MSTR – NOTES & FAQ’S-1

1) What about the parent and Child relationship what happens in SQL while if u
create a parent and child relation ship. Where it mainly useful.

2) If I have an attribute in Page By, There are two elements in that attribute YES
or NO. If I select YES the metric should give the SUM, IF I select NO it should
give COUNT.

3) How many schema objects you created in your current project?

4) How many facts you created in your current project?....

5) While generate queries on sql why always takes the fact table in first?

6) What are various authentication modes?

7) Should you have DATE as ID attribute form?

8) How can you monitor the error received while running I-Server and report?

9) What is 4-tier architecture?

10) What are Transformations? Is there any transformations implemented in your

project? Explain the example from your project?

11) Have you done any Estimation for MSTR reports? So how?

12) What is Bridge Table?

13) Explain the step-by-step technical approach after you get the
Requirements
From the Client?

1) Difference between dimensional modeling and relations modeling.

2) Types of schemas, and differences between them?

3) Types of filters and prompts?

4) performance tuning?

5) What are VLDB properties?

6) What are autostyles?

5) What are the different formatting you did for your reports?

6) What is a database instance?

7) What are the hierarchies and the uses?

8) what is a relationship filter?

9) Microstrategy architecture?

10) Types of joins?

11) How do you migrate the objects?

12) what is the latest version and what are the new additions?

13) Did u use command manager?

14) what is a security filter?

15) waht are passthrough functions?

16) when do u use freeform reports?

17) job roles and responsibities?

18) what is level dimensionality?

19) diff b/w custom group and consolidation?

20) types of dimensions and facts?

21) Diff b/w report filter and view filter?

22) how do you start/stop the intelligence server?

23) Explain ur proj arch. and justifr ur schema?

24) and some digging on the above question?

1) How does u create a nested Prompt?

2) What about the parent and Child relationship what happens in SQL while if
u create a parent and child relation ship. Where it mainly useful.
3) ***What is purpose creating an alias table and give any example.
4) ***How u tell the micrstrategy if the same column is exit in lookup table
and fact table. From which table this column should take from fact table.
5) ***What is the main purpose of VLDB settings?
6) ***Did u ever created the custom grouping and consolidation.
7) ***If I have an attribute in Page By, There are two elements in that
attribute YES or NO. If I select YES the metric should give the SUM, IF I
select NO it should give COUNT.

FAQ’s on MSTR

1. What is metadata?

2. What is two-tier connection?

3. What is three-tier connection?

4. What is difference between 2 and 3 tier connection?

5. What is ScanMD?

6. What is MD Doctor?

7. What is clustering?

8. How do you achieve schema object version control (similar to VSS)?

9. What are different kinds of objects in MicroStrategy?

10. How will you reset password of all users?

11. What are different modes you can run I-Server?

12. How can you make sure that I-Server would be running even if the
application mode has crashed and how to get back the instance?

13. What is the difference between RW document and HTML document?

14. What are various authentication modes?

15. How can you configure WH authentication?

16. Does DLS affects MicroStrategy? What you need to do incorporate it?

17. What's smart metric?

18. What's fact table?

19. What is fact constellation schema? What is star schema? What is snowflake
schema?

20. Should you have DATE as ID attribute form?

21. What is compound key?

22. What is a bridge/relationship table?

23. How will you resolve double counting in M-M relationship between two
attributes?

24. What is Object Manager?

25. What will you do when I-Server crashes?

26. Where is Administrator's password stored? Is it stored in encrypted?

27. What will you do if your Administrator has forgotten password or the account
is locked?

28. How can you monitor the error received while running I-Server and report?

29. What is a surrogate key?

30. Why do we use a staging area?

31. Why do we need a DW?

32. Why do we use dimensional modeling in DW? Why not Relational?

33. How much history should we have in a DW?

34. What are the most important tables in a DW?

35. What is a fact and an attribute?

36. What is a batch?

37. Diferences between ROLAP, MOLAP and HOLAP?

38. What is a CUBE?

39. Why Kimball? Why not Inmon? Or vice versa? ;)

40. Performance with a relational based query vs dimensional?

41. What is ETL?

42. What types of DW's are most common abroad?

43. How many MSTR projects have you worked? Explain in detail.

44. Tell us about your Roles & Responsibilities in your project.

45. Have you managed any team for MSTR project?

46. What are the two types of schemas available in DW?

47. Difference between Star schema and Snowflake schema.

48. What schema is used in your project? Why?

49. What are conformed dimensions?

50. What are Factless facts?

51. Explain 2-tier and 3-tier Architecture in MSTR including pros and cons.

52. What is 4-tier architecture?

53. What architecture is used in your project? Why?

54. What are the types of MSTR objects available?

55. Explain Schema objects. (One by one)

56. Have you created any Facts, Attributes for your project? How?
57. What are Transformations? Is there any transformations implemented in your
project? Explain the example from your project.

58. What are the features available for MSTR Intelligence Server?

59. Explain Fact Structure. (4 types, one by one)

60. Explain Level Extension. How it is used in your project?

61. Explain Fact Relation.

62. Explain Fact Degradation.

63. Difference between View Filter and Report Filter.

64. What are the different types of Filters available? Explain each with example.

65. What is derived metrics? Explain the example from your project.

66. What is Compound Key Attribute? Give example from your project.

67. Explain VLDB properties in detail.

68. Similar to Visual SourceSafe (VSS) for version controlling, HOW can we
achieve the same for Objects in MSTR?

69. Give the step-by-step approach followed for Testing MSTR reports, both from
MSTR Desktop and MSTR Web.

70. Have you done any Estimation for MSTR reports?

71. How will you differentiate Simple, Medium and Complex reports while doing
estimation for MSTR reports?

72. How to use Templates in MSTR?

73. What are Prompted Filters?

74. What is Bridge table?

75. Where will you customize the display for Null Values?

76. Explain the step-by-step technical approach after you get the Requirements
from the Client.

Will be updating as and when I think of more questions. This is my list of question
I generally ask if ask to interview a candidate. But keep in mind, this is just for
initial cut off. Second round will have unique practical questions. Depends upon
how much you have got to explore MicroStrategy.

5. What is ScanMD?

6. What is MD Doctor?
8. How do you achieve schema object version control (similar to VSS)?

10. How will you reset password of all users?

11. What are different modes you can run I-Server?

12. How can you make sure that I-Server would be running even if the
application mode has crashed and how to get back the instance?

13. What is the difference between RW document and HTML document?

14. What are various authentication modes?

15. How can you configure WH authentication?

16. Does DLS affects MicroStrategy? What you need to do incorporate it?

20. Should you have DATE as ID attribute form?

23. How will you resolve double counting in M-M relationship between two
attributes?

25. What will you do when I-Server crashes?

26. Where is Administrator's password stored? Is it stored in encrypted?

27. What will you do if your Administrator has forgotten password or the account
is locked?

28. How can you monitor the error received while running I-Server and report?

39. Why Kimball? Why not Inmon? Or vice versa? ;)

42. What types of DW's are most common abroad?

60 Explain Level Extension. How it is used in your project?

68. Similar to Visual SourceSafe (VSS) for version controlling, HOW can we
achieve the same for Objects in MSTR?

69. Give the step-by-step approach followed for Testing MSTR reports, both from
MSTR Desktop and MSTR Web.

70. Have you done any Estimation for MSTR reports?

71. How will you differentiate Simple, Medium and Complex reports while doing
estimation for MSTR reports?

72. How to use Templates in MSTR?

73. What are Prompted Filters?

75. Where will you customize the display for Null Values?
76. Explain the step-by-step technical approach after you get the Requirements
from the Client.

Will be updating as and when I think of more questions. This is my list of question
I generally ask if ask to interview a candidate. But keep in mind, this is just for
initial cut off. Second round will have unique practical questions. Depends upon
how much you have got to explore MicroStrategy.

I generally go for tricky metric situation. I grill on filtering option.

Then I ask how to compared two metric based on ApplySimple in Report limit.

I judge him on his performance tuning ability and try to get more insight about
that. He may have done a different tuning that I may not have even come across
or even read. So I need to try to evaluate the situation. His knowledge level at
that time also matters.

How can you make sure that I-Server would be running even if the application
mode has crashed and how to get back the instance?
Can Any one Please answer this question .

I faced the above problem in my MicroStrategy I-Server clustering we are having

two I-Servers in Cluster both are running fine but we are not able to login through
M-Web or M-Desktop anyway restart of I-Server resolved the issue.

5)What are adhoc reports and static reports?

Adhoc reports run in real time based on the input parameters provided by the
user at the run time.In Microstrategy, adhoc reports are created using Prompts.

In static reports, users won't be provide any input parameters.These reports are
usaully schedule to run overnight and ready to view immediatley in the mornings
using cache.

7)What are VLDB properties?

Using VLDB properties we can change the way how the SQL is generated.Some
of them are below:

Perform full outer joins

Check for Zeros and Nulls in the denominator while performing divisions in
Metrics.
Creating Sub queries
Creating temperory tables.

10)What are Passthrough Functions?

Pass through functions are used to utilize various special functions that specific
to databases.Some of the passthrough functions available are Applysimple and
Applycomparision.

11)What is a Security filter?

Security filter is used to apply security at the database data level.Whenever a

users associated with security filter runs a report, a WHERE clause is always
included in the report sql with the condition defined in the Security Filter.

*****In Microstrategy
, how can you direct the sql generated to use a specifc table.

I know of using ApplySimple, but there are other ways too...

If you need to use a specific table , we need to play with the logical size of that
table. Whenever MSTR frames a query it retrieves data from the table that has
the least logical size and hence when you set the logical size of your table to be
least compared to the other base table, MSTR will retrieve data from this
specified table.

*****In Microstrategy, what are Logical Views used for?

Logical Views allows application architects to create any desired view using
MicroStrategy, without DBA involvement. Once these Logical views are created,
they are available to the report designer in a way similar to any other table. This
allows developers to model attributes and facts whose expressions span multiple
tables.

1. What is MicroStrategy OLAP Services?

2. What are the Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services?
3. What specific features and functionality do I get with OLAP Services?
4. How are Intelligent Cubes different from ordinary cubes?
5. What end user products leverage OLAP Services?
6. What does an end user need to do to take advantage of this?
7. How is security handled?
8. Can I access Intelligent Cubes without OLAP Services?

Is OLAP Services sold as a separate product?

1. What is MicroStrategy OLAP Services?

MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an extension to MicroStrategy Intelligence
Server that allows MicroStrategy Web and Desktop users to manipulate
Intelligent Cubes™. With OLAP Services end users can add or remove report
objects, add derived metrics and modify the filter -- all with speed-of-thought
response time against Intelligent Cubes. OLAP Services enables full multi-
dimensional OLAP analysis within Intelligent Cubes, while retaining users' ability
to seamlessly drill through to the full breadth and depth of the data warehouse.

2. What are the Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services?

Intelligent Cubes are user or administrator created multi-dimensional cubes that
operate within MicroStrategy Intelligence Server™. On MicroStrategy's BI
platform, creating an Intelligent Cube is as easy as creating a report. Intelligent
Cubes enable MicroStrategy to combine the speed and interactivity of multi-
dimensional OLAP analysis and the analytical power and depth of relational
OLAP.
3. What specific features and functionality do I get with OLAP Services?
With OLAP Services MicroStrategy Web, Desktop and Office users can:

• Create unique report views based off an Intelligent Cube.

With OLAP Services, users can create unique report views by adding or
removing attributes and metrics contained within the Intelligent Cube. This
allows speed-of-thought report creation and modification with no need to
extract data from the data warehouse.
• Create new on-the-fly metric calculations from existing metrics in an
Intelligent Cube.
The new calculation is performed without submitting a new request to the
data warehouse.
• Filter their view of the data within an Intelligent Cube.
The filtering will be performed on MicroStrategy Intelligence Server within
the Intelligent Cube.

4. How are Intelligent Cubes different from ordinary cubes?

Intelligent Cubes are created automatically when a new report is run against the
data warehouse. Subsequent requests by other users can seamlessly hit this
new Intelligent Cube. The logic to match user requests with the appropriate
Intelligent Cube is automatically handled within the MicroStrategy platform. Users
don't have to specify the cube to which they want to connect.

Benefits of Intelligent Cubes include:

• Greater Efficiency - Intelligent Cubes are automatically generated and

shared among all users whenever a report is executed by a user or pre-
cached by the administrator or a user.
• Easy to Use - Intelligent Cubes can be designed by mainstream BI users,
using the same interface and the same operations as are used with basic
OLAP analysis.
• More Scalable Cubes - Intelligent Cubes do not need massive pre-
calculations or pre-aggregations. The mid-tier Intelligence Server can do
these calculations on-the-fly as the cubes are being used.
• Increased Manageability and Reliability - Intelligent Cubes can be
configured to expire or refresh automatically whenever underlying data or
definitions change.
• Increased Power for End-Users - Users can seamlessly drill through to the
full depth of the data warehouse, or slice and dice with speed-of-thought
response time within the Intelligent Cube.

5. What end user products leverage OLAP Services?

MicroStrategy Web (Analyst and Professional versions), MicroStrategy Desktop
(Analyst and Designer versions) and MicroStrategy Office all leverage the
functionality enabled by OLAP Services.

6. What does an end-user need to do to take advantage of this?

The usage of OLAP Services is transparent to end-users. Users do not need to
know the name and location of an Intelligent Cube, or even if it exists. OLAP
Services works with MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to automatically use the
appropriate Intelligent Cube or create a new one to satisfy the end user request.

7. How is security handled?

Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services automatically inherit all of the security
provisions of every report object used within the Intelligent Cube, and those
provisions are dynamically applied to each user's security profile when the cube
is accessed. If a user only has privileges to use four of the five metrics contained
in an Intelligent Cube, that restriction will automatically and seamlessly apply
when the user accesses the Intelligent Cube. The user will still have access to
the Intelligent Cube for the four metrics he or she has privileges to use.

8. Can I access Intelligent Cubes without OLAP Services?

Yes, with the appropriate version of MicroStrategy Web or Desktop, certain
functions leverage the Intelligent Cubes. These functions include: report
formatting down to cell level, column aliasing, drilling, pivoting, page-by, adding
metric thresholds, adding subtotals, ranking and sorting. Please see the Web and
Desktop version comparisons to determine exactly which Web or Desktop
version includes the desired functionality.

9. Is OLAP Services sold as a separate product?

Yes, OLAP Services is sold as a separate product that is installed with
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. It is licensed either on a per-user or per-CPU
basis.

1. What is Data Warehouse?

• A data warehouse is a database geared towards the business intelligence

requirements of an organisation. The data warehouse integrates data from the
various operational systems and is typically loaded from these systems at
regular intervals. Data warehouses contain historical information that enables
analysis of business performance over time.
• A warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant and non-
volatile collection of data in support of management's decision making process.
The data warehouse contains atomic data and lightly summarized data.
• A warehouse is a subject-oriented collection of data from various source
(OLTP) and location. This is used by high level management of an organisation
for their business intelligence requirement and decision making process.

2. What is Data Mining?

• The process of analyzing data to identify patterns or relationships.

• The comparison and study of large databases in order to discover new
data relationships. Mining a clinical database may produce new insights on
outcomes, alternate treatments or effects of treatment on different races and
genders.
• The ability to query very large databases in order to satisfy a hypothesis
("top down" data mining); or to interrogate a database in order to generate new
hypotheses based on rigorous statistical correlations ("bottom-up" data mining).
• Data mining is derogatory. It means sorting through a huge volume of
data, extracting decision rules that seem to favor one team over another, but
without regard to whether or not there is any cause-and-effect relationship. Data
mining is the sports-betting equivalent of sitting a huge number of monkeys
down at keyboards, and then reporting on the monkeys who happened to type
actual words.
• Data mining (or data discovery) is the process of autonomously extracting
useful information or knowledge (“actionable assets”) from large data stores or
sets. Data mining can be performed on a variety of data stores, including the
World Wide Web, relational databases, transactional databases, internal legacy
systems, pdf documents, and data warehouses. Most of XSB, Inc’s technologies
involve data mining or data discovery.

3. What is Snowflake & Star Schema?

• A schema is a collection of database objects, including tables, views,

indexes, and synonyms.
• The star schema is perhaps the simplest data warehouse schema. It is
called a star schema because the entity-relationship diagram of this schema
resembles a star, with points radiating from a central table. The center of the star
consists of a large fact table and the points of the star are the dimension tables.
• A star schema is characterized by one or more very large fact tables that
contain the primary information in the data warehouse, and a number of much
smaller dimension tables (or lookup tables), each of which contains information
about the entries for a particular attribute in the fact table.
• The snowflake schema is a more complex data warehouse model than a
star schema, and is a type of star schema. It is called a snowflake schema
because the diagram of the schema resembles a snowflake.
• Snowflake schemas normalize dimensions to eliminate redundancy. That
is, the dimension data has been grouped into multiple tables instead of one large
table. For example, a product dimension table in a star schema might be
normalized into a products table, a product category table, and a product
manufacturer table in a snowflake schema. While this saves space, it increases
the number of dimension tables and requires more foreign key joins. The result
is more complex queries and reduced query performance.

4. Your previous MSTR experience.

5. What is Object Manager? / How do you promote Object in MSTR?

It stores Object definitions and the information of data warehouse, including its
structure.
• Object Manager.

6. Fine Tuning in MSTR.

• Check attribute properties used in reports

• Verify SQL generated ( Right Click Report Object- View SQL)
• Check VLDB properties.(Open Report- Data-> VLDB Properties)

7. What are objects in MSTR? What is difference between them?

It stores Object definitions and the information of data warehouse, including its
structure. There are three types of Object in MSTR.

Schema objects are created usually by a project designer. Schema objects

relate the information in the logical data model and physical warehouse schema
to the MicroStrategy environment. Facts, attributes, and hierarchies are
examples of schema objects. These objects are developed in MicroStrategy
Architect, which can be accessed from MicroStrategy Desktop.
The report designer creates the application objects necessary to run reports.
Application objects, which are developed in MicroStrategy Desktop and Web, are
the building blocks for reports and documents. These application objects include
reports, report templates, filters, metrics, prompts, and so on.

Administrative and connectivity-related objects, also called configuration

objects, are managed in MicroStrategy Server Administrator by an administrator
role. Examples of configuration objects include users, groups, server definitions,
and so on.

8. What comes in Public Object?

Public Object Folder contains objects which can be viewed by all users
depending on their permissions and privileges. The Public Objects folder
contains numerous sub-folders which are organized by following Object Type.

o AutoStyles
o Consolidations
o Custom Groups
o Documents
o Drill Maps
o Filters
o Metrics
o Prompts
o Reports
o Searches
o Templates

9. What is there in Schema Object?

It contains objects which are derived directly from the warehouse and data
model such as facts, attributes, hierarchies etc. Also see 7.

10. What is difference between Filter & Prompt?

11. What is report Filter?

See 16.

12. Which filter (Object filter / Report filter) has higher precedence?

• Report Filter.

13. Have you worked on Security?

• I have theoretical knowledge. Security activity was handled by Project

Leader/Manager.

14. What is Consolidation?

Consolidations enable you to group together and to pick specific attribute

elements. Further, consolidations allow you to place this grouping of attribute
elements on a template just like an attribute. The elements of the consolidation
appear as rows on your report, and they can have arithmetic calculations.
For example, suppose you wanted to see each season as a separate row on a
report, but Season does not exist as an attribute in your project. A consolidation
allows you to group together the elements of the Month of Year attribute into
various seasons and place them on the template. This consolidation will contain
four consolidation elements, one for each season.

Summer consists of June + July + August, fall consists of September+ October +

November, and so on. The consolidation is placed in the rows of your report with
the desired metrics in the columns. Therefore, when a user runs the report, the
metric values for June, July, and August are added together to yield the value for
Summer. This occurs for each of the seasons.

Consolidation elements do not have to be based on a single attribute, as

described in this example. You can use attributes at different levels, such as
Region and Country, or unrelated attributes, such as Country and Year. For
more information, see Consolidation elements.

In general, consolidations provide two powerful functions that enhance your

reporting needs. These two functions are

o create a “virtual” attribute

o perform row level math

In the above example of the Seasons consolidation, the four different season
consolidation elements are made up by adding together the respective Months of
Year that belong to the different seasons. The fact that you can add together
attribute elements in groups means that you can aggregate data on a report at a
level other than one of the predefined attributes. The effect appears as if you had
a Seasons attribute in your data model.

Of course, you can get the same effect if you change your data model, and
actually add a Seasons attribute to your Time hierarchy. However, adding an
attribute is generally a very complex task because you have to ensure that the
proper lookup and relationship tables exist in the warehouse.

Consolidations allow you to avoid changing the data model, although in a limited
way. This Seasons consolidation is built by adding together respective Months of
Year in the different seasons. But you are not limited to just adding. In fact, you
can perform any simple arithmetic operation while building your consolidation.

15. What is Custom Group?

A Custom Group is a collection of elements called custom group element, placed

on a template. Each element contains its own set of filtering or banding
qualification. Each custom group element can be labeled with a meaningful
header and can include a logical expression containing any of the following:

o attribute qualification
o set qualification
o report object
o filter object
o custom group banding qualifications
A custom group element can also use combinations of any of the components
listed above, except custom group banding qualifications.

This set of qualifications resolves into a list of attribute elements after the report
is run. Custom groups, therefore, provide a method to group attribute elements
from the same or different attributes to meet your reporting requirements.

For example, using the Custom Group Editor, you can create the custom group
Store Inventory as follows:

Store Inventory
Small stores with low inventory
Store Sales < 50
AND
Store Inventory < 200
Large stores with low inventory
Store Sales > 50
AND
Store Inventory < 200

16. What is Filter? Type of Filters.

A filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in the
report results. It is an easy way to answer both simple and complicated business
questions. An example of a simple business question is the sales for all stores in
the Northeast. To build this report, place the attribute Store and the metric Dollar
Sales on your report and filter on Northeast. The filter allows you to view the
results for only those stores in the Northeast.

You are interested in reviewing the sales for only those stores that have at least
one category with a margin greater than 20% and total sales of more than
$100,000 for the year. This is a more complicated question, but it can also be
answered using a filter.

Types of filters
In the reporting environment, when you design a report, it queries the database
against all the data stored in the data warehouse. By applying a filter, you can
narrow the data to consider only the information that is relevant to answer your
business question. The previous chapter, Reports, discussed the following three
ways to restrict data to generate reports:

o A report filter that is a criterion used to select the data to calculate the
metrics in the report.
o A report limit that specifies a set of criteria used to restrict the data
returned in the report data set after the report metrics are calculated. Because it
is based on the report’s metric values, a limit is applied after all metrics are
calculated.
o A view filter that is an additional filter applied in memory to the report
data set. It affects only the view definition.

17. Types of Prompts?

A prompt is a MicroStrategy object that allows user interaction at report run time.
The prompt object is incomplete by design. The user is asked during the report
resolution phase of report execution to provide an answer to complete the
information. For example, the user can enter information such as the region
“North East” or year “2002,” and the data is returned from the data warehouse.
With prompts you can create reports that allow users to change the report
content at run time.

Prompts are useful for asking questions about the set of data you would like to
see in the report. Prompts allow the report to have dynamic report definitions,
which can change with each query by altering the information in the prompt
dialog box. Prompts can be a part of the report definition, filter, template, custom
group, or metric.

There are benefits to using prompts as a part of these objects. Prompts are
useful to keep the number of objects in a project small, as they allow you to
define how you would like to view things in the report environment instead of
providing a separate report for each option.

You will be able to find the report that you would like to see quicker because
there will be fewer options. However, prompting questions asked of the user
raise the complexity of just running a report, and you run the risk of confusion.
This confusion can be allayed by providing good descriptions for the prompts so
that the user is clear on what question they are answering.

By using a prompt in a filter or template, you can

o apply filtering conditions to the report, a custom group on the report, or a
metric on the report
o choose what objects, such as attributes and metrics, are included in the
report

Prompts allow you to determine how the report returns data from the data
warehouse. Prompts save you time. Instead of building several different reports,
a simple question can be asked just before the report is executed. There are
many types of prompts, and each type allows a different type of question to be
asked.

One type of question that can be asked is a question about what subset of data
should be included on the report. For example, to see a report about sales in a
particular geographical region, you can build three reports— Sales in West
Region, Sales in Central Region, and Sales in East Region. Instead, you can
create one report called “Sales, prompted on Region” that asks the user for the
region to include.

A different type of question to ask is what attribute should be shown on the

report. For example, Sales by Day, Week, Month, Quarter, or Year can be
consolidated via prompting. This report asks the user by which time unit the
report data should be displayed.

Prompts, regardless of what type they are, have the following common features:
o search ability
o properties

Prompt search ability

You can use search objects when creating a prompt.
For example, you could create an object that asks you to choose from a list of
metrics whose name has “Dollar Sales” in it. When the prompt is executed, a
search for all metrics with those words in the name is performed. The results of
that search are used to generate the list of possible metrics from which to
choose for the prompt.

Prompt properties
Although each of the prompt types available has distinct capabilities to provide a
specific set of conditions, there are certain properties that all prompts share:

o Title identifies and differentiates the prompt.

o Description indicates to the end user the nature or purpose of the
prompt.
o Default contains the default answer to the prompt, if one was specified.
o Maximum and minimum determine how many answers a user must/is
allowed to choose (optional).
o Web options define how the prompt appears in MicroStrategy Web.

Types of prompts
Using the following prompt types, you can create a prompt for nearly every part
of a report. It is important to remember that prompts can be used in many
objects including reports, filters, metrics, and custom groups. All of these
prompts will reveal themselves at report execution time, but the origin of the
prompt can be within any of the objects.

o Filter definition prompt encompasses four different prompt types, all of

which allow the user to define the filtering criteria: attributes in a hierarchy,
attribute forms, attribute element lists, and metrics.
o Object prompt allows you to select which MicroStrategy objects to
include in a report, such as attributes, metrics, custom groups and so on. Object
prompts can either determine the definition of the report template or the report
filter.
o Value prompt allows you to select a single value such as a date, a
specific number, or a specific text string. The values chosen by the user is
compared to metric or attributes element values, and thus determines the data
viewed by the user.
o Level prompt allows you to specify the level of calculation for a metric.

18. What are different types of Connection?

• 2 Tier: ODBC connection – non web

• 3 Tier: ODBC connection – with web

19. What is Drill Maps?

Drill maps allow you to create fully customized drill paths that are available to
your users while drilling on a report. By default, the paths available are based on
the system hierarchy of the project. You can create custom drill maps that can
override these defaults.

(Right Click- Attribute -> Tools -> Edit Drill Map)

What is drilling?
After executing a report in a MicroStrategy reporting environment, you may need
to execute another report based on the original report to get more detailed or
supplemental information. For example, after looking at annual sales of a certain
city, you may want to look at the monthly sales for the same city. Alternatively,
after noticing that a certain item had a very high profit margin, you may want to
see if that is also true for the entire category of that item. Such actions where
you create a related report based on an existing report are referred to as drilling.

Even though a report generated as a result of drilling is related to the original

report, they are, in essence, two entirely different reports. This means that the
two reports can be saved or changed independent of each other. The two
reports are different either because they have different templates or different
filters, or both.

20. What is Matrices? Types of Matrices?

• Metrics are report components that enable analytical calculations against

warehouse data. Metrics can be categorized as one of these types:
• Simple metrics can stand alone or be used as building blocks for
compound metrics. Simple metrics always have a formula and a level. The entire
metric can only contain one level.
• Compound metrics cannot have a level placed on the entire metric,
although it can be set separately on each of the components.

Does MicroStrategy Web Services require Microsoft .NET Framework?

Yes. Specifically this version of Web Services requires Microsoft .NET version
1.1. Currently this has been tested
with Microsoft Internet Information Services version 5.0 and 6.0. If not present,
this is automatically installed by the
MicroStrategy installation. If .NET Framework 1.0 is present, 1.1 is added in a
“side-by-side” configuration. A later
Microsoft service pack may be recommended but is not required.

Is MicroStrategy Web Services available for Java Application Servers?

No. A future version of MicroStrategy Web Services will be built for selected Java
Application Servers.
MicroStrategy Web Services Administration Guide

Page 52 of 52
Can I program to the Web Services API directly?

Yes. As long as you follow the XML Schema defined in the MicroStrategy Web
Services Definition Language
schema, you can communicate with MicroStrategy Web Services.

Can I use any language on any platform to program the Web Services API?

Yes. As long as your computer can communicate with HTTP to the MicroStrategy
Web Services server, you can
execute the API.
Is documentation available for the MicroStrategy Web Services API?

Yes. As described in this manual, you can view the detailed message format
specifications and examples of those
messages on-line. More detailed documentation for the API is available upon
request.

Does MicroStrategy Web Services require MicroStrategy Web to be

installed?

No. MicroStrategy Web Services uses underlying WebObjects Java libraries to

communicate with the MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server. These files are deployed during installation if you select Web
Services for installation. No other
MicroStrategy software needs to be deployed on that server.

Can it be run on the same server as MicroStrategy Web?

Yes. MicroStrategy Web Services and MicroStrategy Web are compatible and
can be run on the same server. In a
production environment, the products compete for resources on the same server.
It is recommended they run on
separate servers.

Does MicroStrategy Web Services support SSL?

Yes. MicroStrategy Web Services can communicate with a client, such as

MicroStrategy Office, using Secure
Sockets Layer for security.
Does MicroStrategy Web Services support WS-Security?

No. SSL provides complete message privacy but is not WS-Security. A future
release of MicroStrategy Web
Services will support WS-Security.

Does MicroStrategy Web Services support Web Farms and Web Gardens?

MicroStrategy Web Services is architected to run in Web Farms. State is

maintained in the MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server and not in the Web Server that makes it suitable for Web
Farms and Web Gardens. See the
documentation for more details. There are many software and hardware
implementations for Web Farms and few
have been thoroughly tested. Consult your load balancing software or hardware
documentation for installation setup.
In all cases, you have to make sure that the

Intelligence Server (and Server Administration)

Microstrategy Web crashing?
I have a dataset which has about 42000 rows in that. When I have that report on
a document and run it on the web , its crashing the server.

The report has like 'Group by' for all the attributes, I even created a datamart and
stored all the values and pulling all the numbers from the datamart. Even then, it
crashes the server.

The SQL for that report is fairly simple. Its just selecting the values from that
datamart table and displaying them. It takes abt 40 Secs to execute the datamart
report.

Please please please help..

Upgrade from 8.0.3 to latest version?

I have MicroStrategy 8.0.3. Which is the latest MSTR version and what are the
features of the latest one. Also i want to know how can i upgrade my existing
MSTR with the latest version.

Or
Latest version of MicroStrategy is 8.1.2 (v8 release 12), released about two
weeks ago.
About features: Download the ZIP (8.1.2 Read Me) and DOC (Defects and
Enhancements Addressed in MicroStrategy 8.1.2) attached.
About upgrade, Just install new build -> configure the server again -> point to old
metadata -> connect to project and upgrade metadata (prompted once you
connect for first time and every time till upgrade is complete). There is an
upgrade information README with all GA builds.

version controlling?
please share version controling with microstrategy normally which version
controling we use in mstr projects .

or
I assume you are asking about source control not slowly changing dimension.

Source Control is a pending feature request in MicroStrategy for last 3 years.

Hope to see that in upcoming version slated to be released by year end. Ask
your MicroStrategy Liaison to keep tracking the status of Support Document #
TN4100-800-0349, so that you know when is this featured implemented.
There are ways to kind of achieve it by taking metadata backup, but that's not a
good way and it is not really a version control of objects but metadata.
(Topic moved from General Topics to I-Server)

Error running service?

Hi, While running the service, i am getting the folloing error:
"object variable or with block variable not set". Anybody got this error ever.

Error running service?

What are you trying to do?
That's the most generic error message in MicroStrategy.
Narrowcast Server
Error running service?
Hi, While running the service, i am getting the folloing error:
"object variable or with block variable not set". Anybody got this error ever.
Or
What are you trying to do?
That's the most generic error message in MicroStrategy

list the ncs services?

Services present in both MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server 7.5.x and 8.0.x:
• MicroStrategy Distribution Manager
• MicroStrategy Execution Engine
• MicroStrategy Logging Client
• MicroStrategy Logging Consumer
• MicroStrategy Logging Server
• MicroStrategy NC PDF Formatter
• MicroStrategy SMTP server
• MicroStrategy System Monitor

Services present in MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server 7.5.x only:

• MicroStrategy Subscription Administrator
• MicroStrategy Subscription Engine
• MicroStrategy Subscription Logger
• MicroStrategy Subscription Lookup
• MicroStrategy Subscription Server

Services present in MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server 8.0.x only:

• SLAgent54
• SLSocket54

list the ncs services?

These services can be found by accessing the Control Panel -> Administrative
Tools -> Services.

In MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server 8.0.x, the Subscription Engine component

has been replaced by SequeLink.

How many layers is there in narrowcate server?

hai
this naveen ..i have one doubt in narrrowcast server how many layers is there..

or
Re: How many layers is there in narrowcate server ?
Four.

user layer, transmission layer, application layer and data layer.

How many layers is there in narrowcate server?
hai
this naveen ..i have one doubt in narrrowcast server how many layers is there..
or
Four.

user layer, transmission layer, application layer and data layer.

Web & Web Server

security levels on shared folders?

i need to grant Access to shared folders only to some users.where i can set this
options.

i guess it can be acheived through usermanager can anyone give me clear idea
about the user security levels in Web.

Or
Where/how do you get the option to set user security level in web?

Or
sorry i did'nt post my question clear.

my question is where to set rights on shared folders in web.

user manager mentioned earliers is through dekytop.

is Schedule creation in Microstrategy Web Possible?

is Schedule creation in Microstrategy Web Possible, if yes then what version if
microstrategy web allows this.

Or
MicroStrategy 8.1.0 Web SDK allows it. check out this tech-note.

Document Id: TN6100-810-2344 - How to create a Report Schedule using the

MicroStrategy Java Web SDK 8.1.0
Or
Through Web you can only subscribe a report to a schedule but can't create a
schedule. For creating schedule SDK is must.

exporting problem for reportfilters?

The name of the time period is fine when the report is viewed on-screen, but
when the report is exported, the code representing the time period shows up, not
the name of the time period. (The time filters are defined using passthrough
functions and made shortcuts filters and used in report. )

Or
Is it an HTML Document or RS Document? What version of MSTR you are
using?
Can you post snapshot of report and export?

SDK

working fine in ie7 but not in ie8 beta?

My microstartegy Application is working fine in IE7 but not working properly in
IE8 Beta. can anyone suggest me how to overcome this problem.
I have already inserted the below line of code in head tag in all my jsp's but no
luck.
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatib le" content="IE=7" />

Consolidation via SDK?

Hello everyone!
I'd like to create a consolidation via SDK automation but I need help.
If I try to execute my code I get a new TEST consolidation in the project root but
the element it contains displays the erorr:
"Unsupported type of object in consolidation"
My code is:

' Get first System Hierarchy root attribute

Dim attrSchema As IDSSAttribute =

dssSource.Project.Schema.SystemDimension.Top.Item(1)

' Get root folder

Dim folder As IDSSFolder = dssSource.Root

' Create new consolidation object

Dim consolidation As IDSSConsolidation =

folder.Add(EnumDSSObjectType.DssTypeConsolidation, "TEST")

dssSource.SaveObject(consolidation.Info, ,
EnumDSSSourceFlags.DssSourceSaveOverwrite)

' Try to add a new element and save again

consolidation.Elements().Add(attrSchema.Elements.Item(1))

dssSource.SaveObject(consolidation.Info, ,
EnumDSSSourceFlags.DssSourceSaveOverwrite)
Or
You are adding Attribute into consolidation. You need to add a filter (based on an
attribute).

Note: I'm not an SDK guy.

Visualization SDK?
All right ! I have installed Flex Builder 3, I should hopefully get the SDK Trial.
Once i get that where do I start from. How does it work ??
Or
Check this thread in forum.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20

Others

integrity manager?
what is integrity manager?what is the use of integrity manager?

Or
TN5700-811-2639
Detailed Tech note abt Integrity Manager
Or
I just read about it. Some info:

MicroStrategy Integrity Manager is an automated report comparison tool

designed to streamline the testing of MicroStrategy projects. This tool has been
introduced in MicroStrategy 8.1.1 and it can determine how a given change in a
project environment, such as regular maintenance changes to metadata objects
or hardware or software upgrades, affects the reports in that project.
For instance, a user may want to ensure that the changes involved in moving a
project from a development environment into production do not alter any of the
reports. MicroStrategy Integrity Manager can compare reports in the
development and the production projects, and highlight any differences. This can
assist users in tracking down functional discrepancies between the two projects.
MicroStrategy Integrity Manager can also execute reports from a single
MicroStrategy project to confirm they remain operational after changes to the
system. MicroStrategy Integrity Manager can execute any or all reports from the
project, note whether or not they execute, and show the results of each report.
MicroStrategy Integrity Manager can perform the following types of comparisons:

* SQL Comparison: Compare report SQL between two projects or a project and a
baseline.
* Data Comparison: Compare report data cell-by-cell between two projects or a
project and a baseline.
* Graph Comparison: Compare report graphs pixel-by-pixel between two projects
or a project and a baseline.

The results of the comparisons are presented to the users in a user friendly
interface that will highlight the differences, if any...

What ate MDX Adapters ?

Can anyone please explain.. what are MDX Adapters and why are they used ?
Thanks Ashish and Thanks everyone .
Srikanth
Or
Straight from MicroStrategy PDF
MicroStrategy MDX Adapter is a software package that allows users of other
business intelligence interfaces to access the analytical power and scalability of
the MicroStrategy 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 allows organizations to standardize on a world-class

reporting and analysis platform, while still enabling users to access the platform
from a variety of user interfaces.
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.
--------------------------------------------------
MDX adapter has been discontinued from MicroStrategy 8 on wards. (Any
confirmation/information anyone? please share)
MDX adapter and MDX reports are different.
MDX report are created when backend is 3D (multidimentional) like SAP BW, MS
SSIS, etc

MicroStrategy Mobile?
Does anyone use MicroStrategy Mobile? I've done a few evaluations of it and
own a handful of licenses, but I've never really found a good way to deploy it to
end users. I'm wondering if anyone out there has had a successful launch, what
the support is like, and what kinds of reports and data your users access.
Of course, after seeing videos like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=MRFzoSU-Yu8 it seems like this might be a moot point in a few years, if not
now

Database

Netezza Documents?
Hi,
Any one has the documentaion of netezza?or can explain me how it is different
from teradata or oracle?
how well Microstrategy works with Netezza?
Or
Hi! I just found this board, signed up, and felt the need to share some
knowledge/experience

Given that it's 2AM I'll give a brief explanation of Netezza. The system is an MPP
system consisting of multiple Snippet Processing Units (SPU.) Each SPU has a
PowerPC processor @ 600mhz(?), 1GB RAM, ~500GB SATA HD (They've been
increasing this, however the 3 partitions remain the same size), and a FPGA
which runs the actual 'SPU' OS. The SPUs are connected to a host machine
which directs traffic to and from, and serves the requesting applications. Each
SPU is like it's own little mini-computer. This doesn't sound like much
horsepower, but when you have 54+ of these little puppies running at once it
suddenly becomes clearer.

Now, each individual SPU has "part" of a table on it, so when a query comes in
you may have 54 (NPS 10050) SPUs running all at once (depending on the data
distribution), pulling data to match the query criteria. This all goes back to the
host to be combined, and served back to the application. Even though the SPU
hardware is basically off-the-shelf parts, the performance is extremely quick due
to the massively parallel processing taking place. Also, Netezza increased
performance and utilized disk-space even more with the 4.5 release by
introducing compression.

I'll leave it at that, this is really just scratching the surface of the Netezza
architecture. They've really got a great system on their hands.

I've been working with Netezza and MicroStrategy 8.1.1 HF1 for about 8 months
now. We're currently right in the middle of an Oracle to Netezza migration, and
it's actually going pretty smoothly. It's kind of amusing to watch a report run in
Oracle, then turn around and run it on our development Netezza machine in a
fraction of the time.
All in all there having been /many/ issues. We did have a hiccup where the
generated SQL for a MicroStrategy datamart was simply "too big" for Netezza.
What Netezza does with a SQL query is translates it into C++ code, sends the
.cpp/.h files down to the SPU for compilation, then runs that executable binary
(it's quicker than it sounds.) Well, the SQL query was too large for compilation,
resulting in a stack overflow error from the SPU. What we ended up doing was
setting a couple of VLDB settings to get rid of the massive use of COALESCE
statements in the generated SQL, reducing the query size, and getting rid of the
overflow error.
I'll leave off here for now... anymore questions just ask. Netezza's quite exciting
data mart report?
has anybody created SP for datamart reports. i have a data mart report, which
creates a datamart table with report results. and i need to write a stored
procedure for that to drop the datamart tables that are six months old. Here, my
concern is how to call that SP in datamart. I can call this in post SQL section, but
what admin command i need to use to call the SP. the SP takes userid as input
parameter(the userid which executed the datamart report. Since drop and grant
commands require admin previleges, what admin call i should use to call this SP.
can anybody help me in this regard?!!.
Or
If giving the admin rights is a problem, create a another simple report and write
Delete/Drop Statment for those tables in the Pre-Statements of VLDB properties
of that report and schedule thay report every Six months.

this is a workround!!! alternative way i just thought of.

Or
Write a stored procedure that will delete the tables that are more than 6 months
old. You can even delete the tables of different database too using the stored
procedure. Datamart reports be used to access different DB Connection which
uses a different DNS pointing to a different database.

srk wrote:
my concern is how to call that SP in datamart.

Open datamart report.

goto Data -> Configure Data Mart -> SQL Statement -> SQL to be executed after
datamart creation
exec stored_procedure_name

srk wrote:
the SP takes userid as input parameter(the userid which executed the datamart
report.

this ueerid is nothing but table prefix under Advanced tab in Configure Data Mart.

I believe that end users are running the reports using MicroStrategy web, so they
won't be able to access/alter these setting.

Or
Now my requirement has changed, we don't need any input parameter to the SP.
And the following is the SP i have written, but it is giving some error when i
compile it(mostly function not supported, and if i ignore one statment to trace out,
next time it shows the same error somewhere else). can anybody please help me
on this . My database is DB2
CREATE PROCEDURE TGNSX00.TAB_DROP_PROC(OUT OUT_SQLCODE
integer)
LANGUAGE SQL MODIFIES SQL DATA
DYNAMIC RESULT SETS 1
P1: BEGIN

Declare v_stmt varchar(100);

Declare TBSC varchar(100);
Declare TBNM varchar(100);
Declare SQLCODE integer default 0;

Declare C1 cursor WITH RETURN FOR

Select TABSCHEMA, TABNAME from DWGNS.TEMP_SRK_TABLE
WHERE (DAYS(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)-DAYS(create_time))/30>6;
Open C1;

Fetch C1 into TBSC, TBNM;

While (SQLCODE=0) Do
Fetch C1 into TBSC,TBNM;
set v_stmt = 'DROP TABLE '|| rtrim(TBSC)||'.'||TBNM;
prepare v_stmt from v_stmt ;
execute v_stmt;

End While;

Close C1;
VALUES (SQLCODE) INTO OUT_SQLCODE;

General Topics;

MicroStrategy 9 (Orion)?
What do we know about MicroStrategy 9 except for 64-bit in-memory analysis
capabilities?
Is anyone already beta testing? (probably filed an Non-Disclosure Agreement
though)

• intelligententerprise.com/blog
• roznamcha.blogspot.com (from Ashish)

or
i18n metadata support. - Previously, for non-English languages had to have
separate WH to get the non-English stuff. But Orion will take care of
internationalization (i18n). This is something that I have perceived from the
manuals. A friend who worked on its beta testing said that that feature is full of
bugs and MicroStrategy should not release that feature unless all defects are
removed. Generally a big leap feature leave few critical bugs in MicroStrategy.
As per him no non-English customer should buy MicroStrategy Orion till SP1
(Jan 2010).

I've lazy in updating the blog. Will post something here sooner rather than later.

Or
setting rules for password (CAPs, length, Special character etc)

Track change made by, from, when, what, machine name, ip address.

Or
Orion will bring lot more new pain as far as setup of NCS is concerned. Over all I
gives my thumps up for the stuff they have been doing for last 4 years.

Or
Interesting news on i18n.

ashish wrote:
Orion will bring lot more new pain as far as setup of NCS is concerned.

More pain? How? I was hoping for NarrowCast to be more integrated into the
Intelligence Server.
Also, in this next version there should be a unix version of NarrowCast.

Or
Unix version of NCS is not there. We have tried integration of the old i-server
metadata and old ncs metadata in Orion and mostly it fails for some or other
reason. We faced this issue with beta 1 as well as beta 2. I hope the issues
related to metadata integration would be weeded out in GA build.

NCS administrator is integrated with Desktop and the Administrator (under

project source) has a tree like structure.

:et us not forget about these issues that Orion has still not gone GA. These
issues may be fixed.

Or
Oh joy: http://www.microstrategy.com/9/
Hope to see some screenshots soon as MicroStrategy 9 will be officially shown
today at MicroStrategy World, Las Vegas.
Or
For some reason they are not calling it, Orion any more ..just microstrategy 9.
One my colleagues had a chance to visit the conference, says theres lots n lots
of more cool features.
Or
Orion was just the beta name for that version before it was officially labeled 9. It
doesn't get a version number under close to GA, and that is set by marketing, not
development. Interesting side fact: 8 was called Vega and 10? is called Polaris.

There are so many features in Orion that are awesome, but I'm not sure if there
is one that is a heavy hitting game changer. Distribution Services is nice only
because it fixes some of the evil things they had going on with Narrowcast being
a separate metadata and platform. The In memory ROLAP has the promise of
being absolutely huge, but you won't be able to leverage it in any sizable project
without being in 64bit, not to mention there are so many limitations in this initial
release of it that they estimated only 10-15% of reports could use it. It doesn't
support conditional metrics for one, which probably knocks out most people. Still,
the future is bright!

Microstartegy Support site?

I am trying to register in Microstartegy support but i am getting Errors.
I tried using my company mail Id,and n number of times.
please any can help me on this.any concerned guys to contact for the same.
Or
what's the error message?

Anyone in banglore can help me on Ncs?

I am working on mstr,As per the project requirment i have to work on
Narrowcastserver.
can anyone Train or guide me on the same.

Windows Vista Home premium?

Would like to know if i can download the latest MSTR 8.1.2 to use on a Windows
Vista Home premium OS.if not any other version which is compatible with it??
Or
I-Server 8.1.2 is certified on following OS:
Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4 (on x86)
Windows 2000 Server SP4 (on x86)
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2 (on x86)
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP2 (on x86)
I-Server 8.1.2 is supported for demo purpose on following OS:
Windows XP Professional SP3 (on x86)
Windows Vista Business Edition SP1 (on x86)

So you can't install on Vista for production purpose, but you should be able to
install (previously it was not even possible to install I-Server on non-certified OS)
Re: What is difference between MSTR7 and MSTR 8?
In pretty much marketing terms:
• Streamlined Web interface utilizing the latest XHTML technology
• Drag-n-drop interactivity from any web browser, such as Microsoft IE,
Mozilla, Firefox or Netscape, that is completely
• zero-footprint, using no Java or Active X controls
• OLAP features embedded directly in enterprise reports
• Ability for end users to easily design and refine reports over the Web
• Direct access to SAP BW through MDX via OLAP BAPI's
• Access any operational system with MicroStrategy's free-form SQL engine
• Join data from multiple relational and multi-dimensional sources using
MicroStrategy Report Services
• MicroStrategy Data Mining Services.

Or
similar to diff between Windows 98 and Win XP .
You have to read documenation for exact diff .
BTW where are you located /how much experince do you have on MSTR .

I WANT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS with ANSWERS ON MSTR?

you have interview questions with answers
plz .help any one having interview question plz forward to me ..mail is
:naveen633@yahoo.com.
or
There is a another forum where Ashish had posted big list of questions, I am
trying to answer when ever I get time.. I request other members to post the
answers ..

How will you differentiate Simple, Medium and Complex report?

How will you differentiate Simple, Medium and Complex reports while doing
estimation for MSTR reports?
Or
This classification is a part of estimation and criteria is TIME for most of the time.
A report classified as simple in estimatation phase can turn out to be complex in
design phase .
Or
In a project for example if you are creating 10 Report and in first 4 reports you
will be creating new objects and same objects you will be using in other 6 reports
then i will classify the 4 reports as medium or complex reports and other 6
reports as simple.

I will give you an example:

if i have to create 3 new reports as follows:
1. Profit by region and Store and month
2. Profit by Store and Week
3. Profit By region and month
Then I will Classify 1 report as complex, 2 report as medium and 3 report as
Simple.
In the case of RS documents, determine the formatting and the grids reports you
will creating or reusing and accordingly you classify
Hope it Helps.

Or
don't you think that report classification should include the time it takes to test the
report,
meaning the amount of data returned by the report, no rows and columns, is the
data returned valid and then most important the time it takes to execute the
report, which may be reduced if report is designed smartly, also the testing of
SQl generated can be considered.

In a project for example if you are creating 10 Report and in first 4 reports you
will be creating new objects and same objects you will be using in other 6 reports
then i will classify the 4 reports as medium or complex reports and other 6
reports as simple.
I will give you an example:
if i have to create 3 new reports as follows:
1. Profit by region and Store and month
2. Profit by Store and Week
3. Profit By region and month
Then I will Classify 1 report as complex, 2 report as medium and 3 report as
Simple.
In the case of RS documents, determine the formatting and the grids reports you
will creating or reusing and accordingly you classify
Hope it Helps.
How to performance tuning in MSTR?
1. Use Aggregate tables
2. Use partition mapping
3. VLDB settings
4. Collect statistics on the tables
5. Use Index on all Key columns ( for conditions from WHERE clause, JOIN
conditions, ORDER BY clause , GROUP BY clause )
6. Convince the requester of report to drop least used and most SQL intensive
calculations/columns. In rare cases it works.
7. Select from in-memory tables (from Orion onwards)
8. Avoid Custom Groups
9. Use Free form reports (if any other tuning doesn't bring much improvement)
10. Use Database function instead of MicroStrategy provided function
11. Use Cartesian Products Wisely
12. Connectivity between I-Server, Web-server, Database server and meta-data
server is fast.
13. chk explain plan of the query generated (teradata specific). it should indicate
high confidence level... also full table scan should not be there.
14. Use Case Statement option available in VLDB Properties, If your report
contains any Custom Groups.
15. If the SQL of your Report has any Sub queries, You can use the "Use
Temporary Table" option available in Query Optimization in VLDB Properties. For
reports with several relationship filters, temporary table syntax may execute
significantly faster on the database.
16. make sure you not using lookups at fact table.
17. as others pointed out make sure indexes and collect stats are there
18. get the SQL and execute directly in DB. if it's take less time then you'll have
something to do with MSTR or fine tune DB SQL with the help DBA.
19. in MSTR, go to project config, increase the project memory settings. this is
the memory MSTR uses for worker set. it should be large enough to process it
quickly.
20. also go to intelligence server configuration and make sure the worker set
XML is at optimum level. ( you can set 5 Lk for 8.0.3)
21. web server java heap size should be more if you are working with bigger data
set and RS documents. by default it is 256 MB and you can set it as 512 MB
(max)
Board Logo?
yeah. Something catchy. [:)] full credits to you.
Microstrategy Training and Certification?
I am a newbie in Microstrategy was in ETL - Informatica for the last 2 yrs. I want
to know about the training and certification center for Microstrategy in Bangalore.
Please do provide me if you have any materials. Thanks in Advance.

What is difference between MSTR7 and MSTR8?

In pretty much marketing terms:
• Streamlined Web interface utilizing the latest XHTML technology
• Drag-n-drop interactivity from any web browser, such as Microsoft IE,
Mozilla, Firefox or Netscape, that is completely
• zero-footprint, using no Java or Active X controls
• OLAP features embedded directly in enterprise reports
• Ability for end users to easily design and refine reports over the Web
• Direct access to SAP BW through MDX via OLAP BAPI's
• Access any operational system with MicroStrategy's free-form SQL engine
• Join data from multiple relational and multi-dimensional sources using
MicroStrategy Report Services
• MicroStrategy Data Mining Services

3rd company to use MicroStrategy in India?

1. Wipro ePeripherals (v7)
2. Ashok Layland
3. Pantaloon Retail (Latest)
Or
I think some Aditya Birla group company also using MSTR.
but not sure abot this.
Or
Yeah, Mudura Garments also use MSTR.
Or
some change in it.
ABG has discussing to implement the MSTR...