................................... 228

Combining Two Filters in a Report....................................... 230



7. Metrics Lesson Description ................................................................. 233


What Is a Fact?.......................................................................... 235

What Is a Metric?....................................................................... 237

Types of Metrics ........................................................................ 241

Simple Metrics ..................................................................... 241

Nested Metrics..................................................................... 242

Compound Metrics............................................................... 243

Metric Creation .......................................................................... 245

Metric Editor......................................................................... 245

Metric Components.............................................................. 248

Creating a Simple Metric...................................................... 249

Saving a Metric .................................................................... 250

Metric Formatting....................................................................... 251

Metric Value and Header Formatting................................... 251

Subtotals/Aggregation Tab .................................................. 252

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 258

Exercises: Metrics in Desktop.................................................... 259

Create a Simple Metric—Cost ............................................. 259

Create a Simple Metric—Revenue ...................................... 261

Use the Created Metrics in a Report.................................... 262

Create a Compound Metric—Profit Margin.......................... 263

Use Profit Margin in a Report............................................... 265

Display Subtotals ................................................................. 268

8. MicroStrategy OLAP

Services



Introduction to OLAP Services................................................... 275

Report Objects........................................................................... 276

Methods for Adding Report Objects..................................... 277

Methods for Removing Report Objects................................ 278

View Filters ................................................................................ 279

Derived Metrics.......................................................................... 282

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 285

Exercises: MicroStrategy OLAP Services.................................. 287

Using the Report Objects Window to Add Attributes ........... 287

Using View Filters ................................................................ 290

Create and Format a Derived Metric—Growth .................... 293



9. Prompts and

Searches



What Is a Prompt? ..................................................................... 299

Creating Prompts................................................................. 300

Filter Definition Prompts ............................................................ 304

Creating Filter Definition Prompts........................................ 304

Using Filter Definition Prompts in a Report.......................... 313

Object Prompts .......................................................................... 314

Creating Object Prompts...................................................... 315

Using Object Prompts in a Report ....................................... 317

Value Prompts ........................................................................... 319

Creating a Value Prompt ..................................................... 320

Using Value Prompts in a Report......................................... 321

Other Prompt Topics.................................................................. 323

Creating Local Prompts ....................................................... 323

Re-prompting Inside Reports ............................................... 324

Saving Reports with Prompts............................................... 325

Save and Reuse Prompt Answers....................................... 326

What Is a Search Object?.......................................................... 331

The Search for Objects Editor.............................................. 331

Saving Searches.................................................................. 334

Search-based Prompts ........................................................ 334

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 335

Exercises: Prompts and Searches............................................. 337

Create Filter Definition Prompts........................................... 337

Create Object Prompts ........................................................ 341

Create a Value Prompt ........................................................ 348

A. MicroStrategy Tutorial The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model ..................................... 352

Geography Hierarchy........................................................... 353

Customers Hierarchy ........................................................... 354

Time Hierarchy..................................................................... 355

Products Hierarchy .............................................................. 356

The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema .......................................... 356

Geography Schema............................................................. 360

Customers Schema ............................................................. 361

Time Schema....................................................................... 362

Products Schema ................................................................ 363

Fact Tables Schema............................................................ 364



MicroStrategy Glossary .......................................................... 365

Index ......................................................................................... 409




PREFACE

Course Description

This 2-day course provides an overview of reporting, using MicroStrategy Desktop. The topics covered in this course include:

• Navigating the MicroStrategy Desktop interface

• Building and manipulating reports, templates, basic filters, basic metrics, prompts, and searches

• Using the functionality and benefits of MicroStrategy OLAP Services

Preface MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials

14 Who Should Take This Course © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Who Should Take This Course

This course is designed for:

• Project Architects

• Desktop Developers

• Administrators

• SDK Developers

Follow-Up Courses

After taking this course, you might consider taking the following courses:

• MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting

• MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials

• MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials

Related Certifications

To validate your proficiency in the content of this course, you might consider taking the following certifications:

• Certified Project Designer

• Certified Report Developer

• Certified Platform Administrator

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Preface

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Course Objectives 15

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the MicroStrategy business intelligence architecture. (Page 12)

• Describe the components of MicroStrategy Desktop, navigate the main interface, and access project sources and projects. (Page 20)

• Define the components that comprise a report and create simple reports using Desktop. (Page 44)

• Define the different types of report manipulations available and perform these report manipulations using Desktop. (Page 78)

• Define the different types of style manipulations available and perform these style manipulations using Desktop. (Page 142)

• Define the different types of report filters available in Desktop and create each type using the Filter Editor. (Page 194)

• Define the different types of metrics, and create them using the Metric Editor in Desktop. (Page 224)

• Describe the features provided by MicroStrategy OLAP Services, including report objects, view filters, and derived metrics. Use the Report Objects window, and create view filters and derived metrics in reports. (Page 264)

• Define the different types of prompts, and explain how you can use search objects inside prompts. Create prompts and searches in Desktop. (Page 288)


16 About the Course Materials © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

About the Course Materials

This course is organized into lessons and reference appendices. Each lesson focuses on major concepts and skills that help you to better understand MicroStrategy products and use them to implement MicroStrategy projects. The appendices provide you with supplemental information to enhance your knowledge of MicroStrategy products.

Content Descriptions

Each major section of this course begins with a Description heading. The Description introduces you to the content contained in that section.

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives enable you to focus on the key knowledge and skills you should obtain by successfully completing this course. Objectives are provided for you at the following three levels:

• Course—You will achieve these overall objectives by successfully completing all the lessons in this course. The Course Objectives heading in this Preface contains the list of course objectives.

• Lesson—You will achieve these main objectives by successfully completing all the topics in the lesson. You can find the primary lesson objectives directly under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each lesson.

• Main Topic—You will achieve this secondary objective by successfully completing the main topic. The topic objective is stated at the beginning of the topic text. You can find a list of all the topic objectives in each lesson under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each lesson.

Lessons

Each lesson sequentially presents concepts and guides you with step-by-step procedures. Illustrations, screen examples, bulleted text, notes, and definition tables help you to achieve the learning objectives.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. About the Course Materials 17

Opportunities for Practice

A Workshop is a reinforcement and assessment activity that follows two or more lessons. Because a Workshop covers content and applied skills presented in several lessons, it is a separate section on the level of a lesson.

The following sections within lessons provide you with opportunities to reinforce important concepts, practice new product and project skills, and monitor your own progress in achieving the lesson and course objectives:

• Review

• Case Study

• Business Scenario

• Exercises

Typographical Standards

The following sections explain the font style changes, icons, and different types of notes that you see in this course.

Actions

References to screen elements and keys that are the focus of actions are in bold Arial font style. The following example shows this style:

Click Select Warehouse.

Code

References to code, formulas, or calculations within paragraphs are formatted in regular Courier.New font style. The following example shows this style:

Sum(Sales)/Number of Months



Data Entry

References to literal data you must type in an exercise or procedure are in bold Arial font style. References to data you type that could vary from user to user or system to system are in bold italic Arial font style. The following example shows this style:

Type copy c:\filename d:\foldername\filename.

Keyboard Keys

References to a keyboard key or shortcut keys are in uppercase letters in bold Arial font style. The following example shows this style:

Press CTRL+B.

New Terms

New terms to note are in regular italic font style. These terms are defined when they are first encountered in the course. The following example shows this style:

The aggregation level is the level of calculation for the metric.

Notes and Warnings

� A note icon indicates helpful information.

� A warning icon calls your attention to very important information that you should read before continuing the course.

Heading Icons

The following heading icons are used to indicate specific practice and review sections:

� — Precedes a Review section


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. About the Course Materials 19

� — Precedes a Case Study

� — Precedes a Business Scenario

�— Precedes Exercises

MicroStrategy Courses

Core Courses

• Implementing MicroStrategy: Development and Deployment

• MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials

• MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting

• MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials

• MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials

• MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

• MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

• MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts

*All courses are subject to change. Please visit the MicroStrategy Web site for the latest education offer-

ings.




1

INTRODUCTION TO

MICROSTRATEGY BUSINESS

INTELLIGENCE

Lesson Description

This lesson introduces you to the basic components of a business intelligence architecture using MicroStrategy:

• Source systems

• Data warehouse

• ETL process

• Data Import

• Metadata database

• MicroStrategy applications

If you are already familiar with business intelligence systems, this lesson will serve as a good refresher and will help you link the terminology and concepts you already understand to a MicroStrategy environment.

Introduction to MicroStrategy Business Intelligence MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials1

22 Lesson Objectives © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the MicroStrategy business intelligence architecture.

After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to:

• List and define the components of a business intelligence architecture using MicroStrategy. (Page 23)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Introduction to MicroStrategy Business Intelligence 1

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Business Intelligence Architecture 23

Business Intelligence Architecture

After completing this topic, you will be able to:

List and define the components of a business intelligence architecture using MicroStrategy.

Business intelligence systems facilitate an ever-growing variety of applications that begin with sophisticated analysis of atomic-level data and range to proactive information delivery to system subscribers. The modern market place requires today’s business to be capable of analyzing itself at every level, on demand. It also requires the delivery of relevant and timely information to the right people at the right time. Finally, it requires that businesses have very close and individualized contact with their customers.

A business intelligence architecture using MicroStrategy is shown in the following diagram:

MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Architecture

This architecture has the following components:

• Source systems


24 Business Intelligence Architecture © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• ETL process

• Data Import

• Metadata database

• MicroStrategy applications

Source Systems (OLTP)

Source systems are typically databases, file sources, web sources or mainframes that store transaction processing data. As such, they are an OnLine Transaction Processing System (OLTP). Transaction processing involves simple recording of transactions like sales, inventory, withdrawals, deposits, and so forth.

The data in source systems have the following characteristics:

• Data access is read/write (numerous selects, inserts, updates, and deletes).

• Data is aligned by application (business activities and workflow).

• Data formats are not necessarily uniform across different source systems.

• Data history is typically limited to recent or current data.

A bank is one example of a business with many different types of source systems. The average bank offers their customers a variety of services and, therefore, needs these different types of source systems to support their services, each of which has a different workflow.

For example, consider the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and the bank teller. At an ATM, you can withdraw or deposit money as well as check your account balance. However, if you need a money order, you have to go inside and speak with a bank teller. The bank has different operational systems, each designed to perform tasks that are specific to the service.

To take our example further, if a bank wanted to see a unified view of a particular customer—such as a customer’s ATM activity, loan status, account balances, money market account information, and so forth—all of the customer’s information from each of the different source systems would have to be collected. After this data is collected, it is stored in a centralized data warehouse.



Data Warehouse (OLAP)

A well-designed and robust data warehouse lies at the heart of the business intelligence system and enables its users to leverage the competitive advantage that business intelligence provides. A data warehouse is an example of an OnLine Analytical Processing System (OLAP).

While source systems are designed and optimized for transaction processing, data warehouses are designed and optimized for analytical processing. Analytical processing involves manipulating transaction records to calculate sales trends, growth patterns, percent to total contributions, trend reporting, profit analysis, and so forth.

The data in a data warehouse have the following characteristics:

• Data access is typically read-only (In SQL, mostly selects are used. Generally very few inserts, updates, or deletes are used).

• Data is aligned by business subjects.

• Data formats are uniformly integrated.

• Data history extends long term, usually 2 to 5 years.

A data warehouse is populated with data from the existing operational systems with an ETL process.

Summary of Differences - OLTP vs. OLAP

The following table summarizes the differences between OLTP and OLAP systems:

OLTP vs. OLAP Differences

OLTP OLAP

Organization By workflow

per application

By dimension and business subject

Data Retention Short term

(2-6 months)

Long term

(2-5 years)

Data Integration Minimal or none High, as part of ETL process


26 Business Intelligence Architecture © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

ETL Process

The extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) process contains information that facilitates the transfer of the data from the source systems to the data warehouse.

Specifically, the ETL process does the following:

• Stores information about the source system structure and content

• Stores information about the data warehouse structure and content

• Correlates source system structure and content to that of the data warehouse

• Provides information to the data extraction tools that physically execute the transfer of data from the source systems to the data warehouse

Data Import

Data Import enables MicroStrategy customers to import data easily from unmodeled data sources such as a local file, including Excel files, a relational database, or by joining multiple tables from different sources into an In-memory Intelligent Cube that can be reused in reports and Report Services documents. The Data Import interface is flash-based and accessed through MicroStrategy Web.

Data Storage Gigabytes Terabytes

Use Real time

Write & update

Evenly distributed usage

Transactional data

Batch load

Reporting, read-only

Spiked usage (based on time of warehouse loads)

OLTP vs. OLAP Differences

OLTP OLAP



Metadata Database

The metadata database contains information that facilitates the retrieval of data from the data warehouse when using MicroStrategy applications. It stores MicroStrategy object definitions and information about the data warehouse in a proprietary format and maps MicroStrategy objects to the data warehouse structures and content.

MicroStrategy applications use the metadata database to translate user requests into SQL queries and to translate the results of those SQL queries back into MicroStrategy objects, like reports and documents.

The metadata also stores the definitions of all objects created with MicroStrategy Desktop (for example, templates, reports, metrics, facts, and so forth). The metadata enables the sharing of objects across MicroStrategy applications by providing a central repository for all object definitions. It is even used by MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to evaluate the most efficient data retrieval scenario to guarantee optimal query performance.

MicroStrategy Applications

The MicroStrategy applications allow you to interact with the business intelligence system. They allow you to logically organize data hierarchically to quickly and easily create, calculate, and analyze complex data relationships. They also provide the ability to look at data from many different perspectives.

A variety of grid and graph formats are available for superior report presentation. You can even build documents, which enable you to combine multiple reports with text and graphics.

In addition, you can use the MicroStrategy Software Developers Kit (SDK) to customize the interface that users see and the functionality available to them.

In previous versions of MicroStrategy, the objects in a standard report had to come from a single data source. MultiSource Option is a new add-on component to Intelligence Server that removes this limitation. It enables you to define a single project schema that uses multiple data sources. As a result, you can now create a standard report that executes SQL against multiple data sources.

� For more information on MultiSource Option, refer to the MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials course.


28 Lesson Summary © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

��Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned:

• A business intelligence architecture using MicroStrategy has the following components: source systems, data warehouse, ETL process, metadata database, data import, and MicroStrategy applications.

• Source systems or OnLine Transaction Processing Systems (OLTP) are typically databases, source files, web sources, or mainframes that store transaction processing data. This type of system involves simple recording of transactions like sales, inventory, withdrawals, deposits, and so forth.

• Data warehouses or OnLine Analytical Processing Systems (OLAP) are designed and optimized for analytical processing. This type of system involves manipulating transaction records to calculate sales trends, growth patterns, percent to total contributions, trend reporting, profit analysis, and so forth.

• The extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) process contains information that facilitates the transfer of the data from the source systems to the data warehouse.

• Data Import enables MicroStrategy customers to import data easily from unmodeled data sources into an In-memory Intelligent Cube that can be reused in reports and Report Services documents.

• The metadata database contains information that facilitates the retrieval of data from the data warehouse when using MicroStrategy applications. It stores MicroStrategy object definitions and information about the data warehouse in a proprietary format and maps MicroStrategy objects to the data warehouse structures and content.

• The MicroStrategy applications allow you to interact with the business intelligence system. They allow you to logically organize data hierarchically to quickly and easily create, calculate, and analyze complex data relationships. They also provide the ability to look at data from many different perspectives.


2

INTRODUCTION TO

MICROSTRATEGY DESKTOP

Lesson Description

This lesson introduces you to the MicroStrategy Desktop application. It gives you an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the interface and learn some of the basic functionality.

In addition to navigating the interface, this lesson introduces you to project sources and projects, two of the highest-level objects in the MicroStrategy environment.

Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials2


Lesson Objectives


Describe the components of MicroStrategy Desktop, navigate the main interface, and access project sources and projects.


• List and define the components of MicroStrategy Desktop. (Page 31)

• Connect to a project source and access the projects within it. List and define the components of a project. (Page 37)

• Navigate the Desktop interface. (Page 42)

• Navigate and use the Desktop menus and toolbars. (Page 44)

• List the different ways to create and save new objects. (Page 47)

• Create shortcuts to MicroStrategy objects. (Page 49)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop 2

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop 31

Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop


List and define the components of MicroStrategy Desktop.

MicroStrategy Desktop enables you to design, create, and maintain an entire business intelligence system from a single interface by integrating the following tools:

• MicroStrategy Desktop (Designer or Analyst)

• MicroStrategy Architect

• Administrative functions, including tools to manage users, implement security, and configure and maintain MicroStrategy Intelligence Server

This course teaches you the fundamental skills required to use MicroStrategy Desktop Designer or Desktop Analyst. Each of the components of Desktop is briefly described in this lesson.

� For more information about MicroStrategy Architect, refer to the MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials course. For more information about administrative functions for MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, refer to the MicroStrategy Administration courses.

MicroStrategy Desktop

Desktop is the next-generation business intelligence environment designed to meet today’s sophisticated business intelligence requirements. It brings integrated querying and reporting, powerful collaborative analytics, and investigative workflow to every desktop.

Desktop Versions

Desktop is available in two versions:

• Desktop Analyst — Simplified version that provides interactive slice and dice capabilities to users.


32 Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• Desktop Designer—Full-featured version that enables report developers to design complex and sophisticated reports and documents.

The following is a comprehensive list of the features available in each version:

Desktop Version Comparison

Desktop FeaturesDesktop Analyst

Desktop Designer

Create and define derived metrics* � �

Use report objects window* � �

Use view filter editor* � �

Execute document** � �

Define derived elements* � �

Desktop Execute document** � �

Alias objects � �

Define object alias � �

Change user preference � �

Choose attribute form display � �

Configure toolbars � �

Drill and link � �

Modify report subtotals � �

Modify sorting � �

Pivot report � �

Re-execute report against warehouse � �

Save custom autostyle � �

Send to e-mail � �

Use data explorer � �

Use desktop � �



Use grid options � �

Use history list � �

Use report data options � �

Use report editor � �

Use thresholds editor � �

Use search editor � �

View SQL � �

Drill within Intelligent Cube � �

Add notes � �

Create application objects � �

Create new folder � �

Create shortcut � �

Edit notes � �

Save personal prompt answer � �

Schedule request � �

Use server cache � �

Use translation editor � �

View notes � �

Define and publish Intelligent Cube* �

Publish Intelligent Cube* �

Save derived elements* �

Use Intelligent Cube Editor* �

Save derived elements* �

Create HTML container** �



Desktop Designer



Use document editor** �

Use bulk export editor*** �

Define transaction report*** �

Define freeform SQL, MDX, and query builder reports

�

Format graph �

Modify the list of report objects (use object browser)

�

Use object browser �

Use consolidation editor �

Use custom group editor �

Use data mart editor �

Use design mode �

Use drill map editor �

Use filter editor �

Use find and replace dialog �

Use formatting editor �

Use HTML document editor �

Use link editor �

Use metric editor �

Use project documentation �

Use prompt editor �

Use SQL Statement tab in Datamart/Bulk Export editor

�

Use subtotal editor �

Use template editor �



Desktop Designer



MicroStrategy Architect

MicroStrategy Architect is the innovative development environment designed to meet today’s sophisticated business intelligence requirements. Unique techniques of mapping the business model to the underlying data structures make MicroStrategy Architect the most flexible tool in the industry.It creates business intelligence applications against terabyte-sized data warehouses based on any industry business model, such as finance, banking, retail, or pharmaceuticals. Through a user-friendly interface, you can create a rich abstraction layer for a relational database. MicroStrategy Architect also enables you to update the metadata, so changes are immediately and transparently implemented for all users.

MicroStrategy Architect’s convenient database reference utility lets you view column names and data types for any table in the data warehouse and speeds application development by evaluating definitions in the logical model. Advanced data models are simplified using the flexible schema definitions of MicroStrategy Architect. You can use single columns, compound keys, or user-defined expressions to define your schema objects.

Administrative Functions

Most of the administrative functionality for the business intelligence system is found in the Desktop interface. The list below represents important administrative functions that are offered by Desktop:

Use Translation Editor Bypass �

Use VLDB property editor �

View ETL Information �

* Requires MicroStrategy OLAP Services

** Requires MicroStrategy Report Services

*** Requires MicroStrategy Distribution Services



Desktop Designer



User Management—Desktop enables easy maintenance of users and user groups. A host of powerful user and object management features enables you to update access for current users, remove old users from the system, and copy existing user profiles to new user accounts.

Comprehensive Security Model—In any business intelligence solution, system security is of paramount importance. Users with administrative privileges can create and maintain the comprehensive security profiles required by today’s business intelligence applications. Access to application functionality, MicroStrategy projects, all MicroStrategy objects, and database rows and columns is controlled using MicroStrategy security privileges, roles, access control lists, and security filters.

Intelligence Server Administration—Through the Desktop interface, users with administrative privileges can change many of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server parameters. The MicroStrategy Administrator can configure settings such as maximum report length, maximum user idle time, and report prioritization.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Project Sources and Projects 37

Project Sources and Projects


Connect to a project source and access the projects within it. List and define the components of a project.

To start Desktop:

1 On the Microsoft Windows® Start menu, point to Programs, point to MicroStrategy, point to Desktop, and select Desktop.

� By default, Desktop will prompt you for login credentials for the last project source to which you were connected.

2 If prompted, supply a valid login ID and password.

3 Click OK.

� This action will connect you to a MicroStrategy project source.

Connect to a Project Source

The highest-level icon in the folder list of Desktop is the project source. Project sources are the highest-level objects in the MicroStrategy environment. A project source represents a connection to a metadata database or a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. Through a project source you can create, manipulate, and administer MicroStrategy projects.


38 Project Sources and Projects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The following illustration shows the relationship between a project source, the metadata database, and MicroStrategy projects:

Relationship Between Project Source and Projects

The illustration above depicts a direct project source, often referred to as a 2-tier project source. The first tier is Desktop, and the second tier is the metadata database. This type of project source points directly to a MicroStrategy metadata database. The icon representing direct, 2-tier project sources looks like the following:

2-tier Project Source

Another type of project source is known as a server project source, often referred to as a 3-tier project source. The first tier is Desktop, the second tier is Intelligence Server, and the third tier is the metadata database. This type of project source points to an Intelligence Server that is, in turn, connected to a MicroStrategy metadata database. The icon representing a server, 3-tier project source looks like the following:



3-tier Project Source

To connect to a project source:

1 In the Folder List, expand a project source.

2 In the Login window, type a valid login id and password.

3 Click OK.

There are two types of icons under the project source:

• The Administration icon provides access to all of the administrative functions for the particular project source.

Administration

• All other icons are project icons that represent the MicroStrategy projects stored in the metadata to which the project source is connected.

Project

Administration Icon

The Administration icon provides access to all of the administrative functions for a project source.

� By default, only users with administrative privileges can see the Administration icon.


40 Project Sources and Projects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Without Intelligence Server, you are limited to the following administration tools:

• System Monitors—Enable you to access only the Change Journaling Transactions monitor.

� For more information on Change Journaling, refer to the MicroStrategy Administration: Configuration and Security course.

• Configuration Managers—Enable you to access several manages where you create configuration objects such as database instances, schedules, events, security roles, and languages.

• Delivery Managers—Enable you to access the managers to create and manage transmitters and devices.

• User Manager—Enable you to create and manage users and user groups.

With Intelligence Server, you get many additional administrative tools that enable you to control and monitor every aspect of the MicroStrategy environment.

� For more information on administration functionality, refer to the MicroStrategy Administration courses.

Project Icons

A project is the intersection of a data warehouse, a metadata database, and a user community. It contains objects such as reports, filters, templates, and metrics.

To see the contents of a project:

1 Expand the project icon.

� The project opens so you can view its contents.



By default, every project has the following folder structure:

� If the Data Explorer does not display in the Folder List, in Desktop, on the Tools menu, select Desktop Preferences. In the Categories list, below the Desktop category, select General. In the Desktop - General pane, under Data Explorer, select the Show the Data Explorer in the desktop check box, and click OK. The Data Explorer should now display in the Folder List.

Default Project Folders

Folder Description

History You use this folder to retrieve scheduled reports. This folder is only available if you are using Intelligence Server.

My Personal Objects

You use these folders to store objects you create, that are only visible to you. You can always create additional subfolders here.

Public Objects

This folder contains objects that can be viewed by all users, depending on their permissions and privileges. The Public Objects folder contains numerous subfolders that are organized by object type.

Schema Objects

This folder contains objects that represent the business data model such as facts, attributes, and hierarchies.

Data Explorer

This browsing tool contains hierarchies that enable you to navigate the warehouse data and relationships for the project.


42 The Desktop Interface © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The Desktop Interface


Navigate the Desktop interface.

In the Desktop interface, there are three main areas: the Folder List, the Object Viewer, and the Shortcut Bar.

Folder List

By default, the Folder List is the middle pane in the Desktop interface. It shows all of the project sources, projects, application and schema object folders, as well as the administrative functions for the business intelligence system.

� Most of these objects are described later in this lesson.

The Folder List may not automatically display when you initially log in to Desktop.

To show the Folder List:

1 On the View menu, select Folder List.

Object Viewer

The right pane of the Desktop interface is called the Object Viewer. Much like Microsoft Windows Explorer, you navigate through the folder structure in the Folder List, and the objects contained in the folders are displayed in the Object Viewer.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The Desktop Interface 43

Shortcut Bar

The area to the left of the Folder List is called the Shortcut Bar. It displays shortcuts to various Desktop functionality and folders. Again, like Microsoft Windows Explorer, you can add shortcuts to any location that displays in your Folder List. The individual shortcuts can also be organized into user-defined shortcut groups, which is especially useful for large MicroStrategy implementations.

When you open Desktop, you will already have two shortcut groups by default—Tutorial Shortcuts and Other Shortcuts.

To show the Shortcut Bar:

1 On the View menu, select Shortcut Bar.

� The Shortcut Bar opens on the left side of the Desktop window.

To add a shortcut to the Shortcut Bar:

1 On the Shortcut bar, click the shortcut group to which you want to add the shortcut.

2 In the Folder List, right-click the location, such as a project or folder, you want to add to the Shortcut Bar and select Add to Shortcut Bar.

� Your new shortcut displays on the Shortcut Bar.

To remove a shortcut from the Shortcut Bar:

1 On the Shortcut Bar, right-click the shortcut and select Remove from Shortcut Bar.

2 In the confirmation window, click Yes if you are sure you want to remove the shortcut.

To create a new shortcut group:

1 On the Shortcut Bar, right-click an empty area and select Add Group.


44 Basic Navigation © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

2 In the Create a new shortcut group window, type a name for the shortcut group.

3 Click OK.

� Your new shortcut group displays in the Shortcut Bar.

Basic Navigation


Navigate and use the Desktop menus and toolbars.

Desktop Menu Bar

Desktop has the following menus available on the menu bar:

Desktop Menus

Menu Description

File Enables you to create new objects and folders

Edit Enables you to access the Cut, Copy, and Paste functions typically found in a Microsoft Windows Edit menu

View Enables you to change the appearance of the icons in the Object Viewer. You can also show or hide the Status Bar, Shortcut Bar, and Folder List from this menu.

Go Enables you to move one level up in the Folder List or go directly to the project home page

Tools Enables you to access general Desktop tools such as the Search Editor, Desktop Preferences, and the Change Password window

Administration Enables you to access administrative functions such as the Project Configuration Editor and the Database Instance Wizard

Schema Enables you to access project design tools such as the Project Creation Wizard and the Attribute and Fact Creation Wizards


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Basic Navigation 45

� The menus and options available to you depend on your security privileges. For example, if you do not have administrative privileges, you will not see the Administration menu.

Desktop Toolbar

The following table describes the main Desktop buttons:

Window Enables you to close all open editors with one click

Help Enables you to access the online help system and provides links to useful MicroStrategy web sites

Desktop Menus

Menu Description

Desktop Toolbar Buttons

Name Button Description

New object Creates a new object. The objects you can create from this button vary depending on your privileges and your location in the Folder List.

Cut Cuts the currently selected objects

Copy Copies the currently selected objects

Paste Pastes whatever you have cut or copied

Delete the object selected

Deletes the currently selected objects

Rename the object selected

Enables you to rename the currently selected object

View object properties

Opens the Properties window for the currently selected object.


46 Basic Navigation © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

� The specific functionality of some of the toolbar buttons varies depending on your location in the Folder List. For example, if you are working in the Filters folder in a project, clicking New object on the toolbar opens the Filter Editor. However, if you are working in the Reports folder in a project, clicking New object opens the Report Editor.

Search for objects in the project

Opens the Search Editor

Edit the selected object

Opens the editor for the currently selected object

Run Runs the currently selected reports

View Enables you to change the appearance of the icons in the Object Viewer

Show or hide the folder list

Toggles the Folder List display

Refresh object with latest definition

Refreshes the current display

Go to project Takes you to the home page for the project in which you are currently navigating

Go one level up Enables you to move one level up in the Folder List

Update Schema Refreshes the warehouse structure that is stored in memory. The schema should be updated when any structural changes are made to the warehouse or datamodel.

Desktop Toolbar Buttons



© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating and Saving Objects 47

Creating and Saving Objects


List the different ways to create and save new objects.

Creating Objects

There are three ways to access the editors and wizards used to create new objects in Desktop:

• On the File menu, select New, followed by the object you want to create, like a report or filter.

• On the toolbar, click Create a new object.

� The New object button looks and functions differently depending on your location in the Folder List.

• Right-click in an empty area in the Object Viewer, select New, followed by the object you want to create, like a report or filter.

� If you right-click an object instead of an empty area in the Object Viewer, you will not get the correct menu.

There are many different types of objects you can create in Desktop. They can be grouped into three types of objects—schema objects, application objects, and configuration objects. Schema objects are used to create application objects. Application objects are used to create other application objects.


48 Creating and Saving Objects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Schema objects and application objects are represented in the following illustration:

Schema and Application Objects

� For more information on Configuration objects see the MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials course.

Saving Objects

Depending on which object editor or wizard you are using, you can save objects in the following ways:

• On the File menu, select Save.

• On the File menu, select Save As.

• On the toolbar, click Save and New.

• On the toolbar, click Save and Close.

The first time you save an object, the Save As window opens, which enables you to specify the name and the location where the object will be saved. The default save location is the folder in which you are working when you open the object editor or wizard.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Shortcuts to Objects 49

Shortcuts to Objects


Create shortcuts to MicroStrategy objects.

A shortcut is simply a link to an existing MicroStrategy object in the project and behaves similarly to the shortcut functionality available in Microsoft Windows operating systems. Shortcuts to objects enable you to better organize objects in a MicroStrategy project, while still maintaining standard locations for those objects.

There are two ways to create shortcuts to existing MicroStrategy objects:

• On the File menu, point to New, and select Shortcut. In the Open window, locate the object for which you want to create the shortcut, and click Open.

� The shortcut is created in your current location and is named after the original object.

• Right-click the object to which you want to create a shortcut and select Create Shortcut. In the Browse for Folder window, select the location in which you want to create the shortcut and click OK.

� The shortcut is named after the original object.

� An object with shortcuts pointed to it cannot be deleted until its dependent shortcuts are deleted.

You can also edit the target of an existing shortcut.

To edit the target of a shortcut to an object:

1 In the Folder List, select the shortcut you want to edit.

2 On the File menu, select Properties.

OR

Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.

3 In the Properties window, in the Categories list, select Shortcut.


50 Shortcuts to Objects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

4 Modify the Target property by browsing to the desired object or by typing in the folder path to the desired object, as shown below:

Properties Window

5 Click OK to close the Properties window.

� The shortcut is automatically renamed after the new target object.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Lesson Summary 51


In this lesson you learned:

• Desktop is the next-generation business intelligence environment designed to meet today’s sophisticated business intelligence requirements. It brings integrated querying and reporting, powerful collaborative analytics, and investigative workflow to every desktop.

• Desktop is available in two versions—Desktop Analyst, a simplified version that provides interactive slice and dice capabilities to users and Desktop Designer, a full-featured version that enables report developers to design complex and sophisticated reports and documents.

• MicroStrategy Architect is the innovative development environment designed to meet today’s sophisticated business intelligence requirements.

• The Administration icon provides access to all of the administrative functions for a project source.

• A project is the intersection of a data warehouse, a metadata database, and a user community. It contains objects such as reports, filters, templates, and metrics.

• In the Desktop interface, there are three main areas—the Folder List, the Object Viewer, and the Shortcut Bar.

• There are three types of objects you can create in Desktop—schema objects, application objects, and configuration objects.

• Schema objects are used to create application objects. Application objects are used to create other application objects.

• Shortcuts to objects enable you to better organize objects in a MicroStrategy project, while still maintaining standard locations for those objects.

• A shortcut is simply a link to an existing MicroStrategy object in the project and behaves similarly to the shortcut functionality available in Microsoft Windows operating systems.




3

REPORTS

Lesson Description

This lesson introduces you to report definition and report creation in Desktop.

Reports MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials3


Lesson Objectives


Define the components that comprise a report and create simple reports using Desktop.


• Explain the components that make up a report. (Page 55)

• Use the Report Editor to create and save reports. Execute reports and change their display view. (Page 57)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Reports 3

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Report? 55

What Is a Report?


Explain the components that make up a report.

Reports are the focus of business intelligence analysis. They enable users to gather business insight through data analysis. The results from any Desktop report is often just a starting point for further business intelligence investigations.

A report is a request for specific, formatted data from the data warehouse. It consists of a template plus any desired filtering criteria, as shown below:

Components of a Report

A template specifies what information to retrieve from the data warehouse and how this information will be displayed in the report results.

A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in the report results.


56 What Is a Report? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

A view of a report is the actual view of a report subset. With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, users have the ability to remove objects or filter within a result set such that their view of the report result set is a subset of the overall result set.

� Creating report views requires MicroStrategy OLAP Services, an add-on application. For more information on creating report views with MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see the “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” lesson starting on page 273.

When a report is executed, you obtain a formatted collection of all of the objects (such as attributes and metrics) specified on the template that have satisfied the filtering conditions of the report filter. For example, a report can show you a list of stores in a specific region, the price and volume of stock for a given period of time, or other important information. You can change the report’s formatting details to suit your requirements and preferences.

Whenever you create a report, you also create a template and a report filter. Though you may not specifically define and use a separate template or report filter object, these are the objects that logically make up a report definition.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating, Saving, and Viewing Reports 57

Creating, Saving, and Viewing Reports


Use the Report Editor to create and save reports. Execute reports and change their display view.

The Report Editor

When you choose to create a new report, the Report Editor opens, as shown below:

Report Editor


58 Creating, Saving, and Viewing Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

You use the Report Editor to create and modify reports. It is a combination of the Filter Editor, the Template Editor, the Object Browser, the Shortcut Bar, the Report Objects window, and the View Filter definition window, and it enables you, through one editor, to create your template and report filter for a specific report. These components perform the following functions:

• Report Filter definition window—Enables you to add attribute, metric, and advanced filter qualifications, as well as copies or shortcuts to existing report filter objects without having to open another object editor. Simple filters can be created by dragging and dropping attribute elements from the Object Browser (described below) into this window.

• Template definition window—Enables you to define the report layout by dragging and dropping objects from the Object Browser (described below) into this window

• Object Browser—Allows you to navigate through the project to locate objects you wish to use in the report definition

• My Shortcuts—Enables you to jump to locations in the Object Browser. You can customize your shortcuts as discussed in the previous lesson

� For more information on customizing your shortcuts, see “Shortcut Bar” starting on page 43.

• Report Objects window—Enables you to see a summary of all of the objects you have included on your template, even if they are not initially displayed in the report view. The MicroStrategy Engine generates SQL that includes all of the objects in this window, not just the ones that are displayed when the report is run.

� This window is only available if you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services. For more information on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” starting on page 273.

� For more information on the MicroStrategy Engine, refer to the MicroStrategy Engine Essentials course.

• View Filter definition window—Enables you to filter on any object that is in the Report Objects window. View filters do not modify the SQL for the report. Instead, they are applied to the overall result set by the Analytical Engine component of the MicroStrategy Engine. The cache for the report contains the entire result set, but only the subset of information that meets the view filter conditions displays in the report view.

� This window is only available if you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services. For more information on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” starting on page 273.



� A report cache is simply a report result set that is saved on Intelligence Server. When you execute a report and a valid report cache exists for your request, you can retrieve the results from the report cache rather than having to query the data warehouse. In this way, caching helps improve report performance. For more information on report caching, refer to the MicroStrategy Administration: Configuration and Security course.

Creating Reports

As mentioned, whenever you create a report you also create a template and a report filter. Though you may not specifically define and use a separate template or report filter object, these are the objects that logically make up a report definition.

The Template

A template specifies what information to retrieve from the data warehouse and how this information will be displayed in the report results. You can create template objects separately using the Template Editor, or you can create them in the Report Editor.

To define the template, you can either drag and drop objects from the Object Browser into the template definition window, or you can right-click the object in the Object Browser and select Add to Rows or Add to Columns. Each object placed on the template becomes a row or column header, which organizes the data in the final report result display. The empty cells below the headers in the template are place holders for the actual data that will be returned from the data warehouse after the report is executed.

The layout of a template can be cross-tab or tabular:

• A cross-tab layout is useful for multidimensional analysis, like a report with location information in the columns and corresponding sales information in the rows, as shown below:

Example of a Cross-tab Layout

South North

Atlanta Miami Boston New York

Sales ($) 100 200 300 400



• A tabular layout is useful for simple lists of information, like a column of regions and a column of stores, followed by a columns of sales figures, as shown below:

Templates may contain any of the following objects, in any combination:

• Attribute—Representation of a specific level of data calculation or aggregation

• Consolidation—“Virtual” attribute that is created based on existing attribute elements. It enables you to analyze data at levels that do not explicitly exist in the data warehouse. The following report demonstrates an example of a consolidation that displays revenue information for each customer income level:

Report with Consolidation

� In this example, there are no low, middle, and high income levels defined in the data warehouse, so you create these levels by grouping together income ranges, which do exist in the data warehouse. For more information on consolidations, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Example of a Tabular Layout

Region Store Sales($)

South Atlanta 100

South Miami 200

North Boston 300

North New York 400



• Custom Group—Custom attribute grouping that is created based on filter qualifications. It enables you to apply row-level filter conditions. The following report demonstrates a custom group that displays revenue information for the top 10 customers and the top 10 items:

Report with Custom Group

� For more information on custom groups refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

• Metric—Calculation built from facts in the data warehouse. All the metrics are grouped together and bound to one axis (the rows or the columns).

� For more information on metrics, see the “Metrics” lesson starting on page 233.

• Object Prompt—Enables you to select specific objects to include on the report template at report run time.

� For more information on object prompts, see “Object Prompts” starting on page 314.

The Report Filter

A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in the report results.



You can create report filter objects separately using the Filter Editor, or you can create them in the Report Editor. For this lesson, you will use the Report Editor.

To define the report filter, you can drag and drop objects from the Object Browser onto the report filter definition window.

Create a Simple Report

A simple report typically has at least one attribute, one metric, and a report filter. Not all of these components are required, but the data returned is often more meaningful when you use them.

Technically, you can create a report with just one attribute on its template. When you execute the report, it returns a list of all the attribute elements for that attribute. For example, a report containing just the Year attribute would return a list of years from the data warehouse.

Adding a metric to the report provides another level of detail, enabling you to learn more about the attribute on the template. Using the Year example again, adding a sales metric to the template calculates total sales for each year.

Finally, a report filter enables you to limit the data to a specific area of interest. For example, perhaps you only want to see sales information for the year 2005.

To launch the Report Editor:

1 In Desktop, on the File menu, point to New, and select Report.

2 In the New Grid window, in the list of report object templates, select Blank Report.

3 Click OK.

To add an attribute to the template definition window:

4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the desired hierarchy to display the list of attributes included in that hierarchy.

5 Select an attribute and drag and drop it into the template definition window.



OR

Right-click the attribute and select Add to Rows or Add to Columns.

To add a metric to the template definition window:

6 In the Object Browser, locate the metric you want to add to the template.

7 Double-click the metric to add it to the columns of the template.

OR

Drag and drop the metric into the template definition window.

OR

Right-click the metric and select Add to Rows or Add to Columns.

� Recall that all metrics are grouped together and bound to one axis (the rows or the columns).

To add a basic report filter condition:

8 In the Object Browser, double-click the desired hierarchy to display the list of attributes included in that hierarchy.

9 Double-click an attribute to see a list of its attribute elements.

10 Select the attribute elements for which you want data returned and drag and drop the attribute elements into the filter definition window.

Using Predefined Template and Filter Objects

The previous discussion taught you how to define the template and the report filter from within the Report Editor. However, you can also create a report using existing template and report filter objects.

If using an existing template object in a report, you have two options:



• Replace with shortcut to template: Changes you make to the template from within the Report Editor are propagated to the original template and any other reports that use a shortcut to the template. Similarly, changes made to the template object from within the Template Editor are propagated to the report and any other reports that use a shortcut to the template.

• Replace with copy of template: Changes you make to the template from within the Report Editor are not propagated to the original template. Similarly, changes made to the template object from within the Template Editor are not propagated to the report. This is also called a local template and is the same as creating a template on the fly in the Report Editor.

To add a predefined template object:

1 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, browse to the template object you want to add to the report definition.

2 Right-click the template object and select Replace with shortcut to template or Replace with copy of template.

OR

On the Template menu, select Replace with shortcut to template or Replace with copy of template.

If using an existing report filter object in a report, you have three options:

• Add to Report Filter: Adds the report filter object to the report. You cannot make changes to the report filter object from within the Report Editor, but changes made to the report filter object from within the Filter Editor are propagated to the report and any other reports that use the report filter object.

� You can continue to add other report filter conditions to the report from within the Report Editor.

• Replace Report Filter with a shortcut to this filter: Changes you make to the report filter from within the Report Editor are propagated to the original report filter and any other reports that use a shortcut to the report filter. Similarly, changes made to the report filter object from within the Filter Editor are propagated to the report and any other reports that use a shortcut to the report filter.

� You can continue to add other report filter conditions to the report from within the Report Editor.



• Replace Report Filter with a copy of this filter: Changes you make to the report filter from within the Report Editor are not propagated to the original report filter. Similarly, changes made to the report filter object from within the Filter Editor are not propagated to the report. This is also called a local or embedded filter and is the same as creating a filter on the fly in the Report Editor.

• Embed a copy of the template in the report: Changes you make to the stand-alone template are not propagated to this report. Changes that you make to the embedded template within this report are not propagated to the template.

� If you do not add a template to a report, a blank template is automatically created. Although you may not specifically define and use a separate template, a template is a logical part of every report’s definition. This template is created within the report, using the Report Editor, and can only be used in that particular report; it cannot be saved independently of the report and used in a different report

To add a predefined report filter object:

1 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, browse to the report filter object you want to add to the report definition.

2 Right-click the report filter object and select Add to Report Filter, Replace Report Filter with a shortcut to this filter, or Replace Report Filter with a copy of this filter.

OR

Double-click the report filter object.

� This method defaults to the Add to Report Filter option.

OR

Drag and drop it into the filter definition window.

� This method defaults to the Add to Report Filter option.



Saving Reports

After you create a report, you can save the report, so you can execute it again in the future. When you save a report, its name and definition (the template, all report filtering criteria, and any report formatting) are stored in the MicroStrategy metadata database. When you want to execute the report again, you can double-click it to retrieve the latest results. Saving a report creates a predefined report.

To save a report:

1 In a report, on the File menu, select Save.

2 In the Save Report As window, navigate to the location where you want to save the report.

3 Name the report.

4 Click Save.

Reports, or any other object, can be saved into any folder. MicroStrategy objects do not have to be organized into folders by object type. For example, you can save a report into a folder with metrics and filters.

� It is good practice to create and adhere to corporate standard naming and storage conventions to make it easier to locate objects as your MicroStrategy project grows.

The template and the report filter objects can also be saved as standalone MicroStrategy objects, separate from the report, allowing them to be reused later.

To save a template from the Report Editor:

1 On the Template menu, select Save Template As.

2 In the Save Template As window, browse to the location where you want to save the template.

3 Name the template.

4 Click Save.



To save a report filter from the Report Editor:

1 On the Filter menu, select Save Filter As.

2 In the Save Filter As window, browse to the location where you want to save the filter.

3 Name the filter.

4 Click Save.

Advanced Save Options

If you use a shortcut to a predefined template or report filter object to define your report, you will see additional save options when saving your report. These options give you several choices:

Create a local copy of the filter—If you choose this option, changes you make to the report filter in the Report Editor are not propagated to the original filter object, and vice versa. This is also called a local or embedded filter.

Retain the shortcut to the filter—If you choose this option, changes you make to the report filter in the Report Editor are propagated to the original filter object, and vice versa. Creating shortcuts allows you to take advantage of the benefits of object reuse.

Create a local copy of the template—If you choose this option, changes you make to the template in the Report Editor are not propagated to the original template object, and vice versa. This is also called a local or embedded template.

Retain the shortcut to the template—If you choose this option, changes you make to the template in the Report Editor are propagated to the original template object, and vice versa. Creating shortcuts allows you to take advantage of the benefits of object reuse.

Remember options next time—If you choose this option, your advanced save options become the new default options for future advanced save actions.



Running Reports

To run a report:

1 In the Object Viewer, select the report you want to execute.

2 On the File menu, select Run.

OR

Double-click the report.

OR

Right-click the report and select Run.

OR

On the toolbar, click Run.

� The report results display in the default report display view. The default report display view is the report display view that was selected when the report was last saved. Report display views are discussed in the following section.

Report Display Views

There are five report display views:

• Design View—Displays the Report Editor, so you can view and modify the report definition

• Grid View—Displays the report in a row and column format

• Graph View—Displays the report as a graph

• Grid Graph View—Displays the report as a grid and a graph, side-by-side

• SQL View—Displays the SQL used to generate the report. Any Analytical Engine steps that are taken after all of the data has been returned from the data warehouse to produce the final report results are also displayed.



To change the report display view:

1 In the report results window, on the View menu, select the report display view you want to see.

OR

In the report results window, on the toolbar, beside the View button, click the arrow, and select the report display view you want to see.

To change a grid report’s formatting using autostyles:

1 Run a report and change it to grid view or grid graph if necessary.

2 On the toolbar, in the autostyle drop-down list, select the autostyle you want to use to format the report.

Report Details Properties

The Report Details Properties window enables you to configure what information you want to display in the report details section and how it should be presented. For instance, you can specify whether you want to display filter details, the specific filter details to display, and how they should be formatted. You can define how to display the operators within filter details, how to display unanswered prompts, and many other formatting properties.



The image below shows the Report Details Properties window:

Report Details Properties Window

The Report Details Properties window consists of the following tabs:

General

The General tab of the Report Details Properties window contains configuration options for the report, prompt, and filter details. The window contains the following sections:

• Report Details—Includes the report description, prompt details, filter details, and template details. You can choose to include or omit any of this information.

• Prompt Details—Displays prompt related information for all prompts in the report. You can choose to include or omit any of this information.



• Miscellaneous—You can specify whether delimiters are used in report details that display metadata objects, such as attributes and metrics. You can also set aliases to display instead of the object name in Filter Details.

� By default, each setting on this tab inherits the project setting defined in Project Configuration/Project Definition/Document and Report setting.

Filter Details - Contents

The Filter Details - Contents tab of the Report Details Properties window contains configuration options for the filter details, which displays information about filters on the report. This tab enables you to select which filter expressions to include (report filter, view filter, report limits, and so on) and how the filters are displayed. For example, you can select whether to include labels (that is, Report Filter, Report Limits, and so on) and the order in which the filter expressions are displayed.

� By default, each setting on this tab inherits the project setting defined in Project Configuration/Project Definition/Document and Report setting.

The window contains the following sections:

• General—Enables you to select whether to include or omit filter sub-expressions

• Additional Options—You can configure how the filters are displayed in the Filter Details.

Filter Details - Other

The Filter Details - Other tab enables you to specify how logical operators and other components of different qualification types are displayed. The Filter Details - Other tab is shown below:



Template Details

The Template Details tab contains configuration options for the template details, including attribute details and metric details.

To configure report details properties:

1 Open a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Report Details Properties.

3 Modify the properties as needed.

4 Click OK.

� If you do not see the report details display in the Report details window, you need to clear the Apply these Desktop preferences to the report details check box under Desktop Preferences.




In this lesson your learned:

• A report is a request for specific, formatted data from the data warehouse. It consists of a template plus any desired filtering criteria.

• A template specifies what information to retrieve from the data warehouse and how this information will be displayed in the report results.

• A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in the report results.

• A view of a report is the actual view of a report subset. With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, users have the ability to remove objects or filter within a result set such that their view of the report result set is a subset of the overall result set.

• When a report is executed, you obtain a formatted collection of all of the objects (such as attributes and metrics) specified on the template that have satisfied the filtering conditions of the report filter.

• When you create a report, you also create a template and a report filter. Though you may not specifically define and use a separate template or report filter object, these are the objects that logically make up a report definition.

• You use the Report Editor to create and modify reports. It is a combination of the Filter Editor, the Template Editor, the Object Browser, the Shortcut Bar, the Report Objects window, and the View Filter definition window, and it enables you, through one editor, to create your template and report filter for a specific report.

• After you create a report, you can save the report, so you can execute it again in the future.

• There are five report display views—Design View, Grid View, Graph View, Grid Graph View, and SQL View.



MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Reports in Desktop 75

�Exercises: Reports in Desktop

Complete these exercises in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project located in the three-tier project source.

Create a Report

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new folder called My Reports Exercises in the My Reports folder. In the My Reports Exercises folder, you will create a report to show the Revenue and Profit for all Call Centers during 2009. This report will also show the Region to which each Call Center belongs. The first few rows of the results should look like the following:

You will save this report as Revenue and Profit for 2009. You can use the detailed instructions that follow if you want help.


76 Exercises: Reports in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Detailed Instructions

Create the My Reports Exercises Folder

1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, expand the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, expand the My Personal Objects folder, and select the My Reports folder.

2 On the File menu, point to New and select Folder.

3 Name the new folder My Reports Exercises.

Create the Report

4 In the Folder List, select your new My Reports Exercises folder to begin working in it.

5 On the File menu, point to New and select Report.

6 In the New Grid window, leave Blank Report selected and click OK.

� When the Report Editor opens, the Data Explorer is automatically selected in the Object Browser. The System Hierarchy and other user-defined hierarchies created for the project are listed.

Define the Template

7 In the Object Browser, double-click the Geography hierarchy.

8 Drag and drop Region into the rows of the template definition window.

� You might find it easier to right-click the object and select Add to Rows.

9 Drag and drop Call Center into the rows of the template definition window.

� You might find it easier to right-click the object and select Add to Rows.

10 In My Shortcuts, click Metrics.

11 In the Object Browser, double-click the Sales Metrics folder.

12 Drag and drop Revenue into the columns area of the template definition window.



� You can also right-click the object and select Add to Columns. You can also double-click the metrics to place them into the columns of your template.

13 Drag and drop Profit into the columns area of the template definition window.

Your template definition should now look like this:

� If your template looks slightly different, you may need to reposition the attributes and metrics.

Specify the Report Filter Condition

14 In My Shortcuts, click Data Explorer.

15 Double-click the Time hierarchy.

16 Double-click the Year attribute.

17 Drag and drop 2009 into the report filter definition window.

18 In the Report Editor, click Run Report.

19 Compare your results to the expected report in the Overview section at the beginning of this exercise.

Save the Report

20 In the report results window, click Save and Close.

21 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Revenue and Profit for 2009.

22 Click Save.



Work with Design View

Overview

In this exercise, you will modify the Revenue and Profit for 2009 report to show only the Call Centers in the Eastern USA.

� Do not create a new report for this exercise. Modify your existing Revenue and Profit for 2009 report.

The results should look like the following:

You will save this report to the My Reports Exercises folder and name it East Revenue and Profit for 2009. You can use the detailed instructions that follow if you want help.


1 Go to the My Reports Exercises folder and double-click the Revenue and Profit for 2009 report you just created to run it.

2 In the report results window, from the View menu, select Design View.

3 In the Object Browser, double-click the Geography hierarchy.

4 Double-click the Region attribute.

5 Select Northeast.

6 While holding down the CTRL key on your keyboard, select Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.



7 Drag and drop the three regions into the report filter definition window to add them to your existing report filter condition, Year In list (2009).

Save the Report

8 On the File menu, select Save As.

9 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as East Revenue and Profit for 2009.

10 Click Save.

11 On the toolbar, click Grid View to run the report.


13 In the report, click Save and Close to close the report.

Use the Template Editor

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new template called Sales by Quarter and Month. This new template can be reused in multiple reports, and you will use it in your next exercise.



The template should have Quarter and Month attributes in the rows and the Revenue and Units Sold metrics in the columns. The template should look like the following:

You will save this template into a new folder, My Templates Exercises. You can use the detailed instructions that follow if you want help.


1 In the Folder List, expand the My Personal Objects folder and select the My Objects folder.

2 On the File menu, point to New and select Folder.

3 Name the folder My Templates Exercises.

4 In the Folder List, select the new My Templates Exercises folder to begin working in it.

5 On the File menu, point to New and select Template.

6 In the New Template window, leave Empty Template selected and click OK.

� When the Template Editor opens, the Data Explorer is automatically selected in the Object Browser. The System Hierarchy and other user-defined hierarchies created for the project are listed.



7 In the Object Browser, double-click the Time hierarchy.

8 Drag and drop Quarter into the rows of the template definition window.

9 Drag and drop Month to the right of Quarter in the template definition window.

10 In My Shortcuts, click Metrics.


12 Double-click Revenue to add it to the columns of the template.

13 Double-click Units Sold to add it to the right of Revenue in the columns of the template.


Save the report

15 In the Template Editor, click Save and Close.

16 In the Save Template As window, name the template Sales by Quarter and Month.

17 Click Save.

Use an Existing Template and No Filtering Criteria

Overview

To use an existing template, you must include it as part of a report. In this exercise, you will use the Sales by Quarter and Month template from the last exercise in a report with no filtering criteria.



Because there is no filtering criteria, the final result will include data from the entire data warehouse. The first few rows of the result set will look like the following:

You can use the detailed instructions that follow if you want help.


Create the report

1 In the Folder List, under My Personal Objects/My Reports, select the My Reports Exercises folder to begin working in it.

2 On the File menu, point to New, and select Report.

3 In the New Grid window, keep Blank Report selected and click OK.

4 In the Report Editor, in My Shortcuts, click My Personal Objects.

5 In the Object Browser, double-click the My Objects folder.

6 Double-click the My Templates Exercises folder.

7 Right-click the Sales by Quarter and Month template, and select Replace with shortcut to template.

� For this report, you will not include any filtering criteria.



Save the report

8 On the toolbar, click Save and Close.

9 Save the report in My Reports Exercises folder as Sales by Quarter and Month.

10 Click Save.

11 Click Retain the shortcut to the template.

12 Keep the Remember options next time check box selected.

13 Click OK.

14 In the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder and double-click your new report to run it.


16 On the toolbar, click Save and Close to close the report.

Extra Credit

Try this exercise if you have time and want a challenge.

1 The marketing manager in your business wants to run a special promotion for customers paying by various payment methods. She would like to see a report that shows how customers in different income brackets are paying (in terms of Revenue) for their orders. She is specifically interested in the Mid-Atlantic customer region for the Year 2009.

� Customer Region, Income Bracket, and Payment Method are attributes in the Customers hierarchy.

� Be sure to filter on the Customer Region attribute of the Customers hierarchy and not the Region attribute of the Geography hierarchy.



When you finish, your report should look like the following:

Feel free to save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder with a name of your choosing. There are no detailed instructions for this Extra Credit exercise.

2 Now modify the previous report to find out the Revenue in 2009 for the Mid-Atlantic customer region when customers used Visa as their preferred payment method. This report would be useful when you need to decide which items should go on promotion. The report result set should now look like the following:

After saving the report, answer the following questions when you have completed the exercise.

• How many rows did this report return? ___________



• How can you find the number of rows without actually counting them?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________




4

REPORT DATA

MANIPULATIONS

Lesson Description

This lesson describes data manipulations that you can perform in Desktop reports.

Report Data Manipulations MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials4


Lesson Objectives


Define the different types of report manipulations available and perform these report manipulations using Desktop.


• Describe and perform manipulations that enable you to look at report data from different perspectives. (Page 89)

• Explain the purpose of drilling and drill on reports in Desktop using a variety of drilling methods and options. (Page 90)

• Explain the purpose of page-by. Use page-by to segment data on a report in Desktop. (Page 97)

• Explain the purpose of data pivoting. Pivot data on a report in Desktop by changing the order of objects in the rows or columns and moving objects between the rows and columns. (Page 101)

• Apply subtotals to a report in Desktop. (Page 103)

• Sort data in a report in Desktop using a quick sort or an advanced sort. (Page 110)

• Explain the purpose of outline mode. Display a report in outline mode in Desktop. (Page 115)

• Print a boardroom quality report. (Page 119)

• Export a report from Desktop to another application. Format and e-mail reports as attachments. (Page 121)

• Deliver reports to the history list, update caches, and mobile devices. (Page 123)

• View and add notes to reports and documents. (Page 129)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Report Data Manipulations 4

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Data Manipulation 89

Data Manipulation


Describe and perform manipulations that enable you to look at report data from different perspectives.

This section covers report manipulations that enable you to change how data is presented in a report, so you can see the data from different perspectives.

The following report data manipulations are covered in this section:

• Drilling

• Page-by

• Data Pivoting

• Subtotals

• Data Sorting

• Outline Mode

• Printing, exporting and formatting e-mails

• History lists, caches and mobile devices

• Adding Notes


90 Drilling © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Drilling


Explain the purpose of drilling and drill on reports in Desktop using a variety of drilling methods and options.

What is Drilling?

Drilling enables you to see data at levels other than that of the original grid or graph. It helps you investigate the data on your report quickly and easily. The following diagram shows how you can display additional detail through drilling:

Drilling

In Desktop, you can drill down or up within a hierarchy or across to other hierarchies. You can even drill to a completely different template.

• Drilling down enables you to access data at a lower attribute level in the same hierarchy. For example, if a report shows you sales by Month, you can drill down to see sales by Day.

• Drilling up does the opposite of drilling down. You can see data at a higher attribute level in the same hierarchy. For example, you can drill up from the Day level to the Month or Quarter levels.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Drilling 91

• Drilling to other directions lets you view data at any level in any hierarchy. For example, you could drill from Day in the Time hierarchy across to Region in the Geography hierarchy.

• Drilling to a template lets you follow an investigative workflow. A report developer can set up a report so that drilling takes you to another report with the same filter, but a different template.

� A report developer configures the drill to template option by using the Drill Map Editor. For more information on the Drill Map Editor, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

By default, when you drill on a report, the original report remains open, and the drilled-to report displays in a new window.

Methods for Drilling

When you drill on a report, you can drill on the entire report or only on part of the report. There are several drilling methods you can use, all of which are discussed below:

Methods for Drilling



• Double-click an attribute element—Drills down one level for a single element.

– For example, if your report shows two years, 2009 and 2010, you can double-click either 2009 or 2010 to drill down and see the quarter level data for that year.

• Right-click one or more elements—Select one or more elements by holding down SHIFT or CTRL to drill on them. Right-click to open a shortcut menu that lists the possible drill directions and drill paths.

• Use the Drill menu option or toolbar button—Drills on either the entire report or only selected items.

To use the menu or toolbar to drill:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Drill.

OR

On the toolbar, click the Drill.

Drill

� If the toolbar buttons are not visible by default, on the View menu, click Toolbar, and select Data.



3 In the Drill window, in the Selected object drop-down list, select the object on which you want to drill. You can drill on attributes, compound metrics, consolidations, and custom groups, as shown below:

Drill Window

4 In the Drilling options window, browse to the attribute to which you want to drill.

5 Choose whether to keep the parent.

6 Choose whether to keep the thresholds.

7 Choose whether to inherit subtotals from parent.

8 Click OK to drill.



� If you are using the page-by functionality on the original report, you will also see the When drilling, add the current page-by element as part of the filter check box. For more information on page-by, see “Page-by” starting on page 97.

Keep Parent

The Keep parent option in the Drill window lets you determine whether or not you want to add the attribute from which you drilled to the new drilled-to report’s template.

For example, consider the following report showing revenue by year. The original report from which you are drilling is shown below:

Yearly Revenue Report

If you drill down to Month from Year 2009 and do not set Keep parent to Yes, you see the following report, where Year has been replaced by Month:

Keep Parent Set to No



If, instead, you set Keep parent to Yes, you see the following report, where Month is added to the template along with Year:

Keep Parent Set to Yes

� If you leave Keep parent as Default, the Keep parent setting is inherited from the report or project-level settings.

To set the Keep parent setting at the report level:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Report Data Options.

3 In the Categories list, expand General.



The General -Drilling pane, as shown below:

Keep Parent Set at Report Level

4 In the General-Drilling pane, in the Keep parent while drilling drop-down list, select Yes.

5 Click OK.

6 In the report results window, on the File menu, select Save.

To set the Keep parent setting at the project level:

� The following steps change the default setting for all reports in a MicroStrategy project to keep the parent attributes while drilling.

1 In Desktop, while logged in to a MicroStrategy project, on the Tools menu, select My Preferences.

2 In the My Preferences window, in the Categories list, expand Grid.

3 Select Drilling.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Page-by 97

4 In the Keep parent while drilling drop-down list, select Yes.

5 Click OK.

Page-by


Explain the purpose of page-by. Use page-by to segment data on a report in Desktop.

What Is Page-by?

Page-by enables you to select and display subsets of your report results as separate pages. This feature is most useful when you have extremely long report results and scrolling is necessary to see all of the data.


98 Page-by © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Suppose you have the following report showing Revenue and Profit data organized by Region and Quarter. Notice that only the first few result rows are shown below:

Quarterly Region Revenue and Profit Report

You can page by Quarter to see only one quarter’s worth of data at a time:

Page-by Quarter


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Page-by 99

You can page by any of the following objects:

• Attributes

• Metrics

• Hierarchies

• Consolidations

• Custom groups

• Object prompt (attribute)

• Object prompt (metric)—only if the row or column does not contain a metric

• Object prompt (hierarchy)

• Object prompt (consolidation)

• Object prompt (custom group)

Methods for Creating Page-by Fields

To create page-by fields on a report:

1 Run a report.

2 On the toolbar, click View Page-by.

View Page-by

3 Drag and drop the objects you want to page by into the page fields pane that display above the report results.

4 Use the drop-down list to select the specific data you want to see on the report.


100 Page-by © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

5 In the report, on the File menu, select Save to save your page-by field selections to the report definition.

Page Field Ordering

You can put more than one attribute into the page fields pane. The order of the attributes in the pane can influence the list of attribute elements displayed for subsequent attributes in the pane.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Data Pivoting 101

Suppose a retailer sells sporting goods in the United States. Some items are available only in certain stores and not in others. For example, the stores in Alaska sell snowshoes instead of surfboards, whereas the stores in Hawaii sell surfboards instead of snowshoes. In a report with State and Item in the page fields pane, the following results are possible:

• State first, then Item—If Alaska is selected for State, the list of attribute elements for Item does not include surfboards. Similarly, if Hawaii is selected for State, the list of attribute elements for Item does not include snowshoes.

• Item first, then State—If snowshoes is selected for Item, the list of attribute elements for State does not include Hawaii. Similarly, if surfboards is selected for Item, the list of attribute elements for State does not include Alaska.

Data Pivoting


Explain the purpose of data pivoting. Pivot data on a report in Desktop by changing the order of objects in the rows or columns and moving objects between the rows and columns.

Data pivoting enables you to rearrange the columns and rows in a report, so you can view data from different perspectives. With data pivoting, you can do the following:

• Move objects from the row header to the column header

• Move objects from the column header to the row header

• Change the order of objects in the row header

• Change the order of objects in the column header

• Move objects from the row header or the column header to the page field pane

• Move objects from the page field pane to the row header or the column header

• Swap row headers and column headers


102 Data Pivoting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Methods for Data Pivoting

You can pivot data in a report using any of the following methods:

• Drag and drop objects to move them around on the template.

• Select an object, and choose a data pivoting option from the Move menu.

• Right-click an object, point to Move, and select an option from the menu.

• Select an object and use one of the data pivoting buttons 0n the toolbar:

Data Pivoting Buttons


Swap Rows and Columns

Moves the data from the columns to the rows, and from the rows to the columns

Move to Row

Moves the selected object to the rows

Move to Column

Moves the selected object to the columns

Move to Page

Moves the selected object to the page-by field

Move Up Moves the selected object up

Move Down Moves the selected object down

Move Left Moves the selected object left

Move Right Moves the selected object right

Remove from Grid

Removes the selected object from the report template


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Subtotals 103

� Depending on the current position of your selected object, some data pivoting options may not be available.

Remember to save your report with the new locations of the objects.

Subtotals


Apply subtotals to a report in Desktop.

Subtotals reflect accumulations at selected attribute levels and can be applied dynamically to any report. There are various subtotals available to you such as count, minimum, maximum, average, and so forth.

To display subtotals on a report:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Subtotals.


104 Subtotals © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

3 In the Subtotals window, on the Definition tab, select the subtotals you want to see on your report, as shown below:

4 Click OK.

5 In the report, on the File menu, select Save to save the subtotals to the report definition.



Subtotals by Position

Consider a report with four attributes. If you show subtotals for all four attributes, the report may be confusing, especially if you choose to display several types of subtotals. Therefore, you may want to suppress all subtotals except for a grand total, as shown below:

Subtotals by Position

If you want to see only grand totals:

1 Run a report.


3 In the Subtotals window, on the Definition tab, select the subtotals you want to see on your report.

4 Click Advanced.

5 In the Advanced Subtotals Options window, under Applied levels, select By position.



6 From the appropriate drop-down lists (based on where your metrics are on the template), select Grand Total.

7 Click OK to close the Advanced Subtotals Options window.

8 Click OK again to close the Subtotals window.


Subtotals Across Levels

If there are several attributes on the report, subtotals can be turned on for selected attributes only. For example, compare the following two reports. The first report shows subtotals across Category only, as shown below:

Subtotals Across Category



The second report shows subtotals across Quarter only, as shown below:

Subtotals Across Quarter

This functionality gives you more control over the display of subtotals on your report.

To display subtotals for selected attributes:

1 Run a report with more than one attribute on its template.



4 Click Advanced.

5 In the Advanced Subtotals Options window, under Applied levels, click Across level.



6 Select the attributes across which you want to display subtotals.




Subtotals Group By

Subtotals are typically accumulations of metrics based on the layout of attributes on a report. However, subtotals may be grouped by any attribute on a report regardless of the report layout. For example, compare the following two reports. The first report shows subtotals across quarters. The Quarter subtotal is broken down by Manager because the Manager attribute is listed to the left of the Quarter attribute, as shown below:

Subtotals By Manager



The second report uses the subtotals group by functionality and displays subtotals for each Quarter, regardless of the Manager:

Subtotals by Quarter

This functionality gives you more flexibility in deciding which subtotal to display.

To display subtotals based on specific attribute groups:

1 Run a report with more than one attribute on its template.



4 Click Advanced.

5 In the Advanced Subtotals Options window, under Applied levels, click Group by.

6 Click Add.

7 In the Group by Selection window, select the attributes on which you would like to group subtotals.

8 Click OK to close the Group By Selection window.



110 Sorting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.



Sorting


Sort data in a report in Desktop using a quick sort or an advanced sort.

Sorting enables you to specify the order in which the data in a report for a particular row or column is presented—either ascending or descending. You can sort based on any object that you place on the template. You can also select the sorting criteria and the sorting order.

Methods for Sorting

You have two options for sorting in Desktop:

• Quick sort—Enables you to select one column or row and sort it in either ascending or descending order based on the data displayed. This option is only available in grid view and grid and graph views.

• Advanced sort—Enables you to create more advanced sorts for rows, columns, and pages and to sort by multiple objects. This option is available in grid, graph, and grid and graph view.

Quick Sort

The first thing you must do to perform a quick sort is to run a report. Then select the row or column header by which you want to sort the report. You can then sort in the following ways:

• Right-click the column or row header and select Sort rows by this column (or just Sort if you right-clicked a row header), followed by either Ascending or Descending.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Sorting 111

• On the toolbar, select either Sort Ascending or Sort Descending:

� If the toolbar buttons are not visible by default, on the View menu, click Toolbar and select Data.

� You can only sort by one row or one column when using the quick sort method. If you sort by one column and then sort by another, you will lose the order for the first sort. Advanced sorting lets you sort by multiple rows and columns.

Advanced Sort

The advanced sort enables you to configure multiple sorts. You can select the attributes or metrics you want to use to sort the report and the order in which you want to sort by them. For attributes, you can also choose the attribute form (for example, ID or description) by which to sort the attribute data.

Every sort has the following fields that you can change to create completely customized sorting criteria:

Sorting Buttons


Sort Ascending

Sorts the data in ascending order

Sort Descending

Sorts the data in descending order

Sort Columns

Column Description

Sort By Name of the row or column or page-by field

Criteria If you are sorting on an attribute, you can choose the attribute form by which to sort the attribute data. The attribute form does not have to be displayed on the report.

Order Order in which to sort the data, ascending or descending



Included in the Advanced Sort window is an option for hierarchical sorting of totals. When sorting on a metric, you can select the Sort metrics hierarchically using check box and select a subtotal. Data is still grouped, but the groups are sorted by the subtotal you select. Without this option, subtotals are treated as normal metric values and are often separated from the data to which they correspond.

� The option to sort metrics hierarchically is only enabled when subtotals exist on the report. For more information on totals, see “Outline Mode” starting on page 115.

To create advanced sorts:

1 In a report, on the Data menu, select Advanced Sorting.

Total Position

This option enables you to determine where totals are displayed. The options are as follows:

• Bottom: All totals are displayed together at the bottom of the report. For example, on a report with Year, Quarter, and Revenue, all Yearly and Quarterly totals appear at the bottom of the report.

• Top: All totals and subtotals are displayed together at the top of the report. For example, on a report with Year, Quarter, and Revenue, all Yearly and Quarterly totals appear at the top of the report.

• Inherit: Totals are displayed at the position set by the Report Designer using the subtotals display options.

• Mixed: Totals are displayed in a sorted order like any other metric value. The values of the metric and the subtotal are mixed while performing the sorting.

Parent Position

This option is only available for custom groups. This option enables you to govern where the custom group header label appears with respect to its data elements.

Sort Columns

Column Description


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Sorting 113

2 In the Sorting window, click the appropriate tab, Rows, Columns, or Pages, depending on what you want to sort, as shown below:

Sorting Window

3 Click Add to add a new sort.

4 In the Currently defined sorts window, under Currently defined sorts, change the values for Sort By, Criteria, Order, Total Position, and Parent Position as appropriate.

� If you are sorting a metric row or column and subtotals exist on your report, you have the option of sorting hierarchically by subtotals.

Select the Sort metrics hierarchically using check box.

In the drop-down list, select the subtotal by which you want to sort.

5 Add additional sorts as necessary.

6 Use the up and down arrows to change the order of the sorts as necessary.

7 Click OK to apply the sorts.

8 In the report, on the File menu, select Save to save the sort selections to the report definition.



Sorting on Page-by

Within the Advanced Sorting options, you can sort the page-by elements (ascending or descending) based on either their ID or description. The image below shows the Pages tab of the Sorting window:

Sorting on Page-by

For example, if you have a report with the Year attribute in the page-by field, you can set the elements of the year to be displayed in ascending or descending order. The image below shows the Year attribute elements sorted in descending order:

Page-by on Year Attribute

To sort on page-by:

1 In the Sorting window, click the Pages tab.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Outline Mode 115

2 On the Pages tab, click Add.

3 At a minimum, specify the following columns: Sort By, Criteria and Order.

4 Click OK.

Outline Mode


Explain the purpose of outline mode. Display a report in outline mode in Desktop.

Outline mode enables indented grouping of related attributes, much like heading levels in a document outline. Outline mode is useful when users want to display the same report at different levels very quickly. Review the following example:

Product Revenue Report Without Outline Mode


116 Outline Mode © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The same report displayed in outline mode looks much better, as shown below:

Product Revenue Report With Outline Mode

Expanding and collapsing the different levels of the report does not execute any SQL against the data warehouse. In addition, the report can be cached, which also makes it faster than drilling to another attribute level.

� Outline mode is only available when you have more than one object in the rows of the report template.

Using Outline Mode

To enable outline mode, do one of the following:

• On the Grid menu, select Display Outline Results.

• On the toolbar, click Display Outline Results.

Display Outline Results


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Outline Mode 117

You can expand and collapse levels by clicking the numbered buttons above the report. There will be one button for each column in the report. See the three reports below for an example of how clicking these buttons can affect the look of a report in outline mode. The initial report is shown below:

All Levels Displayed

When you click the “2” button, the information is rolled up as follows:

Category and Subcategory Revenue Displayed Only


118 Outline Mode © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Finally, when you click the “1” button, the information is completely rolled up as follows:

Category Revenue Only

� To see data totals for a collapsed level, you must enable subtotals. For more information on subtotals, see “Subtotals” starting on page 103.

By default, reports in outline mode are displayed with all levels expanded.

To set an outline mode report to initially display with all levels collapsed:

1 Open a report in Grid view.

2 On the Grid menu, select Options.

3 In the Grid Options window, on the General tab, select Open with all outline levels collapsed.

� You also have the option to have an outline mode report open and expanded to a specific level.

4 Click OK to close the Grid Options window.

5 In the report, on the File menu, select Save.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Printing 119

Printing


Print a boardroom quality report.

You can print a report in Grid, Graph, Grid and Graph, or SQL view. The formatting you apply to the report in Desktop also applies to the printed copy of the report.

You can print a report using one of the following methods:

• On the File menu, select Print.

• On the toolbar, click Print Preview.

Print Preview


120 Printing © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Clicking Print Preview opens the Print Preview window for your report, as shown below:

Print Preview Window

In the Print Preview window, click Setup to open the Page Setup window, which enables you to:

• Change the page orientation, page numbering, and scaling

• Adjust the page margins

• Determine what information to display in the header and footer of the printed report. You can choose to display page number, total number of pages, date, time, project name, report name, template name, filter name, report details, bitmap images, and user ID.

• Choose the order in which to print pages if the report is particularly long or has numerous page fields.

Remember to save your report with its new print options.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exporting and E-mailing Reports 121

Exporting and E-mailing Reports


Export a report from Desktop to another application. Format and e-mail reports as attachments.

You can export a Desktop report or e-mail a Desktop report (as an attachment) in any of the following application formats:

• Microsoft Excel®

• Microsoft Word®

• Microsoft Access®

• Plain text

• HTML

• PDF

To export a report:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, point to Export To, and select the application format in which you want to see the report results.

You can manipulate the behavior of the export function using export options.

To access export options:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Export Options.

3 In the Export Options window, in the Application drop-down list, select the application to which you are exporting.

4 On the General tab, change the settings as appropriate.


122 Exporting and E-mailing Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

� The settings available on the General tab vary depending on your selection for the Application list.

5 On the Appearance tab, change the settings to alter the appearance of the exported report.

6 Click OK to exit the Export Options window.

7 In the report, on the File menu, select Save to save the export options to the report definition.

To e-mail a report as an attachment:

1 Run a report.

2 On the File menu, point to E-mail report as, and select the application format that you want to use to e-mail the report as an attachment.

� After you select the attachment type, an e-mail message window opens with the report file as an attachment. Depending on the size of the report, this action may take a few moments.

3 Continue composing the e-mail as desired.

Removing Metrics Columns

Users can prevent the “Metrics” column title from displaying within a report when viewing the report results in MicroStrategy Web or when exporting the report results to PDF and HTML in Desktop.

To remove the metric column title:

1 In Desktop, create a new report or edit an existing report.

2 In Design View, select the Grid menu, select Options.

OR

In Grid View, on the Grid menu, select Options.

3 Click the Columns and Rows tab.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Report Subscription in Desktop 123

4 In the Columns and Rows tab, under Columns, select the Remove extra column (Web only) check box, as shown below:

Grid Options Window

5 Click OK.

6 Save and close the report.

� You will be able to see this change when viewing the report in MicroStrategy Web or when you view the exported report in PDF or HTML.

Report Subscription in Desktop


Deliver reports to the history list, update caches, and mobile devices.


124 Report Subscription in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

In Desktop, you can subscribe reports and documents to history list, cache and mobile.

Subscribing a Report to the History List

You can subscribe a report or document to the history list from the right-click menu or from the Report Editor.

To receive a report or document in the history list, you must subscribe to that report or document. You can use the History List Subscription Editor to set the subscription properties and schedule.

To subscribe a report to the History List:

1 Right-click the report, point to Schedule Delivery To, and select History List, as shown below:

Subscribing a Report to the History List

2 Select a schedule and appropriate options and click OK. The different options are depicted below:



History List Subscription Editor

To unsubscribe a report from the History List:

1 In Desktop, on the Tools menu, select My Subscriptions.

2 In the My Subscriptions window, right-click the subscription, and select Unsubscribe.

3 In the Desktop window, click Yes.



Subscribing a Report to Update Cache

The updating cache option refreshes the existing cache for the selected report with new data from the data warehouse. You can schedule a delivery to update cache without having to execute the report. The option to schedule to update cache is depicted below:

Subscribing a Report to Update Cache

To update the cache of a report or document, you must subscribe to that report or document. You can use the Cache Update Subscription Editor to subscribe to this update, as shown below:

Cache Update Subscription Editor



� You can subscribe to update cache in the same way as subscribing reports or documents to the history list.

Subscribing a Report to a Mobile Device

You can create a subscription to send a report or document to a mobile device. To receive a report or document on a mobile device, you must subscribe yourself to that report or document. The option to schedule delivery to a mobile device is depicted below:

Subscribing a Report to a Mobile Device

� Mobile users must have the use "MicroStrategy Mobile" and "Mobile View Document" privileges.



Within the Mobile Subscription Editor, you can specify your desired schedule. This schedule controls how often the report or document is sent, and when you want this subscription to end, as depicted below:

Mobile Subscription Editor

� You can subscribe to a mobile device in the same way as subscribing reports or documents to the history list.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Adding Notes to Reports and Documents 129

Adding Notes to Reports and Documents


View and add notes to reports and documents.

You can actively collaborate online with other Desktop users using a powerful feature—notes. You can think of notes as annotations or comments attached to a report or a document, which enable you to communicate important information about the report to the end users. For example, you can educate users how to navigate through report results, find optimal drill paths, interpret thresholds, and so on. End users, on the other hand, can share their feedback by adding comments about the usability of the design or the relevance of metrics.

� Notes are linked to the report and document definition, but are not saved with it. When you add, modify, or delete notes, you do not invalidate the report or document cache.

The image below displays the Notes window:

Notes Window


130 Adding Notes to Reports and Documents © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To view or add notes:

1 In Design View or Grid View, on the toolbar, click Notes, as shown below:

Notes Button

OR

2 In Design View or Grid View, on the View menu, select Notes.

3 Type your desired note in the lower text box, as shown below:

Adding Notes

4 Click Submit.

5 Click Close.

� Your note will be added to the notes summary pane.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Adding Notes to Reports and Documents 131

To modify notes:

1 In the Notes window, click Edit.

2 Edit the notes in the window.

3 Click OK to save your changes.





• Drilling enables you to see data at levels other than that of the original grid or graph. It helps you investigate the data on your report quickly and easily.

• In Desktop, you can drill down or up within a hierarchy or across to other hierarchies. You can even drill to a completely different template.

• Page-by enables you to select and display subsets of your report results as separate pages. This feature is most useful when you have extremely long report results and scrolling is necessary to see all of the data.

• Data pivoting enables you to rearrange the columns and rows in a report, so you can view data from different perspectives.

• Subtotals reflect accumulations at selected attribute levels and can be applied dynamically to any report. There are various subtotals available to you such as count, minimum, maximum, average, and so forth.

• Sorting enables you to specify the order in which the data in a report for a particular row or column is presented—either ascending or descending. You can sort based on any object that you place on the template. You can also select the sorting criteria and the sorting order.

• Outline mode enables indented grouping of related attributes. Outline mode is useful when users want to display the same report at different levels very quickly.

• You can print a report in grid, graph, grid and graph, or SQL view. The formatting you apply to the report in Desktop also applies to the printed copy of the report.

• You can export or e-mail a Desktop report as an attachment in any of the following application formats: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, plaintext, HTML, and PDF.

• In Desktop, you can subscribe reports and documents to history list, cache and mobile devices.

• You can actively collaborate online with other Desktop users using a powerful feature—notes.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Report Data Manipulations in Desktop 133

�Exercises: Report Data Manipulations in

Desktop

Drilling and Page-By

Overview

Create a report with Region and Category in the rows and Year and Revenue in the columns. The first few rows of the initial report should look like the following:


134 Exercises: Report Data Manipulations in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

After creating this report, modify it so that the data is displayed at a lower level and is slightly easier to read. The modified report will look like the following:



Create the report

1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder to work in it.



4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click Geography.

5 Drag and drop Region to the rows of the template.

6 In the Object Browser, click up one level.

7 In the Object Browser, double-click Products.

8 Drag and drop Category to the right of Region on the template.



� Dragging and dropping objects to specific areas of a template takes practice. As an alternative, you can right-click an object in the Object Browser and select Add to Rows or Add to Columns to easily add objects to a template.


10 In the Object Browser, double-click Time.

11 Drag and drop Year to the columns of the template.

12 In the My Shortcuts, click the Metrics folder.


14 Double-click Revenue to include it above Year, in the columns of the template.

15 Drag your Revenue metric below Year in the columns. Your template layout should look like the following:

Save the report

16 Click Save and Close.

17 Save the report in the My Report Exercises folder as Region, Category, Year Sales.

18 Locate the report you just created and run it.




Drill on the report

20 On the Data menu, click Report Data Options.

21 On the Report Data Options window, expand the General menu and select Drilling.

22 In the General—Drilling pane, in the Keep parent while drilling drop-down menu, select No.

.

23 Click OK.

� On the report, double-click the Year header to drill down to Quarter. Double-clicking automatically drills down one level.

� Every time a drill occurs a new report window is created.

24 In the new report, right-click the Category header, point to Drill, point to Down, and then select Subcategory.



� A new report window is created and displays data at the Subcategory level. The first few rows and columns of your results should now look like the following:

25 Right-click the Subcategory header, point to Move, and select To Page-by.

26 Select Quarter and drag it into the page-by field to the right of Subcategory.


Save the report


29 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Region, Subcategory, Quarter Sales - Page By.

30 Close all other report windows without saving them.



Pivoting and Sorting

Overview

Create a report with Region, Year, and Revenue on the template. The initial results should look like the following:

Use pivoting and advanced sorting to change the report display to look like the following:

� The report is sorted ascending by Year and descending by Revenue within each year.





Create the report

1 In the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder to work in it.



4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click Geography.

5 Drag and drop Region to the rows of the template.


7 In the Object Browser, double-click Time.

8 Drag and drop Year to the columns of the template.

9 In My Shortcut, click the Metrics folder.


11 Drag Revenue to include it below Year in the columns of the template.

12 In the Report Editor, click Run.

13 Refer to the beginning of the exercise to verify your results.

14 On the Grid menu, point to Auto Style Selected, and select the Squares autostyle.

15 Pivot Year from the columns to the rows by either dragging and dropping it to the left of Region or by right-clicking Year, pointing to Move, and selecting To Rows.

16 On the Data menu, select Advanced Sorting.



17 In the Sorting window, on the Rows tab, click Add to add the first object.

� Under the Sort By column, you should see Year, under the Criteria column, you should see ID, under the Order column you should see Ascending. Leave these defaults.

18 Click Add again.

� This adds the second object, Region, from the report, to the Currently defined sorts window.

19 In the Sort By column, click Region, and use the drop-down list to select Revenue.

20 In the Order column, select Descending. Leave the other defaults. Your Sorting window should now look like the following:

21 Click OK to close the Sorting window.


Save the report

23 In the report, click Save and Close.

24 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as US Revenues by Region - Pivoting and Sorting.



Totals and Outline Mode

Overview

Run the Sales by Region report, which can be found by using the search functionality. You want to modify this report so you can see this same information at the Subcategory level when needed. You also want to modify the report so it displays subtotals.

Use the subtotals and outline mode functionality to change the report display to look like the following:



Search for report

1 In Desktop, on the Tools menu, select Search for Objects.

2 On the Name and Location tab, in the Named box, type Sales by Region.

3 In the Look in box, browse to the \MicroStrategy Tutorial\Public Objects\Reports folder and click OK.



4 Click Find Now. The search should look like the following:

5 In the Search Results window, double-click the Sales by Region report to run it.

6 For the Region selection prompt, leave the default prompt selections and click Next.

7 For the second Category selections prompt, leave the default selection of Electronics and add the Books, Movies, and Music categories by double-clicking each of them.

8 Click Next.



9 In the Summary screen, click Finish. The first few rows of the initial report look like the following:

� For more information about prompted reports, see “What Is a Prompt?” starting on page 299.

10 In the report, on the View menu, select Design View.

11 In the Report Editor, in the template definition window, right-click the Year attribute and select Remove from Report. You will see the following message:

� Be sure you select Remove from Report and not Remove from Grid.


13 In the template definition window, right-click the Region attribute and select Remove from Report.




Enabling Subtotals

15 In the Report Editor, on the Data menu, select Subtotals.

16 In the Subtotals window, on the Definition tab, select the Total check box.

17 Click Advanced.

18 In the Advanced Subtotals Options window, click Across level, and select both the Category and Subcategory check boxes.


20 Click OK to close the Subtotals window.

21 In the Report Editor, on the View menu, select Grid View.

The first few rows of the report now look like the following:



Enabling Outline Mode

22 In the report, on the Grid menu, select Display Outline Results. The first few rows of the report now look like the following:

23 In the report, on the Grid menu, select Options.

24 In the Grid Options window, on the General tab, under Outline, click Open with all outline levels collapsed.


26 Refer to the beginning of the exercise to verify your results.

27 In the report, on the File menu, select Save As.

28 In the Save Report As window, navigate to the My Reports Exercises folder and save the report as Sales by Category and Subcategory - Outline.

Save the report

29 Click Save to close the Save Report As window.

30 In the Save Options window, click Static, so you are not prompted when you run this report again.



� For more information about the Save Options window, see “Saving Reports with Prompts” starting on page 325.

31 Click OK to close the Save Options window.

32 Close the Sales by Category and Subcategory - Outline report.

33 Close the New Search window. If prompted to save the search, click No.

Exporting Reports

Overview

Export the Employee Birthdays report (found in the Public Objects\Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder) to Microsoft Excel so you can save it in your local machine. The first few rows of the exported report should look like the following:





1 In the Folder List, expand the Public Objects folder, followed by the Reports folder, followed by the Subject Areas folder, and select the Human Resources Analysis folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Employee Birthdays report to execute it.

3 In the report, on the Data menu, point to Export To, and select MS Excel.

� You can specify pre-export and post-export Microsoft Excel macros, a destination file, and whether or not to include Report Details and the report SQL via Export Options. For more information on accessing Export Options, see “To access export options:” starting on page 121.


5 Close the Microsoft Excel workbook without saving it.

6 In Desktop, close the Employee Birthdays report without saving it.



E-mailing Reports

Overview

E-mail the Item and Order Tracking report (found in the Public Objects\Reports\Business Roles\Operations Managers folder) as a PDF attachment. The original report results should look like the following:


� You will not be able to perform this exercise if an e-mail client is not configured on your local machine.


1 In the Folder List, under Public Objects/Reports/Business Roles, select the Operations Managers folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Item and Order Tracking report to run it.

3 Accept all default prompt answers by clicking Next and then Finish.




5 In the report, on the File menu, point to E-mail report as, and select PDF document.

6 A new e-mail message opens with the Item and Order Tracking report as a PDF attachment. Close the e-mail message without saving it.

� The default e-mail program set up on your local machine is used to create the e-mail message.

7 In Desktop, close the Item and Order Tracking report without saving it.




5

REPORT STYLE

MANIPULATIONS

Lesson Description

This lesson describes style manipulations that you can perform in reports in Desktop.

Report Style Manipulations MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials5


Lesson Objectives


Define the different types of style manipulations available and perform these style manipulations using Desktop.


• Describe and perform style manipulations in Desktop that enable you to change the formatting of report data. (Page 153)

• Make formatting changes to reports in Desktop. Create, save, and use autostyles. (Page 154)

• Explain the purpose of thresholds and apply thresholds to a report in Desktop. (Page 159)

• Explain the purpose of banding and apply custom banding to a report in Desktop. (Page 165)

• Lock row and column headers and resize columns in Desktop. (Page 168)

• Describe some of the basic graph properties and modify a graph report in Desktop. (Page 171)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Report Style Manipulations 5

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Style Manipulation 153

Style Manipulation


Describe and perform style manipulations in Desktop that enable you to change the formatting of report data.

This chapter covers style manipulations that enable you to determine how report data is formatted. You can change the look and feel of a report in Desktop using various formatting methods.

The following report style manipulations are covered in this section:

• Formatting in Desktop

• Thresholds

• Banding

• Locking row and column headers

• Resizing columns

• Basic graph formatting


154 Formatting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Formatting


Make formatting changes to reports in Desktop. Create, save, and use autostyles.

Formatting involves changing the display of a report. You can format the look and feel of your report by altering the number display, alignment, font, border, and patterns for column and row axes, template object headers and values, and subtotal headers and values.

Methods for Formatting

There are three ways to change the formatting properties on a report:

� If the formatting toolbar is not visible by default, on the View menu, click Toolbar and select Formatting.

• You can right-click any object on your template and select Formatting. You can also right-click the word Metrics to format all of the metrics on the report in the same way. The Format Cells window opens for you to make formatting changes. For example, if you run a report with Category on the template, and you right-click the Category header, you would see the following formatting options:

Formatting Options


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Formatting 155

• You can use the Formatting toolbar to select the objects you want to format and to make formatting changes:

Formatting Toolbar

� Not all of the formatting options display in the Formatting toolbar pictured above.

• You can use the Format menu to select the objects you want to format using the menu shown below:

Format Menu

The Format Cells window opens for you to make formatting changes.

To format objects on a report:

1 Right-click an object on the report, point to Formatting, and select the part of the object you want to format (for example, headers, values, and so forth).

� You can also use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu to select the object you want to format. If you are using the Formatting toolbar, you use the drop-down lists and buttons on the toolbar to select the object and to make your formatting changes.



2 In the Format Cells window, make your formatting changes, as shown below:

Formatting Window

3 Click OK.

Remember to save the report with its new formatting.

� You can also use the Find and Replace tool to modify the format of sets of metrics throughout a MicroStrategy project. For more information on the Find and Replace tool, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Formatting 157

Autostyles

In addition to changing the report view, there are many formatting options that you can change. For example, grid reports have autostyles. Autostyles are predefined formatting schemes that are available when viewing a report in grid view or grid graph view.

MicroStrategy comes with several autostyles that contain predefined formatting properties.

To change a grid report’s formatting using autostyles:

1 Run a report and change it to grid view or grid graph if necessary.

2 On the toolbar, in the autostyle drop-down list, select the autostyle you want to use to format the report.

To use an existing autostyle:

1 Run a report in grid mode.

2 On the Grid menu, point to AutoStyle Selected, and select an autostyle.

3 On the File menu, select Save to save the report with its new autostyle.

� You can also use the Find and Replace tool to apply an autostyle to a selected set of reports and templates throughout a MicroStrategy project. For more information on the Find and Replace tool, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

You can also choose to customize the formatting for a report and save those formatting changes as your own autostyle, which you can reuse on other reports.

To create and save your own autostyle:

1 Run any report in grid mode and customize the formatting using any of the methods discussed in the previous section.

2 On the Grid menu, select Save AutoStyle As.



3 In the Save AutoStyle As window, select a location and name your autostyle.

� The default save location for a custom autostyle is My Objects. If you save an autostyle to this folder, it will appear in only your autostyle drop-down list. However, if you would like this autostyle to be available to other users, you should save the autostyle in the Autostyles folder under Public Objects.

4 Click Save.

To define a project default autostyle:

� The following steps configure all new reports created in a MicroStrategy project to use a specific autostyle by default.

1 In Desktop while logged in to a MicroStrategy project, from the Tools menu, select My Preferences.

2 In the My Preferences window, in the Categories list, expand Grid and select General.

3 In the Grid - General pane, under Display, in the Default style drop-down list, select the autostyle that you would like to make the project default.

4 Click OK to exit the My Preferences window.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Thresholds 159

Thresholds


Explain the purpose of thresholds and apply thresholds to a report in Desktop.

A threshold is best understood as conditional formatting of metric values. By defining thresholds for a metric, report developers can format metric values that meet the criteria of their choosing. For example, suppose a sales quota for monthly sales is $10,000 per employee. A report developer creates a monthly sales by employee report in which all sales values above the $10,000 quota display in green and all those below display in red. Furthermore, the metric value can be replaced with an image, a symbol, or alternate text. This example illustrates the purpose of thresholds, which is to emphasize data that meets defined criteria, making reports easier to read.

For example, the image below shows all the categories that generated revenue greater than $1,000,000 with a green background:

Report with Thresholds

� Thresholds are also applied to the Profit and Profit Margin metrics.


160 Thresholds © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The Thresholds Editor is shown below:

Threshold Editor

You can copy and paste threshold definitions, which enables you to save time by reusing them when the same definition is needed to define thresholds on multiple metrics. You are also provided four shortcut thresholds. These shortcut thresholds include highest and lowest rank and percentage.

To create and apply a threshold to a grid report:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Data menu, select Thresholds.

OR

Right-click the appropriate metric and select Thresholds.

OR

On the toolbar, click Thresholds.

� If the Threshold icon is not visible by default, on the View menu, click Toolbar and select Data.



3 In the Thresholds Editor, on the toolbar, in the drop-down list, select the metric to which you want to apply the threshold, as shown below:

Thresholds Editor

� After you create a threshold for one metric, you can easily copy it to multiple metrics on the report.

4 Select the New Threshold check box to ensure your threshold is enabled.

5 Click New Threshold textbox.

6 In the text box, type a name for the threshold.

7 Click Click here to start a new qualification. The parts of the condition are displayed, each of which must be defined:

• Click Field to select the attribute or metric that is part of your condition.

• Click Operator to select an operator, such as In List, Greater than, and so on.

• Click Value to specify the elements from the available list.

8 In the Format drop-down list, select one of the following options:

• Format—Select this option to change fonts, colors, styles, sizes, and so on. This action formats the values that meet your threshold condition.



• Replace Text—Select this option to define your own text. This action replaces the value that meets your threshold condition with text. Type the text in the empty text field. The text should be limited to 255 characters.

• Image—Select this option to replace the value that meets your threshold condition with an image file.

� Threshold images cannot be viewed in Desktop. To see threshold images you have added to a report, view the report in MicroStrategy Web. Threshold images are also visible if the report is placed in an HTML document or Report Services document.

• Quick Symbol—Select this option to replace the value that meets your threshold condition with a symbol, as shown below:

Threshold Editor

9 Define the following:

• Format or Replace Text—If you selected Format or Replace Text, on the toolbar, click Edit the threshold formatting to define the number format, font for the text or data, text alignment within the cell, cell border, and cell pattern.

• Image—If you selected Image, in the Absolute path box, click browse to provide the location of the image.

• Quick Symbol—If you selected Quick Symbol, select a symbol from the right. On the toolbar, click Edit the threshold formatting to define the alignment, size and color (font), cell border, cell background, and cell pattern for the symbol you have chosen.



10 In the Thresholds Editor toolbar, select one of the Subtotal options to specify whether the threshold should be applied to the metric, any subtotals that may be on the report, or both:

• Apply the threshold on metric values only—Applies the threshold condition only on metric values.

• Apply the threshold on subtotal values only—Applies the threshold condition only on the subtotal values.

• Apply the threshold on metric and subtotal values—Applies the threshold condition on metric and subtotal values.

11 Click OK to save your new threshold definition.

After you run your report you can toggle between the symbol and value using the F12 function key or, on the Data menu, select Hide Threshold or Show Threshold.

Copying a Threshold Across Multiple Metrics

You can use copy and paste functionality to quickly add the same threshold definition to multiple metrics in a report. You can edit the thresholds as necessary for any of the metrics.

� When you edit a threshold, it does not affect the copied ones.

To copy a threshold:

1 In the Thresholds editor, select the threshold to copy and, on the toolbar, click Copy.

Copy

2 On the toolbar, in the drop-down list, select the metric to which you want to copy the threshold.



3 On the toolbar, click Paste.

Paste

� The threshold is copied to that metric. By default, the copied threshold is named "Copy of [original threshold’s name]", as shown below:

Threshold Editor

4 To rename it, click the threshold name and type the new name.

5 Edit the threshold, if necessary.

6 Click OK to save the threshold and return to the report.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Banding 165

Banding


Explain the purpose of banding and apply custom banding to a report in Desktop.

Banding is a method of organizing the display of report results in a grid report according to certain criteria. You can band by rows and columns based on either the number of rows or columns or the values of the row and column headers.

The autostyle of a report defines its default banding options, but you can turn off banding or define custom banding for a report regardless of its autostyle.

To turn off banding:

1 Run a report in Grid view.


3 In the Grid Options window, on the General tab, under Banding, select No banding.

To define custom banding:



3 In the Grid Options window, on the General tab, under Banding, click Custom banding.

4 Click Settings.


166 Banding © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

5 In the Banding Settings window, set the banding options as desired, as shown below:

Banding Settings Window

6 Click OK to close the Banding Settings window.

7 Click OK again to close the Grid Options window.

8 In the report, on the File menu, click Save to save your banding options to the report definition.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Banding 167

In the following example, custom banding was applied at the Subcategory level:

Custom Banding at Subcategory Level


168 Locking and Resizing Columns and Rows © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Locking and Resizing Columns and Rows


Lock row and column headers and resize columns in Desktop.

Desktop enables you to lock row and column headers on a grid report, so while viewing report results, you can scroll horizontally and vertically without losing sight of the row or column headers. This property is particularly advantageous when you want to view information that spans more rows or columns than can be displayed at one time.

To lock row and column headers:


2 On the Grid menu, select Lock Row Headers or Lock Column Headers as needed. These options lock the rows and columns of a grid report, respectively.

� To unlock the row or column headers, from the Grid menu, select the Lock Row Headers or Lock Column Headers option again.

You also have the option to manually resize the column widths and row heights of a report.

To manually resize column widths using column handles:


2 On the Grid menu, select View Column Handles.

3 Click and drag the column handles to the desired width.

� To remove the column handles from the grid report, select View Column Handles again.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Locking and Resizing Columns and Rows 169

To resize column widths using the Grid Options window:



3 In the Grid Options window, click the Columns and Rows tab.

4 Under Columns, click Auto Fit and specify a minimum column width in characters.

OR

Under Columns, click Fixed, and from the Select from the list drop-down list, select which columns you want to configure. Also, specify a column width in pixels.

� If the data in each column is much shorter in length than the column headers, you may want to select the Wordwrap check box. Look at the two versions of the same report below to see effect of the wordwrap feature. The first report has the wordwrap feature enabled, so the metric names wrap:

Wordwrap Feature Enabled


170 Locking and Resizing Columns and Rows © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The second report does not have the wordwrap feature enabled, so the metric names make the columns much wider:

Wordwrap Feature Not Enabled


6 In the report, on the File menu, click Save to save your column width options to the report definition.

To resize row heights using the Grid Options window:




4 Under Rows, click Auto Row Height.

OR

Under Rows, click Fixed Row Height and specify a row height in pixels.


6 In the report, from the File menu, click Save to save your row height options to the report definition.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Graph Properties 171

Graph Properties


Describe some of the basic graph properties and modify a graph report in Desktop.

There are numerous graph properties that enable you to customize nearly every aspect of a graph’s appearance. You can choose from dozens of different graph types and styles. After you choose an overall graph type and graph style, other options enable you to adjust various aspects of the graph, such as the data labels, a legend, its axes, and its titles. This topic describes a few of the more common graph properties you may use.

Display Data Labels

You can display the exact values for each data point on a graph.

To display data labels on a graph:

1 Run a report in Graph view.

2 On the Graph menu, point to Display, and select Data Label.

� The data labels are automatically formatted based on the formatting of the metrics in grid view (as long as all of the metrics are formatted in the same manner). However, you can also manually set the format of the data labels.

To manually format the data labels (and axes numbers) on a graph:

� The automatic formatting of data labels on a graph is the default behavior. If, however, you manually format the data labels, automatic number formatting no longer takes place.

3 On the Graph menu, select Graph Options.


172 Graph Properties © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

4 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, expand Axes, followed by Category, and select Axis Labels. The Category - Axis Labels is shown below:

Preferences Window

5 In the Category - Axis Labels pane, select the positioning of the labels in the graph.

6 In the Properties Categories list, expand Axis Labels, and select Axis Line to format the axis line.

7 Under Axis Labels, click Font to format the axis label font. In the Properties categories list, under Axes, expand Y, followed by Axis Labels, and select Number Formatting to format the axis numbers.

8 In the Axis Labels - Number Formatting pane, under the Category list, select the type of formatting you want to apply.

9 Click OK to close the Preferences window.



Graph Title

By default, the title of a graph is the name of the report, but you can manually change the title using static text or graph title variables. A graph title can also be reformatted.

To change the title of a graph:

1 On the Graph menu, select Titles and Labels.

2 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, expand Titles and select All.

3 In the Titles - All pane, in the Title box, type the title for the graph, as shown below:

Change Graph TItle

4 In the Properties Categories list, under Titles, under All, select Font.

5 In the All - Font pane, make the appropriate changes to format the title font and frame.

6 In the Properties Categories list, under All, click Fill. Make the appropriate changes to format the title fill.



7 In the Properties Categories list, under All, click Border. Make the appropriate changes to format the title border.

8 In the Preferences window, click Apply

9 Click OK.

� You can also use the Find and Replace tool to apply a font of your choice to graph titles and labels in selected sets of reports and templates throughout a MicroStrategy project. For more information on the Find and Replace tool, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Specify the Number of Categories and Series

Sometimes, all of the data from a report does not fit onto one page of a graph. When that happens, a scroll bar displays on the bottom of the graph to enable you to scroll through the rest of the data. An alternative to scrolling is to change the number of series and categories on the graph to display more or less data per page.

The following report shows 4 categories (sets of data along the X-axis) and 2 series (legend items). Generally, the categories correspond to the rows or a report, and the series correspond to the columns of a report, as shown below:

Graph Categories and Series



To change the number of categories and series of a graph:

1 On the Graph menu, select Preferences.

2 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, under Options, select General.

3 In the Options - General pane, under Scrolling, specify the Maximum number of categories and the Maximum number of series, as shown below:

Setting for Maximum Number of Categories and Series

� To use the number of categories specified in Maximum number of categories as the minimum number of categories to display, select the Use as minimum number of categories check box.



Nested Labels

When there are several attributes in the rows of a report, all of the attributes are displayed in each label on the category axis, resulting in a cluttered look, as shown below:

Graph with Many Attributes in the Legend

A feature called nested labels is available in the Preferences window. When enabled, it minimizes the amount of text that displays along the category axis. The image below shows the same graph with the nested labels feature enabled:

Nested Labels

In addition, when you enable nested labels, you can also draw brackets for each attribute level for added effect, as shown below:

Nested Labels with Brackets



To enable nested labels on a graph:

1 In the Options - General pane, under Graph Labels, select the Use nested labels check box, as shown below:

Use Nested Labels Option

� To include brackets for each attribute level in the nested label, select the Draw bracket for each level check box.

2 To show or hide the individual labels of graphs that have several data series, select the Concatenate labels for multiple series check box.

� This option only works for graphs that require multiple data for one data point, such as bubble, scatter, and stock graphs.

3 To show or hide the last level labels of graphs that have several data series, select the Suppress last level labels check box. This option applies to all data series in the graph.

� This option is useful for graphs that require multiple data for one data point, such as bubble, scatter, and stock graphs.



4 Click OK to apply the changes and close the Preferences window.

5 In the graph report, on the File menu, select Save to save the nested labels to the report definition.

Graph Undo/Redo

The undo function allows a user to easily reverse actions that resulted in an undesirable outcome on a graph. The redo function allows a user to reverse the undo command on a graph.

Both the redo and undo functions maintain a history list of the actual actions that can be reversed. The history list provides you with the option to reverse any action in the list, not just the last action. For example, assume you change the title, graph type, number of series, and number of categories on a graph. After looking at the final graph you decide that a different graph type would look better. You can undo only the graph type and do not have to also reverse all actions prior to the graph type in the history list.

To undo or redo the last action on a graph:

1 In the graph report, on the Edit menu, select Undo or Redo.

To undo or redo a specific action on a graph:

1 In the graph report, on the toolbar, click the drop-down arrow on redo or undo.

2 Select the specific action to undo or redo from the list.

3 Once a graph is saved, the redo and undo history lists are erased. In addition, if a graph contains a page-by field, selecting a different page will erase the history lists





• Formatting involves changing the display of a report. You can format the look and feel of your report by altering the number display, alignment, font, border, and patterns for column and row axes, template object headers and values, and subtotal headers and values.

• A threshold is best understood as conditional formatting of metric values. By defining thresholds for a metric, report developers can format metric values that meet the criteria of their choosing.

• Banding is a method of organizing the appearance of report results in a grid report according to certain criteria. You can band by rows and columns based on either the number of rows or columns or the values of the row and column headers.

• Desktop enables you to lock row and column headers on a grid report, so while viewing report results, you can scroll horizontally and vertically without losing sight of the row or column headers.

• There are numerous graph properties that enable you to customize nearly every aspect of a graph’s appearance. You can choose from dozens of different graph types and styles. After you choose an overall graph type and graph style, other options enable you to adjust various aspects of the graph, such as data labels, legend, axes, and titles.




© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Report Style Manipulations in Desktop 181

�Exercises: Report Style Manipulations in

Desktop

Formatting and Autostyles

Overview

Change the formatting on your Region, Category, Year Sales report that you created earlier so that the first few rows look like the following:

Save the formatting changes as a new autostyle, and reuse it on the Category Sales Report report.



182 Exercises: Report Style Manipulations in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.


1 In the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Region, Category, Year Sales report to run it.

Format the report

3 In the report template, right-click the Region header, point to Formatting, followed by Row Axis, and select Headers.

4 In the Format Cells window, click the Font tab and make the following changes:

• Font: Garamond

• Size: 12

• Bold: Yes

• Color: Grey (25%)



5 Click the Background tab.

6 In the Background style drop-down list, select Solid.

7 In the Fill color drop-down list, select Dark Red.

8 Click OK to close the Format Cells window.

9 In the report, right-click the Region header, point to Formatting, followed by Row Axis, and select Values.


• Font: Garamond

• Color: Dark Red


12 In the report, right-click the Year header, point to Formatting, followed by Column Axis, and select Headers.


• Font: Garamond

• Size: 12

• Bold: Yes

• Color: Grey-25%

14 Click the Background tab and from the Background style drop-down menu, select Solid.

15 Click the Fill color drop-down menu and select Dark Red.


17 In the report, right-click the Year header, point to Formatting, followed by Column Axis, and select Values.

18 Repeat the formatting changes in steps 12 to 15.

19 Compare your results to the expected report in the Overview section at the beginning of this exercise..



20 In the report, from the Grid menu, select Save AutoStyle As.

21 In the Save AutoStyle As window, navigate to the My Objects folder, and save your autostyle as My New AutoStyle.

� The default save location for a custom autostyle is My Objects. If you save an autostyle to this folder, it will display in only your autostyle drop-down list. However, if you would like this autostyle to be available to other users, you should save the autostyle in the Autostyles folder under Public Objects.

22 Close the Region, Category, Year Sales report without saving it.

23 In the Folder List, expand the Public Objects folder, followed by the Reports folder, followed by Business Roles folder, and select the Category Managers folder.

24 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Category Sales Report report to run it.

25 In the report, from the Grid menu, point to Auto Style Selected, and select My New Autostyle. The report should now look like the following:

26 Close the Category Sales Report report without saving it.



Thresholds

Overview

Configure thresholding conditions to format the US Revenues by Region - Pivoting and Sorting report, as shown by the following image:

To make the report look like the above image, follow the formatting guide below:

• For Revenue greater than $2,500,000, substitute the data value by a green diamond.

• For Revenue between $1,500,000 and $2,500,000, substitute the data by an orange diamond.

• For Revenue below $1,500,000, keep the data value and bold it Red.





1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, double-click the US Revenues by Region - Pivoting and Sorting report to run it.

Create thresholds

3 In the report, on the Data menu, select Thresholds.

4 In the Thresholds window, click New Threshold to rename it.

5 In the New Threshold box, type Greater than 2,500,000.

6 Click Click here to start a new qualification.

7 Click Field, and select Revenue.

8 On the Operator menu, select Greater than.

9 On the Value menu, select Type a value.

10 In the Value box, type 2500000 and press ENTER on the keyboard.

11 Click Format, and select Quick Symbol.

12 In the Quick Symbol image menu, select the diamond symbol.

13 On the toolbar, click Edit the threshold formatting.

14 In the Format Cells window, click the Font tab.

15 Under Settings, in the Color box, select Green and click OK.

� The quick symbol is formatted as a preview.



16 In the Thresholds window, on the toolbar menu, click Add a new threshold.

17 Name this threshold Between 1,500,000 and 2,500,000.


19 Click Field and select Revenue.

20 On the Operator menu, select Between.

21 On the first Value menu, select Type a value.


23 On the second Value menu, select Type a Value.


25 Click Format and select Quick Symbol.

26 In the Quick Symbol image menu, select the diamond symbol.

27 In the tool bar, click Edit the threshold formatting.




29 Under Settings, in the Color box, select Orange and click OK.

30 In the Thresholds window, on the toolbar, create your third and final threshold by clicking Add a new threshold.

31 Name this threshold Less than 1,500,000.


33 Click Field and select Revenue.

34 On the Operator menu, select Less than.

35 On the Value menu, select Type a value.


37 Select the whole threshold to highlight it.

38 On the toolbar, click Edit the Threshold Formatting.




40 Under Settings, in the Bold box, select Yes.

41 Under Settings, in the Color box, select Red.


43 Click OK again to close the Thresholds window.


Save the report


46 Save this report in the My Report Exercises folder as Threshold Report.

47 Close the Threshold Report.



Locking\Resizing Columns and Rows

Overview

Run the Average and Maximum Revenue per Call Center Transaction report, which can be found using the search functionality. Modify the wordwrap feature and then use the column handles to resize the column width. The initial results should look like the following:



Then, run the Inventory Received from Suppliers by Quarter, which can be found by using the search functionality. Notice that there are more rows in the report than you can view on one page. The initial results look like the following:

If you scroll down, you will no longer be able to see the column headers. To fix this issue, you need to lock the column headers, so they stay in place when you scroll down through the report.



Enable Wordwrapping


2 In the New Search window, on the Name & Location tab, in the Named box, type Average and Maximum.


4 Click Find Now.



5 In the Search Results window, double-click the Average and Maximum Revenue per Call Center Transaction report to run it.


7 In the report, on the Grid menu, select Options.


9 Clear the Wordwrap check box and click OK.

� The title of each metric is now on a single line.

Change column width

10 In the report, on the Grid menu, select View Column Handles.

11 When the message window appears, click Yes.

� The column handles display above the row and column headers.

12 Use the column handles to adjust the width of the metric columns until your report looks like the following:

13 Close the Average and Maximum Revenue per Call Center Transaction report without saving it.



Locking Columns Headers

14 If the New Search window is not open, on the Tools menu, select Search for Objects.

15 On the Name & Location tab, in the Named box, type Inventory Received from.

16 In the Look in box, browse to the \MicroStrategy Tutorial\Public Objects\Reports folder and click Find Now.

17 In the Search Results window, double-click the Inventory Received from Suppliers by Quarter report to run it.


19 On the report, scroll down and notice that the column headers are no longer displayed.

20 In the report, on the Grid menu, select Lock Column Headers.

21 Scroll down the report and notice that the column headers now display.

22 Close the Inventory Received from Suppliers by Quarter report without saving it.

23 Close the New Search window. If prompted to save the search, select No.



Bar Graph

Overview

Run the Yearly Revenue Growth by Customer Region report (which you can find by using the search functionality) in graph view and make changes to the graph display to make it easier to read. The initial graph will look like the following:

It is almost impossible to distinguish the values for Percent Growth. To fix this, you will change the graph type to split dual axes. You will also add data labels to the bars to show the exact value for each data point. Finally, you will change the title of the graph to Revenue and Percent Growth by Customer Region.



The final graph should look like the following:



Search for report


2 On the Name & Location tab, in the Named box, type the first few words of the report, Yearly Revenue Growth.


4 Click Find Now.

5 In the Search Results window, double-click the Yearly Revenue Growth by Customer Region report to run it.

6 In the Report Editor, on the View menu, select Design View.


8 Double-click Year to display the attribute elements.

9 Drag 2009 into the Report Filter area.



10 Click Run.

11 On the View menu, select Graph View.

12 In the Graph Type window, click OK to accept the default graph style.


Change Graph Type

14 In the graph report, on the Graph menu, select Graph Type.



15 In the Graph Type window, on the Vertical tab, select Vertical Bar:DualAxis Stacked.

16 Click OK to close the Graph Type window.

17 On the graph report, on the Graph menu, select Grids and Scales.

18 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, expand Axes, followed by Y2, and select Axis Labels.



19 In the Y2 - Axis Labels pane, select the Make This a Descending Axis check box.

20 Click OK.

21 Your graph report should now look like the following:

22 On the Graph menu, select Graph Options.



23 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, expand Vertical Bar Options, and select Layout.

24 In the Vertical Bar Options - Layout pane, select the Split Dual Axis check box.

Add Data Labels

25 In the Properties Categories list, expand Series and select Labels And Values.

26 In the Series - Labels And Values pane, select the Show Data Labels check box.

27 In the Labels Location drop-down list, select Outside Maximum.

Change the Graph Title

28 In the Properties Categories list, expand Titles, and select All.

29 In the Titles - All pane, in the Title text box, delete the default and type Revenue and Percent Growth by Customer Region.

30 Click OK to close the Properties window.


Save the report

32 In the graph report, on the File menu, select Save As.

33 In the Save Report As window, navigate to the My Reports Exercises folder and save the report as Customer Region Revenue and Growth Graph.

34 Close the Customer Region Revenue and Growth Graph report.

35 Close the New Search window. If prompted to save the search, select No.



Graph with Gauges

Overview

Run the Sales by Quarter and Month report found in your My Reports Exercises folder to graph view, using the gauge display. The final results should look like the following:



1 In the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder.

Create a Copy of a Report

2 In the Object Viewer, right-click the Sales by Quarter and Month report you created earlier and select Copy.

3 In Desktop, on the Edit menu, select Paste.

� A copy of the report is created and named Copy of Sales by Quarter and Month.

4 Right-click the Copy of Sales by Quarter and Month report and select Rename.



5 Rename the report Sales by Quarter.

Remove Units Sold and Month from the Report

6 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Sales by Quarter report to run it.

7 In the report template, right-click the Units Sold header and select Remove from Report.

� Ensure you select Remove from Report and not Remove from Grid.

8 In the two Desktop windows that pop up, click Yes.

9 In the report template, right-click the Month header and select Remove from Report.

10 In the two Desktop windows that pop up, click Yes.

Change to Graph View

11 In the report, on the View menu, select Graph View.

12 In the Graph Type window, in the list of graph types, select Advanced.

13 Click the Gauge tab and select the Gauge:Gauge graph.

14 Click OK to close the Graph Type window.

Format the Gauge Graph

15 On the graph report, on the Graph menu, select Grids and Scales.

16 In the Preferences window, in the Properties Categories list, expand Axes, followed by Y, and select Axis Labels.



17 Clear the Show gauge titles check box.

18 In the Properties Categories list, expand Gauge Options, and select General.

19 In the Gauge Options - General pane, for Gauge Style, click Old.

20 In the Gauges Per Row text box, type 4.

21 Clear the Draw Axis Label Outside check box.

22 Click OK to close the Preferences window.


24 In the graph report, on the File menu, select Save.

25 In the Advanced Save Options window, click Create a local copy of the template.

26 Click OK.

27 Close the Sales by Quarter report.


6

FILTERS

Lesson Description

This lesson introduces you to report filters. Understanding how to create report filters is a crucial part of creating reports that retrieve only the data that you want to analyze.

In this lesson, you will learn about the different types of report filters, see examples of when you would use each type, and learn how to create them using Desktop.

Basic knowledge of formal logic is useful in understanding report filters and their concepts, but it is not required.

Filters MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials6


Lesson Objectives


Define the different types of report filters available in Desktop and create each type using the Filter Editor.


• Explain the purpose of a report filter and describe the differences between report filters and view filters. (Page 205)

• Use the Filter Editor to create and save report filters. (Page 209)

• Define the different types of report filters, and create each type of report filter using the Filter Editor in Desktop. (Page 211)

• Define the set operators available in the Filter Editor, and describe how you can use them to combine multiple filter conditions inside a report filter. (Page 219)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Filters 6

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Filter? 205

What Is a Filter?


Explain the purpose of a report filter and describe the differences between report filters and view filters.

A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in report results. If you are familiar with SQL syntax, the report filter is usually equivalent to the WHERE clause in a SQL statement.

For example, consider the following diagram, which shows a table of data filtered by three different report filter conditions:

Filter Conditions

As you can see, each report filter condition returns a different result set. You need to know how to design the correct report filter in order to retrieve the desired data.


206 What Is a Filter? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

There are two categories of filters in MicroStrategy:

• Report Filter—Enables you to apply filter conditions to a report that appear in the SQL used to retrieve the report result set. The report filter is created as part of the report and is saved with the report definition. You can create a report filter from within the Report Editor or with the Filter Editor. You can filter on an object whether or not it is part of the report template. After you execute a report, you can see the definition of the report filter in the Report Details window.

� You can open and close the Report Details window for a report by selecting Report Details from the View menu.

The following illustration shows a report that is filtering on specific regions, even though the Region attribute is not on the template.

Report Filter Based on Specific Regions


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Filter? 207

• View Filter—Enables you to create a filter on the fly, based only on those objects that exist in the Report Objects window. (These objects may or may not be displayed on the template.) View filters do not display in the report SQL. Rather, view filters are applied after the data is retrieved from the warehouse, so only a subset of the result set displays in the report view. You can create a view filter with the View Filter window of a report, which you can also use to view the details of existing view filter conditions.

� You can open and close the View Filter window in a report by selecting View Filter from the View menu.

The following illustration shows the previous report with a view filter condition of Year 2009. As you can see, the Year attribute is in the Report Objects window (and on the template), and only data for 2009 displays in the report view, even though data for 2009, and 2010 were retrieved from the data warehouse:

View Filter Based on Year 2009

� View filters and the Report Objects window are only available with MicroStrategy OLAP Services. For more information on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” starting on page 273.


208 What Is a Filter? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The differences between report filters and view filters are summarized in the following table.

Summary of Differences: Report Filters vs. View Filters

Filter Type SQL Generated May Reference When Applied

Report Filter Every time a change is made; often affects the WHERE clause of a SQL statement

Any object, whether or not it is part of the report

Before the SQL is generated and sent to the data warehouse

View Filter None Only objects in the Report Objects window

After the data is retrieved from the data warehouse


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating and Saving Report Filters 209

Creating and Saving Report Filters


Use the Filter Editor to create and save report filters.

The Filter Editor

When you choose to create a new filter object, the Filter Editor opens, as shown below:

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor has the following windows:

• Object Browser—Enables you to navigate through the project to locate objects you want to use in the report filter definition.

• My Shortcuts—Enables you to jump to a location in the Object Browser.

� You can customize your shortcuts. For more information on customizing your shortcuts, see “Shortcut Bar” starting on page 43.


210 Creating and Saving Report Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• Filter definition window—Enables you to add attributes, metrics, advanced filter qualifications, as well as copies or shortcuts to existing report filter objects. Simple filters can be created by dragging and dropping attribute elements from the Object Browser into this window.

Creating a Simple Filter

To launch the Filter Editor:

1 In Desktop, on the File menu, point to New, and select Filter.

2 In the New Filter window, select Empty Filter from the list of filter object templates, and click OK.

To create a simple report filter:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, navigate to the Data Explorer.

2 Double-click the hierarchy that contains the attribute on which you want to qualify to display the list of attributes included in that hierarchy.

3 Double-click the attribute on which you want to qualify to expand it to its list of attribute elements.

4 In the list of attribute elements, select the attribute elements you want to see in the report results and drag and drop them into the Filter definition window.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Types of Report Filters 211

Saving a Filter

To save a filter:

1 In the Filter Editor, on the File menu, select Save.

2 In the Save Filter As window, navigate to the location where you want to save the filter object.

3 Type a name for the filter and click Save.

Types of Report Filters


Define the different types of report filters, and create each type of report filter using the Filter Editor in Desktop.

You can create the following types of report filters:

• Attribute qualification

• Set qualification

• Shortcut to a Report (Report qualification)

• Shortcut to a Filter (Filter qualification)

� There is also an advanced qualification option that enables you to create advanced filter qualifications, like attribute-to-attribute comparisons and relationship filters. For more information on advanced qualifications, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Each of the above listed types of report filters is described in the following sections.

� The following sections include steps on how to create different types of report filter using the Filter Editor. However, you can create the same types of report filters by following the same steps from within the Report Editor.


212 Types of Report Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Attribute Qualification

Attribute qualification filters enable you to specify the conditions that attribute elements must satisfy to be included in the report results.

There are various ways to qualify on an attribute. The following sections explain how to create the most common types of attribute qualification filters.

Attribute Element List Qualification

This type of filter enables you to qualify on a list of attribute elements. Your filter can require that the data returned as report results be “in” the list of attribute elements you specify or “not in” the list of attribute elements you specify. For example, you can create an attribute element list qualification on the Year attribute that only returns data for the attribute element 2009 or returns data for all years except for the attribute element 2009.

To qualify on a list of attribute elements:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the attribute with elements on which you want to qualify.

2 Drag and drop the attribute into the Filter definition window.



3 In the Attribute Qualification window, in the Operator drop-down list, select either In list or Not in list, as shown below:

Attribute Qualification

4 To create the list of attribute elements, click Add.

5 In the Select Objects window, below Available objects, select attribute elements and click > to add them to the Selected objects list.

6 Click OK to close the Select Objects window.

7 Click OK again to close the Attribute Qualification window.

Attribute Form Qualification

This type of filter enables you to qualify on any attribute form of an attribute. For example, you can create an attribute form qualification on the Last Name attribute form of the Customer attribute that only returns data for those customers whose last names begin with the letter “H”.

To qualify on an attribute form:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the attribute with the attribute form on which you want to qualify.




3 In the Attribute Qualification window, in the Qualify On drop-down list, select the attribute form on which you want to qualify.

4 In the Operator drop-down list, select an operator.

5 Below the operator drop-down list, in the text box, type the value you want to use to qualify on the attribute form.

6 Click OK to close the Attribute Qualification window.

Date Qualification

This type of filter enables you to qualify on an attribute of the date data type. For example, you can create a date qualification on the Day attribute to only return data for days between January 1, 2009, and February 12, 2009.

To qualify on a date:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the attribute of a date data type on which you want to qualify.


3 In the Attribute Qualification window, in the Qualify On drop-down list, select the ID attribute form.




5 Below the operator drop-down list, in the second drop-down list, type a date or use the drop-down list to select a date from the calendar, as shown below:

Date Entry


Set Qualification

Set qualification filters enable you to restrict report results based on a metric. You can qualify on a metric in the following ways:

• Metric Value—Qualifies on a metric value. For example, “metric value greater than or equal to 10” returns all values for the metric that are 10 or higher.

• Rank—Qualifies on the numeric rank of metric values. For example, “rank top 40” returns the 40 highest metric values for the selected metric.

• Percent—Qualifies on the percentage of the metric values being ranked. For example, “percent top 10” returns all metric values in the top 10% for the selected metric.



The metric may or may not appear on the report template. For example, a store manager might want to see sales numbers for products whose current inventory levels are below a certain level. However, the report does not have to display the inventory figures for those products.

� Relationship filters are a more advanced type of set qualification. For more information on relationship filters, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

To qualify on a metric:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the metric on which you want to qualify.

2 Drag and drop it into the Filter definition window.

3 In the Set Qualification window, in the Function drop-down list, select the method of qualification—Metric Value, Rank, or Percent, as shown below:

Set Qualification Window


5 Below the operator drop-down list, in the text box, type the value you want to use for the metric qualification.

6 Click OK to close the Set Qualification window.



Shortcut to a Report (Report As Filter)

The result set of an existing report object can be used as a report filter condition for another report. Often, the result set of one report is exactly what is needed to filter another report. Rather than create a report filter that mimics the results of the first report, the first report itself can be used as a report filter inside the second report.

For example, you may be assessing customers and the items these customers purchase. Specifically, you would like to find your most valued customers and see what items they are purchasing in specific Categories. In this example, “Top 5 Customers by Revenue” and “Customers who spent more than $2,000,” are existing reports that are used to filter a third report, as shown below:

Reports As Filters

.

� Reports with consolidations or custom groups cannot be used inside a report filter. For more information on consolidations and custom groups, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.



To use a report as a filter:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the reports with which you want to filter, and drag and drop them into the Filter definition window.

Shortcut to a Filter (Filter Qualification)

Using existing report filter objects to define other report filters can be thought of as embedding filters. It provides a useful means of managing and leveraging existing report filter objects. For example, you may have already created the following report filters: Year 2009, Northwest Region, and Electronics Category. You originally created these three report filters to be used on other, individual reports. However, now you have a report that requires all three of these filter conditions. Rather than having to redefine these three filter conditions in a new report filter, you can simply reuse the existing report filter objects.

To create a filter qualification:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the filters with which you want to filter and drag and drop them into the Filter definition window.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Set Operators 219

Set Operators


Define the set operators available in the Filter Editor, and describe how you can use them to combine multiple filter conditions inside a report filter.

When a report filter has multiple conditions, they are always combined with set operators. Set operators govern the interaction between different filter conditions. Whenever you have more than one condition in a report filter, you can change the set operator to any of the following:

• AND

• OR

• OR NOT

• AND NOT

For example, suppose you have a filter with the following conditions:

• Year = 2009

• Region = Northeast


220 Set Operators © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

By default, the set operator inserted between filter conditions is AND. Therefore, using the above examples, the following illustration shows the impact of the set operator AND on a result set:

Set Operator AND

As shown above, only revenue generated in 2009 in the Northeast is returned in the result set.

The following illustration shows the impact of the set operator OR on a result set:

Set Operator OR



As shown above, revenue generated in either 2009 or the Northeast or in both 2009 and the Northeast is returned in the result set.

The following illustration shows the impact of the set operator OR NOT on a result set:

Set Operator OR NOT

In this case, revenue generated in 2009 in any region (including the Northeast) or revenue generated in all other years in any region except for the Northeast is returned in the result set.


222 Set Operators © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Finally, the following illustration shows the impact of the set operator AND NOT on a result set:

Set Operator AND NOT

As shown above, revenue generated in 2009 in any region except the Northeast is returned in the result set.



To change the set operator:

1 In the Filter Editor, add more than one condition to the Filter definition window.

2 In the Filter definition window, right-click the set operator, point to Toggle Operator, and select the desired set operator, as shown below:

Toggle Operator


224 Lesson Summary: © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

��Lesson Summary:


• A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in report results. If you are familiar with SQL syntax, the report filter is usually equivalent to the WHERE clause in a SQL statement.

• There are two categories of filters in MicroStrategy—Report Filter and View Filter.

• The Report Filter enables you to apply filter conditions to a report that display in the SQL used to retrieve the report result set. The report filter is created as part of the report and is saved with the report definition.

• The View Filter enables you to create a filter on the fly, based only on those objects that exist in the Report Objects window.

• View filters do not display in the report SQL. Rather, view filters are applied after the data is retrieved from the warehouse, so only a subset of the result set appears in the report view.

• You can create the following types of report filters—Attribute qualification, Set qualification, Shortcut to a Report, and Shortcut to a Filter.

• Attribute qualification filters enable you to specify the conditions that attribute elements must satisfy to be included in the report results.

• Set qualification filters enable you to restrict report results based on a metric.

• Using existing report filter objects to define other report filters can be thought of as embedding filters. It provides a useful means of managing and leveraging existing report filter objects.

• When a report filter has multiple conditions, they are always combined with set operators. Set operators govern the interaction between different filter conditions. Whenever you have more than one condition in a report filter, you can change the set operator to any of the following—AND, OR, OR NOT, and AND NOT.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Filters in Desktop 225

�Exercises: Filters in Desktop

Creating a Filter

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new folder in the My Objects folder and name it My Filters Exercises. You will then create a report filter for the year 2010 and save it in the My Filter Exercises folder.



Create the My Filters Exercises folder

1 In Desktop, in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, in the Folder List, expand the My Personal Objects folder, and select the My Objects folder.

2 On the File menu, point to New, and select Folder.

3 Name the folder My Filters Exercises.

Create the Report Filter

4 On the File menu, point to New, and select Filter.

5 In the New Filter window, leave Empty Filter selected, and click OK.

6 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Time hierarchy.

7 Drag and drop the Year attribute into the Filter definition window.

8 In the Attribute Qualification window, in the Qualify On drop-down list, leave Elements selected.


226 Exercises: Filters in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

9 In the Operator drop-down list, leave In list selected.

10 Click Add.

11 In the Select Objects window, below Available objects, select 2010, and add to the Selected objects list.


13 Click OK again to close the Attribute Qualification window.

Save the filter

14 In the Filter Editor, click Save and Close.

15 Save the report filter in the My Filters Exercises folder as Year 2010.

You will use this report filter in a later exercise.

Creating Another Filter

Overview

Create another report filter object that includes the following items: Jump Start Your Brain, The Joy of Work, Nutrition 101, Pilates: The Way Forward, Nanotechnology, and Being Digital. Name the filter List of Items, and save it in your My Filters Exercises folder.



Create the filter

1 In Desktop, on the File menu, point to New, and select Filter.




17 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Products hierarchy.

18 Double-click the Subcategory attribute.

2 Double-click Business.

3 Double-click Item.

4 Select Jump Start Your Brain and, holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select The Joy of Work.

5 Drag and drop them both into the Filter definition window.

6 In the Object Browser, click View contents one level up twice to get back to the list of subcategories.

7 Double-click Sports & Health.


9 Select Nutrition 101 (if not already selected) and, while holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select Pilates: The Way Forward.


11 Click View contents one level up twice to get back to the list of subcategories.

12 Double-click Science & Technology.


14 Select Nanotechnology (if not already selected) and, while holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select Being Digital.


� You should now have six items in the filter definition window.

Save the filter




17 Save the report filter in the My Filters Exercises folder as List of Items.

You will use this filter in a later exercise.

Qualifying on a Metric

Overview

Create a report filter for Revenue over $5,000,000. Run a report with this new filter and a template that has Region in the rows and Revenue in the columns. The final report should look like the following:

When you are finished, keep the report open for the next exercise.



Create a Metric Qualification Report Filter

1 In the Folder List, select the My Filters Exercises folder.

2 On the File menu, point to New, and select Filter.


4 In the Filter Editor, in the Object Browser, in the My Shortcuts bar, click Public Objects.

5 In the Object Browser, double-click the Metrics folder.

6 Double-click the Sales Metrics folder.



7 Drag and drop the Revenue metric into the Filter definition window.

8 In the Set Qualification window, under Parameters, in the Function drop-down list, leave Metric Value selected.

9 In the Operator drop-down list, select Greater than.

10 Below the operator drop-down list, in the Value text box, type 5000000 (without commas).

11 Click OK to close the Set Qualification window.

Save the filter


13 Save the report filter in the My Filters Exercises as Revenue > $5,000,000.

Create and run a report using the Report Filter


15 In the New Grid window, leave Blank Report selected, and click OK.

16 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Geography hierarchy.

17 Drag and drop the Region attribute into the rows of the template definition window.

18 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Public Objects.



21 Drag and drop the Revenue metric into the columns of the template definition window.

22 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click My Personal Objects.


24 Double-click the My Filters Exercises folder.



25 Drag and drop the Revenue > $5,000,000 report filter into the Report Filter definition window.



28 Keep the report open for the next exercise.

Combining Two Filters in a Report

Overview

Using the Report Editor, modify the report from the previous exercise by replacing the Revenue > $5,000,000 report filter with the List of Items and the Year 2010 filters. The report should look like the following:





1 In the report from the last exercise, on the toolbar, click Design View.

2 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click My Personal Objects.


4 Double-click the My Filters Exercises folder.

5 Drag and drop both the List of Items and Year 2010 report filters into the Report Filter definition window.

6 In the Report Filter definition window, right-click the Revenue > $5,000,000 report filter, and select Remove.

7 In the Desktop window, click Yes to confirm the deletion.

8 In the Report Editor, click Grid View to run the report.


Save the report


11 In the Save the report to the My Reports Exercises folder as Regional Revenue for Year 2010 and List of Items.




7

METRICS

Lesson Description

This lesson focuses on creating metrics in Desktop. Metrics define the analytical calculations you want to perform against your data warehouse; they produce the results that you analyze for decision-making purposes.

This lesson begins with a brief look at facts. Facts are the MicroStrategy objects on which metrics are based. Distinguishing between facts and metrics and understanding how facts are used to build metrics is essential to understanding metrics.

In this lesson, you will learn how to create a variety of metrics, including simple and compound metrics. More advanced metrics such as level metrics and transformation metrics are discussed in the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Metrics MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials7


Lesson Objectives


Define the different types of metrics, and create them using the Metric Editor in Desktop.


• Explain the purpose of facts. (Page 235)

• Explain the purpose of metrics. (Page 237)

• Define the different types of metrics. (Page 241)

• Define the components of a metric, and use the Metric Editor to create and save metrics. (Page 245)

• Define metric formatting properties, including the number format, header display, and available subtotals. (Page 251)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Metrics 7

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Fact? 235

What Is a Fact?


Explain the purpose of facts.

Understanding facts is key to understanding metrics. Facts are values that represent business performance. Some characteristics of facts are the following:

• They are typically numeric.

• They can be aggregated to produce meaningful results.

Facts are stored in tables in the data warehouse. In a MicroStrategy project, you build fact schema objects that point to those columns that store fact data. For example, the MicroStrategy Tutorial project has facts such as Revenue, Cost, and Freight that point to columns in tables that store values for these measurements.

The image below displays some of the fact schema objects in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project:

Fact Schema Objects


236 What Is a Fact? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

If you open a fact with the Fact Editor, you see the warehouse columns and tables to which it is mapped. The following image displays the definition of the Revenue fact in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project:

Fact Editor for Revenue Fact

As shown above, one of the columns to which the Revenue fact is mapped is the ORDER_AMT column in the ORDER_FACT table. The fact definition dictates where in the data warehouse the MicroStrategy Engine goes when it needs to retrieve Revenue data.

� For more information on the Fact Editor and creating facts refer to the MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design course.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Metric? 237

What Is a Metric?


Explain the purpose of metrics.

In the last section, you learned that a fact is a MicroStrategy schema object that points to columns in the data warehouse that store fact data. A metric is an object you create in Desktop that performs a calculation on a fact. A metric can employ everything from basic function, like sum, average, or standard deviation to more advanced functions, like moving average, correlation, or n-tiling.

� Desktop provides over 200 built-in functions and operators for use in creating metric calculations, including statistical, mathematical, and financial calculations. You can view these functions in Desktop in the Schema Objects\Functions and Operators folder.

For example, if you want to see Average Revenue on a report, you need to build a metric that averages the Revenue fact values. The formula for an Average Revenue metric would look like the following:

Average Revenue Formula


238 What Is a Metric? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To better understand the relationship between facts and metrics and how they are used together to display calculations in reports, consider the following example.

In your data warehouse, you have the following ORDER_FACT table, as shown below:

ORDER_FACT Table

In this table, the ORDER_AMT column stores the revenue amount for each order. You want to be able to access the revenue data in this table, so you create a Revenue fact schema object that points to the ORDER_AMT column in the ORDER_FACT table. The Revenue fact now enables the MicroStrategy Engine to retrieve revenue data from the ORDER_AMT column of the ORDER_FACT table.

Next, you want to view both average and total revenue figures on a report. To calculate average revenue, you create an Average Revenue metric whose formula is Avg(Revenue), where Revenue is the Revenue fact you created earlier. The Avg function calculates the average revenue based on the values in the ORDER_AMT column.

To calculate total revenue, you create a Total Revenue metric whose formula is Sum(Revenue), where Revenue is again the Revenue fact you created earlier. The Sum function calculates the total revenue based on the values in the ORDER_AMT column.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Metric? 239

After you have created these two metrics, you then place them on a report like the following:

Report with Metrics

The above report shows the average and total revenue by day. Each metric employs a different calculation, but both are based on the same Revenue fact. You can use the same fact to build any number of metrics. You can also create much more advanced metrics that have more complex expressions and perform more advanced calculations. You can even combine metrics to create new metrics.

� For more information on creating basic metrics, see “Metric Creation” starting on page 245. For more information on creating advanced metrics, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.


240 What Is a Metric? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

By default, metrics aggregate fact data to the report level, which is determined by the attributes on the report template. Therefore, if you want to view the same revenue data at the Month-level instead of the Day-level, modify the template to include the Month attribute instead of the Day attribute, as shown below:

Report Modified with Month Attribute

� Level metrics can override the default behavior of aggregating fact data to the report level. For more information on level metrics, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Types of Metrics 241

Types of Metrics


Define the different types of metrics.

Metrics can belong to one of the following categories:

• Simple

• Nested

• Compound

• Derived

� Derived metrics are not covered in this lesson. For more information on derived metrics, see the “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” lesson starting on page 273.

Simple Metrics

As the name implies, simple metrics are the most basic metrics. You can use simple metrics to create other types of metrics.

In their structure, simple metrics:

• Include one or more aggregation functions

• Are based on one or more facts or attributes

• Include the specified level at which they are to be calculated

• May include conditions that apply to its calculation

• May include transformations, which are applied prior to its calculation

The following are examples of simple metrics:

• Sum(Cost){~}

• Count(Customer){~}

• Sum (Revenue) {~} - Sum (Cost) {~}


242 Types of Metrics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

� The {~} in these examples means the metric values are to be calculated at the report level, the lowest attribute level on the report. For example, if the report shows sales by year and month, the numbers will be calculated to reflect monthly sales data. Creating metrics that use levels, conditions, and transformations is covered in the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Nested Metrics

Nested metrics are metrics that perform multiple aggregations by placing one calculation formula inside, or “nested,” in another. They provide a convenient way to use metric functionality when tables in the data warehouse do not include data at the level needed for a specific type of analysis. The result of the inner calculation formula is stored in an intermediate table, which is then used to calculate the result of the outer calculation formula. As such, you can obtain and analyze data at levels not physically available in the data warehouse.

For example, you may want to see profit data averaged at the year level, but existing fact tables provide only month-level profit data. You can use nested aggregation to obtain the desired results. To calculate a yearly average for profit, create a nested metric with the following metric formula:

Avg(Sum(Profit){~, Month}){~, Year}

In calculating the above metric, the MicroStrategy Engine first sums the profit for each month and stores those results in an intermediate fact table. The MicroStrategy Engine then uses those results to calculate an average profit for each year.

� In the inner calculation formula, the {~, Month} applied to Sum(Profit), which means that the calculation formula is calculated at the month level, regardless of what attributes appear on the report.

� The {~,Year} applied to the outer Avg calculation formula, which means that the calculation is calculated, or grouped by, the year level, regardless of what attributes appear on the report.

� The intermediate tables created to calculate nested metrics only serve the purposes of a specific metric calculation; they cannot be shared across other metric calculations.

In their structure, nested metrics:

• Are based on either facts or attributes


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Types of Metrics 243

• Place at least one aggregation function inside of another aggregation function

• Include one or more level definitions

• May include one or more conditions that apply to its calculation

• May include one or more transformations, which are applied prior to its calculation

Essentially, nested metrics are a special type of simple metric, in which one simple metric formula is used to enable the calculation of another simple metric. You only need nested metrics when the level at which data is stored in the data warehouse prevents it from being calculated and analyzed at a desired level. Nested metrics provide an alternative to modifying the physical data warehouse tables.

� For more information on how to create nested metrics with the Metric Editor, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Compound Metrics

Compound metrics are created by combining one or more metric objects with one or more mathematical operators or constants. You can create compound metrics using simple, nested, or other compound metrics.


244 Types of Metrics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The following are examples of compound metrics:

• ([Region Revenue] / [Company Revenue])

• [Profit] *.15

The table below shows what can and cannot be used to define a compound metric:

� A compound metric inherits the levels, conditions, and transformations included in the component metrics of its definition. You cannot include levels, conditions, or transformations in the compound metric itself.

� Compound metrics are automatically updated with changes that are made to the component metrics that are used in its definition.

Components of Compound Metrics

Component Allowed Not Allowed

Simple metrics X

Nested metrics X

Compound metrics X

Simple metrics with levels, conditions, or transformations as part of their definition

X

Numeric constants X

Level definitions in the compound metric definition

X

Condition definitions in the compound metric definition

X

Transformations in the compound metric definition

X


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Metric Creation 245

Metric Creation


Define the components of a metric, and use the Metric Editor to create and save metrics.

Metric Editor

When you choose to create a new metric, the Metric Editor opens displaying several tabs and panes, as shown below:

Metric Editor

Formula Tab

This tab is used to define a metric. The Formula tab contains the following:

• Object Browser—Enables you to navigate through the project to locate objects you want to use in the metric filter definition.


246 Metric Creation © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• My Shortcuts—Enables you to jump to locations in the Object Browser. You can customize your shortcuts.

� For more information on customizing your shortcuts, see “Shortcut Bar” starting on page 43.

• Metric definition window—Displays the complete metric definition, including its formula, calculation level, condition (if any), and transformation (if any). The bottom portion of the metric definition window changes depending on what part of the metric definition you have selected in the top portion.

� When you first open the Metric Editor to create a new metric, the metric definition window is empty.

Subtotals/Aggregation Tab

This tab is used to configure subtotal and dynamic aggregation settings for a metric. The Subtotals/Aggregation tab contains the following:

• Total subtotal function—Enables you to determine the aggregate function used to calculate the Total subtotal values for the metric.

• Dynamic aggregation function—Enables you to determine the aggregate function used by the Analytical Engine for dynamic aggregation. Dynamic aggregation occurs when a lower-level attribute is present in the Report Objects window but is not displayed on the report template, which is only possible with MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

� For more information on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see the “MicroStrategy OLAP Services” lesson starting on page 273.

� Form more information on dynamic aggregation, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

• Select the subtotals you want available for this metric—Enables you to specify which subtotals you want to be available for the metric when it is placed on a report template that displays subtotals.



The Metric Editor also contains the Insert Function Wizard, which enables you to define a metric formula using a wizard interface. You can access the Insert Function Wizard from the toolbar above the metric definition window:

Insert Function Wizard

The Insert Function Wizard enables you to use any of the functions provided in Desktop, as shown in the table below:



Metric Components

Metrics have the following components:

Metric Components

Formula Specifies the calculation to be performed, including which facts, attributes, or metrics are used. If you are familiar with SQL syntax, it is the component of the metric that is included in the SELECT clause of a SQL statement.

Level (Dimensionality) Specifies the level to which a metric aggregates:

• Target—Determines the attribute or hierarchy to which a metric aggregates.

• Filtering—Determines how the metric interacts with the report filter. If you are familiar with SQL syntax, it is the component of the metric that is included in the WHERE clause of a SQL statement.

• Grouping—Determines how the metric is or is not grouped. If you are familiar with SQL syntax, it is the component of the metric that is included in the GROUP BY clause of a SQL statement.



The formula and level (dimensionality) metric components are required for all metric definitions. If you do not explicitly specify a level, the metric defaults to report level. You can modify any of the above listed metric components with the Metric Editor.

� For more information on the level, condition, or transformation components of a metric, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

Creating a Simple Metric

Creating a simple metric involves defining a metric formula, determining which subtotals to enable, and formatting the metric header and values.

Create a Simple Metric Formula

To launch the Metric Editor:

1 In Desktop, on the File menu, point to New, and select Metric.

Conditionality Enables you to associate an existing filter object with the metric, so only data that meets the filter conditions is included in the calculation.

Transformation Enables you to associate an existing transformation schema object with a metric. Transformations offset the metric values to selected attributes. Although transformations can be based on any attribute, they are most frequently based on time-related attributes (for example, “last year” or “6 months ago”).

Metric Components



2 In the New Metric window, select Empty Metric from the list of metric object templates.

3 Click OK.

To create a simple metric formula:

1 In the Metric Editor, on the Formula tab, in the Object Browser, locate the fact or attribute you want to use in the metric formula and drag and drop it into the Definition window.

� The default aggregate function applied to a fact is Sum. For example, if you drag and drop the Revenue fact into the Definition window, the resulting metric formula would be Sum(Revenue). The default aggregate function applied to an attribute is Count.

� You can change the aggregate function by using the Object Browser to locate the function you want to use and dragging and dropping it onto the existing aggregate function in the Definition window. You can also type the function directly into the formula.

2 Click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab and make changes to the settings as needed.

� For more information on modifying the settings on the Subtotals / Aggregation tab, see “Subtotals/Aggregation Tab” starting on page 252.

Saving a Metric

To save a metric:

1 In the Metric Editor, on the File menu, select Save.

2 In the Save As window, navigate to the location where you want to save the metric.

3 Type a name for the metric and click Save.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Metric Formatting 251

Metric Formatting


Define metric formatting properties, including the number format, header display, and available subtotals.

Metric Value and Header Formatting

Using the Format Cells window, you can specify formatting properties for a metric’s report header and for the numeric values it displays. The following image shows the metric Format Cells window:

Format Cells Window


252 Metric Formatting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The Format Cells window has the following tabs:

• Number—Enables you to determine how metric values are displayed. For example, you can determine whether values appear as general numbers, percentages, or currency. You can also determine whether the values will display with or without decimal places.

� The Numbers tab is only relevant to metric values.

• Alignment—Enables you to control the vertical and horizontal alignment of the metric header or metric values and configure wordwrapping

• Font—Enables you to format the font and color of the metric header or metric values

• Border—Enables you to adjust the cell borders containing data

• Background—Enables you to specify a background pattern and color for the metric header or metric values

To set metric formatting properties:

1 In the Metric Editor, on the Tools menu, point to Formatting, and select Headers or Values.

2 In the Format Cells window, click the appropriate tab and format the metric header or values as desired.


Subtotals/Aggregation Tab

Subtotals

After you define a metric formula, you can determine which subtotals are available for the metric. By default, all subtotals are available. The following steps describe how to disable unwanted subtotals for a metric.



To disable subtotals for a metric:

1 In the Metric Editor, click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab.

2 In the Available subtotals for metric list, select the subtotals you want to disable and click < to move them to the Project subtotals list.

� The Total subtotal has its own setting for disabling it for a metric. For more information, see “To disable the Total subtotal function for a metric:” starting on page 254.

� The subtotals you disable are not displayed, even when the metric is used on a report where subtotals are selected.

Total Subtotal Function

Enabling subtotals is a common report manipulation, which can seem rather simple. However, consider what happens when you have a metric, Count Distinct (Items Sold), on your report, as in the following illustration:

Count Distinct



Since the same item could have been sold on more than one date in more than one month, simply summing across the Count Distinct (Items Sold) metric values for each month can no longer be used to calculate an accurate Total subtotal for the metric. In other words, 522 may not be the number of distinct items that sold across the five months.

What to do? Essentially, if you want to keep the Month attribute on the report template with the Count Distinct (Items Sold) metric, it would make more sense to disable the Total subtotal for that metric, rather than displaying an incorrect Total subtotal value.

To disable the Total subtotal function for a metric:

1 In the Metric Editor of the metric for which you want to disable the Total subtotal, click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab.

2 In the Total subtotal function drop-down list, select None.

� The Total subtotal function setting enables you to either completely disable the Total subtotal or simply change the aggregate function used to calculate the Total subtotal values for a metric. Selecting Default uses the default operator for that type of metric, which is typically Sum. Selecting None disables the Total subtotal entirely. You can also select from a variety of other aggregate functions (for example, Average or Maximum) to calculate the Total subtotal values.

3 In the Metric Editor, click Save and Close.



With the Total subtotal for the Count Distinct (Items Sold) metric disabled, the report now looks much better:

Total Subtotal for Count Distinct

Smart Metrics

You may need to select the Allow Smart Metric check box for compound metrics and some simple metrics (those that combine two or more calculation formulas with arithmetic operators). When the Allow Smart Metric check box is selected for a metric, it changes the manner by which its metric values, including any of its subtotals, are calculated. You can select the Allow Smart Metric check box any time strictly summing the metric values does not produce a meaningful Total subtotal value.

For example, consider the following report:

Yearly Sales

Year Revenue Discount Ratio of Discount to Revenue

2009 100 25 25%

2009 200 50 25%

2009 100 50 50%



If you choose to display the Total subtotal without using smart totals for the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric, you get the following results:

The Total value in the last column is incorrect; it is strictly a sum of the percentages of the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric. To calculate a meaningful Total value for this metric, the Total value of the Discount metric must be divided by the Total value of the Revenue metric, and to do this, you must select the Allow Smart Metric check box.

The Allow Smart Metric setting ensures that the Total value for the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric is calculated using the Total values of the Discount and Revenue metrics, rather than simply summing across the percentages of the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric. You can refer to this behavior as “smart totaling.” If you enable smart totaling in this case, you get the following, correct results:

To enable the Allow Smart Metric setting for a metric:

1 In the Metric Editor of the metric for which you want to enable smart totaling, click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab.

2 Select the Allow Smart Metric check box.

Yearly Sales

Year Revenue Discount Ratio of Discount to Revenue

2009 100 25 25%

2009 200 50 25%

2009 100 50 50%

Total 400 125 100%

Yearly Sales

Year Revenue DiscountRatio of Discount Revenue

2009 100 25 25%

2009 200 50 25%

2009 100 50 50%

Total 400 125 31.25%



� This check box is only available for compund metrics and some simple metrics (those that combine two or more calculation formulas with arithmetic operators).






• Facts are values that represent business performance. They are typically numeric and they can be aggregated to produce meaningful results.

• Facts are stored in tables in the data warehouse. In a MicroStrategy project, you build fact schema objects that point to those tables that store fact data.

• A metric is an object you create in Desktop that performs a calculation on a fact. A metric can employ everything from basic functions, like sum, average, or standard deviation to more advanced functions like moving average, correlation, or n-tiling.

• Metrics can belong to one of the following categories—Simple, Nested, Compound, and Derived.

• Simple metrics are the most basic metrics. You can use simple metrics to create other types of metrics.

• Nested metrics are metrics that perform multiple aggregations by placing one calculation formula inside, or “nested,” in another. They provide a convenient way to use metric functionality when tables in the data warehouse do not include data at the level needed for a specific type of analysis.

• Compound metrics are created by combining one or more metric objects with one or more mathematical operators or constants. You can create compound metrics using simple, nested, or other compound metrics.

• Metrics have the following components—Formula, Level (Dimensionality), Conditionality, and Transformation.

• Using the Format Cells window, you can specify formatting properties for a metric’s report header and for the numeric values it displays.

• After you define a metric formula, you can determine which subtotals are available for the metric. By default, all subtotals are available.

• You should select the Allow Smart Metric check box any time strictly summing the metric values does not produce a meaningful Total subtotal value.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Metrics in Desktop 259

�Exercises: Metrics in Desktop

Create a Simple Metric—Cost

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a Cost metric and save it in a new folder called My Metrics Exercises. The Cost metric formula is a sum of the Cost fact.



Create the My Metrics Exercises folder

1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, expand the My Personal Objects folder, and select the My Objects folder.


3 Name the folder My Metrics Exercises.

Create the Simple Metric

4 In the Object Viewer, double-click the My Metrics Exercises folder to begin working in it.

5 On the File menu, point to New, and select Metric.

6 In the New Metric window, leave Empty Metric selected, and click OK.

7 In the Metric Editor, in the Object Browser, drag and drop the Cost fact into the Definition window.

� By default, Sum is added as the aggregate function.


260 Exercises: Metrics in Desktop © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

8 In the Metric Editor, on the Tools menu, point to Formatting, and select Values.

9 In the Format Cells window, on the Number tab, set the Category to Currency, change Decimals places to 2, and set the Negative numbers to display in red with no negative sign and no parentheses, as shown below:


Save the metric


12 Save the metric in the My Metrics Exercises folder as Cost.

� There is already another Cost metric in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, but identically named objects may exist as long as they reside in different folders. Even so, it is important that a company creates and follows standard naming conventions to avoid any confusion.

You will use this metric on a report in a later exercise.



Create a Simple Metric—Revenue

Overview

Create a new Revenue metric using the Revenue fact and save it in your My Metrics Exercises folder. The Revenue metric formula is a sum of the Revenue fact.



Create the metric



3 In the Metric Editor, in the Object Browser, drag and drop the Revenue fact into the Definition window.

� By default, Sum is added as the aggregate function.


5 In the Format Cells window, on the Number tab, set the Category to Currency, change the Decimals places to 2, and set the Negative numbers to display in red with no negative sign and no parentheses.


Save the metric


8 Save the metric in the My Metrics Exercises folder as Revenue.

� There is already another Revenue metric in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

You will use this metric on a report in the next exercise.



Use the Created Metrics in a Report

Overview

Create and run a report that contains the Item attribute and your new Cost and Revenue metrics. The first few rows of the report should look like the following:

Save the report as Item, Cost, Revenue.



Create the report

1 In the Folder List, expand the My Reports folder, and select the My Reports Exercises folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, right-click in a blank area and select New, followed by Report.

3 In the New Grid window, keep Blank Report selected, and click OK.

4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Products hierarchy.



5 Drag and drop Item into the rows of the template definition window.


7 Double-click the My Objects folder.

8 Double-click the My Metrics Exercises folder.


10 Drag and drop the Cost metric to the right of Revenue in the template definition window.

Save the report

11 In the Report Editor, click Save and Close.

12 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Item, Cost, Revenue.

13 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Item, Cost, Revenue report to run it.


15 Close the Item, Cost, Revenue report.

Create a Compound Metric—Profit Margin

Overview

Create a compound metric called Profit Margin, using the Revenue and Cost metrics you created earlier. You should define Profit Margin as (Revenue - Cost)/Revenue. Save the metric in your My Metrics Exercises folder.





1 In the Folder List, select the My Metrics Exercises folder.



4 In the Metric Editor, in the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Home.

5 In the Object Browser, double-click the My Personal Objects folder.

6 Double-click the My Objects folder.


Validate the metric

8 Drag and drop the Revenue and Cost metrics into the Definition window and use the arithmetic operators on the toolbar in the Definition window to define the following metric formula:

((Revenue – Cost) / Revenue)

� Make sure you use the metrics in the My Metrics Exercises folder you created earlier, and not the facts of the same names.

9 Click Validate.

� If a green check mark displays on the bottom of the window, you defined the metric formula correctly. Otherwise, review the formula and try again.

Save the metric


11 Save the metric in the My Metrics Exercises folder as Profit Margin.

� There is already another Profit Margin metric in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

You will use this metric on a report in a later exercise.



Use Profit Margin in a Report

Overview

Modify the Item, Cost, Revenue report to create a report that contains Category, Item, Revenue, Cost, and Profit Margin. Name the report Compound Metric - Profit Margin and save it in your My Reports Exercises folder. The first few rows of the report should look like the following:



1 In the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder

2 In the Object Viewer, right-click the Item, Cost, Revenue report, and select Edit.

3 In the Object Browser, double-click the Products hierarchy.

4 Drag and drop Category to the left of Item in the template definition window.

5 In My Shortcuts, click My Personal Objects.



8 Drag and drop Profit Margin to the right of Cost in the template definition window.



Save the report

9 In the Report Editor, on the File menu, select Save As.

10 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Compound Metric - Profit Margin.


� The metric values for Profit Margin display as zeros because you have not yet formatted the Profit Margin metric as a percent.

Format a Compound Metric - Profit Margin

12 In the report, on the View menu, select Design View.

13 In the Report Editor, in the template definition window, right-click the Profit Margin metric, and select Edit.

14 In the Report Editor warning message window, click OK.


16 In the Format Cells window, on the Number tab, set Category to Percent and the Decimal places to 2.






20 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Compound Metric - Profit Margin report to run it.


Apply Smart Metric


23 In the Subtotals window, on the Definition tab, under the Available subtotals list, select the Total check box.

24 Click OK.

25 Scroll to the bottom of the report and notice the percentage total for the Profit Margin metric.

26 In the report template, right-click on the Profit Margin metric, and select Edit to calculate the meaningful Total value for the Profit Margin metric.

� If a Report Editor warning window opens, click OK to close the window.

27 In the Profit Margin - Metric Editor, click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab.

28 At the bottom left corner of the Metric Editor, select the Allow Smart Metric check box.



31 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Compound Metric - Profit Margin report to run it.



32 Scroll to the bottom of the report and notice the change in the percentage total for the Profit Margin metric.

33 Close the Compound Metric - Profit Margin report.

Display Subtotals

Overview

There are several steps to this exercise. First, modify the Cost metric to disable the Total and Average subtotals for the metric. Second, create a new report using Item, Revenue, and Cost. Finally, display Average, Maximum, and Standard Deviation subtotals on the new report.

The first few rows of the report should look like the following:

Save the report as Item, Cost, and Revenue with Subtotals.





Disable Total and Average subtotals for the Cost metric

1 In the Folder List, select the My Metrics Exercises folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, right-click the Cost metric, and select Edit.

3 In the Metric Editor, click the Subtotals / Aggregation tab.

4 In the Total subtotal function drop-down list, select None to disable the Total subtotal.

5 In the Available subtotals for metric list, select the Average subtotal and click < to move it to the Project subtotals list.


Create a New Report

7 In the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder.


9 In the New Grid window, leave Blank Report selected, and click OK.




11 Drag and drop Item into the rows in the template definition window.

12 In My Shortcuts, click My Personal Objects.



15 Drag and drop Revenue into the columns in the template definition window.

16 Drag and drop Cost into to the right of Revenue in the template definition window.


Display Average, Maximum, and Standard Deviation subtotals

18 In the report, on the Data menu, select Subtotals.



19 In the Subtotals window, on the Definition tab, select the Average, Maximum, and Standard Deviation check boxes.

� The exclamation marks beside the Total and Average subtotals indicate that these subtotals are not available for all the metrics on the report, since you disabled both of them for the Cost metric.

20 Click the Display Options tab.

21 Under Subtotal positions by row, click Top of each level.

22 Click OK to close the Subtotals window.


Save the report


25 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Item, Cost, and Revenue with Subtotals.




8

MICROSTRATEGY OLAP

SERVICES

Lesson Description

This lesson describes the functionality provided by MicroStrategy OLAP Services, an optional, add-on application to Intelligence Server, that enables you to enhance the power of the reports you create.

MicroStrategy OLAP Services MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials8


Lesson Objectives


Describe the features provided by MicroStrategy OLAP Services, including report objects, view filters, and derived metrics. Use the Report Objects window, and create view filters and derived metrics in reports.


• List the types of analysis that are provided by OLAP Services. (Page 275)

• Add and remove objects to and from the template and the Report Objects window. (Page 276)

• Create view filters. (Page 279)

• Create derived metrics. (Page 282)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials MicroStrategy OLAP Services 8

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Introduction to OLAP Services 275

Introduction to OLAP Services


List the types of analysis that are provided by OLAP Services.

MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an add-on product to Intelligence Server. While this product is not required to develop reports, the functionality it provides can greatly enhance the type of analysis you can achieve with your reports.

This product provides MicroStrategy customers with the following types of analysis—cube analysis, derived elements, in-memory OLAP with the use of report objects, view filters, and derived metrics.

In this lesson you will learn more about report objects, view filters, and derived metrics.

� For more information on cube analysis, visual insight, import data and derived elements, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.


276 Report Objects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Report Objects


Add and remove objects to and from the template and the Report Objects window.

With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, you gain an important design feature—the ability to add attributes and metrics to a report definition without having them be displayed on the template. The SQL query for such a report retrieves data for all objects of the report definition (whether or not they are displayed on the template) and stores it in a report cache. Users can then drag and drop additional objects onto the template of the report without generating any new SQL or querying the data warehouse. The data for the objects is simply retrieved from the report cache that was created when the report was first executed, resulting in faster response times for users and less traffic to and from the data warehouse.

The Report Objects window displays all of the objects that are part of the report definition.These objects were retrieved from the data warehouse and stored in the report cache. The following image shows how you can have many attributes and metrics in the Report Objects window that are not displayed on the template or the initial report view:

Report Objects Window with Many Attributes and Metrics


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Report Objects 277

� Objects that are displayed on the template display in boldface type in the Report Objects window, while those not displaying on the template display in plain text type.

Methods for Adding Report Objects

When adding objects to a report, you can either add them so they are displayed after the report runs, or you can add them so they are included in the SQL generated when the report runs, but do not display in the initial report view. With the second option, after the report runs, you can add and remove those objects to and from the report view without regenerating any SQL. You can add an object to a report using either of the following methods:

• In the report, drag and drop objects from the Object Browser onto the template or the Report Objects window.

� If the object is placed in the template definition window, it is displayed when the report runs. If the object is placed in the Report Objects window, it is included in the generated SQL, but is not initially displayed when the report runs.

• In the report, right-click an object in the Object Browser, and select Add to Rows, Add to Columns, Add to Page-by, or Add to Report Objects.

With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, when attributes are added to the Report Objects window, they look like the following:

Report Objects Window


278 Report Objects © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

In the above example, notice the “+” sign next to the attributes. By clicking the “+” sign, you expand an attribute to view its attribute forms (for example, the Customer attribute). You can then easily drag and drop specific attribute forms of the attribute onto the template. For example, to view just the last names of customers in the initial report view, simply drag the Last Name attribute form of the Customer attribute from the Report Objects window onto the template.

� As with objects, attribute forms that are displayed on the template display in boldface type in the Report Objects window, while those not displaying on the template display in plain text type.

Methods for Removing Report Objects

When removing an object from a report, you can remove the object from the report definition entirely, or you can remove it only from the report view, while keeping it in the Report Objects window and part of the report definition.

You can remove objects from the report definition entirely using the following methods:

• In a report, drag and drop an object from the template or the Report Objects window into the Object Browser. Since you are changing the report definition, new SQL will need to be generated.

• In a report, right-click an object on the template or in the Report Objects window and select Remove from Report. Again, since you are changing the report definition, new SQL will need to be generated.

� The Remove from Report option is available without MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

You can remove objects from the report view, while keeping them in the Report Objects window using the following methods:

• In a report, drag and drop an object from the template to the Report Objects window. If you want to add the object back to the template, you can do so at any time without regenerating any SQL.

• In a report, right-click an object header on the template, and select Remove from Grid. Again, if you want to add the object back to the template, you can do so at any time without regenerating any SQL.

� The Remove from Grid option is only available with MicroStrategy OLAP Services.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. View Filters 279

View Filters


Create view filters.

A view filter enables you to further narrow down a report view, using only those objects in the Report Objects window, (even if they are not displayed on the template). When you add or change a view filter, the original report filter remains intact. (Recall that report filter conditions are applied in the SQL of a report when the report runs.) Only after a report result set is retrieved, are the view filter conditions applied, so only a subset of the report results is displayed in the report view.

Another key difference between report filters and view filters is that view filter conditions of a report are local to that report. In other words, view filter conditions cannot be reused or shared across reports like report filters. View filters can, however, be saved with the report definition.

For example, the following report has Region and Call Center in the rows and Revenue in the columns of the report view:

Regional Call Centers Revenue Report


280 View Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The View Filter window, which is shown above the report, enables you to create view filter conditions.

To create a view filter:

1 In a report, if the View Filter window is not already showing, on the View menu, select View Filter.

2 In the View Filter window, click Click here to start a new qualification.

� The View Filter window displays three parameters for creating view filter conditions—Field, Operator, and Value.

3 Click Field to display a drop-down list of objects that exist in your Report Objects window.

4 Select the object with which you want to create the view filter condition.

� If you select an attribute, you will have the option to qualify on any attribute form that is being displayed in the report view or to choose from a list of attribute elements.

5 Select the desired operator from the drop-down list.

� The list of operators will vary depending on your selection for the Field parameter.

6 Manually type in a value, select a value from a list of elements, or compare the object you selected to another object in the Report Objects window.

� The list of options will vary depending on your selection for the Field parameter.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. View Filters 281

7 Click Apply to apply your view filter condition to the report view, as shown below:

View Filter Applied to Report

� There is also an Auto-Apply changes check box that, when selected, no longer requires you to manually click Apply every time you modify or create a new view filter condition, as shown below:

Auto-Apply Changes


282 Derived Metrics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To create additional view filter conditions

8 Click New

9 Repeat steps 3 to 7.

� When you have multiple view filter conditions, the default set operator is AND. Click a set operator and select AND, AND NOT, OR, or OR NOT to change it. For more information on set operators, see “Set Operators” starting on page 219.

� To remove all the view filter conditions, click Clear, followed by Apply. Or to remove a specific view filter condition, right-click the view filter condition, and select Remove qualification.

Derived Metrics


Create derived metrics.

Derived metrics are metrics you can create within a report, using only those objects in the Report Objects window (even if they are not displayed on the template), as well as functions and operators.

In their structure, derived metrics:

• May include one or more functions and operators

• Are based on the attributes and metrics in the Report Objects window

• May be simple or compound, and therefore will inherit the characteristics of whichever type you create.

� For more information on the characteristics of simple and compound metrics, see “Metric Creation” starting on page 245.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Derived Metrics 283

For example, if you have a report with Call Center, Unit Price, and Units Sold in its definition, you can create the following derived metrics:

[Unit Price] * [Units Sold]

Count (Call Center) {~}

Just like with view filters, derived metrics are local to the report in which they are created. In other words, when you create a derived metric on a report, it is not a metric object that is available for use in other reports. You can, however, save derived metrics to the report definition.

To create a derived metric:

1 Open a report in Grid view.

2 On the Insert menu, select New Metric.

3 In the Input Metric Formula window, in the Metric Name box, type a name for the derived metric.

4 In the right-hand side window, define the derived metric formula using the available objects in the Report Objects folder combined with functions and operators.

Derived Metric Formula


284 Derived Metrics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

� Just like in the Metric Editor, you can use the Insert Function Wizard to define a derived metric formula.

5 In the Input Metric Formula window, click OK to add the derived metric to the report template or the report view.

6 To format the derived metric, right-click its header, and select Formatting.

� After a derived metric is created, you can remove it from the report display like you would any other object.

Built-In Derived Metrics

Another great benefit of MicroStrategy OLAP Services is built-in derived metrics. Many common metrics that are typically defined in terms of other metrics are available from the Insert menu when you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

By selecting a metric header in your report view, and then clicking the Insert menu, you can insert a derived Percent to Total, Transformation, or Rank metric based on your selected metric.

Built-In Derived Metrics

� Built-in derived metrics are also referred to as shortcut metrics.





• MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an add-on product to Intelligence Server. This product provides MicroStrategy customers with the following analysis: cube analysis, derived elements, in-Memory OLAP with the use of report objects, view filters, and derived metrics.

• With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, you gain an important design feature—the ability to add attributes and metrics to a report definition without having them displayed on the template. The SQL query for such a report retrieves data for all objects of the report definition and stores it in a report cache.

• The Report objects window displays all of the objects that are part of the report definition.These are the objects retrieved from the data warehouse and stored in the report cache.

• A view filter enables you to further narrow down a report view, using only those objects in the Report objects window.

• When you add or change a view filter, the original report filter remains intact. Only after a report result set is retrieved, the view filter conditions are applied, so only a subset of the report results is displayed in the report view.

• Derived metrics are metrics you can create with the Report Editor, using only those objects in the Report objects window.




© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: MicroStrategy OLAP Services 287

�Exercises: MicroStrategy OLAP Services

Using the Report Objects Window to Add Attributes

Overview

Create a simple report with a report filter for June 2009 and use the Report Objects window to include attributes and metrics in the report definition without displaying them on the template. The first few rows of the initial report results should look like the following:



1 In the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, in the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder.



288 Exercises: MicroStrategy OLAP Services © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.


4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Customers hierarchy.

5 Drag and drop Customer, Customer City, Income Bracket, and Payment Method into the Report objects window.

� If you do not see the Report objects window, on the View menu, select Report Objects.

6 Click View contents one level up to return to the list of hierarchies.

7 Double-click the Geography hierarchy.

8 Drag and drop Region, Call Center, and Country into the Report objects window.

9 Click View contents one level up to return to the list of hierarchies.


11 Drag and drop Year, Month, Quarter, and Day into the Report objects window.

12 In My Shortcuts, click Public Objects.

13 Double-click the Metrics folder.


15 In the Object Browser, drag and drop Revenue, Profit, Profit Margin, and Cost into the Report objects window.



16 In the Report objects window, drag and drop Year, Region, Call Center, Customer Last Name, Revenue, and Profit, and arrange them in the template definition window as shown below:

� To drag the Customer Last Name attribute form to the template, you need to expand the Customer attribute in the Report objects window.

17 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Data Explorer.


19 Double-click the Month attribute.

20 Drag and drop Jun 2009 into the Report Filter definition window.

21 In the Report Editor, on the View menu, select Grid View.

� The report may take a few seconds to execute.

22 On the Grid menu, select Merge Row Header Cells.


24 Practice dragging attributes from the Report objects window to the template and vice versa, and notice that no SQL is generated by your actions.

Save the report


26 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Using Report Objects.



Using View Filters

Overview

Create a simple report with an empty report filter and use the view filter to narrow down your report view. The report should contain Category, Subcategory, Year, and Revenue on the template. The final report should look like the following:



1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, select your My Reports Exercises folder.




5 Drag and drop Category and Subcategory into the rows of the template definition window.



6 In the Object Browser, click View contents one level up.


8 Drag and drop Year into the columns of the template definition window.

9 In My Shortcuts, click Public Objects.



12 Drag and drop Revenue below Year in the columns of the template definition window. Your template should now look like the following image:

13 In the Report Editor, on the View menu, select Grid View to run the report.

14 If you do not see the View Filter window, in the report, on the View menu, select View Filter.

15 In the View Filter window, select the Auto-Apply changes check box.

16 In the View Filter window, click Click here to start a new qualification.

17 Click Field, and select Category.

18 In the Operator drop-down list, select In list.

19 In the Value drop-down list, select Select Elements.

20 In the Select elements for the qualification from the list below window, in the Available objects list, hold down SHIFT on the keyboard and select Books and Electronics.



21 Click the arrow button to add them to the Selected objects list.

22 Click OK to close the Select elements for the qualification from the list below window.


Save the report

24 In the Report, click Save and Close.

25 Save the report in the My Report Exercises folder as Using View Filters.



Create and Format a Derived Metric—Growth

Overview

In this exercise, you will create and format a derived metric named Growth and use it on a new report. You will use the Revenue and Last Year’s Revenue metrics in the derived metric’s formula. The final report should look like the following:



1 In Desktop, in the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder.

2 In the Object Viewer, right-click a blank area, point to New, and select Report.


4 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Geography hierarchy.



5 Drag and drop Call Center into the rows of the template definition window.





10 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Public Objects.



13 Double-click the Transformation Sales Metrics folder.

14 Drag and drop the Last Year’s Revenue metric to the right of Revenue in the template definition window.

15 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Data Explorer.


17 Double-click Year.

18 Drag and drop 2010 into the Report Filter definition window.



19 In the Report Editor, on the View menu, select Grid View to run the report. The report results should look like the following:

20 In the report, on the Insert menu, select New Metric.

21 In the Input Metric Formula window, drag and drop Revenue from the Report objects folder on the left into the window on the right.

22 Click the subtraction operator (-) button.

23 Drag and drop Last Year’s Revenue from the Report objects folder on the left to the right of the subtraction operator (-) in the window on the right. Notice that parentheses are automatically added around Revenue-[Last Year’s Revenue].

24 Click the division operator (/) button.

25 Drag and drop Last Year’s Revenue from the Report objects folder on the left to the right of the division operator (/) in the window on the right.

� The parentheses play a crucial role in the order of operations because calculations in parentheses are performed before other calculations in the metric formula. You need to divide Last Year’s Revenue into the difference between Revenue and Last Year’s Revenue. Without parentheses, the division would occur first, producing undesired derived metric values.



26 In the Metric Name box, type Growth as the name of your derived metric. The Input Metric formula window should now look like the image below:

27 In the Input Metric formula window, click OK to add Growth to the report view.

28 In the report, right-click the Growth metric header, point to Formatting, and select Growth Values.

29 In the Format Cells window, on the Number tab, select Percent.



Save the report


33 Save the report in the My Report Exercises folder as Growth Data.


9

PROMPTS AND SEARCHES

Lesson Description

This lesson explains how to create and use prompts and searches. Prompts are powerful objects that you can incorporate into a report. With prompts, you can create reports that allow end-users to define the report content at run time. In this way, you can create fewer reports, while still satisfying the requirements of many users.

In addition, this lesson describes how to search for objects in Desktop. As you may have already noticed, the number of objects in a project can multiply rapidly, and the ability to search for objects can be quite useful.

Prompts and searches can also be used in combination with each other to help manage a reporting environment that changes dynamically as objects are created and deleted.

Prompts and Searches MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials9


Lesson Objectives


Define the different types of prompts, and explain how you can use search objects inside prompts. Create prompts and searches in Desktop.


• Explain the purpose of a prompt. Define the different types of prompts. Use the Prompt Generation Wizard to create the different types of prompts. (Page 299)

• Create filter definition prompts, and use them in reports. (Page 304)

• Create and use object prompts in a report. (Page 314)

• Create and use value prompts. (Page 319)

• Create prompts on the fly within the Report Editor. Use the Re-prompt report button to modify prompt answers in a prompted report. Choose the appropriate settings when saving a report containing prompt objects in its definition. (Page 323)

• Use various search criteria to search for objects in a MicroStrategy project. Use the results of a search object in a prompt object. (Page 331)

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials Prompts and Searches 9

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Prompt? 299

What Is a Prompt?


Explain the purpose of a prompt. Define the different types of prompts. Use the Prompt Generation Wizard to create the different types of prompts.

Prompts are used to dynamically modify the contents of a report. With prompts, you can determine, at run time, the objects you want to retrieve for the report and report filtering conditions. In addition, you can make different prompt selections each time you run the report. Prompts provide the following advantages:

• With prompts, your report has almost unlimited flexibility. One report definition can serve many different purposes, depending on the prompt answers you choose at run time.

• With prompts, fewer report objects are necessary because one prompted report can fulfill many different needs.

• With prompts, you can choose different prompt answers every time you run the report, enabling quick and easy comparisons of data.

For example, you can create a prompt for filtering criteria that qualifies on the Year attribute. When you run a report with this prompt in its report filter, you are asked to select which year’s data you want to see. You can run the report the first time by selecting 2009, and run it a second time by selecting 2010.


300 What Is a Prompt? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Creating Prompts

You create all types of prompts with the Prompt Generation Wizard, which guides you through the prompt creation process, as shown below:

Prompt Creation Wizard

You can control several aspects of how prompts display and how they function, including the following:

• Types of prompts

• General information for the prompts

• Default prompt answers

Types of Prompts

Using the following prompt types, you can create a prompt for nearly every part of a report:

• Filter definition prompt—Enables you to select filtering criteria from hierarchies, attributes, attribute element lists, and metrics.



• Object prompt—Enables you to select objects to include in a report, such as attributes, metrics, custom groups, template objects, report filter objects, and so forth.

• Value prompt—Enables you to select a single value on which to qualify such as a date, number, or text string. A value prompt is not directly placed in a report. Instead, you embed it in an attribute or metric qualification.

� You can also place value prompts in metric formulas to make metric calculations dynamic.

• Level prompt—Enables you to specify the level for a metric. A level prompt is not directly placed in a report. Instead, you embed it in a metric object.

� For more information on level prompts, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

General Information on Prompts

After selecting the type of prompt, the next step on creating a prompt is defining general characteristics for the prompt.

The image below shows all the options available in this phase of the prompt creation:

Prompt Creation Options


302 What Is a Prompt? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Title and Instructions You can customize the title and instructions of a prompt, both of which are displayed to end-users when they are answering the prompt.

Web Options You can define how the prompt displays when it is executed in MicroStrategy Web. Click Modify to open the Web Options window, which displays options for prompt style, style properties, and defining the qualification.

Save and Reuse Prompt Answers

This determines if personal answers can be saved for this prompt. Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt, and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on.

� For more information on saving and reusing prompt answers, see “Save and Reuse Prompt Answers” starting on page 326.

Limit Elements for Selection and Amount of Prompt Answers

You can also specify a minimum or maximum number of prompt answers allowed.

Required Answers You can indicate whether a prompt answer is required or optional. A required prompt requires an answer to be selected, or the report will not run. An optional prompt does not require an answer to be selected.

To specify answer requirements, select or clear the Prompt answer required check box on the last screen of the Prompt Generation Wizard.

Default Prompt Answers You can specify default prompt answers for end-users, which they can modify at run time.



The image below displays the Web Options window for a hierarchy prompt:

Web Options Window


304 Filter Definition Prompts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The image below shows the page on the Prompt Generation Wizard where you define default prompt answers:

Default Prompt Answers

Filter Definition Prompts


Create filter definition prompts, and use them in reports.

Filter definition prompts are used within report filters to specify conditions that data must meet to be included in report results.

Creating Filter Definition Prompts

You can choose from the following types of filter definition prompts:


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Filter Definition Prompts 305

• Choose from all attributes in a hierarchy—Enables you to qualify on any attribute or attribute element that belongs to the specified hierarchy.

Choose from All Attributes in a Hierarchy



• Qualify on an attribute—Enables you to qualify on the attribute forms or the attribute elements of the specified attribute.

Qualify on an Attribute



• Choose from an attribute element list—Enables you to qualify on a list of attribute elements of the specified attribute.

Choose from an Attribute Element List



• Qualify on a metric—Enables you to qualify on the specified metric.

Qualify on a Metric

The procedures below covers the steps to create two types of filter definition prompts: the Qualify on an Attribute prompt type and the Qualify on a Metric prompt type. For detailed steps on the other types of filter definition prompts, refer to the Basic Reporting Guide.

Qualify on an Attribute

This type of filter definition prompt can be used to create a more focused prompt than the hierarchy prompt. After creating this type of filter definition prompt, the user can qualify on only the attribute built into the prompt (rather than from any attribute in a hierarchy) or any attribute that is returned by a specific search object.

Only the option to qualify on the attribute built into the prompt is described below, but the procedure for creating the other type of attribute prompts is similar.



To create a qualify on an attribute prompt:

1 In Desktop, on the File menu, point to New, and select Prompt.

2 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Filter definition prompt.

3 In the list of filter definition prompts, select Qualify on an attribute and click Next.

4 On the Select an attribute or an attribute search object to be used on the prompt page, click Choose an attribute.

5 Click Browse.

6 In the Open window, select the attribute you want to use in the prompt, and click OK.

7 On the Select an attribute or an attribute search object to be used in the prompt page, in the Displayed forms drop-down list, select what attribute forms should be displayed for the attribute qualification. You can select to display All attribute forms of the attribute, just its Browse forms, its Report Display forms, or Custom Forms.

� If you select Custom Forms, click Select Forms to select from a list of available attribute forms for that attribute.

8 Click Next.

9 On the Provide general information for the prompt page, in the Display properties section, define the following settings:

• In the Title box, type a title for the prompt.

• In the Instructions box, type instructions so the users understand which choices they have to make when answering the prompt.

• Click Modify to change the display style of the prompt in MicroStrategy Web.

• In the Personal answers allowed drop-down list, select from None, Single, or Multiple.

� For more information about saving and reusing prompt answers, see “Save and Reuse Prompt Answers” starting on page 326.

10 In the Prompt Restrictions section, define the following settings:



• Select the Max number of elements for selection check box if you want to specify the maximum number of attribute elements a user is allowed to select per qualification. For example, a user is qualifying on the Year attribute, and he is selecting from a list that contains the following elements—2008, 2009 and 2010. If this setting is set to 2, the user can only select two (or less) of these year elements.

� This setting is available only for two types of filter qualification prompts: Choose from all elements in a hierarchy and Qualify on an attribute.

• Select the Minimum number of qualifications check box if you want to specify the minimum amount of qualifications allowed, then set that number.

• Select the Maximum number of qualifications check box if you want to specify a maximum amount of qualifications allowed, then set that number.

• Select the Prompt answer required check box if you want to require users to answer the prompt before running the report.

� If you select Prompt answer required without providing default answers, the report cannot execute on a schedule.

11 Click Next.

12 On the Select default prompt answer(s) page, click Add to define default answers for the prompt.

� Defining default answers for prompts is optional. To skip this step, click Finish.

13 In the Qualification Editor, select default answers to the prompt, and click Save and Close.

14 On the Select default prompt answer(s) page, click Finish.

15 In the Save As window, navigate to the location in which you want to save the prompt.

16 Type a name, and click Save.



Qualify on a Metric

This type of filter definition prompt can be used to enable a user to qualify on a metric. The user can qualify on the metric built into the prompt or any metric that is returned by a specific search object. Users can qualify on the value, rank, or percentage of the metric.

� The option to qualify on the metric built into the prompt is described below, but the procedure for creating the other types of metric prompt is similar.

To create a qualify on a metric prompt:


2 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Filter definition prompt.

3 In the list of filter definition prompts, select Qualify on a metric, and click Next.

4 On the Select a metric or metric search object to be used in the prompt page, select from the following options:

• Choose a metric object—Either type the metric name in the box, or click Browse to select a metric.

• Use the results of a search object—Enables you to use a search object to define the list of metrics to display in the prompt.

• Use a pre-defined list of metrics—Select specific metrics to display for users at runtime. Use the buttons described below to create the list:

– Add—Opens the Select Objects window, which enables you to select the objects for the list

� After an element has been selected, this button is replaced by Modify, which opens the Select Objects window so you can modify the previous selection.

– Remove—Deletes the selected objects from the list

– Clear—Deletes all the objects from the list

� The Up and Down arrows move the selected element to change the order that the elements are displayed in the prompt.

5 Click Next.









7 In the Prompt Restrictions section, define the following settings:

• Select the Minimum number of qualifications check box if you want to specify the minimum amount of qualifications allowed, then set that number.

• Select the Maximum number of qualifications check box if you want to specify a maximum amount of qualifications allowed, then set that number.



8 Click Next.



10 In the Qualification Editor, select default answers to the prompt, and click Save and Close.






Using Filter Definition Prompts in a Report

To use a filter definition prompt, you must include it in a report filter object or in the report filter definition window of a report.

To build a report with a filter definition prompt:

1 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, locate the filter definition prompt you want to use, and drag and drop it into the Report Filter definition window.

� You can also drag and drop it into the Filter definition window of the Filter Editor.

2 Add more report filter conditions if desired.

3 Save the report.

When you run the report, a window that looks similar to the Filter Editor displays. If the filter definition prompt is required, you must answer (resolve) the prompt before the report runs.

To resolve a filter definition prompt:

1 Run a report containing a filter definition prompt.

2 The next actions you take depend on the type of filter definition prompt in the report, but they are very similar to what you would do in the Filter Editor to define a report filter condition.

� For more information on defining report filter conditions, see “Types of Report Filters” starting on page 211.

3 Click Finish to run the report with your prompt answers.

� In the Report Details window, you can see your prompt answers in the form of report filtering conditions.


314 Object Prompts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Object Prompts


Create and use object prompts in a report.

Object prompts can be used to create a prompt on almost any type of MicroStrategy object. For example, you can prompt on a list of metrics or attributes to place on a template, or you can prompt on a list of report filter objects to apply to a metric. Object prompts enable you to create very versatile reports.

With an object prompt you can qualify on a specified list of MicroStrategy objects or any MicroStrategy object that is returned by a search object. The following is an object prompt that enables the user to select from a specified list of metrics to place on a template:

Object Prompt

The option to qualify on a specified list of MicroStrategy objects is described below, but the procedure for creating the other types of object prompts is similar.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Object Prompts 315

Creating Object Prompts

To create an object prompt:


2 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Object prompt.

3 Click Next.

4 On the Reduce the number of objects available to the user at runtime page, select from the following options:

• Use a pre-defined list of objects—Select specific objects to display for users at runtime. Use the buttons described below to create the list:

– Add—Opens the Select Objects window, which enables you to select the objects for the list

� After an element has been selected, this button is replaced by Modify, which opens the Select Objects window so you can modify the previous selection.

– Remove—Deletes the selected objects from the list

– Clear—Deletes all the objects from the list

� The Up and Down arrows move the selected element to change the order that the objects are displayed in the prompt.

• Use the result of a search object—Enables you to use a search object to define the list of objects to display in the prompt.

� For more information on using search objects, see “What Is a Search Object?” starting on page 331.

– The Display using folder structure check box shows the object path (folder hierarchy). This option, available for search objects only, is useful when the same object with the same name is saved in multiple folders.

� You can only use objects of the same type in one object prompt. For example, you can include metrics or attributes in an object prompt, but not both. If you want to prompt for multiple object types in the same report, you have to create an object prompt for each object type.



5 Click Next.







7 In the Prompt restrictions section, define the following settings:

• Select the Minimum objects check box if you want to specify the minimum amount of objects a user is allowed to select, then set that number.

• Select the Maximum objects check box if you want to specify a maximum amount of objects a user is allowed to select, then set that number.


� If you select the Prompt answer required check box without providing default answers, the report cannot execute on a schedule.

8 Click Next.



10 In the Select Objects window, select default answers to the prompt, and click OK.



© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Object Prompts 317



Using Object Prompts in a Report

Object prompts have multiple uses, but one of the most common uses is to place object prompts for metrics, attributes, consolidations, or custom groups on a template. You might also use an object prompt for a report filter or for the condition component of a metric.

To build an object with an object prompt:

1 Create the object in which you want to use the object prompt. It may be a report, a template, a metric, or another MicroStrategy object.

2 In the object editor, with the Object Browser, locate the object prompt and drag and drop it into the appropriate section of the object editor. For example, if your object prompt presents a list of metrics, drag and drop it into the columns or rows of the template definition window in the Report Editor. If your object prompt presents a list of report filters objects, drag and drop it into the Report Filter definition window in the Report Editor.

3 Save the object.

When you run the report, a prompt resolution window opens listing the objects from which you can choose to answer the object prompt. If the object prompt is required, you must answer (resolve) the prompt before the report runs.

To resolve an object prompt:

1 Run a report containing an object prompt.

2 Select objects from the list in the left window and click > to add them to the right window.

3 Click Finish to run the report with your prompt answers.



Using Object Prompts for Report Building

Assume you need to create a completely dynamic report that asks users at run time to choose what data to filter on and what attributes and metrics to display on the report. Object prompts enable this type of dynamic report creation. As the report designer, you can build a report that acts as a report building wizard that incorporates object prompts to define the report filter and template contents on the fly.

To create a wizard-like report that uses object prompts:

1 Create an object prompt that uses a predefined list of filters. Choose a wide variety of filters based on many different aspects of the MicroStrategy project. Give a title and description to the object prompt. Save and close it.

� Each object prompt can contain only one object type. Therefore, you must create a separate object prompt for each object type.

2 Create another object prompt that uses a predefined list of attributes. Offer a variety of attributes from every hierarchy. Give this object prompt a title and description. Save and close it.

3 Create a third object prompt that uses a search object to find every metric object. This assumes that you want to prompt on every metric available in the project. Otherwise, you could use a predefined list of metrics. Give this object prompt a title and description. Save and close it.

4 Create a new report. Add the first object prompt to the filter definition pane in the Report Editor. Add the second and third object prompts to the template.

5 Run the report and notice how the combination of prompts act like a report building wizard.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Value Prompts 319

Value Prompts


Create and use value prompts.

Value prompts are typically used as part of a filter definition, but they may also be used as part of a metric formula. You can prompt on a date, a numeric value, a text string, a big decimal value, or a long value.

� The long value prompt is not enabled by default. To enable the long value prompt, in Desktop, from the Tools menu, select My Preferences. In the My Preferences window, under Categories, select Prompts. Select the Add long prompts to the list of available value prompts check box.

The following is an example of a text value prompt that prompts users to type in a manufacturer’s name:

Text Value Prompt


320 Value Prompts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Creating a Value Prompt

To create a value prompt:


2 In the Prompt Generation Wizard open, click Value prompt.

3 Click Next.

4 On the Choose a value prompt type page, select the type of value prompt you want to create. The options are: Date and Time, Numeric prompt, Text prompt, Big Decimal, or Long prompt.

� The Long prompt is only displayed if it is enabled in the My Preferences window.

5 Click Next.







• In the Prompt Restrictions section, define the following settings: Select the Minimum value check box if you want to set the lowest value allowed for the prompt answer, then set that number.

• Select the Maximum value check box if you want to set the highest value allowed for the prompt answer, then set that number.



© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Value Prompts 321


7 Click Next.

8 On the Select default prompt answer(s) page, select the Default value check box, and type the value in the text box.

� If you are creating a date prompt:

• If you click on the drop-down list, a calendar displays, from which you can select a specific date.

• To set a dynamic date, that is, a date or time range that meets specific offset conditions, click Date Editor.

Date Editor


10 In the Save As window, select the folder in which to save the new prompt.


Using Value Prompts in a Report

Where you use a value prompt depends on the type of value prompt you create:

• Date prompts can be used in any place where you would normally specify a date, such as in a filter that qualifies on an attribute of a date data type.

• Numeric prompts can be used in any place where you would normally specify a number, such as in a metric qualification.

• Text prompts can be used in any place where you would normally specify a text string, such as in an attribute form qualification.

• Big decimal prompts can be used in any place where you need to qualify on a high precision value (up to 38 digits), such as an attribute qualification on the ID attribute form.


322 Value Prompts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To use a value prompt:

1 Create the object in which you want to use the value prompt. (It may be a report filter or a metric.)

2 In the object editor, with the Object Browser, locate the value prompt, and drag and drop it into the appropriate section of the object editor. For example, if you are using a date prompt in a date qualification filter, drag and drop the date prompt beside the Value box in the Attribute Qualification window.

3 Save the object.

When you run the report, a prompt resolution window opens. If the value prompt is required, you must answer (resolve) the prompt before the report runs.

To resolve a value prompt:

1 Run a report containing a value prompt.

2 Type an appropriate value.

3 Click Finish to run the report with your prompt answer.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Other Prompt Topics 323

Other Prompt Topics


Create prompts on the fly within the Report Editor. Use the Re-prompt report button to modify prompt answers in a prompted report. Choose the appropriate settings when saving a report containing prompt objects in its definition.

Creating Local Prompts

You can also create prompts on the fly within the Report Editor.

To create prompts on the fly within the Report Editor:

1 Open a report in Design View.

2 In the Object Browser, right-click an attribute or metric, and select Report Filter Prompt, as shown below:

Report Filter Prompt Menu

� This prompt will become part of the report definition and cannot be re-used in other reports.


324 Other Prompt Topics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

3 In the Prompt Generation Editor, select one of the prompt generation options:

• List all <attribute>—Creates a prompt that lists all the elements of the selected attribute. At run time, the user selects which elements to include.

• Qualify on the Attribute <attribute>—Creates a prompt that qualifies on the selected attribute. At run time, the user completes the qualification. Attribute elements that meet the qualification are displayed on the report.

• List <attribute> filtered by—Creates a prompt that lists all the elements that meet the filter qualification. At run time, the user selects which of those elements to include.

� You can either type in the name of the filter or click the browse button.

The Prompt Generation Editor is shown below:

Prompt Generation Editor

4 Click OK.

Re-prompting Inside Reports

Simply refreshing a report will not re-prompt it. To re-prompt an open report, click the Re-prompt button found on the toolbar, as shown below:

Re-prompt



When you click the Re-prompt report button, the prompt selection window opens. You can then make a new selection of prompt answers, which will be applied when the report re-executes.

Saving Reports with Prompts

When you save a prompted report after answering prompts and running the report, you are presented with additional save options, as shown below:

Save Options

The Save Options window has the following options:

• Static—You will no longer be prompted when you run the report in the future. The prompt answers you selected are saved to the report definition and used every time you run the report in the future.

• Prompted—You will continue to be prompted every time you run the report in the future. You can choose whether to be prompted for just the filter definition prompts, just the template prompts, or both.



• Set the current prompt answers to be the default prompt answers—The prompt answers you select become the new default prompt answers when you run the report in the future. This check box is only enabled if Prompted is selected.

• Remember options next time—Your selections in the Save Options window will become the default selections when you save prompted reports in the future.

Save and Reuse Prompt Answers

When you run a prompted report or document, you are required to answer the prompt every time you execute the report or the document. You can save the prompt answers and reuse them when you run the same report again. This feature is particularly useful when you have to select a long list of elements for an attribute element prompt or create a complex expression for an expression prompt.

The image below shows the Prompt Generation Wizard option for saving your personal answers when defining the prompt:

Prompt Generation Wizard

� Personal answers must be enabled for prompts in the Project Configuration Editor before you can allow personal answers.



Personal answers are saved for each prompt and each user, but they can be used on different reports. When you create a prompt, you can enable none, single, or multiple personal answers:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the prompt, he must answer it (if it is required) or ignore it.

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved. When the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or add or delete selections. The user can save changes, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

For example, you run a report with the Year attribute and Revenue metric on the template and an attribute element prompt on the Year attribute. The user has selected the Remember this answer check box and answered the prompt with year 2009 and 2010. When he runs the report again, 2009 and 2010 prompt answers will be displayed as the default prompt answers, as shown below:

Single Element Prompt Display



• Multiple: Multiple user answers can be saved enabling different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are available, and the user can select one of them or answer the prompt manually. The image below shows multiple saved answers:

Multiple Element Prompt Window

� Personal answers are saved in the My Personal Objects\My Answers\Prompt Answers folder.

If the report designer places shortcuts to the same prompt in multiple reports, users can access their saved answers in all of those reports.

To save single prompt answers at report run time:

1 Run a prompted report.

� This procedure assumes the report includes a prompt that was created with the Personal answers allowed: Single option.

2 Select your prompt answers.



3 Select the Remember this answer check box.

4 Click Finish.

To save multiple prompt answers at report run time:


� This procedure assumes the report includes a prompt that was created with the Personal answers allowed: Multiple option.

2 Select your prompt answers.

3 Select the Save this answer check box.

4 In the text box on the top of the page, type a name for the saved prompt answers, as shown below:

Element Prompt Window

5 Click Set as Default, if desired.

6 Click Finish to run the report.



To reuse your prompt answers at report run time:


2 Below the prompt description, click the drop-down list.

3 Select the desired prompt answer, as shown in the image below:

Yearly Revenue Prompt

� You can edit your previous prompt answers by clicking Edit Answers.

4 Click Finish.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Search Object? 331

What Is a Search Object?


Use various search criteria to search for objects in a MicroStrategy project. Use the results of a search object in a prompt object.

Searches enable you to search for a specific object or a collection of objects that meet certain criteria. You can restrict the search results by name, ID, and location, the date range during which objects were created or last modified, object type, and object owner. The more criteria you specify, the smaller the number of objects that will meet those criteria and be returned.

The Search for Objects Editor

You perform searches using the Search for Objects Editor.

To access the Search for Objects Editor:

1 In Desktop, on the Tools menu, select Search for Objects, as shown below:

Search for Objects


332 What Is a Search Object? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

By default, you can use the Search for Objects window to restrict search results by one or more of the following criteria:

• Object name and location

• Date range of object creation or modification

• Object type

• Object owner

• Object ID

Search By Components

You can search for objects containing particular objects or objects contained by particular objects by enabling two additional tabs using the Search Options window.

To activate the Contains and Contained By tabs:

1 In the Search for Objects Editor, on the Tools menu, select Options.

2 In the Search Options window, select the Show ‘Contains’ and ‘Contained By’ tabs check box

3 Click OK to close the Search options window.

� You can search for objects that are contained by particular objects, rather than creating an independent search.

To view components of an object using the search by components shortcut:

1 Select the object in which you want to view components.

2 Right-click and select Search for Components.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Search Object? 333

Search Based on Object ID

Users can now search for objects based on an object ID in the Search for Objects window, as shown below:

Search by ID Window

To enable the search option:


2 In the Search for Objects window, on the Tools menu, select Search by ID, as shown below:

Search by ID Option


334 What Is a Search Object? © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

3 Enter your search criteria.

4 Click Find Now.

Saving Searches

You can save searches just like any other MicroStrategy object to use them again later or incorporate them into prompt objects.

� Many of the prompts described in the previous topic can use the results of a search to generate a list of potential prompt answers.

To save a search:

1 With the Search for Object Editor, create a search.

2 On the File menu, select Save.

3 In the Save As window, navigate to the location in which you want to save the search, enter a name for the search, and click Save.

Search-based Prompts

You may recall from the previous topic that the Prompt Generation Wizard has the option to reference a search object in defining certain types of prompts. Using searches in prompts enables you to limit a possibly overwhelming set of potential prompt answers. It also allows you to make the set of potential prompt answers more dynamic, since the set of potential prompt answers is the list of objects returned by the search object, rather than a static list.

For example, suppose you want to create a report which template includes an object prompt that allows users to select from a list of metrics which name contains the word “Revenue.” You first create a search that returns a list of metrics which name contains the word “Revenue.” You then incorporate the search object into an object prompt, which you then place on the report template. Every time the report runs, the search object executes to return the latest list of metrics with the word “Revenue,” which is then presented to the user in the prompt answer window. The user is always selecting from the latest list of revenue metrics.





• Prompts are used to dynamically modify the contents of a report. With prompts, you can determine, at run time, the objects you want to retrieve for the report and the report filtering conditions.

• You can make different prompt selections each time you run the report.

• You create the following types of prompts with the Prompt Generation Wizard—filter definition prompt, object prompt, value prompt, and level prompt.

• Filter definition prompts are used within report filters to specify conditions that data must meet to be included in report results.

• Object prompts enable you to create very versatile reports. With an object prompt you can qualify on a specified list of MicroStrategy objects or any MicroStrategy object that is returned by a search object.

• Value prompts are typically used as part of a filter definition, but they may also be used as part of a metric formula. You can prompt on a date, a numeric value, a text string, a big decimal value, or a long value.

• You can also create prompts on the fly within the Report Editor.

• When you save a prompted report after answering prompts and running the report, you are presented with additional save options. You can save the report as a prompted or static report.

• You can save the prompt answers and reuse them when you run the same report again.

• Searches enable you to search for a specific object or a collection of objects that meet certain criteria.

• You can restrict the search results by name, ID, and location, the date range during which objects were created or last modified, object type, and object owner.

• Using searches in prompts enables you to limit a possibly overwhelming set of potential prompt answers. It also allows you to make the set of potential prompt answers more dynamic.




© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises: Prompts and Searches 337

�Exercises: Prompts and Searches

Create Filter Definition Prompts

Overview

Create the following three prompts and use them in the report filter of a report that has Item and Revenue on its template.

– Prompt on the Product hierarchy

– Prompt on the Quarter attribute element list—Users see the entire list of elements, and 2008 Q4should be the default answer. Answering the prompt is required.

– Metric qualification prompt —Users should be prompted to qualify on the Revenue metric.

Choose the following answers to the prompts:

• Books

• 2010 Q3 and 2010 Q4

• Revenue greater than 20,000

The report results should look like the following:



338 Exercises: Prompts and Searches © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.


Create the My Prompts Exercises folder:

1 In the Folder List, in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, under My Personal Objects, select the My Objects folder.


3 Name the folder My Prompts Exercises.

Create a prompt on the Product hierarchy

4 In the Object Viewer, double-click the My Prompts Exercises folder to begin working in it.

5 On the File menu, point to New, and select Prompt.

6 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, keep the Filter definition prompt option selected.

7 Select Choose from all attributes in a hierarchy, and click Next.

8 On the Reduce the number of hierarchies available at runtime page, click Choose a hierarchy object.

9 Use the browse button to select the Products hierarchy.

10 Click OK.

11 On the Reduce the number of hierarchies available at runtime page, click Next.

12 In the Prompt Resolution Wizard, click Finish.

13 In the Save As window, save the prompt as Choose from all attributes in the Products hierarchy.

Create a prompt on the Quarter attribute elements


15 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, keep the Filter Definition Prompt option selected.

16 Select Choose from an attribute element list, and click Next.



17 On the Select the attribute to be used in the prompt page, use the browse button to select the Quarter attribute from the Time folder.

18 Click OK.

19 On the Select the attribute to be used in the prompt page, click Next.

20 On the Reduce the number of elements available to the user at runtime page, keep the List all elements (no restriction) option selected.

21 Click Next.

22 On the Provide general information for the prompt page, click Next.

23 On the Select default prompt answer(s) page, click Add.

24 In the Select Objects window, in the Available objects list, select 2010 Q4.

25 Use the > button to add it to the Selected objects window.



28 Save the prompt in the My Prompts Exercises folder as Choose from all elements of Quarter.

Create a prompt on the Revenue metric


30 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, keep the Filter definition prompt option selected.

31 Select Qualify on a metric, and click Next.

32 On the Select a metric or metric search object to be used in the prompt page, keep the Choose a metric object option selected.

33 Use the browse button to select the Revenue metric (from the Sales Metrics folder).

34 Click Next.

35 On the Provide general information for the prompt page, click Finish.



36 In the Save As window, save the prompt as Qualify on metric object Revenue.

Create a report using these three prompts





41 Double-click the My Prompts Exercises folder.

42 Drag and drop the following three prompts into the Report Filter definition window.

• Choose from all attributes in the Products hierarchy

• Choose from all elements of Quarter

• Qualify on metric object Revenue

43 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Attributes.

44 In the Object Browser, double-click the Products folder.

45 Drag and drop the Item attribute into the rows of the template definition window.

46 In the Object Browser, in My Shortcuts, click Metrics.




50 Answer the prompts accordingly:



• For the first prompt, in the left window, double-click the Category attribute to expand it. Drag and drop Books into the right window, and click Next.

• For the second prompt, notice that the default answer, 2010 Q4, is already selected. In the left window, select 2010 Q3 and click the > button to add it to the right window. Click Next.

• For the third and final prompt, in the Set Qualification window, in the Parameters section, change the Operator to Greater than and in the Value box, type 20000.

• Click Finish.

51 Compare your results to the expected results in the Overview section at the beginning of this exercise.

Save the report with a prompted filter


53 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Filter Definition Prompts.

54 In the Save Options window, click Prompted.

55 Click Only filter will be prompted.

56 Click OK.

Create Object Prompts

Overview

Create a report that prompts you to select both the metrics and attributes that display on the template.

• The metric prompt should enable you to select from a list of metrics in the Sales Metrics folder.



• The attribute prompt should enable you to select any attribute returned by the “Search for all objects of type Attribute” search. (This search object is already built for you and can be found in the Public Object\Searches folder.)

• This original report should use an empty report filter (no filter criteria) and be named Prompts-Original.

When you run the report, select Units Sold, Category, and Year, so the report results look like the following:

You will then save the report as prompted with the name Prompts-Template Prompted. Run the report again, and save the report by selecting the static save option. You will name the static version of the report Prompts-Static.

Finally, answer the following questions:

• What are the differences between Prompts-Original, Prompts-Template Prompted, and Prompts-Static?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: When you run the report Prompts-Original it will prompt you and will not contain any previously selected metrics or attributes. When you run Prompts-Template, you will still be prompted, however, the metric and attributes you saved will already be selected when the prompt opens. When you run the Prompts-Static, you will not be prompted. The report will open up with the metrics and attributes you previously selected.



• Which reports prompt you?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Prompts-Original and Prompts-Template.

• Which ones have default answers selected?

_______________________________________

Answer: Prompts-Static.

• What does this tell you about the different save options?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Depending on what you want you can either save a report to run a new prompt everytime, without any previously selected report objects, run a prompted report with previously selected report objects, or run an unprompted report with your previously selected report objects.



Create a prompt for sales metrics


2 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Object prompt, and click Next.

3 On the Reduce the number of objects available to the user at runtime page, keep the Use a pre-defined list of objects option selected, and click Add.

4 In the Select Objects window, in the Available objects window, double-click the Public Objects folder.

5 Double-click the Metrics folder.




7 Select Average Revenue and, while holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard, select Units Sold.

8 Click > to move the list of metrics to the Selected objects window.


10 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Finish.

11 In the Save As window, save the prompt as Choose from a list of Metrics.

Create a prompt for attributes


13 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Object prompt.

14 Click Next.

15 On the Reduce the number of objects available to the user at runtime page, click Use the results of a search object.

16 Click browse.

17 In the Open window, select the Search for all objects of type Attribute search object.



18 Click OK.

19 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, click Finish.

20 Save the prompt in the My Prompts Exercises folder as Choose from a list of Attributes.

Create a report using the object prompts





25 Double-click the My Prompts Exercises folder.

26 Drag and drop the Choose from a list of Metrics prompt into the columns of the template definition window.

27 Drag and drop the Choose from a list of Attributes prompt into the rows of the template definition window.

� The sequence in which you add prompts to a report determines the order in which the prompts are presented to the user when the report runs. However, you can change this order by selecting Prompt Ordering from the Data menu. In the Prompt Ordering window, use the arrow keys to re-order the prompt objects in the report.

� The Prompt Ordering option under the Data menu is only available when a report has more than one prompt object.

Save the report


29 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Prompts-Original.

Run the original report

30 In the Folder List, select the My Reports Exercises folder.

31 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Prompts-Original report to run it.



32 For the first prompt, in the left window, select Units Sold.

33 Click > to move it to the right window.

34 Click Next.

35 For the second prompt, in the left window, select Category and, while holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select Year.

36 Click > to move both attributes to the right window.

37 In the right window, select Category, and click the down arrow button to the right of the right window.

� This will result in the Category attribute displaying to the right of the Year attribute on the report template.

38 In the prompt selection window, click Finish.


Save the report with a prompted template and run it again


41 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Prompts - Template Prompted.


43 Click Only template will be prompted.

44 Leave the Set the current prompt answers to be the default prompt answers check box selected.

� If selected, prompt answers you selected during report run time become the new default prompt answers. When the report runs again, these answers display as default.

45 Click OK to return to the report.

46 In the report, click Re-prompt report to return to the prompt selection window.



� For the first prompt, notice that the answer you selected the last time, Units Sold, now displays as the default answer.

47 Click Next.

� For the second prompt, again notice that the answers you selected the last time, Year and Category, display as the default answers.

48 Click Finish.

Save and run the report with the static save option


50 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Prompts - Static.

51 In the Save Options window, click Static.

52 Clear the Remember options next time check box.

53 Click OK to return to the report.

54 Close the report.

55 In the Object Viewer, double-click the Prompts-Static report to run it.

� You are no longer prompted since you saved the report as a static report, and the report ran with your previously saved prompt answers.

56 Close the report.

57 Return to the beginning of the exercise and answer the questions.



Create a Value Prompt

Overview

Suppose you want to see a report that lists all employees hired before a certain date, and you select the date when you run the report. If you enter April 1, 2001, as the hire date, the final report should look like the following:

Creating this prompted report is a little different than the previous reports because the prompt is not created as an independent object. Instead, you will create the prompt from within the Report Filter definition window.

When you create the report filter, you will see the following screen:

Note that there is a difference between the value prompt (created by clicking Simple Prompt):



and the filter prompt (created by clicking Prompt):

Using the Simple Prompt button, you can create a value prompt that allows the user to only enter a date value for the hire date. Using the Prompt button, you can create an attribute filter definition prompt that enables the user to select the operator and enter a date value for the hire date.


Detailed Instructions:



3 In the Report Editor, in the Object Browser, double-click the Geography hierarchy

4 Drag and drop the Employee and the Hire Date attributes into the rows of the template definition window.

5 In the Object Browser, drag and drop the Hire Date attribute into the Report Filter definition window.

6 In the Attribute Qualification window, from the Qualify On drop-down list, select ID.

7 In the Operator drop-down list, select Less than.

8 Click Simple Prompt:

9 In the Prompt Generation Wizard, on the Provide general information for the prompt page, click Next.

10 On the Select default prompt answer(s) page, clear the Default value check box, and click Finish.




12 In the report, click Run.

13 In the prompt selection window, click Date Editor.

14 In the Date and Time Editor, keep the Static date option selected, and type in 4/1/2001 for the date value.

� You could have also used the drop-down calendar to select a date.

15 Click OK to close the Date Editor.

16 In the prompt selection window, click Finish.


Save the report with a prompted filter


19 Save the report in the My Reports Exercises folder as Value Prompt.


21 Click Only filter will be prompted.

22 Click OK.


A

MICROSTRATEGY TUTORIAL

Appendix Description

This appendix provides information on the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, including the data model and physical warehouse schema.

MicroStrategy TutorialA

352 The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model

A data model is a logical map that represents the inherent properties of enterprise data, disregarding software, hardware, or machine performance considerations. Data models show:

• Data elements grouped into records

• Relationships and association surrounding those records

For more detailed information about data modeling, refer to the Project Design Guide.

Although the MicroStrategy Tutorial data model is included in this section for your reference, you can also view it directly in the product.

To view the MicroStrategy Tutorial data model:

1 In Desktop, log in to the project source that contains the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and expand the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

2 On the Schema menu, point to Graphical View and select Hierarchies.

3 In the Hierarchy Viewer, to view a different hierarchy, in the Hierarchy drop-down box, select the hierarchy you want to view.

4 To focus on a different entry point, in the Entry Point drop-down box, select the entry point you want to view.

5 To view the entire hierarchy in the window, on the View menu, select Fit in window.

� You can rearrange the attributes by dragging and dropping them. Rearranging attributes does not affect the browse order, but it enables you to view the hierarchy in a way that is meaningful to you.

6 To return to the default view, on the View menu, select Auto arrange.

7 To save the layout view of the hierarchy, on the File menu, select Save layout. The next time you open the Hierarchy Viewer, it displays the saved view.

The MicroStrategy Tutorial data model consists of the following hierarchies:

MicroStrategy Tutorial A

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model 353

• Geography

• Customers

• Time

• Products

Geography Hierarchy


354 The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Customers Hierarchy


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model 355

Time Hierarchy


356 The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Products Hierarchy

The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema

A schema is a logical and physical definition of warehouse data elements, physical characteristics, and interrelationships. This appendix shows the physical schema with the data types displayed. You can also choose to view the logical schema on your own. For instructions, refer to the procedure below.

For more detailed information on the schema, refer to the Project Design Guide.

Although the MicroStrategy Tutorial physical schema is listed below for your reference, you can also view the physical or logical schema directly in the product.

To view the MicroStrategy Tutorial schema:

1 In Desktop, log in to the project source that contains the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and expand the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema 357

2 On the Schema menu, point to Graphical View and select Tables.

3 In the Table Viewer, to change display preferences for the logical view, on the Options menu, select any of the following options:

– Show joins—Enables you to select whether to connect the tables to represent the joins between the table columns

– Use circular joins—Enables you to select whether to use circular joins

– Show relationships—Enables you to select whether to map the relationships between the tables

– Show relationship types—Enables you to select whether to differentiate between one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relationships

– Show columns—Enables you to select whether to display the warehouse columns that define each attribute as a link between the logical and physical views

4 To switch to the physical view, on the View menu, select Physical view.

5 To change display preferences for the physical view, on the Options menu, select any of the following options:

– Show joins—Enables you to select whether to connect the tables to represent the joins between the warehouse tables

– Use circular joins—Enables you to select whether to use circular joins

– Show column data types—Enables you to select whether to show the data type and size for each column

– Show table prefixes—Enables you to select whether to display the table prefix as part of the table name

6 To switch back to the logical view, on the View menu, select Logical view.

7 To view the entire schema in the window, on the View menu, select Fit in window.

� You can rearrange the tables by dragging and dropping them. Rearranging the tables does not affect the relationships or joins, but it enables you to view the tables in a way that is meaningful to you.

8 To return to the default view, on the View menu, select Auto arrange.



9 To save the layout view of the tables, on the File menu, select Save layout. The next time you open the Table Viewer, it displays the saved view.

10 To copy the layout view, on the File menu, select Copy as Metafile (.wmf).



The MicroStrategy Tutorial schema is divided into the following parts:

• Geography

• Customers

• Time

• Products

• Fact tables

• Partition mapping table



Geography Schema



Customers Schema



Time Schema



Products Schema



Fact Tables Schema


MICROSTRATEGY GLOSSARY

This Glossary presents some of the more commonly used terms for both MicroStrategy and Data Warehousing in general.

A

Access control A facility of the MicroStrategy security subsystem that defines and enforces the rights of users in accessing and modifying MicroStrategy objects such as reports and filters.

Access control list A list of users and groups and the access permissions that each has for an object.

Active user A user who logs into a MicroStrategy system. When a user logs in to the system, a user session is established and remains open until the user logs out of the system or the system logs the user out. Users that are logged in but are not doing anything still consume some resources on Intelligence Server.

MicroStrategy Glossary MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials

366 © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

ActiveX Data Objects A set of interfaces designed for accessing a wide variety of data sources through OLE DB system interfaces. ADO MD (multidimensional) provides a set of interfaces that are optimized for multidimensional data applications.

Ad hoc query A SQL query dynamically constructed by desktop tools and indeterminate prior to issuance. The user is asking a new question that has not been answered by an existing report.

Address book A list of addresses for all users and groups.

Administrator The user category of one who installs and monitors software and user configurations, maintains the state of the software, and administers the different MicroStrategy servers in the platform. An administrator also defines users, assigns user login accounts and user privileges, and analyzes the performance of the system.

Aggregatable The characteristic of facts that can be summed or otherwise aggregated.

Aggregate function A numeric function that acts on a column of data and produces a single result. Examples include SUM, COUNT, MAX, MIN, and AVG.

Aggregate table A fact table that stores data that has been aggregated along one or more dimensions.

Aggregation The combining of numeric data at a specific attribute level. The most common function is sum, which creates an additive total.

Analyst The user category of one who accesses reports, performs drilling, does exception reporting, generates report requirements, and is aware of the necessary analysis. An analyst receives useful data from information devices like alphanumeric pagers, fax machines, and e-mail without fully understanding how such information is derived or delivered.

MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials MicroStrategy Glossary


Analytical Engine A component of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that performs all advanced analytical functions. The Analytical Engine evaluates functions not supported by the data warehouse RDBMS and it cross-tabulates reports.

Application object MicroStrategy object used to provide analysis of and insight into relevant data. Application objects are developed in Desktop and they are the building blocks for reports and HTML documents. Application objects include these object types: report, HTML document, template, filter, metric, custom group, consolidation, prompt.

Applicationprogramming interface

(API)

A set of related functions that provides an interface between one or more existing applications and new applications. The API may be seen as a platform over a set of services on which new applications can be built. The functions, or interfaces, are implemented in a dynamic link library, and are defined in a standardized syntax. Application functionality available in the platform can be integrated or embedded into other applications through use of the APIs.

Application-levelpartition

In application-level partitioning, the application rather than the database server manages the partition tables. MicroStrategy supports two methods of application-level partitioning: metadata partition mapping and warehouse partition mapping. Compare database-level partition.

Apply function A function that allows you to insert custom SQL into an expression.

Atomic The lowest level of granularity. Cannot be decomposed into smaller parts.

Attribute A data level defined by the system architect and associated with one or more columns in a data warehouse lookup table. Attributes include data classifications like Region, Order, Customer, Age, Item, City, and Year. They provide a means for aggregating and filtering at a given level.



Attribute drill path In MicroStrategy, a path that determines which attributes are presented to an interface; typically a project defines drill paths from parent attributes to their children.

Attribute element A value of any of the attribute forms of an attribute. For example, New York and Dallas are elements of the attribute City; January, February, and March are elements of the attribute Month.

Attribute form One of several columns associated with an attribute that are different aspects of the same thing. For example, ID, Name, Last Name, Long Description, and Abbreviation could be forms of the attribute Customer. Every attribute supports its own collection of forms.

Attribute qualifier A filter that qualifies on an attribute.

Attribute role A database column that is used to define more than one attribute. For example, Billing City and Shipping City are two attributes that have the same table and columns defined as a lookup table.

Authentication The system process of validating user login information. A login ID and password are compared against an authorized list, and if a match is detected, specific access rights and application privileges are granted to the user.

Authentication object A MicroStrategy object that specifies both who the user is and the security context within which that user will interact with the system. An authentication object contains the security information required (such as user login ID and password) to make a connection or perform task execution.

Autostyle A set of predefined formatting settings that can be applied to a report in either Desktop or Web.

A document that stores formatting properties for various control types in a document.



Axis A vector along which data is displayed. There are three axes-Row, Column, and Page. When a user defines a template for a report, he places template units-attributes, dimensions, metrics, consolidations, and custom groups-along each axis.

B

Banding A method of organizing values according to a set of descriptive or meaningful data ranges called buckets. For example, customers in the age ranges of 10-20, 21-30, and 31-40, where each set of ages is a band. Banding is also used for display purposes, where every other row is a different color and the two colors alternate.

Base table A fact table that stores data at the lowest level of dimensionality.

Boolean A logical value that is either TRUE or FALSE (sometimes implemented as 1 and 0, respectively).

Browse To scan for an element in a hierarchy. Generally, browsing implies viewing, rather than changing information.

Browse hierarchy A set of attributes defined by a user for a project. For example, Country, State and City could form a Geography hierarchy. Compare schema hierarchy.

Browse path A navigation path used for browsing metadata.

Business intelligence(BI) system

A system that facilitates the analysis of volumes of complex data by providing the ability to view data from multiple perspectives.



C

Cache A special data store holding recently accessed information for quick future access. This is normally done for frequently requested reports, whose execution is faster because they need not run against the database. Results from the data warehouse are stored separately and can be used by new job requests that require the same data. In the MicroStrategy environment, when a user runs a report for the first time, the job is submitted to the database for processing. However, if the results of that report are cached, the results can be returned immediately without having to wait for the database to process the job the next time the report is run.

Cache hit An indicator determining whether a cache has been used by job execution or not.

Catalog A table that contains the names of all non-temporary tables in a data warehouse.

Child attribute The lower-level attribute in an attribute relationship.

Client The type of computer that users employ to access applications in one or more common server computers.

Clustering A configuration strategy that provides uninterrupted access to data, enhanced scalability, and increased performance for users.

Column A one-dimensional vertical array of values in a table.

The set of fields of a given name and data type in all rows of a given table.

MicroStrategy object in the schema layer that can represent one or more physical table columns or no columns.

Compound attribute An attribute that has more than one key (ID) form.



Compound join A way to join a document’s multiple datasets. It matches any common attributes, then creates a virtual dataset by sequentially proceeding through dataset rows to create a complete set of joined rows. A compound join saves memory space and processing time.

Compound key In a relational database, a primary key consisting of more than one database column.

Compound metric A metric that cannot have a level placed on the entire metric, although it can be set separately on each of the components.

Concurrent users Users that execute reports or use the system in one way or another at the same time.

Conditional metric A metric containing filter criteria in its definition.

Configuration object A MicroStrategy object displaying in the system layer and usable across multiple projects. Configuration objects include (among others) these object types: users, database instances, database logins, and schedules.

Connection mapping The process of mapping MicroStrategy users to database connections and database logins. For MicroStrategy users to execute reports, they must be mapped to a database connection and database login.

Consolidation An object that can be placed on a template and is made up of an ordered collection of elements called consolidation elements. Each element is a grouping of attribute elements that accommodates inter-row arithmetic operations.

Consolidation element A line item in a consolidation based on attribute elements. For example, Year=2005 / Year=2006.



Control Any item in the document's Layout area that you can select. This can be a text field, line, rectangle, image, or Grid/Graph object. These different kinds of controls are referred to as control types.

Control default A set of properties that can be set for each type of control and each section in a document. You can set the defaults according to the control that is currently selected; afterward, its format is applied to any object of the same type that you create in the document.

Cookie A piece of information that is sent to your Web browser-along with an HTML page-when you access a Web site or page. This information is usually used to remember details about what a user did on a particular site or page for the purpose of providing a more personal experience for the user.

Cross-tab (v.) To reconfigure a grid report by moving elements to different axes. Includes the pivot function.

Custom group An object that can be placed on a template and is made up of an ordered collection of elements called custom group elements. Each element contains its own set of filtering qualifications.

D

Data Explorer A portion of the interface used to browse through data contained in the warehouse. Users can navigate through hierarchies of attributes that are defined by the administrator to find the data they need.

Data mart A database, usually smaller than a data warehouse, designed to help managers make strategic decisions about their business by focusing on a specific subject or department.

A database instance used to store result sets saved to data mart tables.



Data mart report A special kind of report that saves its report data in a database rather than returning those results to the user. Data mart reports either create a new table in the database to store the report data or append the report data into an existing table.

Data mart table A relational table that is used to store the report data from a data mart report.

Data mining The process of using the results of data exploration to adjust or enhance business strategies. It builds on the patterns, trends, and exceptions found through data exploration to support the business.

A technique using software tools geared for the user who typically does not know exactly what he is searching for, but is looking for particular patterns or trends. Data mining is the process of sifting through large amounts of data to produce data content relationships.

Data modeling A method used to define and analyze data requirements needed to support the business functions of an enterprise. These data requirements are recorded as a conceptual data model with associated data definitions. Data modeling defines the relationships between data elements and data structures.

Data repository A logical and sometimes physical partitioning of data in multiple databases that apply to specific applications or sets of applications. For example, several databases (revenues and expenses) that support financial applications (A/R, A/P) can reside in a single financial data repository.



Data source name(DSN)

Provides connectivity to a database through an ODBC driver. A DSN generally contains host machine name or IP address, instance name, database name, directory, database driver, User ID, password, and other information. The exact information included in the DSN varies by DBMS. Once you create a DSN for a particular database, you can use it in an application to call information from the database. There are three types of DSNs:

System DSN: can be used by anyone who has access to the machine. DSN info is stored in the registry

User DSN: is created for a specific user. Also stored in the registry

File DSN: DSN information is stored in a text file with.DSN extension.

Data warehouse A database, typically very large, containing the historical data of an enterprise. Used for decision support or business intelligence, it organizes data and allows coordinated updates and loads.

A copy of transaction data specifically structured for query, reporting, and analysis.

Database administrator One who manages a database. The database administrator determines the content, internal structure, and access strategy for a database, defines security and integrity, and monitors database performance.

Database connection Stores all data warehouse specific connection information such as DSN, driver mode and SQL execution mode as well as connection caching information.



Database instance A MicroStrategy object created in Desktop that represents a connection to the warehouse. A database instance specifies warehouse connection information, such as the data warehouse DSN, Login ID and password, and other data warehouse specific information.

Database server software running on a particular machine. Though it is technically possible to have more than one instance running on a machine, there is usually only one instance per machine.

Database login This stores the login ID and password that MicroStrategy Intelligence Server uses to connect to a particular database.

Database managementsystem

A collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database.

Dataset An encapsulation of a multidimensional result set created when executing an MDX statement.

A MicroStrategy report that retrieves data from the data warehouse or cache. It is used to define the data available on a document.

Dataset Objects A panel in the Document Editor that shows all objects (grouped by datasets) that can be used in the document.

All objects that can be used in the document as supplied by the datasets. Dataset Objects are attributes, consolidations, custom groups, and metrics.

Date prompt A prompt for a date value. For example, prompt answered as "Date: 6/9/99".

Deciling The method by which a group is broken up into ten groups of equal elements. The first decile consists of the top ten percent; the second, the 11th to 20th percent; the third, the 21st to 30th percent; and so on.



Decision supportsystem

A set of software applications intended to allow users to search vast stores of information for specific reports that are critical for making management decisions. These applications also allow end users to create ad hoc queries.

Degradation A type of fact extension in which values at one level of aggregation are reported at a second, lower attribute level.

Derived attribute An attribute calculated from a mathematical operation on columns in a warehouse table. For example, Age can be calculated from the expression [Current Date-Birth Date].

Derived fact column A fact column created through a mathematical combination of other existing fact columns.

Derived metric A metric based on data already available in a report. It is calculated by the Intelligence Server, not in the database. Use a derived metric to perform column math, that is, calculations on other metrics, on report data after it has been returned from the database.

Derived table A result set referred to by an alias and defined by a nested SELECT statement in the FROM clause. The result set forms a table used by the outer SELECT statement. A nested select can use all part of a standard select statement (Select, From, Where, Group By and Having clauses).

Design view A mode of the report editor that lets a user modify a report's definition without having to execute the report.

Diagnostics The process of logging and analyzing the information on the operation performance by Intelligence Server.

Dimension An element or factor making up a complete entity or variable (a quantity that may assume any one of a set of values). For example, product types, times and regions are three dimensions pertaining to sales. Different product types are sold over different time zones in different regions.



Distribution Manager(DM)

Delivery Engine object that receives service execution triggers, distributes service data to the execution engines for processing, designates failover execution engines, and tracks the status of other system components. If the primary distribution manager fails, one of the backup distribution managers becomes the primary and takes over processing where the failed component stopped.

Piece of software or component used to instantiate a distribution manager object.

Machine being used to instantiate the distribution manager object.

Document A container for objects representing data coming from one or more reports, as well as positioning and formatting information. A document is used to format data from multiple reports in a single display of presentation quality.

The MicroStrategy object that supports the functionality defined above.

Document element Piece of a document containing dynamic content that is generated when that document is executed as part of a service. Consists of at least one information object, plus error-handling instructions. May include an XSL stylesheet selection, depending on the type of information object chosen.

Document instance Facilitates the processing of the document through Intelligence Server (like a report instance is used for processing reports). It contains the report instances for all the child reports, the XML results for the child reports, and any prompt information that may be included in the child reports.

Document template Provides the structure and layout for a document. For example, an Excel document template includes the basic workbook structure, any predefined macros, and static worksheet content.



Drill A method of obtaining supplementary information after a report has been executed. The new data is retrieved by re-querying the Intelligent Cube or database at a different attribute or fact level.

A link from one document to another document, report, or HTML document. Prompt answers for the target can be included in the drill.

Dynamic aggregation Rollup of metric values that occurs when an attribute is moved from the report grid to the Report Objects. Whenever the attributes in the Report Objects are not the same as the attributes on the grid, dynamic aggregation has occurred. Dynamic aggregation happens on-the-fly, in memory.

Dynamic relationship When the relationship between elements of parent and child attributes changes. These changes often occur because of organizational restructuring; geographical realignment; or the addition, reclassification, or discontinuation of items or services. For example, a store may decide to reclassify the department to which items belong.

E

Editor A dialog used to create and edit MicroStrategy Objects. There is a Filter Editor, Template Editor, Attribute Editor, and a Metric Editor, Report Editor, and so on.

Element browsing The process of navigating through hierarchies of attribute elements. For example, viewing the list of months in a year.

Element cache Most-recently used lookup table elements that are stored in memory on the Intelligence Server or Desktop machines so they can be retrieved more quickly.

Enterprise reporting Allows users to subscribe to reports, apply personalization criteria, and view the information through a central web-based interface as formatted HTML reports.



Entity relationshipdiagram (ERD)

A diagram that provides a graphical representation of the physical structure of the data in the source system, which lets you easily recognize tables and columns and the data stored in those columns.

Entry level The lowest level set of attributes at which a fact is available for analysis.

Expression Formulas built from functions, attributes, facts, metrics, and consolidations that can be used to define attribute forms, fact calculations, metrics, or filters.

Extraction,transformation, and

loading (ETL)

The process used to populate a data warehouse from disparate existing database systems.

Third-party software used to facilitate such a process.

F

Fact A measurement value, often numeric and typically aggregatable, stored in a data warehouse.

A schema object representing a column in a data warehouse table and containing basic or aggregated numbers-usually prices, or sales in dollars, or inventory quantities in counts.

Fact column A column in a database table that contains fact data.

Fact extension A virtual table created at run time to extend the level of a fact from its original level to that required by the report. Defines how a fact that does not relate to all levels, relates to any unrelated levels.

Fact table A database table containing numeric data that may be aggregated along one or more dimensions. Fact tables may contain atomic or summarized data.



Failover support Ensures that a business intelligence system remains available for use in the event of an application or hardware failure. Clustering provides failover support in two ways: load distribution and request recovery.

Filter A MicroStrategy object that specifies a set of criteria used to limit the data returned in a report. Specifically, it limits the returned values of an attribute in the result set to a specified range. It is normally implemented in the SQL WHERE clause. Examples include: "2009", "All weekdays in May", "Stores in the Northeast".

Filter expression A expression combining OLAP objects with logical, and optionally, mathematical operators.

Folder A MicroStrategy object used for grouping and storing in a single place a set of objects that are similar, such as filters, templates, and reports.

Folder list A portion of the interface that lists all the folders found in the project in a hierarchical fashion. It helps a user to visualize and browse through a MicroStrategy project.

Form One of several columns that are different representations of the same thing, as ID, Name, Long Description, Abbreviation.

Four-tier In the context of MicroStrategy system configurations, a four-tier system consists of a Web browser client, the MicroStrategy Web Server, the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, and the database.

Function In a MicroStrategy project, the object created by the Import Functions utility, which allows a MicroStrategy report access to a function plug-in.

Function plug-in Allows user-defined functions to be used by the MicroStrategy Analytical Engine.



G

Garbage Collection A form of memory management that attempts to reclaim garbage, or memory occupied by objects that are no longer in use.

Governor One of several parameters set by the administrator that collectively and under certain conditions prevent a job from executing or a user from making a connection.

Graph view Report viewing mode that displays results as a graphical chart.

Grid/Graph A control placed in a document that displays information in the same way a MicroStrategy report does.

Grid unit The individual attributes, metrics, consolidations, and custom groups that can be placed on a report grid.

Grid view Report viewing mode that displays result data in tabular form.

Group (short name for "user group") A collection of users, such as Everyone, System Administrators, LDAP users and so on. Groups provide a convenient way for managing a large number of users. You can assign privileges to groups as well as permissions to objects.

Grouping A way to create a hierarchical structure for a document.

GUID A 32-character string used to uniquely identify MicroStrategy objects.



H

Heterogeneous columnnaming

Columns in different tables in a database that store the same data but have different names. For example, one column named Customer in one table and one named Customer Name in a different table, both containing customer names.

Hierarchy A set of attributes defining a meaningful path for element browsing or drilling. The order of the attributes is typically-though not always-defined such that a higher attribute has a one-to-many relationship with its child attributes.

History cache A report result saved for future reference via the History List by a specific user.

History List The portion of the interface that allows users to retrieve the results of previously executed or scheduled reports and HTML documents.

Homogeneous columnnaming

Columns in different tables of a database that contain the same data and have the same column name.

I

ID column A column that contains attribute element identification codes. All attributes must have an ID column.

Implicit attribute An attribute that does not physically exist in the database because it is created at the application level. Such an attribute has its expression defined as a constant value, though nothing is saved in a column. For example, you may wish to create columns in the database with a value of 1 for every row to get around COUNT limitations. You don not have to actually create the column, though, because in the Attribute Editor, you can just enter a "1" in the expression to create a count. Implicit attributes are useful in analyzing and



retrieving information. When analyzing data, you can use constant attributes to create a COUNT to keep track of the number of rows returned. You can use constant attributes when building metrics, where you can sum the column holding the constant to create a COUNT. Any constant is acceptable.

inbox synchronization The process of synchronizing inboxes across all nodes in the cluster, so that all nodes contain the same History List messages.

Incremental fetch A feature that returns a large result set to the client in numerous small pieces. This ensures that network traffic and client processing is kept to a minimum.

Intelligent Cube A copy of the report data saved in memory and used for manipulation of the view definition. This division allows multiple reports with different views to share a common data definition.

.isc file A binary file format defined by arcplan inSight for storing connection information for data sources. The file identifies the project source, project, virtual cube, and other information required for connection. arcplan inSight connect (.isc) files are created by arcplan inSight and not by MDX Adapter Connection String Generator.

J

Job An instance of a report or an HTML document execution in the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.

Job priority Defines the order in which jobs are processed.

Join A SQL operation that combines data from multiple tables into a single result table.



Joint children Joint child relationships are another type of many-to-many relationship where one attribute has a many-to-many relationship to two otherwise unrelated attributes. These relationships can be modeled and conceptualized like traditional attributes, but like facts, they exist at the intersection of multiple attribute levels. For example, consider the relationship between three attributes: promotion, item, and quarter. In this case, promotion has a many-to-many relationship to both item and quarter. An example of a promotion might be a "Red Sale" where all red items are on sale. A business might run this promotion around Valentine's Day (Q1) and again at Christmas time (Q4).

K

Key PerformanceIndicator (KPI)

An indicator gauging how well a company progresses in numerous areas such as finance, customer service, and product availability and distribution.

L

Layout area The middle panel of the Document Editor in which you place data or other controls to determine the appearance of the document when it is viewed as a PDF.

Level In a data warehouse, facts are said to be stored at a particular level defined by the attribute IDs present in the fact table. For example, if a fact table has a Date column, an Item_ID column, and a fact column, that fact is stored at the Date/Item level.

With regard to metric calculation, the level is the level of calculation for the metric. For example, a metric on a report with Year and Store attributes would be calculated at the Year/Store level. See also level of aggregation.



Level of aggregation The point in an attribute hierarchy where aggregation is performed. For example, in the geographical State-City-Store hierarchy there are three possible levels of aggregation.

Load balancing A strategy aimed at achieving even distribution of MicroStrategy Web user sessions across MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers. MicroStrategy achieves four-tier load balancing by incorporating load balancers into MicroStrategy Web.

Lock schema An application designer can lock the schema while making changes to the schema to ensure that no other users are making changes at the same time.

Locked hierarchy A hierarchy that has at least one attribute that may not be browsed by end users. Application Designers typically lock hierarchies if there are so many attribute elements that element browsing is not usable.

Log A file that traces and records events that occur in the MicroStrategy environment. Primarily used for troubleshooting.

Logical data model An graphical representation of data that is arranged logically for the general user, as opposed to the physical data model or warehouse schema, which arranges data for efficient database use.

Login A procedure that establishes a session with an online application.

Login ID A text string usually entered along with a password during login; sometimes called a user name.



Lookup table A database table used to uniquely identify attribute elements. They typically consist of descriptions of dimensions. Lookup tables are usually joined to fact tables to group the numeric facts in the fact table by dimensional attributes in the lookup tables.

M

Many-to-manyrelationship

An attribute relationship in which multiple elements of a parent attribute can relate to multiple elements of a child attribute, and vice versa. See also relationship, one-to-many, many-to-one.

Many-to-onerelationship

An attribute relationship in which

(1) multiple elements of a parent attribute relate to only one element of a child attribute, and

(2) every element of the child attribute can relate to multiple elements of the parent.

Market basket analysis The study of which products often sell together in a transaction.

Matching cache Report results retained for the purpose of being reused by the same report requests later on.

Matching-history cache A Matching cache with at least one History List message referencing it.

MDX cache MDX Adapter can save query results in memory so if the same report is run again MDX Adapter will get the results from memory instead of running the query against the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server again.



Member cache MicroStrategy reports containing all members for a level of an ODBO hierarchy. When MDX Adapter metadata is loaded, members are retrieved from the saved reports rather than from the database.

Metadata A repository whose data associates the tables and columns of a data warehouse with user-defined attributes and facts to enable the mapping of the business view, terms, and needs to the underlying database structure. Metadata can reside on the same server as the data warehouse or on a different database server. It can even be held in a different RDBMS.

Metadata partitionmapping

A type of application-level partitioning where the mapping of partitions is carried out and maintained in the project metadata.

Metric A business calculation defined by an expression built with functions, facts, attributes, or other metrics. For example: sum(dollar_sales) or [Sales] - [Cost]

MicroStrategyAnalytics Modules

A group of MicroStrategy projects with prepackaged metadata, reports, scorecards, and dashboards; default physical and logical data models to allow the modules work with an external physical schema and data model or with the module's packaged data warehouse schema; and reference guides for each Analysis Module's data model, the individual analysis areas, metadata object definitions, data dictionary, and individual report use scenarios.

MicroStrategyBusiness Intelligence

Developer Kit

A rapid application development framework consisting of analytical starter kits (the Analytics Modules), development products, and design and development methodologies. The BIDK includes Analytics Modules that are built to be portable.

MicroStrategyEnterprise Manager

Part of MicroStrategy Administrator used to monitor activity across all servers and projects.



MicroStrategyIntelligence Server

Core of the MicroStrategy architecture, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server manages and organizes users, projects, and database connections; coordinates, prioritizes, and executes all user requests; and allocates the resources necessary to complete them. It tracks schedules, manages security, and provides the ability to monitor and analyze the daily activity of the entire decision support environment.

MicroStrategy MDXAdapter

Software package that allows users of other business intelligence interfaces to access the analytical power and scalability of the MicroStrategy 7i Platform. With MicroStrategy MDX Adapter, users of Microsoft Excel, Alphablox, arcplan inSight, Brio, Business Objects, Cognos PowerPlay, Crystal Reports, and other OLE DB for OLAP consumers can connect through MicroStrategy Intelligence Server and access any major relational database. MicroStrategy MDX Adapter offers built-in support for the OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO) application programming interface (API). This support enables ODBO consumers and ActiveX Data Object Multidimensional (ADO MD) custom applications to access data through MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.

MicroStrategy object The objects available in MicroStrategy applications, such as reports, HTML documents, filters, metrics, attributes, and so on.

MicroStrategy Tutorial A sample MicroStrategy project that models a fictitious company. It is used throughout the MicroStrategy user documentation to illustrate concepts, features, and procedures associated with the use of the MicroStrategy platform and to serve as a business example.

Moderately normalizedschema

Schema type having the same basic structure as the highly normalized schema, but here the higher-level attribute ID columns are present within all related tables.

MOLAP Multidimensional online analytical processing.



My Personal Folder A file folder available only to an authorized individual as a private folder for saving objects.

N

Node Each machine in a cluster.

Nonaggregatablemetric

A metric that is not additive along all dimensions. For example, "Stock On Hand at End of Week" is not additive across time: the stock on hand at the end of the week is not the sum of the stock on hand at end of each day in the week.

O

Object Conceptually, an object is the highest grouping level of information about one concept, used by the user to achieve the goal of specified data analysis. More concretely, an object is any item that can be selected and manipulated, including folders, reports, facts, metrics, and so on.

Object Browser Enables navigation through a MicroStrategy project for the purpose of selecting objects. For example, in the report editor the Object Browser is used to select objects, like Attributes or Metrics, that will be included in the report's definition.

Object cache A recently used object definition stored in memory on Desktop and MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.

Object Server Component of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that deals with creating, accessing, and deleting MicroStrategy objects.

Object template Prebuilt guidelines for creating application objects such as reports, filters, and templates.



ODBC driver A software routine that translates MicroStrategy Intelligence Server requests into commands that the DBMS understands.

One-to-manyrelationship

An attribute relationship in which every element of a parent attribute can relate to multiple elements of a child attribute, while every element of the child attribute relates to only one element of the parent. The one-to-many attribute relationship is the most common in data models.

One-to-one relationship An attribute relationship in which every element of the parent attribute relates to exactly one element of the child attribute, and vice versa.

Online AnalyticalProcessing (OLAP)

In general, a system with analytical processing that involves activities such as manipulating transaction records to calculate sales trends, growth patterns, percent to total contributions, trend reporting, and profit analysis.

Specifically for MDX Adapter, a technology that uses multidimensional structures such as virtual cubes for fast access to data for the purpose of data analysis. Typically, data warehouses such as the sample MicroStrategy Tutorial project store the source data for OLAP.

Online transactionprocessing (OLTP)

Typically, databases or mainframes that store transactional data. Transactional processing involves the simple recording of transactions such as sales, inventory, withdrawals, or deposits.

Open DatabaseConnectivity

An open standard with which client computers can communicate with relational database servers. Client machines make a connection to a particular logical database, on a particular physical database server, using a particular ODBC driver.

Outline mode Report viewing mode that creates indented, collapsible groupings of related elements to make reports neater and easier to read.



P

Page-by Segmenting the data in a grid report by placing available attributes, consolidations, and metrics on a third axis called the Page axis. Since a grid is two-dimensional, only a slice of the cube can be seen at any one time. The slice is characterized by the choice of elements on the Page axis. By varying the selection of elements, the user can page through the cube.

Panel stack A container for a group of panels. It stores the properties that control a group of panels.

Parameter With respect to function plug-ins, allows access to data.

Parent attribute The higher-level attribute in an attribute relationship with one or more children.

Parent dependency Occurs when an object is used as part of the definition of other objects.

Partial relationship An attribute relationship in which elements of one attribute relate to elements of a second attribute, while the opposite is not necessarily true.

Partition base table A warehouse table that contains one part of a larger set of data. Partition tables are usually divided along logical lines, such as time or geography. Also referred to as a PBT. See also partition mapping.

Partition mapping The division of large logical tables into smaller physical tables based on a definable data level, such as month or department. Partitions minimize the number of tables and records within a table that must be read to satisfy queries issued against the warehouse. By distributing usage across multiple tables, partitions improve the speed and efficiency of database queries.



Partition mapping table A warehouse table that contains information used to identify the partitioned base tables as part of a logical whole. Also referred to as a PMT. See also partition base table and partition mapping.

Password Preserves user account integrity in an application. Many applications can associate both a password and a password hint with each user.

Permissions Define for objects the degree of control users have over them.

Personalized pageexecution

Executes one multi-page report for all users in a segment and then uses this single report to provide personalized content (pages) for different users. All users have their reports executed under the context of the same Intelligence Server user, so individual security profiles are not maintained. However, load on the Intelligence Server may be significantly lower than for PRE in some cases.

Personalized reportexecution

Executes a separate report for each set of users with unique personalization. Users may have reports executed under the context of the corresponding Intelligence Server user if desired. Using this option, security profiles defined in Desktop are maintained. However if there are many users who all have unique personalization, this option can place a large load on Intelligence Server.

Physical warehouseschema

A detailed graphic representation of your business data as it is stored in the data warehouse. It organizes the logical data model in a method that makes sense from a database perspective.

Pivot To reconfigure data on a grid report by placing report objects (attributes, metrics, consolidations) on different axes. Also, to reconfigure a grid report by interchanging row and column headers, and hence the associated data. Subset of cross-tab.



Plugin An application that can easily be installed and executed by the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server in one of several identical interfaces. For example, advanced statistical and financial functions can be added as additional processing components.

Port number The port number is how a server process identifies itself on the machine on which it is running. For example, when the Intelligence Server machine receives a network call from a client (Desktop, Web, Narrowcast Server, Command Manager, and so on), it knows to forward those calls to the Intelligence Server port number that is specified in the call.

Portability The ability of an analytical application to be integrated into an existing or external data warehouse. To port a given Analysis Module, you "rewire" the module to the physical schema of an existing data warehouse.

Pre-aggregation Aggregation, or the calculation of numeric data at a specific attribute level, that is completed before reports are run, with the results stored in an aggregate table.

Prefix A prefix is stored in the project metadata associated with a table or tables and is used by the Engine to generate SQL. Also, the Catalog Server uses it to obtain table sample values and row counts. In most cases, it should match the name space field since it is used to qualify on a specific table belonging to a certain owner or name space. Prefixes can be defined and modified from the Warehouse Catalog interface.

Primary dataset The dataset used to define the grouping and sorting of a document. Although a document can contain multiple datasets, only objects from the primary dataset can be used to group and sort the document.

Primary key In a relational database, the set of columns required to uniquely identify a record in a table.



Privilege Defines what types of operations certain users and user groups can perform in the MicroStrategy system. For example, which objects a given user can create and which applications and editors he can use.

Process An executing application comprising one or more threads. Processes use temporary private address spaces and control operating system resources such as files, dynamic memory allocations, pipes, and synchronization objects.

Processing unit MicroStrategy Intelligence Server component that coordinates the execution of tasks. A processing unit allocates the thread resources that the server uses to execute tasks.

Project The MicroStrategy object in which you define all of the schema and application objects, which together provide for a flexible reporting environment. A project is the highest-level intersection of a data warehouse, metadata repository, and user community, containing reports, filters, metrics, and functions.

An object containing the definition of a project, as defined in (1). The project object is specified when requesting the establishment of a session.

Project designer The user category of one who creates projects and all of the schema objects (facts, attributes, hierarchies) for a project. A project designer is thoroughly familiar with the data model and schema object editors and wizards.

Project Merge Wizard A wizard that assists in merging two MicroStrategy projects.

Project source Defines a connection to the metadata database and is used by various MicroStrategy products to access projects. A direct project source is a two-tier connection directly to a metadata repository. A server project source is a three-tier connection to a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. One project source can contain many projects and the administration tools found at the project source level are used to monitor and administer all projects in the project source.



Prompt (n.) MicroStrategy object in the report definition that is incomplete by design. The user is asked during the resolution phase of report execution to provide an answer that completes the information. A typical example with a filter is choosing a specific attribute on which to qualify.

In general, a window requesting user input, as in "type login ID and password at the prompt."

Prompt styles The subscriber has the choice of six prompt style selections: (i) List box, a single filter; (ii) List box, multiple filters; (iii) Radio button, single selection; (iv) Check box, multiple selection; (v) Shopping cart with operator; and (vi) Shopping cart.

Prompt types The subscriber has the choice of three prompt type selections: (i) Filter selection is from either a single filter or a combination of filters that combine with a variety of prompt styles; (ii) Attribute element selection has a single find page style that searches for an element in a dimension; and (iii) Metric Qualification has a single prompt style that qualifies metrics from a folder selection.

Property List The list of settings used to specify the appearance or any other characteristic of a control on a document.

Public Folder Available to all users with access to the application.

Q

Query A request for data from a database or data warehouse. A report is a database query.

Query Engine The MicroStrategy Server component responsible for submitting SQL code to the database.



R

Ranking A type of OLAP function that returns the rank of a value in a group of values. Rows with equal values with respect to the ordering are assigned the same rank.

Ratio The relationship in quantity, amount, or size between the cardinalities of related attributes.

Reference document In BIDK, a document that is related to the one in question, but which was created earlier. For example, a sales order usually originates from a quotation; the quotation is the reference document for the sales order. A quotation often originates from an inquiry; the inquiry is the reference document for the quotation.

Refresh To update the client-side object instance such as the report being viewed from the repository or cache or database (because it is either dirty or out-of-date).

Relate table A table containing the ID columns of two or more attributes, thus defining associations between them.

Relational databasemanagement system

A collection of programs that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database.

Relationship An association specifying the nature of the connection between one attribute (the parent) and one or more other attributes (the children). For example, City is a child attribute of State.

Report The central focus of any decision support investigation, a report allows users to query for data, analyze that data and then present it in a visually pleasing manner.

Report cache A result set from an executed report that is stored on MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.



Report Editor Application that allows users to create a report and set its properties—identical to Report Wizard, except that it may be only one dialog instead of a series of prompts and modal dialog boxes.

Report Filter Restricts the report data that is currently being viewed. It may include conditions based on any of the report objects.

Report instance A container for all objects and information needed and produced during report execution including templates, filters, prompt answers, generated SQL, report results, and so on. It is the only object that is referenced when executing a report, being passed from one special server to another as execution progresses.

Report Objects A portion of the interface that displays all of the objects that are associated with a report. It is a palette that users can work from to select the report objects, and consequently the report data, that they would like to view. When working within the set of report objects users can expect fast response times and a high level of interactivity.

Report wizard An object template for reports that allows users to create reports by selecting a template and a filter.

Role Exists when one entity within a model serves multiple purposes. In a schema model, attribute State can have the roles of Supplier State and Customer State.

In a security model, a role is the set of permissions or privileges that any given user can have over an object or an application.

Row The horizontal axis of a report



S

Save To store an item in the metadata.

Scalar A single value, derived from one or more values.

Scheduling A feature of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that is used to automate specific tasks.

Schema The set of tables in a data warehouse associated with a logical data model. The attribute and fact columns in those tables are considered part of the schema itself.

The layout or structure of a database system. In relational databases, the schema defines the tables, the fields in each table, and the relationships between fields and tables.

Schema object MicroStrategy object created, usually by a project designer, that relates the information in the logical data model and physical warehouse schema to the MicroStrategy environment. These objects are developed in MicroStrategy Architect, which can be accessed from Desktop. Schema objects directly reflect the warehouse structure and include attributes, facts, functions, hierarchies, operators, partition mappings, tables, and transformations.

Scorecard A type of tally sheet displaying a company's performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) that gauge how well a company progresses in areas such as finance, customer service, product availability and distribution

Security Data and system protection from corruption and loss. Especially on systems accessed by many users, the prevention or restriction of access to selected elements by unauthorized individuals.

Security filter A qualification associated with a user or user group that is applied to all queries executed by that user or group.



Security role A MicroStrategy object that is used to store a particular grouping of privileges that you can apply to users or groups from project to project.

Security view A feature of most relational databases that restricts a user's access to the data so he can view only a subset of it.

Selector objects that provide dashboards with interactivity, enabling users to select the data they prefer to see.

Server In a client/server computing environment, the server receives and processes all requests that come from the client.

Server definition An instance of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server and all of its configuration settings.

A MicroStrategy object stored in the metadata containing information about the configuration of an Intelligence Server.

Server instance The combination of an Intelligence Server running with a particular server definition.

Server object A configuration-level object in the metadata called server definition. It contains governing settings that apply at the server level, a list of projects registered on the server, connection information to the metadata repository, and so on.

Service A mode of operation for applications running on Windows. Services can be configured to start automatically when the machine where they are located starts. A user is not required to be logged on for a service to run. To set up an application as a service, you must be the Windows administrator.



Session In general, the time during which a program is running. In most interactive programs, a session is the time during which the program accepts inputs and processes information.

In the context of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, a session is a connection from a client to the Intelligence Server. Properties of a session include project source, project, user name, password, and authentication mode.

An interactive client/server computing facility in which a program in a server accepts inputs from a client and processes information in behalf of an end user. Before the session begins, a connection must be established between client and server. A session is active when the programs are running.

Session pool A collection of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server sessions that the server shares with MDX Adapter. An MDX Adapter session is identical to one in the pool if the MicroStrategy project source name, project name, user name, password, and MDX Adapter virtual cube name are all the same.

Shortcut Bar Used in conjunction with the Object Browser as a means for fast navigation. Users can drag any folder to the shortcut bar to create a fast link (shortcut) to that folder. When the user then clicks on the folder icon the Object Browser will automatically return to that folder without additional navigation.

Shortcut metric A metric based on metrics already included in a report. They provide a quick way to add new metrics to that report. Shortcut metrics belong to one of these types: percent-to-total metrics, transformation metrics, rank metrics, and running sum metrics.

Simple key In a relational database, a primary key that requires only one column to uniquely identify a record within a table.



Simple metric A type of metric that can stand alone or be used as a building block for compound metrics. Simple metrics always contain at least one aggregate function, such as sum or average, applied to a fact, attribute, or another metric. The entire metric can only contain one level.

Smart metric A property of a compound metric that allows you to change the default evaluation order. Smart metrics calculate subtotals on the individual elements of the compound metric. For example, a smart metric uses the formula Sum(Metric1)/Sum(Metric2) rather than Sum(Metric1/Metric2) when calculating subtotals on a report.

Software DevelopmentKit

A distribution package of application program development software and the instructions for its use.

Sort Arranging data according to some characteristic of the data itself (alphabetical descending, numeric ascending, and so forth).

Source system Any system or file that captures or holds data of interest.

SQL Engine The MicroStrategy Intelligence Server component that in report execution converts report requests into SQL to be used for a database query.

SQL view Report viewing mode that displays the SQL query used to produce results.

Statistics tables Tables that are used to record a variety of statistical information about the usage and performance of a MicroStrategy system.

Structured QueryLanguage

The standardized query language standardized in 1986 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and used to request information from tables in a relational database and to manipulate the tables' structure and data.



Subscribe In Web, the ability to request a report or an HTML document execution to occur on a selected predefined schedule. Reports and HTML documents scheduled through subscription are available in the History List when execution is complete.

Subtotal A totaling operation performed for a portion of a result set.

System hierarchy The superset hierarchy containing all attributes in a project. Unlike a browse hierarchy, it is not explicitly created but is automatically deduced by the MicroStrategy platform from all information available to it.

System tables The table or set of tables which contains the names of, and information about, all non-temporary tables in a data warehouse.

T

Table The primary physical component of a data warehouse, logically consisting of columns of data of varying types.

Table name space A field that is read from the warehouse catalog and used to organize databases. This field cannot be modified from the product since it is actually stored in the warehouse. Each table object in the metadata stores the name space or owner from which it came. This is needed to uniquely identify each table saved in the project when comparing table information in the metadata to the real one in the warehouse.

Table size The estimated size of a database table in terms of number of rows.

Task The smallest logical unit of work that MicroStrategy Intelligence Server performs when processing a job. Some tasks involved in processing a report include report resolution, SQL generation, SQL execution, data arrangement, and statistical analysis of the data.



Template The data definition portion of the template consists of the group of objects (attribute, metrics, custom groups, etc.) that defines the columns of data to be included in the result set. The layout and format of these objects are defined within the template's view definition.

Template unit Anything that can be put on a template. Also, an item that can display in a template, such as attribute, metric, dimension, custom group.

Temporary table A physical data table that is created in the warehouse, stores intermediate results sets, and allows query processing to occur within the warehouse. The table is removed after query processing completes.

Text field A type of control in a document that displays text in the document. These different types of text content are:

static text, which does not change and serves as a label

dynamic text, which is populated by the document or dataset. There are two types of dynamic text:

data field, which is populated from a dataset with data that originated in the data warehouse (or an Intelligence Server cache). A data field is only a reference to an object on a report.

auto text code, which is populated by the document or dataset, consisting of their properties rather than data from the data warehouse

Thread The execution of a sequence of CPU instructions that exist in a process. The basic unit of execution to which Windows allocates CPU time. Each thread in a process is associated with a set of CPU registers and a stack. A thread can be the execution of any part of the code, including a part currently associated with a different thread. All threads of a process share the virtual address space, global variables, and operating system resources of the process.



Three-tier A client/server architecture in which software systems are structured into three layers: the user interface layer, the business logic layer, and the database layer.

In the context of MicroStrategy system configurations, a three-tier system consists of a Desktop client, the Intelligence Server, and the database.

Threshold Used to create conditional formatting for metric values. For example, if dollar sales is greater than $200, format that cell to have a blue background with bold type.

Transformation A schema object that encapsulates a business rule used to compare results of different time periods. Transformations are used in the definition of a metric to alter the behavior of that metric.

Transformation metric An otherwise simple metric that takes the properties of the transformation applied to it. For example, a metric calculates total sales. Add a transformation for last year and the metric now calculates last year's total sales.

Two-tier A client/server architecture in which software systems are structured into two layers: the user interface/business logic layer and the database layer. Fourth-generation languages like 4GL have helped to popularize the two-tier client/server architecture.

in the context of MicroStrategy system configurations, a two-tier system consists of a Desktop client and the database. Compare three-tier, four-tier.



U

User In general, an individual who uses a computer system, application, or resources. This person is usually associated with a user account.

A person who can log in to a MicroStrategy system, create and own objects such as reports, execute reports, and take advantage of all the other features in the system.

User account In a multi-user computer system, an established means for an individual to gain access to the system and its resources. Usually created by the system administrator, a user account consists of information about the user, such as password, rights, and permissions.

User address space Sometimes referred to as virtual address space. Independent of virtual memory and of finite size. It is measured per process on the machine (such as the MSTRSVR.exe Intelligence Server application). By definition, in a 32 bit operating system, virtual bytes is limited to 4GB (232). By default, Windows operating system divides this into two parts UAS and System Address Space (SAS). The UAS is, in this case, for Intelligence Server to store data and code while the SAS is for the operating system's use.

User category A classification of users of software. Generally speaking, MicroStrategy has the following user categories: administrator, application administrator, analyst, developer, project designer, report designer, service designer, subscription administrator, system administrator, system developer.

User group "Group" for short. A collection of users.

User hierarchy Named sets of attributes and their relationships, arranged in specific sequences for a logical business organization. They are user-defined and do not need to follow the logical model.



User Merge Wizard provides an intuitive and efficient way to merge users, groups and other configuration objects into a MicroStrategy project source, reducing administrative efforts.

User name Login identifier, usually supplied with a password.

V

Vector An array of values.

View In a database, an entity that behaves exactly like a table but has no independent existence of its own.

In security terms, the complete set of permissions that a particular user or group of users has.

View definition Report execution steps which represent how the data is viewed and manipulated in the Intelligence Server. The view definition determines how the final report data set generated in the data definition steps is manipulated.

View filter The set of criteria that restricts the report data that is currently being viewed. It may include conditions based on any of the report objects.

Virtual bytes The limit associated with Intelligence Server's virtual address space allocation is the committed address space (memory actually being used by a process) plus the reserved address space (memory reserved for potential use by a process).

Virtual dataset A dataset held in memory that is the result of a compound join between multiple datasets in a document.

Virtual memory The amount of physical memory (RAM) plus Disk Page file (also called the swap file).



VLDB Very large database.

VLDB settings Settings that affect the way MicroStrategy Intelligence Server interacts with the data warehouse to take advantage of the unique optimizations that different databases offer.

W - Z

Warehouse catalog The list of tables and columns that exist in the relational database.

Warehouse partitionmapping

A type of application-level partitioning where the mapping of partitions is carried out and maintained in the warehouse. MicroStrategy uses a partition mapping table (PMT), which lists the partition base tables (PBT) and relationships of the smaller tables to the original table.

Working set A collection of messages that reference in-memory report instances. A message is added to the working set when a user executes a report or retrieves a message from his or her Inbox.

XML cache A report cache in XML format that is created and available for use on the Web.

XSL Short for Extensible Style Language. While you use XML to define the structure of information, you use XSL to define the format of the information. XSL works much like a template, allowing you to apply single style HTML documents to multiple pages.



MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards Index


INDEX

A

administration

Database Instance Manager 40

Schedule Manager 40

User Manager 40

advanced sort 111

attribute 60

C

cache 276

change journaling 69

consolidation 60

cross-tab 59

Cube Analysis, Derived Elements, Report Objects, View Filter, Derived Metric 275

custom group 61

D

Data Import 26

data pivoting 101

methods for data pivoting 102

Database Instance Manager 40

decision support architecture

diagram 23, 28

ETL process 26, 28

metadata database 27, 28

MicroStrategy applications 27, 28

source systems 24, 28

default prompt answers 302

derived metric

built-in 284

derived metrics 282

Desktop

Analyst 31

Designer 32

toolbar 45

Desktop, business intelligence 31

document subscription

subscribing

history list 124

mobile device 127

update cache 126

drilling 90

keep parent 94

Keep parent option 94

Index MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards


methods 91

toolbar button 92

dynamic aggregation 246

E

editors

Filter Editor 209

Metric Editor 245

Report Editor 57

Search Editor 331

ETL process 26, 28

exporting 121, 132

F

Fact Editor 236

filter 55

Filter Editor

layout 209

filters

attribute qualification filters 212

creating 210

embedded filters 218

filter definition prompts 304, 335

Filter Editor 209

filter qualifiers 218

set operators 219, 224, 279

folder list 42

folders

Data Explorer 41

History 41

My Personal Objects 41

Public Objects 41

Schema Objects 41

Function Wizard 247

G

grand totals 105

graphs

categories and series 175

displaying data values 171

formatting numbers 171

H

history list subscription 124

L

lesson objectives

Filters 204

Introduction to MicroStrategy Decision Support 22

Introduction to MicroStrategy Desktop 30

Metrics 234

Prompts and Searches 298

Report Manipulations 88, 152, 274

Reports 54

M

menus

Administration 44

Edit 44

File 44

Go 44

Help 45

Schema 44

Tools 44

View 44

Window 45

metadata database 27, 28

metric 61

removing columns 69



Metric Editor 245

layout 245

metrics 237

components 248

compound 243

compound metrics 243, 258

creating 249

creation 245

formatting 251, 252

formula 249

Metric Editor 245

nested 242

saving 250

simple 241

simple metrics 241, 282

subtotals and 252, 258

subtotals, subtotals 252

types 241

MicroStrategy

Architect 35

MicroStrategy Administrator 31

MicroStrategy Agent 31

MicroStrategy Architect 31, 35

MicroStrategy Desktop

components 31

mobile device subscription 127

N

notes 129, 133

O

Object prompts 314

object viewer 42

objects

creation 45, 47

list of 48

save 48

saving 48, 66

schema, objects

application, objectsconfiguration 47

OLAP Services 275

outline mode

using outline mode 116

P

page-by 97

creating page-by fields 99

printing 119, 132

Project Source, project 37

project sources

logging in 39

projects

accessing 40

default structure 41

prompt

object 61

prompts 299

creating 300

filter definition 300, 304

filter definition prompts 304, 335

level 301

local, local prompts 323

object 301, 314

object prompt 301, 315, 335

required answers 302

save and reuse answers 303, 326

saving reports with 325, 335

search-based 334

types of 300

value prompt 301, 320, 335

web options 302



Q

quick sort 110

R

removing metric column 69

report design

change journaling 69

removing metric column 69

report details properties 69

filter details - contents 71

filter details - other 71

general 70

template details 72

report details properties 69

Report Editor 58, 282

layout 57

report filter 61

report manipulation

adding notes 129, 133

save and reuse prompt answers 326

Report Objects 276

report views

Design View 68, 73

Graph View 68, 73

Grid View 68, 73

SQL View 68, 73

reports 55

adding attributes 62

adding metrics 63

create 59, 62

create, reports

view, reportssave 57

creating 62

details properties 69

display views 68, 73

exporting 121, 132

printing 119, 132

prompts and 325, 335

Report Editor 57

run 68

running 68

save 66

saving 66

view 56

reports, template 55

re-prompting 324

S

save and reuse prompt answers 326

Schedule Manager 40

search

by object ID 333

Search Editor 331

searches 331

prompts and 334

saving 334

Search Editor 331

set operators 219, 224, 279

shortcut bar 43

shortcut metrics 284

smart metrics 255

sorting 110

advanced sort 110

quick sort 110

source systems 24, 28

subtotal 103

subtotals

displaying 103

grand totals 105

T

tabular 60

template 59

Template Editor 59



templates

adding attributes 62

adding metrics 63

cross-tab 59

defining 59

tabular 60

Template Editor 59

threshold 159, 179

toolbar buttons

Copy 45

Cut 45

Delete 45

Display Outline Results 116

Drill 92

Edit 46

Go one level up 46

Go to project 46

New 45

Paste 45

Preferences/View Object Properties 45

Print Preview 119

Refresh 46

Rename 45

Run Report 46, 68

Search 46

Show or Hide the Folder List 46

View 46

View Pages 99

U

update cache subscription 126

User Manager 40

V

value prompts, prompts

value 319

view filter 279

