Microstrategy Desktop enables project designers, report designers, and

system administrators to design, create, and maintain an entire business

intelligence system from a single interface.
Report:
A report is a visual representation of a Data. A report sends a query to and
access data from a relational database and presents data in a visually pleasing
manner so that you can analyze the resulting information.
Report Components:
Rows and Columns:
On a typical report, each ro represents a business concept, such as
products, employees, customers, stores and so on. Microstrategy calls these
business concepts !attributes" because they represent the many important
attributes of business.
#hile the ros represent business concept, the columns of a typical report
represent $nancial calculations that are important to the business, such as
inventory, sales, costs, pro$t, salaries and so on. Microstrategy calls these
calculations !Metrics".
Attributes: A business concept that provides conte%t in hich data is
relevant. &%' (ales in the (outh east. (outh east is the attribute.
Metric: A calculation that shos the number you ant to see. &%' sales in
the (outheast. (ales is the metric.
Cells: &ach individual cell on a report contains a single value hich is
produced by calculating data gathered from somehere in your organization)s data
source. *hat data is the focus of business analysis in a reporting environment.
Report Types:
+rids
+raphs
+rid and +raph
(,- .ie
Report Services Document
Microstrategy /eport services documents 0called documents1 are available ith the
Microstrategy /eport services product. Documents are a display of data from
multiple reports ith special formatting added.
/eport services documents can be vieed, analyzed, and created in both
Microstrategy Desktop and #eb.
HTML Documents
A document can contain data from one or more Microstrategy /eports.
Documents can appear in almost as many ays as you can imagine and are
generally formatted to suit your business needs, in a single display of presentation
quality.
OLAP Services
2t is a Microstrategy product that lets Micro strategy Desktop, #eb and o3ce
users make use of features that slice and dice data in reports ithout re4e%ecuting
(,- against your data source.
iew !ilters:
Derived Metrics:
Derived "lements:
Dynamic A##re#ation:
Dynamic aggregation allos you to change the level of report aggregation
on4the45y, hile you are revieing the report results. *his feature allos metric
values to be aggregated at di6erent levels depending on the attributes included in
the report ithout having to re4e%ecute the report against the data arehouse.
!ormattin# a Report
7ormatting a report involves highlighting certain data to enhance analysis, as
ell as changing the overall display or look and feel of a report, you can
8ighlight important numbers
9ut the focus on speci$c sets of data
/ename the object on the report, such as a business attribute or a metric
calculation
Apply your corporate look to a report for a business presentation using
banding option, you can group ros or columns of a report data using
columns to enhance readability and make it easier to identify business
concepts on hich you ould like to focus.
T$res$olds:
*hresholds are cells of data that are formatted di6erently from the rest of the
data on a report: the formatting is applied dynamically, henever the report is re4
e%ecuted. *hresholds highlight particular data in a report by displaying special cell
formats, symbols, images, or replacement te%t. *hresholds highlight particular data
in a report by displaying special cell formats, symbols, images or replacement etc.
*hreshold images cannot be vieed in desktop. *hese can be visible if the
report is placed in an 8*M- document or /eport (ervices Document or eb.
/enaming /o and column headers
8iding a metric column
;anding' ;anding is a method of organizing or grouping data values in a +rid
report according to certain criteria. <ou can band ros or columns in several
ays. <ou can band based on the no.of ros or columns 0for e%' alternating
color for every = ros1. <ou can also band based on the ros and columns
headers 0e%' sorting the units sold columns in order, then applying alternating
color to sets of values1
Auto styles' *he Auto style of a report provides the report)s default bonding
option, but you can de$ne bonding or even turn o6 bonding for a report,
regardless of its auto style. Microstartegy comes ith several presentation
styles for displaying reports. *hese are called autostyles. &ach autostyle
automatically applies a set of formatting that includes color scheme, font
style, and font type to report.
Analy%in# Data&
#hen reports return large amounts of data , it can be di3cult to easily
understand hat the data is telling you. (everal Microstrategy tools can help you
analyze large amounts of data more quickly.
(orting' (orting lets you move data so you can analyze that data more
e6ectively.
Ascending or Descending order.
2t is processed by the Microstartegy Analytical &ngine, hich means
you can sort and organize the data on a report ithout taking up the time
and resources to re4e%ecute the report against your data source.
Searc$in#: #henever you ant to quickly locate a speci$c data volume in a
+rid report or you ant to jump to a speci$c of a large report, use the $nd
feature, you can also use $nd feature to locate a string in the (,- synta%,
hen vieing a report in (,- .ie.
*he 7ind feature is not available in +raph .ie.
Outlinin#: <ou can create an indented grouping of related data on a grid
report by organizing the data into a standard outline style. >sing an outline
style, you can collapse and e%pand sections of related data. Outlining is
particularly useful hen information displayed ould otherise involve
repetitive entries. &%' you ant to display sales for three years, ?@@A, ?@@B
and ?@@C. <ou also ant data listed by month ithin each of these years.
Pa#e'(y: #hen you have a very large set of data on a report, it can be
easier to handle that data by grouping the report data into logical subsets,
and vieing only one of the subsets at a time. *o group data into subsets, you
can use the page4;y feature.
Pivotin# Data: Data pivoting enables you to arrange the columns and ros
in a report so you can vie data from di6erent perspectives.
Report Limits:
After a report)s results are displayed, you may need to further restrict
the data displayed ithout changing ho calculations ere performed. <ou
can limit the data displayed in a report by specifying ma% and min values for
a given metric. *hese ma% and min determines hich ros of a result set are
displayed in the report, and are called /eport -imits.
Calculatin# Data:
#ithin a single set of data that is gathered from your data source in
response to a report)s query, the results of calculations on that data
can change drastically depending on a number of considerations, such
as
Metric )oin types: *hese determine ho tables of metric data 0usually
numerical data, such as (ales, Dosts or 9ro$ts1 are joined to each other.
*he di6erent types of Eoins are'
o De*ault: *his option sets the metric to use the join type set for that
individual metric hen that metric as created ith the Metric &ditor. 2f
no Eoin type as determined this ay for the metric, this option sets
the metric to use the Eoin type set at the project level.
o +nner: *his option displays only the data common to all data source
tables from hich data is being gathered for this metric.
o Outer: *his option displays all of the data from all data source tables
from hich data is being gathered for this metric.
Attribute )oin types:
*hese determine ho tables of attribute data 0business concepts such as
year, store, or item1 are joined together.
&valuation Order'
*his determines in hat order the various objects on a report are calculated.
Objects that can a6ect the calculations of data to be displayed on a report
include such things as metrics, report limits, and sub4totals. #hich object is
calculated $rst, ne%t, and so on can completely change the report)s results.
*he default order of calculation is as follos
o Dompound smart metrics
o Donsolidations , hich are evaluated by their relative position on the
report template
/os, from left to right
Dolumns, from top to bottom
o /eport -imits
o (ubtotals
(ubtotals' *hese allo you to total metric data using a selected
mathematical function.
Answerin# ,uestion about Data
/eport 7ilters' A report $lter shifts the data in your data source to bring back
the information that ansers e%actly hat you require.
o /eport 7ilter ill be displayed in /eport Details *ab
8ierarchies' A 8ierarchy is made up of a group of related business attributes
that are conceptually related to each other.
Drilling' Drilling allos you to vie report data at levels other than that
displayed in the report. <ou can investigate the data in your report quickly
and easily ith the help of drilling. Drilling automatically e%ecutes another
report based on the original report to get more detailed or supplemental
information.
o